Thank you so much for saying so!!

The section that has the fallback is quite long (it has 16 choices, most of them with nested choices beneath them and most of them gated by conditionals), but here are a few that are above the fallback (with the nested sections removed because I would likely max the character count otherwise):

*   {CHOICE_COUNT()<3 and f_stress} [worries]
        Jin "You're worried about { beauty:losing your beauty{ fears: and letting others down}|letting others down}? # jin sympathetic # clinic quiet
        Florence nods. # flo downcast
        Florence "That's about right.
        
*   (party) {CHOICE_COUNT()<3 and ellis} [Ellis]
        Jin "How did you meet Ellis? # jin neutral # clinic quiet
        Florence smiles and her gaze wanders, seeing a time gone by. # flo shy
        Florence "We were at Dancing Arcs, a semi-annual evening party. The sun was setting and they had arranged prisms around the room to catch the light.
        Florence "A friend introduced us, and we hit it off.
        She laughs softly. # flo laugh
        Florence "He's awfully charming, and he did small things that exhibited a considerate heart. We started meeting up after that and he grew fond of me.
        Florence "My parents were so pleased. Ellis's father is well respected and Ellis himself is a perfect gentleman. # flo smile
        ~ f_clues++

*   {CHOICE_COUNT()<3 and fears2} [addressed worries?]
        Jin "Have you spoken to anyone about your worries? # jin concerned
        Florence drops her gaze but I catch the forlornness in her expression. # flo downcast
        { 
            - f_trust>5:
                Florence "I did once. It was a mistake. # flo neutral
            - else:
                Florence "They're only simple concerns, not worth worrying others. # flo smile
        }

*   {CHOICE_COUNT()<3 and CHOICE_COUNT()>0} [next phase] <> -> recommendation

*   {save_choice_count()}-> recommendation

Oh so the fallback choice always returns true. It’s there so I can check how many choices are left in the conversation when I move to a different section (if there’s enough left, you come back to these questions; otherwise, you move on).

Here’s the function that’s being called,

=== function save_choice_count() ===
~ choice_count = CHOICE_COUNT()
~ return true

But the issue with the blank choice on loading happens even with normal fallbacks that don’t have any conditionals on them. (I just don’t have a save file currently that recreates the bug, unlike for this fallback with the conditional.)