It only took a few moments for the interior of the elevator to be obstructed by an immense grayish cloud. The smell of tobacco filled the small space, suffocating those who were not used to its presence. The wait became more and more interminable as the platform ascended at walking pace, producing clicks of old and worn metal, due to the little maintenance given to it, if any at all. That was a low-income area which was falling apart as time went by, it was the lion's den, where security drones had no access.
"This place is depressing. After we catch this guy we could order some beers, my treat. What you say, Ko?" Sasayama suggested, with a rough and tired voice.
In view of the seriousness on the part of Inspector Kougami Shinya, the enforcer decided to throw a puff of smoke in his face, forming abstract figures in the air such an embracing gift. Kougami could not stop coughing as he inhaled the deep smell, and with his right hand he pushed away some of the smoke, which illuminated the bored face of his partner in a dry and unpleasant laugh, with which he was already familiar. In spite of that annoyance, when the brown eyes met the gray ones of the inspector, a slight complicit smile brought them together.
"Focus on the job first," Kougami scolded him without looking away from the front, although his words seemed to border on a certain affirmation.
When the elevator stopped, it took a couple of seconds for the door to open, and the decay was very noticeable with the brief tremor it caused. Kougami stepped forward and continued walking, followed by the enforcer, who sighed and threw the cigarette to the floor, not bothering to crush it with the sole of his shoe. There were dozens more under his feet, and at his sides he could see alcohol bottles falling from trash cans. As they moved down the long alley, the stench of urine intensified, becoming more perceptible. The few people they were able to detect, were hidden from prying eyes, especially from those who carried a dominator.
The apartment building they were looking for, rose up in front of them in an imposing manner, even though it was adjacent to a threat of ruin. They entered without asking for any kind of authorization, and since the elevator was not working, they proceeded to use the old enemy of modern ones: stairs. The steps of both colleagues resonated in the filthy atmosphere, but it was a few blows in the distance near their destination that instantly caught their attention. Sasayama arched an eyebrow, tilting his head in the direction of the sound, while Kougami observed his every move, such a hunter to his hound, waiting for a new stimulus.
Once again, silence was broken for a short second by the fall of a glass object, which after touching the ground shattered into a thousand pieces, followed by a momentary and dull moan, that seemed to come from a woman. Then, they were overwhelmed with the calm of the night. Sasayama frowned and narrowed his eyes, which seemed to desire to set fire to everything around them.
A few seconds were enough for him to launch himself in recognition of that incident. As usual, the inspector had to run after him, dominator in hand, in case the situation became even more dangerous. The concern on Kougami's face was disturbed when he realized that the identifier on the door of the conflicting apartment, was related to the one they were looking for from the beginning. Sasayama knocked it open.
The man for whom that search made sense was in the middle of the room, his shirt half open and straddling the body of a much younger blonde woman. The girl's lips trembled uncontrollably, her eyes turning from the image of the man to the intruder, with a desolate and empty expression.
The subject had an alcohol bottle in his hands and was threatening to hit the girl, but faced with the uncertainty that the untimely interruption caused him, he jumped up ready to confront Sasayama, leaving her aside. The enforcer, however, attacked him with an inhuman and deadly force, as if he had lost the use of reason and his only objective became, at the moment, to kill that man with his own hands.
Kougami heard him fall with a sharp blow, so hard that he thought he would have hurt his head. When he finally reached the apartment, it was then that a deaf and laborious moaning, both human and animal, began to be heard; Sasayama was over the subject's body delivering blow after blow in the middle of his face, as if he wanted to erase him, as if he needed to make him disappear. Blood flowed like a crimson river as much from his fists as from the face of the fallen one.
Kougami could no longer tell which of the two was screaming the loudest, whether the man in pain, about to pass out, or his own colleague in the ecstasy of fighting. The young woman had crawled into the corner of the room, afraid of everyone present, and was curled up against the wall. The inspector pulled the dominator out to aim at the direction of the girl and thus record her condition, which seemed to become unstable with each passing second.
Crime coefficient is 182. Enforcement mode is Non-Lethal Paralyzer. Aim calmly and subdue the target.
The number continued to increase at a rapid pace. Although the young woman was finally safe, the scene that took place in front of her eyes had completely paralyzed her, Sasayama's fists clouded her hue. Kougami pulled the trigger and the girl was instantly unconscious, her body relaxed in fetal position. The enforcer was unaware of what was going on around him, it seemed that all he cared about was seeing the man dying under his body.
Kougami called him once, twice, and yet his screams were drowned out by the punches and grunts of his colleague. When he understood that he would not be heard at that moment, he pounced on Sasayama in an attempt to pull him away from the subject's body, who was shaking in full pain. At first, he received a few shoves, but after half a minute he managed to bring his friend back to reality.
