diff --git a/run_once_20-install-user-packages-gentoo.sh.tmpl b/run_once_20-install-user-packages-gentoo.sh.tmpl
index ff98e84..21f8f71 100644
--- a/run_once_20-install-user-packages-gentoo.sh.tmpl
+++ b/run_once_20-install-user-packages-gentoo.sh.tmpl
@@ -263,7 +263,9 @@ else
 fi
 
 # Step 9: Maple Mono NF font
-if ! fc-list | grep -qi "Maple Mono NF"; then
+# Match EXACT family "Maple Mono NF", not "Maple Mono NF CN" or other variants.
+# See run_once_20-install-user-packages.sh.tmpl for the rationale.
+if ! fc-list : family 2>/dev/null | grep -qxF 'Maple Mono NF'; then
     log "installing Maple Mono NF font"
     # Download the latest release zip
     TMPFONT=$(mktemp -d)
diff --git a/run_once_20-install-user-packages.sh.tmpl b/run_once_20-install-user-packages.sh.tmpl
index 300b1be..1a076f9 100755
--- a/run_once_20-install-user-packages.sh.tmpl
+++ b/run_once_20-install-user-packages.sh.tmpl
@@ -290,11 +290,18 @@ fi
 # Pin Maple-font version. Bump manually if a release breaks things.
 MAPLE_FONT_VERSION="v7.9"
 
-# fc-list check: bash string match instead of pipeline, because `set -o pipefail`
-# in this script causes `fc-list | grep -q` to fail with SIGPIPE (exit 141) when
-# grep exits early on first match — the pipeline then reports non-zero, the
-# `if` evaluates to false, and the bootstrap re-installs the font unnecessarily.
-if [[ "$(fc-list 2>/dev/null)" == *"Maple Mono NF"* ]]; then
+# fc-list check: must match the EXACT family "Maple Mono NF", not substrings.
+# `*Maple Mono NF*` glob / `grep -q "Maple Mono NF"` substring matches would also
+# match "Maple Mono NF CN" (the CJK variant) and incorrectly skip the install.
+# byte and kaiser both have system-wide `MapleMono-NF-CN` from a maple-font
+# package install but no Latin-only `MapleMono-NF`, and the substring check
+# silently let that slide. Use `fc-list : family` to print one family per line
+# (no style suffixes), `grep -qxF` to match the exact whole line.
+#
+# Why not `fc-match "Maple Mono NF"`? fc-match reports a substitute if the family
+# isn't installed (falls back to system sans), so it can't distinguish "NF
+# installed" from "NF not installed, fell back to Noto/Liberation/DejaVu".
+if fc-list : family 2>/dev/null | grep -qxF 'Maple Mono NF'; then
     log "Maple Mono NF already installed"
 else
 {{ if eq .os_family "arch" -}}