Kogami awoke to familiar presence in the green room lounge. Blinking rapidly, he tried to sit up from the deep embrace of the sofa, but his joints were too stiff and the muscles too sore to comply. The puncture wound in his side pulled at him painfully, forcing him to slow down his movements. Exhaustion taking its toll, he had lost consciousness after the first test and then slept in the fitful throes of delirium. Someone had covered him with a blanket. That someone was Akane.

She was sitting across the room in front of the brightly lit alcove and its shattered mirror. Hands clasped in her lap, she breathed in a slow controlled manner—an effort to rein in her emotions. Staring down at the wicked profile of the reconfigured Dominator, Akane put her hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. A tear fell from her eye and splashed on the counter.

Kogami felt his heart breaking. He had never laid hands on her, at least not in anger, nor raised his voice to her. But, he realized with remorse, words did not need to shouted in order to wound. Especially now, being held at the whim of a madmen. The situation only intensified their vulnerabilities.

Akane was inexperienced, still learning her job and finding her place as an MWPSB detective. There were moments when the wisdom that came out of her mouth reminded Kogami of Masaoka's veteran philosophy of police work, but there were other times when her impetuous nature left them into dangerous predicaments.

After the explosion in the atrium left a two-foot shard of glass embedded inside him, Kogami wasn't thinking about that inexperience. The stakes were too high, and so were his emotions. He was angry at her and out of his mind with the pain.

"Are you cold?" Hoarse from a long silence, Kogami struggled to suppress a fit of coughing, knowing that the act would result in severe pain.

"A bit," she replied honestly, turning her back to him.

"Masaoka says I'm running a temperature. I should be warm enough for the both of us. Why don't you come sit beside—"

"I'm fine right here." Akane bowed her head, refusing to look at him.

"Akane, I'm sorry."

"So am I, Kogami."

There was a finality in her words, a permanence that frightened and then infuriated him. He didn't mind losing a fight, as long as he lost it on his terms. Standing up, he wrapped the blanket up in a haphazard bundle and threw it down on the love seat. "I knew it would come to this."

"Come to what?" Akane replied with an cross tone. She wrapped her thin arms about her shoulders and embraced herself. "Come to what, Kogami? Say it! Is this where the joyride ends? Is this where I walk away?" Fighting back tears, she turned to glare at him. "Because I'm not going to do that! I'm not going to be the one to walk away...from you...from us."

"Won't be the first time you've made a mistake. Or the last."

"Kogami, that's enough." Masaoka spoke with such venom in his voice that the younger man involuntarily straightened in respect and averted his eyes."Sachi's been asking for you. Why don't you go—"

"Where is she?"

"Massage room near the sauna," Masaoka said. "Here, take these." He handed Kogami a bottle of painkillers. "She's being stubborn, just like you, but she needs these. Maybe you'll have better luck convincing her to take something for the pain."

Kogami walked out of the lounge area with the pills rattling in his hand. He grit his teeth until his jawbone cracked in protest from the strain.

Akane stared after him in disbelief. "Why's he like this?" She closed her eyes and shook her head, bowing her chin to her chest, as the tears fell unchecked.

"There's a little wolf in every hound, missy," Masaoka said. He draped a blanket over her shoulders. "If you back one into a corner, they'll do desperate things to get out."

"Are you saying I've trapped Kogami?"

"On the contrary, the Sybil System trapped Kogami a long time ago. Unlike Kagari though, he knows what it feels like to be free. You've given him back that feeling, and he knows it." Masaoka mustered a smile for her and gently rubbed her shoulders.

"He has a right to be angry. Even Ginoza would lecture me at this point." Akane accepted a bottle of water from Masaoka. "I think that I'd prefer the lengthy lecture."

"You do tend to overreact sometimes, Inspector, jumping the gun and putting us Enforcers in a bad spot. Doesn't matter to Ko. He'd die for you."

"I know," Akane whispered, her voice trailing off to avoid the syllable that would summon her tears.

"We're in a bad spot here. Whatever this is, it's personal. Last thing Ko needs is the one and only person he counts on turning on him."

"Mr. Masaoka, why does this hurt so bad?" Akane collapsed into his arms and wept softly on his shoulder.

"It's the broken heart that yearns to love and be loved the most, Akane, especially when it risks loving and being broken again." Masaoka held her close and rubbed her trembling back as she sobbed. "Without Kogami, we're not getting out of here alive, and neither are those kids." He pulled her away from him and stared into her eyes with a patriarchal authority. "Until this game is done, we need Kogami in his right mind, and that's going to be tough because Roninn is doing his damn best to drive him out of it."

"He's so angry," Akane said, her voice breaking. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Wolves howl, even when there is no moon, but they howl more fervently when there is one. The quickest way to break a man is to make him doubt himself. You understand? Let Kogami know you still believe in him, even if he doesn't believe in himself." Masaoka handed her the first aid kit. "That pressure bandage needs changed."

