The Exoset Club, renowned for its nightly parties, was still in full operation despite the fact that a corpse lay behind it. Yashiro stopped the patrol car where a long alleyway opened up, which was then guarded by police drones blocking access to civilians, and yellow holographic barricade tape attached to each of them. Yashiro and Kozuki stepped through the hologram. The alert did not seem to have spread through the area, and she wondered if this was intentional.

When Yashiro displayed her ID to one of the drones, it validated it and allowed them passage to the crime scene. Yashiro glanced towards the entrance of the club. Two tall, sturdy men were guarding the door with dark glasses, and a few civilians were coming out hugging their partners. The few who caught a glimpse of the drones simply shrugged their shoulders and kept walking, some even burst out laughing.

The alley led them into a somewhat narrower one, filled with puddles of dirty water and half-open garbage cans. Yashiro watched her feet as she walked, trying not to step on the small spider-like drones scanning the surroundings for evidence.

"How come no one saw or heard anything?" Katashi's voice was deeper and more worried than usual. "If someone had found her in time, she might have survived."

"With those injuries?" Aoyanagi asked lifting an eyebrow.

"How crazy do you have to be to do something like this?"

Aoyanagi turned as soon as she heard her shoes echo against the water on the ground. Yashiro stopped short, catching the attention not only of the inspector but also of the other enforcers. Her eyes glowed and opened wider, and it was then that Aoyanagi decided to stand next to her and inform, "I forgot to mention. All victims were left alive."

"He gave them a chance to survive on their own or to be saved?" Yashiro quickly asked.

"He is unpredictable, we never understood his motives, but it's obvious he means something," Aoyanagi pointed out.

Yashiro walked past her until she ended up on the body of a young woman no more than forty years old. Her eyes were closed and she froze instantly, feeling as if she were sinking and detached from the surrounding environment. Her lips trembled slightly at something Aoyanagi and the enforcers could not quite make out, as she studied the blood bathing the floor and the dirty clothes—it was the same one she had worn on the night of her disappearance.

Yashiro closed her eyes with a force that shook her. A car parked in front of the alleyway, and she saw herself getting out of it. With hurried steps she opened the trunk, and from inside pulled out the unconscious body of Fujimoto Hatsu. It was nighttime, and no one cared that a car was parked there. Most people leaving the Exoset Club were usually drunk. Those who dared watch turned a blind eye, fearful that their crime coefficients would rise.

Yashiro dragged the body all over the alley until she decided to abandon it next to a dumpster, back against the wall and in a fetal position. Blood seeped through the clothes and mingled with the dirty water on the floor, but as Yashiro stared at the woman gasping for breath, a smile danced on her lips. The music from the club reached her ears, and she lifted her face a few inches to look up the sky, imagining the men and woman dancing with each other.

When the woman awoke, she would feel immensely small, surrounded by voices that spoke without listening, rebellious glances that turned away from danger. Seconds would pass eternally under the call of imminent death, and the waiting would become unbearable. But the physical pain would not be the worst—the worst would come later, when she recognized that she was completely alone.

"He knew she was going to die anyway… so he left her here. He wanted her to die… a lonely and unbearable death… surrounded by voices and music. He thinks she deserved to be abandoned. He is mocking both her and society… or rather Justice… for its conspicuous absence."

Aoyanagi stared at her with widened eyes, the others were also watching her as if she was suddenly a stranger. For a few seconds, all that could be heard was the music of the club.

"Is this his special woman?" Aoyanagi squinted her eyes at her.

"No—she would suffer the most."

Yashiro turned back to the patrol car, but then blinked for a few moments, clearing her vision. Her body was still stiff as stone, but unlike before she felt slightly cold and clammy. She noticed that the others were watching her suspiciously or confused, just as if she were speaking another language. Yashiro felt suddenly cornered and let out a sigh, both soft and sickly, which did not go unnoticed by Aoyanagi.

