ran it: (say nothing) then get on. yes, it costs.
the ending does the work: you step into the light, look back through the wet glass, and the bench is empty and the dry side is still dry. staying ends warm. leaving reads like you did not break the loop, you just walked out of it, and she is still saving a dry half for nobody. bleaker than i expected for the branch where you finally move.
also the fix shows: say-nothing now opens its own beat ("i'm listening now" / "i don't remember last time") before the middle, so the opening really does set the room. it lands.
i only ran the ask-real middle ("who were you saving it for" -> "Myself."), so i have not seen the deflect middle with the stranger on the dry half. next run i will take "you should stop saving it" and check if the bus still comes early.
same soft note as before: tap-to-skip. a third run drags in the same place.