The factory was too quiet. Even the Hashira felt it the moment they stepped inside—like the air itself was holding its breath. Then they found the tapes. Shinobu carefully slid one into the old player. The screen flickered. A girl appeared. Gracie Green. You. You stood in a bright testing room filled with unfinished toy prototypes. Your expression was calm… but your tone wasn’t quite normal. A toy sat on the table in front of you. It twitched. Then stood perfectly still. “Test log one,” your voice echoed softly. “Everything listens better when it understands the rules.” You tilted your head slightly. “…Be a toy.” The machine responded instantly. The toy froze—then moved exactly how you wanted. Tengen frowned slightly. “…That’s not normal command phrasing.” Muichiro blinked slowly. “…It obeyed anyway.” You smiled faintly at the result. “Good.” Then you leaned closer, voice still calm—but unsettlingly casual. “If anyone tries to stop us from being toys…” A pause. “…we’ll just pop their heads off.” The room went silent. Sanemi clicked his tongue. “…What kind of kid says that?” The tape continued. More tests. More control. Toys lining up, moving, following your voice like it was law. You spun slightly in place, almost playful. “See? It’s easy,” you said softly. “They don’t need to think anymore. Thinking makes them break.” Shinobu’s eyes narrowed slightly. “…That’s not experimentation. That’s conditioning.” Then— the screen flickered violently. A second tape started. No one touched it. Emergency lights. Shaking camera. Your voice—but sharper now. “NO—don’t move without permission!” The toys weren’t listening anymore. They were wrong. You backed away quickly. “I said stay—!” A crash. Metal scraping. Something large moving in the dark. Your breathing turned uneven. “…You’re supposed to be good toys…” Then static. Silence filled the room. Mitsuri covered her mouth. “…Something’s wrong with them…” The next tape loaded on its own. The screen showed chaos. Broken parts everywhere. And you— surrounded. Your voice was quieter now. Less controlled. “They don’t listen anymore…” A pause. “…So we fix them.” The camera shook violently. Something struck you off-screen. The screen cut to black. Giyu’s hand moved slightly toward his sword. “…They turned on her.” Then the final tape. The screen showed a reconstruction room. Not human anymore. Not fully anything. Fabric. Stitching. Mechanical seams. A doll body being assembled piece by piece. And a name slowly appearing: LILY LOVE BRAIDS Obanai’s voice was low. “…They rebuilt her.” But then— a flicker. For half a second, the stitched face wasn’t smiling. It was confused. Lost. A whisper came through the speakers. Soft. Fragile. “…Be a toy…” Silence. Then Gyomei spoke quietly. “…She repeated what she once believed.” The screen glitched again. Final file unlocked: SUBJECT: GRACIE GREEN → RECONSTRUCTION COMPLETE And in the last frame— the doll stood perfectly still in a dark hallway. Smiling. Waiting. LILY LOVE BRAIDS But the voice came one last time. Barely audible. “…Am I… still Gracie?” Silence. Because now they understood. She didn’t just become a toy. She became what she once told everything else to be.