I didn't exactly plan on taking a week to finish this game, but it felt resonant with the game's concept to get a good long rest between returning for the next week of gameplay. Little did I know I was in for the long haul, but rather than match my in-game time of 6 weeks trying to find the true ending, I may have to give up Dean Takahashi style; I'm simply not built to get out of Groundhog Day type situations and on some level I can live with that. I assume the exit opens from getting all five stars, but after running the week several times without finding the fifth grace, I'm beginning to get far too chafed by random scenes being unskippable.
The game is in the Heart genre, which is refreshing among the school library. Even though it may be rough around the edges, it's still impressive how much was made for the game with the given deadline. RenPy can be a double edged sword, where on the one hand, scope is defined by the strengths of the engine to deliver the visual novel format, but at the same time, the Heart genre is already predisposed to a large scope due to the expectations for writing.
While I appreciate the respects to Katawa Shojo and I think you've captured a good emotional dynamic in that regard, the format and user experience of a more "methodical" VN such as Virtue's Last Reward is worth looking into, especially with the time shenanigans. Their design eschews the traditional reliance on multiple save files by showing the branch of choices itself as a menu and letting you return to any point with newfound knowledge. I also think it's quite refreshing to get a VN focused on characters that isn't a dating sim.\