Psycho Pass: Apology Of An Endgame

8

"Do you remember a month ago, during the Specimen Case?" Inspector Ginoza adjusted his glasses.

"Is that what you call it?" Yashiro lifted her chin to him. "What a twisted name. Of course I remember."

Kougami took the cigarette from his lips, "We know you were with Sasayama."

The room melted into an enigmatic silence. She remained motionless with both hands on the armrests like a painting, as if she had not really heard the comment.

"I see," she turned to Inspector Ginoza without even a blink. "What about it?"

He arched an eyebrow and decided to sit facing her, dragging the chair on the floor with a creaking sound for a second, "You lied to the MWPSB. Do you realize how serious this is?"

"A lie does not make you a killer," she tilted her head to the side with a slight shrug.

"It doesn't make you an innocent either."

Yashiro widened her eyes looking for the owner of those words. Kougami was there watching her while smoking a cigarette, and filling the room with that smell so strong for her. Yashiro wondered if he was doing it on purpose, though she could not help but release a thin smile, as she stopped her gaze on the left corner of the table for a moment. Ginoza raised his voice capturing both of their attention, "Why did you lie?"

Yashiro let out a long and audible breath.

"First of all, I did not lie. I simply hid the truth so that you would not stop Sasayama."

This time Masaoka himself grumbled, "You lied about your relationship with Touma."

"Yes—is that a crime?" her voice echoed in the room as she extended her right hand in the air, with her elbow on the armrest. "I never got to know that shade of him. Maybe I did not even want to admit he had one."

Yashiro put her hand back on the armrest, and fell silent. She had not fully reflected on the mental illness of this vicious killer, but then she closed her eyes for several seconds, and took a deep breath. She should have tried to put a light in the back of his head. That way she could have seen that shade and attempted to change him, even though it was impossible to accomplish. But at least she would have given him the comfort that someone saw and understood that shade.

"Why Sasayama?" Kougami snapped at her.

Yashiro looked up again as if it had been years.

"I did not seem right to take him off the case, so I decided to help him when no one else did. The case was transferred to other agents but you had started the investigation, you were the closest to finding Touma. And Sasayama had personal reasons for looking for Kirino-san—he would have done so with or without my help."

Kougami clenched his fists tightly, "You used him."

"That is a way of looking at it," she squinted at him and tilted her head to the side. "As an inspector, didn't you use him to do your dirty work?"

"That was different."

"In what way? I did not force him to look for Kirino-san. He himself knew there was no turning back. I think even... for the first time as an enforcer, he made a decision on his own free will. You see... it was not me who was going to point a dominator at him if he did not follow my orders—"

All of a sudden, Kougami passed by the table and held her by the collar of her black coat, lifting her slightly in the chair and bringing her close to his face, as if preparing himself to choke the life out of her. With a lit cigarette fixed between the fingers of his free hand, he exhaled deeply into her face.