Yashiro managed to find Aoyanagi in one of the corridors on her way back to her division's office, who gave her a smile as she recognized her, then she walked beside her and they both continued walking with the same uninterrupted pace, as if it were natural for them.

"Good to see you, Takahashi-san," she greeted her, receiving nods from other inspectors walking by. "What a way to start the day. How did it go? Yes… Chief told me. I did not agree with her about you undergoing a psychological evaluation right after your second case."

Aoyanagi looked at her out of the corner of her eye, as if she had never seen her before. Then she frowned and looked straight ahead again.

"The counsellor deduced that I am not in danger," Yashiro kept talking, trying to change her suddenly dark expression. "My crime coefficient is stable."

"Good, because we have a case. It came directly from the chief. She specifically requested you."

Yashiro stopped and turned to her. They were right in front of the Comprehensive Analysis Laboratory and entered.

"Ten people abducted from different blocks—the first one three years ago," Aoyanagi explained. "Due to the rise of the Specimen Case, the investigation was put on hold."

"I thought there were nine victims," Yashiro commented, lifting a perfect eyebrow.

"There were—half an hour ago we marked the tenth."

"After all these years… our guy is back. How can you hide your psycho pass for so long anyway?" Kozuki caught their attention, raising his palm towards the two inspectors.

Yashiro nodded in his direction with a smile. He was leaning against a column with his arms crossed, his suit open and his white dress shirt underneath. His tie was not tight, he looked like he had gotten up late.

"One thing is for sure—whoever is covering his tracks must be a professional," Katashi commented in a deep, tired voice, but did not turn to greet them.

When Yashiro directed her gaze inside the room, she was instantly drawn to the two huge monitors at the far end of the lab, and looked up to read the information and view the images. They overflowed with everything collected on the victims. The last woman caught her eye, as she seemed to be the most recent.

"Fujimoto Hatsu," Aoyanagi read aloud right next to her. "Last seen at an amusement park located in Bunkyō City. She had taken her son along with other parents for his birthday. The children slept at the house of one of them, and she was supposed to pick up her son the next day, but she never made it home. All victims have different injuries, but they are of the same sex, hair and eye color."

"They are also about the same age," Yashiro observed, putting her hands in the pockets of her black coat. "All of them are mothers in their forties."

"What is it about these women?" Aoyanagi asked with a glance.

"It's about one—one woman. They form a reflection."

"What do you mean? That the killer is looking for this particular woman? Or that he is obsessed with this type of woman?" Kozuki frowned and looked at her from behind.

"This one is special. Maybe he wants to hide her. Lock her in a room all to himself. I don't know. That's what I would do."

"Well, well! Who might this cute girl be?" a bold, sensual female voice echoed in the room.

There was a young blonde woman with a curvaceous build sitting with one leg crossed over the other on a black couch, resting one arm on the backrest with her brown eyes narrowed. Her attention was focused solely on Yashiro, and for a few seconds she remained in the same position with her cigarette to her lips, and a smirk studying her from head to toe. When Yashiro turned around, she widened her eyes at the woman she certainly did not see and walked past.

"Sorry I did not introduce myself," Yashiro said in a hurried voice, stepping forward as if embarrassed. "My name is Takahashi Yashiro. Recently assigned to Division 2 as an inspector."

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she took the thin, long cigarette out of her mouth. The smirk faded as she looked closely at the new inspector. She wore a white lab coat over a tight red suit and a frilly black bra. Yashiro also noticed that she was wearing a gold necklace and had red lipstick on her lips.

"Oh…! I know who you are," the words escaped from the woman's mouth in a sudden lower tone of voice.

She tossed her wavy hair to one side and leaned forward, then rested her back on the couch again. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, but she lowered her gaze. Yashiro studied all these details in a few seconds. She realized that the woman regretted the comment deep down, and even having caught her attention in the first place. She was actually nervous about her presence, and it was a strange feeling for Yashiro, who was used to people feeling safe around her.

"She is Analyst Karanomori Shion," Aoyanagi smiled at the woman.

"You are… the new inspector who almost shot Ryogo-kun to save a kid," Karanomori stammered at first, but then looked up with a smile on her face.

Yashiro narrowed her eyes for a few seconds. She could sense that Karanomori recognized her from something else. Yashiro was sure she had never seen her face, though her name was beginning to ring a bell.

"Shion," Inspector Ginoza spoke through his wristcom, arranging his glasses. "We have a suspect identified as Touma Kouzaburou. Run a background check on him and send us his address."

"You have an interesting way of looking at things," Karanomori commented, causing her to blink and snap back to reality. "Just like Shinya-kun."

Yashiro shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, "That's just the evidence you found."

"No," she pointed the cigarette at her. "It's about how you explain things from a different angle."

"Inspector Takahashi, I want you to go with Kozuki-san to the place the woman was kidnapped, see if you can find out something," Aoyanagi's voice echoed in the room as she turned to Katashi. "We will interview her family to look for suspects."

When Aoyanagi left the lab with Akiyama Katashi, Yashiro turned to the analyst, "Can you please send me the location where Fujimoto-san was last seen?"

