After a few days of being scheduled opposite of Shimotsuki, the Division One team was back to their regular routine. When the six of them were in the office during the day, Mika avoided speaking directly to any of the Enforcers, but specifically omitted Tsubame's name from her vocabulary, which honestly didn't bother the Enforcer in the slightest. The bruise around Mika's eye receded after a week or so, and with its disappearance returned Shimotsuki's palpable irritation at the proximity of the latent criminals. It wasn't much longer before she was back to her normal, unbearable demeanor.
Ginoza spent the majority of his time in the office ignoring Mika's agitation. He was much more at ease after Tsubame divulged the little bit of her story that he'd heard, even though she'd not talked to him about the rest of it. Tsubame's stutter became so infrequent that her co-workers forgot she'd even had one. It had completely gone away when she was with Ginoza.
Things had been so quiet that the detectives were completely up to date on their paperwork. When the alert went off Sho nearly jumped out of his chair and Tsubame tossed the pen she was holding across the room. They were dispatched to a community college campus where the Campus Anxiety-Monitoring Robotic Aids had alerted to a gathering of increasingly agitated students. Hinakawa easily hacked the college's CAMRA's and plugged into one of the device's video feeds.
"Um, Inspector Tsunemori, you might want to come look at this…" Sho zoomed the CAMRA's focus past a clearly distressed group of students to a bulletin board covered with international news stories and several containers of what appeared to be printed newspapers; a form of media that hadn't been in use in Japan for decades.
"We need to get to that campus," the detective barked. "All four of you need to get to the paddy wagon. Shimotsuki and I will grab a cruiser. Inspector, could you page Division Two and ask Domoto to stand by?"
Mika nodded and sent a message on her wristband holo while she walked behind the other five to the elevator. On their way into the paddy wagon, Ginoza noticed Tsubame wringing her hands together. His leather-gloved, robotic hand reached out to steady her.
"It's just a bunch of college kids. They get worked up like this all the time. That's why the Ministry of Welfare dispatched the CAMRA's in the first place. Don't worry."
His reassuring smile calmed the tingling in her hands, but caused the opposite reaction in her head. Yayoi smirked to herself as she passed them, taking her usual seat next to Sho. Once safely inside the armored truck, the four of them relaxed against the cool steel walls. It had been so long since they'd been outside, the prospect made them almost giddy, despite how cold it had been that day.
"Our mission is straight-forward," Akane's voice cut through the silence in the truck. "Break up the crowd, subdue rioters, and convince the students to go back to their dorms. You will be outfitted with nightsticks upon arrival. Please don't wield them unless you intend to use them. Dissipation is the preferred approach."
"I wonder what's got them so freaked out," Ginoza pondered aloud. "Anyone can mock up a fake foreign news story."
"Perhaps this one is particularly convincing," Yayoi offered. The four shared a concerned glance at the screen where the CAMRA feed was still streaming. The students' voices seemed to be mutating from surprise and shock to anger and outrage. One voice rang out above the others accusing a government conspiracy.
"Great." Tsubame sighed and scratched her head. "If they think it's a government conspiracy, they'll never listen to us."
The armored truck came to a sudden stop and the doors opened to allow the Enforcers out onto the street. Shimotsuki and Tsunemori were waiting for them.
"We can't get any closer; campus is blocked off during the day. It'll be easier to enter on foot anyway. We've already called in for assistance. The Inspectors of Division Two are just as much your boss as I am. Think of them as an extension of me. Questions?" Akane pulled two of the four nightsticks from the caddy that rolled up in front of her and tossed them to Ginoza and Tsubame. Sho and Yayoi grabbed their own.
"I see you're a bit unconvinced of the students' intentions Inspectors," Ginoza quipped as he motioned to the Dominators at their hips.
"That's not a question," Mika grumbled. The space between the two of them ignited into an impassible barrier. Before Akane could correct either of them, Ginoza smirked, his emerald eyes softening, and shrugged.
"Where would you like me to start, Inspector?"
