7: The New Inspector

During 2112, when Kogami and Akane were trying to prove the existence of the mastermind Makishima, Division One had briefly met Mika Shimotsuki. One of their cases happened within Osa Academy, a highly religious private school for girls; Shimotsuki and many of her friends had attended it. Makishima made a pawn out of a girl named Rikako, giving her plastination supplies so she could kill, plastinate, and mutilate victims. Rikako ended up dead, tossed aside by Maskishima, but before she died she had brutally murdered Shimotsuki's best friend. Yayoi spoke with Shimotsuki at the close of the case, trying to comfort her. Yayoi thought that was the last time she would see Mika Shimotsuki, but she ended up quite wrong.

Shimotsuki graduated soon after turning eighteen, took the Sybil Aptitude Test, and found that she was the only one out of a few hundred students with the aptitude for being an Inspector. She chose this occupation at once, since she had long since felt the desire to capture criminals like the one who murdered her best friend. Despite being only eighteen, Sybil allowed Shimotsuki to train as an Inspector because of the manpower shortage in the MWPSB. She underwent intensive training and completed it by the end of summer. Then Mika Shimotsuki started right work right away, in the autumn of 2114, as Division One's new Inspector. Around the same time, two new Enforcers were welcomed to the Division: the shy Hinakawa and the grim but professional Togane.

The new Enforcers right fit into the "family" of Division One, but the same did not hold true for Shimotsuki. With his bashfulness and his not-so-secret pill problem, Sho Hinakawa provided a lot of humor, if unintentionally. His skills with creating and analyzing 3d holographics proved highly useful. Togane participated with the group too, though he often stayed somewhat aloof. When it came down to tough cases, Togane could shoot to kill without a problem, so he proved a major asset. As for Shimotsuki, she acted far worse than Ginoza had during his time as Inspector. She was an ironclad follower of rules—in other words, she never allowed herself to have fun, nor would she let anyone else, if she could help it. Shimotsuki built a strong boundary between herself and the Enforcers, fearing them as latent criminals, refusing to see them outside of work, and treating them with scorn.

However, there was an exception to this rule. Inspector Shimotsuki seemed not to mind Yayoi at all, and she addressed her politely instead of scornfully. Perhaps the new Inspector admired Yayoi for having the lowest Crime Coefficient of the Enforcers, or perhaps she wanted to show her gratitude for the time when Yayoi had comforted her in high school. In addition, during one of her first missions, Shimotsuki was nearly killed, but saved by Yayoi. Outside of work, Shimotsuki respectfully called Yayoi "Kunizuka-san" (managing to remember the name correctly!) and she didn't mind when Yayoi called her "Mika-san." Before she knew it, Yayoi found herself trying to take on the role of "moderator" between Mika and the rest of Division One. A few times, the new Inspector even came to visit Yayoi in her living quarters.

"How do you people have the energy for all these cases on so little sleep?" Mika asked one day, sitting at the tea table in Yayoi's room.

Yayoi smiled, remembering the days when she had been eighteen and allowed to sleep for however long she so desired. Whenever she talked to Mika, Yayoi felt a little nostalgic and even a little envious. Although the changes were not strikingly obvious, the young woman had begun to experience some of the ups and downs of actual adulthood: less energy and passion, on the downside, but on the upside, she had the ability to think clearer and make informed decisions drawing from both knowledge and experience. Yayoi could not communicate such thoughts adequately, so she focused on the conversation at hand.

"We have some extra life in us," she told Mika, "because we let ourselves relax and try to have fun whenever possible. You might feel less strained, too, if you weren't always worried about doing everything 'by the book.'"

"You sound like my therapist," Mika sighed. "Maybe everybody is right and I SHOULD loosen up, but the thing is, I can't really help it. For all of middle school and high school, I was enrolled in those religious academies made to raise obedient brides. Osa Academy was especially strict. So are my parents. I grew up encouraged to think rigidly, so the habit might be impossible to break."

"It's too early to say that when you haven't really tried," Yayoi observed. "Talk to your therapist about this again. Ask what you can do to train your mind to think differently. It's extremely difficult, but it's possible. I've managed to keep my Crime Coefficient at 118 all these years by listening to therapists and trying to change my thoughts and perspectives."

"But doesn't it depress you that you can't make your number drop any lower?" inquired Mika.

"Sometimes it's a little depressing, yeah. I wonder how my life would have been if I were allowed to stay in society. But ultimately, I'm glad I became an Enforcer." Yayoi smiled genuinely. "If I had stayed 'normal', I never would have met Shion."

