I had to bust out my teen slang to old geezer translator for this one! There was fun banter, but as Misery says, "I can't seem to connect with this story..."
I know it's kind of the point to be a cheesy rom-com performance based on the ending, but the entire time leading up to it, I was thinking to myself "how the heck are these two even going on a date?" because of the absurdity.
The fourth wall breaks were a clue, but so many vns I've just read do the same, that it is still difficult to discern the intention. I picked up on them discussing plot points, and how at times Zest in particular seemed to break his 'character voice' but it didn't start finally coming together for me until I read it through a second time.
There are still some aspects I'm trying to wrap my head around, but at least I have the jist of it now. I think it may just be an instance where you know exactly what the context is, so you read the story with that understanding, kind of like how proofreading your own work can be nearly impossible. That, combined with intentionally being a bit obtuse by putting the premise at the end, of course.
The banter was fun, and I did enjoy the colorful artwork! It was evident quite a lot of care went into making this regardless.