Thank you for another great point!
Originally I had a bit of tutorial dialogue that explained how monster "attack" and "defend" moves also effect the fight, however I implemented it wrong and therefore it doesn't appear through the intended way to play.
The way I implemented the interest meter made it so that I didn't have a way to have an instant effect on the meter (possibly I completely missed the way to implement it like that). This will be really helpful feedback though, I'll have to make a note of it!