【Fantasy Pass】-Psycho Pass Banquet

Suddenly there was thunder and low-pitched anger outside the window.

Kamijou Touma's body shook suddenly.

The sudden feeling of cold sweat drenching the back was not pleasant, but thanks to it, the confused mind was instantly sober.

He turned his eyes to look at the time displayed in the lower right corner of the computer, only to realize that it was already two o'clock in the morning.

What the hell was I thinking just now?

The little cold thoughts drifting from the bottom of my heart were almost like sporadic flames falling into the straw pile, igniting a raging fire that was difficult to extinguish.

Shocked, Kamijou Touma went to the bathroom and flushed his face with cold water to cool down his confused brain, and the crazy evil thoughts gradually faded out of his mind. When he walked out of the bathroom, he found that it was raining outside the window, and the neon lights flickered The light is distorted by the raindrops slowly falling on the glass into a grotesque.

This is a rainy night that is not destined to be peaceful.

Kamijou Touma stood in front of the window, staring at the ever-changing street scene, his brain began to sort out all the information it had received so far.

First of all, according to the file and the profile of Teacher Xiaomeng, it can be preliminarily inferred that the suspect "A" four years ago was a young male aged 17 to 25, about 165-175 cm tall, right-handed, but left-handed Equally smooth, living in a place in the sixth district of the city, with no physical defects in appearance and body, thin body, high probability of losing parents in childhood, having a cleanliness habit, liking to be alone, indifferent, paranoid, conceited, belonging to the high IQ group, with Strong anti-reconnaissance capabilities, rich medical knowledge reserves, and a strict set of self-conduct rules.

Four years ago, the "Banquet" series of cases led by "A" had two obvious modes - "A"'s accomplice murderer and "A" himself murdered. A waterproof piece of paper with the letter 'A'; the latter scene is more ironic, with 'Why' in blood, the victims have both eyelids cut off, and most of them are police officers.

Excluding the interference factors of accomplices, there are now a total of 20 victims, 16 police officers, 3 suspects, and 1 general public, who meet the "A" label behaviors. It can be seen that the victims are mainly responsible for their crimes from the beginning to the end. The hunted watcher and enforcer.

On the other hand, the selection criteria for victims of imitators has changed from single adult male cleaners and adult male vagrants to thin underage female students, and none of the victims has been sexually assaulted. There are no absolute requirements for types, such as men and women, age, etc., but to find the most suitable target for you through multiple trials.The change from a strong adult man to a thinner woman who is more controllable can also explain that the physical fitness of the imitator is not good, and he is not confident or even inferior. He needs to gain satisfaction by conquering and controlling objects weaker than himself.

At the scene of the imitation crime, there are three characteristics: the blood book "Why", the victim's eyes and eyelids were cut off, and the waterproof paper printed with red ink was placed in the mouth. The world admits that he needs an identity that can bring enough panic to confirm his strength and status, so that he can be proved and paid attention to.

Second is the scene.

The scene created by "A" does not blindly pursue sensual cruelty and blood, but artistry and appropriateness. Among the 20 victims, the bodies of 17 people were finally endowed with the posture that "A" ideally suited them— ——The corpses of those who believe in gods kneel in front of the gods; those who hate flowers and trees become the soil where flowers and trees bloom; those who beat their wives bite their own arms; The throat of the murderer was pierced by a sharp blade... Some of them did not see a drop of blood at the scene of death, but they all showed irony and mockery like a work of art. The stitches are as precise and neat as a machine, and the patience, skill and time it takes to complete all this far exceed the need to avoid detection, and it can also be seen that the perpetrator's almost paranoid perfect requirements for the scene from his own hands.

However, at the scene of the imitator, it is impossible for people to feel the little bit of black humor hidden behind the corpse. cruelty.Similarly, the method of handling the corpse is also quite rough. The number of skin flaps on the cut surface of the torso separation is large and obvious, avoiding the easily decomposed joint cavity, but cutting off the bones forcibly, which at least shows that the imitator lacks basic medical knowledge.The fact that the victim was not sexually assaulted shows that the imitator is relatively young or underdeveloped. In addition, the imitator also sewed the victim's lips quite sloppily...

