In the nineteenth century, the philosophy of individual rights was abandoned and replaced by technocratic utilitarianism. Instead of basing freedom on the moral imperative of each individual's right to his person and property, in other words, instead of considering it on the basis of law and justice, utilitarianism preferred to see it as the best way to achieve a definite welfare and common good. This shift from natural rights to utilitarianism had two important consequences.

First, the purity of ends, the consistency of principles, was inevitably destroyed, because while the libertarian advocates of natural rights, who sought morality and justice, clung militantly to pure principles, the utilitarians valued freedom only in terms of expediency to achieve a certain end, and since expediency can and does change according to circumstances, it will be easy for the utilitarian, who coldly calculates cost and benefit, to fall again and again into statism according to the ends he pursues, and thus to set principles aside.

This is precisely what happened to the Benthamist utilitarians in England who, starting from a special libertarianism and laissez-faire, found it ever easier to slip into statism. Secondly, it is difficult to find a radical utilitarian who fights for the abolition of coercion. Utilitarians, with their devotion to expediency and cost-benefit calculations, oppose any radical change. There have never been revolutionary utilitarians.


"The girl seems to be interested in an old name… one you must be familiar with. Touma Kouzaburou. We have detected recent access to your public report, as well as that of Kasei Joushuu, from a computer in the Division 2 office. Who would be interested in a case from three years ago, other than herself?"

Kasei seemed oblivious to the comment, as she continued to play with her Rubik's cube. The large office was completely empty and silent.

"She is a threat," said another.

Kasei lifted her cube to study one side, and replied in a soft, quiet voice, "Yashiro's just been bluffing all along."

"Ever since the inspector arrived, your brain activity has been quite… unusual. Your former relationship with her might be clouding your judgement. Let me handle her."

"Yashiro got used to my personality," Kasei frowned and tilted her head. "If you replace me, she will think Kasei Joushuu suffers from dissociative identity disorder."

"You must be so pleased."

Kasei did not answer the question. Someone else spoke, "Inspector Takahashi is quite… perceptive. She recognized my former profession."

Kasei averted her cold gaze over the cube and suddenly set it down on the desk.

"And when did you expect to tell us? Now Yashiro thinks I'm a psychiatrist. We agreed to share our developments when we're out. It's not like you to be so careless. Or was the carelessness on purpose?"

"I was merely curious."

"It's been a while since you've said that about an inspector. But the last one became a latent criminal and was executed. You always set your sights on strange people," commented another.

"But they were quite intriguing, were they not?"

"The crime coefficients of your patients went up. It's only natural you want to try the same experiment with a new inspector."

"Not anyone—not Tsunemori Akane. Although she may not always agree with Sibyl's verdict, she is a morally upright, good-hearted and trusting individual. Thus, someone who can be tricked and used. We can handle her. As for Takahashi..."

"Are you worried?" someone asked after a pause.

All were silent. The former psychiatrist continued, "What she has is empathy. She can assume any point of view, but the fascinating thing about her is that she doesn't lose herself in the process, as has happened with previous inspectors who ended up adopting the criminal's crime coefficient. Her psycho pass is not affected either during or after the jumps she makes. What's more, it seems to go down."


Walking through the corridors of the Public Safety Bureau building, Yashiro thought about Kasei Joushuu's last words.

"Inspector Aoyanagi told me she asked you to stay out of the field. I wanted to tell you that you don't have to worry. She had no authority to take you off the case. No one can issue that order—but me. And it won't be issued."

Yashiro remembered that she had allowed Kougami to take Sasayama off the case, during the investigation of the Specimen Case three years ago. The difference was that she wanted to capture the culprit alive, and Sasayama was the enforcer who wanted him dead. Suddenly, Yashiro pulled out her phone, which was ringing. It was Abe Asuka's number.

"Takahashi," she spoke.

"I admire you," a deep, calm, male voice replied. "I don't know how you found me. I respect you inspectors more every day. Sorry I had to hurt your enforcer, but you left me no choice."

Yashiro's brows slowly furrowed as recognition was drawn on her face. She had stopped in the middle of the corridor.

"Agawa?" she gasped, closing her eyes.

"Yes."

"Why are you calling me?"

"Because I'm looking at the city below… it's a beautiful sunset. It made me think of you."

As he stood in a building, hands in the pockets of his long gray coat, she began to walk through the corridors of the Public Safety Bureau building.

"What have you done with Abe Asuka?"

"Find out."

"You must want me to know that you have her, why would you use her phone otherwise? You wrote that you feel protective towards children. Abe-san has one. A girl of five years old. She is going to miss her mother," her voice was cold, tempting, and mocking all at once.

