When Yashiro checked the time, she noticed that she was half an hour early. She clicked her tongue almost unconsciously, which caught the cab driver's attention, an older man who looked at her curiously in the rearview mirror. During the rest of the trip, she focused on the cars passing by, the buildings rising in the city in a majestic and modern way full of advertising holograms, while she talked to the man about different subjects. The highway was almost completely empty at that time, and the driver could increase his speed by going in the same lane. When the cab driver arrived at her destination, he greeted her with one hand after receiving his payment.
"This is the Criminal Investigation Department, part of the Public Safety Bureau. Access to this block is currently restricted to ensure safety"
Yashiro made her way to the center from which the female voice came, and presented her holographic identification for passage. A light drizzle was falling in the night, yet during the journey it was intense enough to soak several strands of her hair, which remained on one side of her face. She found the sound most gratifying, but knew that she would not make a very good impression with that look, despite being formally dressed and with her hair up. She should have brought an umbrella, but she had forgotten it right at the entrance to her apartment.
"Inspectors are very scarce," an older woman with short gray hair was saying. "The work they do demands a high degree of responsibility and strength of character. The death of the enforcer Sasayama taught us that the rank of inspector can simply be downgraded; therefore, it is paramount for emotions to be separated from duty. I truly hope that you will not end up like your colleague, the one who started the same year as you and Inspector Ginoza."
"I will keep that in mind, chief," replied the other woman.
At that time, Yashiro was discovered by the last one, who was the inspector of division two. She could easily recognize her by her short brown hair, which fell on both sides of her head in a straight manner, giving off an aura of professionalism and authority. In response, she approached them and finally allowed herself to stand completely upright, bringing her right hand to her forehead in a military gesture.
"Inspector Takahashi Yashiro, at your service."
Even though she had not turned around, Yashiro swore she saw a brief, unblemished smile on the lips of the older woman, but she blinked until the image disappeared from her mind, and when she turned to look at her directly in the eyes, Yashiro felt transfixed in an enormous way, an extravagant sensation she had never perceived in her life. It was as if under those thin yellow glasses, a huge mind rested trying to probe into her innermost thoughts. She expected nothing less from the head of the Public Safety Bureau.
"I have high expectations of you," the chief declared, making an enigmatic pause. "I leave it all in your hands, Aoyanagi-san."
Yashiro contemplated the way her body was disappearing, hiding the surprise that such a precise hologram had caused her, which could be confused with reality as if it were part of it. She was still thinking about the strange glance of the old woman, when Inspector Aoyanagi took the only blue uniform that was folded on the table and came closer to hand it to her. Yashiro returned to those brown eyes that studied her with a certain disinterest, while she grabbed the jacket.
"As you may have heard, the Criminal Investigation Department has very little manpower, so I cannot treat you like a rookie," sentenced Aoyanagi.
The woman started to explain the case they had to solve in a dry and unalterable tone, and both activated the hologram on their wristcom to observe the man they were looking for. It was Iwao Maki, a citizen who had been marked by a scanner on the street, as soon as his psycho pass exceeded the permitted standard. Despite the warning, he refused treatment and escaped from the authorities. It was on the same day that his wife was murdered, and therefore he was the prime suspect from then on.
"The people you are about to meet would be completely isolated due to their high crime coefficients, but they are allowed to act under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Investigation Department, with the aim of assisting in cases by hunting down latent criminals like them. They are called enforcers, and will be under your supervision."
The sound of a vehicle broke through and when Yashiro turned around, she saw a huge police van parking nearby. From the back the dark door slowly began to unfold, and after some seconds about three young men dressed in suits came down, and went to where they were.
"She is Inspector Takahashi Yashiro. From now on you will address her as the second in command."
When they noticed the new presence, all eyes were focused on her, and Yashiro bowed slightly with her hands together in front of her body, being able to glimpse the stupefaction in enforcers in spite of that movement.
"I must assume that you have been previously informed about the target, so I will avoid any further preamble," Aoyanagi cut off. "We will split into two groups to corner him. Akiyama brothers will come with me. Kozuki-san will accompany Inspector Takahashi."
