Honestly I'm mostly just confused. I have no idea what's happening or why people are mad lol. But whatever, I'm along for the ride
In chapter 209, catgirl is like "it has nothing to do with male MC!", and so in this chapter, male MC left, letting bakeneko solve bakeneko problems. He probably felt hurt about it, but at this point, he did not have neither the strength of mind nor the strength of feelings to force himself in.
Male MC in this story is quite different from MCs from adventure stories, who would totally barge into strangers' problems, and volunteer to solve them with strength and magic. But this was well established at the start of the story - due to him moving around with his parents a lot, he has only superficial connections to others, underdeveloped social skills and gloomy personality.