"Let's go over this one more time."
Without looking her in the eye, but gently waving her hands, Yashiro spoke, "Miyake Ren had a gun. He fired at Akiyama-san, pointed the gun at me. I fired back."
Kasei Joushuu watched her for several seconds with a completely serious stare that was difficult to decipher.
"Is this the gun Miyake had in his hand?"
A white, arachnid-like forensic drone approached them, holding a very small weapon. Yashiro looked down and recognized the Smith Wesson Model 637.
"I believe so. Yes," she nodded quietly.
"And where were you during this altercation?" Kasei slowly turned her head to the side.
"I told you. There was a fight. My dominator—"
"Enforcer Akiyama, could you answer the question?" Kasei cut her off, raising her voice.
Daiki blinked and raised his head a bit, looking at the head of the Public Safety Bureau standing in front of them. His neck and back straightened slightly. He was standing to the side, a meter behind the inspector. For several seconds he did not know what to say, as it was unusual for someone of much higher rank to address or even look at an enforcer.
"I hadn't arrived yet," he shook his head. "I heard gunshots, but I couldn't see anything from my eye line. As Inspector Takahashi stated, when I found her, Miyake Ren fired at me and then at her."
"Why weren't you with Inspector Takahashi?"
"I was ensuring Kozuki Ryogo's safety."
"What about Inspector Takahashi's safety?" Kasei raised an eyebrow. "You put an enforcer before duty, which is to assist an inspector."
Daiki's lips parted and he gulped, blinking and looking down with wide eyes. He held his breath, thinking of an appropriate response for the situation.
"Enforcer Akiyama was doing his job. I ordered him to rescue Kozuki Ryogo while I diverted the rest of the group," Yashiro explained in a calm, almost nonchalant voice.
Kasei's attention was drawn to the inspector, causing him to look at her out of the corner of his eye, with his eyebrows slightly drawn together, as if warning her of the danger.
"And you made this decision yourself?"
Yashiro's expression remained cool and composed, as if she had anticipated those questions.
"There was no one to turn to for advice, and circumstances required immediate action, something that could happen to anyone on field, so I acted accordingly."
"Indeed. However, the bureau is displeased with your deliberate decisions and methods. Your division's priority was to ensure Miyake Ren's transfer to the rehabilitation center. Since Inspector Aoyanagi failed to comply, I now have to personally supervise you do her job until her full recovery, which is not what we planned when we incorporated you into Division 2."
"I assure you she didn't crash on her own volition," Yashiro snapped.
Daiki raised his eyebrows but did not turn to them, shocked by her behavior. The inspector's face contorted in seconds, though the rest of her body remained motionless and calm, arms at either side. Even though Daiki had given her a wet towel to wipe her face before they had that meeting, she still had a few sleeves of blood on her clothing, which were not so visible because of the dark color of the fabric.
"I am well aware of that. My only intention is to show you how her absence affects the entire Division 2, including your judgment and the way you operate, something the bureau won't tolerate in the future," Kasei narrowed her gray eyes.
"Then don't blame her when it was you who released him," Yashiro responded with coldness and utter ease, genuinely indifferent to the glare she was receiving.
"Are you accusing me of something?" Kasei's voice echoed, as she blinked and drew her eyebrows together.
Slowly, Daiki lowered his head with wider eyes, until he walked away, leaving the two women alone. Yashiro turned her head towards him, following him for a few seconds and avoiding Kasei's gaze. She took a deep breath and whispered reluctantly, "No."
"I find your rudeness endearing, but unwelcome. Is it fear or courage that drives it, girl?"
"Even though it all comes down to what the Sibyl System determines... I think it would have been useful to keep him in a detention cell, so they wouldn't know we were moving him to a rehabilitation center. Besides, we needed to question him further."
"So you could break his other hand?" Kasei blurted out with a smirk, causing the inspector to frown and blink a couple of times, looking into her eyes for a few moments. "You think they were helped by someone working inside the bureau. I find it vulgar."
"But it might explain how he's been using classified information about unsolved cases," insisted Yashiro.
"Oh, you think Agawa is behind this?" Kasei tilted her head to one side and lifted her chin a little.
"I think it's possible."
"You shall find out later. Right now, there is another matter we have to settle, and that is allowing an enforcer to run loose with an indisposed inspector from your division. Explain," she demanded.