Yashiro did not overlook the somewhat disappointed glance of Kozuki, a young man with short dark hair who seemed to be saying with his eyes that he would have preferred to go with Aoyanagi. They were probably very close even though they proved otherwise in practice. She wondered if it had anything to do with what the chief was saying as soon as she arrived. She did not have time to think about it, since a drone broke loose from the van, which stood near them and opened its container to deploy several dominators, shining some light blue lines around it. When Yashiro grabbed one of them with both hands, she frowned at the sound of a feminine, mechanized voice in her head.
Dominator portable. Psychological Diagnosis and Suppression System has been activated. User authentication: Inspector Takahashi Yashiro. Public Safety Bureau, Criminal Investigation Department. Dominator usage approval confirmed. You are a valid user.
The shortest of the brothers was standing in front of her, and when she put the gun away, he gave her a brief bold smile, as he gestured a gun to the side of his head and pretended to shoot himself.
"Don't worry, we do the dirty work," he assured with a hurried, impatient voice. "If something goes wrong, you can blame us and shoot us. After all, we are latent criminals."
Yashiro arched an eyebrow at how quickly he seemed to enter into trust with others, yet no words came out of her throat, as the taller one took his dominator and fixed his cold gaze on hers. They did not look like brothers at all, except for the physical resemblance between them.
"Do you know how to use a dominator?" the subject questioned in a tone that was both threatening and indifferent.
Yashiro nodded her head, undaunted by the authoritarian look he seemed to want to display, "I did receive training, but I am aware that things are learned in reality."
The young man bowed his head slightly in a gesture of approval. The brother on the other hand, let out a whistle of surprise as he pointed the imaginary barrel of his hand at him, as if by mere gestures they shared a language of their own.
"Its safety is released when the target is a latent criminal. All you have to do is shoot when it tells you to," the older Akiyama explained as he walked, without waiting for questions or interruptions. "The basic mode is the paralyzer, which will paralyze the target to be taken into custody."
Yashiro could not help but breathe deeply as she observed her decadent and lifeless surroundings. The dirty alleys lit by different fluorescent signs, half-open garbage cans and objects of all kinds scattered on the floor, from empty and broken alcohol bottles to used condoms. About ten minutes passed in utter silence, until a voice broke into the line that the division shared.
"This is Husky 3," the sly voice of the youngest Akiyama sounded through the communicator. "The target is located on the second floor. What are your orders?"
Yashiro frowned as the terrified scream of a child roared across the line, followed by two shots. Enforcer Kozuki automatically started to move into the building, and she took her cue from that.
"Balto 1 speaking," Inspector Aoyanagi declared breathlessly, almost placated by the noise of her footsteps. "Give me a sitrep."
"The target is… going down."
When Yashiro reached the second floor through the stairs, she saw the subject running on the other side, followed by a child. Kozuki headed toward him with the dominator in hand, and caught up with him first, though she advanced through the same place to box him in later. However, to his own surprise, he was greeted by a burst of bullets intended only to throw him off, and forced him to retreat to cover himself with a pillar.
The moment Yashiro decided to raise the dominator, the boy turned to her as if driven by a supernatural force and shouted to warn the man, revealing that he was his father. When the older one realized he was surrounded, in a desperate act he took his own son, placing the gun barrel on his head and backing away, to protect his back. Despite the distance she was able to hear Kozuki's grunt of helplessness, who just like her did not expect such a reaction.
"If you come closer I'll put a bullet in him, I'll kill him," the subject yelled, directing suspicious glances at both of them. "Drop your weapons!"
Kozuki separated from the pillar to stay a few meters away, and almost without hesitation threw the dominator in his direction, which moved along the floor until it was half a meter away from the man. Yashiro on her part, gave in to the threat sometime later and remained in the same position. It was then that the subject took a few steps forward, heading for Kozuki's dominator, and bent down a few inches without letting go of his son, until he finally managed to grab the agency's weapon by dropping his own.
