[The air in the corridor might as well have turned to stone.]

[You looked down at Riko. Your voice was calm, but it carried a force that cut straight through to something deeper, and every word landed with absolute sincerity.]

["Riko, what about you? Forget the noble cause, forget destiny for a second. Do you truly, from the bottom of your heart, want to go through with assimilation? The kind that annihilates your consciousness entirely, erases your existence, and gets dressed up by the higher-ups with the pretty word ’assimilation’ when what it actually is... is death.

Is that really your own will? Or is it something they’ve drilled into you since the day you were born, a tragic fate disguised as a choice you never had?"]

[The raw, almost brutal dissection hit everyone like a hammer blow.]

[Gojo and Geto held their breath without realizing it, both turning to stare at Riko.]

[Even Panda, locked tight in her arms, lifted that fuzzy head with an almost human awareness, button eyes watching the girl as the war inside her played out across her face.]

[Riko flinched. Her narrow shoulders jerked once, hard.]

[She dropped her head low. Loose strands of hair fell across her eyes, hiding whatever expression she wore. Her teeth sank into her lower lip, fighting to hold on to whatever composure she had left in front of these powerful sorcerers.]

["I... for as long as I can remember, everyone told me I was the Star Plasma Vessel."]

["They said I was different from everyone else. And for me, ’living as the Star Plasma Vessel’ was the only normal I ever knew. I avoided every possible danger, spent every single day being careful, all of it just to survive long enough for the moment assimilation finally came..."]

[Fat tears began hammering against the edge of the bloodstain on the floor, each one spreading into tiny ripples.]

["When Mom and Dad died... I can barely remember it anymore. Even when I try, I can hardly feel that kind of grief. I always thought I’d already made my peace with everything. ]

[I thought that even if assimilation meant being separated from everyone forever, it wouldn’t be that big a deal. No matter how much it hurt, eventually the sadness and the loneliness would just... disappear with time..."]

[Her voice broke completely.]

[She wrenched her head up. Tears streamed down that delicate face, and the hard shell she’d built out of pride and composure shattered all at once, exposing the fragile soul underneath. A soul that desperately wanted to live. A soul terrified of dying.]

["But... but I..."]

[Her fingers dug into Panda’s fur. Every ounce of strength in her body poured into one shattered, screaming confession, ripping the deepest truth out of her chest without a shred of restraint.]

["I still want more time with everyone! I want to keep living with Kuroi! I want to go to places I’ve never been with all of you, the people I just met! I want to eat good food, I want to see all the things I haven’t seen yet! I don’t want to just... disappear...!"]

[By the end, language failed her entirely. She buried her face in Panda’s fur, surrounded by blood and ruin, and sobbed like what she truly was: a lost, helpless fourteen-year-old girl, stripped of every pretense, wailing without shame.]

["..."]

[Nothing existed except the sound of her crying, tearing through the silence.]

[Gojo and Geto stood motionless, watching Riko shake with each heaving breath, listening to every word that poured out of her. Neither spoke. They’d sunk into a silence that went bone-deep.]

[The blinders they’d worn, the ones labeled "protect the Star Plasma Vessel and complete assimilation," finally fell away. For the first time, they saw the bleeding, ugly truth hiding behind that so-called noble mission.]

[You watched it all in silence. Then you moved.]

[Slowly, with deliberate gravity, you raised one hand and removed the plain glasses from the bridge of your nose. You folded them with care and tucked them neatly into your breast pocket.]

[A casual gesture. But something about it felt like the breaking of a seal.]

[The instant the glasses came off, Panda read your signal before anyone else could blink.]

[No hesitation. He sprang from Riko’s arms, a blur of black and white arcing through the air, and landed squarely on your shoulder. That roly-poly frame coiled tight, every muscle in all four limbs locking into a state of absolute combat readiness.]

[You tilted your head, glancing at the flight schedule on your phone screen. The next plane to Okinawa.]

[Then you turned and leveled your gaze at Gojo and Geto. ]

["The next flight out doesn’t leave for a bit."]