Akane tasked Yayoi and Ginoza with collecting as much of the inciting materials as they could, which really just meant they'd need to clear paths through the gathered students for the evidence bots to reach the drop sites. Maekawa and Hinakawa were disguised as Komissa and dispatched to try to convince the students to go home. The Inspectors kept their distance so as not to alarm the students more than they already were. The majority of the gathered mob was centered around the Daily Happenings marquee where a reportedly live streaming of a newscast from San Francisco, California was glowing on the main screen, Japanese subtitles scrolling across the bottom. Tsubame bumped lightly against a civilian in the holo suit.
"Excuse me. Stress levels for this area are currently elevated above regulation values. If you are in distress, please try to calm down and return quietly to your dormitory."
The young man who looked up at the Komissa blinked as recognition spread across his face. He turned to the crowd behind him and shouted.
"It's the PSB! You were right! They are covering it up!"
A man in a motorcycle helmet jumped up onto a nearby trashcan.
"Don't let the Komissa through! The PSB are trying to turn off the message board! Don't allow them to deceive you any more!"
The flow of the crowd turned swiftly against her as the students began to shove Maekawa back. She tried desperately not to break character in her panic.
"Do not be alarmed. Area stress levels are rising. Please return to your dormitories until further notice."
She hissed into her wristband.
"I need some help here. Ginoza, I can't hold them off. There are too many."
"I'm almost to the power cell for the marquee. That helmeted man is standing right next to it. Just a few more seconds..."
The screen went blank and the reports rolling across the marquee vanished.
"Hound One, that man is clearly orchestrating this entire outburst. Take him down."
"Roger, Shepherd One."
Ginoza shoved a student out of the way, charging with the nightstick in his hand. The buzz it emitted caught the mysterious man's attention.
The vigilante was not taken off guard, but seemed to admit to some surprise as he narrowly dodged a blow from the paralyzer. He delivered a swift kick to the Enforcer's face before nimbly hopping down from his perch and tearing off through the crowd.
"He's getting away. Kunizuka, can you catch him?"
Yayoi sprinted from where she was calming a group of students near the library entrance over to the giant mob around the marquee.
"I don't see him. Tsubame, are you okay?"
The Komissa holo was beginning to falter as the students crushed it against a nearby pillar.
"T-the holo isn't going to hold."
"Inspector, we could really use some help." Yayoi shoved past one of the students, knocking a few of them down. Readying her paralyzer, she waved it in the air over a few of their heads. "You all need to calm down. Get back to your dormitories and stay put."
"She's an Enforcer!" one of the boys standing beside Yayoi shouted.
"Where are the Inspectors?" the girl next to him asked. She looked around in terror.
"It isn't just Komissa! The PSB is really here! What if they use the Dominators?"
The notion was enough to send the crowd into a frenzy, dispersing them faster than any of the Enforcers had thought possible. Yayoi reached Tsubame as she slumped against the pillar, the holo dissolving around her. The panic on her face faded and she forced herself to stop shaking.
"Who was that guy?" Hinakawa asked, running up to meet them, his holo also gone.
"Are you all alright?" Akane's voice rang in their headpieces.
"Where's Ginoza?" Tsubame hadn't seen him after he'd been kicked in the head.
Ginoza panted and pressed himself against the wall in the alleyway down which he'd seen the suspect retreat. Relieved to be off campus and away from the students, he felt like he had a decent chance of tracking the man if he was careful to try to keep quiet. He realized then that his headset must've fallen out of his ear when he'd been kicked. His cheek throbbed, but he had the idea that if that man had actually wanted to hurt him he could've kicked him a lot harder. He snuck around the corner and crouched behind a crate in the alleyway.
"You're tenacious as ever, Gino, but you still suck at tracking."
"What?"
Ginoza stood and eyed a cell phone that had been placed on speaker on the ground in the middle of the alleyway. He'd recognize that voice anywhere. The echoes of it in his memory beat painfully in his chest.
"If you want to chat, you'll have to take your tracker off. Of course, that might raise your crime coefficient enough for SYBIL to decide to terminate your employment. How long have you been an Enforcer?"
"Kogami you bastard, where are you?"
Ginoza jumped over the crate and picked up the phone.
"Take off the tracker, and I'll tell you. Is it my fault?"
Ginoza was silent. He didn't really know how to answer that. Kogami's disappearance certainly hadn't helped his Psycho Pass stabilize after Masaoka's death, but he didn't know that it was the reason he'd clouded. He grabbed the metal clasp of the band around his wrist and managed to loosen it enough to slide his hand through.