The rest of 2114 would be spent focusing on the Kamui investigation, which became so intense and disturbing that Yayoi and Shion decided to temporarily stop their secret search for Rina. Where their relationship was concerned, Shion made up her mind to wait until Christmas to ask Yayoi "the big question." In the meantime, they continued to get along well in secret. Major problems between them would not start until later.

***Break***

That year, Yayoi came to realize that she was actually a highly curious person, someone who always wanted to know the truth. Officially, she kept her nose out of detective business and acted as more of a "field worker"; unofficially, however, Yayoi kept stumbling upon gravely serious secrets. Those secrets, in turn, would drive her into starting a mad plan on her own. At first, however, she simply listened to the confidential information and did not act.

It began at the start of December. Mika Shimotsuki suddenly changed around the time when Akane began interrogating Masuzaki, the surgeon who had operated on Kamui many years ago. Becoming pale and unkempt, Mika looked to Yayoi like she was in a constant state of terror. She startled easily and seemed to be looking over her shoulder each time she showed up in the analysis lab. Her current mission, she told the Enforcers, must be kept confidential. The week after that, she began to skip days at work, and when she did actually attend, she was accompanied by Togane. Yayoi wondered if Togane had done something to psychologically cripple the young Inspector.

As the investigation continued to track the movements of the new enemy, Kamui, a seemingly unrelated tragedy occurred. The news of the murder of Akane's grandmother made everyone at the main lab figuratively wince—they all knew how precious the old lady had been to Akane. Watching the young Inspector return to work only a few days afterward was purely painful. Members of other Divisions murmured that she should be pulled off the case. Everyone worried over her Psycho-pass. Meanwhile, Akane attended as much therapy as possible while continuing enquiries concerning Kamui.

Akane started breaking into tears at the end of her second day. Yayoi quickly invited her to her room and, regardless of the rules, offered her a cold beer. As she calmed down, Akane accepted the small gift. The scent of Shion's cigarettes when she joined them and lit up vaguely reminded the Inspector of Kogami, whose memory soothed her. Akane took a large gulp of beer and then sat back, sniffling a little. With her small, petite body and the tears glimmering in her expressive brown eyes, she looked pitiful and oddly cute at the same time.

"Do you want one of us to walk you to the therapy unit?" asked Yayoi, her brow furrowed in concern.

"Once in a while," replied Akane weakly, "kicking back with friends is just as effective as a therapy session. I hope it's not a mistake… to think of you two as friends."

"I'm flattered," Shion said with her roguish smile, and Yayoi gave the Inspector a brief hug for her answer.

"All I can really think about right now is this Kamui case," Akane sniffed. "I'm trying not to fall into obsession. I'm trying to keep my hue clear… but it's more difficult than ever before."

"I can barely imagine," Yayoi said quietly. "But… if I may ask… what about the analysis to find out who did this to your grandmother?"

"The two aren't necessarily unrelated," replied the Inspector, her eyes gloomily fixed on the floor. "I think someone is trying to sabotage me. It could be Kamui, or it could be whichever of the large companies against which Kamui wants revenge. Both sides have motive to try to keep me quiet."

"So you don't think it was a random crime?" Yayoi inquired.

Akane shook her head grimly, but then, weakly, she attempted to smile. "I'm sorry," she said. "Right now I probably sound just like Kogami after Sasayama was killed. I'm probably not making sense."

"We would all do well to remember that Kogami's obsessive belief in Makishima was right all along," Shion observed. "And you're nearly as good of a Detective as he was, Inspector Tsunemori. I think you're correct in your belief that someone used this crime to try and sabotage you."

Yayoi glanced in surprise at Shion, where she sat smoking on the wide windowsill. Usually Shion worked on cases without arguing her own thoughts, and usually she disliked talking about cases after work ended. She must have made an exception just for Akane. Yayoi realized that she, too, wanted to help out Akane—why else would she put her own investigation on hold?

"This probably all happened because I stuck my nose too far," Akane sighed. "The sabotage could have happened because I finally found out the truth about Kamui from his old surgeon, Masuzaki. Don't tell anyone else this, but Kamui was made from the pieces of 184 bodies, and that includes sections of seven human brains. As a result, I don't think the Sybil System can read him as an individual. Like Sybil, Kamui is many in one. That's dangerous information. In addition, we know now that his goal is to shut down the Sibyl System."

