Chapter Text
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-18 19:53
Subject: Followup on Komatsubara Cold Case
Detective Sanada
I apologise for reaching out to you again abruptly. When last we spoke, you mentioned concerns about the unknown whereabouts of Keisuke Komatsubara's research materials that you and the Ergonomics Investigation Office were looking into. I have been following up on this in my own time to little success thus far, but recent events here in Ayanagi have me concerned that the situation is about to escalate.
Three days ago a high school student was found dead in highly suspicious circumstances, and there is strong evidence that she was targeted specifically for because her profile was a match for the Kirijo Group's early "case study" participants - an orphan, with the right psychological profile, poor academics, and few close connections or contacts who might have followed up on her disappearance.
Another student who was with her at the time she was killed is in hospital with a severe-leaning-terminal case of apathy syndrome.
It seems to me that someone has acquired some of Komatsubara's research and begun putting it to malicious use. Obviously I have some familiarity with the context of Komatsubara's work from the initial murder investigation in 2014, but I know this is a topic your team was particularly focused on, and I thought it would be prudent to let you know.
I understand if your own current circumstances prevent you from directly actioning this, but in that case I would appreciate any contextual documents you may be able to provide. I will continue investigating myself, but I'm eager to catch up as soon as possible to discuss further.
Thanks,
Ryo Kanzato
Chief of Police
Ayanagi City Police Department
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-19 09:17
Subject: Incident in Ayanagi City
Mitsuru
Got an alarming report about activity in Ayanagi from one of the officers on the old Shadow Ops shortlist - Ryo Kanzato. He's the police chief there now.
He contacted me yesterday about a pair of students - one who suffered a "highly suspicious" death and one who caught a case of apathy syndrome (his words, not mine). He seems to believe this is related to Keisuke Komatsubara's research in some way, following up on that old cold case. As I recall, Komatsubara was part of the project for artificial Persona awakening - if his research is in the wild, we could be looking at another Strega situation.
Given the difference in timing between this one and the Kyoto deaths, it seems unlikely to be one party moving back and forth across Japan, and there doesn't seem to be any commonality between the victims. Chief Kanzato at least seems to think it might be a home-grown Ayanagi problem.
I'd look into it myself, but with Kyoto and the hearing coming up I don't think I can justify taking on much more work at the moment. But I think we need to get eyes on this as soon as possible. Shirogane, maybe? Or one of our navigators? Call me ASAP.
-Aki
Akihiko Sanada
Executive Consultant
Special Experimental Ergonomics Section
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-18 13:22
Subject: RE: Incident in Ayanagi City
Akihiko
Given that both of Chief Kanzato's parents worked under Komatsubara for several years, and that he lead the investigation into Komatsubara's death, I am inclined to believe that he knows what he's talking about concerning Komatsubara's research.
Therefore, I share your concern at the possibility we may be looking at active Artificial Persona users, rather than a natural Shadow incident. In either case, it is clear that some form of metanormal activity is afoot, and sending staff without the potential to defend themselves is a risk I will not allow - regardless, Fuuka is in Okinawa and Rise is on tour, so neither are available at the moment.
Detective Shirogane is a better option, but she's currently in Malaysia following a potential lead on Shido's assassin, and I'm unsure when she plans to return. Given her work history and reputation - and her professional distance from the rest of SEES - I agree she would be the most reliable and useful agent to send. I will follow up with her on her availability moving forward. In the meantime, Aigis and I will attempt to locate any information the Kirijo Group may still hold about Komatsubara or his research that may be relevant for Kanzato's investigations.
Can I ask that you please stay in contact with Kanzato and provide what consultancy you can, until such time that we are able to get someone up to Ayanagi in person? Also, ask him to report these incidents up through the proper channels to whomever you think most appropriate - additional pressure on the Committee may help accelerate their schedule and in turn advance our own agenda.
Mitsuru Kirijo
Head of Operations
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-18 13:42
Subject: RE: RE: Incident in Ayanagi City
Understood.
I'll see how much work I can offload onto the team here to free up time to consult Kanzato, but I won't have perfect availability. Kanzato is pretty competent himself, so I'm sure he'll make it work until we can arrange something more permanent.
There's another Shadow Operatives candidate in the city, who I briefly made contact with in 2012. He passed vetting then, but I'll have Kanzato do another check before reaching out to him.
Let me know when you get those files, and I'll figure out how to pass them on to him without the Committee giving us trouble.
-Aki
Akihiko Sanada
Executive Consultant
Special Experimental Ergonomics Section
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-18 14:13
Subject: RE: Followup on Komatsubara Cold Case
Chief Kanzato
Based on your initial description of the situation, this does sound like something my team would be interested in. However, due to ongoing procedural and legal reforms in the Security Planning Division, we currently have no capacity to investigate this incident ourselves, especially as this is a single incident. If you receive reports of similar incidents in the near future, it would be ideal if you could report these to the Security Planning Division accordingly, as this would make our case for intervention stronger.
As you requested, I am working on acquiring some of our historical documentation into Komatsubara's work both during and after his employment with the Kirijo Group. Due to data security risks, I won't be able to email those files directly to you at this time, but we will find an alternate means of communicating that information as soon as possible. I will also be available to provide phone consultation as frequently as possible, but we can offer no further or more direct support at this time.
