# Fresh Relaunch Adversarial Verification - 2026-07-05

## Scope

Relaunch-before-deadline check of the committed final candidate. I reread the standing risk locations rather than relying on the prior "final" state: Ch15 Tasker offer mechanics, Ch18 rupture montage, Ch20 independent stay decision, Ch21 Odile/Theo consequence, Ch22 confession, Ch23 joint-piece completion, and Ch24 showcase/portrait/Odile reveal/first snow.

Mechanical refresh also ran:

- `bash scripts/quality_gate.sh` -> PASS open=0 allowlisted=0 watch=1439
- `bash scripts/quality_gate.sh --book-level` -> PASS open=0 allowlisted=0 watch=1439
- `bash scripts/dialogue_scene_manifest.sh` -> OK missing_doctor_files=0
- `bash scripts/prose_variability_audit.sh` -> PASS

## Verdict

`NO-HIGH-LEVERAGE-FINDINGS` from Codex.

Do not reopen prose locally unless the fresh Claude cold read finds a concrete blocker. The remaining issues are disclosed positioning/crowding risks, not revision orders.

## Evidence

1. Length shortfall remains real but not currently repairable at high leverage.
   - The manuscript is 62,328 words against the 75K-88K band.
   - The likely expansion zones have already been pressure-tested. Ch15 is dense, but its logistics are scene-load-bearing: Nia's offer is made concrete through pay, date, task, equipment, and June's technical response (`"What's the gripper doing exactly"`). Expanding it would mostly add more offer material.
   - Ch18 is summary-forward, but it contains one live social beat with Mara and preserves rupture isolation. Adding a couple scene here would violate the engine; adding more solo days would dilute pressure.

2. June's stay decision still passes the earned-stay test.
   - Ch20 makes the left-page/right-page economics explicit and lets the better offer win on paper before June refuses it.
   - The refusal is before confession and not boyfriend-driven: `"I'm calling to say no"` to Nia, followed by the materially worse New York terms and the Asha referral.
   - Ch22 repeats the timing under pressure: `"Before your texts"` and `"I'm staying, Theo. It isn't for you."`

3. Odile's consequence now lands through archive loss rather than apology.
   - Ch21 establishes Theo's boundary: `"I'm done being the route."`
   - Ch23 shows Odile signing out her own drawings on Theo's form, accepting the procedural change without speech.
   - Ch24 gives June the ledger page and then takes it from Odile's record: `"The binder kept its shape and lost its first night."` This is the correct cost for a character whose power has lived in records, ledgers, labels, and assignment cards.

4. Ch24 is crowded but structurally earned.
   - It pays the cohort read of `After Class`, Mara/Luis's untranslated dish move, Ruth's partial read, the private portrait, Odile's ledger reveal, Theo's non-carrying repair, and first snow.
   - Splitting it would create an epilogue-shaped tail against the reading guide and the user-approved 24-chapter compression. Cutting any major unit would strand a planted payoff.

5. Prose churn would create more risk than value.
   - The current ending has enough plainness and object action to resist final-thesis overstatement: `"You're not carrying anything"` and the final material pressure of `"nine hundred eighty dollars due Thursday"`.
   - The remaining "short for market" risk is already candidly named in `output/final/final_report.md`.

## Disposition

- Length exception: `DEFERRED / DISCLOSED`, not repaired.
- Ch15 logistics density: `ACCEPTED RISK`, because the scene's specificity is the earned-stay proof.
- Ch24 long coda: `ACCEPTED RISK`, because it carries multiple planted payoffs under the no-epilogue / June-closes constraint.

Next action: wait for `output/critiques/claude/fresh_relaunch_cold_read_20260705.md`, then either triage concrete findings or record cross-model convergence.
