Psycho Pass: All Alone With You

Sleepover, Pt. 1

    Akane Tsunemori.  Inspector Tsunemori, Kogami reminded himself.  There was a clear delineation between their ranks: the huntsman and the hound.  It was a line that, at least for him, grew thinner and more difficult to find the longer they worked together at the Ministry of Welfare.

    She stood outside the door to his quarters just staring at the wall. One tap on the console would have announced her presence.  Instead, her hands were clutched in front of her.  The right one was bandaged in gauze, injured from the night's mayhem.  Another bandage partially covered her eye where a latent criminal had successfully taken aim with his fist. 

    Though his Dominator had not judged the man fit to die, Kogami brandished his own form of justice before pulling the trigger.  He doubted the criminal would ever raise that fist against anyone ever again, at least not without extensive surgery to repair the damage.

    Akane was still dressed in the rain-soaked clothes she had been wearing when the perp knocked her off the causeway into the drainage pool.  After shattering the man's hand and paralyzing him, Kogami had found her clinging to a maintenance ladder.  Fortunately for both of them, it was just rainwater from the recent storm.  Still, there was a musty odor to it.  His own clothes carried a hint of it from where he carried her to the medical drones to get checked out.

    Though young, the Inspector was tough and getting tougher on the job, but this case had set her back.  She got too close to where the dogs do their best work and learned that she, like all Inspectors, was mortal.  There was a frightened, shell-shocked glaze over her eyes, which were usually lively and brilliant with optimism.  He wondered what her psycho-pass looked like now. 

    Somewhere near clear and powder blue, he surmised.  The scanners within the building would have flagged her otherwise.

    His usual antics were generally enough to rouse the color in her cheeks; so, he struck a pose in the doorway.  With one hand on his hip and the other pressed against the frame, he cued the control panel to open.  "Can I help you, Inspector Tsunemori?"

    She was startled by the abrupt opening of the door and stepped back in fear.  "Mr. Kogami?" she replied in a small voice.  "May I—may I come inside?"

    Unsettled by the fragility in that voice, Kogami took a cautious step to the side.  He let the culprit off too quickly, far too quickly for the amount of pain the man had caused his handler.  "How's the head?"

    "Fine," she whispered.  Walking by him slowly and with deliberate steps, she grasped the collar of her wet jacket and pulled it tightly against her neck as if chilled.

    Kogami narrowed his eyes.  Yep, definitely should have killed the bastard.

    The Enforcer slipped the knot of his tie and tossed it over the black suit jacket on the back of his couch.  "You should have been home hours ago."

    "About that."  Akane turned to face him, her eyes welling with tears.

    "Afraid to go home?  According to Ginoza, you shouldn't be.  Masaoka bagged two of the bad guys that were sending you death threats.  Kagari bagged another; and I managed to bring down the last one.  They're all tucked away in an isolation facility across town."

    "Mr. Ginoza thinks I'm being paranoid."

    "What's your gut telling you?"

    "That this was just the probe, a test of the MWPSB's response.  It's nothing more than a ploy to lower my guard.  The real attack is yet to come."

    "Okay."  Kogami crossed his arms over his chest.  "What's the next play?"

    "As long as I stay here in the building, it won't end.  I have to go home, sooner or later.  I need to flush them out and put a stop to it once and for all."