So was it big or small?
"Neither. Its degree of susceptibility to gravity was slightly off."
Shade answered as he and "Tifa" followed the High Priestess out of the room:
"And the front armor wasn't its only flaw. The hair color was fine, but it had slightly more hair than Tifa. There were two differences in the clothes as well, but those are minor issues. The biggest problem was its temperament."
Could he explain in detail?
"She" smiled gently. Shade actually had nothing much to explain:
"When I see Tifa, I have certain indescribable instinctive thoughts. But when I saw it, I had none at all."
Breeding instincts had influenced his inspiration.
"She" summed it up that way. Shade offered no comment, because he still had to concentrate on sensing Tifa in the next room. At such a close distance, the Fire Seal's effect was especially pronounced. Shade could even sense that she was still kneeling on the soft cushion.
"The layout of the next room is probably identical to this one. After isolating Tifa, they let the doppelganger spend time with me, gradually learning the real Tifa's speech habits and the details of her movements, then slowly replacing her. Perhaps the replacement wouldn't happen here, but over the days to come. This Stage Four Imposter would gradually appear wherever Tifa should be, until one day, the real Tifa was simply gone."
What happened next was indeed just as Shade had expected. After the two were led into a resting room not far from that "ritual room," "Tifa" first removed her mask and flashed Shade a playful smile—the face beneath was no different at all from that of the real Tifa Servit.
"I was really a little scared just now."
Only then did she put the mask back on and