- Angst-induced awakening

- "I want to talk to you forever."

We near the end of this arc, and as I've mentioned previously, there'll be a break in posting story pages while I work on the next arc. If EGSNP has not already returned by then, that's when it will return.

There are ways in which the next arc could be called "Hope 2: Hope Harder", but I've been advised against naming it that due to Hope herself not being the primary focus, not wanting to give the impression it'll be about another card tournament, and the name in general being a terrible idea.

Susan, where's your car?

At one point, I was considering establishing that Susan was also parked in the parking garage, and that the two of them would walk there together.

I decided against this for two reasons:

1 - If that was the case, it would make sense for Justin to give them both a ride there, further complicating this interaction in a way that would take focus off of Susan and Jay interacting, and prolonging things by at least another page without adding much of anything.

2 - Earlier, Susan contemplated whether a potentially calming fairy doll would be okay in the trunk of her car. This thought implied that her car was readily accessible, which would make no sense if Susan had parked in the parking garage. It was therefore INDISPUTABLE CANON that Susan had parked in the lot right outside the shop.

In all seriousness, I could have made excuses for reason two, such as "Susan was considering for the future", but it wouldn't have felt sincere to me. Even if the much more important reason one didn't exist, I would have wanted the location of Susan's car to have been consistent with that thought.