Psycho-Pass: Coping Mechanisms

Part 2: Diverse Viewpoints

PART 2 - Diverse Viewpoints

He was still annoyed by her behavior... but seemed to understand that she wasn't able to hear any of his critiques immediately after the whole incident. She was gripping her cup, warming her hands. The smell of coffee was comforting.

It wasn't what he'd normally do... taking her for a cup of coffee. In most cases like this, he would be telling her off, and in front of the whole unit as well. Not necessarily in order to embarrass her - merely for maintaining order as Shepard I of Division I. One could tell it was his duty to reprimand her.

In all those other times, he would be right to criticize her. She expected it, but... this time, he opted for silence instead, giving her some time to accept recent events. She was grateful for it.

Prior to coming to the café, he regularly scanned her hue, and seen it hasn't lost its usual, blue color. That's when he decided they could go without previously stopping for treatment. He thought the therapy wouldn't be needed this time.

He was still concerned about her stress levels. However, since they haven't changed the moment she neutralized the threat, he estimated that the main danger has passed.

She had that convenient ability, he reminded himself. The ability he sometimes envied her for. She could reduce her coefficient solely through imagination. She described it as a way where she was 'rewriting' the stressful scene in manner that she could cope with it.

Ginoza knew how that worked. He assumed that, in this particular case, she envisioned the strangled boy moving. Surviving. Breathing underneath. Removing that horrible plastic bag from his head... and getting away from the mother. Presumably, somewhere safe, with his father. 

Shizuka had a powerful visualization, so he assumed she conveyed something similar in her mind in order to avoid her hue getting affected.

It was due to long practice, which she started when she was just a child. She had one of the best therapists in the field of psycho-rehabilitation. It wasn't particularly hard to find a way to treat Shizuka... it was just that she was the most suitable for that kind of treatment that most of other candidates couldn't adapt to.

Her vivid imagination created scenes of a new, rewritten reality for purpose of getting away from stress. It was a form of escapism, and it was dangerous to practice that method in general. Still, Shizuka seemed to respond well to treatments, but it was only through long intervals of therapy that she was able to master it, and she has mastered it only after several years of constant sessions and taking suppressants. As a way of calming herself down when facing challenging situations that could seriously damage her Psycho Pass, Shizuka Akibara used to rewrite scenes in her own mind, keeping her hue clean.

Whatever she imagined this time... he didn't ask about it. She wasn't ready to talk. There was no need to force her to share and relive all those terrible scenes at that moment. Her CC number was low, and that was the most important thing in this whole mess.

She wasn't really an emotional type... but this was one of those emotional cases. Not only for her... but for everyone. Her emotions didn't cloud her judgement, though. That will be something he will add to his report in order to try and justify her actions in front of chief Kasei.

Ginoza was sitting opposite of her, drinking his tea. They had a lot to talk about... and she wasn't going to stall much longer. But first...

"Thank you..." she uttered. "Thank you for not being hard on me now. I really... appreciate it."
She couldn't look him in the eyes, so she kept looking at the surface of the table. He sighed.

"You should have just... listened, Shizuka. You never do." He looked throughout the window glass, looking to anything else rather than her. Nevertheless, with his peripheral sight, he grazed her expression. It was sad. She wasn't facing him.