Chapter 7
It's been a while, I know.
-s.
"You wanted to see me?" Tsunemori asked after she entered the gym.
"Yes, I have something for you," Ginoza answered and touched a gigantic punching bag hooked on a rail under the ceiling.
"For me?" Tsunemori chuckled humourlessly. "What do I owe the pleasure, Ginoza-san?"
"I want to talk to you about something and I've heard that you have a tendency to hit people when they bring up this topic. I'd rather you hit the actual punching bag instead of using me as one."
Tsunemori contemplated Ginoza's words in silence but finally came closer. In her eyes he saw that she understood his agenda but decided to follow it nonetheless. She took off her shirt and reached to grab bandages to wind them around her fists. Ginoza observed how the petite woman circled the punching bag, waiting patiently for him to start. At first, he was surprised at how easy he managed to talk her into this but then he realised that she raised her eyebrow in amusement at his "preparations".
Tsunemori was ready to start punching when Ginoza took out a portable Psycho-Pass scanner and checked her CC number. He raised an eyebrow to see 270 number displayed on the holo-screen.
"What the hell are you doing?" he heard Tsunemori's irritated voice.
"Karanomori-san asked me to conduct a small experiment," he lied calmly. He moved to the main door to lock the place.
"What?"
275.
Impressive, really.
"Open the door, Ginoza-san," Tsunemori ordered him in a low voice. She didn't seem amused at all anymore.
"No. It'll take just a couple of minutes if you cooperate, Tsunemori-san. Karanomori-san wants to study the reactions of Psycho-Pass to changing environmental context."
275.
The girl sighed but gave up. She proceeded to punch the bag aggressively. Ginoza had a hunch that the bad wore his face at the moment.
How are you going to do it so that she doesn't suspect anything, Gino-chan? Shion had asked.
Simply, I'll make sure she believes that I'm lying.
He stood behind her and fired his first question.
"What if I told you that Kougami is alive?"
Tsunemori's fist stopped abruptly centimetres from the bag. She froze but didn't look in his direction.
"I'd say that you are completely fucked up. He's dead," she answered finally in a mechanical voice.
286.
"Are you sure?"
"Get out," she growled now, without looking at him still.
"What if he's really alive and the person that you killed was simply an imposer?"
She was silent still but began breathing quickly. Ginoza started thinking that if he wasn't right, she might actually attempt to attack him.
"I've seen the memory scoop image..."
"Stop it."
"... He wasn't behaving like Kougami at all, right? He's never been cruel. He'd never betray you to leave with some petty criminals."
"I said shop it..."
"What if Kougami is still alive?"
"Shut up!"
"I saw him that night," Ginoza raised his voice.
"NO!"
Ginoza waited for her to attack him but the punch never came. Completely paralysed, she only stood in one place. Suddenly, her lips began to tremble unconsciously. Her eyes stared in the space, wide. She took a few steps from the punching bag. She finally dared to look at him, disbelievingly.
He took it as his turn. He directed the PP scanner and waited for the results.
243.
"You are lying," came her silent voice. "He's... d–"
239.
It was possible, Ginoza thought with disbelief. He was astonished looking at the monitor. Her CC was dropping slowly. He wouldn't believe him but her mind did. She was...
218.
"He is," Ginoza told her, snapping back to reality, "Dead, I mean. The experiment was successful. Thank you."
The satisfaction that he experienced got mixed up with the mad grief at the memory of the slightest tinge of hope in her eyes.
"I hate you."
Oh, how her words reflected his own thoughts at the moment.
"How are you doing?" Ginoza asked Karanomori when he returned from the gym. His hand was trembling ever so slightly with silent excitement.
While he was busy trying out his strategy on Tsunemori, Kunizuka and Karanomori were trying to find Kougami's whereabouts.
"We're going through the cameras in the neighbourhood but still have nothing," Shion answered glancing back at him. "How is Akane-chan?"
Ginoza made a face and thought back to Tsunemori's wide eyes. He pushed the uncomfortable memory aside.
