1 Akira Algorithm

"Morning, Rukawa." Sakuragi put his coffee on the table and drew the other side of the curtain. Under the cloudless sky, panoramic views of Manhattan skyscrapers presented itself in front of him. "I guess today will also be a peaceful day!"
"You arrive early." Rukawa glanced at the cup of coffee while typing on the keyboard. "How did you came up with Mocha today?"
"I slept early yesterday and went to the gym this morning. I thought about changing a flavor."
"Have you decided on my suggestion of living together?"
"Still thinking about it seriously." Sakuragi leaned his head in front of the computer screen. "Hacking into your father's company network to watch internal news again?"
"I never come out."
"I finally know where you got that much money from."
"That's only a small part of my income."
"Good for you. (Sigh) I sold all my stocks yesterday and lost about a hundred dollars."
"Glad to hear that you sold before circuit breaker."
"Thanks for the stocks you chose for me, or I'll lose even more. I don't want to talk about this anymore. Let's look at today's work."
"Akira algorithm."
"Huh?"
"It was written by Akira Sendoh, a Boston native currently studying computer science in his senior year at Columbia University. Akira algorithm has great commercial and political value. People in the intranet have started to watch him."
"Will they threaten his life?"
"Soon. Sakuragi, come and see these codes."
"He is very talented in programming!"
"Yes. You see, these are concise and efficient structures. He has established two networks, namely reading and generation. By implementing machine reading comprehension and natural language generation, he could realize sentiment analysis and public opinion monitoring. Based on feedbacks he received, including interactions and expectation of monitoring on news sites , social network and forum, he could also adjust the monitoring level continuously to achieve different levels of control over the interactive content. People who cannot identify these automatically generated reviews will lose their judgment and become tools for others to achieve their goals. "
"This is horrifying. There are technology enthusiasts who want to challenge the limit in every field, but this algorithm will exceed his control. Will it be abused by others if they get the algorithm?"
"It's very likely. If it meets ethical people, which are few in this world, it might be destroyed. But I don't think destroying ... is a responsible behavior. There must be people with similar ideas who want to achieve this. The most ideal solution is to return the magic box to the person who discovered it in the first place, let him decide how to deal with it, and take responsibility for his own choice. "
"Agree. Although it is unclear what specific impact his algorithm will have on society after it is widely applied, we must protect him and his delicate algorithm!"
"I think so too. Put on your coat and we'll follow him."

2 Dr. Mitsui

"He walked too fast." Running across the sidewalk with Sakuragi at the last second of the green light, Rukawa gasped slightly. "With such a large computer bag on his back."
"Keep up," Sakuragi held Rukawa's hand and watched Sendoh disappearing in the crowd. "What if the suspect kills him now?"
Seeing Sendoh suddenly turning back, Sakuragi yelled in a low voice and pushed Rukawa in an alley along the road. "Don't come ..." he muttered, "We walked a little bit faster."
A few seconds later, Sendoh appeared at the alley with his hedgehog hairstyle and watching them quietly. "You two have been following me for a day and I'm getting a small headache. I know you are lovers, but who are you?"
"How do you know!" Sakuragi suddenly released Rukawa's hand and Rukawa frowned.
"Ah, probably intuitive." Sendoh smiled. "Shall we change a place?"
The three walked into the bar on the street. Sakuragi asked for two glasses of soda. Sendoh ordered himself old-fashioned and told the waiter that the two glasses were on him.
"You are in danger now." Rukawa glanced around the bar and touched the gun on his belt. "Can you think of anyone who wants to kill you?"
"Too many people. First, my supervisor Dr. Mitsui does not support me on developing Akira algorithm ... I often feel that I seem to have chosen the wrong major." He sighed, lay on the table and stared at the people coming and going outside the window. "I applied for 10 doctoral programs for admission this fall, and the last school rejected me two days ago. Probably those professors also think I am not suitable for doing further research."
"Show me your resume."
Sendoh reached out his cell phone, found his resume, and gave the cell phone to the two in front of him.
"Prestigious school, 4.0 GPA, perfect internships and research experiences." Sakuragi swiped the phone, "So the problem is in the recommendation letters? Is Mitsui one of your recommenders?"
"Well, he promised me without much hesitation, I don't know if he really recommended me in the letter."
"I have an idea. Is your recommendation letter submitted by the professor himself?"
"I told them to upload the letters to the Folio system and I ordered them to graduate schools, so the letters would be easier to use later."
"You are gonna hack into the graduate school system again?" Sakuragi nudged Rukawa.
"No need this time. Sendoh, send me an electronic version of all the letters of recommendation now. Recipient is Shohoku Information Technology Company, name is Inoue Kaede, position is president."
"Is it ok for us to see the recommendation letter by ourselves?" Sendoh took out the computer and opened the browser, "Will it affect my integrity record of studying and working in the future ..."
"It's not time to worry about that!" Sakuragi thumped the table, "Someone already wants you to die!"
"We won't show the letters to you." Rukawa's finger swiped quickly on the phone. "Received. The first three letters are all right, except for the fourth one, Dr. Mitsui. He made it clear in the first paragraph by writing 'not recommend.' How does Dr. Mitsui get along with you? "
"Oh god, I thought we got along well except for the Akira algorithm ..."
"Tell us more about the algorithm."
"I showed the prototype to him when I was a junior. He criticized me severely and said that I should not do such research. He took away my code and said that there should never be a third person getting this algorithm. Nevertheless, I used my spare time to do it myself—I believe the technology itself has no position. Now there are two or three news sites that are interested in my algorithm with favorable prices. I thought Dr. Mitsui had forgotten the algorithm thing! This is really heart-breaking. "
"We'll figure this out. Until then, we'll contact our friend from the police to protect you."
"I just sent a message to Mito. He will be here soon!"

