I've just noticed that, after getting rejected from the SUV forth wheel position, Berdly tells Noelle he gives her his "project partner's blessing".
...I may or may not be reading too much into this, because he's Funny Bird Monster, but he doesn’t refer to himself as her friend in his "blessing", does he?
(Gameplay by @/Whispernyan on YT)
I know Berdly is over-the-top with academic stuff, but this dialogue feels way too impersonal when everything else he says this chapter it's cheesy af and "they def still have a crush on me, trust" type of stuff. He's supportive, yeah, but even when Noelle refers to him as a "great friend" 15 seconds earlier, he doesn't adopt the label and instead chooses to use "project partner" in this specific dialogue. Right after his talking sprite shows him being quietly upset about being excluded, mind you.
Did he just acquaintence-zoned himself? That's the question.
In my opinion, this just adds more to the interpretation of Berdly still thinking his friendship with Noelle was purely based on a non-existent crush. And it's clear to me that, even if he insists on implying the three of them do have crushes on him, he doesn't actually believe that Noelle or anyone else is interested on him like that. At least, not anymore.
What I'm trying to say here is that... I really don't think Berdly believes Noelle when she implies they're still friends. Or at least, he doesn't seem to consider himself Noelle’s friend, because he still acts like Noelle is his. I'm assuming he still had some sort of hope about staying friends when she rejected his advances because he wasn't interested like that on her anyways, but once she asked him to stay to the side– I guess he came to the conclusion that she had no more reasons to have him around. Then, it seems like he accepted that "fact" out loud with this dialogue: a dialogue subtle enough to not be embarrasing, humiliating or, heaven forbid, vulnerable. (P.S. for clarification: it's basically his way of respecting Noelle's boundaries about "not actually considering him a friend" while also trying to stay available for her, all without admiting that the idea hurts).
And about how quick it was– let's just say he has a track record of brushing aside his own feelings for benefit of his non-chalant, confident persona...
(This not Noelle bashing, I just want to point out how fragile Berdly's perception of relationships truly is with a little of over-analyzed dialogue. Get these kids some therapy, good grief 💔).