The hard lines of the Dominator began to radiate blue light, like a deep sea anglerfish seeking to attract a meal. The handgun's chassis elongated very slightly—not enough to warrant Lethal Eliminator status, but enough to signify that it was no longer simply a tool for use by an Inspector. In this form, it was an envoy of the Sibyl System.

"Inspector Akane Tsunemori," the genderless voice of the Sibyl System intoned.

Akane paused with her hand poised in front of the ID scanner at Nona Tower's eastern employee entrance. She juggled her styrofoam cup of hot coffee and used her right hand to disengage the weapon from its holster. She raised it to eye level and glared at it. "What?"

"We require your decision regarding the mission to capture Enforcer Shinya Kogami now."

"What's the rush? Is Kogami going somewhere?"

"That information is restricted to the leader of the operation, Inspector. Will you assume that role? Answer now."

"I will."

There was a short silence, as if the Sibyl System had been… taken by surprise? Akane swiped her ID and went into the building, holding the Dominator between thumb and forefinger like a dead rat. She made her way across the towering atrium, all cascading shafts of light and greenery, and toward the escalators that lead up to the Criminal Investigation Division offices.

"You changed your mind?"

"Didn't you say it was likely I might have second thoughts?" Akane sipped her coffee. "I thought things over and came to the conclusion that Inspector Arishima is too inexperienced to lead such an operation."

"Nevertheless, he will take part in the planning and execution of the mission."

Frowning, Akane stepped off the escalator and walked down the hallway leading to her department. They must want another Inspector to keep an eye on me. "Fine. I'll speak to Arishima-san tomorrow, then."

"Do not delay too long, Inspector. We will be displeased if Enforcer Kogami escapes again."

"I'll keep that in mind."

As Akane reached the glass doors partitioning Division One from the other offices, her Dominator shrank to its usual size, its eerie glow disappearing. With a distasteful look, Akane shoved it back into its holster and went inside.

When Akane entered the office, she went straight to her desk. Ginoza was on the telephone with some local prefectural official, from the sound of it discussing recent spikes in area Psycho-Passes near musical performances. It was speculated that Sibyl might hand down an edict limiting all public rock concerts. He gave Akane a nod before returning to his call.

Kagari's old chair was empty. "Yayoi, where is Arishima?" she asked. "He's not late, is he?"

"No, Senior Inspector," Kunizuka returned, rising to greet her with a polite bow. "Mr Arishima went to collect our department's latest assignments. There's something wrong with the inter-office network."

Perfect, Akane thought.

She brought her bag up to her desk and went about loudly emptying it. When she slid the laptop out from its sleeve, Kunizuka frowned and came over for a closer look. It was an odd-looking hinged device, almost like a big plastic book with buttons, and it took her a few tries to get it sitting right-way-up.

"What's that?" Kunizuka asked, curious.

"It was a gift from Mr Masaoka," Akane lied, and demonstrated how the screen could be raised and lowered. The Enforcer seemed duly impressed, though she might have just been being polite, Akane thought. "They used these in the old days, when policework involved gut instinct and lots of paperwork. Masaoka-san suggested that I write my reports on it."

"Well, if it worked for the old man, it's probably a good idea," Kunizuka murmured, before returning to her chair and putting her headphones back on.

"Thank you," Ginoza said through gritted teeth, one hand massaging his temples, the other holding the telephone. He looks so stressed. Will his Psycho-Pass just keep getting worse, or will it ever stabilize? Her former boss's Crime Coefficient had recently eclipsed 149, which didn't bode well for the future. Akane watched him close his eyes and take deep calming breaths. "No, sir. Well, we haven't sent anyone because there's no reason for it—Bureau policy dictates that we only send stress teams to areas that… I understand that, sir, but we can't make exceptions simply because—"

Akane unbuckled her holster and placed it on her desk. Then, sliding the laptop under her arm, she waited by the door for Ginoza to conclude his call.

"Sir, if you would just listen to me..." Ginoza's face seemed to be reddening even as she watched. Akane shook her head. "It's not a matter of resources… Well, fine, do that. Good afternoon."

The Enforcer fairly slammed the receiver down. Akane raised an eyebrow, and Ginoza looked at her sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, Inspector. It's just that the head of the Ibaraki prefecture insists on receiving special treatment from the MWPSB, and I simply won't allow it." Ginoza hesitated. "He tried to pull the same stunt with me before, when I was, well..."

"When you were Senior Inspector," Akane finished for him.

