@FRASH_18 yeah it aint a total reset, they take like, n step forward and then take n- (n-1) steps backwards. (just 1 step forward at the end, sorry for the maths)
like, they way the interact with each other isnt the same as the first chapters, they grow closer and more real
what im trying to say is that in the first chapters their interactions were more of an extravagancy of her, a fun pasttime, the poor guy couldnt even understand what was going on, in the latest ones, their interactions are more emotional, not just a past time, you can tell that she cares, and the guy, while taken by sorprise the majority of time, is going willingly, not just taken by the stream as before.
also, i think that the reason the friends advance at a faster rate is that the first relation is very difficult to overturn, and its easier to pass from weird guy to lover (because of the gap moe) than from funny chicken to lover (unless he grow some balls and goes acertive from once).
i may be wrong, but thats how i see it