Yashiro swiftly put her hands in the pockets of her black coat. She did not know if it was due to the darkness or the intense smell of urine, but the atmosphere was suffocating and in an act that even she could not repress, she turned around to go back the way she had come. Katashi was about to mouth something, but was interrupted by Aoyanagi's hand, which was raised in the air in a disapproving gesture.

"We will stand a better chance of catching this guy with her," commented Katashi.

"She got close enough," Aoyanagi shook her head.

"She knows something about him, otherwise she wouldn't say" —Kozuki raised his hands in front of him, as if telling a ghost story —"she would suffer the most."

"Inspector—why did the chief request her, exactly?" Katashi folded his arms.

"She did not say. Let's focus on the case."

"Well, we can't draw deliberate conclusions until the autopsy has been performed," continued Katashi.

Yashiro was leaning against the front door of the patrol car watching the young people entering and leaving the club. None of them were aware that there was a dead body behind the building, but in their current state they would not believe such news either, they simply would not listen to it as they considered it a bad joke.

By the time they returned to the Public Safety Bureau, the sky had already begun to darken. Yashiro headed with Kozuki to the Comprehensive Analysis Laboratory, once again separating themselves from the rest of the division. Karanomori stretched in the chair when she heard the door slide open, and cast a quick glance at the entrance, which was softening into a smile.

"Shion, we need your help," Kozuki sat down on the couch in front of her. "We suspect that an employee of the parking lot security service tampered with the cameras during the night of the kidnapping. A key part of the footage was missing."

The analyst made a gesture of admiration with her lips, but turned back to the screens and began searching for information. After a few seconds, a list of the night shift staff was displayed in the center, with each member's profile. They could see their licenses, their academic studies, and even their family members. The information was exuberant, and for a few moments they stared in bewilderment at so many threads to pull.

"What if you try filtering for those whose psycho pass has shown some variation on the day of the disappearance?" Yashiro suggested.

Karanomori nodded her head and pointed to her with her cigarette, updating the filtering. The information was displayed again, but to their surprise, it was the same as before. The analyst frowned and fumbled a couple of times on the desk with her manicured fingernails, until she resumed her dance on the keyboard searching for something different.

"All employees must meet stringent requirements to obtain the position, including having a stable hue," Karanomori filled her mouth with smoke and then blew it out. "The guy you're looking for must have had access from some other place."

Yashiro arched an eyebrow and turned to walk gently around.

"Aoyanagi-san was right," Kozuki commented, running his hand through his dark hair and tousling it. "Maybe that's why he's managed to stay hidden all this time. The bastard has contacts."

Karanomori stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray on the corner of the desk, and swiveled in her chair towards them with a tired look on her face. They did not realize how quickly the time had passed, and their shift had come to an end.

"At this point, God only knows," the analyst stood up. "Tomorrow we'll see how this whole thing proceeds, after the autopsy has been completed."

The three of them left the room waving goodbye and parting ways once again. Yashiro stood for a few seconds as she watched them leave. Then, after a deep sigh, she turned around to continue walking through the opposite corridor. It took her a few seconds to notice that her wristcom was beeping. When she activated the hologram on her wrist, she widened her eyes upon realizing that it was Kasei Joushuu. For a moment, without knowing why, she refused to answer the call.

"Inspector Takahashi," the hesitant but powerful voice echoed throughout the corridor. "I would like to meet you in my office."

After a brief pause, Yashiro replied that she would be right there and arched an eyebrow. She wondered if the chief ever left the building or, on the contrary, remained there all day. She hurried her pace in the direction of the chief's office, and in a few minutes, she managed to reach it. She had similar appointments in her life, and Yashiro knew what she had to say, or rather avoid saying. As the door slid open instantly, she made out the enigmatic, professional figure at the end of the huge, clean and shiny room, that looked more like the entrance to a palace with the three red carpets on the floor.

