The introduction was a bit awkward but the writing kept me wanting to keep playing and finished the first episode. It is very hard to make you care about characters you've never seen before and to try to introduce so many characters from the get-go is a huge task. But i think you greatly nailed it, the "lighthearted romance". The vibe of this game is so cozy, i love it and i'm excited for the next update. Oh and i came across the game from your art render sent in Wild Cats Discord.
Thank you so much for playing the game! I'm glad you love the vibes of it.
As for the introduction and/or cast, fortunately the characters are pretty consistent across the entire story. So eventually, during the stories of the second and third protagonists, you'll still see familiar faces. There will still be new characters of course, but you won't have to start over and get to know an entirely different cast, so high likely they'd be one-offs or side characters for plot reasons.