Yeah, it kind of feels like the author kind of gave up on Hifumi's character arcs lately. She felt like a more important character in the early chapters, part of the main cast. Now it feels like she's been demoted to a complete side character. :\
I still feel this even in this chapter that's about her. It feels like she doesn't have any presence anymore.
I thought she had a pretty fine presence, she's still her awkward self but it was nice to see Hifumi deciding to take on Hajime for the sake of keeping their job smooth. I think she is gaining confidence, I'll agree it's been a slow progress since there had been a distinct lack of Hifumin but I like the chapter and would welcome more like these.
The plus point in this was the minimal newbies' (Momiji and Narumi) scenes.
I mostly agree with this, but I actually like Naru. She makes for an interesting foil to Nene, since while Nene's a bit childish and sometimes has trouble focusing, Naru's more mature(I can't see Nene helping out around the house like that) and driven to a fault. She also goes through a good amount of character development, particularly coming to acknowledge Nene's skill and determination, and going from not wanting to make any changes that would potentially delay the game (thus possibly reflecting badly on her), to being willing to work with Hajime on coming up with a new idea even though she might get in trouble. I also liked the story arc with her and her mother, particularly how both have valid points, and while the disagreement isn't fully resolved by the end, they do make a little progress in coming to understand each other.
