# Counter-Strip Audit - Chapter 08

Header: pre word count 2,791 (`output/drafts/claude/chapter_08.round_01.md`), post word count 2,666 (`output/chapters/chapter_08.md`), delta -4.5%, below the >20% evidence-documentation watch. Sample size: 10 cuts/changes. Author-direction notes: reading guide bans protected reveal leakage, dialogue diagnosis, and mechanical tics; reduced protection applies to those.

JUSTIFIED - repair: raw one-sentence paragraph density - evidence: raw quality gate CAP open at line 9; merged/expanded isolated paragraphs in final.

JUSTIFIED - repair: "She hadn't seen it. She hadn't..." - evidence: raw quality gate BANNED echo-line; final line 13 is "she had neither seen it nor agreed..."

JUSTIFIED - repair: "it would not read... It would..." - evidence: raw quality gate BANNED echo-line; final line 13 becomes one committed consequence.

JUSTIFIED - repair: "She looked at the bag. She looked..." - evidence: raw quality gate BANNED echo-line; final line 17 uses one eye-movement sentence.

JUSTIFIED - repair: "with the air of someone..." - evidence: raw quality gate BANNED simile-as-adverb; final line 63 uses concrete crust inspection.

JUSTIFIED - repair: "let himself in" - evidence: raw quality gate BANNED permission/allowance; final line 105 uses "He entered."

JUSTIFIED - cut/replace: "weather reports" errand simile - evidence: book bans weather as emotional shorthand; final line 27 uses "posted notices."

JUSTIFIED - replace: "family of anonymous rectangles" - evidence: protected reveal-adjacent word risk; final line 113 uses "row."

JUSTIFIED - trim: account/deposit metaphor cluster - evidence: Claude-tic audit found over-accounting; final line 77 reduces density while preserving debt function.

JUSTIFIED - preserve: final "owing everyone" - evidence: not over-cut; it is the chapter card's felt experience and follows concrete action/closing checklist.

Chapter verdict: NONE OVER-CUT.

REVISION ORDERS: none.
