Prologue
"Do you really have to go?" She whined. Her breath was warm against his neck.
"Sorry, babe. I'm running out of excuses for being out so late. My wife is a cunning bitch. She'll figure me out if I'm not careful." A middle-aged man stared into the rear view mirror adjusting his tie. "But I must say, the woman sure can pick 'em." The man in the mirror shot an arrogant wink before running an obnoxiously lavish comb through his hair.
A black, expensive-looking sedan sat alone on the first floor of a dimly lit parking garage beyond the reach of the relentless downpour.
"You better call me soon, Mr.Nobuyoshi." The scantily clad woman leaned over the center console and whispered seductively into his ear. "I'm going to need you to fill my prescription again really soon." The woman's tongue slid up the side of the man's face.
"You crazy bitch," the man chuckled.
As the woman got out of the car, the man reached into the center console and retrieved a rectangular device. Holding the device in front of him, the man tapped the screen a few times and it began speaking.
"Ishiwari, Nobuyoshi. Identity confirmed. Welcome, Mr. Nobuyoshi. Please confirm your cymatic scan." Nobuyoshi pressed on the screen once more and the device began to hum as it scanned his mind.
"Crime Coefficient: 92.4. Psycho-Pass within acceptable levels. Reformative actions advised." The device recited the information on display.
Nobuyoshi took a deep breath and smiled in relief. "Still blue, but I'm cutting it close."
The luxurious car pulled out of the parking structure and onto the highway. Rain had fallen for the last several days and had soaked the entire city in its torrential downpour. The vivid city lights shattered as they shone through the droplets of water on the windshield.
"God damn rain," Nobuyoshi scorned, slamming his foot down on the accelerator. The engine roared as an absurd amount of horsepower powered the car forward.
Exiting the highway, Nobuyoshi approached a road block operated by several security drones. "I don't have time for this." He made a sharp right turn and headed down an access road for a shortcut. The wheels screeched as the car stopped in front of a tall corporate building adorned with bright letters that read "Nobuyoshi Pharmaceuticals." Running up the steps, Nobuyoshi raised an ID card up to the scanner at the door.
"Valid ID recognized. Welcome, Mr. Nobuyoshi." The doors opened as the security scan acknowledged him. Nobuyoshi raced through the large, empty room to the elevator on the far side of the lobby and hit the button for the seventy-fifth floor.
Ascending to the top of the building, he glanced down at his watch. It was 10:04pm. In less than fourteen hours his company will officially announce CRS to the public and Nobu Pharmaceuticals will firmly establish itself as the face of modern medicine.
The elevator came to a stop. Nobuyoshi stepped out into a grand room that spanned the entire floor. The palatial office was furnished with numerous chairs, tables, and sofas that looked as though they had never been used.
Not bothering to turn the lights on, he followed an ornate rug that stretched from the elevator to his desk where he took a seat. Within the left side of his desk was a safe which Nobuyoshi quickly punched in the password for. Once opened, he removed a metallic container from the safe and placed it onto his desk. Releasing the locks on either side, the container opened to reveal a row of vials containing a light blue liquid and a pair of syringes.
"You are my ticket to the top. A blessing thanks to my own ingenuity." Nobuyoshi held one of the vials at eye level, marveling at his work.
"A blessing you say?" An ominous voice emanated from the darkness of the room.
Shaken by the revelation that he wasn't alone in his office, Nobuyoshi stood up from his desk chair and gazed into the blackness. "Who's there?! Show yourself! You're trespassing on private property!" He accosted the shadows, a slow sweat beginning to form above his brow.
"Ishiwari Nobuyoshi, CEO of Nobuyoshi Pharmaceuticals. Your hubris precedes you." The voice drew closer and closer until a silhouette emerged from the darkness just enough to barely be visible.
"W-who are you?!" He stuttered. "What do you want?!" Nobuyoshi's voice was audibly distraught.
The black expanse was quiet and still. Then suddenly, there was a shift in the shadows.
"What I want is nothing you can give me. Indeed, what I want is not something any one man can give. However, that 'blessing' you clutch so desperately is the first step in achieving what it is I'm after." The relentless rain battered the large windows that surrounded the entire floor.
Nobuyoshi broke the silence, his composure having been somewhat reconstituted. "Look, pal, I don't know who you think you are or what you think you're doing here, but robbing the CEO of a major corporation has to be the most ludicrous idea I've ever heard." Nobuyoshi's voice was confident now and his body relaxed. He ungracefully reached for the security alarm button on the underside of his desk, but it denied his efforts with a terrifying click.
"Your hubris really is legendary, Mr Nobuyoshi. You can't even acknowledge the efforts of your own corporation." The shadowy figure stepped forward, his steps echoing in the vast room. "You see, I'm a man of the people. I sympathize and empathize with them. Tokyo has become a cesspool of injustice and corruption. Like a venomous snake latched onto its prey, this country is slowly dying. The rectitude of its people is being siphoned from their very souls and it is to that end that I take it upon myself to take action."
A bolt of lightning crackled loudly briefly illuminated the room, revealing a sinister pair of golden eyes.
"What if people could live without fear of oppression and injustice? What if the color of your psycho-pass was rendered obsolete and instead people could think and feel for themselves, thus rendering the current system just as irrelevant?" The man now stood just a few feet from Nobuyoshi, the desk being the difference between them.
"You're insane..." Nobuyoshi said, nearly breathless. "You're talking about Sibyl. You sound like that Makishima guy from a few years ago. You're out of your mind if you think you can oppose Sibyl. You're one man." The figure reached into what appeared to be his coat.
"Cut off the head, and the snake dies." The man's voice dripped with bloodlust, but his tone was relaxed. "With Crime Coefficients out of the picture, people would be free. However, it's been so long that Tokyo may not have the capacity to govern itself. So what you hold there may actually be...a curse." A frigid chill filled the air and Nobuyoshi grew tense again. The figure motioned towards him with an arm raised in his direction.
"What are you doing? What is that?" Nobuyoshi's voice was teeming with worry and fear. There was a brief pause before the intruder replied.
"A blessing."
A single gunshot echoed throughout the entire floor, but was swallowed by the voracious storm.
