I honestly kind of dig it. Using a romcom as a vehicle for superpowered drama is far from new, but this has had a fun build that's just the right type of page turner.
I'm more impressed that they actually talked it out and want to cooperate. Well, except that the Chief clearly is hiding everything about Lava's past. But it makes sense as how Ono found it weird how the place he was going to meet and confess to his childhood friend and the place Lava's powers went haywire were different.
It's all about what the hell happened that day. We don't even know if Ono joined that organization before or after Lava was arrested.