"He's not going to let me near him."

"Don't give him an option. He may snap at you. Might even try to scare you off. Stand your ground. Be firm and keep at him."

"But Mr. Masaoka, you said not to corner him."

"Right now, missy, Ko's already pinned in the corner. You need to coax him out of it."

                                                                                          # # #

Teeth grit more in pain than anger, Kogami walked passed the corridor to the bathroom and shower area. He saw Gin sitting on the floor in the shadows with his long legs drawn up to his chest and paused midstride. "You alright?"

Refusing to look up, Gin frantically wiped the tears from his cheeks as the Enforcer approached. "Why didn't you just shoot me with the Dominator, Mr. Kogami?"

Kogami scowled at the question and sat down on his haunches beside the distressed boy. "Because I didn't want to be responsible for taking out the MWPSB's next generation of Inspector. One day you'll be running the Division 1 office and calling me, pops."

Taking no solace in Kogami's attempt at comfort and humor, Gin glared up at him. "If you had shot me, we might have saved Sachi."

"We did save her. You're talking about her as if she were dead, and she's very much alive, Gin. And so are you."

"Alive? For how long? Even if I get out of here, where can I go? This isn't like the last time when some narcissistic doctor was falsifying my psycho pass. This is real." Gin shook his head with more certainty. "My life is ruined. You should have put me out of my misery."

"Warning! Warning! An elevated area stress level has been detected. A nearby psycho pass is rising to above-regulation value. The on-duty Enforcer...Shinya Kogami...is immediately required for intervention." The voice was Mi-Yeon's and emanated from the foxhound as it stood sentinel in the hallway watching them. Not only was the drone acting as Roninn's eyes and ears in the green room, but the weaponized dog was a cymatic scanner.

Kogami turned to the monitor behind them on the wall and saw the screen flicker for a moment. Movies of his adopted sister and mother were replaced by the stoic photos of everyone trapped in the green room along with their corresponding crime coefficients and hues. His coefficient was the highest at 298, with Masaoka at 159. Even Akane's psycho pass was being effected with a reading of 56, while Sachi was hovering at 61. Gin, however, was once again rising to a dangerous value—98."

"Gin, I could have killed you to save Sachi," Kogami said, "but I made a decision—a solid decision—that saved both of you. What you're doing right now is putting us back into that same bad position, where there's no room for bargaining. There's nothing to be gained from it. Losing control will not save you or any of us. It will only result in you dying."

When the boy did not respond, Kogami forced him to look at him by grabbing him by the chin. "Snap out of it. Sachi's not blaming you. I'm not blaming you. No one is. If you remember, she begged me to save you before her. Recognize the merit in that and the merit in you."

Gin pulled away from him and stood up, resentfully sliding his back against the wall. His slender arms were heavily bandaged from just above the elbow to his wrists. Head bowed, he avoided making any eye contact with Kogami and went into the bathroom.

"Mr. Kogami?"

Hearing Sachi's quiet voice from the massage room, Kogami got to his feet with some effort and stood in the doorway. Sachi was sitting on a low stool in front of a massage table with her arms propped up on pillows to elevate the injured limbs. Discolored from a lack of proper circulation, the skin appeared sallow, even in the dim lighting.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, gently running his thumb across her pale cheek.

"Like a red-headed step child. I'm so far away from everyone," Sachi replied, meeting his worried gaze with a grin. "I was wondering if I could move to the changing room in the back of the lounge. Inspector Tsunemori said to ask you."

"I don't see why not." Kogami fashioned a pair of slings from the belts of two bathrobes and cautiously supported her arms to keep them elevated during the move.

"Speaking of red heads," Sachi said with a chuckle. "How's Mr. Kagari doing?"

"Still avidly playing video games."

"Oorah, gamer for life!"

"You'll be happy to know that a video game helped us solve a recent case at the Kurouma Theatre."

"Seriously! What game?"

"Silent Redemption."

Pursuing her lips, Sachi rolled her eyes. "How retro. Still—a great game. Figures Mr. Kagari would have played that one. Such a rebel." She wrinkled her nose in anguish and frustration.

"Does it hurt?"

"Can't really feel anything except this annoying burning sensation. It's like this terrible itch, and I obviously can't scratch."

"Nerve damage maybe," Kogami said." He reluctantly held up the bottle of pain killers. "Can't believe I'm peddling drugs to a kid, but I don't know how much longer this situation is going to last. These might help alleviate—"

"No way, Mr. Kogami." Sachi adamantly shook her head. "I've never been one to turn to meds. Makes the mind dull. I need to stay sharp, especially now. This is the boss level, and I need to be ready, right?" A strand of sandy blond hair fell into her face.

Kogami gently tucked it behind her ear as they stepped through the door into the family changing room. "Have a seat. I'll get you some pillows to prop up your arms."

"I heard you talking to Gin." Sachi sat down on a chair as Kogami elevated her injured arms.

"He's taking it harder than expected."