"Keep going up the alley where you were before you turned left. There's an old building with an exterior fire escape. I'll meet you there." The phone call ended and Ginoza dropped his bracelet, giving it a troubled look as it lay on the ground. Akane will understand. He took off into the narrow alley, quickly identifying the fire escape. The bottom ladder was hoisted up into its locked position, so he had to jump for it, causing quite the commotion when it clamored against the pavement.
"Subtle," Kogami's voice mocked from somewhere above him.
"Shut up, you idiot," Ginoza muttered under his breath, his black coat catching on a rusty, broken piece of what should have been a handrail. A few stories up, a hand reached out and stopped the Enforcer as he prepared to climb another ladder.
"In here."
He turned around to see Kogami standing in one of the abandoned apartments, the helmet removed from his head.
In that moment Ginoza didn't know if he should hug, punch, or strangle the man in front of him. His fist did the thinking for him. Kogami laughed and held his face where Ginoza had made contact.
"Yeah, I deserve that."
"What are you doing here? If someone sees you… Wait. How the Hell are you moving around without the street scanners picking you up?"
Kogami glanced at the helmet on the tattered chair in the corner of the room.
"Some friends of mine are rather skilled with the technology Makishima used on those helmets. They were able to make a few upgrades."
"Friends of yours? Kogami what are you trying to do anyway? You know you're on the SYBIL system's short list of criminals accused of treason, right?"
"Short list, huh?"
"Yeah, you know, because EVERYONE ON IT DIES. Why the Hell did you come back?" Ginoza paced the floor.
"Does taking off your tracker also put you on the list?"
"Stop changing the subject." Ginoza whirled around and finally really looked at his former best friend. He looked great, to be honest; almost as if he'd actually been training since he'd left. But where would he find the time to do that if he was on the run from SYBIL?
"It's not really important that you know why. I just need to know if I can still trust you. Considering you did as I asked, I'm glad that it seems I can. I was actually hoping you'd been promoted by now. It would've made our job a bit easier. Plus you wouldn't have to sneak around." He lit a cigarette. Ginoza noticed that it wasn't his usual brand. He'd actually never seen the package before.
"Our job?" Ginoza crossed his arms.
"I need your help. Even though I have the helmet, I'm limited in my ability to snoop around. Nona Tower has video surveillance…"
"Are you out of your mind? I think whatever hair gel you've been using to spike your hair is contaminated with idiot."
Kogami just glared at him.
"Japan is being held captive by an anonymous, oppressive government body and you expect me to just sit around and be okay with that?"
"Oppressive? What are you talking about? Japanese citizens are allowed to live their lives however they wish at the press of a button."
"You get to live like that?" Kogami challenged Ginoza.
"Well, I…" he glanced at the floor. "I made my bed, Kogami. I'm messed up. It's the risk we run to protect Japan. You know that. It sucks, but that's just the way it is."
"Doesn't have to be," Kogami smirked.
"I need to think about this," Ginoza grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I'll be waiting. We'll have other opportunities to talk."
Ginoza nodded and slipped back out of the window.
"By the way, I like the new look. Masaoka was right. You did get his eyes."
Ginoza smiled to himself.
"Goodbye, Kogami."
Ginoza sprinted back down the alleyway to find his tracker. When he rounded the corner, he found all of Division One waiting for him.
"Stop right there!" A Dominator aimed angrily at him.
"Inspector, is that really necessary?" Akane reached out to tip the end of Shimotsuki's gun down.
"It's fine, Akane. SYBIL might think she's right. My tracker is on the ground."
"Are you okay?" Tsubame asked him, coming to examine him. His left cheek had begun to bruise from being kicked in the face.
"I'm alright. He got away though," he lied.
"Did you get a look at him, Gino?" Akane stepped between Mika and Ginoza.
He shook his head.
"He had that helmet on. He's got a motorcycle. Unregistered. Plain and black. It's probably stolen." He was a little sickened by his own ability to lie so well.
"That's alright. Here," she smiled, approaching him with his tracker in her hands. He offered her his wrist, shooting a glance at Shimotsuki over Akane's shoulder.
