I'm confused. I thought the game was free to play? I think I've played up to ep 8 for free.
Hi yes, it was free to play up to Episode 8, before 9's release.
But they explained in their latest monthly public Patreon newsletter about how having a price on it would help them in putting extra work into making the last episode and epilogue in having the best ending that it'll get.
It's a pretty understandable thing for a lot of Visual Novel games to do as it grows with each new update and features. :)