Bitcoin has long moved past Satoshi. And we really don't need nor want him to come back, at least not to assume some imagined mantle of leadership the way Vitalik Buterin has at Ethereum. Satoshi knows that too, and his/her/their appearance and disappearance was every bit as deliberate and done with such delicate planning that it's a waste of time and pointless to attempt tracing.
We should appreciate the motives behind why they/he/she left. And respect them.
Satoshi has long been very mysterious as he/she does not reveal him/herself in the public and that made people become curious of his/her real identity. However, I realized that if Satoshi is willing to introduce him/herself then he/she should have done that already the first time Bitcoin was publicized. We can't really be sure when Satoshi will come out, but I don't think it can help if we continue to dig deeper on his/her personal life, let's just respect his/her privacy. We have to be thankful to him/her for the great opportunities given and for inventing bitcoin by showing our continued support and sincere determination to make it grow bigger and stronger.
I think the real obsession was in the first few years when Bitcoin truly entered the mainstream consciousness (as opposed to mainstream adoption). But like you said, if he/she/they wanted to come out, it would have already happened. Everything that has and hasnt happened is entirely by design.
Satoshi is still mentioned in over 200 whitepapers (that's more than 10% of whitepapers ever published) according to Blockchair's stats so the memory is still strong, the inspiration still evident.
Like I said, the world of Bitcoin and crypto, and of blockchain has moved on. Just as one day fiat currency forgot its origins, crypto will forget. It might even forget Bitcoin. Of course, that day is still far away.