"That's enough," Kougami exclaimed, standing in front of him so he would not throw himself on the drunk again.
When he aimed at the man with his dominator, he found that although his psycho pass was high, the Sibyl System did not take him as a latent criminal. No doubt it was child abuse, and the man had serious explaining to do, but he did not present any major danger. He pulled the trigger, totally paralyzing the subject, just as he began to cough up blood in a frantic manner.
Sasayama had his fists clenched and his gaze fixed on the subject who was almost beaten to death, if it were not for the interruption of his superior. He was breathing heavily and walking around, staying one meter away from the man. Kougami observed the abstract figure that minutes before had been a face, and then he realized, after a smile, that at that point, the pathetic man would be more afraid of meeting again with someone like Sasayama, than with the accusing look of a dominator.
"I was just socializing," Sasayama clicked his tongue, running his hand through his hair.
"You sure know how to make friends," Kougami remarked.
A heart-rending silence ensued, strangely uncomfortable for both of them. For the first time, Sasayama was looking away with his hands on his hips, as if he had not really been able to hear him. It was not the first incident they had had, since Kougami had seen him utterly unload on abusers before, and if it were not for his interruption, he would even be capable of beating them to death, each and every one of them. He comprehended then the warning of Inspector Ginoza, who compared Sasayama to a hostile and independent hound.
"That's not a man, it's a beast," the enforcer spat on the ground, near the unconscious body. "And you can't reason with beasts. Sooner or later, he'll get drunk and beat his daughter again, saying the typical 'I just get bent out of shape because of alcohol' clichés."
Sasayama's voice always sounded bitter, as if his throat were constantly dry or it were the hatred contained that could not get out of him. In those moments, he looked like a tiger about to jump over his prey, and Kougami found him difficult to understand, even though he tried to do so every day they spent together, solving cases. Unlike Ginoza, he considered him to be as human as he was. Life situations made them who they were, and in Sasayama's case, they had been less favorable.
"Hopefully your lesson will keep him in the hospital long enough."
Kougami released a mocking smile, but when he looked at him again, he turned his expression off as he noticed him certainly meditating, as if seeking inspiration in the unconscious and bloody body next to him.
"In the past, prisons were inefficient because they simply put a rabid dog on a leash after it had already torn a child to pieces," Sasayama blurted out, with an unusual dreamy look. "Today, going against the law or being susceptible to stress guarantees death. A quick and cheap solution, but equally or worse useless. You know what's the problem? The human being. When he gets out, I bet you anything he'll try to kill her.
Kougami frowned, suddenly feeling like he was at a dead end. For some strange reason the enforcer's words became engrossed in his mind, and though he tried to forget them in every possible way, they returned to his consciousness like sharp blades. He came to imagine the tall, thin image of Ginoza at his side, casting an accusing glance under his glasses as he was drawn, more and more, into the minds of the enforcers. An incomprehensible abyss to him, which was full of answers to questions he had not yet asked himself.
It was right then that the characteristic sound of incoming call, caught the attention of both. Kougami raised his left arm and pressed the wristband to interface with the emitter. In a split second, the vivid image of Ginoza Nobuchika's face appeared on the hologram, almost as a response to his thoughts. Sasayama did not move from his place, he just observed the scene in silence, perceiving as he did a bad feeling. It was the first time they had seen Ginoza so solemn, almost as if he had come out of a family member's funeral, so they automatically kept silent and waited for him to say what he had to say.
"Did you find the subject?" the inspector asked, bluntly.
Sasayama was about to cross his arms, when just then he noticed the exuberant amount of blood on his hands and returned them to both sides of his body, shaking them with a scowl, irritated again. Kougami looked at the man lying on the floor, his arms open and his legs stretched out. He had purple eye sockets and a face bathed in blood. His lips were cut and bruised, a total sack of blood. He exchanged a glance with his colleague for a few brief but understandable seconds, until he finally decided to turn to the other inspector.
"We managed to paralyze him, as well as his daughter," Kougami replied, staring absently at the girl's youthful body, still unconscious at one side of the room.
On the other hand, Ginoza did not seem to have any intention of asking more about it. He actually showed no apparent signs of concern or surprise about the situation. His mind was far away, sailing on to other problems that had little to do with the case they had just solved. Something was definitely going on, and both Kougami and his enforcer were unaware of it, for the moment. And that only made them excited.
"Good. When you're done, go to the Iyasaka Traditional Restaurant. We have a new case, something that has never been seen before," the inspector took a quick look at Sasayama as he made an uncomfortable pause. "We'll need his good sense of smell, as well as your insight."
Kougami replied that they would be on their way shortly, and when communication was cut off, he exchanged a long glance with the enforcer. Sasayama took a pack of cigarettes out of his pants pocket, and lit one. That was a gesture he knew well, for it usually indicated that a difficult conflict to resolve was approaching. He could sense the bad mood increasing, more and more, in his expression.