"Always does. Dying would have been the easy answer," she replied soberly. "When this is over, he'll realize that and hate himself for asking you to do the impossible."

The monitor flickered above her head, showing a collage of still pictures of Mi-Yeon and his mother. There were images of them visiting the Rikugi-en garden in Tokyo, enjoying a water park, and Mi-Yeon riding at a recent horse show where she won grand champion.

"I can't believe that's Mi-Yeon riding that pony," Sachi said. "She got lucky getting you as big brother." She smiled, but it was a pained expression. "That woman with her? Is that your mother?"

Kogami nodded, reminded of the fact that Roninn might be holding them hostage somewhere in this twisted game of revenge

"I'll need to thank her when we get out of here."

"Thank her? For what?"

"For you." The girl's smile widened and was genuine this time. "I won't pretend that this isn't a really bad situation, but if anyone can get us through it, it's you, Mr. Kogami. Just like you saved us from that awful mental care facility and the earthquake, remember? Never expected Career Day to be so very exciting."

Kogami was forced to laugh at the memory. "A little too exciting, if you ask me."

"But you got us home to our folks. That's what matters."

Sachi winced abruptly, sucking in her breath. Under Kogami's stern glare, she smiled and shook her head. "It does hurt sometimes. Comes in waves. Some stronger than others. But I'm still not taking any pain killer. I'm trying to be like you, Mr. Kogami."

"Stubborn?"

"Steadfast."

"Kogami!" Akane shouted. "It's Gin!" She briefly came to the door before darting back into the doorway between the rooms.

Kogami raced after her into the corridor and then into the bathroom with Masaoka following closely on his heels. Losing his footing as he stepped onto the polished tile, he fought to keep his balance by clinging onto the doorframe. His shoes slipped on the collection of pills scattered across the floor. An opened bottle skittered across the tile, unintentionally kicked by the tip of his shoe.

"What wrong with the boy?" Masaoka asked.

Akane was standing in one of the stalls, supporting Gin who was bent over, violently heaving into the toilet. "Gin?"

"Look," Kogami said. He pointed at the sink and counter area to a display of mental health supplement bottles stacked in the corner. There was a sign beneath them that read: DO NOT CONSUME.

As Argus came around the corner and sat down in the doorway, Kogami glared at the foxhound, knowing that its master was watching and listening. "What the hell is this? You're poisoning us?"

"The sign makes it very clear, Kogami-kun." A tiny holographic image of Mi-Yeon was projected onto the floor in front of the drone.

"Then why put them here as bait?" Kogami demanded.

"Because one must never forget that temptations are all around us, always enticing us. To be our true selves, we must be vigilant and resist them. Or, we must accept our fate. Those who cannot control their stress naturally must be quarantined or put down."

Akane snatched the bottle of painkillers from Kogami's hand, opened it, and dumped the contents into the toilet. She threw the empty bottle at the foxhound and scored a direct headshot, but the drone did not flinch. "You are insane!"

"That was rash move, Inspector Tsunemori. Your ever naive, impetuous nature will leave a legacy of dead Enforcers in its wake someday. Starting with Mr. Kogami." Mi-Yeon clapped her hands and hopped up and down with excitement. "A distinction to be envied."

"Take it easy, son," Masaoka asked. Carrying a bottle of water in his hand, he went into the stall and held the shaking boy as he continued to vomit.

"For all his talk of dying, it seems he wants to live after all," Mi-Yeon said.

"You malicious bastard," Gin managed to hiss between heaves.

"Careful, Gin-chan," the holo said. "Your crime coefficient is getting quite high."

Gin's identification photo flashed on the mirror with his coefficient registering at 99. But as the boy returned to retching over the toilet, the number dropped by two points.

"What sort of poison is it?" Kogami asked.

"Not a poison. It is a stress supplement. Only this variation is in its purest, uncut form. It won't kill him, but it will make him wish that he were dead."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Akane said. Briefly, she left the room and returned with a bottle of water and a bottle of charcoal tablets. Opening the capsules, she dumped the chalky contents into the water and then vigorously shook the mixture.

"Akane?" Masaoka questioned.

"He's already vomiting up the supplement, but if we can get some of this charcoal in him, it will bind to the rest and hopefully settle his stomach, negating the effects." Akane shook the mixture again and set it to the side. She took a towel from a stack on the counter and ran warm water over it.

"This is your ten-minute warning," Mi-Yeon said. The holo winked out, but the foxhound remained, ever vigilant.

Akane went back to the stall and waited until Masaoka had gently helped the boy to the floor, leaning him against the stall divider. "This isn't going to be pleasant, Gin."

Sweated and panting, Gin nodded his understanding and drank the concoction. Wrinkling his nose, he gagged after the first swallow, but forced himself to drink until half the bottle was empty. Traumatized and embarrassed by his behavior, the boy began to cry, quietly at first, but then his body shook uncontrollably with his sobs. "I'm so stupid. I hate myself."

