Have you considered an intro skip? It took me 40 minutes to get to the convenience store and, if I was to ever replay this, I would love to be able to have an option for a new game to start there.
I mention this because most games I've kept track of eventually have an update that breaks old save files. Also because some people don't have the patience for intros and backstory.
Edit:
Now at the 9 hour mark. Also just scrolled through the other comments and saw the guy who said they're at the 96 hour mark. Yeah, anyone who feels the need to skip the intro just straight up ain't gonna be playing this game.
Most of the stuff I play off Itch has either had save breaks be a regular risk or is short enough / non-linear enough that making new saves to see stuff isn’t uncommon. Even with the story and roleplay aspects, an unskippable 40 minute intro would be a slog in them.
I wrote the comment around 45 minutes in when I was still expected another of those games. My edit then came 8 hours after that when I realized those assumptions don’t apply here.