Psycho-Pass: Coping Mechanisms

Part 3 : Ripple Effect

PART 3 – Ripple Effect

She didn't sleep well that night. She was trying to, but what affected her mind even more than the case itself, was that talk she had with Ginoza.

She was trying to justify her actions through logic: she followed the procedure, and it was Sibyl through Dominator that ultimately judged Nozomi Itou. Regardless, the manner in which Shizuka enacted that "justice", was all but work of an inspector. Her cymatic showed her hue was healthy... but, deep down, she felt that what Nobuchika said... was probably right. She was risking her career by pulling the trigger of her own volition.

Nozomi Itou used suppressants and who knows what mixture of drugs to mask her real coefficient... and she would have avoided the detection of her true number, even if only temporarily. If Shizuka hadn't arrived in time she arrived, the husband would have killed that woman and done them all a favor. But, he would end up as a latent criminal... no, a real criminal... and he would have gotten obliterated. So, was it so bad that she acted the way she did? She turned in her bed, restless.

A man, killing his own wife... getting his hands dirty, and his hue clouded. Permanently as well. He would have been taken into custody, or worse... eliminated from existence. He was the victim, as much as his son was.

So, she wasn't supposed to idly stand by while he was succumbing into Psycho hazard. She knew that then... and she couldn't raise her Dominator to judge him. She knew that he would surely die. That's why she stopped Kogami from doing the same thing. Ginoza knew it as well, so he didn't measure the man's coefficient either.

But, she was the one to cause the initial chain of actions. And, the way Shizuka behaved in that moment... was the way enforcers would have behaved. And while she didn't blame Masaoka for influencing her, for paving the way for her... she was blaming herself because she had it in her to follow that manner. He showed her how, and she used that to provoke that woman and raise her Psycho Pass. She was already so furious that she would do anything... anything to see that woman pay for her hideous, terrible crime. But, was it really up to Shizuka to decide?

No, she thought... of course not. No inspector should allow their emotions to cloud their objectiveness. Their rationality. And, in this case, she was compromised. By her own decision. She was surely going to be punished for it.

Despite following the procedure, Shizuka was the one deciding... the fate of that woman. Lethal eliminator activated when the value exceeded the coefficient of 300. But, if Shizuka hadn't provoked the rise of her hue... maybe she could have been treated in some way. There were facilities for those kinds of treatments. Maybe there, Nozomi could have worked with medical stuff on both her hue... and her sanity. Still, by a single pull of the trigger, Shizuka took that possibility away.

Maybe Sibyl's verdict would have changed and maybe that woman could have recovered somehow. But, Shizuka's "instinct", or... whatever it has been... was telling her that she was dangerous... and that she shouldn't be released. But that's not how the things worked. She wasn't supposed to think about it all. She wasn't even due to fire a Dominator... any of the present enforcers could have done so. Anyhow, it was her who fired the Dominator instead.

She wasn't supposed to have that instinct; especially if it was an instinct of an enforcer. She was supposed to be an inspector. That's what Ginoza was trying to tell her, for her own good. For the first time in a long time, Shizuka felt insecure about the nature of her job... and her capacity for working for the bureau. As soon as she thought of it, she has reached for an old bottle of suppressants in the drawer of her night table.

She squeezed the bottle in her hand, not opening it. She was just looking at it until dreams finally rested on her eyelids.

------------------------------------