"Who are you really?" Aoyanagi asked, tilting her head.
With her arms folded and her head resting on the back of the driver's seat of the police car, Aoyanagi Risa watched through the center rearview mirror a handcuffed Miyake Ren, who was sitting in the middle of the back seats with a strangely serene look, eyes narrowed, as if it were a simple tour of the city. His crime coefficient was 182, a little lower than what he had presented in the interrogation cell.
"What do you mean?" Miyake looked at her through the mirror.
"Tell us about yourself. At this point, I don't think it matters."
"Who I am means nothing," his voice was still soft and calm.
"Oh, come on. You have to think about the news, right? Isn't that why you wrote on the wall? You want attention. You had your fifteen minutes of fame, now you're boring," Kozuki Ryogo turned around in the seat next to the inspector, and leaned his elbow on the door with a smug expression. "Who are the people photographed in your apartment? Yeah, our friends found them."
Spider-like drones surveyed the empty, tidy apartment while three members of the Public Safety Bureau opened drawers and collected information about the owner. Standing in front of a shelf of books hanging on the living room wall, Yashiro was pulling some out and putting them back in place, until as she grabbed one of them, the pages separated slightly, dropping photographs to the floor. Daiki, who was in the kitchen opening the silverware drawers, turned around and walked over, picking them up. Katashi came out of the room where there was a closet and a bed with a green quilt, turning on the flashlight of his wristcom to illuminate them.
"Nowadays, you need more than words to make people listen," the man blinked, turning his head to the side.
"Oh, the freak thinks he's special? Looks like they're all the same," Kozuki rolled his eyes, looking at the inspector.
"I'm not. What we do, that is."
"What you do?" Aoyanagi raised an eyebrow, shooting him a furtive glance through the mirror.
"They won't believe it at first, but they won't be able to deny it—not anymore."
Aoyanagi frowned, while Kozuki looked at him slowly opening his eyes wider, until he grinned, "Wow, that was creepy. You know, no one gives a shit about whatever it is you're trying to prove. No one's going to remember you after this. You're the trending song of the week at best. What's so funny?"
Up ahead, they saw a long truck turn onto the avenue, cutting them off and blocking the only remaining lanes. Kozuki frowned and saw in the rearview mirror a black car approaching at low speed in the distance. Aoyanagi unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed the door handle to face the driver, but it was then that Kozuki heard the roar of an engine start and caught a glimpse of lights out of the corner of his eye.
A black pickup truck came towards them from his side, down an adjacent, narrower street between buildings at full speed, and Kozuki wrapped his arms around the inspector, burying her head in his chest seconds before the impact jolted them from the back of the car, with the sound of metal and steel clanging and glass shattering all around disorienting them. For a few seconds the vehicle seemed to fly, but none of them could see any more as everything melted into black.
When Kozuki awoke, he looked into the driver's seat and discovered that Aoyanagi was not only sitting next to him unconscious, with a trickle of blood on her head, but that she was leaning against the door and the concrete of the street, amidst shards of broken glass. The car had overturned during the accident, laying on its side. Pursing his lips and breathing faster and faster, Kozuki tried to unbuckle his seatbelt with clumsy movements, and would have almost fallen on top of her with a thud if he had not grabbed the seat.
Kozuki patted her face and shook her shoulder, calling out to her, but failed to wake her up. He tried to lift her up to drag her out of the vehicle, but her heavy body had become entangled with the belt and it became impossible to move her while inside the car. His own body felt numb as if he had been run over by a truck, but he carefully turned around and began kicking at the front glass, which was scratched but not completely broken, until he was able to pull it out and crawl over the hood to the outside, dropping to the ground with a thud that made him groan in pain. Leaning on his forearms, he turned his head towards the rear seats, discovering that they were empty. The rear glass had shattered completely.
He heard the roar of an approaching engine, until some lights illuminated him. A pickup truck parked next to him, and people got out of it. As Kozuki tried to lift himself up with his hands, thinking of the dominator he had lost during the accident, he heard rapid footsteps in his direction. The moment he turned around again, seeing the shadow of a woman, everything went black for several seconds as her leg impacted against his face, making him spin on the ground and lay on his back. He was unaware of the black cloth draped over his head or the hands that dragged him down the street to one of the cars. He smiled, as the last thing he saw was the short black hair of Aoyanagi Risa, who was still inside the car.
