Three things:
a.) Hats off to the TL crew for the cat-ified typesetting, it's such a joy to see and really makes it show how much you'all care about this manga.
b.) Seno being distraught with being called cute is a teen trope - teenage guys want to be seen as 'cool' not 'cute'. Gender norm conformity thing about 'guys needing to be seen as masculine otherwise they're not manly'. Just the manga showing its target audience.
c.) The last panel 'this (being called cute) doesn't make me feel squirmly like it did back then'. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this referring to backstory untold by the author yet? Maybe she was paraded around by everyone around her as a younger kid and all that attention traumatized her into being the recluse she is now.