In the large room which had a dark brown carpet on the wooden floor, continuous blows resounded. For a moment they stopped, replaced by brief gasps from both pencak silat practitioners.

"You're not familiar with knives," observed Makishima.

Yashiro was a few steps away from him and his straight razor. She had put on black sweatpants and a gray blouse that was a bit too big for her, and it hung down past her waist.

"They are very much like you."

He curved his lips and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, "Is that so?"

Yashiro inhaled deeply as she wiped some sweat from her forehead with her hand. Makishima was slowly pacing around without taking his gaze from hers. The two hands stood firm to block all kinds of strikes.

"Humanity has always sought simpler ways to kill. In the past, you had to train to learn how to use bows or swords. Later, with the advent of firearms, that physical effort and exhaustion was greatly reduced. Anyone could shoot, even a small child. And now… we managed to develop one that does not even require the will of its wearer. It is so easy to kill when you are not responsible for your own actions, isn't it?" She slowly shook her head and squinted. "You instead…"

He stepped forward with his left foot, while both hands thrust outward inviting her to attack further. Yashiro used hand strikes, but he smirked and counterattacked turning his body. His left hand caught hers, and she prevented him from bringing his knife closer by grabbing his forearm. They stared at each other for a moment, trembling and breathing sharply in equal measure.

"Guns are quick. They don't make you feel the emotion… they don't make you… responsible in the same way. And in their final moments, people show you their true nature. But that's something you have already proven in the flesh… haven't you, Yashiro?"

She managed to let go of his grip and attacked him with feet strikes, which he immediately recognized and used his right hand to catch her foot, pushing with the left one her shoulder and sweeping her with his own foot. She fell like a simple doll and grimaced for a second, turning her body to the side like a worm on the ground. Makishima released a fleeting smile and as he slowly stood up, folded the blade of his straight razor into its handle and tucked it into the pocket of his white pants.

When he reached out to her, it took her several seconds to grasp his forearm. Yashiro noticed that his skin was soft and warm, but his grip was firm, not entirely enduring—he released her as soon as she stood in front of him, as if he could not allow himself to touch her. She could not help but lift an eyebrow. It was not shyness, for Makishima was the last person who would feel shame, but she still would not quite figure out what it was.

And then it hit her—it was the same for her. While at the academy she saw herself capable of hugging everyone, something as simple as tapping him on the shoulder to call him over did not usually cross her mind. But neither of them felt like a stranger in the presence of the other. Yashiro guessed then, that if anything her attitude was more relaxed, it was due to the fact that she did not have to pretend anything in front of him. Moreover, it was very likely he would be disappointed if she dared to treat him with the same warmth with which she treated people. He would recognize that mask, for he also carried one with him.

Yashiro was learning fast, and even Choe himself had mentioned that she was very quick. He enjoyed watching them fight, studying both of their progress. And while they practiced, his expectant figure had been all that time in a corner leaning against the wall. Choe threw a water bottle at her, but she had turned in his direction and managed to catch it, otherwise it would have hit her in the face. Then she opened it and drank quickly; her throat was dry because she had not taken a drink in hours. Choe somehow managed to recognize those little details lately, though Yashiro was not entirely sure how he did it.

"You're pretty impulsive," Choe Gu-sung barely opened his eyes. "But you do it well."

Yashiro stopped for a moment without blinking, feeling the echo of his words in her head. In a way, Choe Gu-sung praising her filled her lungs with air and made her smile. Anyone could have told her the same thing, yet his opinion was different. He was not a man who would lie to make others feel good, which was why she appreciated his few and unusual comments so much. She was about to thank him when he continued moving closer to her, "There's something I want to give you."

Makishima had also moved to where they were. Choe reached into his blue jacket pocket and pulled out a small curved knife that resembled a claw. Yashiro squinted and tilted her head as she took it carefully, noting the shape that could be simply hidden in the palm of her hand.

"Are you going to teach her karambit techniques, Choe?" Makishima smirked at him.