"Why is that?" Yayoi asked, interested. She could never bring herself to fully support the System; she wanted to know the thoughts of others on the same page.

"If Sybil can't 'see' Kamui," explained Akane, "then it also cannot 'see' itself. An arbiter who cannot judge itself should not be allowed to judge others: that's what I think Kamui believes."

Yayoi found herself agreeing with Kamui's motive. This alarmed her at first, until she reminded herself this was just another result of having a 118 Crime Coefficient. On the one hand, if Kamui had killed Akane's grandmother, Yayoi wanted him dead. On the other hand, the criminal's thoughts reflected Yayoi's, and deep down she wanted him to succeed and incorporate change.

A few days after this conversation, Yayoi tried to take a moment to talk to Inspector Shimotsuki too. The secondary Inspector had not improved since last week; she was frightened of every little noise, and Togane stayed close by her side. Mika refused to talk and could not even look Yayoi in the eye. There seemed to be an air of frantic madness around her, evident in her trembling body and the flicking back and forth of her maroon eyes. Yayoi demanded to speak with Mika alone, but Togane still wouldn't back off.

"You're just an Enforcer, just like me," Yayoi snapped at the sizeable man, who she had never quite liked. "You have to do as you're told! Leave the Inspector alone and stop being a bully!"

"She may send me away whenever she likes," replied Togane with a rough smile. "She can even use the Dominator. Isn't that right, Inspector? Would you care to point that thing at me?"

"That—that won't be necessary," Shimotsuki said in an unsteady voice. "Togane-san, let me talk with Kunizuka alone, just briefly. I won't—I mean, you don't have to worry about it."

Togane smiled his peculiar, almost sinister smile again, inclining his dark-haired head slightly. "Take good care of our little Inspector, Kunizuka. I trust five minutes will be long enough."

Yayoi grabbed Mika's hand angrily and stormed down the hallway toward her living quarters. She pushed the young Inspector inside and slammed the door behind them. It was clear what was happening; something had weakened Shimotsuki's spirit enough to make her fall prey to the bullying of an Enforcer—and it was Togane, the one whose background was shrouded in mystery. Something terrible must have happened to Mika to break her will so utterly. Yayoi knew the poor girl would be scared to say much, so she pulled a notebook and pen from her black suit pocket and pressed them into Mika's hands.

"Write down what happened to you," the young woman ordered. "I can put two and two together, but you have to give me a clue."

Mika nodded slowly. She took the pen and shakily scribbled down a few notes. Then, to Yayoi's surprise, the Inspector threw the notebook across the room, ducked out the door, and ran.

Yayoi saw this action as childish. However, she reconsidered when she read the note.

"Togane is the Chief's son," Yayoi read silently. "Tell Akane to be careful of him! …And it's my fault that her grandmother died. All my fault…"

Yayoi seriously considered these statements and whether or not they were connected. She was forced to put aside her thoughts when she and the other Enforcers were suddenly called to duty after hearing about Kamui's attack on the subway. However, Yayoi managed to at least slip a warning to Akane: "be careful around Togane." She had no idea that such a small tip would give Akane such a large realization.

***Break***

Her own role turned out to be minimal, but Yayoi heard the details of Kamui's legacy from Akane a few days later. Technically, much of this information would be classified confidential, but Akane desperately needed to open up to someone. She explained how Kamui took the subway passengers hostage to get Sybil's attention. With the eye he stole from Shisui, the young criminal was able to use a Dominator. With this, he killed the Chief, Misako Togane, whose crime coefficient had been above 300.

"Then I led him to Sybil," Akane confessed. "I wanted to know the answer too. Even if he was a terrorist, Kamui's motives were pure and unprejudiced. I felt confident I could arrest him before he actually did any damage to the System."

"I think you did the right thing," stated Yayoi.

Akane smiled feebly and then continued to relate the events. Sybil found a way to calculate a judgement for itself, thus making Kamui a "visible" entity. The System removed and destroyed several of its brains to lower its Crime Coefficient to lawful levels. Akane then tried to arrest Kamui, but the two were confronted by Enforcer Togane.

"Togane had been the one trying to sabotage me, with the chief's help, I'm sure," Akane told Yayoi when the two of them ate dinner together a few nights after the ordeal. "In all likelihood, Togane was the one who killed my grandmother. Though I do find it strange he was able to commit the crime without using an Inspector to grant him access to the outside."

