[Hereafter] Chapter CCLII: East Village Allies (Patreon)

Not totally happy with this title, but I couldn't think of a better one, so here it goes.

This chapter is laying a lot of groundwork for future chapters, so things are bit slower and milder and less dense, but character interactions are some of my favorite things to write about, so I got to do a lot of that for this chapter. As the ending of this chapter leads in, however, the next couple chapters are going to be a bit heavier on action. A moment I teased a long time ago is approaching, and something I teased fairly recently is also approaching.

EDIT: Moving down all the way. 8/29/2026