"Hush now." Akane pulled him down into her lap and gently dabbed at his forehead with the damp towel. "It's alright, Gin. Everything's going to be alright."

"This is horrible, and all I'm doing is making the situation worse."

Akane bent over him and kissed his cheek. "Nothing is beyond repair. No one is beyond redemption, especially if we all stick together through this and hold on."

Kogami bit his lip. It was as if she were speaking to him, and maybe she was. Feeling himself falter, he pensively ran his hand over his face and left the room.

"Mr. Kogami?" Sachi whispered from the changing room.

"He's fine." Kogami punctuated the statement with a dismissive wave of his hand to silence any more questions. He was feeling lightheaded and overwhelmed. Staring at the reconfigured Dominator on the alcove counter, he watched the reflection of Argus coming up behind him from the corner of his eye.

The monitors in the lounge were rapidly counting down. Kogami wondered when he would see his family used against him in one of Roninn's trials. He cringed visibly, his mind racing through potential images of them in harm's way.

"Masaoka, we're up," he called down the corridor.

"Right," Masaoka replied. "Inspector Tsunemori's still with the boy."

"She's staying."

"Kogami?" Masaoka's brow was furrowed with worry.

"We're leaving her here."

"You will not!" Akane hissed from the corridor. "I'm going with you."

"Akane, you're staying here to—"

As Kogami turned around to face her, Akane was right behind him, her hand flying at speed. She slapped him in the face. "I'll remind you, Enforcer Kogami, that I am the Senior Inspector onsite."

Cheek burning from the impact of her palm and fingers, Kogami set his jaw, but had no other reaction. "Alright, Inspector, your call. But who stays behind to protect the kids?"

Akane's eyes widened in alarm. She recognized, too late, that Kogami was not trying to get her out of the way, but give her a role that was as equally as important as jumping through Roninn's hoops.

Masaoka sighed in resignation and subtly shook his head. His disappointment was evident. "Three of us would be ideal," he said softly. "But right now, we have injured civilians with us. Protocol dictates an Inspector stay with them, and the Enforcers do what they do best. I'm sorry, missy, but you're out of line right now."

"It won't be necessary for Inspector Tsunemori to remain behind. I've got this." Leaning on the wall for support, Gin stared into the lounge at the three of them. His face was shiny with perspiration, and his breathing was labored, but even. He shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose with confidence. "I've got this, Mr. Kogami. Besides, an Inspector needs to be present to keep you Enforcers in check." Somewhat staggered, he turned and walked into the changing room to be with Sachi.

"Remind you of someone?" Kogami said in an attempt at levity.

Masaoka grinned. "I thought it was just me."

"It's not." He turned to Akane. "Get ready."

"Kogami," she whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Save it. We're out of time."

There came a knock at the door. Kogami turned the knob and stepped back into the atrium. The hologram of Mi-Yeon was waiting in the dimness. Still wearing the hideous kabuki mask, the avatar was also wearing a Santa Claus hat as well as a wreath around her neck. Four of the security drones, each draped in Christmas lights, stood behind her.

"Come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, O come ye to judgment—" The holo fell silent. "That does quite go with the song, does it, Kogami-kun? Follow me please." Spinning on her heel, the hologram walked into the shadows as the drones parted in her wake.

As the door to the green room closed, the light above its mantle turned red and subsequently, the light above the neighboring door went from red to green. Inscribed on a bronze plaque affixed to the wall were the words: The Weight of Betrayal.

Kogami hesitated, but feeling Masaoka's hand at his shoulder for support, he bowed his head and turned the knob to open the door. The stark light inside was momentarily blinding, forcing him to blink rapidly to adjust the focus of his vision before stepping inside the room.

The chamber was much larger than Kogami might have imaged from the circumference of the office building. At one time, it must have been a conference room or large group meeting area before Roninn reconstructed the building into a personal oubliette of revenge. The dimensions were easily 100 feet wide and another 300 feet in length. A low-lying ceiling reduced the feeling of vastness. Written along the edge of the domed ceiling were the words: If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.

Akane absently pressed a hand to the bandaged side of her face. "That sounds familiar. What is it?"

"Machiavelli," Kogami whispered.

"Can't say I like the sound of it or the looks of that." Masaoka nodded to the back of the conference chamber.

Hidden beneath a gold, silken tapestry a large mechanical device sat on a raised platform. It was cold in the room, the air chilled by a complex series of blowers in the low ceiling. That cold air blew across the stage, making the tapestry billow as if caught in a potent spring wind.

"The weight of betrayal?" Kogami glared down at the hologram of Mi-Yeon. "That's ironic, when you betrayed every civil law and every moral code that Sybil stands for with deliberate dereliction of your duties. You were a murderer with an MWPSB badge in one hand and a Dominator in the other."

"To truly love is to open the heart to betrayal." There was genuine melancholy in the reply, hidden beneath the innocence of Mi-Yeon's voice.

