"Angels and demons circle above me, through the thorns to the stars." "Only those unable to perceive its call do not know happiness." "Watch in awe, watch in awe." "Aeria gloris, aeria gloris." "Watch in awe, watch in awe." "Aeria gloris, aeria gloris." "I am calling, calling now, spirits rise and falling." "To remain myself longer." "Calling, calling, in the depths of longing." "To remain myself longer." "Watch in awe, aeria gloris." "What are your impressions of the International Counterterrorism Conference?" "This was your second time visiting the the SAS, wasn't it?" "The know-how that established the world's first cyberized unit is alive and well." "I have to admit, though, I'm getting fed up with their traditions." "Right." "What would you like to do?" "We're not going home until tomorrow, right?" "There's a place that I need to drop by." "What's this?" "An old friend of mine works here." "She runs a wine fund." "Wine fund?" "It's a form of asset management where wine is purchased and held in trust using a customer's deposits." "Since it's difficult to duplicate or even reproduce the aroma and flavor of natural wine, it's an easy choice for speculation." "With wine, vintage means everything, so their value steadily increases as the years go by." "That makes it a sound investment." "Come pick me up in two hours." "Until then, consider yourself at liberty." "An old friend, huh?" "Drive." "The Truth Behind the Unfinished Romance" "I just closed up shop." "How long has it been, two years?" "It came as a surprise when you suddenly left politics and emigrated to England." "At the moment, I'm more interested in business than politics." "I see." "And?" "What was it that you wanted to ask me?" "I see you're still as impatient as ever." "All right, then." "The fact of the matter is that I think the Mafia is laundering money with the help of my bank's upper management." "Money laundering?" "Do you have any hard evidence?" "There's a cleverly disguised file in our management registry." "It has a tough barrier, so I can't tell what's inside, but it's probably a secret account book." "So, the scheme is for the bank to convert the Mafia's money into wine, store it, and convert it back into cash after the wine goes up in value?" "Plus, there has to be a third party mediating between the bank and the Mafia." "The thing is, I can't figure out who it is." "If I could just get the proof I need, they could arrest the lot of them." "So, will you help me?" "I want you to work with me to find out who the pipe provider is." "I hate having to pretend to be ignorant while taking part in this dirty business." "But this is England." "This is completely out of my jurisdiction." "One false move, and it would end up as an abuse of power." "Besides..." ""I can't act solely out of personal feelings."" "That was your favorite phrase, as I recall." "That's right." "I see." "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." "I understand." "In that case, let's consider the subject closed." "We haven't seen each other in ages, so why don't we get caught up and talk about old times?" "Um..." "I'm sorry, sirs..." "But it's after business hours." "Hey!" "Go make sure nobody else is around!" "What was that?" "Aside from the security guard, we should be the only ones here." "I think it came from the front gate." "Hey, now!" "Hold it right there!" "This thing is packed with the real detail of their backroom deals." "This'll be more than enough to get out of the mob." "How did you get through our system's security?" "When we left the mob, I helped myself to a barrier breaker." "Right..." "Okay, looks like the good stuff is all being kept on shelf E-5." "Stay here and watch them." "And there they are..." "E-2..." "E-3..." "E-4..." "Huh?" "There's no E-5!" "Damn it!" "Why isn't the wine we need in here?" "!" "A bank robbery, sir?" "You know which branch." "Chances are that the lady bank president  and the security guard are being held hostage." "That could be a problem." "On the contrary, it's a blessing in disguise." "If you surround them, they'll probably hole themselves up." "Retrieving the ledger is your top priority." "There are always accidents during raids." "A few casualties are unavoidable." "Understood, sir." "Call Squad 3 together for an emergency meeting." "The cops?" "!" "Hey, you!" "The fool at the window!" "That's right!" "You!" "Get over here for a minute!" "What do you want, old man?" "What going on?" "!" "What was that noise?" "!" "Well?" "!" "I can't verify the target." "Damn!" "We blew our chance?" "Snipers?" "!" "How could the cops be here so soon?" "You