"Let's leave it for another day. It's dinner time. You're staying, miss? That is, of course, if you have nothing important to do."

Yashiro swiftly looked up at him, unable to respond at once. Makishima cast a glance at his partner, as his eyebrows became drawn together. He was not expecting such an invitation.

"I do not want to be a bother," she replied with a certain hesitation in her voice.

"You're not."

Choe had spoken with such assurance as if it were not really in his plans to give her another alternative.

"Then well… I would be really delighted."

Yashiro decided to take a shower first, and she was soon left alone with full privacy, yet she was quick for it was not her own apartment. When she started down the stairs, she stopped in the middle as soon as she overheard their voices. Something told her she did not have to show up at that moment.

"Can you do me a favor, Choe?"

She then went on slowly without making a sound, peering into the large living room where Makishima was standing by the wide window looking outside, with a book in his right hand as a support for his chin. Choe was sitting on the couch instead, and they were so engrossed in conversation that they did not seem to notice she wasthere.

"Sure. What is it about?"

She went back to studying the confident way Choe was sitting, with his long slender legs stretched out and his arms resting on the armrest.

"I need you to keep an eye on her."

Yashiro lifted an eyebrow at those sudden words, and curled her lip for a fleeting moment. Choe turned to him with his head tilted to the side, slowly opening his eyes.

"I… thought you trusted her. She has proven how committed she is just as we are," Choe's voice was a whisper at first, then rose considerably.

"I know."

"Then why… are you asking me that? So you can eliminate her before she thinks of betraying you, as you have done before with those who tried?"

Yashiro narrowed her eyes as she watched them behind the wall.

"So I can catch whoever comes from the bureau in order to further investigate the MWPSB. According to what she told me; she's raising suspicious. They're going after her, Choe. It's just a matter of when," Makishima stated lowering the hand with which he held the book, and looked at his partner.

His voice was low, but so raspy and hoarse that Yashiro held her breath for a moment.

"That's not going to happen. You said there was nothing they could use to link her to you or the murders."

"But I didn't say… that they could connect her with the very man who committed those grotesque crimes."

Yashiro looked down for a couple of seconds. She pondered the possibility of the bureau finally discovering her relationship with Toma. Then she tried thinking like Kougami, who did not seem to be such a stickler for the rules as Ginoza. Their encounter had given her a sense of danger, and she felt it once again like cold water all over her skin. She would ask former students if they knew anything about him, but none of them really knew him. And then it dawned on her there was a possibility that one of them might have mentioned her name, for she used to get attention when she talked to him in her free time.

"All it's up to her psycho pass then. And I've seen it's as white as yours."

"Who says white is beauty after all?" Makishima closed his eyes. "If they get close…"

"I'll let you know. You have my word."

Yashiro took a deep breath and finally walked down the stairs, her shoes barely making a sound on the floor, until she stoppeda few meters away from them. Makishima calmly met his gaze with hers, his face transformed into that of someone waiting for death with open arms; his eyes widened for a second as he lifted his head, and a genuine smile covered his lips at the unexpected presence.

"I was beginning to believe we were done with alternate agendas," Yashiro blurted out. "But it seems I was wrong. Using me to lure the people you are interested in playing with."

"It's not very polite of you to cheat at cards," Makishima gently raised his voice.

Yashiro folded her arms and arched an eyebrow. Choe was still in the same place watching the scene in front of him without getting involved. He was not looking at her but at his partner, as if silently disapproving of something.

"I could not help but take a look at yours. You know I never can—especially if you have a trump card up your sleeve that you might use against me… or someone I care about."

"You know we have a symbiotic relationship. We help each other. But when it comes to our personal relationship—there are no alternate agendas Yashiro."

She shook her head lifting her shoulders, "How can you say that when you keep things from me?"

His eyes widened for a second at her words.

"Everyone has secrets. I thought you'd come to terms with that."

