"I'm a soldier, and that means that I am both defendant and judge." "I stand at both ends of the fire." "Leaning into the curves, overtaking life and death," "I'm running to fight the shadow of lies." "No matter how tangled the web of deception, light will always light up the outline of the truth." "Save yourtears forthe day when the pain is far behind." "On yourfeet, come with me." "We are soldiers, stand or die." "Save yourfears, take your place." "Save them forJudgment Day." "Fast and free, follow me." "Time to make the sacrifice." "We rise orfall..." "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" "Thank you so much for coming, Aramaki." "I didn't have much choice." "You were the one who goaded the Prime Minister into sending me, Chairman Tadokoro." "Now, now, don't get so worked up." "Ever since that e-money burglary incident," "I've lost faith in the prefectural police and my own security company." "I hate to be abrupt, but might I ask what you want us to do?" "Well, the truth is, it's about that hacker." "What's his name again?" "As I recall, it was something along the lines of" "Cash Eye." "Is that who you mean?" "Yes, yes." "I received this warning from him yesterday." "After it came, I decided to store all my assets as cash." "And that's why my entire fortune is locked in this building's underground vault at this very moment." "I see." "In a sense, that might be the safest defensive measure you could take." "That's what I thought, too." "But last night, he operated a female-model android by remote control, and he" "Look at this." "He had her slip into this room as if it were the easiest thing in the world, deliberately destroyed a security camera to alert us to the break-in, and then escaped by jumping out of this 50th-story window." ""Physical defensive measures can't prevent the theft."" "Do you suppose that was the message of intent that he wanted to send?" "So it would seem." "From what I've heard so far, this doesn't seem to be our department." "It would have been wiserto have contacted the prefectural police straight away." "They have more manpowerthan a small, elite unit like Section 9." "That's out of the question, I'm afraid." "At the time the crime is to be committed, that is, tomorrow night, a secret party is going to be held which will be attended by the major players of the financial and political worlds." "No, it's not an illegal party, but rather a gathering of individuals with similar interests." "It's not something that uncultured people would be allowed into." "And due to the nature of the party, it would be impossible to change the location or postpone it." "You understand, don't you?" "National policies are sometimes set at events such as these." "That is why I need a man who understands reason." "I'll let the security company's staff see to tightening up security." "But the real problem is the nature of the man who is in charge of the party site." "I've received orders from my superiors, so it would seem that I'm unable to decline." "Don't be like that." "Now I understand why the Prime Minister recommended you to me." "I can almost smell herwhite blood from here." "She isn't an android." "My apologies." "But multipurpose, full-body prosthetics fan the flames of my libido for inorganic bodies just as much as androids do." "Prime Minister Kayabuki must really hate that guy." "Regardless of her personal impressions of the man, she's doing this to force through reforms that have been deadlocked." "It's also the right move to make to sweep away the last lingering ghosts of the previous administration." ""Hell hath no fury," huh?" "I'm not too happy at being forced to play along with this, though." "This doesn't strike me as a job that's worth giving up my vacation for." "Sorry about that." "But there will be lots more that will get on your nerves tomorrow." "Don't lose yourtemper before the job's done." "You getting this?" "Yeah, I see it." "Hey, that guy just now was the director of Hanka Precision Instruments." "Still, the thought of a party where the top dogs of the political and financial worlds show off the sex dolls that they keep hidden from theirwives blows my mind." "Oops." "The former Foreign Affairs Minister is making his entrance." "Didn't he learn his lesson?" "Unbelievable..." "Talk about depressing." "Hey, the car with the Chief and the Major is pulling up." "This oughtabe amind-blower." "Talk about depressing..." "Hey, check it out." "Does it look to you like the old man is enjoying himself more than he ought to?" "I think you're right." "Still, the Major seems to be a real hit with the freaks down there." "One of 'em just copped a feel just now!" "We're better off not knowing." "Okay, let's let the Major handle getting the passport to the underground vault from Chairman Tadokoro, and let's get ready, too." "Right." "I guess it's time for us to hit the party and do some mingling, too." "Tachikoma, you ready on your end?" "Preparations complete!" "Ready over here, too!" "Okay, wait for the Majorls signal." "An excellent decision, Aramaki." "It's the perfect camouflage." "I already have other men in position on the floorwith orders not to disturb the party." "Well, just considerthe state of alert we're at." "Even assuming that the thief made it to the vault, I doubt he could carry out all the cash." "But, well, we've seen what he's capable of." "Catch the thief, no matterwhat." "I understand." "Join the party and mingle until the time the theft is to be committed." "What do you say, miss?" "Would you like me to show you around?" "I'd love to." "Ishikawa, what's yourstatus?" "We've hit abit of a snag." "There's a chance that Tadokoro beefed up the security equipment in his underground vault a few days ago." "I've checked the manufacturer's server, but the plans for all the newly installed components had been wiped." "He's done a thorough information management job." "I doubt that there's even anything left on paper media." "The Major has left to obtain Tadokoro's retinal and cyberbrain patterns." "Even if she manages to get them, if we can't get that door open, it'll all be for nothing." "I'll do what I can to find another way to get the door open." "Hop to itl" "You might laugh and write this off as an odd hobby, but among those of us who have experienced all of life's pleasures, what we finally arrived at was a fetish for dolls." "What do you think?" "Each one is haute couture, made from scratch by famous designers." "Their bodies have capabilities not much different from those of your own prosthetic body." "Would you be interested in swapping into one to try it out?" "Major, how's it coming?" "You realize that this is a clear-cut case of sexual harassment..." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Old habits die hard." "Still, even though that body of yours might look like a multipurpose model at first glance," "I'm betting that it has all sorts of detail work built into it." "What's its skin sensitivity?" "16 squared?" "Just put up with it for now." "I can't deal with feeling every little thing, so I usually turn off the sense organs." "I see." "What do you say?" "Why not test one?" "All right, begin the operation." "I know what you want." "You wouldn't happen to want to make love to my body while it's empty, would you?" "I see that you have a good grasp of the proclivities of men such as myself..." "Would you be interested in doing the opposite, ...and treating a conscious human being like a puppet?" "I'll hold perfectly still foryou with my sense organs turned on." "Sorry about that." "I can't have you continuing and going into cardiac arrest on me, so pick up where we left off in your dreams." "Chief, I've got his retinal and cyberbrain patterns." "Good." "Proceed to stage two." "Roger." "Batou, Togusa, how's it coming?" "We're on ourway down now." "Ishikawal" "I'm on it." "Hey, this area is" "Mr. Tadokoro sent us personally." "Monitorswitch complete." "Good work, Tachikoma." "Of coursel" "Hold it right there." "Okay, now we just need to wait forthe Major." "I'm already here." "You get the patterns?" "Of course." "We should've just brain dove Tadokoro and brought him down here with us." "That wasn't an option." "We have something else for him to do." "Can't that system be turned off?" "No, it runs independently." "And if we hauled off and destroyed it, the control center would realize that something was up." "That's not a serious problem." "The question now is whether or not we can open the doorto the vault." "I managed to dig something up." "Based on the amount of cash that was brought into the Tadokoro building, I'd say that it's probably an analog model that deliberately utilizes a quadruple layer of old-style locks." "See?" "Like I said, we should've brought Tadokoro." "It's too late forthat now." "Ishikawa, how about going with Code B?" "Yeah, that might work." "You should be able to burn through the vault's struts with the explosives we're prepping now." "But the instant we do, they'll be alerted to the break-in." "That can't be helped." "The other problem is that, even assuming we blast the doors open and get into the vault, we don't know what sort of surprises he has set up inside." "There's no guarantee that it won't have a double layer of