Dashing through the corridors of the Public Safety Bureau in long, hurried steps, almost running, they reached the subway parking lot and approached the nearest police car. Yashiro started the engine and pulled out, pressing a holographic button on the vehicle's controls to turn it from all black to the white and blue appearance of a patrol car, sirens active, with a brief but smooth transition. Everyone looked out the window, not crossing a word to each other the entire ride as they passed between speeding cars.
Yashiro looked at Katashi's serious expression in the passenger seat, and then through the rearview mirror at Daiki in the back, who was tight-lipped and kept watching the cars go by. She reached forward, pressed a button and turned on the radio. A cheerful woman's voice broke into the vehicle, "All the best and brightest seem to be disappearing without explanation. The family of Kanno Yamato, a renowned researcher and university professor, have reported him missing after he failed to show up for an important lecture at the university where he was teaching. Both he and his wife are still being sought throughout the country. This morning came chilling news of another disappearance, this time of Ministry of Health and Welfare staff..."
Yashiro blinked and raised her chin a bit.
"Takahashi-san, I can no longer keep supporting a system that is determined to destroy me," a male voice echoed down the hall.
Katashi shifted from radio to radio with narrowed eyes, until he stopped at one where there was a conversation between several people, and leaned back in the seat.
"Do you think they are one of those deserters who go to live in abandoned and remote cities, outside of modern moral civilization?" a man with a young, curious voice asked.
"Those are just conspiracies," another man replied in a deeper voice.
"There's no reason to leave society and live without the Sibyl System. It's impossible to do so," added a woman. "Human beings are evil by nature and must be governed."
"But can it be the case that a person, in their right mind, would make that decision anyway?"
"A prosperous society functions on the assumption that everyone shares the same branch of thought and logical reasoning, no more and no less. A single individual could ruin everything, like a domino. One man originating and judging his own idea as correct, instead of getting it from the collective and being pre-approved by the system."
"How interesting," responded the woman. "An idea out of nothing."
"A rare but possible situation."
"Sometimes I wonder what they do with all those people," the young man insisted.
"Construction drones are increasingly expanding to the most remote areas of the country, forcing renegades to either move away or rejoin society, depending on their hues. Family members choose to say they are missing, so as not to have to explain that they are people who declared themselves enemies of moral civilization, and decided to move to the desolate cities voluntarily."
"That's what I don't understand, because they're not men who are out of work and have debts to pay, or women who are widowed and have several children to feed, most of these are wealthy men who even left all their properties abandoned. It's as if for them there's something broken in this world…"
"Can they be allowed to do that after the clear benefits they have gained as a result of living in a society? Shouldn't there be some kind of regulation, I mean, so that these people are not a danger to others as well as to themselves, preventing such selfish and irrational behaviors?" suggested the woman.
"Turn it off," Daiki waved his hand silencing the voices. "It sickens me."
Katashi turned off the radio, and Yashiro leaned over the steering wheel looking at the street, while Daiki, sitting in the middle of the back seats, pointed his index finger. They had arrived at the scene of the accident, and when she parked the police car, he got out slamming the door shut, running to the other car that was overturned on the side of the street, followed by Katashi. Standing a meter away from where the crash had occurred, Daiki placed his hands on the back of his head, while Katashi ran to the car and knelt on the driver's side.
"It's Inspector Aoyanagi!" his voice broke the hum of some drones passing by, and Daiki rushed towards him. "Got a pulse!"
While Daiki helped him to untangle the belt, Katashi grabbed the inspector under her shoulders with extreme care, and dragged her over the steering wheel, pulling her out of the overturned vehicle and sitting her against the black roof, with the palm of his hand behind her head so she would not hit herself. Her face was covered in blood from the side of her cheek, staining her tousled black hair and white shirt under her black inspector's blazer. Katashi moved one of her forearms, checking that she had some cuts from the door glass that had broken during the crash.
Several drones had been barricaded around them for minutes, diverting scarce traffic and preventing civilians from approaching the crash site. Yashiro had been talking to Karanomori Shion, explaining what had happened and that they required paramedics immediately. As she turned back to them with long, quick strides, she paused for a moment, brows furrowed, looking at them both.