"Her Psycho-Pass dropped," he announced much to Karanomori's surprise. "A lot."
"Really?" Kunizuka asked.
"Yes."
"I suspected as much myself. She has always been good at it," added Shion.
Ginoza didn't respond this time. He really didn't want to talk about the situation in the gym. Shion, seeing it, let it go.
"Can you get me the specific place before the end of the week?" Ginoza asked, focusing back on the screens in front of him. He needed to find Kougami and bring him back as soon as possible.
"I'll try but..."
"Do whatever you can. I need to bring him here."
Another crime scene. Another young heir to a great fortune. Another Sybil connection. But this time, there was a clear message:
We want the Sybil System down.
Ginoza read the letters on the wall, written with the blood of the victim. Mika was seriously sick and Nobu was trying not to look green himself. Kunizuka just petted the female inspector's back with clueless expression. Hikanawa was sitting in the corner with a tablet in his hands. They found the device placed next to the dead girl's body.
"I... I think I have something, Onee-chan," Hikanawa spoke suddenly. All eyes focused on the young enforcer. Shimotsuki ran up to him and took the device from his hands.
"The Sybil System, has no right to rule our lives." A male voice spoke. "We are free. An artificial machine is the last thing that should decide about our future. We will take down everyone that is close to them, one by one. We will not let a robot control us. Only people who experienced a true meaning of life can decide how we should live ours – Sybil system is the farthest from the human form as it is possible. That is why we will make the creators of that sick system miserable. We will turn their lived into hell. You have a week to turn the machine down. There are more to take care of."
"So, anarchy it is," Ginoza broke the silence. "'Sybil system is the farthest from the human form as possible' wasn't it ?" he repeated.
Tsunemori snickered before leaving the room.
"What the hell is her problem now?" Nobu asked nobody.
Kunizuka and Ginoza exchanged looks and shrugged.
"Long time no see, Tsunemori Akane."
"You wanted to see me," Akane ignored the woman behind the desk's smile.
Chief Kasei eyed the former inspector with interest mixed with amusement. It was the second time that Akane was called into the office and the third that she was contacted by the Sybil System since she became an enforcer. For the first time, the meeting was concerned with taking up the enforcer position. Probably to keep an eye on her without trying to kill her. Apparently, the Sybil System had decided that keeping her close was safer for them than locking her up in the facility and killing her was too unprofitable: she did a great job as an inspector and would probably be a proficient enforcer.
Usually the meetings took place in the Chief's office in the Ministry's building but once the woman approached her in her private rooms. It was right after she was appointed the enforcer and the Sybil System again wanted her to convince Makishima to join them as the Sybil's component. They had tried to do it before, shortly before Kougami's death but then she declined. She couldn't imagine her talking to that man ever again. She would rather see him rotting in prison than keep him alive to be a part of the Sybil System to rule over her life. No more.
But the second time they asked, she agreed.
"You seem silent, Tsunemori Akane," Chief Kasei's voice brought her back to reality.
"It's been a long day," she answered calmly.
"What has happened?" the woman asked with feigned interest.
Akane gritted her teeth silently. She really preferred being somewhere else... anywhere else but not in this office.
"Ginoza. He's become annoying," Akane answered, partially lying.
"Hopefully nothing you cannot handle, enforcer Tsunemori?"
"I can deal with him. Is there particular reason for you to call me here?" Akane asked cutting the small talk definitely.
The woman smiled and nodded her head.
"I've seen the reports concerning the latest case."
"You don't need to be concerned, we'll have everything handled in no time," Akane assured the woman.
"And still you don't. Some of us start to undermine your competence."
"My competence?" Akane smirked, not amused at all. "There is a group of people working on the case, you know. Besides, the Sybil System is perfect, you have nothing to worry about," she smirked sardonically.
"You are an interesting person, Tsunemori Akane. You have been demoted, devoid of every precious thing in your life and still, under this ironical facade, you believe that Sybil is worth risking your life for."
Akane only turned her back to the woman behind the desk. Before she exited the office, she asked:
"Are you sure?"