defenses." "Like they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained." "Stealing the money isn't our objective here, so that doesn't matter." "Okay, Code B it is, then." "But you're on your own from here on in." "Be careful." "Thanks for the concern." "Okay, I'll be back soon." "We need to get ready forthe next stage." "So, this is where you've been." "Aramaki...?" "It's this late already?" "What about the party?" "Still in full swing." "It's almost time forthe theft." "Yes, of course." "I can only pray that nothing happens." "Chief, please come to the control room ASAP." "It looks like the thief has snuck in." "He's what?" "I" "Is it time yet...?" "Tachikomal What's yourstatus?" "Ready and waiting!" "Just give the word!" "We've switched over to our internal generator..." "Let's hurry." "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no cause for alarm!" "However, given the nature of the party, we mustn't allow anything to happen, so we ask that you follow our instructions and evacuate the building immediately." "Look at this, sir." "That's the android from yesterday!" "How did she make it all the way down there?" "I'll send my men there at once." "No, wait." "It looks like she's trying to break into the vault, but what she is is a rat caught in a trap." "Your meaning, sir?" "If anyone otherthan myself enters that vault, a second set of security doors will slam shut." "And they're designed not to open again without my Ghost key." "Ghost key...?" "Anyway, you people should go find the hacker who's remote-controlling that android!" "He's the one you should arrest." "Chief it looks like it's either an autonomous A.I., or someone with a full prosthetic body." "We're not picking up any trace of a remote control signal." "Which means that this is the real hacker..." "Yes, sir." "And we also just received this second warning notice." "Aramaki, come with me to the vault and verify that her death was the result of justifiable self defense." "The vault seals itself, and then generates a near-vacuum for a set period of time." "Cyborg or no, that person isn't going to survive that." "What are you standing around for?" "!" "Chief, the Major..." "What's the matter?" "Have you found her?" "!" "There's no sign of her." "That's not possible!" "Search everywhere!" "I'm sorry I'm late." "It's just that Chairman Tadokoro is such an amazing man..." "Well, l" "Major?" ".How did you" "When you saw me going inside, that was a virtual image created by the Tachikoma." "Boo-yah!" "By the way, Chairman Tadokoro..." "These stacks of bank notes are stored in your vault, so we may assume that they all belong to you, correct?" "Of course they do." "What are you implying?" "Check them." "What are you doing?" "You should be looking forthat thief's corpse, not wasting yourtime on this!" "Chairman Tadokoro, our real objective here was to get you to open this vault yourself and check the serial numbers on the bills inside." "Having received information that you were managing the hidden assets of former Party Secretary Yakushima, we conducted an internal investigation to determine if it was true." "Major?" "They're the serial numbers that the Tax Bureau gave us, all right." "This isn't something that can be explained away easily, is it?" "There are many things that we would like to ask you about." "Would you come with us, please?" ""We've come to investigate you." "National Tax Bureau, Criminal Investigation Department."" "Hurry up, please." "How's it going on your end?" "We're cutting 'em loose." "If we tug on these guys, there's a good chance that we'll turn up even more hidden financial backers." "Are these people what they call "perverts"?" "Maybe you oughta call them "eccentric" instead." "Tsutomu Tadokoro, former chairman of the Federation of Economic Organizations and said to have a fat pipeline to the political world, has been arrested on suspicion of large-scale tax evasion and money laundering." "You know, it was kinda fun, playing cat burglar..." "Still, you had me worried there for a second." "I thought you might get vacuum-packed in there, Major." "Teamwork involves telling yourteammates what you're up to beforehand, you know?" "Hey, now." "When it comes to the thief trade, deception is rule number one." "How long are you going to keep playing at this cat-burglar nonsense?" "!" "Work is piling up, people!" "Maybe I really should consider a new line of work..." "Tachikomatic Days" "I'm back!" "Geez, what they doing, hanging around in here with the lights off?" "All together now!" "One two three!" "The Major's bountiful bust and hips!" "Bust and hips!" "Bust and hips!"