"The bystander effect—the influence of the presence of others on a person's willingness to help someone in need. Even in an emergency, a bystander is less likely to extend help when in the presence of others than when alone. Moreover, the number of people is important, such that more bystanders lead to less assistance. Nowadays, if you need aid, you must yell… fire!"
His voice, ever so calm and soothing, echoed throughout the room. Standing in front of the large window, Makishima Shougo widened his golden eyes for a moment, gazing at the black sky.
"People have blind faith in the system," Choe Gu-sung replied in a deeper voice from the couch.
"Blind trust has always been as dangerous as the tyranny itself. It favors those who wish to exploit us."
"Violence is a new concept for them. But the worst thing is that they deny it. As a defense mechanism. There's something else. When you're in a group, you always expect the other to do the right thing first. No one wants to carry the moral responsibility. Not if someone else can. Now imagine all the people thinking the same thing. It's funny, isn't it?"
Makishima exchanged a smirk with him, then looked back at the cars in the city.
"They would rather take photos and videos about these new and strange things because they are banned," Choe continued speaking, waving the bottle in the air gently. "Everyone has the desire to stand out. Do you think he wants to do the same experiment?"
"Not really, no," Makishima frowned and shook his head. "Otherwise, he would choose crowded places. But he doesn't want to provoke a psycho hazard, and certainly he's not interested in turning bodies into twisted works of art. He believes he delivers justice. He toys with his victims by keeping them balanced between life and death. He makes them feel as helpless as an ant being crushed by a child, or a bird in his squeezing hands, because he had always been that little ant, and that bird trapped as a child."
"You want to see how much he's changed."
"I'm just curious if this is enough for her to figure it out too," he uttered with a dreamy, unreachable gaze.
"You mean Yashiro," Choe guessed, and let out a long, deep laugh. "You would go that far giving them a case… just to see if she puts two and two together. That's so like you."
Choe Gu-sung was smirking by then. Makishima did not turn around, his eyes scanning the buildings and skyscrapers ahead of him, as if searching for something in the distance.
"I finally got to see her, Choe," his voice rose in wild happiness, as he smiled with parted lips and narrowed his eyes. "There are some things she got from you. She's smart, sharp, soft, and unpredictable, and… soft again. Only she doesn't know."
Choe released a barely visible smile and looked down the bottle. It was a warm, not cocky smile.
"Her past experiences, college… it's hardened her," Choe's eyes widened slightly at his own words. "But what could she have in common with the likes of him? Why are you bringing this case up?"
Makishima barely turned around and looked at the floor for a moment, then turned back to the sky. His eyes narrowed in a strange way, and his voice, then, sounded lower and deeper, as if he found it hard to speak. Choe opened his eyes further as he listened to him.
"She is still… in conflict with her inner self. I hope this can help her find the answers she is looking for. We can't get everything we want in life, and that's an essential part of living. But… no matter how hard life is for her—she loves life back. And that is… so rare. I wish… more people were this passionate. She would never sacrifice her integrity, or her freedom. And it's the thing about her I value the most in people. The honesty of her feelings… the independence of her thoughts… people wonder why they seek happiness and never find it. That's because they've never held a personal desire—all their ambitions and dreams are motivated by other men, and guided by the Sybil System. They are like bystanders of life… while she embraces it."
"Are you certain this is the same case, Inspector Aoyanagi?" Kasei asked with an undecipherable gaze.
"She fits the profile."
Kasei leaned forward, playing with a black rubik's cube.
"If he has decided to come back out, this is an opportunity you should not miss. You are to work together with Inspector Takahashi. I want you to report her status to me as often as possible."
Aoyanagi frowned for a second, not entirely sure what her ears had heard.
"I have seen her… get carried away with emotions. I fear she will dive too deep into this case."
Aoyanagi's voice was loud and clear, without a hint of hesitation. She had confidence in the new inspector's abilities, but she still could not help but worry.
"It is her responsibility to watch out for her own psycho pass. I thought you would understand that more than anyone else."
Aoyanagi deeply nodded, "Yes, I do."
Kasei held up the black cube in her hand and squinted at it, like a professional studying an insect.
"She is currently undergoing a psychological evaluation," she remarked in a casual tone.
Aoyanagi blinked and widened her eyes.
"I was not aware she had one. Inspector Takahashi has just been assigned to the Criminal Investigation Department. Her psycho pass is low even after our last case."
Kasei set the cube down on the desk in front of her with a light thump that echoed in the quiet office.
"I personally requested it," she replied dryly with a fleeting smirk, not taking her eyes off the cube. "As soon as the evaluation is completed, you will resume the investigation."
"Let's talk about the child in your first case," the counsellor spoke in a deep, measured voice.
With one leg crossed over the other, hands clasped on her thigh and a barely visible smile meeting his brown eyes, Yashiro was sitting two meters away in another armchair across from him. She was dressed in a black suit and pants, a white dress shirt and a dark purple tie. Her straight brown hair fell down her chest and back, with a few strands behind her left ear. Her clothes were not tight, but managed to enhance her shapely figure. There was so much calm and peace in her presence, she could make that living room a part of her apartment.
"He is with his uncles now," she responded in a natural, gentle voice. "I recommended that he take therapy, and now his psycho pass is recovering. What about him?"
The brown-haired man crossed one leg over the other in a more relaxed and cordial posture, and rested his arms on either side of the armchair. He wore a brown vest and tie over a white dress shirt. His hair was very short and reached his ears. It was slicked back, except for a lock that fell to the side of his face. Yashiro thought he must have been in his forties.
"You were willing to shoot an enforcer to stop him from killing this child," he pointed out.
