# Counter-Strip Audit - Chapter 18

id: counter_strip | owner: codex | target: `output/chapters/chapter_18.md`

- `KEPT — warmth` — despite cutting portable wit, the chapter keeps Mara's turkey/heart text, food package, dish tether, sleeve touch, and `"I'm glad you came."`
- `KEPT — emotional legibility` — despite cutting explanatory clauses, June's pressure remains readable through the draft cursor, face-down phone, face-down studies, and spackle action.
- `KEPT — comedy register` — post-positive Comedy verification found current comedy holds; the chapter is not stripped into solemnity.
- `KEPT — Tasker credibility` — offer terms remain materially good; the chapter does not weaken Philadelphia to force New York.
- `KEPT — Mara wrongness` — repairs did not make Mara cruel; her smoothing misfires once while her care remains practical.

Chapter verdict: `ANTI-OVER-CORRECTION-HOLDS`.

REVISION ORDERS: none.
