diff --git a/tests/plugins/platforms/photon/test_inbound.py b/tests/plugins/platforms/photon/test_inbound.py
index c604158574..c624d9d1c7 100644
--- a/tests/plugins/platforms/photon/test_inbound.py
+++ b/tests/plugins/platforms/photon/test_inbound.py
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 """Inbound dispatch + dedup tests for PhotonAdapter.
 
-These bypass the loopback HTTP stream — they call ``_dispatch_inbound`` /
-``_on_inbound_line`` / ``_dedup`` directly, exercising the
-sidecar-event parsing without spawning the Node sidecar or binding ports.
+These exercise the sidecar-event stream and parsing without spawning the
+Node sidecar or binding ports.
 """
 from __future__ import annotations
 
@@ -16,7 +15,7 @@ import pytest
 
 from gateway.config import Platform, PlatformConfig
 from gateway.platforms.event import MessageEvent, MessageType
-from plugins.platforms.photon.adapter import PhotonAdapter, _aiter_ndjson_lines
+from plugins.platforms.photon.adapter import PhotonAdapter
 
 
 def _make_adapter(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> PhotonAdapter:
@@ -155,23 +154,47 @@ async def test_ndjson_stream_preserves_unicode_line_separators(
     monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
 ) -> None:
     adapter = _make_adapter(monkeypatch)
-    captured = _capture(adapter, monkeypatch)
     separated = "first\u2028second\u2029third\u0085fourth"
     payloads = [
         json.dumps(_dm_event(separated, msg_id="unicode-lines"), ensure_ascii=False),
         json.dumps(_dm_event("ordinary", msg_id="ordinary-line")),
     ]
+    stream = payloads[0] + "\n\n" + payloads[1]
+    received: List[str] = []
 
     class ChunkedResponse:
+        status_code = 200
+
+        async def __aenter__(self):
+            return self
+
+        async def __aexit__(self, *_args):
+            return None
+
         async def aiter_text(self):
-            stream = "\n".join(payloads) + "\n"
             for chunk in (stream[:17], stream[17:43], stream[43:]):
                 yield chunk
 
-    async for line in _aiter_ndjson_lines(ChunkedResponse()):
-        await adapter._on_inbound_line(line)
+        async def aiter_lines(self):
+            for line in stream.splitlines():
+                yield line
 
-    assert [event.text for event in captured] == [separated, "ordinary"]
+    class Client:
+        def stream(self, *_args, **_kwargs):
+            return ChunkedResponse()
+
+    async def capture_line(line: str) -> None:
+        received.append(line)
+        if len(received) == 2:
+            adapter._inbound_running = False
+
+    adapter._http_client = Client()
+    adapter._inbound_running = True
+    monkeypatch.setattr(adapter, "_on_inbound_line", capture_line)
+
+    await adapter._inbound_loop()
+
+    assert received == payloads
 
 
 def test_is_duplicate_window(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None: