On such a sunny and windless day, people who had not yet gone to work or university took advantage of the warm hours to have breakfast outside their homes and find out the latest news. Checking that the coffee shop they had gone to was the right one, Nobuchika Ginoza continued walking followed by two enforcers until he recognized the woman who gave a meaning to their journey.

"Excuse me miss, are you Annaisha Ishikawa?"

The young woman turned around, her smile was warm and natural and did not hesitate to answer, "I am. Who's asking?"

The man with glasses displayed his holographic identification and Annaisha leaned forward to read it, as did the brown-haired man sitting in front of her who seemed to be her boyfriend. She had a strong yet pleasant perfume on her neck and her blond hair was tumbling over her shoulders.

"Inspector Nobuchika Ginoza, from the Criminal Investigation Department. We have some questions to ask you."

At first the girl raised her eyebrows exchanging a glance with the young man, who only shrugged his shoulders. They seemed to be studying, for there was a tablet on the wooden table.

"They are from the Public Safety Bureau," she remarked as if trying to make sure they were truly there.

"I understand. Well, I'll leave you alone while I go order two coffees," her boyfriend kissed her goodbye and entered the coffee shop.

Annaisha offered the men to sit in front of her, and only then did the inspector continue, "We are sorry to have to come to you, but we have checked with other teachers without getting anything revealing."

"It's all right. What is it you need to know?"

"Since you were a student at Ousou Academy, specifically the class that had Kozaburo Toma as a social science teacher, we think you can help us with more information about him."

When Annaisha heard the name of her former teacher, she pursed her lips closing her eyes for a second. It still remained a taboo subject for them.

"Why are you still digging into him if his murders have stopped?" She asked with a trembling voice.

Masaoka took his hands out of his trench coat pockets, and rested one forearm on the wooden table. His features softened as he began to explain, even though the sturdiness of his body did not usually make a good first impression, "Kozaburo Toma has been missing for a while. We believe he may have had accomplices—"

"It can't be! It's terrible that a man like him walks loose in the streets."

"That is why we need your help," Inspector Ginoza's smooth voice did not match the emotionless of his face. "Does anyone come to mind? A colleague? A friend, perhaps?"

Annaisha gently shook her head, her gaze fixed on the wooden surface as if it were hard for her to further reflect on the matter.

"He was very kind, a good teacher. Everyone knew him at the academy. But he never talked to us about his private life. Now that I think of it, he was very reserved."

"Someone must know something about him, or have seen anything off," Masaoka put a hand on his chin. "Considering that he was as outgoing as everyone says."

"Maybe …" her voice trailed off. After a long pause, she looked up widening her eyes. "In fact, I believe there is only one student who may know something about him, because he was very talkative with her."

Ginoza suddenly raised his head a few centimeters, "Who is she?"

"Her name is… Yashiro."

Ginoza's green eyes sparkled, but it was Kougami who shot back first, "Yashiro? You mean Yashiro Takahashi?"

Annaisha frowned and her lips trembled at her own words, as if she could not believe them herself.

"He was reserved with everyone but her. She was his favorite student after all, the only one who understood his weird jokes. I always thought they had some kind of… relationship."

The three faces completely darkened in front of her, and for a few seconds they no longer heard the conversations of the tables around them.

"Miss Takahashi never told us she was a friend of his," Masaoka exchanged a look with Kougami. "Do you think she might be helping him?"

It was then that Annaisha stretched back in her seat and cast an accusing glance at him, "What? Of course not! She would never do such thing."

"Are you certain?"

"I would trust her with my life."

They remained silent for a few seconds; her tone had been as firm and confident as that of a woman who had nothing to lose, even though she was studying and had her whole life ahead of her.

"Let's not make any rash assumptions," the inspector cut the oldest enforcer off. "Remember that she was a friend of Miss Kirino."

"You sure of that, Gino?" Kougami mumbled inhaling deeply into his cigarette.

Masaoka's voice rose like that of a man in the last seat, who really has the last words, "It doesn't explain why she hid her relationship from the MWPSB. If Miss Kirino was a friend of hers, she would have provided us with any information."

"Unless there wasn't any!" Annaisha blurted out with a scowl. "Sorry. I just can't believe you think she would help a criminal and a murderer like that man."

Kougami took the cigarette from his lips and kept it lit between his fingers, smoke spilling out of his nostrils in whirls of air, "There is no man with integrity. People change."

"Not Yashiro."

There was a sudden silence in which the only one who smiled was Masaoka, and somehow, he managed to convey that same warmth to the young woman, who seemed to relax her body in the seat. Although she was not accused of anything, the fact that her friend became a suspect made her feel guilty, as if she owed her life.