"Don't do it again," she grumbled, hanging her Dominator on her hip, clearly irritated that her Dominator didn't shift to Eliminator mode when she'd pointed it at him.
"Let's get back to HQ. We've got to type up a report for this. The Headmaster is going to deal with the students. He'll be hiring some psychiatric specialists to analyze campus atmosphere and make some adjustments."
"Good," Ginoza nodded. It was hard to feign a smile. What was Kogami getting at anyway? What was SYBIL hiding from them?
Back at Nona Tower, the Enforcers were dismissed for the night to tend to their injuries. Hinakawa had been slammed into a light pole, and Tsubame was still reeling from being pinned down by the protestors. Yayoi disappeared into the lab where Shion was still on duty, but the rest of them shuffled, exhausted, to the apartment. When Ginoza offered to make tea for the three of them, Sho and Tsubame answered as enthusiastically as possible. Hinakawa retreated to his room shortly after receiving his cup, leaving Ginoza and Tsubame alone in the living room.
"I'm glad you're okay," she smiled over the steaming mug in her hands. "I was really worried something terrible had happened."
"Well nothing did. It's all okay," he grinned. Comforting her somehow comforted him as well, he'd found. Inside he was nothing but turmoil, but for her he could plaster on a smile even if he was dying. He looked down into his tea. He was surprised when he felt the cushion next to him sink under her weight.
"Please don't run off like that again." Her voice was almost pleading. When he turned to look at her, she was staring blankly out the window across the room.
"Are you okay?"
"Just tired," she deflected. "Honestly, I don't know what I would've done if you'd actually run off like Inspector Shimotsuki thought you had."
"Shimotsuki likes to think lots of things about me," he shrugged. "None of them are very flattering, I'm sure." He hoped she'd laugh, but instead she glanced up at him, teary-eyed.
"Ginoza, you caught up to that man, didn't you?"
He nearly spat out the tea in his mouth.
"I thought so. You have a tell. I can't believe Akane doesn't know what it is."
"I… I don't even…" he sighed. "There's a reason I had to lie," he whispered.
"I'm sure it's a good one," she smiled. "I don't think you'd lie to hurt any of us. But you did take off your own tracker, didn't you? When Shimotsuki started shouting about how you'd probably taken the opportunity to desert the bureau, I don't know… I just, couldn't come up with a good enough reason for you to stay. Our job is stressful, and it's not like we can just quit. I mean, I'm not sure why you came back."
He set his cup down and turned slightly to look at her.
"I do have a few reasons," he challenged. "It's not like Akane and the other Enforcers aren't my friends. And there's you…" Did he want to go there right now?
"I suppose," she thought aloud. A yawn escaped her as she placed her empty mug on the coffee table next to his half full one. He was thankful that she didn't seem to want to pursue him about any of that at the moment. "You don't make a whole lot of sense sometimes."
"I seem to make more sense to you than anyone else. What's my tell?"
She just giggled and closed her eyes, head propped on one hand.
"Tsubame?"
"Hmm?"
She's falling asleep sitting up…
"Tsubame you need to go to bed."
He stood and picked up their mugs, placing them in the sink. When he returned, she'd fallen over across the place he'd been sitting and was snoring lightly. Seriously?
"Tsubame…" he nudged her gently.
"Hmm?"
"You're falling asleep. You need to go to bed."
"Okay."
She made no move to sit up.
"You're a child." Exasperation laced his voice.
"No you are," she grumbled.
He sighed. Now what? He tried to shake her awake again to no avail. Well then… He opted to lift her from the couch and take her to her room. When he reached the door it occurred to him that he'd only ever had her express permission to enter before. He tried once again to wake her.
"Is it okay if I take you to your bed?"
"What?" She scowled in her sleep.
"You need to go to bed. Where would you like to sleep?"
Her face relaxed.
"Here's fine."
You're joking. Ginoza rolled his eyes. Torn between decency and Tsubame's privacy, it appeared he had two options. Kami help me, he thought as he turned away from Tsubame's door and walked down the hall to his own room. The door slid open and he placed her gently on his bed, flipping the covers over her. He grabbed a pillow for himself and pulled an extra blanket from his closet, found a comfortable enough place on the floor near the bed, and drifted off into the night, the sweet smell of her clinging to his shirt.