A short, quiet, deep laugh reached her ears, the sort one lets out with the mouth mainly closed.

"You read my letter," he raised his voice a bit, genuinely pleased. "I knew you would find out. You are everything I could have hoped for."

Yashiro frowned and stopped in the middle of a corridor, right between two offices facing each other. She then continued walking at a slower pace, her head slightly bent. She completely forgot where she was going.

"The surgeon. You knew they would assign me his case, so you tested me out on the field."

"I've had my eye on you for a while."

"Have you?" Yashiro raised an eyebrow for a second.

"Comfortable with your darker impulses. Obsessed with painting outside the lines."

The inspector curled her lip and blurted out, "I'm nothing like you."

"Not yet."

Yashiro could imagine him giving her a smile, as if he enjoyed making her lose her cool at least for a second.

"You try to dignify what you do, but it's the same old story. Righting wrongs through murder, extortion, random acts of violence. My guess would be that something important has been taken away from you. More important than anything else. So now you avenge others who have had something taken from them. You think you're a god, that you can act like Sibyl—but you're just a man."

"We are very much alike, you and me."

"I don't think so."

"Oh, Yashiro, how well I know you. Lost and abandoned in a world full of contradictions—first by your family, then your friends, even your boyfriend. Caught by the standard notion of right and wrong in a moral society. Battling for individualism in a country where the word I has started to disappear, replaced by we. Responsible for the maintenance of society's ethical standard, when you should be held morally responsible for your actions."

Yashiro slightly looked down for a moment, as a frown formed on her face and she pursed her lips. She was right in front of the Comprehensive Analysis Laboratory, but instead of entering, she turned around and continued walking down the corridor.

"In order to judge someone… you must be willing to judge yourself first."

"I am," he responded with ease. "Are you?"

Yashiro was clenching her fists by then, her upper lip slightly raised. Suddenly, she pulled the cell phone away from her ear and cut the call. She was holding it so tightly, that it seemed like she was going to throw it against the wall at any moment. However, it was Agawa who, after smiling, threw his own and watched it fall from the top of the building.

"Takahashi-san!" Daiki ran down the corridor, stopped a few feet away and motioned for her to follow him. "We have news. It's about Abe Asuka."

"Abduction?" she guessed.

"Murder. Found in her own home."

Yashiro's eyes widened and she began to put her cell phone in her pocket, as she walked past him without looking back, and he tried to catch up with her.

"I thought Aoyanagi-san said you shouldn't go out without an enforcer…" his voice trailed off; disappointment written on his face.

Yashiro smiled as they turned into another corridor, "That's why I'm asking you to come with me."


When Division 2 arrived at the apartment, the area was already blocked off so that civilians could not pass through. Several people were on the sidewalk watching, anxious to know what was going on. As the inspector parked her black car, getting out of it with a single enforcer, she soon realized that they had not been the first to arrive, since there was another police car in front of theirs. Walking up the stairs, they reached Abe Asuka's apartment, which had its door wide open. Katashi entered first, raising his dominator to aim straight ahead and then to each side of the room, only to find that no one was there.

Katashi went to the room, where there was a bed, a closet and a window with white curtains. He came into the bathroom, which was quite tidy and clean, and looked at the mirror, observing his reflection in it. Suddenly, he saw a figure behind him and felt a shiver run down his spine.

"Shit," he muttered and turned around quickly, raising his dominator for a moment. "Damn it, will you stop doing that?"

"Sorry!" Daiki shrugged his shoulders.

Katashi shook his head and walked out of the bathroom. When Aoyanagi realized that all the light was coming from the living room window, she approached it slowly, carefully, as she noticed a silhouette sitting on one of the armchairs. Then, she stopped.

"Takahashi-san, you shouldn't be here."

Yashiro widened her eyes a bit for a second, and blinked a couple of times. She leaned her body forward slightly, then rested her back on the armchair again, as if her body was weighing her down too much. She raised an eyebrow and finally turned to the woman standing in the middle of the living room, averting her gaze from the female corpse on the armchair in front of her. Aoyanagi was staring back at her, as were the enforcers in her division.

"This isn't a random murder," Yashiro stated.

"How do you know?"

"I think we led him straight to Abe Asuka."

"How?"

"Oh… and we called him Agawa, too," Yashiro turned her head towards the window and curled her lip, resting her forehead on one hand for a few seconds.

"A pretty common surname," Daiki shrugged his shoulders.

Yashiro's eyebrows lowered and drew closer, as her lips tightened.

