The fix to the Chapter 3 dialogue failing with Chico has been fixed, and a more detailed breakdown of what was happening has been posted to the game's update devlog!
Progress is saved at the end of a session, rather than once you complete a conversation. If you were at full battery at the beginning of the day, quitting mid-chapter and starting again would start you at full even if you've spoken to somebody that day. Upon investigating, we did find that there were some unintended effects that were not related to what you were describing (unless we've misinterpreted!) and those fixes have been pushed out as well.
Thanks for your kind words and for your patience with us while we figure this out! Any feedback is greatly appreciated so we can hopefully iron out all the kinks! 🙏