Psycho Pass: Colorful World

13

The profile of Touma Kouzaburou, an individual who had been taken into custody without having his crime coefficient measured, appeared on the screen. Division 2, which captured the culprit in the specimen case, was issued a gag order. Yashiro's lips twitched slightly and her eyes narrowed. He was dressed like the last day she saw him—brown vest, light red dress shirt and black tie. He looked very relaxed and satisfied, something that did not match his real demeanor. Yashiro read the report again and closed it. Her gaze drifted to the keyboard on her desk.

"I always convinced myself that what I was doing was right, and I still want to believe in the effectiveness of the system, but that guy, Touma Kouzaburou... will continue to kill as long as he is free. And if the Sibyl System cannot stop him... there is no choice but to go back to the old ways. Unfortunately for him... prisons ceased to exist long ago."

Yashiro raised an eyebrow for a second as a familiar face came to mind. It was Sasayama Mitsuru. She was sure he had pointed his dominator at Touma, realizing that he could not be judged, and since the crime coefficients were stored, the report in front of her could only mean that it was tampered with.

"And who are these judges going to be, Yashiro? Don't you find it strange that they want to capture him alive? Since when does the chief throw out such an order? No, it seems twice as strange to me: you will call me paranoid, but my sense of smell tells me that, if I give them Touma Kouzaburou, I will never see him again. It is like you say: that guy can turn this society upside down and throw away the principles that shape it... there are people who are going to be harmed, and it won't do them any good if chaos reigns on every corner..."

Then Yashiro recalled that Kasei Joushuu, head of the Public Safety Bureau, transferred the case to Aoyanagi's division and issued an arrest warrant herself. Another profile popped up on her screen with a minimalist transition. Yashiro read it with an indifferent look. Her crime coefficient was standard, neither too low nor too high. Kasei Joushuu seemed like an ordinary person.

"Not at first, but you were patient. Did you expect her crime coefficient to rise?" Kasei's voice echoed in her mind.

Yashiro frowned. Kasei was not only the one who decided what to do with people who could not be judged, but she also had access to the Sibyl System itself, or at least a part of it, being able to see the crime coefficients measured by the dominators. Suddenly she heard footsteps, it was Inspector Aoyanagi entering the office. Yashiro raised her head smiling at her and stretched out on the seat, while the fingers of her left hand danced on the keyboard. When her senior walked towards her and stopped beside her, she shot a glance at her screen. However, the windows that had been open until then, were gone. Aoyanagi smiled back.

"Abe Asuka is here. She says she knows something about the man we are looking for," she informed.

"Ten years ago, I was in my last year of law studies at the university when I met a guy in the common room," Abe Asuka explained.

Division 2 was gathered around a young woman, no more than 35 years old, who had been offered a cup of coffee. She was sitting with legs together and one hand on her thigh, dressed in a white blouse and dark blue pants. Her long brown hair hung wavy behind the chair, a rich color that matched that of her eyes, which were completely relaxed. Yashiro was not surprised when Kozuki and Daiki stared at her dumbfounded for a moment.

"He was a student too?" Aoyanagi asked.

"I think so," her voice was soft, and much gentler. "He always had a bunch of old books. I never knew where he got them from."