diff --git a/high-signal-tokens.mjs b/high-signal-tokens.mjs
index 6ba87d6..9aae84b 100644
--- a/high-signal-tokens.mjs
+++ b/high-signal-tokens.mjs
@@ -56,6 +56,30 @@ export function extractHighSignalTokens(text) {
  *   every prior version); when supplied it enables the ledger exemption below.
  * @returns {Array<{id,oldLen,newLen,ratio,dropped,droppedCount}>} one entry per suspicious pair
  */
+// A token is still carried if the new text names it OR names something it is the
+// tail of. Writing `memory/index.mjs` out and `E:/Project/ws/memory/index.mjs` in
+// is not a loss — it is the same file, said more precisely, and set difference
+// alone calls it a drop.
+//
+// This matters more than it looks. Consolidating several memories almost always
+// expands relative references into absolute ones, so the merge that a maintainer
+// is most likely to perform is exactly the one that fires the most bogus
+// warnings. A guard that cries wolf on good edits gets ignored on the bad ones,
+// and this one exists to be read.
+//
+// Suffix must break on a separator: `send.mjs` is not carried by `feishu-send.mjs`
+// (a different file), while `memory/index.mjs` is carried by `E:/x/memory/index.mjs`.
+export function isStillCarried(token, newTokens) {
+  if (newTokens.has(token)) return true
+  for (const t of newTokens) {
+    if (t.length > token.length && t.endsWith(token)) {
+      const boundary = t[t.length - token.length - 1]
+      if (boundary === '/' || boundary === '\\') return true
+    }
+  }
+  return false
+}
+
 export function checkSupersedeShrink(newContent, olds) {
   const warnings = []
   const newTokens = new Set(extractHighSignalTokens(newContent))
@@ -83,7 +107,7 @@ export function checkSupersedeShrink(newContent, olds) {
     const peakLen = Math.max(old.peakLen || 0, oldLen)
     if (oneToOne && newLen >= peakLen) continue
 
-    const dropped = extractHighSignalTokens(old.content).filter(t => !newTokens.has(t))
+    const dropped = extractHighSignalTokens(old.content).filter(t => !isStillCarried(t, newTokens))
     const ratio = oldLen ? +(newLen / oldLen).toFixed(2) : 1
     const shrank = oneToOne && oldLen >= SHRINK_MIN_OLD_LEN && ratio < SHRINK_RATIO_FLOOR
     if (!dropped.length && !shrank) continue
diff --git a/memory-health.mjs b/memory-health.mjs
index 506cec9..4ca5de6 100644
--- a/memory-health.mjs
+++ b/memory-health.mjs
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ import { existsSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { dirname, resolve } from 'node:path'
 import { fileURLToPath, pathToFileURL } from 'node:url'
 import { createRequire } from 'node:module'
-import { extractHighSignalTokens } from './high-signal-tokens.mjs'
+import { extractHighSignalTokens, isStillCarried } from './high-signal-tokens.mjs'
 
 const require = createRequire(import.meta.url)
 const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url))
@@ -535,7 +535,11 @@ export function detectShrinkVictims(db, opts = {}) {
     const nowTokens = new Set(extractHighSignalTokens(r.content))
     const lost = new Set()
     for (const p of priors) {
-      for (const t of extractHighSignalTokens(p.content)) if (!nowTokens.has(t)) lost.add(t)
+      // Same "is it still carried" rule as the write-time guard, imported rather
+      // than reimplemented — these two drifted apart once before and the audit
+      // queue is only trustworthy if it agrees with the gate that let the write
+      // through in the first place.
+      for (const t of extractHighSignalTokens(p.content)) if (!isStillCarried(t, nowTokens)) lost.add(t)
     }
     if (!lost.size) continue
     lostAny++
diff --git a/supersede-shrink.integration.test.mjs b/supersede-shrink.integration.test.mjs
index c2e3fb6..12750fe 100644
--- a/supersede-shrink.integration.test.mjs
+++ b/supersede-shrink.integration.test.mjs
@@ -225,5 +225,47 @@ try {
 }
 
 dbRead.close()
+// ── a token spelled more precisely is not a token dropped ──
+//
+// All three cases below are real merges from one night of memory curation. Each
+// one warned, each warning was wrong, and the reason was always the same: the
+// consolidated text expanded a relative reference into an absolute one, so plain
+// set difference saw the short form vanish.
+//
+// That is the merge a maintainer performs most often, which made this the
+// warning they would learn to ignore first — on a guard whose whole value is
+// being read.
+{
+  const { checkSupersedeShrink, isStillCarried } = await import('./high-signal-tokens.mjs')
+
+  const carried = [
+    ['memory/index.mjs', 'E:/Project/ws/memory/index.mjs'],
+    ['session-summarize.mjs', 'E:/Project/ws/memory/scripts/session-summarize.mjs'],
+    ['scripts/run.sh', 'C:/tools/scripts/run.sh'],
+  ]
+  for (const [short, long] of carried) {
+    check(`"${short}" counts as carried by "${long}"`, isStillCarried(short, new Set([long])))
+  }
+
+  // The boundary is a path separator. Same suffix, different file — must still warn.
+  check('a different file that merely ends the same way is NOT carried',
+    !isStillCarried('send.mjs', new Set(['E:/Project/ws/feishu-send.mjs'])))
+  check('a bare substring is not carried either',
+    !isStillCarried('index.mjs', new Set(['reindex.mjs'])))
+
+  const oldContent = 'runner lives at memory/index.mjs and the log rotates via scripts/run.sh, token in API_TOKEN, see https://ops.example.com/dash'
+  const newContent = 'runner lives at E:/Project/ws/memory/index.mjs and the log rotates via C:/tools/scripts/run.sh, token in API_TOKEN, see https://ops.example.com/dash — now also covers the nightly path'
+  const clean = checkSupersedeShrink(newContent, [{ id: '1', content: oldContent }])
+  check('expanding relative paths to absolute raises no warning',
+    clean.length === 0, JSON.stringify(clean))
+
+  // And the real loss still lands: same expansion, but the URL is gone.
+  const lossy = 'runner lives at E:/Project/ws/memory/index.mjs and the log rotates via C:/tools/scripts/run.sh, token in API_TOKEN'
+  const warned = checkSupersedeShrink(lossy, [{ id: '1', content: oldContent }])
+  check('a genuinely dropped identifier still warns',
+    warned.length === 1 && warned[0].dropped.some(d => d.includes('ops.example.com')),
+    JSON.stringify(warned))
+}
+
 console.log(`\n${fail === 0 ? 'PASS' : 'FAIL'}: ${pass} passed / ${fail} failed`)
 process.exit(fail === 0 ? 0 : 1)