Ginoza seemed to sag against the desk. "Right." The black-haired man gave a hollow-sounding laugh, as if his insides had been replaced with paper tubing. "He says he'll be contacting my superiors."

Maybe I can cheer him up. "From now on, Enforcer Ginoza, I'm delegating you as Division One's exclusive representative to the Ibaraki prefecture."

For the first time in a long time, Akane saw a smile begin to form on Ginoza's mouth. His lips twitched a few times, threatening a full-on grin. "Thank you, Inspector." He gave her a formal bow, low.

Akane smiled back. "You're welcome, Nobuchika." She made a show of checking her communicator. "Well, I have to speak to Karanomori about the network outages. I'll be back soon. When Inspector Arishima returns, inform him that he's on duty until I relieve him. Until then, Ginoza, you hold down the fort."

"Yes, ma'am."

I hope that gives him something to look forward to, Akane thought, and she went off toward the Data Hive, the laptop clasped under her arm.

A cave.

That was what Shion's lair always reminded her of: a dark, damp, slimy cave—even though, strictly speaking, it wasn't any of those things. The Data Hive was an air-conditioned server room that the Division's chief data analyst (and part-time physician) had remodeled into a sort of cocoon surrounding her collection of technical equipment. She had outfitted the room with a dozen high-resolution holographic monitors, all showing real-time Cymatic Grid feeds. They were displaying the standard aerial view of Tokyo, with stress levels corresponding to different colors on the map; red was a riot akin to Makishima's past chaoses, while green was normal. Right now the view might as well have been of a golf course's immaculate fairway.

Akane poked her head inside the server room and looked around. "Shion?"

More than once she had caught the data analyst in mid-coitus, usually with Yayoi. That was so awkward. Karanomori had brought in a big red couch for the occasion—a couch that looked classy, elegant, and suspiciously sturdy. She could still picture Kunizuka's hair splayed out over its red fabric, her head tilted back as she moaned with pleasure…

Akane felt her face growing warm. She cleared her throat and moved quickly through the dark room, ensuring that it was empty. Once she was satisfied that they were alone, she locked the door and carried the laptop over to the holographic displays.

"Let's see here," she muttered. The laptop's power button depressed with a click. Akane stood back and watched as it booted up. "There, that should do it."

After about thirty seconds, Choe's voice rang out from the laptop's small speaker, crisp and commanding. "Did you remember to activate the anechoic generator?"

"Yes," Akane said. "It's been going since I got here."

"Good." The hacker did something that caused the laptop's screen to darken. "I'm bringing Kagari online now. He'll monitor the building's security network while you and I search the database."

"Right." She blinked. "Do you want me to do anything?"

"Do you see that red cable going into the wall?"

She peered behind the desk. There, at waist height, was a cable with a red sheath extending into one of Shion's computers. "I see it."

"Plug it into the port on the left side of the laptop. Again, the left port, not the right one."

"Understood," Akane said, and, crawling under the desk, she managed to disconnect it from the computer and feed enough slack to reach the laptop. Then she climbed back to her feet and connected it. "There."

"Very good."

Akane looked curiously at the laptop's screen. "Is Kagari awake?"

"Yes. He is interacting with the security net. He will not be able to speak with you."

"Oh," Akane said, a little disappointed. "Well, what now?"

"There should be a data-port. A big one. Look for three red marks, like an ellipsis, on the cable."

Akane did another scan behind the desk, and this time found a heavy-duty Grid data-port—but its cable was fastened to the back of Shion's largest computer with a combination padlock. She relayed this information to Choe.

"Shit," the hacker said, and then, "Can you break it?"

In answer, she rummaged in her bag for a few seconds before displaying a handheld laser torch: yellow plastic, about the size of a glue gun.

"You're a lifesaver."

"She'll know somebody broke into her system," Akane said, as she bent down and began to score the padlock with the torch.

"Let's focus on one problem at a time, shall we?"

The metal gave way. Akane pocketed the laser torch and quickly removed the padlock. Then she disconnected the cable and routed it up to the laptop. When she clicked it into the port, Gu-sung cleared his throat thoughtfully.

"This doctor of yours..." The hacker trailed off and grunted, as if someone had punched him in the solar plexus. "She's no amateur, Inspector, that's for sure."

"Is she too good for you?" Akane teased.

"I wouldn't go that far." The images on the holographic monitors changed—instead of area Psycho-Passes, hundreds of photographs of men and women began to fill the screens. Most seemed to be driver's license photos, others might have been from CCTV cameras, and still others could only have been CommuField profile pictures. Each persisted for a few seconds at most before another image took its place, in a checkerboard pattern that seemed to spill over from screen to screen, as if wind were blowing a pile of leaves down a sidewalk.

