diff --git a/py/api/system.py b/py/api/system.py
index 2362b32..605334e 100644
--- a/py/api/system.py
+++ b/py/api/system.py
@@ -41,6 +41,20 @@ _HEALTH_STATUS_LINES = {
 _StoredReport = namedtuple("_StoredReport", "generation report")
 
 
+async def _settled(*reads):
+    """Every read's result once all of them ended; the first error raises.
+
+    ``asyncio.gather`` answers at the first error while the other executor
+    reads still run, so a route could answer (and its caller replace or
+    delete the database) with a sibling read still inside SQLite.
+    """
+    results = await asyncio.gather(*reads, return_exceptions=True)
+    for result in results:
+        if isinstance(result, BaseException):
+            raise result
+    return results
+
+
 def _failure(message, status=500, code=None):
     return web.json_response(
         {"success": False, "code": code, "error": message}, status=status
@@ -155,7 +169,7 @@ class SystemRoutesMixin:
         from ..config import GalleryConfig
 
         try:
-            (output_dirs, auto_detected), counts = await asyncio.gather(
+            (output_dirs, auto_detected), counts = await _settled(
                 self._run_in_executor(self._output_dirs_with_origin),
                 self._run_in_executor(self.db.library_counts),
             )
@@ -189,7 +203,7 @@ class SystemRoutesMixin:
 
     async def get_system_statistics(self, request):
         try:
-            by_category, totals, counts = await asyncio.gather(
+            by_category, totals, counts = await _settled(
                 self._run_in_executor(self.db.usage_by_category),
                 self._run_in_executor(self.db.get_statistics),
                 self._run_in_executor(self.db.library_counts),
diff --git a/tests/test_system_api.py b/tests/test_system_api.py
index 7af1955..3d649fe 100644
--- a/tests/test_system_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_system_api.py
@@ -416,6 +416,54 @@ class TestStatisticsRoute(SystemAPITestCase):
         )
 
 
+class TestReadsSettleBeforeTheAnswer(SystemAPITestCase):
+    """A failed read answers only after its sibling reads ended.
+
+    ``asyncio.gather`` does not stop executor work, so an early answer left a
+    sibling read on the database while the caller went on (in the suite, the
+    test's teardown deleted the database under it: a segfault on py3.10).
+    """
+
+    def _slow(self, target, name):
+        real = getattr(target, name)
+        finished = threading.Event()
+
+        def slow(*args, **kwargs):
+            threading.Event().wait(0.3)  # still reading when the sibling fails
+            try:
+                return real(*args, **kwargs)
+            finally:
+                finished.set()
+
+        return patch.object(target, name, side_effect=slow), finished
+
+    async def _failing(self, url, failing, slow_target, slow_name):
+        slow, finished = self._slow(slow_target, slow_name)
+        with (
+            slow,
+            patch.object(self.api.db, failing, side_effect=RuntimeError("secret")),
+            self.assertLogs("prompt_manager.api", "ERROR"),
+        ):
+            await self.json("GET", url, 500)
+            self.assertTrue(finished.is_set(), "a sibling read outlived the answer")
+
+    async def test_statistics_failure_waits_for_its_sibling_reads(self):
+        await self._failing(
+            "/prompt_manager/system/statistics",
+            "usage_by_category",
+            self.api.db,
+            "get_statistics",
+        )
+
+    async def test_overview_failure_waits_for_its_sibling_reads(self):
+        await self._failing(
+            "/prompt_manager/system/overview",
+            "library_counts",
+            self.api,
+            "_output_dirs_with_origin",
+        )
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import unittest