Oh awesome thank you! I assumed there was no way to win the dialogue with Karen at the beginning cos it seemed like one of those obligatory game starting cutscenes that always goes the same way haha. That's a neat way to hide an ending!
And oh that's how you unlock dates! I was having trouble figuring out which places unlock which other places. I got the anime and the cat ones so now thanks to your help I have them all phew! Gonna try and play some more and hope I can get a better ending!