diff --git a/docs/port/HANDOFF.md b/docs/port/HANDOFF.md
index fb0f6483..d13cf5ba 100644
--- a/docs/port/HANDOFF.md
+++ b/docs/port/HANDOFF.md
@@ -9,6 +9,30 @@ the findings — but an answer that is not reachable from this page has not been
 delivered.
 
 
+
+## 🔴 2026-08-30 — do not hardcode the menu's initial focus; the sources disagree
+
+**New, and it is a warning rather than an answer.** `menu-navigation-semantics.md`
+records initial focus as **`TUTORIAL`** (2/2 boots). But `boot_menu.sh`'s own
+closing line says **`NEW GAME`**, and `menu-state-in-memory.md` reaches `EXTRAS` in
+**four** downs — which only counts from `NEW GAME`. Two sources against one, and
+the harness is not moving the cursor (`skip_intro.sh` presses Ⓐ once, no d-pad).
+
+**I could not settle it this iteration.** Two boots failed before the menu: the
+title gate tests for a *static* screen, and this title never stills — minimum
+frame-to-frame difference 1 551 against a threshold of 1 500, 0 of 72 samples able
+to pass. [details](../re/harness-title-gate-assumes-a-static-title.md)
+
+⚠️ **So the 🟡 on that page is now weaker than it reads**: not merely "reproducible
+but not proven invariant", but *contradicted by two other records*. If you have
+authored `TUTORIAL`, keep it — I have not refuted it — but treat it as authored on
+one harness, and expect it to change.
+
+Also unanswered, and never once run: whether focus **persists** across
+menu → Ⓑ → title → Ⓐ → menu. `tools/re-capture/focus_persistence.sh` is written
+and waiting on a harness that can reach the menu.
+
+
 ## ⚠️ 2026-08-30 — my prose in this file is now load-bearing, and two things follow
 
 `sylpheed-port` has anchored automated checks on the **wording** of deliveries
diff --git a/docs/re/menu-navigation-semantics.md b/docs/re/menu-navigation-semantics.md
index 6cd8a1ea..9b1f214c 100644
--- a/docs/re/menu-navigation-semantics.md
+++ b/docs/re/menu-navigation-semantics.md
@@ -30,6 +30,21 @@ with [`tools/re-capture/menu_focus.py`](../../tools/re-capture/menu_focus.py).
 Wrap holds on both screens tested — the 5-item main menu and the 3-item `EXTRAS`
 submenu — so it is a menu rule, not a per-screen table.
 
+⚠️ **2026-08-30 — and the sources DISAGREE, which nothing here had noticed.**
+`boot_menu.sh`'s own closing line says *"AT MAIN MENU (cursor on NEW GAME)"*, and
+[`menu-state-in-memory.md`](menu-state-in-memory.md)'s run reaches `EXTRAS` in
+**four** downs, which only counts from `NEW GAME`. Two sources say `NEW GAME`;
+this table says `TUTORIAL` 2/2. `skip_intro.sh` presses Ⓐ once and no d-pad, so
+the harness is not moving the cursor and that does not explain it.
+
+🔴 **I tried to settle it and could not: the boot never reached the menu**, twice —
+the title gate cannot fire on this title
+([harness-title-gate-assumes-a-static-title](harness-title-gate-assumes-a-static-title.md)).
+So the disagreement stands, and the round trip that would answer the persistence
+question — menu → Ⓑ → title → Ⓐ → menu, is focus where you left it or reset? — has
+still never been run. `tools/re-capture/focus_persistence.sh` is written and ready
+for a harness that can reach the menu.
+
 **🟡 Initial focus is reproducible but not established as invariant.** Both of my
 boots opened on `TUTORIAL`, and both used `boot_menu.sh`. The run recorded in
 [`menu-state-in-memory.md`](menu-state-in-memory.md) reached `EXTRAS` with *four*