An arc of inspiration suddenly visited Kamijou Touma's thoughts like lightning.

Stitched.

stitches.

"That's right..." Kamijou Touma, who was muttering like this, quickly walked back from the window to the wall next to the computer desk, checking the clues he wrote down:

"Meijiza Concrete Corpse Case" - The lips of the deceased Kengo Aoyagi were stitched together with needles and threads.Executor Taishi Fujita's head was stitched to a stuffed hound.

"Hongo Town Drowning Case" - Yagi Mori's lips were stitched together with needles and thread.

"Murder at Uchiko Rehabilitation Center in Chiyoda Ward" - The lips of the deceased were stitched together.

"Hakumincho Murder Incident" - Surveillance officer Togo Mirai's skin was cut and then stitched up.

"Minato Subway Cutthroat Demon Incident" - the bodies of surveillance officer Haruto Hirota and executive officer Nitta Akiba were stitched together.

Kamijou Touma carefully compared the data in the dossier, and found that except for the sutures used on the three policemen's bodies were surgical sutures, the sutures extracted from the wounds of the other victims were all ordinary cotton threads of different specifications.

It seems to be mentioned in the previous case report that the suture thread used to sew the lips of the two victims in two recent cases was also ordinary cotton thread.

But is there no difference between lines?

Kamijou Touma immediately stood up and rushed to the bathroom, took out his portable terminal from the bathtub and sent a communication request to Motoharu Tsuchimikado.

The contact tone lasted for a few seconds, and a voice with a Kyushu accent came out of the microphone:

"It's almost 02:30 in the morning, okay! Even the robots should give us a rest, meow!"

"I'm not here to supervise the work." Kamijou Touma said a little funny.

"Oh——" Tsuchimikado Motoharu reacted for about two or three seconds because of his slow thinking due to staying up late, and called out in a louder voice: "Then why are you calling meow?!"

Kamijou Touma ignored his noise and asked directly, "Where are you now?"

"Office." Tsuchimikado Motoharu seemed to move the microphone a little further away: "Are you in the rain outside? The sound of rushing water is so loud."

Kamijou Touma glanced at the faucet and shower that were still on, but didn't turn them off: "Since it's easy to handle in the office, the sutures that were extracted from the mouths of the two victims are still there?"

"Well, they are probably kept in the evidence room."

"Take it out. You and Jiebiao Danxi go and analyze it, and make sure to find the manufacturer that produced it."

Kamijou Touma seemed to have heard the sound of Motoharu Tsuchimikado choking on his saliva, and the blond friend on the side of the portable terminal coughed dryly for a long time before saying angrily, "How do you analyze this?!"

"Although I don't really understand this aspect, the composition, number of strands, dyeing and weaving methods of different types of thread are not exactly the same, right? As long as you check this out, you should be able to find its manufacturer."

Tsuchimikado Motoharu let out a long sigh: "I lost to you."

"I'll call you in an hour."

After finishing speaking, Kamijou Touma ignored the yelling complaining that an hour was too short, and hung up the phone.

-

The blue moon on the projection screen acts as the only light source in the entire room, and the chess pieces made of special transparent materials on the table cast colorful light and shadow on the black and white chessboard.

He Shengrang Zong stroked the cold and smooth touch of the black chess pieces with his fingers, and took another step closer:

"The powerful queen is floating on the edge of the board, but the king has no way to retreat. What else can you do to turn defeat into victory?"

"Are you so sure that you will win?" The black-haired woman who casually put on a white robe as a coat over her home clothes smiled: "The king is not hopeless. You didn't catch him four years ago." After four years, I still haven’t improved much.”

"Oh?" He Shengyan Zong looked at Fangchuan Platycodon sitting in front of him without surprise, "But if I said, I have already seen through that little trick you are playing?"

"bluff."

