Thanks for the reply. I will be on my toes awaiting the full release, then! I'm not super surprised to hear that things are shaping up differently than in the demo, because that's just how these things go.
Honestly, I was a bit confused to see all the life sim elements in the demo, since their existence implies a sizable chunk of game time where the player is free to make diverging choices, but it seemed at odds with the heavily railroaded visual novel narrative the game was telling in the demo, especially with all the gorgeous unique art that accompanied it. Obviously, these factors didn't end up being relevant in the demo (although you could interact with them a little), but they make me very interested in finding out what this game's end product will be.
Do your best! I will root for you folks.