I dont know why you added the countdown for the responses. I have dyslexia. I cant finish reading befor the timer is finished. Its quite frustrating.
The countdown is not yet fully integrated into the game. It should only appear when you reach an ending, and depending on whether it's good or bad, it either increases or has almost no countdown at all. This mechanic is still not fully developed.
That being said, I'll make the response bar last longer until this feature is properly implemented ♪(´▽｀)