i, like so many others, have constantly screamed 'just tell him already!' at my computer screen, but i also remember being 17 & 18 and having similar all-consuming amounts of risk-aversion behaviour. i appreciate how the art direction and writing portrays most of the characters as actual teenagers, much like butterfly soup, and not as popular media stereotypes of teenagers.
i think it would provide a little more clarity to state the era that this narrative takes place in on this itch page, the furtive year of 2003, since it is otherwise very easy to assume that it is taking place right now (twenty some-odd years later). the story itself makes the time-period clear with its references to the technology of the time (dial-up, cd games, broadband, monthly cell-phone minutes), but it might save some confusion for readers to also know the setting's year in the novel's description here. thanks and im looking forward to the next updates!