diff --git a/internal/consolereporter/total_test.go b/internal/consolereporter/total_test.go
index c159338..d4362dc 100644
--- a/internal/consolereporter/total_test.go
+++ b/internal/consolereporter/total_test.go
@@ -71,3 +71,36 @@ type noGates struct{}
 
 func (noGates) Gated() int    { return 0 }
 func (noGates) FellBack() int { return 0 }
+
+// TestADecoratorOverSomethingThatCannotCountSaysUnknown is the other half of the
+// forwarding, and the half its mutants found unguarded.
+//
+// A decorator whose delegate cannot answer must read as UNKNOWN, not as zero.
+// Zero means "the scope produced nothing to judge", and a decorator that
+// invented it would turn a genuinely failing run into a silent success. The
+// sentinel is -1 because a count cannot be negative.
+func TestADecoratorOverSomethingThatCannotCountSaysUnknown(t *testing.T) {
+	logger := fakelogger.New()
+
+	for name, wrapped := range map[string]ditto.Reporter{
+		"verbose": verbosereporter.New(logger, countlessReporter{}),
+		"gated":   gatedreporter.New(logger, noGates{}, countlessReporter{}),
+	} {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			counted, ok := wrapped.(interface{ Total() int })
+			if !ok {
+				t.Fatalf("the %s reporter does not forward the count at all", name)
+			}
+
+			if got := counted.Total(); got != -1 {
+				t.Fatalf("Total() = %d over a reporter that cannot count, want -1", got)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// countlessReporter is every reporter that existed before the count did.
+type countlessReporter struct{}
+
+func (countlessReporter) AddDiagnostic(*ditto.Diagnostic) {}
+func (countlessReporter) Summarize() result.Result[any]   { return result.Err[any]("") }
diff --git a/scored_internal_test.go b/scored_internal_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec0f280
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scored_internal_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+package ditto
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/Disble/ditto/internal/ditto"
+	"github.com/Disble/ditto/internal/result"
+)
+
+// countlessReporter is a reporter that cannot say how much it scored, which is
+// every reporter that existed before the count did and any a caller supplies.
+type countlessReporter struct{}
+
+func (countlessReporter) AddDiagnostic(*ditto.Diagnostic) {}
+func (countlessReporter) Summarize() result.Result[any]   { return result.Err[any]("") }
+
+// countingReporter can.
+type countingReporter struct{ total int }
+
+func (countingReporter) AddDiagnostic(*ditto.Diagnostic) {}
+func (countingReporter) Summarize() result.Result[any]   { return result.Err[any]("") }
+func (r countingReporter) Total() int                    { return r.total }
+
+// TestScoredIsUnknownRatherThanZero is the distinction the whole empty-scope fix
+// rests on, and the one its mutants found unguarded.
+//
+// A reporter that cannot answer must read as UNKNOWN, not as zero. Zero means
+// "the scope produced nothing to judge", and returning it for "I could not tell"
+// would turn every genuinely failing run behind such a reporter into a silent
+// success. The sentinel is -1 because a count cannot be negative, so no real
+// answer collides with it.
+func TestScoredIsUnknownRatherThanZero(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	unreadable := &release{reporter: countlessReporter{}}
+	if got := unreadable.scored(); got != -1 {
+		t.Fatalf("a reporter that cannot count scored %d, want -1", got)
+	}
+
+	for _, total := range []int{0, 1, 47} {
+		readable := &release{reporter: countingReporter{total: total}}
+		if got := readable.scored(); got != total {
+			t.Fatalf("scored() = %d, want %d", got, total)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// TestAnUnreadableCountIsNotAnEmptyScope is the behaviour that distinction
+// protects: a failing run whose count cannot be read is still a failing run.
+func TestAnUnreadableCountIsNotAnEmptyScope(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	rel := &release{
+		opts:     Options{MinimumThreshold: 0.5},
+		reporter: countlessReporter{},
+	}
+
+	if rel.scored() == 0 {
+		t.Fatal("an unreadable count read as an empty scope, which would report a failing run as nothing to do")
+	}
+}