Akane pulled Shion's chair out and sat on the edge, face fixed upon the monitors. "Who are those people?" she asked in fascination.

"These are all Japanese citizens with the surname Yamato," Choe replied, sounding distracted.

"You can't go directly to Kurou Yamato?"

The hacker sounded piqued. "You would think so, wouldn't you?"

"Shion?" Akane guessed.

Choe's grunt confirmed her conjecture. The images began to speed up, appearing and disappearing like strobing lights. "Your friend has locked down the ability to directly search for individual citizens. I can only use generic parameters, like given name and surname. And there are more Yamatos than you'd think."

"How long will it take?" She glanced at the door. "I don't know when Shion will get back."

"I'm almost tempted to stick around," the hacker said in a sour tone. "I'd like to meet her."

"Shion prefers men and women with bodies," Akane said dryly. "I don't think a virtual guy would work for her."

"Pity."

The blizzard of photographs began to slacken, each frame appearing and lingering for a longer period of time, as if frozen into the phosphors. Soon there were a few dozen left, and then, as Choe narrowed them down even further, the remainder began to vanish.

Then there were only two photographs left. The first was in black and white and depicted a stern-looking man in his late 70s with a gaunt face and a shock of white hair. Old-fashioned eyeglasses adorned his face, while his eyes stared at the camera like a hawk's. He doesn't have cyberized implants, Akane realized with a start. He was standing on the steps of a pillared building, apparently a courthouse of some kind.

The second photograph was deceptively similar to the first. This one, too, was taken on the steps of a building, and its subject looked strikingly like the other man—but where the older man had been rake-thin and stared at the camera with active hostility, this man was plump and smiling, with creases around his eyes vouching for his convivial nature.

Akane studied the two men and slowly shook her head. "Which one is which?" she asked. "They look almost like brothers. The chin, the nose…"

"The older man is Arinobu Yamato, founder of Blue Astrocyte Corporation," the hacker said, sounding as if he were reading from an encyclopedia entry. Well, he might be. "He made trillions of yen after securing government contracts in the aerospace sector and later unsuccessfully ran for Prime Minister. He was elected to the National Diet in 2050 and gained a reputation for being a shrewd political operator. He was well-liked by both the Conservatives and the Liberals, and before his death in 2059 he succeeded in sponsoring several successful bills, most of which involved keeping Japan out of the nuclear troubles afflicting the rest of Asia and the world."

"He was a smart man," Akane said. "What about his son?"

The photograph of Arinobu Yamato disappeared, and Kurou Yamato's image grew larger. Different photos of Kurou began to appear on the other monitors. There was a graduation photo, with a trim Kurou clasping hands with his father and holding aloft a diploma, and a similar pose that must have been taken decades later, with a bent and elderly Arinobu and a confident Kurou shaking hands in what appeared to be a company boardroom.

"That was taken when Kurou's father stepped down as Chairman of Blue Astrocyte Corporation," Choe supplied. "He had a series of strokes in the mid-Fifties, and later developed dementia."

Akane scooted her chair closer to the desk to stare at the photographs. "I don't get it," she said. "Why is Makishima so interested in this Yamato person?"

"He didn't say, but if he bothered to ask, it must be important. Ah."

"What?"

"I'm seeing encrypted files everywhere," the hacker said slowly. "But that doesn't make sense. His son was just a—wait a second."

"What is it?" she demanded.

"It says here that Kurou Yamato was associated with Tokyo University's Neurology Department," Choe said, as if that should shock her.

What's that supposed to mean? Akane spread her hands.

The hacker sighed. "That was where the Sibyl System was first created. Tokyo University is part of the lore surrounding Sibyl, but not many people know the history these days. Back then it wasn't even called Sibyl—it was Karma, I think. Yeah, the Karma Network. Talk about ominous-sounding, right?"

"So this Kurou invented the Sibyl System?" Akane asked.

"No. Nobody knows who actually came up with the idea, it's a closely-guarded secret. But the one record I've been able to access says that Kurou, through Blue Astrocyte, wrote Tokyo University a grant for 250 million yen five years before the Karma Network came online as a prototype. The two have to be connected."

Akane studied Kurou Yamato's smiling face. She had to suppress a shiver of dislike. He looks like Makishima. In fact, I'd bet anything that he's criminally asymptomatic. The photographs had been taken throughout Yamato's life, but they all had one thing in common: the smile that was perpetually on Kurou's face never reached his eyes.