She waved her hand in a spiral above her head. Like a curtain drawn to reveal the actors on a stage, the tapestry was drawn back to reveal an oversized scale. Positioned between the large plates was a massive construction drone positioned at the fulcrum. It began busily adding concrete blocks to the two golden scales on either side. Strapped down, with no possible chance of escape, two captives struggled beneath heavy slabs of stone.

"The Koieyama twins." Kogami gasped, feeling his stomach turn and sicken. "They were Roninn's Enforcers before he was disgraced."

"Am I reading that right?" Masaoka said. He squinted in disbelief at the monitors on the wall behind each victim. "That's 450 pounds on top of them."

"They're being crushed to death," Akane said. "We have to get them out of that...that thing!"

Kogami nodded at Masaoka and the two Enforcers separated, each man taking a scale. "Kumi!" he yelled to get her attention.

"Kogami." With relief in her frightened, weary eyes, she reached out for him. Her pale fingers weakly grasped his hand. "It's Roninn. Roninn did this to us."

"I know," he whispered. "Hang on, we're going to get you out of this." He ducked under the machine to search for a release mechanism.

Beneath the massive mechanical contraption, there was an intricate set of levers and pulleys that would have released the back side of the gurney on which she was lying. But Kogami could not make any sense of the instrumentation or wiring. Ignoring the pain from his own injuries, he grabbed the back of the pallet and tried to force it down to free Kumi from the weight slowly crushing her to death.

"Kogami!" Masaoka yelled. "Did you find a release?"

"I've got nothing?"

Akane crawled between the framework of the scales and beneath the fulcrum between them. She ran up to the drone while it worked to load another slab and examined the control panel. Unable to find any semblance of a power exchange, she rapidly depressed random buttons and hit switches.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Mi-Yeon warned.

Despite the warning, Akane kept working the buttons in hopes to shut down the drone. For a moment the heavy crane shuddered unsteadily, and then, with a puff of smoke and a flash of white light, a surge of electrical energy shot out of the control panel and into her body. She was lifted off of her feet and thrown backward by the powerful current of electricity.

"Akane?" Kogami crawled through the network of wires and support frames to get to her. She wasn't breathing. "Akane!" He snatched her from the floor and shook her her violently.

Momentarily dazed by the electrical surge, Akane slowly opened her eyes and took a deep, desperate breath to fill her lungs. "Kogami?"

"She's not terribly bright, is she?" Mi-Yeon asked. "Even though she did test well and scored in the top 2% of her class." The holo shrugged indifferently and stared at them from beneath the base of the fulcrum. "Guess it's true what they say about very bright people. All brains, but no common sense."

Akane coughed and struggled to speak. Her voice was a hoarse whisper, but no less an order. "Get Kumi out of that thing."

"The weight of betrayal!" Kogami shouted at Mi-Yeon. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? What's the test?"

Gazing up at him and then taking a long moment to look over the twins struggling on the scales beneath the massive weight, Mi-Yeon sighed and hugged the stuffed cat beneath her chin. "In olden times, before the wisdom of Sybil, those accused of a crime who would not issue a plea were subjected to crushing until they did utter one for the courts, albeit too late."

"What plea do you want from them?" Kogami asked.

"Guilty." The eyes behind the kabuki mask blinked innocently at him. "The twins and I spent some hours together before I brought them here. I had hoped to spare them this, but they refused to confess." Playfully swinging from side to side, Mi-Yeon laughed. "I practiced every interrogation technique I could think to employ on them, and still they would not speak. I have brought you here as their confessor."

Unhindered by Akane's interference, the construction drone dipped behind the raised platform and picked up a large block of concrete. It laid the block on top of Kumi, who screamed in pain. Fearful tears ran from the corners of her eyes as she gasped for breath beneath the weight. The drone returned to the pile of concrete blocks and set another slab down on top of Yemen. Behind them, the monitors registered the weight at 550 pounds.

"The record, I understand, is 700 pounds. Oh, the power of female resolve. The poor woman who suffered this same punishment lasted 15 minutes." The hologram turned to Kogami. "These two have lasted a full 10 minutes. I wonder how much longer they can stand it? Or how much more weight they can bear before confessing their sin. Or dying."

"Kumi," Kogami whispered. He brushed the damp hair from her feverish forehead. "What the hell is he talking about?"

Kumi rolled her head from side to side in a staunch refusal. "Kogami," she whispered, "I need you to do something for me."

"Name it."

"Take care of Yemen. Promise me you will."

"I don't have to make that promise. You'll—"

"Kogami, don't." Convulsing beneath the weight, Kumi squeezed his hand until he hurt. She coughed and a fine spray of blood escaped her mouth. "No, no! No, no!" she cried out as the drone lowered another stone slab on top of her. "Ko-Kogami, please! Not much time."

Kogami held her hand, feeling the warmth draining from her flesh. "I'll take care of him. You have my word."

Accepting his assurance, Kumi nodded. Her lips were crimson with blood. "Roninn, you bastard!" she said hoarsely, straining to raise her voice.

