Do you play Undertale? the dog just randomly appearing like that gave me Hard mode ending vibes and Dogsong started blasting in my head
lol. I did play Undertale (loved it!) and a lot of that inspiration is definitely also found it's way in the game's writing. That scene did not immediately came to mind though. Funny that there's something similar happening there. I will not deny that there might've been some unconscious influence going on when I came up with that ending basically on a whim. Great catch! Thanks for sharing :)