"Looks like beers will have to wait" Sasayama commented, breathing out a big puff of smoke in the middle of the room.
After the apartment was closed and both the girl and the man were taken into custody, Kougami and Sasayama drove to the restaurant that had been mentioned to them in complete silence. When they arrived, they could see that the whole premises was closed and there were drones guarding the place, preventing people from passing by or becoming curious and accessing it in a clandestine manner, in order to find something more exciting to show off later on in the networks and get more followers.
"This is the Criminal Investigation Department, part of the Public Safety Bureau," a drone was saying with that obnoxious female voice. "Access to this block is currently restricted to ensure safety."
It was colder than an hour before, and Kougami put his hands in his pants pockets. They headed to the scene and both presented their digital identification for the drone to grand them passage. Some meters ahead, they noticed the athletic figure of the inspector, who despite being so handsome, had only room in his mind for work-related responsibilities.
"I wondered when you would come," Inspector Ginoza rebuked.
The coldness that his presence emanated was chilling, and more than one felt cowed by his gaze, especially if they did not know him. When he turned to them, he adjusted his glasses, and the green in his eyes fulminated them in a disturbing way, which no longer had any effect on them. He was standing properly upright, with the usual dark inspector's suit, and his black hair was falling over part of his face in several locks.
"We're glad to see you too," Sasayama replied mockingly, holding the cigarette with his fingers.
Ginoza cast a murderous glance at him for a few long seconds, but in the end, he chose to ignore him as he used to do with all enforcers. They were not human to him. Kougami had always thought that he had a quite exaggerated vision, but he was never able to change his mind. Sometimes he was too reluctant to listen to others.
"I'll show you the crime scene," Ginoza declared turning around.
Sasayama looked at Kougami and shrugged his shoulders, ready to follow the other inspector. Ginoza led them to the front garden of the restaurant, where a prominent figure rose in front of them. Kougami stopped halfway, suddenly opening his eyes, while Sasayama directly dropped the cigarette from his mouth. Neither of them was able to utter a single word, they were just checking that what they had in front of their eyes was indeed real. A magnificent scene, which could even be considered a work of art. A dark, gloomy, and frightening work, but very well developed.
Both studied in great detail every inch of the body of what had once been a man, seeking any irregularities that might serve them. It was so well made, however, that it looked like a painting, a hologram. It did not seem real at all, and Kougami began to imagine the confused face of the people passing by; probably, at first, they would not have believed that it was a person of flesh and blood, the only thing that might have crossed their minds, at that moment, was the simple idea that it was a tasteless hologram, to attract the attention of customers. The psycho hazard it could cause was unimaginable.
"Promotional strategies are getting weirder these days," Sasayama observed, walking around without looking away from the figure.
Kougami smiled slightly, being scolded by the attentive gaze of the other inspector. Yet, he knew that the enforcer had never seen anything like that before, and was as shocked as they were. It was disturbing that such a thing could be originated by a human being, if it was appropriate to call it that. Sasayama could hardly imagine the motives that had led the perpetrator to carry out such a murder, and felt that his hue became cloudy at the mere thought of it.
"The corpse belongs to Ryoji Hashida and was found by Anna Nakamichi, a member of the Akasaka Waste Management Bureau," Ginoza explained with the professionalism that characterized him, squinting. "It's impossible to estimate the exact time of his death, although it's believed that it occurred when Hashida met another member of the Diet Lower House, Mitsuru Ishihara, without considering the amount of time the plastination process needs. The stress in the area jumped four levels when it came to light. Media censorship is currently under way."
Kougami took a few steps forward to better contemplate the exhibition. The corpse had his skull cleanly cut open, and his brain had been completely gouged out. The hippocampus, the part of the brain that played an important role in memory, had been inserted into his anus. Sasayama was bent over, examining the same carefully, such an artwork whose message was hidden, and waiting to be discovered by those who knew how to observe.
"Whoever did it, must be anxious to know what his audience thinks," said a thick voice behind them.
The three of them turned around, thus finding Masaoka Tomomi. In spite of his stocky appearance, and of almost always wearing that tan trench coat which so characterized him and gave him an intimidating look, his gestures were kind. When he was closer to them, he directed a gentle smile to Ginoza, though the latter turned his gaze to the corpse, forcing himself to completely ignore him in order to get lost again in the monotony of work.
It was admirable, in turn, the unwavering patience that Masaoka had. He seemed to be enveloped in a cloud that was never broken by stress or any outside conflict. Whenever there was a case to be solved, he always used reason and remained cool even in more complex situations. As a painter, he knew that every work longed for spectators. Perhaps he was not really a painter, but deep down, the culprit was seeking to be recognized by society, he was looking to leave some kind of message with his work. And they were willing to discover it.