The boy, whose face was red with tears and his body was shaking from head to toe, fell on his face to the floor when the older one gave him a strong push. The animal smile that lit up his entire face was soon blurred by an almost sickly grudge, as seconds passed and though he aimed shakily at Yashiro, the trigger did not respond to his orders. The dominator was a weapon authorized by the Public Safety Bureau, and could not be manipulated by civilians. Mr. Maki was not a valid user, and when he realized that it was too late.
His chest opened such a portal to another dimension, and in a fraction of a second his body split in two, reducing to nothing both his thorax and his skull, and leaving on the floor the remains of his extremities. Yashiro blinked at the image and turned around instinctively, thus finding the smiling face that gradually became easier to memorize. When he came out of the shadows and approached both of them, he winked in a somewhat peculiar way, but before saying anything he fixed his attention on the child, raising his dominator, which was beginning to change shape.
"Wait!" Yashiro exclaimed, standing in his line of sight.
When she grasped the barrel of his gun, lifting it into the air and preventing it from firing, the young man clicked his tongue while continuing to use opposing forces. They were so close to each other that they could hear the agitated sound of their breathing. The boy was sitting on the floor, but almost unconsciously he crawled backwards like a wounded puppy, walking away until he hit the wall on his back. He was in shock, staring at his father's blood.
"Helping a criminal means being an accomplice, you know?" he snapped. "The very Sibyl System claims we can't help him. He's a threat to society!"
"He is just a kid whose only thing left was his father, he did not commit any crime!"
Yashiro arched an eyebrow when she noticed, out of the corner of her eyes, that the enforcer Kozuki took the dominator he had dropped moments before, directing it toward the immobile body of the child who did not even react to that movement. Yashiro no longer felt anything around her and could not contain her impulses. In a blink of an eye, she abruptly parted from the enforcer and managed to reach her own dominator, remaining with a knee on the floor while extending one of her arms in the direction of Kozuki.
Crime coefficient is 130. Enforcer registered at the Criminal Investigation Department. Enforce at will target. The safety will be released.
"We will use the paralyzer mode and take him into custody, as we should with any victim," sentenced Yashiro, trying to display authority.
Kozuki raised an eyebrow and stared at her in silence with a certain haughtiness, as if he really doubted that she would be capable of shooting him. However, Yashiro started to pull the trigger slightly, yet enough to show him that she was willing to do whatever necessary. After some seconds that seemed like an eternity, Kozuki finally followed her orders, and Yashiro allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief, putting her dominator away. Then she approached the child with great gentleness, kneeling down one meter in front of him, so that the remaining body of his father would stay out of his sight.
"We are from the Public Safety Bureau, we are here to help you. You are safe now, you do not need to run anymore."
The boy looked up slowly until he met the silver of her eyes, which at that moment were shining with an almost motherly warmth. His breathing, which had been labored until then, returned to his normal pulse and he seemed to regain control of his body, which stood against the wall to sit more comfortably. It was then that Yashiro drew a friendly smile, feeling for herself the way his hue was clearing. And suddenly, the sound of a shot pierced the silence and the young man's body shook completely, until he fell to the side unconsciously.
On a footbridge, several meters away, were Aoyanagi and the older Akiyama, though to her surprise it was the latter who used the paralyzer mode. Yashiro studied the somber and disturbing face he was showing for a few seconds, the upright and unmovable posture before his own action, as if it were something he had become accustomed to with time and did not question one iota about it. A wooden soldier shaped by the Sibyl System with utter simplicity, as the situation demanded.
"You will have to fill out a report later, Inspector Takahashi," Aoyanagi's voice announced through the communicator.
Yashiro slowly opened her eyes, getting used to the darkness in her room. The shift at the Public Safety Bureau began in the afternoon, and she got up after stretching and yawning. Her apartment was simple and lacked a holographic system installed, yet it had just enough for her. In the living room there was a small balcony that provided light and allowed her to look outside, or set up a chair to stay and read. The rent was one of the cheapest, but she had chosen it for its minimalism, and one advantage of having neighbors made up of families and older people, was the tranquility.
