Liftoff here, 2 is the right number... except in some comments where 3 works too unless it doesn't 🤷

2 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - OK (second italics escaped)

32 20 c2 af [5c 5c] 5f 28 e3 83 84 29 [5c 5f] 2f c2 af 0a

2 ¯\(ツ)/¯ - unescaped ITALICS

32 20 c2 af [5c 5c] 5f 28 e3 83 84 29 5f 2f c2 af 0a

3 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - OK (first italics escaped)

33 20 c2 af [5c 5c] [5c 5f] 28 e3 83 84 29 5f 2f c2 af 0a

3 ¯⁠\\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ - doubled

33 20 c2 af [e2 81 a0] [5c 5c] 5c [e2 81 a0] 5f [e2 81 a0] 28 [e2 81 a0] e3 83 84 [e2 81 a0] 29 [e2 81 a0] 5f [e2 81 a0] 2f [e2 81 a0] c2 af 0a

0xE281A0 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_joiner