Narration box could have been less thorough and maybe showed a little more, but whatevs. 2003 me worked with 2003 art skills, and having to draw Nanase carrying Ellen again could have destroyed the fabric of reality as we know it.
Or just been really difficult. Either or. Drawing overlapping interacting characters is hard, you guys!
As for panel five... OH, YOU ARE NOT PERLPLEXED. I mean, maybe he was meant to be when I wrote this comic, but one comic later...
Commentary added November 30, 2014