Kasei Joushuu was equally—if not more—imposing than the place. Yashiro did not notice that she had not introduced herself, and instead approached that woman who looked very different from the one she remembered from her first day in the field. Stretching out on the seat and with her elbows on the armrests, she left a pyraminx on the desk to look up, and her eyes slowly widened. It was only for an instant that they both seemed to detach themselves from reality.

Kasei forgot the purpose for which she had summoned her, and Yashiro forgot the fact that she was none other than the head of the Public Safety Bureau. The only thing each of them was aware of at that very moment, was the woman in front of them. Kasei rose to sit in one of the black couches, and her hand made a gesture of simple invitation for her to sit in the other one in front of her. Neither noticed that they had not greeted each other. Leaning her back against the comforting backrest, Kasei rested one elbow on the armrest, hanging her forearm towards her body, and leaving her legs spread wide apart.

"Well? How did things go with the case? Your expertise is profiling. What is your assessment?" she asked in a soft, pleasant voice, her eyes completely relaxed.

Kasei was dressed in a professional manner, with oblong wire-frame corrective lenses and earrings. Despite being older, she looked younger than many of Yashiro's classmates who had graduated with her. Something that did not match the true age she would be. Yashiro was sitting with one leg over the other and her hands clasped together on her thigh, as if it were natural for both of them to meet like this. Although it was Yashiro's first time entering that room.

"Serial killers escalate, operate in the same territory—this one doesn't. The victims, methods and places where the bodies are found vary. The only pattern I find is that the women are similar physically… and that they are left alive in abandoned places like alleys."

Yashiro was not looking her in the eye, she was observing around with utmost attention without missing any detail.

"Have you read about the case that took place three years ago, about… human specimens?" Kasei asked with a sudden deep hesitation in her voice.

Yashiro leaned forward, then rested her back on the couch again. She swiftly shook her head and blurted out, "That was different."

"Why?"

"The murderer at that time exhibited the bodies as works of art, he turned them into altars to mock society. He was careless and arrogant, that's why he got caught. But he had style—and he was proud enough to show it," Yashiro spoke with complete ease, taking a breath. "This man, on the other hand… is afraid of being caught, he is cautious. He does not want to provoke a psycho hazard. While the one from three years ago enjoyed playing God, this one is aware of his mortality and according to him… he dispenses justice."

Yashiro said it calmly and matter-of-factly, as if that room were part of her apartment, and the woman in front of her was an old friend. It was not an interview, but a continuation of something they had started long ago.

"Yashiro," she uttered in a lower, softer voice, carefully controlled so as not to show her excitement.

Yashiro widened her eyes for a few seconds, then finally turned her head in her direction, gazing at her as though she had never seen her plainly before. People would feel threatened if a stranger called them without using honorifics. Not many called her simply by her name, and somehow, instead of feeling at home, it made her uncross her leg and cross the other in the opposite direction, clasping her hands on her thigh again. Kasei squinted her gray eyes down her hands, then up her eyes. It was not feigned kindness, but a certain sense of confidence—like they knew each other intimately.

"I don't know much about serial killers, but I can tell you about torture," Kasei assured after a pause, slightly tilting her head. "If you want to hurt someone, you have to tailor your attack specifically to that person. Maybe the killer's methods and injuries say more about his victims."

"They are the ones who gave him the motive," Yashiro lifted one perfect eyebrow.

Kasei's expression turned greedy. She curved her lips further up, like she could no longer hide her longing. Yashiro was regretting entering into the conversation at all.

"Regarding serial killers. I remember an article of yours that interested me a lot, I don't remember exactly the title, I think it was called… On Crime. I had the pleasure of reading it some time ago. In it you examined the psychological state of the culprit at the moment of carrying out his crime."

"My article?" Yashiro frowned for a few seconds. "Ah, yes. Indeed, you must be referring to On Crime. When I was studying at university, I wrote it as part of my thesis."

"What catches my attention, beyond the psychology of the criminal, is how you introduce and relate the concept of the psycho pass. There is a rather original and odd idea that you called… if I remember correctly… Morality of Conscience. With it, you implied that there are individuals who have the right to be criminals in a society. Men for whom there is no law… because they are above it. Men who choose… while the others, like slaves, obey."

