Psycho Pass: Apology Of An Endgame

7

On a Friday afternoon, a few hours before her workday, Yashiro left the Faculty of Letters of the University of Tokyo with several classmates. She was always surrounded by students who were or were not in her own class, sometimes even some professors would chat with her for a while. It was not so much her defiant yet cautious gait, but her unquestionable convictions that most attracted their attention, for while the university was expected to encourage critical thinking, the truth was that there was little it could do if the majority preferred to renounce to it.

Between laughter and anecdotes about strange things that had happened to them in class, Yashiro narrowed her eyes when she saw a black car parked several meters from the entrance of the faculty. Three male faces got out of the car looking for something, until they stopped at her group and closed the car doors, heading toward them. Her classmates did not notice the prominent figures, but fell silent and frowned as soon as Yashiro walked past them. Only then did they turn to the sudden figures without moving from their places, reluctant to leave her alone in the presence of those strangers.

"Inspector Ginoza," Yashiro instantly walked forward to greet the men, her black derby shoes echoing with natural grace. "I did not expect to see you back so soon. I must assume that you have found something."

If Yashiro had wanted to shake their hand, it would have remained extended in the air, as the three men lined up in front of her like soldiers getting ready to shoot. On the right of the inspector was Kougami Shinya, while on the left was Masaoka Tomomi.

"Takahashi-san, I am going to have to ask you to come with us."

Yashiro stopped in her tracks and was silent for a while; both his deep, authoritative voice and his then narrowed green eyes, had prevented her from refusing to follow them, since his mere raven presence affirmed that she had no choice but to give herself to them.

"I understand," she nodded her head.

As soon as she took a step forward, she heard a shoe resounding on the pavement.

"Wait," someone grabbed her arm. "Who are these people, Takahashi-san?"

She glanced back. A young woman with dark brown hair neatly tied up, fixed her almost black eyes on hers. The grip was not strong, yet seconds passed and Yashiro was still like a teddy bear about to be torn apart from both sides.

"They are from the Public Safety Bureau. Don't worry."

Yashiro turned to the inspector again, but could not move. One of the young men who was also studying with her took a few steps toward the strangers, placing his hand on his hips and slightly raising his face. Yashiro pursed her lips as he grumbled, "Who are you? You can't take whoever you want like this."

The inspector arched an eyebrow at him as if hearing a sudden mosquito in the air, and Yashiro realized that some other students had started gathering around—all of them knew her.

"As your classmate said—we are from the Public Safety Bureau."

"Then identify yourselves."

Although Ginoza displayed his identification hologram, another group of students began to form around them as they passed by, and stayed to watch what was going on.

"All of you," demanded another.

The enforcers ignored them, Kougami being the only one who reacted by showing his dominator extending it in the air. When her classmates finally checked that they were not ordinary people, contrary to what they would have imagined, they began to exchange glances and whisper among themselves.

"What do you want from her?" a young male voice dared to ask from behind.

Someone else grabbed her arm very gently and tried to pull her backwards away to no avail. Suddenly she felt a breath above her head, and she stood still for several seconds as a new voice whispered in her ears, "Got your back, miss."