diff --git a/tests/render_cases_navigation.py b/tests/render_cases_navigation.py
index ce320a387..68ce7d6c8 100644
--- a/tests/render_cases_navigation.py
+++ b/tests/render_cases_navigation.py
@@ -107,17 +107,28 @@
 # placed from and where the option's own room starts: a joined cell wears the hairline
 # below it as its own border, so measured from the border box, the last cell of every
 # group would sit one pixel apart from the rest while the page shows them level.
+#
+# The gutter the chip stands in comes back with it, because where the chip belongs is a
+# relation to the two boxes either side of it rather than a number. The status rule is the
+# option's own `::before` and the prose opens at the column the option pads to, so
+# `afterStatus` and `opens` are read where the theme spends them. Written as the number
+# they came to, the reading would have to be re-pinned every time either neighbour moved,
+# and a re-pinned number proves only that somebody ran the test.
 INSIDE_ITS_OPTION = """el => {
     const chip = el.getBoundingClientRect();
     const opt = el.parentElement.getBoundingClientRect();
     const s = getComputedStyle(el.parentElement);
+    const status = getComputedStyle(el.parentElement, '::before');
     const top = opt.y + parseFloat(s.borderTopWidth);
     const left = opt.x + parseFloat(s.borderLeftWidth);
     const bottom = opt.bottom - parseFloat(s.borderBottomWidth);
     const above = parseFloat(s.paddingTop), below = parseFloat(s.paddingBottom);
     const words = top + above + (bottom - top - above - below) / 2;
-    return {x: chip.x - left, y: chip.y - top, past: chip.bottom - bottom,
-            level: (chip.y + chip.height / 2) - words};
+    return {x: chip.x - left, ends: chip.right - left,
+            y: chip.y - top, past: chip.bottom - bottom,
+            level: (chip.y + chip.height / 2) - words,
+            afterStatus: parseFloat(status.left) + parseFloat(status.width),
+            opens: parseFloat(s.paddingInlineStart)};
 }"""
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_render_navigation.py b/tests/test_render_navigation.py
index e5c60a479..a20d3ff51 100644
--- a/tests/test_render_navigation.py
+++ b/tests/test_render_navigation.py
@@ -113,8 +113,15 @@ def test_a_questions_digits_are_drawn_whole(browser, serve):
     row. Pinned as one 8px it was level with a 15px row, and the day the row went to the
     page's own 17px it was two pixels too high with the gate still green — because what
     the gate read was the number the theme stated, and the claim beside it, that a row's
-    digit is level with its words, was checked by nothing."""
+    digit is level with its words, was checked by nothing.
+
+    How far in it stands is the whole group's, and it is asked as the relation it is: the
+    gutter reads status rule, digit, then prose, so the digit is measured against those two
+    neighbours and against the other form's seat. Pinned as the number the gutter came to,
+    the reading broke the day a status rule took the head of the column and the digit moved
+    along behind it — a move the page wanted, reported as a failure of the digit."""
     page, errors = open_page(browser, serve(ADDRESS_PAGE))
+    seats = {}
     for options, sitting in [
         (["c-heater", "c-cable", "c-hand"], "in the corner"),
         (["r-now", "r-later"], "centred"),
@@ -125,11 +132,20 @@ def test_a_questions_digits_are_drawn_whole(browser, serve):
             expect(chip).to_be_visible()
             cut = chip.evaluate(CLIPPED_BY)
             assert cut is None, f"{id_}'s digit is cut: {cut}"
+            # Never on the hairline the outer corner would have shared with the cells
+            # around it, and never in either neighbour's room: the option's gutter opens
+            # with the status rule, and its words open at the column the option pads to.
+            # `test_the_pointer_does_not_take_a_cells_status_with_it` asks that order of
+            # one recommended cell of the card form, with the pointer moved off it before
+            # the reading; the row form is asked here and nowhere else.
             sits = chip.evaluate(INSIDE_ITS_OPTION)
-            # The status/address/prose order has its own focused geometry test. Here the
-            # address only has to stay wholly inside its option and off the option's
-            # words; pinning its old 6px inset made this test reject that new gutter.
-            assert sits["x"] > 0, f"{id_}'s digit sits on its option's outer edge"
+            assert sits["afterStatus"] < sits["x"] < sits["ends"] < sits["opens"], (
+                f"{id_}'s digit runs {sits['x']}…{sits['ends']} in a gutter whose status "
+                f"rule ends at {sits['afterStatus']} and whose words open at "
+                f"{sits['opens']}, so the gutter is holding one of the three in another's "
+                "room"
+            )
+            seats.setdefault(round(sits["x"], 1), []).append(id_)
             if sitting == "in the corner":
                 assert round(sits["y"]) == 8, (
                     f"{id_}'s digit sits {sits['y']} down from its option's top, not in "
@@ -147,6 +163,9 @@ def test_a_questions_digits_are_drawn_whole(browser, serve):
             # only right for as long as the column the theme reserves is.
             on = chip.evaluate(OVER_WORDS, id_)
             assert on is None, f"{id_}'s digit is drawn over the words “{on}”"
+    # One column, in both forms: a card's cell and a row's are the two shapes whose room
+    # differed, and a seat each would read as a straight rail down neither.
+    assert len(seats) == 1, f"the digits stand at more than one column: {seats}"
     assert errors == []
     page.close()