"Unless it's not a kidnapping," Katashi was saying, kneeling next to the inspector. "You know an inspector is more valuable."
"What?" Daiki blurted out, raising his eyebrows.
"Come on, you know he won't get another chance like this," the other huffed, but quieted for a moment when he saw Yashiro's shadow behind them. "I forgot to mention. As inspector, if any of us try to escape, you are obliged to execute us on the spot. Right now, you must assume that he took advantage of the accident to do so."
"This was no accident."
Katashi looked at the tire tracks on the street near the overturned car, "Everyone's aware of that. I'm just advising you that you will be given that order. We're enforcers. We're expendable."
Yashiro blinked, he said it calmly, as a verdict on himself.
"I think we should move. This happened a few hours ago. Akiyama-san, please stay with Inspector Aoyanagi, the ambulance is on its way."
"What are you doing? Are you going to look for him?" Katashi frowned.
"Right now, Aoyanagi's safety must be your top priority."
"You can't leave an enforcer on his own. You'll be fired."
"Perfect. I think I'm traumatized from the possible loss of a fellow agent and a criminal's escape. I'm not thinking clearly. Probably get off with a warning," Yashiro quickly replied, raising her voice, and turned to the other man. "Did Shion send over the surveillance footage?"
"Yeah. I got it right here," Daiki was crouched near the unconscious inspector, but he jumped up, turning on the hologram on his wristcom. "They could have killed him, but they didn't. They want something."
Daiki showed them the video on the hologram, where two black pickup trucks stopped near the police car and from each one people got out, helping Miyake Ren escape and dragging Kozuki Ryogo. Daiki half-opened his lips and Yashiro blinked, when they saw him being forcibly lifted into one of the vehicles.
"Find out if she ran the plates yet," Yashiro suggested next to him.
Daiki pressed a few buttons on the holographic screen, calling the analyst.
"We put out an APB in a 300-mile radius. If they're out there, we'll find them," stated Karanomori. "The image of the license plate isn't perfect. I found several potential matches of the color, make, and model. A couple of them are registered to upstate Tokyo."
Yashiro sighed and turned her head to the side.
"Where are the cars?" Katashi raised his head towards the hologram.
"Three are out of service, cameras spotted two outside the abandoned factory that was used for oil refining in the south—"
"They're the one," Yashiro lowered her gaze.
"How do you know?" Shion asked.
"Timestamp on the video is about two hours ago. That's how long it takes to get from here to that factory. Besides, they need a quiet place. Abandoned buildings fit the bill."
"Sounds like a hunch," remarked Katashi.
"A good one," Daiki nodded. "We need to head over."
"Shion, can you ping Kozuki's wristcom?" Yashiro looked at the analyst icon on the hologram, imagining her swiveling in her chair in front of the screens, a cigarette in her fingers. "If the coordinates match those of the factory, we know it's them."
"Already on it," Shion paused, probably typing on her keyboard. "It says he's behind another building not far from your position. I'm sending you the location."
"Something's not right," whispered Yashiro.
"We'll check it out, thanks. What would we do without you?" Daiki smiled.
"Don't get mushy on me, boy," Shion's voice was serious, but they could imagine her with her eyes closed leaning back in her seat, very pleased. "I hope you find him. By the way. Ao-chan?"
"She'll be fine," Daiki responded after a pause, looking at the senior inspector with a more serious expression, and turned off the hologram.
Standing next to Aoyanagi, Katashi watched them walk towards the police car, still with siren lights flashing. When they got into it, Yashiro synchronized the car's holographic map with the coordinates Karanomori had shared with them, and restarted the car's engine, accelerating and driving away from the drones surrounding the scene. After half a minute, they came to see the lights of an ambulance through the rearview mirrors.
The street the analyst had sent them to was empty, only a single garbage truck stopped several meters away, with a loud metallic sound as it picked up the trash, but they managed to see tire tracks along the road and parked nearby, preferring to follow the trail on foot while holding their dominators. Daiki knelt down, clutching a gray bracelet lying open and broken on the ground, characteristic of the Public Safety Bureau. He shook his head softly.
"Takahashi-san, I know him. He wouldn't join these men."