3 Times Square Tower

Rukawa and Sakuragi said goodbye to Sendoh in front of his house. Detective Mito had been waiting there in a police car. Rukawa waved his hands and stopped a taxi, "To Times Square Tower."
"Why there?"
"Mitsui rarely stayed in his office on campus. Instead, he rented an office at Times Square Tower. I hacked into his calendar and found that he has a group meeting on campus at three PM, but he always departs from the office at two fifteen. Soon, you can go into his office and install monitoring equipment. "
"Oh."
After arriving at the Times Square Tower, they entered 5 Times Square, a building opposite from the tower. Taking the elevator to the 42nd floor, they overlooked Mitsui behind the desk.
"Mitsui got his bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree and PhD in computer science. After graduation, he taught at City University of New York and came to Columbia a few years ago." Rukawa swiped his mobile phone rapidly, "Several students on the campus forum suggested juniors not to choose him as a mentor. I don't know whether these posts were sent by real students or himself with other purposes. The posts mentioned that he took research results of some students as his own, but no one could collect any evidence. "
"Or the students who voiced had disappeared." Sakuragi aimed his telescope at Mitsui's office. "Seems that Mitsui is really a dangerous figure. Ah, he seems to be arguing with someone on his phone. Who is that? Can you hack into the communication network now? "
Rukawa put on his headset, "Aida Hikoichi, a graduate student in Mitsui's research group focusing on computer vision. They have different opinions on Aida's research topic. Aida will go to the group meeting later. "He checked his watch, "It's about 2:15. Let's go. "
The two watched Mitsui left the building. Going up to the 33rd floor, Rukawa used a mobile phone to interfere with the camera signal, and Sakuragi skillfully opened the door lock. A few minutes later, Rukawa's phone got the camera screen. Sakuragi posed at the camera, "Monitoring equipment ok!"
"Leave from the west stairs, there is no camera signal there for now. I will go back to the office to check some information."
"Okay, I'll visit Aida now and find out more information." Sakuragi stopped a taxi, "To Morningside Heights."

