Story has potential and the kid is cute enough, but the mangaka is really cutting a lot of corners by relying entirely on CG for backgrounds and objects to save time. Felt like I was reading a cheap manhua with how egregious it was. Combined with the constant high contrast shots between light...
So Cody's was testing Haruka to see how she reacted. He needed some assurances for himself that Haruka could be open minded and reasonable when making contact with the Destroyer races.
It starts to make sense why he was poking and prodding Haruka, even giving her "bad" advice. He wanted to see...
Cody with the suspicious advice. Maybe he has a point, but maybe it's a translation issue, but I don't see how roughing up kids who are hostile to Haruka won't create a zealous lynch mob after her.