"Oh, that," Karanomori replied in a lively voice, without squinting. "But please, just call me Shion. I know you have a soft and cute side as Akane-chan…"

Yashiro let out a soft, slow chuckle that gradually faded away.

"I remember you too," Yashiro commented after a long pause, in a calm and unconcerned voice. "You worked on... the Specimen Case."

Kozuki took a step towards them separating from the column and shot her a scowl, "Hey, who told you about that? The cases are classified."

"It's a long story," Yashiro smiled strangely at him with narrowed eyes.

"How do you know I worked on it?" Karanomori frowned and stubbed out her cigarette on the small table in front of the couch.

"Inspector Ginoza mentioned you during the investigation. He was looking for this man…" the hesitation in her voice matched her frown perfectly, none of it overdone, then she looked down at her. "Touma Kouzaburou, wasn't it? I heard he was captured… and then he just vanished into thin air."

"Your division captured that Touma guy," Karanomori explained with narrowed, concentrated eyes. "But yeah. He managed to escape."

"Escape?" Yashiro widened her eyes.

"Yeah, then he disappeared. We lost track of him and the case was closed."

Slowly, Yashiro turned to the monitors in front of them. The screens illuminated the lab, but instead of enhancing her handsome features, it only made them less human.

"It was terrible," Kozuki shook his head, hands clasped on either side of his body. "The victims. The way they were displayed. That wasn't a human being. Only a monster would do something like that."

Yashiro finally turned around with a graceful movement. She stood with her hands behind her back, and approached him very slowly, her black derby shoes echoing in the room.

"You can see the world that way, but it makes no sense to me," she said in a clear voice, turning her head slightly towards him. "Men like his third victim, the father of a student, are all too human, predictable and easy to understand. He's not a monster—he's just a man."

His face was contorted with disgust and rage all of a sudden. Karanomori listened dumbfounded. Leaning her arm on the back of the couch, she watched the way Yashiro moved closer to the enforcer. There was something dangerous and disturbing about her calm demeanor that left her frozen in place, unable to say anything.

"I'm a man," Kozuki replied indignantly, shaking his head. "But nothing like him."

Yashiro stopped two meters away from him, and faced him gently. For a moment, she turned her head to the right without taking her eyes off him.

"No, you're not," she squinted for a second and then looked him up and down. "But you were willing to shoot a child who had nothing to do with the crime committed by his father, if it wasn't for me. That doesn't make you a monster because Sibyl told you to pull the trigger?"

"I just… wanted..."

"What?" her eyes widened for a second as she came a little closer. "I was clearly saying no. His crime coefficient was temporarily elevated because he was in shock."

"It's not the same," Kozuki curled his lip and looked away.

Yashiro stood a meter away from him. Although she was looking at him with narrowed eyes, as if she was tired after running a marathon, she could see his fists and jaw clenched at the same time.

"No, it's not," she replied in a bored, almost indifferent tone and looked to the right. "But you were ready to end the life of a good and decent person blindly and without question, because Sibyl called for you to kill."

"That kid would have done the same to me if he was an enforcer. I was just doing my job."

"Which only proves my point—that Sibyl can corrupt anyone. It doesn't matter how ethical the rules are, how just, how humane…"

"You're acting like I wanted that to happen. I didn't. That's the last thing I wanted."

"And you were still going to pull the trigger. You were lucky I was there."

"Look, you're upset, I get it. I am too. What I really can't get is how you compare me to that psychotic bastard," he snapped at her.

"I never did," her voice was so calm and her expression impassive that she did not seem like a real person. "But you still… crossed a line. Much like Touma Kouzaburou did. The difference is that we are legally allowed to kill… and we don't have to agonize over the consequences."

They could hear the cooling system of the computers and the soothing sound of the air conditioner. Kozuki could no longer endure Yashiro's gaze. His eyes were fixed on the floor, recognition weighing down his shoulders. He was taller than her, but Yashiro was the one who looked like a tower in front of him.

"Hey, inspector," Karanomori cleared her throat in a voice deeper and louder than before. "Why don't you stop right there? If this is some sort of moral punishment… I think you've gone too far."

Yashiro finally turned to her with a blink, and closed her eyes for a moment. She lowered her head slightly and whispered, "You may be right."

"You went to the same school where that man worked," Karanomori pointed out, suddenly catching Kozuki's attention. "Don't tell me… you're still chasing ghosts like Shinya-kun."

"Of course not," Yashiro looked to the side and then gave her a thin smile. "I was merely curious."

Karanomori's eyes widened a little, until she frowned and looked up at the monitors in front of her.

"You'd better get going. I'm sending you the… the location of the place Fujimoto Hatsu was last seen," she continued with a stutter.

Getting up from the couch, Karanomori walked over to the desk, sat down in the chair and went to the keyboard. Her fingers began a quick dance on it. There was something about her that would not let Yashiro take her eyes off this blonde woman. She felt strangely understood, which made her whole body relax at that moment. Karanomori seemed to know her past more than Yashiro was willing to admit.

"It was nice to meet you, Shion," Yashiro spoke with a suddenly amused and sincere tone, oblivious to their serious looks.