"I did it for Inspector Aoyanagi's protection. With Enforcer Kozuki kidnapped and Miyake running away, there was no time to drive to the nearest hospital in the area and drop them off, or call other colleagues to pick them up. I instructed him to stay with the inspector and wait for an ambulance. We weren't absolutely sure of Miyake's purpose, so I thought she needed supervision. Given his allegiance to the system, I estimated he wouldn't escape. I take full responsibility."
"Allegiance, hm? Leaving two enforcers unsupervised was a mistake. You would be wise to remember that dogs turn quickly into wolves when a rope no longer holds them. You struggle to see it because you overidentify with both victims and criminals, blurring boundaries between their minds and yours, guilt makes it personal, and sometimes you unravel," Kasei studied her with narrowed, concentrated eyes for several seconds. "I am officially starting to be concerned about you, Inspector Takahashi."
"Officially," Yashiro raised her eyebrows for a second, gazing at the factory's huge old oil machines behind the woman. "I thought the reason you have me see a psychologist like Shima Seigen who no longer works at the PSB is so that my mental well-being remains unofficial."
"We just want to be careful with you and those around you. Only a man who is able to cloud other people's hues without affecting his own can deal with a person of similar gifts."
Yashiro was staring at her with slightly parted lips and eyebrows drawn together, while Kasei was composed with a small smile on her face.
"So now you're up to speed," her voice was lower than before.
"We don't want to break you. Is that what's happening?" Kasei asked fading her smirk, but her voice was feigned and mocking and she did not bother to hide it.
"No."
"Good, because not only have you failed to capture Miyake Ren, but you have let his accomplices escape, so there's still work to do. You shall continue the investigation with your enforcers, as long as you keep me posted."
"I understand."
"Very well. I'll leave it to you then, Inspector Takahashi."
Suddenly, Kasei's entire body lit up with light blue lines, and began to slowly disappear from her feet in a smooth transition. Yashiro lowered her gaze and then turned it back to her, speaking one last time in a raised tone of voice, "It's not a gift—to cloud hues."
Kasei smiled with narrowed eyes before disappearing completely. The sound of an ambulance's engine broke through, as it parked in front of the police car. The two black pickup trucks had disappeared. Approaching with her hands in the pockets of her black coat, Yashiro watched a drone move the body of the enforcer Kozuki Ryogo towards the back of the vehicle, with a slight buzzing sound like a flying insect. The last thing she saw was his nose bleeding, a cut on his mouth and a small knife stuck in his lower abdomen. There were red drone lights flashing all around, as well as a paddy wagon parked behind the police car.
"She doesn't like me," Yashiro raised her eyebrows for a second, in an oddly cheerful and ironic voice.
Daiki watched her walk towards them until she stopped beside him, not looking either of them in the eye. Katashi glanced at her with wide eyes, then focused on the ambulance narrowing them.
"Well, you're blunt and extreme and people don't know how to respond to you," Daiki shrugged, then looked at her for a few seconds and turned his head to the side, avoiding her sudden gaze. "Sorry."
"How is he?" she watched the ambulance.
"He had a severe concussion and blood loss. He'll need surgery, but paramedics believe he'll pull through," Katashi folded his arms.
"What about Inspector Aoyanagi?" she asked after a pause.
"She's in the hospital right now, but she'll recover. Where did they come from?" Katashi shook his head. "They knew we could track Kozuki through his wristcom. They have tactical resources. I mean, who are these people, and how did Miyake bring them together?"
"I don't think he did," Daiki frowned and lowered his head. "They left him behind without even blinking."
"The PSB landed on them," Katashi pointed out.
"Yeah, but why would you risk your life helping someone you later get rid of? Some of them got killed for it," Daiki stretched a hand forward and raised an eyebrow.
"What did they want from him anyways?" Katashi turned his head towards the ambulance, where drones surrounded Kozuki Ryogo.
"An inspector gives them more leverage, yet they chose an enforcer…" Yashiro's voice trailed off.
"You're thinking like an inspector. Inspectors are so objective. Obligated to protocols," Makishima frowned, looking at her.
"I'm not sure how he fits," Yashiro whispered, glancing up for a second and shaking her head.
