# Book-Level Intensity Arc Audit - Draft 0

id: book_arc | owner: codex | tier: book
date: 2026-07-05

## Register Dimension

Derived from the reading guide/master spec: warm precise contemporary-romance pressure, measured as the blend of romantic/artistic exposure, social cost of the fake category, and material stay/leave pressure. The guide explicitly makes the showcase a coda, not the romantic climax, so Ch23-Ch24 may settle while still carrying consequence.

## Intensity Table

Ch 01 - intensity 4/10 - evidence: "The last spot. You two" and "Don't fix it." - valley? intentional opening disturbance.
Ch 02 - intensity 4/10 - evidence: crossed-out "couples" / "pairs" / "partners" and PARK / BRENNAN paperwork - valley? intentional institutional tightening.
Ch 03 - intensity 4/10 - evidence: `"That's us," June said` - valley? intentional first-public-lie socialization.
Ch 04 - intensity 5/10 - evidence: Ruth's comped-slot question and portable edited story - valley? no.
Ch 05 - intensity 5/10 - evidence: "she could probably produce that lean again next week from memory" - valley? no.
Ch 06 - intensity 5/10 - evidence: Ruth's clean-exit pressure - valley? intentional ethical expansion.
Ch 07 - intensity 6/10 - evidence: June writes THEO BRENNAN and Theo hides his study - valley? no.
Ch 08 - intensity 5/10 - evidence: hidden study faced to the wall, cohort table extended - valley? intentional breath after Week 3.
Ch 09 - intensity 5/10 - evidence: "Philadelphia had a set of keys... Neither one was nothing" - valley? intentional material-world insertion.
Ch 10 - intensity 6/10 - evidence: `"I don't know"... "it's all maintenance"` - valley? no.
Ch 11 - intensity 5/10 - evidence: PARK / BRENNAN cubby and Ruth/Sam form history - valley? intentional ensemble/category pressure.
Ch 12 - intensity 6/10 - evidence: exchanged memories riding under rubber band / in Theo's pocket - valley? no.
Ch 13 - intensity 8/10 - evidence: "Each pair will make one joint piece" plus the cover kiss and PHL-board text - valley? no; midpoint peak.
Ch 14 - intensity 6/10 - evidence: flyer photo, label problem, all nine catalogs loaned - valley? intentional logistics compression after peak.
Ch 15 - intensity 6/10 - evidence: Tasker terms priced against Dana/Kessler - valley? intentional decision-pressure chapter.
Ch 16 - intensity 8/10 - evidence: Week 6 fear canvases and the unsaid `Odile's my aunt` - valley? no; pre-rupture peak.
Ch 17 - intensity 9/10 - evidence: `"Eileen Brennan is my mother. Odile's my aunt"` and no-chair rupture - valley? no; rupture peak.
Ch 18 - intensity 6/10 - evidence: five leaving-side studies and unresolved Friday noon deadline - valley? intentional aftermath labor.
Ch 19 - intensity 7/10 - evidence: June's absence as one stool/two jars/empty side - valley? no.
Ch 20 - intensity 7/10 - evidence: "I said no at 10:52" / Tasker declined before confession - valley? no; material-choice peak.
Ch 21 - intensity 7/10 - evidence: Odile partial, no-more-route boundary, faced-to-wall finished study - valley? no.
Ch 22 - intensity 9/10 - evidence: `"I'm staying, Theo. It isn't for you"` and portrait terms before kiss - valley? no; romantic climax.
Ch 23 - intensity 8/10 - evidence: `After Class. Two underpaintings of one room, finished together` - valley? intentional post-climax work/settlement.
Ch 24 - intensity 8/10 - evidence: `"You didn't start this together"`, `Park, J. - Brennan, T. Last slot`, and `"It wasn't yours to run"` - valley? intentional coda with final reveal.

## Curve Summary

Peaks: Ch13 midpoint public kiss/showcase assignment; Ch16 fear canvases; Ch17 nephew rupture; Ch22 private confession/terms; Ch24 Odile proof/coda.

Valleys:
- Ch08, intentional: social debt and hidden-object custody after Week 3.
- Ch09, intentional: material work world opens the stay/leave axis.
- Ch11, intentional: ensemble category/access pressure.
- Ch14-Ch15, intentional logistics/offer setup before Week 6 rupture.
- Ch18, intentional aftermath labor rather than disappearance.

Escalation evidence:
- Public lie -> private attention -> public art object -> rupture -> self-owned stay -> chosen collaboration -> partial public truth.
- The final high beats ascend in kind, not volume: Ch17 exposes family asymmetry; Ch20 removes romance from the stay decision; Ch22 sets private repair terms; Ch24 exposes Odile's larger manipulation.

Climax position: Ch22, roughly 86% of manuscript by chapter count and word count. Because the climax is late, the post-climax deflation check is not triggered in the template's front-half/midpoint sense. The coda chapters are supposed to settle, not out-shout Ch22.

## Verdict

ARC-BUILDS.

The intensity curve does not plateau in the middle: it rotates pressure types and escalates from class/social lie into art/object evidence, then into rupture/material choice/private terms/final reveal. The coda is lower than the booth confession in romantic volatility but higher in book-level consequence because Odile's proof and `After Class` public reception close the premise.

Weakest arc risk: the final coda is doing many payoffs in one chapter. If Claude cold read reports skimming or compression in Ch24, expansion should add consequence space around either the public room reading `After Class` or the Odile ledger proof, not make the confession louder.

Revision orders: none blocking. Conditional order pending cold read: EXPAND Ch24 into two movements or add a short aftermath beat only if cold readers find the coda checklist-like.