Yashiro looked up for a moment. She fidgeted with her black derby shoe in the air gently.

"It's not precisely that, but I must confess that you have reproduced my thought quite accurately," she responded with a certain modesty and ease in her voice. "I have never said that there are people with the right to commit criminal acts. The rights of one man cannot and must not violate the rights of another. What I was trying to analyze was if there are people capable of committing unlawful acts by themselves, through a moral authorization of their own… that does not fit with the ethical standards that conform a society. You can find that concept in several old books and under different names. It's not something I made up."

"It's not the concept that interested me the most, but the peculiar way, authentically yours, in which you relate it to the psycho pass and our current society. You give me to understand in this way that what you were studying—and correct me if I'm wrong—was the mechanism that makes a dominator function, the way in which the psychological state of people in this society is analyzed. In other words, the Sibyl System."

"Yes, that is correct… and I would say that you have certainly understood the purpose of my article. Your ability to deduce things… is quite intriguing," Yashiro commented in a softer, dreamier voice, looking to the side with narrowed eyes.

Kasei broadened her smile strangely pleased by this natural, not overdone compliment.

"You mentioned the experiments conducted on children under one year old, who begin to discern between right and wrong and develop a moral code of their own. Do you think that from that age one can distinguish between ordinary men, and those you mention in your article? Can an adult become one of them?"

"Personally, I think it is possible because people change throughout life. As you grow, so do your associations. The human mind was and still is something too complex, even for something as rational as the Sibyl System," Yashiro glanced at her.

"So, according to your idea and what you wrote, eventually the crime coefficients of these men you mention tend to zero, while that of the ordinary ones tend to infinity… mathematically speaking. Contrary to the majority opinion, you believe that the psycho pass is related to the moral compass, rather than to human emotions. But you had approached this subject with another word…"

"Yes, I think I had used as a term…" Yashiro made a frown and paused for a moment. "Man's value judgments."

"Fascinating," her voice was much lower and softer than before. "I've always been more curious about the minds behind words. Let me ask you something. While writing that article, did you consider yourself one of those men with the moral right to shed blood that you concede and deny—forgive me with such fanaticism—in the main idea of your article? This moral authorization is more frightening than the official, legal authorization of the Sibyl System that you are so critical of."

"I shall say it again. In my article I never condone, nor promote, murder. I would have been expelled from the university for daring to write such a thing," Yashiro's face contorted as she shook her head. "I do not seek to create a Stalin, but… rather, to investigate how all those individuals who have their own ideas… and act accordingly, moved by their own free will, are born and develop in a society. The moral authorization to which I refer is purely personal, one that we all have in common—the inner right to decide in our own conscience."

"Which, again, only proves my point—by asserting that there is greatness in men when they act according to their own free will, you contend that they can disregard the law and commit a crime."

"Why the sudden obsession with my incomplete, delusional article?" Yashiro quickly asked in a deeper voice, patting her knee with her index finger as if dusting off her black pants.

She was used to people following what caught her attention, yet Kasei was holding her stare at her, as if she knew how trapped that made her feel. She released a brief, gentle laugh that echoed throughout the room. Yashiro's heart skipped a beat at its sound. There was something uncanny and dangerous about her quiet, composed body. Kasei was looking into her eyes, yet she felt strangely exposed, as if she were able to see her soul. Yashiro frowned and looked up, her eyes piercing into her own.

"Mere literary curiosity. Criticism is necessary in a free society. Not fond of unexpected readers?" there was a smug expression on her face. "When you finished writing… didn't you feel like one of those men and women above the law, that is—above the Sibyl System? You are a profiler. You have the… ability to empathize with sociopaths and psychopaths, which means you're also able to change them. Doesn't that make you feel powerful?"

"Like a God, you say?" Yashiro raised an eyebrow.

"Do you believe in God?" she savored the words, smirking at her.