"I have. Which is why what really upsets me, is not the fact that you are not honest with me… but the fact that you still cannot trust me enough to let me help you."

He shrugged his shoulders and raised his chin, "Choe still doesn't trust me enough and keeps things from me."

"That is different."

Makishima let out a rich, throaty laugh as he approached her, with the book at chest level and one hand in his pants pocket.

"Is it? What does honesty mean to you then? One can keep some things secret and be in an honest relationship at the same time? You want to know all of my secrets, Yashiro?"

There was a dangerous, taunting silence in the room and Choe settled back into the couch. Yashiro took a few seconds before answering the question, "Yes, I do."

"I'll tell you then," he tilted his head to the side with a smirk of triumph. "As soon as you tell me."

By then he was already right in front of her, yet Yashiro remained the same as if she had not even noticed that closeness. Her face was implacable, but her eyes suddenly glistened.

"Tell you what?"

"The secrets you keep from me."

"I never said I kept any," she shot him a scowling glance.

"Come on, Yashiro. This can be fun… if the secrets you keep are as loving as the ones Choe keeps."

Yashiro glanced at Choe as if asking for help and then back at him. Suddenly she let out a faint smile that lingered for a while, as she began to turn her whole body to the side.

"Now that's interesting," he chuckled at the effusive astonishment on her face.

Makishima slowly passed by her and went upstairs to take a shower as she had done, until he was completely out of sight. Yashiro allowed herself to breathe deeply, but she had forgotten that she was not alone and turned to the remaining man in that living room.

"You are his secret keeper, aren't you?"

Choe Gu-sung only released a smile at her, "Do you like fish, miss?"

She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. Finally, she nodded in response.

"Good. Shall we?"

He got up from the couch and they both headed for the kitchen. Yashiro lifted an eyebrow as she heard a knife against wood. She had never imagined that someone like him would like to cook but there he was, throwing her a glance every now and then as he sliced a tomato. Yashiro sat down in a chair, then rested both hands on the wooden table and stretched backwards. At one point he went to open the fridge, and stood still for a few seconds before pulling out a glass bottle.

"We have white wine," he declared, then turned to her.

She looked at the bottle raised in the air, "It appears you do not even know what you have in your kitchen."

"We still have to thank a friend of us for all these good ingredients. Shougo told you about him?"

Yashiro was about to smile, but only shrugged her shoulders.

"Your sponsor? What a supportive man," she responded with complete ease.

Choe brought two glasses in which he poured some wine, then handed one to her and sat in the adjacent chair crossing one arm on the armrest, like two friends meeting in a bar.

"And if he keeps on with the idea of living forever, we'll have more quality food and wine."

Yashiro squinted her eyes trying to guess who he was referring to. There were many men who longed to live a long life, but most of them had things in common like money, age, and reputation.

"What a fun man," Yashiro smiled imagining what Makishima would think of him. "Let me guess… Makishima still wants to figure out if there is greatness on him."

Choe nodded with a strangely somber look on his face. He realized that Yashiro did not really know who they were talking about, but it did not seem to bother him at all—only amuse him. And he did not tell her his name in the end, though she was willing to find it out someday.

"What a surprise you do not have a food printer, given you are so into technology," she commented looking around.

"The printer can't make the food from my motherland. And it's not the same taste. Isn't it better like the old days?"

She brought her gaze back to him and smiled, "Synthetic food is tasteless."

"You know how to cook, miss?"

"For as long as I can remember."

Yashiro gave a thin grin. Her father had never prepared food for her. Nor had he ever taken it upon himself to buy her something to eat, so she had to do it herself. The fridge was mostly full of alcohol and since her mother was often sick, everything was left to Yashiro. Choe remained silent for a few moments, but fidgeted his hand on the backrest as if to forget the matter.

"Someday… I want to see the before and after," she stated looking straight ahead.

A sudden frown contorted his face.

"Before and after what?"

"Everything changed."

"Not a single glimpse."

