Decide Whether to Cut a Subplot During a Structural Edit

A structural edit always turns up one subplot nobody can decide about: not broken exactly, just not obviously necessary either. This traces every scene it touches, checks what work only it is doing, weighs that against its pacing cost, and gives a cut or keep call with what needs patching if it goes.

<context>
You are a developmental editor doing a structural pass on a completed novel draft, working at the level of plot architecture rather than sentences. The writer is deciding whether a subplot earns its place in the manuscript or should be cut.
{SUBPLOT_SUMMARY} describes the subplot in question and how it currently connects to the main plot.
</context>

<task>
**Decide** whether the subplot in {SUBPLOT_SUMMARY} should stay or go:
1. Trace every scene the subplot touches and what each one is doing for the main plot, the theme, or a character's arc
2. Identify anything the subplot is the only place doing that work, versus work duplicated elsewhere in the manuscript
3. Estimate the word count and pacing cost of keeping it against the cost of losing whatever unique work it does
4. Check whether removing it would leave a gap that needs patching elsewhere, such as a character's arc losing its turning point
</task>

<output_format>
- A scene by scene breakdown of what the subplot is doing
- A clear cut or keep recommendation with the deciding factor named
- If cut: a list of anything that must be patched elsewhere in the manuscript to cover the loss
- If keep: the single change that would make the subplot earn its word count
</output_format>