"So Kurou Yamato might hold the key to Sibyl," Akane said.

"Right," Gu-sung replied. "If you want to crack any system, it's best to go back to the early days, when the project was just an experiment, the code was sloppy, and the standards lax. If we can find early source code for the Karma Network, then I'm sure I can use it against Sibyl."

"Where do we start?"

"As I said, most everything related to Kurou Yamato is encrypted, but there are a few leads here. I have his home address from when he was a young man. I also have another address, but I'm not getting any results when I search for it. You'll have to check it out on foot."

"Got it."

"I'm printing out a hard-copy now. Take it."

The printer next to Akane's elbow rumbled into life, and she jumped. After taking the sheet of paper it spat out and scanning the contents, she folded it neatly and put it into her pocket. Then she stood and went over to check the door.

"Are we done? Shion could be here at any minute."

"Give me just a few more seconds. I'm seeing some discrepancies here..."

The hacker finally gave her the go-head to shut down the laptop and plug Shion's computers back into the Cymatic Grid. Akane completed the connections as quickly as possible and did her best to disguise the missing padlock under the desk. Then, fitting the laptop under her arm, she double-checked the Data Hive for any signs that there had been an intrusion.

Looks good, she thought, and then left the server room, being mindful to lock the door on her way out. And now it's my turn to do some old-fashioned policework.

The tombstone was a shard of gray steel, a stretched triangle, that had been driven into the ground with great force. Like a shuriken thrown by a giant, Akane thought. Yakushima Cemetery provided elegant mausoleums and sitting-rooms for the rich and dearly departed, with sixteen acres of wooded private land, held in trust by a foundation administered by the relatives of the very same men and women who slumbered beneath the soil.

"It's not what you'd expect from someone who looks like that crazy Senguji guy," Kagari volunteered from his place clasped around Akane's wrist.

Akane pushed the tip of her boot into the wet soil and dislodged an earthworm, which wriggled to and fro until it reached another clump of dirt and vanished. Kagari was right. Kurou Yamato had given his mother and father a home for the afterlife fit for a pharaoh. The size of a small house, the marble structure rose three stories high by aid of Greek columns, and carried an ever-present scent of incense on the wind. Lilac, she thought—probably it came from vents hidden within those same columns.

"It's nice of him," she remarked, and went to sit on the steps leading up to Arinobu's mausoleum. From there she had a good view of the simple tombstone that Kurou had selected for himself. It was in a decidedly unassuming section of the cemetery, with only an old oak tree for company. There were few other graves nearby.

"Let's not make the guy into a saint," Kagari said. "He did go on to create the Sibyl System, remember."

"I know that," Akane said softly. "But he must have felt in his heart that it was the right thing to do for humanity. What would you have done if you had the opportunity to banish all murder and hatred from society, to make people trust each other? For a long time, I believed in the System and all that it stood for. I can't help but feel that Kurou Yamato did, too."

Kagari made a noncommittal sound.

Akane gazed curiously at the empty hillside. "It's odd, though," she said slowly.

"What is?"

"There's no grave marker for his wife." Her eyes widened. "You don't suppose she could still be alive, do you?"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Choe showed me most of the files he discovered in the MWPSB database. Yamato was a lifelong bachelor. Had a few flings here and there, but never settled down."

"Oh," she said. "That's sad."

"Maybe."

The wind picked up, sending a cool fall breeze across Akane's face. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The scent of pine cones and grass filled her lungs. Well, this was a bust. With a disappointed sigh, she climbed to her feet, dusted off her behind, and began to trudge back up the hillside. The oak tree shifted in the wind, its branches swaying as if it were conducting some forest symphony not audible to human ears. Both leads had gone nowhere—Yamato's house was now a museum, and his gravestone was—

Akane stopped in mid-walk. She turned to stare at the oak tree, her brow furrowing. It can't be…

"What is it?" Kagari asked.

She shook her head and walked back down the hill to stare up at the tree from her original vantage point. It is, isn't it? Her eyes went from Kurou's tombstone to Arinobu's mausoleum, then to the oak tree—which formed a perfect triangle with the others.

"Kagari, those pictures of Kurou that Choe found in the database," Akane said quickly. "The middle one, taken when he was a young man, standing in front of that building. There was a symbol behind him. What did it look like?"

"Yeah, it was like a big triangle, right? With vines growing around it, I think."