two must be behind this!" "Now you've gone and done it..." "You personally cut off all means of contacting the outside, right?" "The land line is currently severed, and our cyber-comms are being jammed, too." "The only possible explanation..." "With all the power turned off, that's the only thing that still has a link to the outside." "It's odd, though." "English banks have a fundamental distrust of the police." "We ourselves have a security system that's connected to a private company." "If an access to our ledger was detected, it ought to be the security company that would respond first." "Right." "It's becoming clear who the mediator is between the bank and the Mafia, isn't it?" "Wine, huh?" "Is that a gift?" "No." "Well, maybe it is." "I'll take this, then." "What sort of person will you be giving it to?" "I can wrap it to match their tastes." "That's all right." "I'll take it as-is." "I've never heard of cops getting involved over wine deals." "Don't give me that crap!" "There was no sound of gunfire when they shot at your friend." "That's because you use a silencer when your goal is to assassinate someone." "You're in quite a dangerous situation here." "I'm guessing that you can't go back to your organization, and even if you did surrender to the police, that's no guarantee of your safety." "Wait a minute!" "We've got hostages!" "Shouldn't that mean that they can't do anything rash?" "No." "We have no value as hostages." "Are you saying that they'll try to eliminate us along with them?" "That would be my guess." "They'll eliminate anyone who might have learned of the existence of that ledger." "That's secrecy preservation 101." "You can handle the matter however you see fit afterwards." "I work with the police in Japan." "There's a good chance that my commanding officer is inside." "I request disclosure of the situation and information, as well as a joint rescue operation." "Request denied!" "We will handle situations that occur within our jurisdiction!" "Interfere any further, and I'll slap you in cuffs!" "Times like this really drive home how much we rely on the Chief's ability to pull strings to always let us get our way." "Let's get outta here before it's too late." "Show me all the weapons you two have." "Let's get outta here before it's too late." " Huh?" " Huh?" "You had a map, too, right?" "We'll use those to put together a plan." "Say what?" "Are you kidding me, old man?" "You realize you're a hostage, right?" "!" "Relax." "We don't want to sit here and get killed, either." "You two provide the weapons." "I'll provide the brains." "We're short on time." "Hurry it up." "Even the damn press corps is here." "That must be the Major's doing." "Now they'll find it difficult to use methods of forced entry like explosives or snipers." "We did like you said, old man." "What next?" "As I recall, you had one hand grenade, didn't you?" "What do you have in mind?" "Let's get this straight." "I still don't trust you." "Try anything stupid, and we'll" "We need to gain enough time to make our escape." "That over there is their only point of entry." "We're going to booby-trap it." "Get to your posts!" "Police are currently attempting to confirm one theory which suggests that this may be..." "Police are currently attempting to confirm one theory which suggests that this may be..." "The press corps got here faster than I expected." "Police are currently attempting to confirm one theory which suggests that this may be an action planned by the IRA, which is currently in dire need of funds." "Looks like we'll have to storm the place after all..." "Personnel are now in position!" "Of the people on the security camera feed we obtained, we were able to get an ID on these two." "We believe the others to be a criminal group." "Commit this data to memory!" "Listen up!" "If the criminals show any sign of resistance, show no mercy!" "And this goes without saying, but I want the hostages retrieved unharmed." "But if something unexpected happens, that's a different story." "Hey, the area past here's been cordoned off." "There's a personal matter I thought you could help me with." "What do you mean, "personal"?" "We did what you said." "But are you sure you want it rigged this way?" "Lt'll be fine." "What should we do next?" "Move the guard you knocked out." "If we leave him here, he'll be in danger when they storm the place." "How the hell does that old man know so much about this stuff?" "How should I know?" "!" "Once you're done with that, save the hidden account files that you two opened." " Huh?" " Huh?" "All right, we've done all that we can to buy