"You're thinking like a friend of hers," Kougami rebuked her with a disappointed tone.

He suddenly got up to throw the cigarette into one of the nearest garbage cans. He looked like a child who cannot stay still for a single moment, since he wants to learn everything about the new world.

"Of course I am! It's because I know her that I'm sure she wouldn't betray a friend of hers, but above all, she wouldn't get involved with that man. She would report him at once even if her hue became clouded in the process."

"We are enforcers, miss," uttered Masaoka with an almost fatherly voice, getting up as well. "We don't think like cops or friends, but like criminals."

"What will happen to her now?" She asked staring at the table, certainly hunched over.

Her boyfriend had returned and had a cup of coffee in each hand. Ginoza nodded his head and gave him the seat, "We are just looking for information. We really appreciate your help."

They had turned around to leave when the young woman's voice assured behind them, "You are wrong about her. She is not a criminal. You know… when the fire at the academy happened, it was thanks to Yashiro that we were able to organize ourselves to get out and get to safety. If she hadn't been there at the right time, I don't really know how it would have ended."

"History is riddled with false messiahs," Kougami muttered as he bowed his head to light another cigarette.

They went to the police car, and when Ginoza started the engine of the vehicle, he raised his arm to make a call with the communicator on his wrist, while different holograms were turned on displaying information about the car and its current position.

"Shion, can you send us Yashiro Takahashi's address?"

The feminine voice made its way into the car, brightening up the atmosphere in the particular way that only she was able to do, "You mean the miracle girl from a couple of years before?"

"Indeed."

The analyst instantly sent them the address, which was transferred to the vehicle's main holographic screen.

An addictive smell filled the apartment as Yashiro prepared her backpack on the table. Then she turned around and rushed to turn off the coffee maker when she saw that the dark liquid was about to spill. All the steam came out of the machine making a loud gurgling sound. As she leaned on the kitchen counter, she grabbed the cup bringing it closer to her nose. She almost took a sip when she heard a meow, and looked down to find her white cat heading for the apartment door. His green eyes focused on the door as he sat down. When the noise from the coffee maker died down, a few knocks on the door broke the silence.

Yashiro frowned and left the cup on the counter, walking toward it to slowly open it. She was not expecting anyone, but assumed it would be one of her neighbors. Instead, there were three men in the corridor that she recognized immediately, since those eyes were hard to forget. And yet, she did not let them in until one of them displayed his identification hologram, "Inspector Nobuchika Ginoza. We are here to ask you some questions."

Yashiro stepped aside and the agents walked to the small dining room. Then she slowly closed the door and turned to the unexpected guests, her face covered with a cordial yet faint smile as she took her backpack off the table and laid it on the floor, so as to invite them to sit down with a polite gesture. They instantly recognized that there was no holographic system installed and no food printer, and they found it strange that someone as young as Yashiro would like to live there, surrounded by older people and without security cameras.

Yashiro kept her cat fed and loved, on whose collar Franklin was engraved, and who at that moment watched them suspiciously and attentively from a corner. Masaoka arched an eyebrow; some things did not add up even though everything was clean and orderly, like the fact that when he looked at the balcony that was wide open, he came to see that on the railing there was a glass half-full of orange juice, as if she had passed by there and had completely forgotten about it. He thought that if it were a windy day, that glass might fall on someone's head.

First thing Kougami noticed, however, was the absence of all human life. It was as if Yashiro had moved in a few days ago, since there were no paintings, plants or decorations of any kind. Not even a family photo. The state of her room seemed similar, because from there he came to see a single made bed. It was probably one of those people who made their bed as soon as they got up. Suddenly, he had a sense of déjà vu while turning to Yashiro again, then remembered Kozaburo Toma's apartment.

It had been a few seconds, but the moment Masaoka turned around to look at his inspector and Yashiro, he realized that the latter had remained silent as if she had known they would carry out such a sneaky inspection, one that was not really part of their daily work but was done unconsciously. And then he understood that they had lost the element of surprise since they had entered that apartment.

"What can I do for you, gentlemen?" Yashiro asked as she picked up her cup again and extended it toward them, putting her free hand in her black jeans pocket. "Would you like some coffee?"

Ginoza was the only one who sat shaking his head and putting both hands on the table. Kougami had his hands in the pockets of his gray coat, and underneath he was wearing his inspector's shirt and tie. He did not sit down and stood there, watching her with an impassive look that she did not remember about him. He had a cigarette on his lips and a cloud forming around him. She did not remember him smoking. Masaoka was standing right beside him staring back at her; there was a kind expression on his face, but she felt even more tested by his brown eyes than Kougami's.

