i don't disagree with others' interpretation of the chapter, but i think they are generalizing instead of looking at it as it is.
in the first place, mone is giving comfort, not advice. "you're valid. your feelings are valid. the people you like will understand," makes sense in that context...
alan doesn't understand the problem, but he got the sense that he fucked and is falling behind, and so he feels the need to perform even though he knows he's out of his depth. i like it.
... thinking of it, the story also began with the idiot trying to cope with his feelings of inadequacy.
it does make sense for fellow out-of-towners to hang out, but is it special that they are from neighboring prefectures. it just reads to me as "not from the same hometown nor from the same prefecture".
the story is doing something kinda interesting here, developing meguro's character in a way that is overly supportive of her own (dumb) decisions, which works with the apparent theme of the story, or at least the current arc. however, it's difficult to just go along with what the story is doing...
interesting manga, nice and quick read. and i kinda hate it. some parts i find unpleasant, and others just a bit confusing.
for people, who would want to see another story where the main character stays a villainess, kinda, try the one within the villainess.
accepting the guy who started attacking 'allies', due to misinterpreting the objective, contradicts the goal of training more agents.
anyway, the decision to bring back candidates from several arcs ago is weird. but it's kinda satisfying to see the survival dude again.