She glanced quickly at two small pictures that were hanging on the wall in her room, right next to her bookcase. In the first picture she was sitting in the library of her former academy next to a smiling Toma, while behind her with a book on his hand was a surprised Makishima. In the second on the other hand, she was with a solemn Rikako. She felt guilty for having those photographs, yet she was unable to get rid of them. A faint smile gathered on her lips, and after eating some fruits for breakfast without a food printer, she dressed in the characteristic office clothes and left her apartment, saying goodbye to some neighbors who were getting ready to go to work.
When the NONA tower rose in front of her like a real giant reigning over the city with its mere presence, Yashiro gulped and contemplated its splendor for almost a whole minute, until she finally dared to advance. As she had arrived half an hour early, she decided to explore the different corridors and stopped for a few moments when she recognized the short brown hair of an older man. She closed her eyes for some seconds, and entered the office at a hurried pace as if she had been running.
"Oh… excuse me," she confessed in a repentant tone, turning away.
The squeal of a chair as it turned brought a brief smile to her face, and she stopped just before leaving.
"You lost, miss?" a deep yet gentle voice said behind her back. "You are the new inspector everyone is talking about, aren't you?"
Yashiro turned around and frowned as she discovered that the owner of the voice, was the same man she had seen three years earlier during the Specimen Case. She remembered seeing him in a brown trench coat, but at that moment he was wearing a white shirt under a black tie, an office style that did not fit him, and which brought a smile to her face. He was more the type of man who went straight to the field, solving the most complex cases, and did not stay with the usual paperwork.
"Inspector Takahashi Yashiro," she bowed slightly. "A pleasure."
Once again, an enforcer was puzzled to see her making a casual bow, as if she came from another country and her language were different. She was beginning to believe that it was unusual for inspectors to be polite to enforcers.
"Masaoka Tomomi… from division one."
For a moment she was forced to hold his gaze, and she realized that although he was a latent criminal, he did not seem so at all. She doubted that he had ever committed a crime in his life, for all he conveyed was the confidence and warmth of a father. Yashiro tilted her head to the side, and looked over his shoulder to search the office for other faces. There was a young woman with black hair in a ponytail, who watched with the same distrust she thought she remembered, and no one else.
"What about inspectors Kougami-san and Ginoza-san?" she asked gently.
At first Masaoka opened his eyes suddenly, perhaps astonished at the young woman's unblemished memory. However, after a few seconds he sighed deeply and scratched his head, closing his eyes. Behind him, the woman who seemed to be listening to music through black earphones, stretched out on the chair with a frown, and though she said nothing Yashiro was aware that she shared the same concern.
"Former inspector," Masaoka corrected looking at one of the desks, which had an ashtray full of cigarettes above. "When a colleague who was a friend of his was murdered three years ago, his psycho pass became cloudy… and since then he is no longer the same."
Yashiro kept her lips half open, not knowing what to say for a few moments. She had entered the office with the excuse of greeting them, but what she least expected was such news. Then she remembered what the chief had been saying with Inspector Aoyanagi. After Kougami's degradation, the other inspectors were trying to stay out of it, protecting their own crime coefficients from the danger of a chain reaction.
"That's terrible…"
For some seconds a melancholic and uncomfortable silence was created, until Masaoka cleared his throat as if to ease the atmosphere, and in turn incorporate himself into reality. Yashiro realized that the memory of the enforcer Sasayama was still in their minds, and they found it hard to look at his desk, which was clean and tidy, different from the one he probably used once. Kougami was the only one who seemed to have adopted a mania from him, and it was his particular taste for cigarettes.
"I heard the rumors about you," Masaoka added looking at her carefully, as he placed his elbow on the armrest of his seat. "You were one of the best averages and your hue is as clear as water… even after what happened to that girl… what was her name?"
"Kirino Touko," the woman corroborated from the other desk, with a voice that pretended to be disinterested.
