Like whatever you choose, he says the same thing? That sort of fits with my idea of once the LS event concludes you get a dialogue prompt but all the options are the actual same and it's the last prompt of its kind save "yes I will/ No I won't" style prompts for sidequests.
I mean we need to see it either way, the thought here is we see it more from the exterior, see how Cloud looks without the special effects and the cutaways.
Even if she's not party leader for all of it, I think we need at least one more segment where she's the party leader like in Hojo's Lab in Remake.
My suggestion wouldn't remove Cloud from the party, it would just move him away from the mandatory party slot. Right after the snowboard sequence might be a good option for this. Cloud gets remove for a moment from the party, Tifa has to find him and stop him from doing the reunion shuffle, Tifa says "Let me take the lead" and she's Party Leader for Gaia's cliffs segment. Cloud takes back over at the Crater. Basically swap between their perspectives for the first few chapters, then a couple chapters of Tifa (Extending the time between Junon and Mideel some) and then we get the Cid moments, the LS, and Cloud back as Party Leader.