Psycho Pass: Colorful World

21

"The lawyer's badge stands for equality and fairness. Every life, including yours, is of equal value. Is that what you've been saying all these years? Nakamura Ichika, Abe Asuka and her husband, this woman. All of them had families before they died. Is that the equality you're after? How do they fit into your standard of justice? What makes one life worth saving and one worthless? I think now I understand what you're trying to measure. It's the value of life, isn't it?"

Makishima Shougo's voice echoed as he looked at the tall, black-haired man with locks falling to the nape of his neck, who stood with his head tilted slightly to one side and his pale blue eyes narrowed, totally relaxed, wearing a white shirt under a black vest and tie, and both dark pants and shoes. Some of his hair was behind his right ear, while the rest fell over the other side of his face. The bright light of a memory made him squint for a couple of seconds. Opposite the Public Safety Bureau headquarters, officially 70 stories high and with a huge radio tower on its roof, stood the NONA tower, owned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

"The complaint filed by the prosecutor before the Justice is almost 200 pages long, in it he accuses and requests the indictment and a preventive seizure of assets for a large sum of money to a former Prime Minister, a former Chancellor, a former federal prosecutor, a former judge, personnel of the current Public Safety Bureau and this Ministry for being the authors and accomplices of the aggravated cover-up of the accused for the Chiyoda bombing, in which 74 people died and more than two hundred were wounded. The indictment includes other related crimes, such as hindering the performance of a functional act and breach of the duties of a public official."

Standing in the center of the large, clean office, wearing a formal black suit that sported a badge, shorter black hair and locks combed to one side of his face, Agawa Hajime watched as one of the ministry's senior staff turned off a screen in the corner of the room, where an interview from the previous day about the federal prosecutor with reporters was playing.

"What proof is there that some of our personnel are involved?" the older man scoffed, approaching the huge glass window and putting his hands in his pants pockets.

With perfectly coiffed half-gray hair and dressed in a dark, expensive suit, he gazed down at the busy city dozens of floors below. Agawa smiled, turning his head to the side for a second.

"Sir, there are precisely complete wiretap dialogues that the prosecutor managed to collect, and that he intends to read in secret session next Monday. We are living history. If the full report is released, not only the ideological authors of the attack will be questioned, but also the very foundation of the Sibyl System."

"You are an extremely talented lawyer, but it seems you do not understand the law. We are taught that laws are legal norms that establish duties and rights to all citizens equally so that social coexistence is possible, and whose non-compliance entails a sanction, but this is a theory of law that is not fully applied in our modern society. Laws don't protect us from the powerful."

"Everyone is equal before the law, sir," Agawa blinked and frowned.

"That is naive," he raised his voice, turning around to see him. "Principles don't alter facts and reality. The law may delimit man's free will in society, but non-compliance doesn't always lead to punishment, and can be circumvented with money and influence. Does a scanner bother you? Bribe the staff of the company that maintains it. Your ideals are not enough to change an irrational world so full of contradictions. You have two choices then: either you go crazy and end up in a cell, or you adapt to it. Let me ask you. What do you think we should do to maintain a prosperous and modern society?"

The man took a few steps around the room behind some black armchairs they used for corporate meetings, hands in his pants pockets, gazing at the skyscrapers in front of them, until he came up to him.