Put me in a dress and call me Nancy, what a comment!
Chapter 3 is almost finished. Chapter 4 begins either with the release of v0.30 or v0.31, depending on where exactly the ending of Chapter 3 ends up.
Suzu is great, isn't she? I never intended for her to get as much attention as she did but she conquered my heart in a storm and I had no choice but to focus on her more.
What does "JK" mean in this context, though? Not sure about that acronym.
"Forced" love interests (like Mana) are a sore spot for a lot of people. I'm aware of that. But honestly, with a story like CH's, there is no way to make any of the main love interests optional. They're all there for a reason and I haven't thrown any of them in just willy nilly. The more player agenda there is within a game, the less cohesive (or the more shallow) the story is, in my opinion. Either that, or the development takes ages because you have to handcraft each individual route to still make sense and have the same impact. Since I don't want to still be working on CH in 10 years, I decided to go for a single main route with slight variations through choices and some optional sexual/romantical encounters.
The above also goes for Jun. I know she's a very polarizing character, but I do have a plan for her, like I do for all the others. She's always been a gamble but I hope it pays off once you guys find out where things are headed with her. All I'm asking is to not completely write her off just yet.
Don't think I've forgotten any of the side characters, but I also don't have a plan for all of them. Many members of the side cast are just there to fill the world and to make it so that we don't just run into the same 5 characters over and over again, because that's kind of a pet peeve of mine. The important players should be known by now (with a handful of exceptions, maybe) and all the others are basically loveable/quirky extras.
Thanks a lot for your comment and your kind words! I do feel proud of CH. And I'm glad that you enjoy it, too. :)