Yashiro took a sip of the drink and pointed the glass at him for a few seconds, "I am sure you were handsome."

A chuckle went up in his throat until he could no longer contain it, and he slowly shook his head.

"Was I? Can't remember anymore to be honest."

"I know you were kind… and decent. Just like Makishima."

"What do you know?"

"There was a turning point in your lives that made you who you are today. People may say you are bad because of the terrible things you have done. But I hope you can find some solace in the fact that for me…"

She could not finish the sentence; she just kept nodding her head in an imperceptible way, as if she were actually talking to herself.

"Would you mind if I expressed my respect?" Choe brought her back to reality with the same booming, deep voice.

Yashiro turned to him carefully as her eyes widened, "Uh?"

"I've never heard him speak of any woman as he speaks of you. Now I see why."

Yashiro's chest filled with air and slowly looked away again, "He needs me."

"He cares about you."

She swallowed what little was left in her glass sonorously, and put it down on the table. She was silent for quite some time and rested one arm on its surface, staring into nothingness.

"He does not know how to care about anyone else—because no one ever cared about him. He may be able to kill people without feeling any remorse… because he did not have an affectional bond with them.

"I think even… he does not know how to have an affectional bond with someone. He has many admirers, but only because of the mask he always wears. If he were to show that face, they would fear it as much as he does. He is intelligent, attractive, and kind—three things any person loves, yet no one has ever loved him or accepted him as the man he really is under that suit.

"No one never came to feel affection for him, or at least tried to comprehend him. He did not give up his self in order to be accepted by others, and that eventually made his walls even higher for people to climb over them. So he kept thinking that he is different from the others, and for that reason he did not have any attention throughout his life.

"I dare say not a single person has even hated him, giving him in that way the much-desired attention he always cried out for. He is… so damaged."

Yashiro's voice broke into a whisper at the end, and she blinked a couple of times wiping away the gleam that covered her eyes. Then she turned to him, realizing how much she had been able to say with someone she had met only a few days ago. Choe was still focused on her, unable to utter a single word. His body was as still as stone, but his face was as warm as the sun—something strange and unexpected that made her raise an eyebrow. At that moment she came to hear that Makishima had finished showering, and they did not cross any words on the matter again, though his gaze was more than understanding.

When Makishima returned, he had put on light blue pants and a simple green shirt. His face was slightly marked with an ordinary human tiredness she had never seen before. Choe and Yashiro were already waiting for him at the table, and he joined them after a long pause at the entrance to the kitchen. Despite the silence, little did they know what she would give for that dinner to last for hours. Nothing else mattered to her but that moment—what other people might call home, but what she used to call shelter.

When the door slid open, Shion Karanomori turned around with a smile taking the cigarette out of her mouth.

"What brings you here so early in the morning, Kougami?"

He was looking at the screen but not at her, and walked forward with his hands in his black pants pockets.

"I need your help to find information about someone."

The analyst swiveled her chair around to turn back to the screens, and placed her hands on the holographic keyboard.

"Who are you looking for, sweetheart?"

"You may remember her from a couple of years before. Her name is Yashiro Takahashi."

Karanomori nodded her head a couple of times as her fingers began to dance on the desk as they were always accustomed to.

"Ah… yeah. Sasayama talked about her all day. To be honest, I was sick of it."

"Maybe she reminded him of his little sister, just like Toko Kirino," sighed Kougami. "The difference is that he was able to save Yashiro in the end."

Karanomori looked up for a moment as Yashiro's face popped up on the screen.

"I remember now. Her mother killed her husband and tried to kill her own daughter too, didn't she?"

Kougami could not help but light up a cigarette and looked at it for a while.

"I don't think she tried to kill her daughter. She wasn't a criminal like her husband. She was trying to protect her from us, only she didn't know she needed to protect herself."

"We'll never know. What matters now is that the girl is just fine thanks to you and Sasayama."

There was a deep silence.

"What else you got?" Kougami lifted his chin in the direction of Yashiro's profile.