"Why would we be interested in a likeness from ten years ago? Because of a precursor crime! Something that happened in the past that seems to presage the current crimes, like killing a man trying to escape justice," she blurted out.

Abe Asuka had not only talked about the suspect, but had also helped them recreate his face, although it was very likely that his appearance was different in the present. Otherwise, Karanomori might have found a match.

"Abe-san never reported it. The boyfriend was never interviewed. As far as we know, it has always been a private matter," Aoyanagi chided her in a louder voice that echoed through the apartment.

"Until now," Yashiro widened her eyes a bit, looking directly at her superior. "We have made it public."

Enforcers looked startled for a moment.

"It's very unlikely that this is the judge. He has always killed people who commit crimes. The modus operandi is different too."

Yashiro slowly shook her head and suddenly familiar faces entered the apartment. She stood up, staring at them.

"Why are they here?" she stepped forward, hands in her coat pockets.

"I'm leaving the case to them," explained Aoyanagi.

"We should investigate this," Yashiro's face darkened and her voice turned cold.

"If we do, the media will be all over it and we don't need that extra pressure," she raised her chin towards the female body on the armchair.

"That's ridiculous."

"A body has been found. A female. The suspect, who we believe is her husband because neighbors say they saw him bloodied, is on the run. We shouldn't be overreacting."

Yashiro frowned and curled her lip, shaking her head, "Inspector..."

"You can't see past the killer!" Aoyanagi took a step forward, pointing her index finger at her.

"Abe Asuka is dead and it's my fault," Yashiro raised her voice, causing everyone in the room to fall silent.

Aoyanagi shook her head softly and turned to the tall, black-haired man watching them, "I'm sure Ginoza-kun will keep us briefed on any developments."

Yashiro sighed and looked away. She turned around and took out her phone, but when she unlocked it with her index finger, she noticed that the screen and the tab notification were empty. Suddenly, she heard footsteps and a strong smell of tobacco wrinkled her nose.

"Expecting a call?" his voice was rough, almost indifferent.

As she put the phone back in her pocket, she walked to the living room window and looked outside.

"Only yours," she widened her eyes for a second in a distant voice. "Tell me you don't believe it was her husband."

Kougami Shinya had his hands in the pockets of his gray coat and a cigarette in his mouth. He kept looking at her with narrowed eyes, which had a color that resembled Yashiro's.

"Anyone would think so. A scanner will recognize him on the street. It's just a matter of when," he looked her up and down, taking the cigarette out of his mouth for a few seconds. "But if you are so certain that he is not the culprit, when all the evidence proves otherwise, it only means one thing."

Yashiro bent down to watch the street and then turned around, taking two steps forward to stand in front of him. Kougami was much taller and muscular than she was, but Yashiro did not even seem to notice, as she raised her chin and looked at him with piercing eyes.

"Which is?" she raised a perfect eyebrow.

Kougami pulled the cigarette out of his mouth again and blew smoke into her face, causing her to squint and wrinkle her nose.

"That you know something we don't—again."

"Kougami," Inspector Ginoza shot him a cold, dangerous glare.

Kougami looked directly at Yashiro, until he finally turned around and moved towards the enforcers in his division. Ginoza had stared at her, too. He even continued to do so when she slowly turned her head to him. But there was a new face watching them from behind the armchair where the female body was found. It was Tsunemori Akane. For a second, Yashiro frowned. A face with slightly shorter black hair flooded her mind.

"Kougami is no longer the same since the death of Sasayama. He is willing to find the culprits. I would not want to be one of them to be honest…" Ginoza's green eyes glowed under his glasses.


As Division 2 exited the building, they headed for their police cars and drove away, with Aoyanagi and Daiki in the vehicle ahead of Yashiro and Katashi. However, they all received the same message from Ginoza, and Yashiro's eyes drifted to the main screen in the car.

"The suspect has been flagged by a street scanner while doing a hue check. A security drone ordered him to receive therapy, but he refused and ran," Katashi read aloud.

"He's on the edge," Yashiro shook her head.

"Why would he avoid treatment long enough for his hue to become so cloudy? Guilty or not, he's a latent criminal already. One far enough gone that we don't need to wait for Sibyl's judgement."

"Where did he run to?" Yashiro asked.

"This block," Katashi leaned forward to show the location on the vehicle map. "Drones can't go in there."

"It's not so far."

When the traffic light changed to green and Aoyanagi's car crossed the street, Yashiro drove on quietly, watching the black car ahead of them carefully.

"Don't tell me…"

Yashiro turned the steering wheel to the right all of a sudden. Katashi leaned his arm on the door at the abrupt movement, looking for Aoyanagi's car pulling away and then at Yashiro, "You're going after him."