"Right, the daughter of one of the victims," the older one continued stroking his chin. "The whole case went to the dogs for lack of witnesses when she was found with brain damage, unable to communicate…"
Masaoka realized that she knew her because she had also been a student at the Ousou Academy, and he automatically fell silent, feeling somewhat guilty. Yashiro sensed the discomfort and shook her head, making it clear that they could talk about it without any problem.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" he changed the subject with an amusing smile. "They say Inspector Aoyanagi is just as demanding as Ginoza-kun… so I'd hurry."
Yashiro drew a mischievous smile, while shrugging her shoulders. Masaoka was a man she had liked from the beginning, perhaps the only one up to then who seemed human in the entire agency, even though he was an enforcer. One could simply recognize him among all those faces. He was not old in vain, and he was the kind of person one would go to for advice, whether about life or work-related issues. She had the feeling she could have good talks with him.
Yashiro explained that since she was new, she did not know where her office was, and Masaoka did not hesitate to give her directions, which further denoted his prosthetic left arm. Then she thanked him and left the office, raising her hand in greeting. She was somewhat away from her unit, yet managed to arrive ten minutes early, only to discover that Inspector Aoyanagi was not even in sight. Instead, the image she got of the three enforcers left her frozen in place.
Kozuki manipulated a deck of cards with total simplicity without them falling on the table, immersed in his own thoughts. The youngest of Akiyama was reclining on the seat, with his feet on the desk and a pair of augmented reality glasses. When he turned toward her, he lifted them over his black wavy hair, while standing up and sitting correctly. His elder brother on the other hand, was the only one who seemed to be concentrating on work from such early hours, since he looked like he was reading some reports, though she did not manage to distinguish what they were about.
"Ah, inspector. Welcome to division two," the young man let go without taking his dazed smile off his face. "I don't think we've introduced ourselves. I'm Akiyama Daiki. This is Kozuki Ryogo and the furniture over there is my brother, Katashi."
When the others noticed her presence, they turned in their seats to study her. Katashi's countenance was devoid of all meaning, she could not intuit what he was thinking for it seemed that gestures were not something to which his body was accustomed. Kozuki was still moving the cards expertly, with his lips slightly parted. Yashiro took a short bow and went to her own desk, which was farther away from the others, remembering that she had a report to fill out about the previous day's case. Paperwork was quite boring for her, yet she was confident that she could get it out of the way as soon as possible.
"How did you know he was a victim?" Kozuki brought her back to reality.
Several minutes had passed. The report was ready and she pressed a last touch key to send it to Inspector Aoyanagi. The office was absolutely silent, and when she turned in her chair, she noticed the tall, thin figure of Kozuki standing at the side of her desk. His forehead was wrinkled and he looked at her as if he did not yet fully trust her presence. It took Yashiro a few seconds to realize that he was referring to the child they had helped. Although he no longer had any parents, his aunt had decided to take care of him.
"Some parents take advantage of their children's innocence, and use them to commit illegal acts," Yashiro explained with a warm smile.
The other two enforcers listened with great attention, even though they proved to be busy with their own hobbies. Yahiro knew that she was being studied by each of them constantly, something that puzzled her but did not really bother her. Her voice held secrets that she was not willing to reveal to mere strangers, and they were aware of that.
"Manipulating a child and, on top of that, your own son," Kozuki ironized, drawing a half smile for the first time in her presence. "Unbelievable."
Before she could say anything else, the sound of an alarm invaded the entire office, including the outside corridors. It was a warning of stress level in a specified area, which meant that a psycho pass had been detected with an above-average value. The female voice flooded the whole office, eventually demanding that the inspector who was available go to the site with his enforcers immediately.
Yashiro reclined on the seat, feeling a greater force pulling her as if wishing to tear her apart. Of all the jobs she could do, she had chosen the Public Safety Bureau, the only one that required a superior psycho pass. She did not believe in fate, she trusted in chance, but she still sensed that it was her place. She had many questions, and was willing to find the answers. Would Makishima be as well?