"Is that really the case? It's a bit too boring to play charades now. Let me just say it—" The smile on the corner of He Shengyang Zong's mouth is vicious and dangerous: "It's not a big deal for the bird to escape from the cage. As long as you want someone to stop Accelerator before he goes back to self-destruction, my hounds will follow, the victory will be mine, and all you do is for me Find him to pave the way."

Fang Chuan Kikyo's fingers on both knees trembled, and the expression on his face still looked like he was not interested in anything as usual:

"I'll give you back exactly what you said—'Is that true?'"

"why?"

"Because I'm betting. Maybe as you said, the king really has no way out, but you won't be the final winner."

“How come you see?”

"It would be foolish to think you have everything under control if you're always so vain. The game is full of factors beyond your control. You'll never win. No one wins. That's Stalemate. and)."

-

During the hour of waiting for the analysis results, Kamijou Touma simply read through the hundred-page dossier from beginning to end, but new questions arose—

What is the motivation for the copycat to do this?

In other words, what prompted this impersonator to assume the identity of "A"?

There may be factors that interfere with the investigation and eliminate their own suspicions, but it seems that anyone with a little care can see the difference between a 'fake product' and a 'true one'.

And the traces left by "A"'s deeds have been wiped out four years ago with his own disappearance. In the hearts of ordinary people, this name must not be as good as the serial killer who was active 200 years ago. Hand Jack is famous.

After eliminating unnecessary options, there was only one reason left in his mind: resonance.

Human beings will subconsciously or consciously imitate the words and deeds of those who yearn for, admire, approve of, and approve of.

In other words, the imitator probably saw something in "A" that he longed for but couldn't get, and a certain emotional and value-oriented resonance.

What will be the resonance between them?

Kamijou Touma begins to recall the contents of the Banquet series case file.

"A" is constantly looking for 'possible perpetrators' among the crowd, creating sensational cases and tearing apart the beautiful illusion of happiness that people see.He killed the policeman, dumped his body in a public place with people coming and going, and repeatedly provoked the state power organs, but the police had nothing to do with him.

What is he hating?And what did the impersonator see that he hated?

Thoughts began to clutter.

The blurry shadow reflected by the floor-to-ceiling windows seemed to have turned into a solid white monster, staring at Kamijou Touma with scarlet pupils.

The figure was like a star, blazing and dangerous, and to gaze upon it even for a moment would plunge one into a gray nothingness.

Memories of the past peeled off and shattered from the sprouting branches, and kept falling with the howling rainstorm outside the window.

Kamijou Touma suddenly realized that he was holding a knife in his hand, and the tip of the knife pierced into the chest of a strange woman. Thick and warm blood gushed out from the wound, soon staining his hands blood red, and the woman's hand was like a delicate model The gun with a faint brilliance fell to the ground, and he kicked it away from his face, as if it contained a poison that would rot people's flesh and bones.

The gun scraped the ground and slid for a few meters, and stopped after hitting someone's arm.

It was a corpse. The man whose head was smeared with blood and brains had his eyes open, and the luster in his eyes had lost its vitality.

He dropped the knife in his hand and screamed frantically in the dark alley where the sky was cut into a narrow rectangle.

why?

Why abandon me?

Why am I alone?

Why deny everything about me as a human being?

Why can I only curl up in the endless darkness?

Why should I be deprived of my only foothold in this world?

A voice in my heart shouted.

Shout out.

Revolt.

Revenge.

If you can't take back what this society has taken from you, then tear up all the fake happiness they put on you.

Let those ignorant people see the ugliness after the good, and see the shadows under the sun that were never allowed to exist.

Because you are the purest evil engraved in this world.

You are me.

Kamijou Touma opened his eyes and looked at his trembling hands that could not be restrained even if he clenched them tightly. The feeling of blood sticking to them was still lingering, and there were traces of the anger welling up from the bottom of his heart, but his train of thought had gradually become clear— —

It's anger, loneliness and despair.

It is the value they are born with but which is obliterated by society that prompts the copycats to choose "A".

They are such ordinary and lively individuals, but they are labeled as "heterogeneous" by the society and thrown into invisible prisons that never see the light of day.

They should hate everything in the world.

