を好き instead of が好き


I saw this dialogue in an anime; 柑菜{かんな} is a girl in love with 海{かい}, and a
short before this happened visited 海's house. A knows of 柑菜 feelings, since
there was a dialogue in which she kinda confirmed (something like "Since when
do you know about my feelings?") and she explicitely said she won't confess.

> A: 柑菜な
>
> 海: 谷川{たにがわ}柑菜?谷川柑菜なら今日うちに
>
> A: あいつ海がすきだぜ。谷川柑菜は霧島海人{きりしまかいと}を好きなんだ

I'm not sure why 「を」 instead of 「が」. I found some answers on this topic, like
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/26005/usage-
of-%EF%BD%9E%E3%82%92%E5%A5%BD%E3%81%8D-outside-of-embedded-clauses) and
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/3473/%E3%82%92-vs-%E3%81%8C-with-
use-against-%E5%A5%BD%E3%81%8D), but they focus on 「好き」 and the like being in
relative sentences, which doesn't seem the case here. Does using 「を」 implies
an unsaid 「と思う」? Since A knows about 柑菜's feelings I'm not sure this is the
case.