Arms crossed behind her back, the hologram of Mi-Yeon rocked back and forth on its heels. "I'm listening."

"You want a confession?"

"I said—I'm listening."

"Our last case? The night Kogami killed Barabbas? I was watching from the tunnels. I knew what was coming. You thought that Yemen and I would come to your rescue."

"Kumi, no!" Yemen screamed. "No!"

"We could have stopped Kogami, even discussed it, but I wanted him to kill you," Kumi rasped. "Then I'd never have to see your face again or suffer the way you looked at me. I'd never have to feel your hands on my skin ever again."

"Kumi!" Yemen strained to free himself from beneath the massive stones.

"But Kogami turned out to be a real man, not like you. He showed you a mercy you didn't deserve. You demanded loyalty from your Enforcers, but you only earned our contempt." Weakly, she squeezed Kogami's hand and smiled as her eyes turned back to him. "Remember your promise. I'm counting on you to protect my brother." With a peaceful sigh, she closed her eyes.

"One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though ... betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope." The hologram was still and silent for a long moment. "Those are the words of playwright Stephen Deitz, painfully rendered. Sweet Kumi, you were truly the strongest of my Horsemen, and I shall miss you the most." Turning to Kogami, head bowed in sorrow, Mi-Yeon, said, "You have less than two minutes to return to the green room, if you hope to survive. I've granted you an extra minute should you wish to retrieve the body. Adieu, sweet Yumi." The hologram vanished.

With a grinding, mechanized groan, the construction drone came to a standstill. The final weight on Kumi was 600 pounds, 50 pounds short of the weight on her twin brother. There was a hissing noise, and the rear compartments beneath both scales slid downward, allowing the bodies of the twins to fall to the floor.

Kogami caught Kumi's body as she tumbled from back of the gurney. She felt heavy in his arms. Too heavy for a slight girl of her size. Her torso and hips rotated in an unnatural way.

"You can't help him, Inspector," Masaoka said to Akane, his voice grim. "This will go a lot easier if I carry him." He knelt down and picked Yemen up in his arms.

"Kumi!" Yemen screamed in pain and grief. He gasped and panted from the effort to resist Masaoka. His eyes were red, glistening with tears as he reached out for his sister. "Kumi!"

The amount of time given was ample to return to the green room, but Kogami felt the burden of urgency weighing on his heart and mind. The sense of purpose was heavier than the unconscious woman in his arms. As they hurried into the atrium, Gin was at the green room door, peering out at them. He held the door wide open as Kogami raced toward him.

"You saw?" Masaoka asked. He repositioned Yemen in his arms as Akane closed the door.

"The whole dreadful scene," Sachi replied, her voice broken. "We watched on the monitors. It was so horrible."

Ignoring the apprehensive young people, Kogami swiftly made his way back to the sauna area and laid Kumi's body on one of the massage beds. Checking for a pulse at her wrist, he gave up and went to her neck. With no signs of life, he leaned over her face to listen for breath sounds. Not breathing, unmoving, she laid lifeless beneath him.

"Kumi, don't do this," Kogami whispered. He clasped his hands together, one on top of the over, and earnestly began chest compressions until his skin grew pale from the effort. Mouth watering with the imminent threat of nausea, he stepped back from the table. Staring helplessly at his hands, he didn't know what else to do.

"Kogami!" Akane hissed. "You can't give up!" Clasping her hands together, she restarted chest compressions.

Kogami saw the horrified expression that came across her face. With the first compression, she felt the shattered fragments of Kumi's breastplate moving beneath her palm. A thick gout of coagulated blood slowly trickled from the corner of Kumi's mouth and ran down the graceful curvature of her neck and into her hair.

"Kumi!" Yemen cried. On his knees, with Masaoka at his side, he clung to her limp arm and pressed his grief-stricken face against her hip. "Kumi, please! Don't go! Don't leave me!"

Kogami looked up at Akane and saw the utter sadness in her eyes. He reached for her, but she abruptly backed away, pressing herself against the nearest wall as she fought to remain stoic.

"Mr. Masaoka?" Gin said from the corridor.

"Not the best time, Gin. Stay with Sachi," Masaoka said. Visibly shaken by recent events, he closed the door to give a grieving Yemen some privacy.

"My, my, Mr. Masaoka," Mi-Yeon said from the corner. "Your crime coefficient is nearing 200. That must be a personal record. Inspector Tsunemori, your hue is legendary, and I see why. Barely breaking a sweat at 53. Impressive. And Kogami, nearly over 300. I am disappointed, especially given that you want to kill me. Even Yemen there, sisterless Yemen, is outperforming you at 405."

"I became a latent criminal when I questioned the Sybil System's judgment, and I've regretted it ever since because of what it did to my family," Masaoka said. "But I was right to question. If Sybil's judgment allowed you to become an Inspector with no reservation, something's definitely gone wrong with the system."