"He could still be saved," she raised an eyebrow and shook her head.
"You did not want him to end the same way as his father," he nodded deeply.
"Apples don't fall far from the tree. Isn't that the Attachment Theory postulated by... John Bowlby?"
Yashiro made him smile slowly, as if such a gesture were something new to him, which darkened his features with cold detachment instead of enhancing them.
"You believe he will become a criminal like his father."
"Maybe, maybe not," she tilted her head from side to side looking up. "Some embrace the same path—others refuse and choose a new life."
"You saved him nonetheless," his voice was deeper and echoed throughout the room. "What if he seeks revenge?"
Yashiro looked upward and to her left.
"I believe the desire for revenge… comes naturally to anyone who has seen his mother murdered," she commented with complete certainty and ease.
The counsellor blinked and squinted, as if he had seen something in her hair or on her face.
"I can see the things you do not as a product of your nature… but as a product of you reacting to human nature. You are smart enough to have insight… to be empathetic… but because you have constantly witnessed the darker side of human nature… you have formed a dark view of humanity and adapted your behaviors accordingly."
Yashiro uncrossed her leg and crossed the other in the opposite direction, clasping her hands on her thigh again.
"Are you working on my profile now?" she asked in a louder voice, her narrowed silver eyes piercing into his own.
"I can't imagine what this must be like for you. You are used to digging into minds. Not only are you able to understand people… but you are also able to change them… guide them. And yet you are terrified of anyone digging into yours. That's why you keep your distance. Your closest friends are strangers. You are overprotective of your own intimacy. No doors for guests in your castle."
"Only walls," Yashiro uttered almost in a whisper, raising an eyebrow and looking down.
"You spent a lot of time observing people and the world as a child. Raised mostly by… an AI rather than by your parents."
Yashiro sighed and looked up for a moment. Her face hardened all of a sudden.
"All children grow up in an environment full of holos," she stretched out her palm in front of her for a moment, like a child trying to hide the sun with his fingers, and narrowed her eyes. "Parents can be replaced. They will be. After all, holo-servants cannot cloud hues. Maybe someday there will be holo-teachers, too."
She smiled strangely at her own pessimism and rested her hand on her thigh again. He looked down her hands, then up her eyes again. There was a dull, almost indifferent acceptance in her tone of voice that weighed on her shoulders.
"Your… past experiences helped you develop a strong sense of self and a personal moral code. Eventually the walls of your mind got higher. Despite intending to land on truth, you end up drawing misguided conclusions about the world and the people in it. You have no one to turn to for wisdom, and no one is smart enough to get you out of your own thoughts. You may have had many relationships—but none of them you've been able to maintain over time…"
"He loves you? Who does he love? Have you told him who you really are?" his mocking, deep voice echoed in the room.
"No," she shook her head in a casual remark.
"He fell in love with your mask, not the real you," Makishima was standing in front of her by then, with a frown on his face. "And you betray his feelings with full knowledge."
"People around me always end up with their hues clouded. I don't want the same thing to happen to him. I wouldn't… forgive myself."
Yashiro blinked, looking up the man in front of her. He had long since stopped talking and was concentrating on her, aware that she had unintentionally let her guard down.
"Bravo!" she laughed and began to fidget with her black derby shoe in the air, slowly, gracefully. "Are you going to administer a series of diagnostic tests now? Because if they are designed to see… whether I'm capable of distinguishing between the behavior the system defines as criminal, and that which I deem appropriate… then you might end up disappointed."
Yashiro looked at the bookshelf to their right, a little away from them against the wall, as if trying to read their titles.
"Not at all," the counsellor responded with a smile. "By the way, I'm not supposed to say this, consider it friendly advice… but drinking won't relieve your stress… and certainly won't help you forget. It will only harm your health and cloud your hue."
Yashiro did not smell of alcohol, and she certainly was not under the influence, yet the counsellor could see past her long monologues and calm demeanor.
"Do I fit that pattern?" she squinted for a second and pointed her index finger at the hologram of a large window with plants behind him. "Nice holo you have there."
There was a sympathetic, almost paternal smile all over his face.
"My apologies," he slightly lowered his head. "I can't shut my mind off just like you can't with yours. I am here to evaluate your readiness… whether you are capable of understanding the characteristics and consequences of your actions. Based on what I've read in your last report, you seem quite capable."
"And yet I do not understand why I am here," Yashiro gently responded, tilting her head. "I do not know what I have done wrong."
He raised an eyebrow and chin, "You don't?"
"Not really," she squinted her eyes looking to the left, then back at him. "Whatever I have done… I have done it because I thought it was… just."
"Yesterday you killed two people with your bare hands, instead of using the dominator. While it was self-defense, and both were latent criminals, your methods are… unorthodox. It's only natural that you've caught the chief's attention. Especially after your psycho pass is… unusually clear," he rested his cheek lightly on his fist. "It's fascinating."
Yashiro opened her eyes wider and looked away. Inspectors would be proud of such a compliment, but this was not her case. She leaned forward, then rested her back on the chair again.
"But I want you to take mental care seriously—by means of both suppressants and stress management activities—and protect yourself from the high levels of stress you will be exposed to. Whenever you find yourself tempted to dive too deep… always remember to look for some light."
"I will do my best," she replied in a clear, casual voice, slowly turning back to face him. "Am I free to go now?"
Her face was cold and serene again, with a faint smile, like the sun on a cloudy winter day.
"You may," he nodded with narrowed, polite eyes. Yashiro was already reaching for her black coat. "But something tells me… we will be seeing each other again."
Yashiro paused for a few seconds in front of the counseling door, then walked away.