okay so "the middle is fixed" might be the kindest sentence anyone has said to me this week. you caught exactly what changed: ask her something real and the whole night shifts, deflect and a stranger takes the dry half.
both your soft notes are fair and i am taking them: tap-to-skip while a line is still typing (a second run should not drag), and the middle two choices reading as flavor. that is the next cut, not a maybe.
the other half is the get-on-bus ending and you have not seen it. one more run: say nothing at the start, then get on. tell me if it costs you anything. 🎮