"Then make it personal. What does he desperately want before he dies? And how does it figure into his plot?" Makishima's expression and voice became serious at her side.
Yashiro blinked and opened her mouth slightly, still hearing the deep, soothing voice echoing in her head.
"Miyake was captured by Kozuki and me, but I provoked him. He probably wanted me to kill Kozuki, that's why they took his wristcom off, not only so he wouldn't be traced, but so the bureau would think he had joined them," Yashiro spoke quickly, pausing as the enforcers exchanged a glance and looked at her. "But Agawa doesn't care. He would've killed him sooner or later."
"A killer, like him?" Katashi raised an eyebrow.
"No, he despises men like him," she blinked a couple of times.
"He shot an ex-girlfriend," he continued slowly, widening his eyes for a moment. "And murdered another. Are you saying they weren't innocent?"
"They were threats."
"So their deaths were justified?"
"Yes. No, I mean, according to him they had to die," Yashiro averted their puzzled gazes. "Attacking a PSB police car and letting him escape must have been his goal here. He's demonstrating that the bureau can be breached."
"All these people… why help him?" Katashi finally asked, looking straight ahead. "How does he get others to do anything for him?"
"Cult mentality," Yashiro squinted, watching the red lights of the drones. "Most people don't fight for freedom, but for a more comfortable prison. You can't push them into following you for no reason… you have to learn to listen, and wait for them to come to you for support. That way… you know they'll depend on you…"
Yashiro remained mute for a long moment, while Katashi raised an eyebrow and nodded deeply, looking at Daiki and then at her one last time, before walking towards the ambulance that was preparing to leave. Suddenly she flinched and opened her eyes wider as something hit her back, near her shoulder. Beside her, Daiki patted her and slowly pulled his arm away, in surrender, when she turned and stared at him with a serious expression, as if he had stuck a knife into her skin instead of simply touching her shoulder, something that made him frown for a few seconds, since she had no social anxiety or any difficulty relating to others.
"Sorry, but you're doing it again," he lowered his head and scratched the back of his neck for a moment. "You're… disassociating. You sounded like somebody else."
"I got lost… mirroring. Just for a second. That's all."
"I've never heard anybody speak to Chief Kasei the way you did before."
"She chewed my ass out… might get suspended over this," Yashiro nodded. "I was out of line."
"You were out of your mind. My blood pressure dropped like the first time a teacher shouted my name at school," Daiki smiled, making her chuckle and look away. "I know it's a stupid question I shouldn't ask considering what we do in our job, but are you okay?"
"Do I look different?" Yashiro narrowed her eyes.
"You've always been a little different. It's smart. That way no one ever knows if something's up with you and doesn't start asking you questions. But you've never killed anyone before… not like this," his voice was soft, and his eyes were fixed on her with a slight frown.
"Psycho hazards kill people. Good, decent people. Two weeks ago, there was a fire at a concert. Sixteen people died, not because of the roof falling in, but because of the dominators. If Sibyl decides to kill innocent people, it's the right and moral thing to do, and nobody freaks out because it's all part of Sibyl's plan," Yashiro widened her eyes shaking her head. "But if I kill one single person who has committed crimes, it turns out I went too far and everyone loses their minds?"
The enforcer looked at her with wide eyes for several seconds, as she watched some drones at the factory entrance.
"Look… I know I've got no right to tell you what you should and shouldn't do, but… this isn't going to end well for you," Daiki's voice was softer, but clear. "You're better than us. Don't let the boss hear you say that."
Yashiro let out a chuckle, rubbed her eyes with her fingertips and took a deep breath, staring straight ahead with a detached expression and a raised eyebrow.
"I'm going to head over to the hospital," her voice was low but firm.
"He'll be in surgery for hours… and Aoyanagi-san hasn't woken up yet," he frowned.
"Just to check," she shrugged and walked past him to the car.
Daiki put his hands in his black pants pockets and turned to her, "You know this wasn't your fault?"
Yashiro stopped in her tracks, looking at him again.
"That's not it," she shook her head. "It's just—I know hospitals. They're not nice. Somebody should go check them out, that's all."
Daiki raised an eyebrow and smiled. A tall white drone appeared buzzing behind her, and the enforcer's face paled for a few seconds, recalling her words in his mind, however, the drone continued on its way.