ourselves some time." "We should get ready to make our own escape." "There's a bomb at the front entrance?" "What good did they think that would do?" "Change point of entry!" "We'll go in through the apartment building next door!" "I'll take point." "Be prepared for the unexpected!" "Commander!" "W-What is it?" "!" "It's wine!" "What?" "Looks pretty old, too!" "You idiots!" "Where are the robbers?" "!" "Commander!" "Find them?" "!" "We've located one person believed to be a hostage." "Matching against records!" "He's one of the bank's security guards." "He's unconscious, but there's no sign of visible wounds." "The sewers?" "!" "So, they escaped through here while they made us think they were holed up inside, huh?" "Secure all the sewer exits behind the building!" "The rest of us will continue pursuit!" "Commander!" "Call the bomb squad." "One of the hostages is rigged with explosives." "Crap!" "The bomb at the entrance was just a decoy?" "!" "What a dirty way to buy themselves time!" "If I were the Chief, how would I escape after doing that?" "Hurry up and get that off him!" "What the hell?" "It's an ordinary alarm clock." "It's just a dummy?" "!" "What about the other pursuit teams?" "!" "Have you captured the robbers at the sewer exit?" "We've sealed off every passage!" "There's nowhere left for them to run!" "We've blocked off every way out of the sewers, but there's no sign of them." "It's as if they vanished into thin air." "Don't be stupid!" "Expand your search perimeter and search every nook and cranny along the river." "Capture them no matter what." "Is that clear?" "Where the hell did they run to?" "Well, well, well." "What would you have done if I hadn't figured out where you went?" "I knew you would." "Sorry I'm so late, but it took them a long time to clear out." "Or maybe I should have waited a bit longer?" "If you had, a lot of wines that are sensitive to temperature and humidity would have been ruined." "We had to take out a lot of bottles, after all." "So, a hidden wine cellar, huh?" "Apparently, they store their choice wines separately." "Forget about the wine this time." "If you do, we'll let you go." "We did find the secret account documents because of you, after all." "What do you say?" "Aren't you thankful to walk away from that situation with your lives?" "Are you sure you want to let them go?" "Their robbery attempt may have been foiled, but they're still criminals." "Well, I suppose it's none of our business." "For one thing, it's out of our jurisdiction." "They haven't found them yet?" "Did you find them?" "!" "Um, Chief?" "A man by the name of Aramaki is here to see you." "What?" "These records document all of your illegal deals in the past that prove your ties to the Mafia." "It was a clever laundering method that left no tracks, but you should have shown more respect for human life." "W-Where the hell have you been hiding all this time?" "!" ""The truth is in the wine"..." "As I recall, that's a saying you have here in England, isn't it?" "We left the documents with your local Public Security." "We gave them a starting point." "I expect they'll continue the investigation." "I'm sorry I got you involved in this mess." "But I couldn't have done it without you." "Thank you so much." "It was nothing." "I only got involved because things worked out that way." "Don't worry about it." "Well, I suppose I should be going now." "Give my regards to your husband." "Huh?" "Oh, you mean this." "I had planned on keeping it secret forever, but I didn't actually get married back then." "The reason I came here anyway was because I needed to make it on my own." "I only wear this to keep men at arm's length." "Tell me, could you postpone going home for just a day?" "No." "I wish I could, but I have a mountain of work waiting for me." "Oh, I see." "In that case, allow me to give you this to thank you for your help." "I had hoped to drink it with you, though." "Don't worry, this is from my collection." "You know, I wouldn't really mind if you pushed back our return by a day, Chief." "Just like wine, some human relationships need time to mature." "Don't think too much of it." "Really, now?" "I'll never be able to bring this through Customs." "Major, when we get back to the hotel, join me for a glass." "Hey, that's perfect." "I bought this this afternoon." "Why am I not surprised?" "Tachikoma..." "Tachikomatic Days!" "I can't drink another drop of natural oil..." "Huh?" "What happened to me?" "My spirit must have detached from my body when I rolled over in my sleep!" "This is bad!" "Huh?" "Why can't I...?" "Oh, no!" "Oh, no!" "Help me!"