Sitting on the ground with his knees in front of him and his elbows resting on them, Kozuki Ryogo watched the two people standing a few feet away from him. It was not hot, but the sun had been beating down on his face making him close his eyes at times. The tall steel and metal structures around made him think of a factory, only there were no employees and no noise, so he guessed it would be away from the city. He looked over his own shoulder and sighed, seeing another man standing a few feet away from him.
Looking down, he played with his fingers thinking about how long it might have been from the crash until they moved him there, so he could get an idea of where he was. However, he had passed out during the drive, losing track of time. His mind, on the other hand, kept wondering if Aoyanagi would have been rescued by then.
"How quickly fortunes can turn. I'm glad you're here with us," a male voice greeted him with wild joy. "I'm sorry we had to take you like this, but we had no choice. This will all be over after you help us."
Miyake Ren walked towards him with his hands in the pockets of his black pants, stopping a meter away. Kozuki looked at his calm demeanor and smile with an arched eyebrow and lowered his head, letting out a laugh.
"And you think I'm going to help you? You won't get anything from me. The wristcom trick won't do you any good," Kozuki raised one of his forearms, shaking it in the air with a smirk. "The PSB will come down here sooner or later and you'll be done for real. All of you. Sibyl won't hesitate."
"God works in mysterious ways," he narrowed his dark eyes and raised his head to the sun. "You might be sentenced instead. Standard procedure dictates that when an enforcer disappears, it must first be assumed that he escaped. Therefore, a search warrant is issued for his execution. I wonder if she will comply with that order."
"You mean Inspector Takahashi," Kozuki raised his eyebrows. "That's what this is all about?"
Miyake's face became serious as he looked at him again, "She… is the key to everything."
Kozuki looked at each of those men, among them a woman in her thirties with long, straight, black hair pulled back in a ponytail.
"You really think she'll come after her senior was injured?" he huffed. "To look for a rogue enforcer on the loose?"
"Don't worry. She will. But not for you, as you'd like to believe."
Kozuki looked at him for several seconds, frowning.
"No, you're wrong if you think threats will work on her. No one risks their life for an enforcer. And inspectors don't act purely based on emotions like us. If she did... she would be crossing the line of an inspector."
"It wouldn't be the first time," Miyake let out a smirk, making his eyes widen. "Oh, she forgot to mention that, did she? I have no idea how she managed to link him to Janet. It's clear he was betrayed. She got help."
"That's a lie," Kozuki paused, his voice fairly steady. "If she knew how to find him, she would've told us."
"Takahashi hides things from you and everyone else. Things that clearly make her an enemy of this society, just like us."
"That's impossible. The bureau would be aware of it," Kozuki shook his head. "No one can outwit Sibyl."
"You sure want that to be true, so you don't have to admit what you struggle to hide every day," the man chuckled.
"What?"
"That you don't believe in the Oracle's verdict. That the Sibyl System is flawed."
Kozuki laughed and looked away.
"You think we know nothing about you? Kozuki Ryogo. Enforcer from Division 2. A rise in your psycho pass came after the Specimen Case. I suspect it was due to the death of Enforcer Sasayama, but even after years of that incident, the number didn't go down. You know that nothing about that case made sense, just like now. Doesn't it ring a bell that your team is ordered to send me to a rehabilitation center, when I should be kept in a PSB cell for interrogation like the rest? Takahashi knows. She must be involved. I don't know to what extent, but I know she is somehow."
"And you would go that far to prove it? The murders, the protests—"
"Don't you want to reveal the truth? Wouldn't you like to give them a blow from which they cannot recover?"
"I always wondered when a madman realizes that he's mad, if he's really aware of his madness, or dies believing all his life that he's the sole owner of the truth," Kozuki remarked in a quieter voice, staring at him.
"It's more comfortable for you to label me as insane."
"Very," Kozuki widened his eyes for a moment. "If there's one thing I hate more than the people in this society, it's trash like you who think you can do whatever you want. You do nothing but cry for what you've never earned like spoiled children screaming for attention. You're nothing but misfits who envy the happiness of others."
Miyake listened to him with arched eyebrows until he burst out laughing.