Akane approached the oak tree and studied it. She circled it, gazing up into its branches, feeling its roots beneath her feet. It has to mean something, she thought, and reached the rear of the tree. She paused for a moment, one hand resting against the bark, before continuing around—

There.

A small copper plaque had been fused into the trunk of the oak tree. Akane read from it: Mayumi Yamato, beloved daughter of Kaori and Arinobu. Sister to Kurou. She will live in our hearts forever.

"A sister, huh? How come that didn't show up in the MWPSB database?"

Akane shook her head. "Choe did say that most of the files relating to Kurou Yamato and his company were encrypted by somebody."

"But why erase his sister from all of his records? What could she have done?"

Those were good questions, Akane thought. There must have been a reason that the records concerning Mayumi Yamato's very existence had been scrubbed clean. "She's connected to it all somehow. I can feel it."

"We can ask Choe to re-run the search, see if there are any aliases she used," Kagari suggested. "Maybe something from her early career or university years."

"Agreed," Akane said.

As much as I hate to admit it, Makishima was right. Kurou Yamato holds the key to defeating the Sibyl System.

"Jeez, does Shion ever show up for work?"

The voice came from Akane's wrist, and in reply, she gave it a thump. "Be quiet, Kagari."

After checking the Grid cable under the desk, Akane was relieved to see that didn't appear to have been tampered with. She quickly set up the battered old laptop—which, for some reason she couldn't understand, had a fruit on the lid—and connected it to the MWPSB database. Choe, when he 'awoke,' was less than happy.

"This is a bad idea, Tsunemori," he said in cold voice. "First rule of hacking the MWPSB: don't return to the scene of the crime."

"I am a part of the MWPSB," Akane pointed out. "If it makes it easier for you, think of it as the Public Safety Bureau investigating itself."

"It does not make it better."

"Look, just search the database for anything about Mayumi Yamato, all right?" Akane began to pace the Data Hive, her fingers knitted together and her shoulders slightly hunched. "I can feel it, Choe. She's the key."

"It's true that this is Akane-chan's gut instinct," Kagari put in, "but this is the chick that Kogami said would one day become a great detective, and I'm pretty sure he knew what he was talking about."

"I'm doing this against my better judgment," the hacker grumbled, and the laptop's screen dimmed as he began communing with the MWPSB's network.

As before, it was nerve-wracking for Akane. She poked her head out of the door multiple times as Choe scanned millions of public records and census files, cross-referencing from every possible source. We're pushing our luck, trying to do this twice. She drifted over to Shion's red couch, where, forgetting about its usual purpose, she lowered herself into its plush embrace with a weary sigh.

After what seemed to be an hour, but which her watch claimed to be merely eight minutes, Choe said, "Here."

Akane fairly leapt up and catapulted herself over the back of the sofa. "You found her?"

"No, but I found her obituary—which is the only document concerning Kurou's sister in the entire database. She's been wiped clean, not a trace left."

Akane sagged into Shion's chair. "What does it say?"

"The Board of Regents of Tokyo University wishes it to be known that Dr Mayumi Yamato, faculty member of the University and Chair of the Department of Neurology, has passed away at the age of 39. The discoverer of several groundbreaking theories related to the field of cyberization, Dr Yamato was highly regarded by her colleagues and loved by her students. She is survived by her brother, Kurou Yamato. Services are to be held in the University's Jaeger Hall on November 16th, 2079."

"She was a scientist," Akane said slowly.

"Apparently she discovered a lot of stuff that we take for granted now," Kagari said. "You never know, her work might have made Toyohisa Senguji's crazy eyeballs possible."

"This was a waste of time," Choe said. "Disconnect the laptop and let's get out of here. I'm shutting down the network link now."

Akane nodded, still preoccupied by what they'd just learned. It had to fit together somehow—what were the chances that Yamato went on to found the Sibyl System and just happened to have a sister who was an expert in the very same theories that made Sibyl possible?

There must be a link.

She was crouched under the desk, reconnecting Shion's computer to the MWPSB network, when the lights went off, casting the room into pitch blackness. Akane jerked upright, banged her head on the underside of the desk, cursed loudly, and wobbled to her feet.

"What happened?" she demanded.

She was feeling her way across the Data Hive, and had just bumped into the red sofa, when it happened.

"Attention: a remote security lockout has been initiated. All doors, windows and ventilation systems have been sealed. Please stand by for further information."

The sound of steel bolts sliding into place echoed through the Data Hive. Akane stumbled for the door and tried the handle.

It wouldn't budge.

Shit.

"I don't usually say this kind of thing," the hacker announced into the darkness. "But I told you so."