"We need to get him first," she mumbled. "He must know something about—"

"Slow down—you're driving like a maniac," Katashi's blood ran cold at the sight of a car suddenly stopping in the middle of the street to let them pass. "You're going to get us both killed."

Yashiro's silver eyes were solely focused on the street ahead, so cold that they did not seem human. She wondered if Aoyanagi had noticed, looking in the rearview mirror, that no car was following her. But it was only when they finally reached the block, a couple of streets ahead, that a hologram came on, showing an incoming call. When Katashi looked at it, Yashiro was already getting out of the car. He mimicked her movement and turned to stare at the gray buildings, unpainted and somewhat worn by the years.

"Where do we start?" Katashi finally asked in a deep voice, lowering the collar of his black coat.


"Ginoza-kun, I was calling to inform you that Inspector Takahashi, along with an enforcer from my division, went to the block where the suspect ran to," Aoyanagi spoke. "I haven't been able to communicate with them. She wants to capture the culprit rather than execute him."

"I'll keep you posted," he nodded to the hologram, even though it was audio only.

Ginoza sighed and got out of the car, followed by Tsunemori. The paddy wagon parked behind them, and as red lines colored it, the door opened and some enforcers got out. A drone approached them, releasing their dominators.

"Guys—you think he might abduct a passerby, holding her hostage like the man in the other case?" Kagari Shuusei asked, raising his gun to the side of his face.

His eyebrows were lifted and a cocky smile covered his lips. His hair was orange and pinned to one side by teal barrettes. He wore a blue jacket, black dress shirt, red tie and dark pants with two thin white belts that matched the color of his shoes.

"Let's hope not," Masaoka Tomomi grabbed his dominator.

"You've looked through the target's data, right?" Ginoza turned to them, putting on his blue CID jacket. "Our strategy for catching him won't be much different from what we've used before. There's only one factor in the form of a person that we must take into account—Inspector Takahashi."

Kougami raised an eyebrow and lowered his dominator, looking at him.

"Oh—you mean the Division 2 newbie everyone's talking about, Gino-san?" Kagari was grinning by then, and narrowed his eyes at Kougami. "Ko-chan's friend?"

Kunizuka hit him on the head, though not too hard. Kagari groaned and touched himself with one hand where he had received the blow.

"Aoyanagi-san has reason to believe that she will prevent us from trying to catch this man," Ginoza explained further, his face more serious.

"The inspector must think he is not guilty," Masaoka shoved his hands into his brown trench coat and shook his head. "But why would anyone go that far, risking his own psycho pass?"

"He must know something," Kougami walked beside him. "Or she thinks he might. That's reason enough."

"W-what should we do if she tries to help him?" Tsunemori finally spoke, making them stop in their tracks and turn to her.

Masaoka scratched the back of his neck at her words. Kunizuka's blue eyes met hers for a few seconds. Kagari looked at Ginoza, who was silent for a moment, his head lowered towards her. Kougami was the only one who did not look at her, as he was watching the buildings like he could not wait any longer.

"That's up to Sibyl's judgement," Ginoza responded, stowing the dominator in his lower back. "Let's focus on finding this man and bringing him to justice."


"If this was really the judge," Katashi spoke through his wristcom. "It makes sense for him to silence the person who probably knew him best."

Yashiro narrowed her eyes, walking down an alley with half-open garbage cans from which a dead dog smell was coming out. There were bottles of whisky and vodka on the ground, which was stained with grease. They were on a private call, so that the other members of Division 2 could not hear them.

"She must have meant a great deal to him. He let her see him. It's nice when someone can… see beyond our person-suit. That requires trust. And trust is hard for him."

"You think he killed her out of hatred?"

"Loyalty above all else," she seemed strangely detached for a moment, until she blinked a couple of times and gazed up at the gray sky. "He is driven by a great amount of rage."

Katashi frowned and paused for a moment at the building he was inspecting.

"If he really killed her, then I worry his patterns will be much more difficult to understand."

Yashiro stopped, only to find him giving her a military hand signal from two floors up a building, then continued walking to the right and up some stairs. Yashiro followed him and they remained silent for several minutes.

"Target's been found on the second floor. What are your orders?" Katashi asked with a lower voice.

"Stay there and don't let him out of your sight," Yashiro replied, running down the alley towards the building. "I'll box him in."

"Using me to lure people you're interested in. You sure have guts, don't you? Is that why you asked Inspector Aoyanagi if I could go with you in the car in the first place? You thought this from the moment you entered the victim's apartment."