"I like you, you're a good guy. You've never killed anyone. Why do you think you're guilty for something and that your punishment is deserved? Have you never stopped to think that your life could've been different? How can you allow those who took everything from you to treat you like a dog, give you orders and even decide that you should die? Enforcers outnumber their owners, but you've never tried to bite their hand. You've lived that way for so long that you know nothing else."
"How is that different from you?" Kozuki's expression hardened. "You got a collar too. The difference is that I had no choice while you chose to wear it voluntarily."
The woman in the group let out a barely visible smile. She was still leaning against a pillar, hands inside her long black coat that reached below her knees. Miyake motioned with his head, and the man standing a few feet behind Kozuki walked over, grabbing him tightly by one arm to lift him off the ground and give him a shove, taking a few steps back with his hands in the pockets of his dark jacket.
"Well, we're all alone now. There are no scanners, no inspectors. There's no one to ask about what you should or shouldn't do. Come on, there's nothing wrong with an enforcer taking pleasure in his work. I won't deny enjoying mine."
Even though he had some fingers on his hand bandaged, the man lunged at him so fast he looked like a blur, slamming his other fist into his face. The enforcer staggered to the side spitting blood for a second, then turned again, trying to strike back just as hard.
A black police car parked behind two pickup trucks, with no active sirens or appearance of a patrol car. Daiki got out first, resting his shoes on the ground, and approached one of the vehicles.
"These are definitely the cars," he peered through the dark windows, checking that they were empty. "They got to be inside. What's the plan?"
Yashiro walked past him, heading for the factory, "You focus on your partner no matter what. Something happens, you don't worry about me. You do whatever it takes to get him out. After that, I don't care. You understand?"
"I think we need a better plan," he tried to catch up with her by taking long strides. "We're outnumbered."
When they reached a metal door that was closed, Daiki stood to the side of it pulling out his dominator and holding it with both hands, pointing it towards the ground. His brown eyes glowed, blending into a light blue for a few seconds.
"You go and look for them. Don't engage until I check the perimeter and draw their attention," she looked at him, lowering her head a bit. "Trust me."
"You sure make things interesting," he sighed, finally rushing inside the building.
Yashiro circled a part of the building with the dominator in her hands, which she carried pointing towards the ground, while keeping a distance of several meters and observing both doors and windows. When she finally decided to turn back towards the vehicles, she approached the first black pickup truck, peering through the darkened window. There was nothing inside, but she noticed that the alarm was on. As she approached the door again, her heart stopped as she saw a reflection in the glass.
"Drop it," a male voice made her flinch, leaving her motionless in front of the car door. "Turn around."
There was a man taller than her holding a gun pointed straight at her head. Yashiro let go of the dominator, slowly pulling her hands away from her body and turning around, as requested. Her head was lowered, not staring at him, with several long locks falling over her face. The moment the man lowered his gun slightly, and tilted his head to speak into a cell phone he held in his other hand, Yashiro slid towards him, grabbing his forearm to strike him with her elbow, but he broke free of her grip and pushed her against the door.
Yashiro staggered back and grimaced as she felt her back hit the metal. The man lifted his right leg and kicked forward, but she ducked in time, and saw him go through the car window. The alarm began to sound and the lights to jingle, shaking her for a second. When he stuck his leg out between broken glass, Yashiro had leapt up with her fists in front of her, kicking him in the abdomen and then in the back with her other leg, throwing him to his knees. The man raised his gun, but she grabbed his wrist and shoulder, knocking him backwards to the ground, twisting his arm so that the gun was between her legs, and knelt beside him twisting it again and aiming at his face. The man's body tensed and she heard him grunt, as they made counter force trying to pull the trigger.
The shot threw her backwards, and she felt a warm drizzle wash over her face and hands. Her body trembled for a few seconds with her eyes wide open. Her heart was beating fast, and all she could hear was a high-pitched ringing in her ears as she looked down, finding a face covered in blood, with a hole where there should be an eye. She staggered to her feet, clutching at the car door. She had not realized she was holding the gun in her hand, and unconsciously clicked the safeties on it, stowing it in her coat as she searched the floor for her dominator, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
"Heard that?" one of the men asked, looking to the side.
"Finally," the woman sighed with a blank stare and a firm, professional voice. "Time to go."