The hologram regarded each of them for a tense moment. "No sense of humor. This place is becoming quite a morgue."

Mortified by the desperation swelling within him, Kogami rubbed his fingers across his face. Horrified, he abruptly pulled his hands away, smelling the faint perfume from Kumi's clothing. The crestfallen Enforcer threw up his hands in despair and retreated into the corridor and the lounge beyond it.

"Mr. Kogami?" Gin asked.

Kogami shook his head to quiet the boy. He could not be certain how he was going to react to any questions, any need for comfort, or any expression of sentiment. Leaning over the counter, he pushed the reconfigured Dominator aside and noticed with simmering agitation that his hands were shaking.

His extremities had grown numb, and he could not feel any sensation other than an icy pricking in his fingertips. Light headed and faint, he closed his eyes and struggled to control his breathing. He felt as if he was slowly being choked by an invisible force. The walls were closing in on him, and he was powerless to stop them.

"What's the matter, Kogami-kun?" Mi-Yeon whispered. She was standing in the center of the room. "You're not looking very steady on your feet, big brother."

Kogami swallowed with some difficulty and grit his teeth against a chill that set into the rest of his body. He refused to allow himself to shiver and tensed the muscle groups before they could spasm. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he sighed wearily, sensing the eyes of Sachi and Gin watching him intently from the changing room.

Discipline was a painful form of conformity, he told himself, and regret was the cost paid for failure to submit to it.

Yemen stumbled from the shadowy corridor. Clinging to the wall for support, he took one shambling step toward Kogami as Masaoka gently tried to coax him back into the massage room to rest and to have his injuries tended.

"Is that it?" Yemen whispered. "Is that the Dominator locked in lethal eliminator mode?"

Kogami had not quite gotten full control of himself, and what little restraint he did have was failing him. "Yemen, I think you should listen to Masaoka and—"

Yemen threw himself to the floor in front of Kogami. Sprawled on his knees, he grasped Kogami's pant leg to pull himself into an upright position. Reaching for the Dominator, Yemen put the weapon to his head and then laid his finger on the trigger. There was immediate disappointment in his face when the directional voice did not recognize him or his authority to wield the signature gun. "Kogami."

"Yemen," Kogami whispered. He was on the verge of an emotional break. "We need to see about those broken ribs. Let Masaoka—"

"The only one here...who can do anything for me...is you." As tears streamed down his gaunt, pale cheeks, Yemen put the Dominator in Kogami's hand and bent his finger into the trigger housing. "Don't let me be alone, Kogami. Let me be with her. With Kumi." The shattered Enforcer pressed the muzzle of the Dominator against his forehead and waited for judgement. "My crime coefficient is well over regulation. This should work for me."

"He isn't wrong," Mi-Yeon said. With one arm crossed over her chest, she scratched at her chin while staring up at the ceiling in thought. "The accepted value for Enforcers is much higher than that of the standard civilian. I never intended for you to kill an Enforcer, but I don't have an issue with it." She put her hands behind her back. "Go ahead, Kogami-kun, kill him."

Masaoka stepped out of the corridor. "Ko!"

"Kogami, don't!" Akane cried.

"Please, Kogami," Yemen whispered. "Let me be with my sister!"

"Kill him!"

Kogami heard a gasp of fright from the back of the room where Sachi watched in terror with a fearful Gin at her side. "Mr. Kogami, you can't."

"He won't," Gin said tearfully. "He wouldn't do it."

"Kill him!" Mi-Yeon cried impatiently. "Kill him now!" To emphasize the urgency of the avatar's demand, Argus took a defensive position near the hologram and growled malevolently. "Kill him now!"

Remembering his promise to Kumi, Kogami bit the inside of his lip until he tasted blood. He glared from beneath the damp, black forelock of his hair, scowling at Mi-Yeon and the foxhound bristling on the floor. From them, he looked into the hardened eyes of his colleagues from the PSB, and finally to the frightened expressions on Gin and Sachi's faces.

"The Sybil System has a cruel sense of irony," he said, managing a brief, uncertain chuckle. "As an Inspector I was expected to be my brother's keeper. As an Enforcer, I was his executioner." Kogami turned to the hologram. "I'm many things, Roninn, but I am not a murderer."

Kogami put the reconfigured Dominator back on the counter and laid a reassuring hand on Yemen's head. "I'm sorry about Kumi, Yemen. I know how much you loved her. I know she was your world. But right now, I need you to be the Enforcer that she was. I need you to be the Enforcer she would have wanted you to be and help me find a way out of this mess."

Yemen collapsed on the floor, blood spotting in the corners of his mouth, and wept uncontrollably between ragged gasps for air.

Whispering encouragement to the badly injured Enforcer, Masaoka covered him up with a blanket and knelt down at his side.

"How unfortunate. How boring," Mi-Yeon whispered. "You have one hour until the next test." The hologram faded, and Argus sat down to observe them in its absence.