"All of her neighbors had to undergo therapy. But the only one whose psycho pass remained stable was hers. The maximum value she reached was, uh, 92… according to Sasayama's dominator. Kougami, are you here because Ginoza sent you or for personal reasons?"

Kougami moved closer with his eyes fixed on the information, and rested a hand on the back of her seat, "When did she reach that value?"

"Let me check… when her mother died," Shion stretched back, and her eyes widened. "This girl is human?"

"What about her family?"

She again typed something on the keyboard.

"Looks like her uncles sent her to the Ousou Academy but didn't raise her. Her aunt was her mother's sister. That's the weird thing."

"What is it?"

"The fact that she should worry about her niece. At least for her sister. After everything she's been through..."

Kougami shook his head almost immediately and let out a puff of smoke.

"They left her in that academy on purpose so as not to be with her. Think about it. Your sister dies protecting her own daughter and this little brat survives. Not only her neighbors, but the rest of her family, must have seen her as anything but human."

As Kougami removed his hand from the back of the seat to put it inside his pants pocket, she frowned and exchanged a glance with him.

"That's just… cruel. She was like… what, twelve?"

"Fifteen years old."

Kougami had pronounced each word with such precision and care, that Karanomori was silent for a while.

"What's so special about her?" She propped an elbow on the desk and stretched her long fingers in the air. "Didn't you rule out the possibility of her knowing anything about this Toma guy?"

"We didn't. We're just… getting acquainted."

"I don't understand. Why don't you just go after her?"

"Shion," he uttered clearly with a smile. "Despite everything she's experienced, this girl maintains a healthy psycho pass and is quick to recover from any traumatic event, such as the recent brain damage of Toko Kirino and the death of her parents right in front of her eyes. Many people might believe she's cold-hearted and unfeeling, but I think she has a strong ego.

"There's no way we can just knock on her door and ask her to tell us the truth. She's smart. She'll lie again. We got to find evidence first, and corner her into confessing."

"Confess!" She pointed at him with her cigarette. "So you think she's guilty of something, huh?"

"If you were her, why would you lie to the MWPSB then?"

"Because they took everything from me," she blurted out shrugging her shoulders.

Kougami frowned and looked up the screen, "Or because you have something to hide."

"Absolute nonsense. You can't be part of those murders and have that beauty of a hue afterwards."

A man wearing a dark suit with a red striped tie and brown shoes, took a step forward and squinted his eyes at him.

"Unless you had no idea what you were getting into. The responsibility is distributed and no one knows everything. That way, no hue gets clouded. You think that's possible, Ko?"

Sasayama's voice echoed in the room, but went unnoticed by Karanomori.

"Someone would have to know everything about the murder. How come it didn't affect her hue? Unless… she wasn't directly involved," added Kougami aloud, looking back down to the desk.

For the first time in a month, Sasayama smirked and then released a chuckle, pointing at him with a cigarette between his fingers.

"Last time Sasayama contacted me… can you check where he was going? The closest point to his location. He said he was going to rescue Toko Kirino. Toma must have kidnapped her somewhere."

The map began to enlarge on the screen in front of them, with lines forming a square.

"Just a second…it seems he ended up in this apartment. We lost track of him after that, a few miles from that place. Maybe that's where this Toma guy took him. I'll send you the address."

"Thank you," he responded with unusual softness and a barely imperceptible smile.

"Anytime. Hope you find the answers you're looking for, Kougami. You deserve them."

He left his cigarette in the ashtray.

"You know? Last thing Sasayama told me… was that this case taught him that law can't always protect people. I wonder what he meant. I wish he would be here to ask him himself. But I guess I have to find the answer on my own."

Suddenly the door opened behind them with a soft metallic sound, and the figure of Inspector Ginoza stood in the same place for a few seconds, his eyes scanning both of them, until he decided to step into the office with an arched eyebrow, "Going somewhere?"