"No, that's not possible," Miyake looked down with a frown. "He said…"
When Daiki saw them, he hid behind a pillar, but then, the man pulled out a small knife and lunged at another on his knees, grabbing his head. Kozuki groaned in pain and winced from the impact, slowly collapsing in front of him. Daiki stormed towards them, pausing for a few seconds to point his dominator forward, head tilted slightly to one side and locks falling over his sweaty forehead.
Crime Coefficient is 216. Enforcement mode is Non-Lethal Paralyzer. Aim calmly and subdue the target.
Daiki frowned and looked away from his dominator, it was a second that allowed Miyake to run to the side, taking cover. However, Daiki held his weapon tightly and shifted his arms to the side in one swift movement.
Crime Coefficient is 321. Enforcement mode is Lethal Eliminator. Aim carefully and eliminate the target.
When the man standing near the woman saw him it was too late, for he pulled the trigger, opening a hole in the middle of his chest, and his entire upper body exploded, bathing everything around in blood. The others scattered hiding behind nearby columns, but Daiki ran forward half crouched, approaching the other enforcer between bursts of gunfire.
"Let's get out of here!" Miyake's voice rumbled, running away.
Suddenly, Daiki saw a slender silhouette out of the corner of his eye moving away from a column, and then a kick to his abdomen and back that knocked him to the ground, losing his dominator three feet in front of him. He heard hurried footsteps moving away, and as he braced his hands on the ground to get up, staggering, he saw a young woman standing near him. Daiki huffed with a smile, and rushed towards her raising a fist.
His eyes opened wider as the woman grabbed his forearm with both hands, and drove her knee into his abdomen, causing him to grunt, but when he lunged forward, she grabbed his wrist and forearm and struck his leg, bending him towards her and slamming her knee into his face, not letting go, until she crossed her leg over his shoulders, and slid so that she could turn him to the side and then quickly get up. Daiki was unaware of the movement until his face hit the ground. Dizzy, he slowly turned around and touched his nose, which had a trickle of blood on it. He heard hurried footsteps around, but when he opened his eyes again, the woman was gone.
The sound of gurgling and a gasp caught his attention, and Daiki rose to his feet, helping himself up with his hands, until he dropped to his knees behind Kozuki Ryogo, who was trying to get up from the ground, with a frown and a tense jaw. His hands encircled a small knife still stuck in his lower abdomen, where the white shirt had begun to stain with a trickle of blood.
"Don't move," Daiki blurted out, wrapping his arms around his shoulders, not letting him stand up. "An ambulance is on the way. Take it easy."
"Inspector Takahashi," he murmured.
"What?" Daiki lowered his head.
"Takahashi. You got to…" his voice trailed off and his head tilted to one side.
"Whoa, hey, hey. Come on. Stay with me, buddy," Daiki shook him by feeling his chest with the palm of one hand. After a few seconds he looked up with slightly moist eyes and tight lips, and rested Kozuki's head against the ground.
Yashiro was walking down some narrow metal stairs, among old and inactive machines, when she heard hurried footsteps on the industrial floor, and caught sight of the silhouette of a man running, followed by another. Her shoes echoed on the steps and soon a burst of gunfire was aimed in her direction, forcing her to take cover behind a large machine as she listened to the impact of bullets against the steel surface. As the gunfire became random and sparse, Yashiro looked around, making out Miyake Ren's curly hair.
Jumping the last few steps with a dry metallic clink, she stepped between a small space of two columns. The others disappeared from her sight, and turned neither to her nor to the man they left behind. When Yashiro raised her weapon, Miyake came running towards her and tried to punch her with his healthy hand, which she evaded by taking a few steps back, but gasped when she did not see his knee coming, which hit her in the stomach pushing her backwards and making her drop the weapon. When he approached again he delivered a kick, which she avoided by sliding to the side and responding with one to his chest. Yashiro opened her eyes wider and looked at him, when he grabbed her leg and suddenly threw her to the ground.
Yashiro fell on her forearms in a daze, and after a few seconds, while helping herself with her hands to get up, she heard footsteps and felt an arm around her neck tightly. Yashiro groaned taking a few steps back, but he grabbed her with both arms. She closed her eyes, struggling to breathe and free herself for seemingly endless seconds, until she elbowed him in his abdomen loosening his grip, and another in his leg that made him grunt in pain and let go. Panting, she grabbed his head with both hands and kneed him in the cheek, throwing him backwards. After she was able to pull away, she delivered a kick to the middle of his chest that sent him reeling back.