Sakuragi got out of the taxi and glanced at his watch. It was 2:40. He went straight to the teaching building of the computer science department and glanced Aida in the self-study area on the first floor. He hid his head in front of the computer screen and bowed his head without saying a word.
"Aida Hikoichi?" Seeing that Aida didn't respond, Sakuragi took out the police badge, "I'm detective Inoue Sakuragi of NYPD. Tell me something about your research team."
"Oh my god, now the police finds me… So the old stories are true after all. Maybe I should follow Sendoh's advice and switch my career as soon as possible."
"What do you think of the relationship between Sendoh and Dr. Mitsui?"
"I think it's very problematic. You must check it carefully! Sendoh can solve a problem in half an hour, while I have to think of the same problem for a day. Because Mitsui doesn't allow him to study the algorithms he is interested in, he doesn't have a journal paper up tp now, not even a conference paper. "
"Have you heard that?" Sakuragi said to Rukawa at the other side of the headset.
"I've been following. His words are in accordance to the data I crawled on the campus forum and the emails in Mitsui's mailbox. I just sent an email to him with a malware as a notification on academic journal review. He is now preparing to become an associate professor from assistant professor, and his contract will be terminated if the following papers cannot be published successfully. "
"Such mentors who get promotion by stealing students' works should go to hell. By the way, Rukawa, did you quit your PhD for this reason?"
"I don't know how did you know I quitted PhD, but that's part of the reason." The hands on the keyboard stopped.
"What are the other reasons?"
"My doubts about contents of research. Let's get back to work now."
"Detective Inoue, it's 2:55 now. May I go to my meeting?"
"I'll go up with you." Sakuragi stood up.
"I am really depressed on graduation now. Recently I am taking medicine on mental health following doctor's instructions."
"I understand your difficulties, but when you enter the society, you will understand that what happened in school is like nothing."
"What? You can't hit my confidence like that!"
"I'm just stating the facts." Sakuragi glanced at Mitsui across the corridor. "Go in, your mentor is coming. Don't worry, you will graduate."
Just as Hikoichi entered the classroom, Sakuragi walked towards Mitsui quickly and bumped into him.
"Look the way!" Mitsui turned his head, raised his middle finger and said "screw you".
"All card information ok!" Sakuragi hit the buttons on card reader and showed off to Rukawa.
"Received." Rukawa smiled and started typing codes.

4 Stealing the Codes

"Sakuragi."
"Huh?"
"Apart from Sendoh's s own version, there is another version of the code of Akira's algorithm in Mitsui's office. Sendoh said that he only gave it to Mitsui. If Mitsui would count it as his own academic achievement, he wouldn't pass it to a third person. So I need you to steal the code the next time Mitsui goes out so that it would be unavailable to a third person. I checked Mitsui's credit card records and found that he bought a military-standard hard drive six months ago, the same time he got to know the Akira algorithm. He stored the algorithm in the hard disk, probably considering network security."
"OK, and when will he leave the office?"
"6:15 PM."
"Are you talking to your Rukawa on another line?" Sendoh asked Sakuragi on the phone. "I'm coming with you, I can help."
"Now I am helping you! Don't bring me trouble."
"I know my mentor and I can explain it to you."
"Okay then."

The midtown night woke up at 6:15 PM.
"Mitsui has gone to John Sullivan's." Rukawa's voice came across the headphones.
"I don't like the atmosphere there." Sakuragi opened Mitsui's office door with a card processed by Rukawa, waving his hand to let Sendoh enter.
"We could go to NoMad."
"After watching sunset on Staten Island."
"What about after finishing this task?"
"Great." Sakuragi opened the drawer, "So many hard drives …"
"Find the one with a G on the case. Refer to the picture I just sent you."
"Got it. Let's check the contents." Sakuragi let Sendoh to insert the hard disk into the computer.
"Gosh, there's Fujima's project ... he has postponed his PhD studies…"
"Fujima's project is directly related to cybersecurity," Rukawa quickly tapped the keyboard. "Hana, I just received a system warning. You and Sendoh should leave the building now. Someone suspicious has entered the area and cannot be identified. I need to crack his encryption."
"OK." Sakuragi let Sendoh keep the hard drive.
The moment they walked out of the office, Mitsui suddenly appeared at the door and took out his gun. "I forgot to bring my USB flash drive, so I came back. I didn't expect ..."
"So you are the suspicious person." Sakuragi knocked Mitsui to the ground with a punch and kicked his gun away from his feet. "Sendoh, you take the elevator on the west side. Yohei is waiting for you outside and you could give him the hard drive. I will teach this guy a lesson."
"Hana, forget about teaching him. Leave NOW!"
"I've caught the suspicious person you said!" Sakuragi looked down and tied Mitsui's hands with a rope, "How many students's works did you plagiarize?"
"You were the guy who hit me last time ..." Mitsui struggled.
The system warning did not disappear. Rukawa frowned, cracked the encryption and found the identity of the suspicious person. Eyes opened wide, he gasped. "Detective Mito, are you there? I want you to help find someone."
"I'm escorting Sendoh to his home, you could tell me the name ..."
Just as Rukawa was about to speak, he heard a slight sound of gun hammer on Sakuragi side. In the surveillance camera, a figure with long black hair appeared at the door with a gun pointed at Sakuragi.
"Do not escape."