"You are a good tracker after all," she smiled. "Just earning my paycheck."

"No. This is about something else."

"I'm very sorry. I really am," said a brown-haired man with folded arms, shaking his head. "I don't know who the hell could do this."

"I got to find him. I know it must have been that bastard," Abe Asuka's husband muttered, whose face was flushed with hatred and his hands were clenched.

Katashi was crouched down behind a door, dominator in his hands, listening to a group of men gathered in the old apartment. Abe Asuka's husband was changing his blood-soaked jacket, shivering as he did so. The enforcer frowned and raised his head.

"He isn't alone. There are two other people in this room, helping him find a way to hide…"

When Katashi turned his head to the left, he saw a small, slender figure staring back at him in the dark corridor. He held his breath.

"Akiyama-san?" Yashiro stopped and looked at the building.

"The cops are here!" he shouted all of a sudden.

Katashi stood up and aimed his dominator at the figure pointing his hand at him from the same corridor.

Crime coefficient is over 110. He is a target for enforcement action.

However, just as Katashi was about to pull the trigger, the young man ran out, slamming a door with his shoulder and knocking it down with his own weight, so that the enforcer could not shoot him.

"Don't!" Abe Asuka's husband cried.

As Katashi took a step inside the apartment, two gunshots ruffled his skin and made him duck for cover. Other screams flooded the apartment, followed by hurried footsteps. Asuka's husband ran for the balcony, jumping onto a metal ladder so fast he almost slipped, one leg in the air and his arms gripping the metal tightly. Then he started down as fast as he could. Yashiro caught a glimpse of his figure from below, swinging on the ladder dangerously until he reached the bottom and dropped to the ground, with a distance of five feet that left him sprawled out, hugging himself in pain for a few seconds.

Yashiro kept running forward, searching for stairs that could take her to the second floor where she had seen the man. Katashi was still standing in the doorway of the apartment, taking cover behind the wall. There were two men, one in each room, watching his every move. As soon as he wanted to enter, a burst of gunfire greeted him, and he had no cover inside the apartment. Until he heard footsteps in the corridor where he was, and when he looked to the side, he saw two other enforcers and Inspector Ginoza. One of them was Kagari, and the other was a woman whose name he could never remember, since she did not speak much.

They rushed over with their dominators raised, and as they stood on either side of the door, Katashi nodded and ran into the room becoming the decoy. As the men tried to aim their guns at him, Kagari and Kunizuka jumped out after him and managed to fire, followed by Ginoza. One of them dodged the dominator in time, but Ginoza went after him. The man jumped through a window that shattered into pieces, never letting go of his weapon at any time.

"We can't let a person with such a high psycho pass get away," Ginoza growled and ran out of the room again, followed by the enforcers.

Yashiro was running down a narrow alley, jumping over a black bag that had fallen out of a dumpster, until she spotted an elevator and headed for it.

"Get out of the way!" she shouted at a man who was going to take it first.

Yashiro hurried into the elevator with bated breath, while the man who was going to do it before her stepped out of the way, looking at her with wide eyes. Suddenly, she recognized two faces at the end of the alley, who turned around and started running towards her.

"Takahashi-san!" Tsunemori's voice greeted her with an almost childish smile.

Masaoka accompanied her with his dominator in his hand as well. Yashiro stood watching them get closer and closer, her hand near the inner panel of the elevator, until she pressed one of the buttons and the door closed before they could enter. The last thing she saw was Tsunemori's smile fading and Masaoka's frown. She was half a minute in the elevator, and when it finally stopped and the door opened again with a slight metallic creak, Yashiro came to see a figure rushing down the alley, and headed that way.

He climbed some stairs, trying to hide on the rooftops, but Yashiro did not let him out of her sight for several more minutes, during which she chased him, without letting him notice her. The rooftop he reached had a triangular glass structure through which the interior of the building could be seen. However, the man rushed to the edge and stopped, peering down and searching for a way to escape.

"Stop!" Yashiro's voice echoed.

The buildings were too far away for him to jump, especially if he was not entirely trained for it.

"Leave me alone!" his voice broke the quiet, trembling and booming all around. "I—I didn't kill her… when I came back home…"

He noticed that the door was slightly open. He entered slowly, carefully, walking towards the living room down the main hallway, his head tilted to one side as if unsure of what he would find next. His body instinctively leaned against the door frame as he clutched the other with one hand, trying not to fall, upon discovering the figure lying on the armchair covered in blood. He took a step forward only to stagger and lean his shoulder against another wall, unable to take his eyes off the body as he crouched like a drunk who cannot stand, and opened his mouth without saying a single word. Crawling, he approached his wife between sobs and put her in his arms, staining himself with her blood.