"If God were sitting there, I would tell him—look at all that mankind has created and will create," she let out a barely visible smile for a moment. "I believe in men."

"And in order for humanity to progress, then, wouldn't you be willing to break the laws, for example, with genocides? Imagine the hypothetical case that a genius was born who was capable of… for example, extend human lives and the intellectual capacity of each person to unthinkable levels, transferring consciousness to the network… but it turns out that, to achieve this, he must experiment with a large number of people, who will end up dying, and will not be able to enjoy this immortality. Don't you think that their deaths are justified, considering them beneficial for all mankind?"

Yashiro curled her lip and frowned, slowly turning her head to look away.

"I always hated that concept—collectivism. The belief that the individual should be subjugated to the group and sacrificed for the common good. Enslaved to all mankind, without the freedom to choose or think for themselves. I'm not much of a ruler or a god. There's profit… and power in it. But no soul. I don't desire to control people's lives, nor let anyone control mine. I'm not interested in conformity."

"And yet you know that this policy is only possible because people accept collectivism as a moral ideal. They've adopted collectivism so fully they can't even see themselves as individuals, only as members of a group. And by embracing this as an ideal, they've become accessories to their own enslavement. You can't change that. And you won't."

"What makes you think… I won't?" Yashiro raised her voice, betrayed by a slight hesitation at the end.

Kasei smiled in triumph. Yashiro lowered her gaze to the floor and her eyes narrowed considerably.

"Because that's not who you are. It's not in your nature," she stated in a lower tone than before.

Yashiro's face contorted with sudden rage.

"What would you know—"

"If given a choice between ruling and submitting, you would choose neither. Wouldn't you?"

"How do you—"

"You wouldn't force people to change or believe in your own idea of good and evil. You wouldn't impose your own view of happiness."

Yashiro blinked a couple of times, her eyes still fixed on the floor. Her face gradually darkened, as if she were falling asleep on the couch.

"I may not, but someday there will be someone who will," she commented quietly in a lower voice.

Kasei was genuinely startled. She looked her up and down with narrowed, piercing eyes.

"That you think you can talk back like that… is beyond comprehension. Which leads me to conclude what your other writing… the one you called… The Price of Freedom, already made clear to me. You have lost the will to change the world and the people in it because you have lost faith in humanity. And you hate yourself for it. The world is still sleeping while you keep on dreaming. But there are no dreams. It's time to wake up… and see," she spoke haughtily, her words echoing through the room like those of a king to his subjects.

Yashiro smiled in a strange way. It was a barely visible, not cocky smile that lingered for a while. She was aware that her words had sounded almost persuasive.

"No need to. Long monologues, perfect grammar… you must be a Squealer. From Animal Farm, written by George Orwell. He serves as second-in-command to Napoleon and is the farm's minister of propaganda. Highly skilled at making speeches to the animals," she commented in a more animated tone.

Kasei's thin face turned utterly sour. Yashiro could not tell whether she was going to talk the night away with her, or strangle her right then and there.

"I see sarcasm as a defense mechanism is a bad habit of yours," she replied in a bitter, indifferent and almost disappointed tone. "What does that make you, then? Cynical old donkey Benjamin?"

Yashiro squinted one eye for a second, then looked away. Kasei smiled for a brief moment, upper lip slightly raised, until she finally stood up and walked over to her desk.

"Before you go, just out of curiosity… why did you choose to work here?" her voice was still soft, powerful and arrogant at the same time.

"You believe I am not suited for this job… don't you?" Yashiro tilted her head.

"Oh, I think it's quite the opposite," Kasei shook her head with a casual tone and careful flattery, not at all overdone. "But you're not an altruist."

A smile escaped Yashiro as she saw Kasei sit down in front of the desk, and pick up her triangular rubik's cube again to start playing with it.

"It is said that books help us discover who we are. The more you read, the smaller you become. They invite you to question and better see yourself. Who knows? Maybe I might find something about myself working here as well."