the obvious joke is absolutely Kuro's intellectual knowledge of "modern slang" coupled with his complete dearth of understanding when it comes to subtextual usage, and Hotaru's reactions certainly sell that.
But something about that illustration of Hotaru taking a photo of her two friends was just so, so sad. Sure, she's all smiles in the first portion when it's just her and the phone. But seeing her two friends--one whom she has an immense crush on, and the other the one she seeks to refrain from hurting, at the expense of her own happiness--both smiling and oblivious to the turmoil Haruto was putting herself through is....yeah.
What a shit hand she's been dealt.
I have no clue how this is going to end, much less in the number of chapters that comprise the series. I know that we need to resolve Kuro's story, and we currently have Kyouko rearing her enigmatic head.
But I just hope that Haruto actually gets her closure and her peace.
Thanks for your work on this series, as always.