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The elevator's soft mechanical whirring nearly disappears under the pressure in your ears. You swallow. The floor number display counts up through the basement levels. Your destination is a long way down.
"Relax," says the antlered rabbit. Its mouth doesn't move. "Remember, you're the boss."
The doors open. Before you is a mess hall, and ten people at a dining table. They are all restrained to their seats.
"Good morning, Es!" a sly voice says. You groggily open your eyes and sit up on the couch you were slumped over.
"'Es'?" you ask, brows furrowed.
"That's your name." The voice can only be coming from the creature in front of you. It's a gray rabbit wearing a white shirt collar and black necktie, with a deer's antlers attached to its head.
"I don't remember. I don't know how I got here... And, rabbits don't talk."
The rabbit huffs. Another thing you know rabbits don't do.
"Tch, I'm not a rabbit. Call me Jackalope. You know a lot. You know what an inspector does, right? And enforcers?"
"Of course, everyone does. They deal with crime. Enforcers are latent criminals themselves."
"Very good. Es, you are an inspector. From now on, you're responsible for division 36."
"Huh? But I've never done this before... Have I?"
"Not a problem. Just do what you think is right. All your enforcers are new, too."
You scan the lineup of your 'division'. Most of them look like adults, or at least teenagers, except one.
"Jackalope, there has got to be some kind of mistake here."
"Exactly!" says an enforcer. View biodata? pops up from your ocular implants, and you think affirmative.
Mikoto Kayano, 23, male. You wait, but that's all Sibyl gives you. No crime coefficient, nothing.
"I was just minding my own business, then suddenly, I'm trapped here with these strangers! You're from Public Safety, right?" He looks at the ID around your neck. "Are we eyewitnesses? I have no idea what this is about, but l'll tell you everything I saw! And then you'll let me ou-aah!"
The enforcer next to him tips her chair to headbutt him from the side, and rights herself again. No mean feat, with all of them in straitjackets and their ankles strapped to their chair legs.
"Shut up," says Kotoko Yuzuriha, 20, female.
"This is not an interview or interrogation," you say. "You are all here for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to start again. From today, you are MWPSB enforcers in division 36. I am Es, the inspector of your division.
"Normally, enforcers can be released from their duties if their hues become sufficiently clear. However, like all former latent criminals, they are still subject to special monitoring.
"If your performance in division 36 passes my standards, you will be free to leave MWPSB. But in addition to that, your psycho-pass history will be completely overwritten, and your crime coefficient will no longer be tracked. The world will see you as if your hue was always clear.
"I do not know the details of why you were chosen," you continue, covering all the bases from Jackalope's earlier spiel about the rules of the project. "And I cannot measure your crime coefficients. You all have a fair chance of earning a 'pass' and returning to society without being labelled latent criminals."
Surprisingly, your enforcers' reactions are mixed. At the opposite end of the table from Kotoko, Haruka Sakurai, 17, male, shifts nervously. Yuno Kashiki, 18, female, rolls her eyes halfway through your announcement.
From his facial expressions, Fuuta Kajiyama, 20, male, is mentally cycling through what to say as a comeback. Mu Kusunoki, 16, female, purses her lips.
Shidou Kirisaki, 29, male, and Mahiru Shiina, 22, female, both have distant looks in their eyes, but Mahiru seems much more confused.
Kazui Mukuhara, 29, male, keeps a poker face. Then your gaze falls on the one who puzzled you earlier: Amane Momose, 12, female. She gives you a polite smile.
"Jackalope, how is a child supposed to work as an enforcer?"
"You're the boss, Inspector."
"Speak for yourself. You don't look older than me," Mu interjects while Jackalope is still speaking. "Why do you get to tell me what to do?"
"This can't be legal!" Fuuta snaps. "If anyone out there has a problem with whatever the hell any of us did, we have the right to a trial under Sybil, not some PSB intern!"
"No, no, wait!" Haruka says, breath shaking. "I want to stay here. Maybe I don't understand all of it, but please teach me and I'll do it. I'll do my best."
"Excuse me, is Jackalope your pet animal?" Amane says. She is oddly undisturbed by the situation.
"Hello," says a new voice from Jackalope's now-moving mouth, like the Hana holograms that keep civilians away from psycho-hazards. "Would you like to pet me?"
Amane's eyes shine. "Yes please."
Jackalope hops over to the girl, and his original voice pops up in the back of your head.
"Heh, gets them every time."
You wonder if the Dominator ocular implants are your only cybernetic enhancements.
"Not bad," says Yuno, finally showing some interest. "It's cuter this way. I saw an electric lamb they tried to make look too much like a real one. Gross. I swear they used actual lambskin and wool, it was just weird."
Shidou clears his throat. "Inspector, what happens if we don't pass?"
You wish you knew the answer to that, too. "You will have three chances to pass based on your assignments. The third judgement will be your final one."
"Is that 'three strikes you're out', or 'best of three'?" asks Kotoko. You bet she's the bargaining type.
You turn to Jackalope for guidance, but he's napping on Amane's lap.
"It will be clear when the time comes."
"See? You're a natural," Jackalope narrates. You might as well still be on that elevator, because you've got one hell of a sinking feeling.