diff --git a/lib/regex/regex.ww b/lib/regex/regex.ww
index 247e8625..d07dcadd 100644
--- a/lib/regex/regex.ww
+++ b/lib/regex/regex.ww
@@ -4,13 +4,12 @@
 // other metacharacter arm, exec / find / replace are DEFERRED to
 // later folds.
 //
-// Two fold-1 constructs are held back behind filed compiler/fidelity
-// gaps (see the charclass_map and finish() sites below):
+// One fold-1 construct is held back behind a filed compiler/fidelity
+// gap (see the charclass_map site below):
 //   - charclass_map (regex.ha:74-87) — a module-level const slice of
 //     (str, *fn(rune) bool) tuples. Blocked on the array-literal→slice
 //     element-coercion checker gap (#25; type.c:402-404 #258 borrow
 //     uses exact type_eq, no element decay).
-//   - finish() (regex.ha:96-102) — frees; ww is a no-free runtime (#27).
 package regex;
 
 import strings;
@@ -92,15 +91,18 @@ export type regex = struct {
 
 // Frees resources associated with a [[regex]].
 //
-// ref/hare/regex/regex.ha:96-102 frees re.insts / each charset /
-// re.charsets. ww is a no-free runtime (rt/alloc.s:30 — rt_free is a
-// no-op; the bump allocator can't reclaim, process-exit does), so the
-// faithful ww body drops the frees, matching how the port drops every
-// Hare free(). Kept for API parity with the Hare surface. Temporary
-// empty body: #27 makes the free() builtin compile to a documented
-// no-op, after which this ports the Hare frees VERBATIM (the no-op
-// builtin reclaims nothing, same end state).
-export fn finish(re: *regex) void = { };
+// ref/hare/regex/regex.ha:96-102, verbatim. The free() builtin is a
+// documented no-op (#27 landed): ww is a no-free runtime (rt/alloc.s:30
+// — the bump allocator can't reclaim, process-exit does), so each free
+// below evaluates its operand and reclaims nothing. Kept verbatim for
+// API + source parity with the Hare surface.
+export fn finish(re: *regex) void = {
+	free(re.insts);
+	for (let charset .. re.charsets) {
+		free(charset);
+	};
+	free(re.charsets);
+};
 
 // Compiles a regular expression string into a [[regex]].
 //
@@ -114,8 +116,9 @@ export fn finish(re: *regex) void = { };
 // was_prev_rune_pipe / group_level / capture_idx (ha:253-256).
 //
 // Hare's `defer if (!ok) free(...)` cleanup (ha:231-237) is omitted:
-// ww has no `defer if` (cf lib/strings/strings.ww:85) and is a no-free
-// runtime (#27) — the port drops every Hare free().
+// ww has no `defer if` (cf lib/strings/strings.ww:85), and the free()
+// builtin is a no-op anyway (#27 — ww is a no-free runtime), so the
+// cleanup would reclaim nothing.
 export fn compile(expr: str) (regex | error | nomem) = {
 	// Hare `let insts: []inst = [];` — a bare ww slice declaration
 	// zeroes the header (cgen.c:9836 no-rhs multi-word composite