Abe Asuka's husband turned slowly, looking at her through messy brown hair that fell over his cheeks. Yashiro blinked and raised her chin a bit.

"I know," she uttered in a cold, clear voice. "But you won't find her killer. Not without our help."

"She's dead because of you!" he snapped at her, pointing his index finger at the inspector. Yashiro did not even blink at the accusation. "Should've told her not to talk, should've…"

"You couldn't have known," her voice remained soft. "But you can help us now. Are you aware that your wife was due to see me?"

"N-no," he frowned and shook his head.

"Can you imagine why?"

"I think so. She had talked to inspectors before, about... a period at university… when she used to date another man…" his voice trailed off, as he looked down, trying to remember. "I think his name was… Agawa."

"I wanted to meet with her privately to ask further questions. I understand how difficult it must be for a woman to talk about this with other people—especially if they are cops."

Yashiro did not realize that she was speaking as if she were not really an inspector. The man's lips parted and his body seemed to relax at her words, which had been trembling all along, dangerously near the edge of the building.

"I had… never met him before. I was… upset when she told me she'd seen him again," Yashiro looked at his hands, which were clenched again. "Even psychiatry didn't help."

"Psychiatry?" she widened her eyes for a second and took a step to the side, placing her hands behind her back as if it were an interview rather than an execution. "She told you he was seeing a psychiatrist?"

"Yes, but…" he frowned and shook his head, not looking at her directly. "That was before they met. That's all I know."

Yashiro turned to the side and looked away. When the man raised his head again, his brown eyes drifted to something to her left and widened. He began to move to the side, raising his arms. Next to a huge air conditioning equipment, someone stepped out of the darkness and jumped over a white tube to approach. Abe Asuka's husband glanced at her as if asking for help, then back at the man walking towards him. But Yashiro merely walked to the edge of the building. Hurried footsteps were coming up the stairs in the distance.

"Stop right there!" Masaoka's voice echoed.

Tsunemori was next to him holding her dominator as well, though in a lower position than the enforcers, not aiming directly at the figure in front of them. She looked at both enforcers and then back at the suspect, who, finding himself cornered from both sides, unable to climb over the building's air conditioning equipment as it was too far away, turned around and jumped onto the glass roof, crawling upwards on his hands and feet. Yashiro raised an eyebrow as she heard a muffled gunshot and the pop of glass. She gazed at the buildings ahead, standing by the edge of her own. The only one who did not pull the trigger at the end, had been Tsunemori Akane.

"Good timing, pops," Kougami smiled, tilting his head towards Masaoka.

They reached the rooftop, which had a huge hole with several pieces of glass covered in blood. When they looked down, they managed to see more glass and blood. Ginoza was standing with other enforcers in the building across from them.

"This is Hound 3," Kougami's rough, tired voice echoed again. "Enforcement completed."

Tsunemori was still standing in the same place, with her shoulders lowered and her hands holding the dominator, which was pointing to the ground. Her lips were parted, as if she wanted to say something, and her brown eyes were wide open. When Kougami turned around, he lowered his gun and looked over Tsunemori's shoulder with a barely visible frown. Both she and Masaoka turned, looking for what had caught his attention. They finally noticed that Yashiro was also there, standing on the edge with one foot further forward than the other.


"You disobeyed a direct order—again. You never listen. Moreover, you could have caused another traffic accident, like in those times before Sibyl's management was implemented. What were you thinking, hindering a case you're not part of? You don't like enforcers… but if you want to be an inspector, behave like one," her words were as sharp as her voice.

Aoyanagi stood with her hands on her hips and a judgmental gaze, while Yashiro watched her with narrowed eyes and dark features, as if she were not really there. She had her hands in her coat pockets, a casual, relaxed posture.

"He was visiting a psychiatrist," Yashiro commented, and walked away down the hallway.

"Abe Asuka's husband?" Aoyanagi asked, following her.

"I began to wonder… how come after going to the psychiatrist, his crimes started? And why? If we find him, we will catch the patient."

"Takahashi-san, have you checked your head?" she raised an eyebrow.

Yashiro's features were very relaxed, as if she had not slept in two days. However, she inhaled and nodded, "It was not a serious blow."

Aoyanagi expected her to ask about Kozuki, who was receiving medical attention for the gunshot wound, but she did not. They passed Kasei Joushuu's office and headed for their own.

"What I don't understand… is how you were willing to shoot Kozuki-san to save a child, but you didn't shoot Kougami Shinya to stop him from executing a man you considered innocent."