At that moment, as she ate and listened, Yayoi suddenly realized the truth about Mika. She had been the one to help Togane kill Akane's grandmother. Despite her inclination of affection toward Shimotsuki, Yayoi felt enraged that the girl would allow herself to be used in such a way. Still, she kept silent about it. Now was not the time to call Shimotsuki out as a traitor.

"Togane's plan to paint me black almost worked," Akane said grimly. "For a moment, yelling at him, I thought I had lost it. It was like I could feel my Psycho-Pass getting worse. Kamui calmed me. Without him, I might not be here. But then… he and Togane ended up shooting each other. Kamui probably died instantly. Togane was only wounded, but later confirmed dead by Inspector Shimotsuki. I'm very sorry it all had to end in such a way. Maybe, if I had been quicker…"

"Either way, Kamui would still have to be eliminated," Shion stated, slurping up her ramen. "Don't think you owe anything to a terrorist, my dear. In the end, Kamui broke the law as he saw fit. He caused many deaths. People like him will have to die so long as Sybil has control."

"But he also had an invaluable skill," Yayoi found herself arguing. "I mean the ability to improve someone's Psycho-Pass. That could have reduced suffering for thousands of people."

She quieted down after that miniature outburst. She knew she was letting all this get to her head. But the truth seemed obvious to Yayoi: the real villain had been the Togane family and not Kamui. Furthermore, Misako Togane had been part of Sybil, and the System only changed at the last second when confronted with a threat to its supremacy.

In the end, all the talk of the Kamui case caused Yayoi to despise the ruling System even more than before. The Kamui case also made one thing abundantly clear: the weakness of the Sybil System. If one knew its central location, then breaking through the security to harm the System would be relatively easy. Kamui had been the second person to almost breach the System, after Makishima. Could such a flawed and fragile System realistically hope to keep ruling Japan? Yayoi ruminated over it grimly.

***Break***

On Christmas Eve, Yayoi received a message that would change her life.

The rest of Division One was already partying in the shared kitchen and lounge; even the new Inspector Shimotsuki had come. Shion had donned a beautiful red gown and Yayoi secretly longed to watch her body move in it. First, however, she stayed true to her nickname of Ice Princess and used her tablet in her room. She would join the party later; first, she intended to work a little on her search for Rina. That was when she stumbled across the message in her email. The address said "unknown/unverified" which almost stopped Yayoi from opening the message… but the subject line read, "To Ya-Chan." Yayoi clicked on the message, her heart thundering.

It was from Rina.

"My Dear Ya-chan,

Rumor in the underworld is that a certain Division of the MWPSB has started following up on leads about me. Do you want to see me that much? You haven't changed. If you wanted to find me, you should have tried my old email first, the one I used in high school. I'm not so difficult to track down, you know.

Now, let's see. You can only have one of two reasons for trying to hunt me. The first is that you're still bitter and you wish to bring me to justice. The other reason is that you've finally come to wonder if I've been right all along. That's it, right, Ya-chan?

Another message will be sent from a different address and location in three days' time. It will contain the coordinates where you can find me. I only want to have a chat. Come talk to me, Ya-chan. If you bring backup, it'll be your loss. Use the next three days to think carefully.

Love,

Rina Takizaki."

The shock of receiving this hit Yayoi like a blast of cold air, making the hairs on her body stand on end. She became vaguely aware that she was dissociating again. The feelings of watching herself from outside, of reality's ambiguity, of her world crumbling—they overcame her. She sat staring at the message in frozen astonishment until suddenly Shion entered the room.

"Yayoi, don't be dull," she said, whirling in with a glass of red wine in one hand. "Come and join the party."

She draped her arms loosing around Yayoi's neck and shoulders, and her fingertips, under painted red nails, felt bizarrely warm.

Yayoi snapped out of her dreamlike state and closed down the tablet. She stood up and opened her mouth to try to speak, but Shion kissed her.

"My dear, you can't wear your suit to the party," Shion said, putting down the wine glass and running her hands over Yayoi's hips. "Wear your black dress. It's a special occasion."

"It…is?" Yayoi asked, lamely.

"Of course, silly."

Shion produced a beautiful necklace with a delicate chain of real silver, and an oblong pendant of turquoise with the letters S and Y set there in black. Her own matching necklace had the same letters on a pendant of deep ruby and gold-trimmed chain. She extended the necklace out to Yayoi, who stood, for the second time that evening, frozen in shock.

"Marry me, Yayoi," said Shion.