Only when Yashiro turned to Kozuki did the analyst swivel in her chair to stare at her.

"Oh and, uh… don't hesitate to come by if you need some help," Karanomori assured with a barely visible forced smile.

Yashiro and the enforcer headed for the elevator. Karanomori watched them walk away with one arm on the back of the chair. Smoke filled the entire lab, yet she could not take her eyes off the new inspector.

"Is it true?" Kozuki broke the silence, scratching his nape.

"What?" Yashiro asked looking at the elevator door.

"That the chief insisted on you undergoing a psychological evaluation. I know our job puts everyone under stress, but you're calmer than anyone and your hue remained stable after saving that kid. Oh, what the hell. Even after killing those men. It doesn't make any sense. Sounds like the chief is worried about you. Or worse."

"What do you mean worse?" her voice was a little louder at the end.

"She doesn't trust you. Maybe she thinks your hue can be clouded. But I don't understand why she assigned you this case in the first place. It's like… she wants to test your hue."

They remained silent even as they crossed the parking lot of the building to get into a patrol car, and drive to the amusement park whose address Karanomori had sent her. It was still open, and as Yashiro watched the crowds of people enjoying the various activities, she imagined their reactions as soon as the woman's body appeared.

"Akiyama Katashi," Yashiro commented as she slowly turned the steering wheel of the patrol car. "I guess he doesn't like me that much, does he?"

Kozuki looked out the window with one arm resting on the car door.

"Yesterday you ran like crazy leaving his brother unconscious and bleeding on the floor," he reminded her with raised eyebrows, seeming to control himself from yelling at her.

"Oh," she simply mumbled.

There were many cars parked, and Kozuki reached out in a moment to point to the one they were looking for. It was a yellow car in perfect condition. The driver's side door was wide open and there were a couple of drones several meters away from the spot, to keep civilians away. When she parked the patrol car in front of it, the first to get out was Kozuki, as if propelled by a greater force. He slammed the door shut.

Yashiro got out of the car after him, and slowly circled the other car, looking for any traces or damage that might be a sign of a struggle. However, the vehicle was clean and shiny, as if the owner did not use it very often. She then decided to head for the door that was open, and after a quick glance inside, proceeded to sit down. Kozuki raised an eyebrow and craned his neck from the other side of the car to see her.

With one leg out and the other in, Yashiro settled into the seat and fixed her eyes on the steering wheel. She wanted to use the keys to start the engine, but either out of nervousness or desperation, she could not get them in and they slipped out of her hand, bouncing near her foot. She had also dropped her purse. Yashiro tilted her head outward and glanced at the rearview mirror. She expected to find the glass broken, but to her utter surprise, it was not. The mirror was not even pointing in a different direction, instead she could look perfectly straight back. Kozuki's silhouette could be seen.

"She didn't defend herself," Yashiro murmured as if coming out of a dream, and lifted her head towards him. "Whoever kidnapped her somehow managed to immobilize her on the spot."

Yashiro got out of the car again with her eyes wider as if she had seen a ghost, and Kozuki took a few steps towards her. Then he started looking around for something, and Yashiro tried to follow him. Finally, he stopped a few meters away from the car, and his attention was drawn to a pillar in the parking lot that connected the floor to the roof.

"Whatever happened, it will have been recorded by those cameras. Let's check it out," he suggested while pointing to the white camera with his thumb.

They made their way to the security room of that parking garage. On the other side of that level, there was a guard with his arms crossed, who turned as soon as he heard their footsteps. Yashiro displayed her ID, and the small, chubby man nodded for them to follow him. They entered a room composed of several desks full of papers, and the guard asked them the date they were interested in. Yashiro gave him the information he asked for, and after clicking the keyboard and mouse a couple of times, the video of that night spread across the screen.

Yashiro waited for the guard to leave the room before sitting down in front of the screen and playing the video. Fujimoto Hatsu walked somewhat distractedly looking for her car, which was recognizable from a great distance due to the solitude of the parking lot. Kozuki moved a little closer as the woman sat in the car the same way Yashiro had minutes before, and his breathing seemed to stop. When Yashiro pressed a key to zoom in, they both blinked in unison. Yashiro frowned and went back a frame, then forward again.

"One part of the recording is missing," she blurted out without taking her eyes off the screen. "The moment Fujimoto-san was looking for her car keys. The rest shows what we already know—the abandoned car."

They did not even realize how unbelievably close they were to each other, and when Yashiro leaned back in the chair to cross her arms, Kozuki straightened up behind her and stroked his chin.

"Looks like we have an accomplice. Someone with access to the security system. An employee working the night shift, maybe. Not bad, inspector," he patted her on the shoulder.

Suddenly, Yashiro's wristcom beeped and she raised her arm to answer Aoyanagi enabling audio only. They had found Fujimoto Hatsu's body, and although Yashiro's gaze was absorbed in the video on the screen, she caught a glimpse of the sudden way Kozuki's eyes widened.

"We are waiting for you behind the Exoset Club," Aoyanagi informed. "Sending you the address."

"That won't be necessary," Yashiro stated, standing up and looking at the lone yellow car in the video. "I know that club."