"I'm not—perfect," Yashiro growled at her with a frown, shaking her head.

Aoyanagi raised an eyebrow and reached for her scanner, ready to check her hue. They both stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"Stop please," Yashiro touched the button on her wrist, preventing her from activating the scanner. Her senior was startled by her reaction. "I'm upset—not violently angry. Go scan yourself."

Aoyanagi stood there, watching her partner walk away, unable to reproach her for her erratic behavior. She aimed forward again and read her crime coefficient. Her eyes widened as she saw that it was 35.


By the time Yashiro reached her building it was already dark. Abe Asuka's husband words were still hammering in her mind and her head ached a little, enough to make her close her eyes as she walked up the stairs. When she entered her apartment and turned on the light that illuminated the entire dining room, she only took a few steps until low but reassuring meows greeted her, and her cat scurried over to brush against her left leg. Her face glowed and her eyes narrowed at the welcome.

As she took off her coat and threw it on the bed, the cat, as always, silently followed her everywhere. Yashiro was untying her purple tie in the middle of her room, when something stopped her. Slowly, she reached over to her nightstand and picked up her small gray notebook, which was closed but had a bookmark in it. Turning towards the dining room, she opened it to the page that was marked, which was the last one that had notes from her.

Her eyes widened and the bookmark fell to the floor. There was a cursive signature at the bottom of the page, of which she was unaware. Her heart began to beat faster and faster and she set the notebook down on the table, putting a hand to her head and turning away. Then she turned back to the notebook, unable to touch it again, and started pacing around her apartment like an old woman who has forgotten her keys. As she made her way to her room, she opened the drawer of her bedside table.

She sighed as she saw that her Glock 19 was still there. Then she turned and took a few steps towards her closet, yanking it open. Pulling some untidy clothes out of the way and tossing them on top of others, she stopped when she found a small wooden box. Picking it up slowly, she opened it. There was a Colt Python with 4-inch barrel, which she had kept for three years.

Yashiro put it away again carefully, and placing the clothes on top of the box, she closed the closet more gently than before, while her features darkened as much as the black sky outside. Something coursed through her body like electricity. Someone had broken into her apartment that afternoon, reading her diary, even her books. She clenched her fists against the surface of her closet and finished removing her tie.


"I never have a definite destination. I don't go to certain places, but walk away from them. And when I stop, it's only for the pleasure of leaving. I like to walk alone and feel that nothing and no one is holding me back."

Makishima Shougo stretched out his left hand to the side and tilted his head towards the woman beside him, as they strolled along the docks at a commercial port in Tokyo. On the other side of the canal was a modern skyline of luxurious buildings, forming a picturesque contrast. It was very pleasant to walk on both sides of the canal enjoying the view and the particular panorama of that part of the city. It was a long walk on pedestrian paths and with several restaurants and cafes along the way. They did not need to talk out loud, for they were so close to each other that their arms could almost touch.

"I used to climb rooftops and buildings and always felt the same."

"When did that behavior begin for you?" Makishima asked in a softer voice, walking more slowly. "The wandering."

"12 or so," she shrugged, watching the reflection of the lights in the water.

Makishima's eyes narrowed a little, very relaxed, "What were you seeking, do you think, by behaving like that?"

"Relief, from… boredom. It was exciting seeing into homes. A glimpse into lives being led. Sometimes I'd imagine myself breaking into their houses, destroying their illusion. It was so easy to do. For the most part, people feel safe. They forget the windows and doors open, they let their guard down at night," she raised her eyebrows, still with narrowed and tired eyes. "I was told it was because I hate humanity."

Makishima's laugh was deep and short, and he stopped in his tracks to turn to her, lowering his head with a visible smile. He looked her up and down for a moment, thinking that she looked more like a criminal than an inspector in that black and gray hooded jacket, dark pants and ankle boots, while he was simply wearing a white dress shirt and light purple pants.

"You're not stupid enough to believe that, are you, Yashiro?"

Her gaze seemed strangely distant and oblivious to her surroundings.

"I'm not sure anymore," her voice was quiet.

Makishima frowned and narrowed his eyes, staring at her with shadowed features. She continued walking and he followed.

"Surely you have understood that stupidity. The idea that all men are equal. That they are all worth the same. The person who loves everyone and feels at home everywhere, is the one who truly hates mankind. He expects nothing from men, so that no form of depravity is outrageous to him. I'm talking about people who have the insolence to claim… that they love equally the man who made the Statue of Liberty and the man who makes a rubber action figure to sell on street corners.