And tracing the source of this hatred should point to——

Kamijou Touma stroked his chest gently.

The witch of the oracle.

Sibyl.

Why didn't I discover your unwillingness and anger earlier, so can everything not end in today's tragedy?

Because this wish is so humble and small, like everyone has forgotten——

Just wanting to be loved as a human being.

The portable terminal in the bathroom rang harshly, Kamijou Touma moved into the room in a trance, and picked up the communication from Tsuchimikado Motoharu:

"what happened?"

"Obviously it was you who said I wanted to contact you, but there was no news after two hours, so I came to ask you." Tsuchimikado Motoharu said in a relaxed tone, but there was a hint of worry.

"It's nothing. I'm a little tired." Kamijou Touma shook his head, and said again: "Is there any result in the analysis?"

"Yes, yes." Tsuchimikado Motoharu seemed to change his sitting posture, and continued: "Let's find out, the quality of the sewing thread that sewed the mouths of the two victims is high-quality, and it is under the name of a company called Knit." The product."

"Then where does this company provide this sewing thread?"

"I've also investigated this, because there are very few people who need to sew things now, so Knit company not only provides goods for some handmade clothing manufacturers, but only provides sewing threads for handicraft classes or club activities to some famous schools." When Ma asked, Tsuchimikado Motoharu continued: "I have read the list of schools that Uniform buys from this company, and Yuwenguan Private High School is among them. So... the murderer is indeed from this high school." .”

"And there is a high probability that they are students."

"Why?" Tsuchimikado Motoharu was a little surprised.

"The two existing victims had no resistance wounds on their bodies, and both had burns left by the stun gun on their backs. We have found out before that the suspect identified the victims by relying on the Internet, which means that the victims before this The suspect had no way of knowing the identity of the suspect, and then the two agreed to meet, if you were a girl who came to a strange place alone, what would you think when facing a strange adult man?"

"Of course it will feel a little bit dangerous. Even with Sibyl's monitoring, as long as you have a normal mind, you will be on guard at this time, right?"

"But the victim didn't. The electric shock on the back shows that the victim calmly aimed his most defenseless back at the suspect. If the victim is completely unguarded, it can only show that there is some kind of trustworthy relationship between the two." common conditions—for example, peers who go out for adventure together, and it can also be seen from the fact that they use the sewing thread of the school. It is the channel of manual lessons closest to me."

"I see, is there anything else we need to do next?"

"Not for the time being. I will go to the Security Bureau to meet with you right away, and then I will go to Yu Wenguan High School to continue the transfer—"

"what?!"

Tsuchimikado Motoharu's exclamation interrupted Kamijou Touma's words.

He held his breath and continued to listen, and about a few minutes later, Tsuchimikado Motoharu rang in his ears with painful words: "Ah, No. 3 victim... Takase Yoki's body was found. In Taito District Tabatadai Park."

silence.

long silence.

After a long silence that seemed to span a century, Kamijou Touma spoke:

"Ah. Is that so, I see."

"Ah Shang—"

Kamijou Touma hangs up the phone before his friend's words of consolation are about to come out.

Another step too late.

Always, always.

How many people do you need to pay a heavy price for that late step?

Kamijou Touma staggered towards the door, and accidentally kicked the foot of the table when he took away the coat that was on the back of the chair, and the computer that had entered the hibernation standby state turned on again.

He stopped.

After Kamijou Touma stood in front of the dimly lit computer screen for a long time, he mechanically raised his right hand, held the mouse, and opened the memory card with '? ? ? ' named program.

Almost immediately, a window with a four-digit password field popped up from the desktop.

It is very important to you and me,

The days that set everything on a twist of no return.

Kamijou Touma tapped on the keyboard, and entered the whispered numbers into the window one by one——

1,

1,

0,

4.

The window disappears.

In its place is a simple, readable line of text:

"4-6 Negishi 8-chome, Taito-ku, Tokyo".

It is a remote area that has long been abandoned.

Kamijou Touma already understood the meaning of this address.

but……

"Answer me, Kamijou Touma, where's your own memory?"