Psycho-Pass: Coping Mechanisms

Part 32 : Extrema Ratio

PART 32 - Extrema Ratio

After Kogami explained the plan... all Enforcers took some time to think it through.

"Kogami... it's not just risky, it's the highest form of felony against the system. Latent criminals such as ourselves... would risk permanent incarceration. We would certainly be labeled as traitors," Masaoka pointed out.

"What other option is there?" Kogami asked, smoking Spinel to calm down. The rage was still boiling in him, he had to do something about it. "If anyone has a better plan, I am all ears."

Better plan to solve it in her favor? None of them had something like that. Kogami's option seemed the best for her... but not the best for the team.

Masaoka sighed. "She said it herself... it's over. Her hue can't take that much damage without consequences. So, no matter what we do here now... she may never recover. You, risking this much... we, risking this much... including Gino... may all be in vain. That aside... she already stated, and multiple times, that she was ready to become like us."

Kogami exhaled a large amount of fume. He threw the end of the cigarette and stepped on it. He thought about her.

"She isn't ready, though. She never actually experienced being an Enforcer, did she? Thinking and talking about it isn't the same thing as living it. We all think we are ready... or think that we don't care... until it gets us. Until we realize how confined we are. Despite saying so... she isn't ready. Believe me," he stated. After all, if anyone knew Shizuka... it was him.

Kagari was looking at the body on the floor. The girl was struggling... shackled like an animal while the Butcher performed his last act. No art should look like that. No man should do that to a woman.

Such violence would make anyone's hue cloud. Even the strongest one. Let alone a hue that was already on the verge. Poor Akibara.

"She did experience it, Kou. At full force. She not only witnessed the rape and the death of the sixth girl... she also had to kill a person she considered one of her closest friends, if I got that part well. She was her friend, wasn't she? Being forced to choke her like that... I can't imagine what was worse to Shizu-chan. She is also badly wounded... and almost raped herself. Something so brutal won't be easy to overcome, no matter how mentally strong."

It took considerate amount of strength to choke her, though. It also took strength to hold that sick motherfucker off until the Division arrived. Shizuka never looked worse. Nor that fragile. Not in front of Kagari anyway. She always seemed calm... and strong... even during that time when she was shot. But, this was something else.

Inspector was just a girl after all. All those bruises... all those cuts... her swollen eye... her swollen cheeks... bloody lips... no man should ever mess a woman that way. No wonder Kogami was so pissed off. Kagari clenched his fist. Akibara almost ended up as seventh.

Ginoza was treating her outside. He was fixing her legs at that point... using the kit from the drone to do a blood transfusion. They weren't talking, they couldn't find words. She was so nauseous she constantly fought the urge to vomit. But, nothing was about to come out. Not words... not tears... and not even an apology she knew Ginoza deserved at that point.

She was numb. But, she was processing what happened. She was trying to find a way to fix her hue... a way that would be the quickest. She was starting getting lost in thoughts.
That blank look on her face meant just one thing. He let her dive to whoever was her biggest comfort in that moment.

"There are two things you must focus on right now," Hitagawa Kana said, taking a seat right next to Shizuka. "Lowering that CC... and handling your Chief."