"People who prefer the action figure to the statue, and there are many of this species. I'm talking about the people who love Rosalind Franklin with equal fervor as the whores on the streets of Shinjuku. I'm speaking of those who love with the same exaltation your beauty and the drunken women staggering in the night, whom you would laugh at the sight of. Speaking of which—is that why you named your cat Franklin?"

Yashiro had grown accustomed to this spontaneous side of him. He used to be very calm, to the point that people would see cruelty in his limited expressions. This time he spoke fast, as if he were unable to control his thoughts.

"No, but because of Benjamin Franklin."

"Of course," he raised his eyebrows, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Sometimes I wonder… what would they say about our current society?"

Yashiro smiled and nodded, "They would say that we… that the Sibyl System succeeded in scaring people enough for them to demand removal of freedom, creating the path to tyranny."

"Of the Founding Fathers I respect Thomas Jefferson the most for the Declaration of Independence," he smiled like a student preparing to make his teacher proud. "Or what I also call… the most eloquent political declaration in the history of mankind. Thomas even mentions phrases from Locke's Second Treatise of Government. But I wasn't talking about these men. I was talking about people who equally love the focused eyes of a man looking through a telescope or microscope and the blank stare of an imbecile. Are you the one who hates mankind, Yashiro?"

"You give words to what… for as long as I can remember, ever since I began to see and think, I…" she paused and looked down.

His features relaxed with a contagious peace, though he did not look at her.

"One cannot love humanity without hating those who defame it by calling themselves human. You cannot love God and at the same time be indifferent to religion."

"What would you say if I gave you the answer people generally give me, that love is… forgiveness?" Yashiro asked, tiling her head towards him.

"I would tell you that it's an indecency of which you are not capable, even if you think you are an expert at it."

"Or that love is mercy."

"Stop it—it's disgusting, even as a joke," he frowned and curled his lip for a second. "Hearing it from you is even more hateful."

Yashiro laughed with her mouth shut and turned onto a long bridge, followed by him. She looked at the colorful buildings to her right, walking slower than before. The wind fluttered her brown hair over her shoulder. With parted lips, Makishima raised his eyebrows and blinked, noting her natural, relaxed posture, which seemed to match the beauty of their city. Like him, Yashiro never felt small, nor intimidated, by the vastness of the world.

"It's fascinating," he shook his head.

"The buildings?"

"Yes. But the way you look at them too," he raised his chin a bit, looking over her head, until his features darkened again and he looked directly at her. "Forgive me. You were saying?"

"What is your answer then?" she asked almost in a whisper.

"Love is like gazing up at a skyscraper—reverence and worship. There is no forgiveness, no mercy. And I would kill a man who would assure me there is. But see, when a man looks at a statue, he feels nothing. That, or a wounded bird in the street, is the same to him. He even feels that he is nobler in bandaging the bird than if he were contemplating a statue."

Makishima looked over her head again and fixed his golden eyes on the skyscrapers, his hands in his purple pants.

"I would give anything for the most beautiful sunset, for the view of Tokyo's skyscrapers. The ideas and thoughts that created them. The sky above Tokyo… the will, the genius and the greatness of man," his voice was much softer and gentler than before.

"And then they tell you about pilgrimage paths to some filthy cave, to some shrine where they go to pay homage in a crumbling temple, built by slaves, to a stone structure created by some savage…" she blurted out, shaking her head. "Why believe and kneel before a God when you can contemplate this?"

Makishima looked at her with wide eyes, until he let out a chuckle, for she seemed genuinely angry. It was unusual to see her lose her cool.

"Yashiro, I don't know if I'm listening to you or to myself."

"But we were talking about other people," Yashiro looked to the side again.

"It's interesting to reflect on the reasons why men are so eager to degrade themselves. It's like the idea of feeling small and insignificant in the face of nature. Have you ever noticed how virtuous a man feels when he talks about this?" he touched her forearm with his hand, and pointed to an imaginary audience. "It's like he enjoys watching a tsunami come towards him to destroy everything in its path, including himself. As if he loves to feel how the ground vibrates, and smiles to see how the majesty of an earthquake makes cars crash. But those are not the values, the ideas that mastered fire, steam, electricity, that built ships, airplanes… skyscrapers," he gently put his right hand on her lower back, until they approached the bridge railing. "What are they afraid of? What do they hate, those who love to grovel, and why?"

Makishima rested a forearm on the railing and looked to the side, standing close to her with his body slightly facing her own. Yashiro was staring blankly at the water below with narrowed, detached eyes.

"I wish I had an answer," she shook her head. "When I find it, that will be the day I make peace with the world. And maybe even with myself."