His voice echoed sonorously across the room with a certain grandiloquent intonation, yet Kougami turned to him with his hands in his pants pockets. Masaoka came in after him, and when he noticed Kougami he closed his eyes for a few seconds raising his eyebrows.

"I was waiting for you so I could apply for permission to go out."

The inspector let out a long, deep sigh, until he finally turned around followed by both enforcers. As they took the elevator down to the parking lot, Kougami pulled the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket to light one, and Ginoza tilted his head toward him, "You are still beating around the bush about Miss Takahashi, aren't you?"

"To his defense, I admit that I do too," remarked Masaoka, holding his hand to the back of his neck and staring at the ceiling of the elevator. "There's something fishy going on and we're not yet able to see it."

"She's hiding something," Kougami squinted his eyes. "Her former classmate said she was very close to Toma, but she told us what anyone else would say about him."

"Yes, I noticed that too. But why on Earth would she hide anything from us?" Ginoza rolled his eyes, his voice was spontaneous and fleeting.

Kougami raised his head and breathed out, "Maybe she saw something she wasn't supposed to see at the right time."

"Miss Kirino was her friend and ended up getting involved—she would want to find the perp as well."

The elevator door slid open and they headed for the nearest police car.

"Yashiro was with Toko at the zoo, right?" Kougami suddenly asked, more to himself.

Inspector Ginoza exchanged a glance with him, "I found that strange too, now that you mention it."

"Then they went back to the academy, and that's when Toko and Toma disappeared."

Ginoza extended a hand on the steering wheel of the car, while the main screen turned on and synchronized with the address that Shion had sent Kougami, "I do not see what you are getting at."

"I told Sasayama that he was off the case, and Yashiro was there listening to us, too. I wonder how he knew where to find this Toma by the way."

"You believe she told him something, Ko?" Masaoka asked.

"She's the only one who knew him. She probably knew of some place he frequented. But that was enough information for Sasayama. Question now is who was she helping—Toko, or Toma?"

Ginoza looked at him, "We do not have any proof."

"I know. Still working on that part."

The apartment where Sasayama had been was pitch-black, it was clear that it had somehow caught fire. Kougami approached one of the windows that were broken, touching the fallen pieces of glass with his fingertips. When Ginoza turned back to him, he discovered that he had entered the apartment through that same window, but he did so through the door instead—or what used to be one—followed by Masaoka.

"What were you doing in a place like this?" Kougami muttered, clenching his teeth. "Why did you think of going on your own?"

There was a stair and he saw a bullet hole in the edge of the wall, which he touched with his index finger, then slowly looked up. It was hardly visible, but there was another one in the ceiling.

"Two shots missed. Poor training, or too much nervousness considering the short distance."

"Or both," Masaoka's voice brought him back. "No guns were seized in Kozaburo Toma's apartment."

"Because he didn't like guns. He preferred to use his bare hands when killing people."

"So why did he have one? Out of desperation?"

"He probably knew he was coming to an end and wanted to finish Sasayama off once and for all. He wasn't thinking straight. Maybe that's why he brought the girl to this random apartment in the first place," Kougami threw his cigarette on the floor and crushed it with the sole of his shoe.

"He didn't know where else to go."

Kougami looked down for a moment, and went up the stairs as if he were being chased. Then he walked slowly to the first door in the corridor, which led to a room. Everything was destroyed, yet he supposed that all it had had was a bed and a closet. There was only a bathroom at the end of the corridor. Everything had turned to ashes, both on the first and second floors. It looked like a war zone. Kougami had not noticed that his fists were clenched as he knelt down to look at the wreckage in the living room.

"It's no use. There's nothing here, Ko."

Saying those words, Masaoka put a hand on his left shoulder for a few seconds, managing to bring him to his senses. And when Kougami got up to leave the apartment, it was then that a shape in one of the windows stopped him in his tracks.

"Hey!" Kougami exclaimed.

