Psycho Pass: Redemption (UPDATING)

16 (UPDATED)

The analysis office was illuminated by the light from the screens, and all that could be heard was the soft cooling of the computers and the fan spinning in the ceiling. Division 1 was studying the locations of the victims. On one screen was the dismembered body of politician Ryoji Hashida, and on the other the body of a young woman whose identity had not been identified.

"She could be an illegal immigrant or a teenager who was not included in the census."

Analyst Karanomori Shion swiveled in her chair, lighting a cigarette. One of her hands fumbled on the desk. Her wavy blonde hair fell over her face and she fixed it so that it no longer bothered her brown eyes, which had dark circles under her eyes. She wore red lipstick.

"Just like the politician, she was turned into a human specimen. They have to be related," Sasayama lit up a cigarette.

Kougami stood behind them with one hand on his waist, while the other brushed away cigarette smoke. Ginoza was standing with his arms crossed.

"Human specimen. It couldn't be clearer," Masaoka repeated with a wry smile.

Karanomori pointed the cigarette at Sasayama and turned back to the screen. Her hands danced on the keyboard. The autopsy results appeared on the screen and she placed both profiles in front, side by side, with each victim's data.

"Voilà!" Karanomori exclaimed with a smile. "After performing autopsies, I found that indeed both bodies were eroded by the same chemical. And that can only mean that the two murders have the same culprit."

Sasayama took a few steps forward to stand behind Karanomori, watching the screen closely. For a second, his lips parted and the cigarette almost fell out of his mouth.

"Shion, could you show the images of the places where the bodies were found?" asked Sasayama.

Karanomori typed some instructions into a console. Kougami stood next to Sasayama, and when the information was displayed with a brief transition, he raised his head at the same time as him to look at the screen.

"They don't look like simple murders, they were cut into pieces and then displayed as works of art, as if the killer was saying—"

"You get what you deserve," Kougami noted.

Sasayama exchanged a glance with Kougami and blew a puff of smoke in his direction. Kougami gave a faint smile, though he reached back to try to wipe the smell away with his hand. Ginoza frowned at the sight of them.

Masaoka, who was sitting on the couch behind them, put a hand to his chin and stroked it, still studying the images. The wrinkles on his forehead deepened as if he were trying to solve a complex puzzle.

"Plastination is not a simple procedure," Ginoza interjected, adjusting his glasses on his nose. "It requires extensive knowledge of pharmacology and chemistry. The man we are looking for must be an expert in one of these fields."

Karanomori drummed her fingers on the desk and exchanged a glance with Kunizuka, a woman with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail who was leaning on the couch with her arms crossed.

"It's going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack," Masaoka scratched his head.

The second victim was a teenage girl, her true identity remaining a mystery. Discovered in a public park by a student capturing scenes of the grounds, her body bore resemblances to the previous victim, politician Ryoji Hashida. Unlike before, this case of plastination went largely unnoticed by the media due to extensive censorship. News outlets instead fixated on trivial topics, sidestepping the gruesome incidents.

Inside the school's computer room, Yashiro was engrossed in her research on plastination, her focus intense as she combed through information at the last desk. The room had only a handful of students scattered around, their keyboard clicks forming a quiet rhythm. The quest for images depicting the preserved bodies was challenging due to the imposed censorship.