"What kind of woman do you like?"
When the woman with the long yellow hair appeared on the screen, leaning against a massive, high-performance motorcycle, a wave of recognition rippled through the AMC Universal CityWalk.
"Wait... isn't that Tiffany?"
At first, the audience almost didn't recognize her. The styling was a total departure from the delicate, ethereal "Sweetheart" roles Tiffany was known for. This was a mature, powerful version of her, maximized charm, radiating a dangerous physical presence. Her silhouette in the leather riding gear looked more athletic and imposing than any character she had ever played.
In the theater, the fans couldn't help but whisper. Tiffany had clearly undergone a physical transformation for the role.
["HOLY CRAP! Tiffany is so cool! She looks like she could bench-press a truck!"]
["The 'Special Grade' aura is real. She looks like a woman who doesn't take orders from anyone."]
["Look at that confidence! Our Tiffany has finally found her 'Alpha' role!"]
Inside the Industry VIP Block.
"Oh! Look at our Tiffany!" Maya West said, tossing a handful of popcorn into her mouth. She glanced at Tiffany, who was sitting beside her, and laughed. "How much did you have to train for those arms, Tang Tang? Or is that just movie magic?"
Maya sat up straight, mockingly puffing out her own chest. "Heh heh, I guess I see why Leo picked you for the 'Physical' Special Grade."
Tiffany rolled her eyes, a sharp, playful glint in her gaze. "I don't know who it was, Maya, but someone didn't even make it past the first round of auditions for this role. There's a reason Leo wanted a 'Mature' energy. You might have the... size, but you lack the 'brain' for causal treatment."
Maya snorted. "I think you're just jealous! I was just a bit careless during prep. Next time, for Leo's next project, I'll be the lead, believe it or not."
"Relying on what? Your popcorn-throwing skills?" Tiffany glanced at her, and the two friends descended into their usual competitive bickering.
On the Screen.
"Who are you?" Suguru Geto asked, his voice weary.
"I like women with big appetites!" Caleb (Haibara) chirped from the side, raising his hand with an innocent, sunny energy that made the audience smile.
A moment later, Geto and Tiffany (Yuki Tsukumo) sat together on a bench, the sound of cicadas buzzing in the background, a sound that was starting to feel more like a warning than a summer soundtrack.
"Who are you?" Geto repeated.
"Special Grade Sorcerer, Yuki Tsukumo," Tiffany said, looking quite pleased with herself.
Geto's eyes narrowed. "Oh. You're that... 'Disgrace'. The Special Grade who refuses to take missions and just idles around overseas while the rest of us drown in work."
"I hate the Academy system," Tiffany explained, her tone becoming serious. "The people here focus on 'Symptomatic Treatment', killing Curses as they appear. I advocate for 'Causal Treatment'."
"Causal treatment?"
"Not hunting Cursed Spirits," Tiffany said, her eyes locked onto Geto's. "But creating a world where no Cursed Spirits are ever born in the first place."
Geto's pupils contracted. This was a philosophy he had never considered.
"Think about it, Suguru. Cursed Spirits are just the accumulated residue of human Cursed Energy leaking out into the world. To stop it, there are only two ways.
1: Strip all humans of Cursed Energy. Or
2: Teach all humans how to control it.
The first one is a dead end, even Toji Fushiguro was a one-in-a-billion anomaly. So, I believe the second one is the path: turn everyone into a Sorcerer."
Upon hearing this, Geto lowered his head, his face shrouded in shadow. "Then... wouldn't it be easier to just exterminate all the non-sorcerers?"
The theater went cold.
"Suguru Geto..." Tiffany paused, then nodded thoughtfully. "Technically, that's the simplest method. It's like Darwinian selection, using a crisis to force 'Evolution'. But... unfortunately, I'm not quite that crazy."
"Do you hate non-sorcerers?" she asked.
"I don't know," Geto whispered. "I used to believe we existed to protect the weak. But lately... the nobility of the weak and the ugliness of the weak... I can no longer distinguish between them. The 'Self' that protects them and the 'Self' that despises them are running a marathon. And the finish line is getting blurry."
The audience felt a deep sense of unease. Robert Sterling's acting was heart-wrenching, you could see the light slowly dying in Geto's eyes.
"Neither of those is your 'True Self' yet," Tiffany said before she left. "The choice is still yours. Oh, and don't worry about the Star Plasma Body. Master Tengen has stabilized. Whether there was another vessel or he just evolved naturally, the world didn't end."
"I thought so too," Geto's inner voice rang out.
A flash of Ava's Riko appeared, reaching out for a happiness she was never allowed to have. The memory was a jagged shard of glass in Geto's mind.
The Tragedy Escalates.
The camera shifted to a morgue. A white sheet was pulled back to reveal Haibara's (Caleb) lifeless face.
"He was assigned a Grade 2 mission, but the Curse was a Grade 1," Nanami said, his voice cracking with a rare, raw emotion. He looked at Geto, his face full of bitter resentment. "Why didn't they just send Gojo? Why not just let him handle everything if he's the strongest?"
"In the marathon called 'Sorcerer'," Geto's voice-over whispered as he walked through a rainy forest, "what if the finish line is just a mountain of your companions' corpses?"
The scene shifted to a remote village. The atmosphere was claustrophobic, dirty, and filled with a lingering sense of malice.
[Subject of Investigation: Third-Year Student, Suguru Geto]
[Incident Report: 112 confirmed casualties in Village XXX.]
The camera found Geto standing in front of a wooden cage. Inside were two twin girls, dirty, bruised, and terrified. The villagers surrounded them, shouting that the girls were "demons" responsible for the recent crop failures.
The ugliness Geto had mentioned earlier was now on full display. These were the "weak" he was supposed to protect and they were torturing children out of pure ignorance.
Recalling his conversation with Tiffany, a slow, dark smile spread across Geto's face. It wasn't a hero's smile. It was the smile of a man who had finally found his "Meaning."
"Everyone..." Geto said softly to the village chief. "Could you please step outside for a moment?"
The screen went black. The sound of wet slicing and terrified screams filled the theater.
The final page of the investigation report appeared on the screen:
[Based on the evidence, the massacre was determined to be the work of Suguru Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation.]
[Status: Approved.]
[Sentence: The criminal, Suguru Geto, is hereby sentenced to death.]
The "Jade Fracture" was complete. The "Strongest Duo" was no more. The theater was silent, the audience reeling from the tragedy of a hero who had seen too much and cared too deeply.
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