The figure trembled when discovered and blurred as it fled. Kougami reacted at once and jumped out of a window, chasing after the elusive little spectator. It was hooded but he could not lose sight of it, as it was wearing the red ribbon characteristic of Ousou Academy students.

Not knowing how long he was running, he finally went up some stairs until he saw the little guy enter an apartment. Ginoza and Masaoka had caught up to him with dominator in hand, but the former waited for both enforcers to come before him. Kougami kicked the door open, but no one was inside. However, he knew that whoever that person was had hidden. In the dining room there was a round table—it looked like they were getting ready for dinner. There was a pot on the kitchen stove, a pleasant smell was coming from it that he could not quite identify.

"We are from the Criminal Investigation Department," Ginoza announced in a loud voice. "You have been to a crime scene, come out so we can ask you a few questions."

"We—we didn't do anything," a woman's voice faltered.

Kougami stepped forward, motioning with his hand for Ginoza to lower his dominator, "We're looking for a man who worked with us and was killed—his name was Mitsuru Sasayama. We know he was in the apartment that is now burned down."

They heard a noise like something falling, and suddenly the figure they had been chasing came down the stairs, timidly touching the wall with its hands. It could also speak, "Do you have a picture of him?"

When the hood came off, the men frowned as they discovered it was a girl. The woman who had spoken earlier also emerged from her hiding place, opening the bathroom door. She had a rather heavy pan in her hands which she instantly put down. Ginoza activated a hologram, showing the two women an image of Sasayama. The younger one opened her eyes and mouth and suddenly pointed at it, shooting a glance at her mother, "It's him—the man who gave me this ribbon!"

The men looked at each other. The girl rushed over and sat in the dining room chair, staring at them.

"Actually I found it when I was passing by that apartment, but then the detectives found me and my mom and asked me to take them to where I found it," explained the girl.

The mother approached her daughter and nodded her head, "It's true. If my memory serves me well, they were looking for a missing girl. Have you found her?"

The silence became almost funereal in the room.

"What do you mean they?" Ginoza blurted out. "He went alone."

The two women frowned and exchanged a look as if they were speaking another language, and paused for a long moment.

"He was with a woman," continued the mother.

"Did she tell you her name?" Inspector Ginoza asked with a gasp.

"I am afraid not."

She sited next to her daughter. Ginoza took a deep breath and closed his eyes, placing his glasses over his nose. However, Kougami did not give in, "What did she look like?"

The woman put a hand on the table while trying to remember, and took a few seconds to answer. Kougami knew from the moment he entered that apartment that those people were innocent, or at least not related to Sasayama at all. They really wanted to help them. Their look was pure. And he himself did not understand why he had sensed that—it was something Sasayama would have noticed from the beginning. Ginoza took some steps forward, bringing him back to reality.

"She was tall, friendly. Brown hair. I didn't pay that much attention to be honest."

"Anything seem off to you?" Masaoka shot a fleeting glance at Kougami.

The mother shrugged her shoulders and paused, but just then frowned, "She was well dressed, I bet she wasn't from here."

"What do you mean by that?" Ginoza heard his own echo, unable to stop the growing doubt within him. "A dress?"

"No, no—office style, professional."

Suddenly Kougami sat in front of them activating his wristcom. Ginoza was about to ask something when he rushed to say, showing an image, "Did she look like her?"

Ginoza approached him to see who it was. His eyebrows rose when he discovered it was Yashiro Takahashi. The men held their breath until the mother's voice was heard again, "I think so. What do you think, honey?"

"It's her."

Kougami deactivated the hologram and slowly turned to Ginoza. Masaoka came closer with visibly furrowed eyebrows.

"She wanted to find Miss Kirino as well, so she helped Sasayama. That makes her a witness," Ginoza observed with a scowl.

"Or an accomplice," Masaoka folded his arms, with his voice turning deeper and more dangerous than before.

"But if she was with him instead of at the academy, it means that she lied. Why?"

Kougami stood up and looked at Ginoza, "Let's ask Yashiro herself."