Swaying, breathing heavily, Yashiro reached for her gun on the floor, which was close to her, and grabbed it quickly, almost losing her balance and falling forward, as she took a deep breath and the color returned to her then pale face. Miyake continued to run down the hallway, meters away from her, until a gunshot suddenly stopped him in his tracks, flinching him, his head and body slightly bent over. Yashiro had fired at a wall near where he stood, touching her neck with her free hand.
"Stop right there!" her voice echoed. "Turn around!"
Miyake smirked, looking at her from the corner of his eye, and began to move slowly, turning around and pulling his arms away from his body, with a weapon in his healthy hand. The other had bandaged fingers.
"Drop the gun!"
"And if I refuse?" his voice was soft and mocking all at once.
Yashiro pulled her hand away from her neck, still aiming at him, "I'll shoot you dead."
Both his expression and eyes seemed darker than before, "I don't think you have the guts."
He raised his head when they heard someone running down stairs in their direction, and Yashiro moved her head to the side.
"Inspector Takahashi?!"
Miyake saw the opening and fired towards a platform higher up, at a speed that seemed like a blur to Yashiro, and when he tried to shoot her, she turned towards him and pulled the trigger first, hitting him in the shoulder and sending him to the ground with a low groan of pain.
She pulled the trigger again, reaching the side of his abdomen. He let out a muffled scream and his body rolled over before hitting the floor on his back.
The gun flew a few meters away from him, and Yashiro approached with her own in one hand, aiming it at chest level. Her expression did not change at the sight of his face, as he brought a hand to the wound on his shoulder and crawled backwards.
Holding the weapon with trembling hands, Yashiro came to the man, who had taken his hand to his chest in a futile attempt to contain the bleeding, and was shaking at the scarlet warmth that colored part of his belly.
Daiki peered down from above, one hand on the metal railing, and rushed towards her. He stopped, his features turning dark and gloomy as he watched her more plainly than before, standing near the man, a pistol in her right hand pointed at his face, finger steady against the trigger. Instinctively, without taking his eyes off her weapon, Daiki brought a hand to his waist, searching ever more desperately for his dominator, until he realized it had fallen before.
"I'm unarmed. I'll go easily. You can take me into custody," Miyake said with quickened breath.
"Is that what you really want?" Yashiro took a step towards him.
She lunged at him, stretching her hand. He threw his head back slightly and squinted. The barrel of the gun remained fixed aiming at his forehead. Her eyes were completely cold and dark. Sasayama gulped. He was shaking.
"Takahashi-san, don't," Daiki raised a hand towards her, his face turning pale. "Don't do this. Come on, you're better than this."
"Have you checked on his hue? No matter what he does… what we do… it's never over 250."
"Listen to me! You do this, you become him. The inspector you proved yourself to be from your first case, the agent we didn't want to lose, you do this, she's gone."
"I can't let him," she whispered.
"Inspector Takahashi, you're a good person. Put the gun down," Miyake winced as he spoke. "Take me into custody."
Yashiro blinked and frowned for a moment, "You're wrong."
Miyake's eyes grew wider slowly.
"Takahashi-san, put it down," Daiki shook his head, taking a step towards them. "This isn't you. This is us. Don't be like us."
After a couple of seconds, Yashiro lowered her gun, still looking at the man, who took a silent breath and relaxed his eyebrows. She inhaled deeply and raised her head, looking at the enforcer, who smiled and sighed.
"I know this isn't going to help the people he killed," she raised her eyebrows for several seconds and nodded to the enforcer, then looked back at the man lying in front of her. "But it will help you."
Yashiro pursed her lips and pulled the trigger once, making the man's body shudder from head to toe and his back fall to the floor, his chest bathed in blood. The single dry, cutting sound echoed throughout the factory, and she did not hear the footsteps of the enforcer, who dropped down in front of the man resting one knee on the floor. When he turned to look at her, eyebrows furrowed and lips parted, Yashiro dropped the gun and blinked, lifting her gaze forward and then drawing it to the side, until she finally walked past them with a slow, calm, and strangely detached gait.