5 Coming from NSA

Sakuragi was awakened by Rukawa on the headphones.
"Sakuragi Hanamichi! Are you shot? Reply right away!"
He wanted to talk, but he had a terrible headache, so he hummed into the headset. He wanted to pull out his hands, but found myself tied up and thrown in the corner. The opposite was Mitsui, tied to a chair. The agent with long black hair was missing.
"Plagiarism is the most shameless."
"Detective, the only eternal things in this world are interests. I won't stop you if you report my academic plagiarism to Columbia. However, the Akira algorithm is different. I really can't allow Sendoh to continue doing the research. I can't let my students live a life of danger."
"…What?"
"He has long been monitored by National Security Agency! The agent was from NSA. I have done research in both biology and computer science, and I have many colleagues who have dealt with them. I know if they want someone dead, they would do it by fair means or foul. "
"So there are people you know ..."
Mitsui's face became distorted. "That's why I didn't let him continue to study the Akira algorithm, at the cost of not recommending admission to graduate school!"
"Why don't you tell him the truth?"
"I know that with his character, he will continue to study anyway."
So you watched him go through everything and do nothing, Sakuragi shook his head slightly.

"Look who's disrupting my plan." The black-haired agent appeared at the door, putting his phone in his pocket.
"Kiyota Nobunaga." Mitsui gritted his teeth.
"Is someone calling me?" Kiyota pulled out the tape and sealed Mitsui's mouth. He glanced at Mitsui with his eyes widened, and then looked back at Sakuragi, who was lying on the ground. "We gained remote control of Mitsui's computer. When we found someone was operating his computer, we came right away."
"Who are you."
"I thought my old friend has introduced me." Kiyota pointed the muzzle at Sakuragi's head again. "Starting from you. You are a dangerous figure."
When he bent down, Sakuragi broke the rope and kicked his lower body violently. After scuffles, Kiyota knelt on the corner and was pointed with a gun.
"I want answer of one question. Why do you want to kill Sendoh?"
"I need to get the algorithm back to NSA and apply it after reasonable modifications."
"If the algorithm is widely used, people will become pigs in a cage on antibiotics*!"
"You have no right to represent everyone. Have you asked what they want most?"
"I know this is wrong. Artificial intelligence without ethical constraints can only lead humans to destruction!"
"Is there only right and wrong in your world? You are too naive." While Sakuragi didn't notice, Kiyota suddenly got up and seized Sakuragi's gun and kicked him to the ground.
"Hana, for your safety, do not argue with him anymore. I am triggering the automatic alarm system of the office building." Sakuragi heard the slight nervous feelings from the headset.
"No need, Kaede!" Sakuragi disappeared before Kiyota's eyes, and the next second he chocked Kiyota's neck with hands. "People can make choices and be responsible for them. You have no right to take anything away from anyone."
"Oh, is it?" Kiyota smiled wryly.
The moment before Rukawa triggered the alarm system, he heard two gunshots from the headset.
"Hana!" He got up from his seat, shouted uncontrollably with a serious headache.

—
*… A pig in a cage on antibiotics. — Radiohead

6 Five Forty

Sakuragi woke up with pain. He opened his eyes and found the alarm disappeared. Mitsui and Rukawa were discussing something beside him. Kiyota was lying on the other side, bleeding. He tried to stand up, but the pain from the ribs made him fall back and cried out in pain.
"Your detective friend wakes up."
"We'll take him to the hospital right now. I need your help." The two lifted Sakuragi up.
"Thank you. Why did you save me?" Sakuragi glanced at Kiyota's gunshot wound. Mitsui's skills of using gun was above average.
"If he takes the algorithm, it will only be a matter of time before I get killed."
"What about the agent's body?"
"They will send someone to deal with it."
The two transferred Sakuragi to Rukawa's car. Seeing that Rukawa's hand was shaking and could not hold the steering wheel, Mitsui pulled the door. "Let me drive, it will be quicker. Let's go to Mount Sinai Hospital. I have a student there to help your friends. Can I use your disposable phone? "
Rukawa passed the phone to him.
"Wang, I know you still have an identity issue staying in the U.S. Are you in the hospital? I want you to help me save an important person."
"You help us save him now," Rukawa took the phone, "I will give you a green card next week."
"Ah, okay!"
"Never tell anyone."
"Roger that!"

They arrived at the hospital. Watching Sakuragi being pushed into the operating room, Rukawa breathed a sign of relief and sat on the ground.
"I admire you and your detective." Mitsui sat next to Rukawa.