With no words of comfort of his own to offer, Kogami walked out of the lounge and made his way to the bathroom.

                                                                                                 # # #

Sitting on the bathroom floor, Kogami sighed wearily and massaged the tension throbbing beneath the bridge of his nose. He heard quiet footsteps and looked up, expecting to find Argus' five eyes staring back at him. Instead, he saw Akane standing in the doorway.

Her face was still smeared with blood and soot, and her eyes were red with the threat of tears. Unhurried, she walked into the room and slid down the wall into a sitting position beside him.

"Has something happened?" he asked.

"No. You were gone a long time, and I got worried."

Rubbing his eyes, Kogami nodded. "I just needed to be alone."

"The last thing you need is to be alone, Kogami." She took his hand and squeezed his long fingers.

"Akane," he said, his voice shaking. "I-I don't know what to do."

"Roninn's trying to break you."

"I know."

"The man I know would not be broken. The man I love," her voice cracked for a moment, "would not be broken by so small a man as Roninn. No matter what that bastard threw at him."

Kogami bowed head and swallowed hard. He squeezed her hand until the knuckles cracked. She was his only anchor in the maelstrom, and he struggled to hold on to what little was left of his sanity. "I know."

"Then find a way out of this. For all of us."

Kogami fought his way to a subtle smile. "Is that an order, Inspector?"

Akane ran hand across the nape of his neck and kissed him passionately on the lips as tears streamed from her eyes. "Yes."

Kogami laid down on his side, resting his head in her lap. On the edge of a darkness that he had never experienced in his life, he needed her by his side to continue the fight. Holding his left hand against his injury, he took a deep breath and felt himself relax for the first time since being lured into Roninn's trap.

"You shouldn't do that," Akane whispered. "You'll start the bleeding again."

"It hurts less if I keep a little pressure on it."

She pulled his hand away, interlacing their fingers, and held it against his chest to prevent him from touching the injury again.

"I don't deserve you."

"You don't serve this," she replied.

Kogami closed his eyes and let himself sink into her warmth.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Whatever you want."

Akane stroked his head, running her fingers slowly through his black hair. "Ginoza told me something before we left headquarters last night."

"Wait. Is this where you tell me that you're really in love with Gino instead of me?"

"Kogami, would you be serious?" She playfully pinched his cheek. "He said that he found records of contact between you and my grandmother. My parents, too."

He was too tired to get angry at the intrusion into his privacy and too defeated to find fault with the Senior Inspector. "Ginoza doesn't know when to leave well enough alone, does he?"

"Is it true? You reached out to my grandmother and my parents?"

Kogami sighed softly. "Yes."

"May I ask why?"

"While you have invited a latent criminal into your life, your family hasn't had the opportunity to make that decision for themselves."

"So you went to see them?"

"Your grandmother first. When she accepted my invitation, I asked Inspector Takizawa to accompany me."

"What did she say?"

"That I was too thin, and that if I wanted to gain any weight while I was with you, I would have to do all of the cooking." Kogami laughed, as did Akane, and then regretted it when the movement caused a stabbing pain in his abdomen.

"Ssh," she hushed as he groaned in her lap.

Kogami held onto his wound to support the weakened muscles, but continued to laugh until the pain overwhelmed him. "So," he rasped, "with her blessing, I contacted your parents."

"You had to know Ginoza would find out."

"I didn't care." Kogami took a deep, guarded breath. "I don't care what Ginoza thinks. Or what Kasei thinks. I don't care about any of them. I only care about your opinion and the opinion of your family. That's all that matters."

"Did you meet my parents?"

"They were quite welcoming, especially your father. He was pleased to know that I held your safety above all others. Your mother made me swear to it."

"They approved?"

"They're wonderful people, Akane. Beautiful people. Better than I deserve." He hesitated as a hot tear fell on his cheek, followed by a second and third. He tried to sit up to comfort her, but she held him firmly in her lap.

"We cannot stay here, Kogami. We have to get these people out of here." Her voice shook with emotion and more tears fell from her eyes, landing hot on his skin. "Roninn is trying to make you question who and what you are."

"Akane." Kogami pressed through her trembling hands and sat up. Taking her face in his hands, he wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"You became a latent criminal as a result of your unrelenting pursuit of the law. You are not a perversion of justice, but Roninn is." Akane tilted her head into his palm and held onto his hand. "He's trying to corrupt you and make you into the monster that he is." She shook her head and averted her gaze. "I didn't listen to you when you suspected something was wrong. I called you paranoid and teased you. I'm no better than Ginoza. And for that, I am so sorry, Kogami."

Kogami stared into her eyes. He brushed the bangs from her face and committed every curve to memory, omitting the reddening of her eyes and the sheen of tears on her cheeks. In a few hours, he was not certain he would ever see her again. Though he was prepared for that harsh reality, he had to protect her from it. "There's only one way we're getting out of here." Before she could question him, he kissed her passionately, brushing his lips against hers. "Together."