The air in the interrogation room was thick with unspoken tension. Takumi, Yana, Miwafe, Haruko, and Rin had arrived, their mission to find Eliza now complete. She was there, held by them, a quiet figure in the center of a storm they were just beginning to understand. They had come to investigate recent incidents, a series of strange events linked to her brother, Ryota. The group exchanged uncertain glances, their earlier confidence replaced by a sense of foreboding.
Eliza, who had appeared so composed just moments ago, now sat with her head bowed, a silent weight settling over her. Takumi, ever the leader, approached her with a gentle yet firm resolve.
"Eliza," he began, his voice a low rumble. "Do you know what's happening? Do you know anything about Ryota?"
Eliza's hands began to tremble in her lap, and she slowly lifted her tear-filled eyes. A whisper escaped her lips, so soft it was barely audible. "Yes… I'm sorry. He made me do this."
A heavy silence descended upon the room, broken only by the quiet ticking of a clock. Eliza struggled to find her words, her body shaking with the effort. Finally, she took a shaky breath and continued. "A while back, Ryota used the money he earned from show business to fund his plans…"
Before she could finish, Haruko, his eyes wide with a dawning realization, shot to his feet. "I knew I recognized that guy! He's a famous actor, right? Always cast as the main villain because of his sinister looks."
Eliza nodded, a single tear tracing a path down her cheek. "Yes, it's true. Ryota is my brother. He doesn't understand what he's doing, please… I beg you, don't hurt him."
She then began to recount Ryota's story, her voice gaining a fragile strength as she spoke. The group listened, each member feeling the weight of her emotions, as if they were stepping into the past themselves.
"When we were young, Ryota's dream was to become an exorcist. It was all he ever talked about," Eliza explained. "We even planned to join the Seirei Exorcist group together. Our parents supported us at first, but everything changed when Ryota's striking looks caught the attention of casting agents. Our parents, especially our mother, wanted him to take over their acting career. Ryota resisted—he was so passionate about his dream—but eventually, he gave in to their relentless pressure."
She paused, taking a moment to compose herself. "His first audition was for a popular script, and he hoped to land the protagonist role. But when the director saw him, he said Ryota was perfect for the villain. Ryota refused, saying he didn't want to play a bad guy. But in this world, actors have no say. The director told him the protagonist role was already cast and that villains had to be memorable—just like him. Ryota was only 25 at the time, and the director added that protagonists were usually played by actors aged 30 or older."
Eliza's voice cracked as she wiped away her tears. "Our mother sided with the director. She told Ryota something that would change him forever: 'There are only two kinds of people in this world—good and bad. If you're not one of them, you're useless.' She meant it in terms of acting, but Ryota… he took it literally."
The group listened in stunned silence, a chilling understanding dawning in their eyes.
"Ryota reluctantly accepted the villain role, and he was incredible at it," Eliza continued, her voice a hollow whisper. "So incredible, in fact, that other directors began requesting him for their productions, always as the main antagonist. But the more he acted, the more he became trapped by his image. He started to regret his appearance, saying it was the reason he'd never be able to join the Seirei Exorcist group."
"I told him to separate acting from reality, that the two were different. For a while, he listened. But as he kept playing villains, I could see him changing. He started to say strange things, like, 'Why does the villain always lose? It's bad writing?' I was terrified when I realized he wasn't just acting anymore—he was becoming the roles he played."
Eliza's voice broke as she recounted the turning point in Ryota's life. "One day, he was rehearsing a scene with a neighbor. In the script, the villain was supposed to stab a girl with a knife. It was all pretend… or so we thought. But Ryota… he actually stabbed her. When others rushed in, Ryota just stood there, a chilling smile on his face. The girl died from blood loss before she could be saved."
"That incident destroyed everything," she choked out. "The girl's parents were furious. They hired men to take revenge on our family. Ryota wasn't home that day, but our parents were. The men killed them both."
Eliza's body trembled as she relived the nightmare. "When I came home and saw their bodies… I couldn't stop screaming. Ryota returned later and found them too. But instead of grieving, he just stood there, repeating our mother's words: 'If you're not good or bad, you're useless.' That was the moment Ryota changed completely. He decided to embrace the role of the villain, not just in acting but in real life."
The group exchanged uneasy glances, a shared horror passing between them.
"Ryota killed the men who murdered our parents," Eliza revealed. "He said it was justice, but the way he smiled… it wasn't my brother anymore. After that, he told me to pack our things because we were leaving the city. He explained his plan—to use his standz ability, Separation, to separate humans from their standz and create Seireis, beings he could control. He believed this was the only way to rule a world that had rejected him."
Eliza looked at the group with pleading eyes. "That's why he founded the Shirone organization. To gather people with standz and use them for his purposes. But I know there's still hope for him. Please, don't give up on him."
Makoto, his face a mask of cold determination, stood up. "We'll stop him before he does anything worse. But if he hurts Airi…" His voice hardened, a dangerous edge to his words. "He's dead."
Eliza tried to thank him, but she couldn't stop crying. The team's boss arrived, surveying the grim scene. He listened as Takumi explained everything—the ambush, Eliza's confession, and Ryota's terrifying plans. The boss's fists clenched in anger as he reported the situation to the Seven, a powerful group he despised but was forced to obey.
An agent from the Seven responded with a cold, dismissive tone. "The Seven doesn't handle minor calls. I'll deal with this myself."
The boss gritted his teeth but calmly relayed the details to his team. With the Seven's reluctant approval, Takumi, Haruko, Rin, Makoto, Yana, and Miwafe prepared for the coming battle. Their goal was clear: stop the war Ryota was planning and save Airi.
As they geared up, Ninda approached the boss, asking if she should join them. The boss shook his head. "Your strength is valuable, but we need someone here in case they attack again."
Meanwhile, at Shirone's base, Ryota arrived with Airi in his custody. He ignored the Seirei Exorcist group entirely, his mind focused on one thing: a twisted dream of ruling the world he now saw as his stage.