Psycho Pass: Apology Of An Endgame

7

When the woman checked that they were alone, she took a compact out of her pocket and as she opened it, suddenly the overlay of that outfit started to fade away over the actual clothes, and the real face of the man appeared beneath. For a moment it left her speechless. Then she remembered why she always cried when the Public Safety Bureau mascots were near her as a child.

They were drones designed to relieve the tension of the populace by having a non-threatening, childlike appearance, and they gave agents a tactical advantage when used as a sophisticated holographic projection over themselves, when questioning people or approaching a criminal. She could never forget the day she first saw an enforcer turn off the projection in front of her. Her mother told her that she started to cry, and from then on avoided being near one of them. It was to this day, that Yashiro stayed away from all holograms.

"This is nuts! What do you think you're doing Yashiro? These are Makishima's men," Choe Gu-sung raised his voice, restraining himself from shouting.

He was still holding her by the arm as if he thought she was going to slip away, though not as tightly as before. She raised her head looking into his eyes.

"I know. I've seen them before."

His jaw tightened and he extended his free hand in her direction, pointing to her face with his index finger.

"You dug their own graves!"

Yashiro pursed her lips, then hit his forearm with her own to push him away, and yelled at him, "They did it by themselves!"

He stepped back to give her space, and silence fell upon them. They both looked at each other like two animals about to rip one another apart, but little by little their faces softened.

"Why you're helping the police?" he demanded, crossing his arms.

His then calmer voice, sounded like that of an adult scolding a child.

"I will help you find answers Choe," promised Yashiro. "But not like this. Now turn that creepy holo back on and let's get out of here."

He slightly opened his eyes at her, then turned on the hologram and soon the same outfit overlaid his black jacket and green jeans. He was an ordinary student again—even his voice sharpened. Yashiro led him to another area of the university not far away that had another exit, but she stopped and he arched an eyebrow turning back to her. Yashiro shook her head and mumbled, "He put you in danger by bringing you here."

He lowered his gaze to meet hers again.

"He never places my life on the line intentionally."

Yashiro was silent for several seconds. There was an honest truth in those simple words but she needed to confirm them herself, "You did."

She looked deeply into his eyes for a couple of seconds. He might be fleeting and blunt when talking to people, but that was not how he interacted with her, and she could finally see it through his then different yet attentive, enduring eyes.

"You may live as a fugitive and a rat but here you are nonetheless—out of the shadows with death around the corner," Yashiro deduced with frank admiration.

Suddenly his phone rang, but he did not even take a look at the screen, for his smile was entirely reserved for her.

"It's Makishima," he replied in a whisper. "He wants to make sure you're safe."

"Let me speak with him."

He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his phone, handing it to her with a brief pause in the process. When she put it to her ear, she received silence in response for a few seconds—he was a man accustomed to others giving him what he wanted, and she enjoyed being the exception every now and then.