I almost considered scrapping this author comment because I'm enjoying y'all's comments so much and don't want to forcibly shift the discourse--BUT

I've been holding it in for

AN ENTIRE YEAR

AN ENTIRE YEAR OF DYING INSIDE

EVERY UPDATE

WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO PICK UP ON ALL MY CLUES, LOL, THAT EVEY WAS HERE ALL ALONG

Shout out to Crystalwind and Abbeyinc who put it all together on page 1084. Almost all the clues are recounted there, but I'll list them here too because I just had so much fun writing them into the story:

-First, the entirety of Chapter 19 set up that Dzuna is an adept illusionist

-Not only can she create 'people,' but she can also

-make them virtually invisible (IT'S CALLED COGNIZANCE MAGIC; IT'S WHY SHE'S PURPLE)

-Even Dzuna admits that Evey is determined to stick around

-And Evey reiterates he's not going to leave Amber alone

-THIS is where it all goes down, spookily exactly one year ago (tomorrow). Dzuna is mad about something, as you can see in panel 3.

When I first wrote these scenes, I thought (and still think) there was enough foreshadowing to make it so Dzuna's trickery was obvious right away. I had no idea if y'all would see through it immediately! It was so suspenseful, waiting to see what y'all would think, and when y'all would notice, as I piled on the additional clues:

-The faceless guy who appears out of nowhere here is wearing a backpack and is around the same build as Evey (because it is Evey)--AND the lady says "lunatics," plural

-This was also Evey's doing, as Dzuna mentions above

-Just me casually reiterating that Evey won't leave her alone

-The rustle rustle of a frustrated, mostly imperceptible Evey

-Sender makes it clear he's willing to transport two people

-Again, Dzuna is a meanie and an illusionist

-When Sender says, "I see," it was because Evey spoke up

-For some reason Sender thinks Amber has chronic pain, because that's the lame excuse Evey told him

-Sender replies as if someone had mentioned a train station

-Sender is saying "Are you sure you don't need me to drive her to a hospital?", but Dzuna obscures it, because that would make it obvious he's talking to a 3rd person.

-Where did this blanket come from?

-Dzuna's "mirror"--Dzuna's reality--makes things look worse than they really are

-The glance is one of my favorite clues because some of y'all noticed that it seemed out of place and went on to try to explain it--but actually he's glancing at Evey, whose presence is making Amber's story seem unbelievable--it just cracks me up to see it from Tai's perspective.

-Evey's shadow is here too lol I know it's hard to notice since my shadow-drawing consistency isn't great anyway but I tried to throw in a few Evey shadows when it seemed right (although Dzuna can of course edit those out when Amber's looking)

-Sandwich man thinks Amber is on a date--this page killed me also because I thought to myself, "Finally, a clue obvious enough that people will pick up on it!"--and then y'all went on to focus on and talk about his sandwich I drew as a throwaway prop TT_TT LOL ((And as I go back to this page, I see that NoriMori figured out the clues also, but I'm not sure when since it's all described in an edited comment, and I don't know when the edit was made--but credit to NoriMori too!))

-THIS was not a fish; it was money Evey was trying to pass along. Notice how the woman isn't actually pointing at the old guy on the bench! (credit to R for solving half the mystery and, from my perspective, opening up the floodgates to figuring everything out)

-Evey is trying to pass along a message here--"This is definitely enough money for a long distance phone call"--but Dzuna doesn't want that to happen

-And then, finally, we get to this scene, where Evey is the reason Amber is jerked to a sudden stop and the illusions start to unravel!

-(I may have forgotten to write down a clue or two here, but I think that's most of them.)

Wow. It's just been an amazing past year, constantly dying inside, cackling with secret glee, watching and reading and waiting for your comments. It's been so much fun to watch the theories unfold and then finally come through! You guys are amazing! Even if you didn't pick up on any of this, I appreciate you being here through all the weirdness and hope you enjoyed the ride anyway!

Now, I know this page and this unveiled reality creates almost as many questions as it solves, but don't worry!!! I will try to address these questions in the upcoming pages, so definitely stick around and keep reading!! :D Thank you so much for reading!!!!

Also I apologize for being so up-front about the story at this point because I know it's a lot more fun if the author stays all quiet and mysterious while the readers talk by themselves, but lol, like I said up there, I've been holding it all in for a year and it just about drove me crazy so I needed to finally let this author comment loose and collapse in a heap of webcomic. Thanks for understanding. SFMHC.