Glad there's some p r o g r e s s, but somehow it feels too good to be true. Expecting a few "comedic" backsteps coming soon, though I really hope I'm wrong xD
Given the author, that's a pretty safe bet, but I dunno--this chapter felt really serious to me.
Yeah, I noticed that as well. It almost feels unnatural for this story. That's why I'm so skeptical, I'm constantly waiting on some kind of punchline, because the serious tone of the chapter feels so out of place. I hope the tone means the progress isn't going to quickly regress, but we'll see.
I seem to recall there being one or two previous all-serious chapters--maybe the "origin of Hino (at the school)" chapter?
And Chapter 10 (the umbrella chapter--maybe my favorite) was actually pretty serious as well, despite a couple of Koguma reactions that assumed, incorrectly, that Hino was teasing.