"You must remember Kozaburo Toma, who was a teacher at the Ousou Academy until a month ago," Ginoza started to say.

Yashiro tilted her head to the side for a second, "He was my social science teacher."

"And also the criminal force in the murders that took place recently."

"I remember. I must assume that the whole thing was over with his capture."

Yashiro remained in the same place, not at all affected by the three men in that room. Masaoka was accustomed to a culprit pretending or showing aggression, but she did neither, and he could not help but frown. Ginoza seemed to realize that too, for his tone grew impatient as he continued, "Kozaburo Toma has disappeared and we believe that he did not commit the murders alone."

Yashiro stared at the liquid in her cup with a somber expression. For a fraction of a second she squinted one of her eyes, then looked up again with slightly raised eyebrows.

"We need to know more about him," Kougami blurted out.

Yashiro shrugged her shoulders and shook her head a couple of times. Then she slightly curled her lip for a fleeting second, "How can you be so sure that there are accomplices?"

"Toma didn't know anything about chemistry to use the resin, and didn't have as much money to buy the instruments and materials."

Ginoza cast an accusing glance at Kougami and turned to her, "We have already asked other teachers and students but no one knows anything about him, as if he had ceased to exist."

Yashiro took a sip of coffee making a long pause.

"Professor Toma was a very sociable person. Everybody esteemed him. You would never think that someone like him would commit such murders. I still cannot believe he is responsible," she frowned for a second. "I do not think he had any friends, though."

"And why is that?" Kougami wanted to know, his voice was clear and calm.

"He got a little weird sometimes. And even though he talked to everyone and smiled all the time, it seemed to me that he was just pretending. A two-faced man, if you ask me."

"Clearly," Kougami sneered at her.

Ginoza shook his head when he looked at him, and Kougami took a few steps toward her to blow a puff of smoke. Yashiro squinted at the smell, but stared at him as if in a duel. Then the inspector turned to Yashiro and sighed, "So you do not know much about him either."

Yashiro had finally finished drinking her coffee, and left the cup on the counter to look at him with a barely perceptible half smile.

"I am afraid not. Have you tried asking his relatives?"

"No family," the gray eyes were stuck in hers, glowing in a somewhat peculiar way that made her blink. "Lucky man."

Inspector Ginoza suddenly stood up placing gently one of his hands on the table, what surprised both of them equally, "We are leaving. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. If you have more information or find out something, do not hesitate to contact us."

Yashiro raised her head slightly in his direction, and widened her eyes as she approached them. Masaoka realized that she had never turned her back on them in all that time, nor had she taken her eyes off them, as if preparing for an ambush of some kind. It made him feel strange, as if he were the looter and she the victim instead.

"Of course. I will let you know right away," she assured him with the same natural voice. "And do not think twice about coming if you have any more questions."

They went to the door of the apartment and Yashiro bade them farewell with a faint smile, perceiving the gray eyes trying to pierce her like the blade of a knife. However, as soon as she was alone again her face withered and she walked to the balcony to observe the black car parked below and the three agents getting into it. A few seconds later they turned on the lights and drove slowly away.

Only then did she put on her black coat, leaving it open over the dark blue sweater that slightly accentuated her body. She had left it hanging on a chair while she was making coffee, but she almost always wore it when she went out. Then she picked up her backpack off the floor to leave the apartment, as she had done every morning since she had started her college life.

A short but sturdy old man greeted her in the corridor with an alarmed look. He had barely run a few meters and was already panting; she could see the glow of sweat on his double chin. He was one of her neighbors, "Those three men were cops, right? What were they doing at this hour, miss?"

Yashiro gave him a reassuring smile.

"They just asked a few questions about a man who is on the run. Nothing to worry about."

"One man falls, we all fall," the old man stated, almost in a whisper. "Can't trust anyone these days, so if something comes up let us know and we're all out."

She knew that he had an old Smith & Wesson revolver and that he probably carried it hidden in a pocket inside his green jacket. One of the first days she had moved into the building, the man had told her that two men had broken into his apartment, and even after stealing a couple of things from them, they beat both him and his wife and then ran away. The woman was still in therapy. Her psycho pass had not fully recovered.

Yashiro placed a hand on his shoulder for a few seconds, and thanked him by looking straight into his eyes, without the same smile as before. Then she walked away until she left the building, and melted into the incessant pace of people as she had done lately, putting her hands into the pockets of her black coat.