[Your voice was barely above a whisper, but it detonated in their ears like thunder.]

["Before then... let’s settle this."] 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

[Geto, wielder of Cursed Spirit Manipulation. Gojo, bearer of the Six Eyes. Both of them felt it in the same heartbeat: a pressure erupting from you like a volcano tearing itself open, monstrous and absolute.]

[Just as your words implied, you weren’t giving them time to "think it over" or "make a choice."]

[What shook them most was the realization that this was something they had never witnessed before. Your true, complete form.]

[Glasses off, Cursed Corpse perched on your shoulder. The posture radiated a breathtaking arrogance, a statement written in body language alone: you were prepared to face both of these so-called generational prodigies at once, and you held absolute confidence that in a one-against-two scenario, you would force the outcome you wanted.]

[Geto’s breath seized in his chest.]

[He stared at you and Panda, standing there like some immovable war god blocking the path forward, and his usually steady heartbeat hammered wildly. Something flickered behind his eyes, something he almost never felt: panic.]

[A thought surfaced in his mind, absurd and undeniable at the same time.]

[If it actually came to blows right now... could I even beat him?]

[For Gojo, who had already been shut down by you twice today, the psychological impact was a thousandfold worse.]

[Behind his sunglasses, those pale blue eyes locked onto you. His fingertips trembled.]

[This was the first time in his life, and the most visceral, that the title of "the strongest," that invincible certainty he’d carried since birth, cracked. Genuine doubt flooded through it.]

[The classmate who’d never shown his hand, who’d drifted through their days without drawing attention, was a bottomless abyss. Every sliver he revealed ground Gojo’s pride a little further into the dirt.]

[While Gojo’s mind still raced, his arrogance thrashing against the absurdity of everything unfolding before him...]

["Haah..."]

[Geto exhaled long and slow, as though shedding a weight that had been crushing him for hours.]

[Meeting your suffocating gaze head-on, he raised his right hand in quiet surrender. When he spoke, his voice carried a strange, exhausted relief, tinged with a rueful half-smile.]

["No objections."]

[He’d always lived by one principle: sorcerers exist to protect the people who can’t protect themselves. The moment Riko’s sobbing confession reached his ears, a rebellious thought had already taken root. If she truly doesn’t want assimilation, then don’t send her to die.]

[Under the catalyst of your absolute violence and the safety net of your iron conviction, he’d simply arrived at that conclusion sooner and more decisively than he might have otherwise.]

[Gojo whipped his head around, staring at his closest friend in open disbelief.]

["Suguru, you..."]

[Geto turned to face him. He sighed, helpless, and explained with complete sincerity.]

["Satoru, if Riko had heard everything and still held on to that proud, self-sacrificing resolve, committed to the greater good and willing to give her life for it, I’d have rejected Touma’s insane proposal without a second thought and carried on with the escort. But..."]

[His gaze softened as it passed over Riko, still hiccupping through her tears.]

["Now that this girl, who should have a whole bright future ahead of her, is telling us with everything she has that she wants to live? As a sorcerer who exists to protect the vulnerable, I don’t have a single objection left."]

[The words landed, and Gojo went still.]

[He was sharp enough to understand all of it, of course. Deep down, he’d never been the obedient type who bowed to orders from above without question. But the storm churning inside him wasn’t just about the consequences of a failed assimilation.]

[What truly gnawed at him was the version of you that had surfaced in less than a single day. Thinking ten steps ahead. Possessing a depth of power so vast it sent a chill even through the Six Eyes.

It made someone who’d spent his entire life standing at the top, controlling everything, feel something violently unfamiliar: frustration. Defeat.]

["AAARGH! This is so annoying!!"]

[Gojo jammed both hands into his hair and scrubbed furiously, turning the whole mess into something resembling a bird’s nest.]

[He glared at you through gritted teeth. When the words finally came, they burst out like a sulking child’s tantrum, dripping with irritation but laced unmistakably with surrender.]

["Dammit! I never said I’d disagree with you guys! Stop acting like I’m some kind of heartless bastard!"]

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