Remember how SDB posited that the well crow in Haibane Renmei was Rakka's dog? It was a while since anime induced such flights of fancy in animebloggers, and today it came from an unexpected direction:

[I] wondered what the fuck is going on with Hotaru? I am asking valid questions. Where is she living? She really uprooted her life for weeks just to bug a candy salesman in the middle of nowhere to work for her dad? Is this really the best use of her time? What about school or college? Doesn’t she need to go to those? [...]

And coup de grace:

Later on the the same episode, she saved her last caramel for Coconut. What kind of person does that? What kind of person selflessly saves the last piece of premium candy knowing that someone else will want it later? A mom. A motherfucking mom.

Jason fully realizes how the world works, too:

[] having Shidare Hotaru be Coconut’s mom would be an incredibly satisfying twist to the story. It would change the dynamics of the show from being a dagashi knowledge dump into something more thoughtful. The questions would then change from why is Hotaru doing this? Is she skipping school? Where is she living? To questions more like what didn’t Hotaru accomplish that she is still hanging around the family candy store? What regrets did she have in her life? Does Coconut’s remember his mom? There are different questions to ask.

And knowng what we know about the operation of Japanese creators, Occam's razor suggests that Kotoyama did not think that deep, so Jason's theory is pure wishful thinking. ABe is an exception, however. Crow could very well be Rakka's dog.

UPDATE: The original source crushes this WMG in ep.10 by revealing Hotaru's house.