"I didn't tell anyone, but my best friend in undergraduate was shot dead at an academic conference because of his research results."
"What research results?"
"Gene editing. I watched him died in front of me. I suffered from severe PTSD and took a year off from school to San Diego to receive treatment. Since then, I no longer want to do biological research and never want to see similar things happen to students or colleagues. I did not expect that such problems have also occurred in artificial intelligence over the years. Do you believe the world will become better in the future? "
"Yes, and no."
"Alright. By the way, you look like someone." Mitsui stared at Rukawa's side face.
"This is my personal action. You may have remembered a wrong person."
"Really? Maybe I'm tired. I should go back and have a rest. Today is such a long day. If you need my help, you know how to contact me."
"The operation was very successful." Wang stepped out of the operating room. "His physical fitness was very good, and he was agile when the bullet came, so he only got minor injuries. Now he can go home and rest."
Rukawa thanked Wang, put Sakuragi on the back seat and covered him with his coat. On the way home, the sky became brighter. He glanced at his mobile phone. 5:40. No need to catch up on sleep.

7 Morningside Park

"Good morning, detective Mito."
"Morning, Rukawa. Hey, yesterday you asked me to help you look up for someone. Who is it again?" Mito browsed the internal newsletter, [NSA agent died at Times Square Tower yesterday]. What a piece of breaking news in the morning, he drank his Mocha and clicked the details. Another busy day for DC!
"There's no need for it, the problem has been solved. Thank you."
"You're welcome." Mito smiled. "Send my greetings to Hanamichi for me."
"Sure." Rukawa glanced at Sakuragi who was still asleep. He walked over and squeezed his face gently, and then returned to the computer and opened business reviews and news.
"... It's fifty-three degrees now andthe highest temperature will reach seventy-seven degrees. We predict that it will be sunny and clear all day long! Such a good weather is perfect for spending time with family, friends or lovers in the park! …"
"Morning, kitsune." Sakuragi appeared at the door, scratching his hair. "Am I at your house?"
"It was too late yesterday. I settled you here." Rukawa got up, walked over and pushed him to the sofa. "Why didn't you leave the building with Sendoh yesterday?"
"Hey, it's early morning, mind your tone." Sakuragi stared at the person on him with wide eyes.
"Don't move, you are still injured." Rukawa held Sakuragi's wrist. "You almost died yesterday."
Sakuragi turned his head to the other side, "I want to know why Mitsui did that. If we can't hear the explanation, this kind of thing will happen again in the future. Isn't our purpose to help others? Oh, my cell phone is ringing. Let go of me, I need to pick it up. "
Rukawa glanced at the screen, handed the phone over to him and turned on answer and speaker.
"Hi guys! I'm Sendoh. Last time you saved my life, so I want to thank you. I wonder if it would be convenient to meet you at 116 West at Morningside Park today at noon?"

"This is my heartfelt thanks, please accept it. You guys will love it." Sendoh smiled and took out a well-packed gift.
Sakuragi took the gift and unpacked it. As soon as he saw the shape, he knew what it was. He snapped the box, and Rukawa couldn't help chuckling. "We have a gift for you, too," he said, and pulled out a new passport from his bag. "You won't be hunted down again."
"New identity!" Sendoh flipped his new passport delightfully.
"Your algorithm is a delicate piece of art and should be carefully collected."
"Yeah, I'm really obsessed with structure. When I started writing Akira algorithm last year, I was wondering if the expressions, which seemed spontaneous and disordered, could be defined by the laws of mathematics. I didn't intend to be God, but it seems that my curiosity is causing some trouble on this world, lol."
"What are your plans for future?"
"I thought about it and decided to stop doing academic research. It's too dangerous. I plan to return to Boston and become an ordinary software engineer."
"Would you regret it?"
"It's impossible to say I don't regret at all, but I am only changing the way to do my favorite things." Sendoh looked at the tall buildings before him. "Besides, I have been a bit tired of staying in this overly busy city for four years. The most important thing is that I am still alive. Ah, it's about 1pm. I am going back to school to edit my dissertation. Farewell, thanks for all you have done. "
Rukawa and Sakuragi watched him leave quickly and disappeared on the street corner.
"Kaede."

"I feel great now, like I've saved the world. But are the things we did right?"
"Even if we create impact on one person, our efforts are meaningful."
"Makes sense." Sakuragi leaned against the railing, held his head and stared at Rukawa's eyes, "The world will be fine."