>>718801830
Frankly, it's just damn-near impossible for Japanese people to be direct about feelings, so it's at least realistic on that front.
You could also argue that he just wanted to gauge what the actual problem was first before acting on it. SC has a tendency to let the girls reflect and learn about themselves before moving to resolve conflicts. It may feel slow at times, but it's also kinda antithetical for SCP to just step in and fix everything himself.
I know a lot of people hate on the anime, but the L'Antica TFD episode honestly does a fine job of renewing it in a condensed visual format. I like it.