In the meantime, please continue investigating this as a regular police matter. We can discuss further details by phone.
Detective Akihiko Sanada
Security Bureau
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-19 14:34
Subject: RE: RE: Followup on Komatsubara Cold Case
Detective Sanada
I appreciate the assistance, and your offer of taking your time to consult. We at the Ayanagi Police will continue to do what we can to investigate this case, and any potential links to Komatsubara himself. I will contact you by phone shortly.
Thanks,
Ryo Kanzato
Chief of Police
Ayanagi City Police Department
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-20 18:27
Subject: Summary of Komatsubara's research
Chief Kanzato
We're still working on pulling together all the relevant documentation - there's a lot of it, and Komatsubara was nothing if not thorough in his reporting. But I've discussed the matter with those closer to the science, and we have some cliff notes.
First, apathy syndrome is generally caused when an individual's Shadow is severed from the body in some way - either by being assimilated into larger Shadows, as happened increasingly frequently between 2000 and 2010, or by being destroyed. The occurrence of apathy syndrome indicates some manner of Shadow, or Persona activity, is involved.
We can't speak for this 'reversal' case, but given what you described, we strongly suspect it is also the ability of a Shadow or Persona. There are some records of similarly strange deaths in Iwatodai during the 2000s, which are believed to have been caused by individuals' Shadows going berserk and tearing free. None of those records are as specific as the victim turning inside out, but it isn't entirely out of the question that these incidents were caused by Shadows.
That said, Komatsubara was a key researcher involved in Persona research, particularly in terms of awakening Personas through artificial means, and it is known that such Personas more frequently exhibit complex, unusual, and esoteric abilities compared to naturally developed Personas. Thus, it's not outside the realm of possibility that this 'reversal' is a unique and yet-unseen kind of Persona ability, either.
Under the circumstances, we consider it a possible risk that, if Komatsubara's research is at play, whoever obtained copies of it may have created artificial Persona users who are carrying out these attacks. If you can conclusively prove the existence of hostile Persona users (and report as such to the SPD) that would go a long way to ensuring our ability to support you more properly in future. Or, unofficially, justify us ignoring the SPD to assist anyway.
If there are hostile Persona users, though, be careful not to engage unless absolutely necessary. They should functionally be considered armed and extremely dangerous at all times.
One last thing - once I find them, I'll pass you the contact details for Inui Noboru. In the past, he was another potential candidate for the Shadow Operatives, but never joined for the same reasons as you. He's aware of Personas, although he doesn't have one himself, and he works as a dorm overseer at Naginomori. Given the likely target demographic, he may be able to provide some ground-level intelligence that your police officers can't. That said, he was vetted back in 2013 and I've had little contact with him since - you may need to check up on him yourself.
Akihiko Sanada
Executive Consultant
Special Experimental Ergonomics Section
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-21 19:07
Subject: RE: Summary of Komatsubara's research
Understood. I'll have my officers run a background check on him, and reach out to him if he comes up clean.
In the event we identify suspects, I'll try to ensure I'm directing any arrests or investigations personally. If there are hostile Persona users, how likely is it that I can count on your support in the event of violence?
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-22 19:19
Subject: RE: RE: Summary of Komatsubara's research
Most of our active Persona users have SPD breathing down their necks over what happened in Kyoto right now, so we can't get anyone into Ayanagi to assist you directly, yet. But if you can verify a definite threat from hostile Persona users, we will get as many agents as we can to you in under 24 hours.
We'd move in now, but there's already significant distrust between us and the authorities. The last thing we need to do is make ourselves look unreliable by running off. Our attempts to impress upon the Committee the potential risks have not gone well.
Akihiko Sanada
Executive Consultant
Special Experimental Ergonomics Section
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-31 10:03
Subject: Second Reverse Case in Ayanagi
Detective Sanada,
We've had another incident overnight. One Reverse Case, one dead by Apathy Syndrome, two more in hospital. Victim of the Reverse Case was a third year from Motodawa High School, meets the same target profile we've previously discussed. Other casualties - victim's father deceased, aneurysm possibly agitated by apathy syndrome. Victim's mother and boyfriend stable but unresponsive with severe but non-lethal apathy syndrome.
Incident occurred at the victim's family home - no sign of forced entry and minimal signs of struggle. No CCTV cameras or anything beyond circumstantial evidence, but I'm increasingly convinced we're looking at human actors here, not the monsters you initially discussed.
Inui came up clean, so I have introduced him to the basics of what's going on. He's following up on the two currently known victims and keeping an eye out for any possible leads.
As you requested, I've already ordered that our formal report go up the chain to the SPD as soon as we finish writing it. Give me a call when you're available.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Date: 2019-03-31 15:21
Subject: RE: Second Reverse Case in Ayanagi
I've told my guys at the SPD to keep an eye out for your report.
The Kyoto incident we're currently investigating seems like a specific and targeted attack against certain political figures - if the Ayanagi killings seem to be targeting high school students or other young adults, that seems like strong evidence they're being caused by two distinct entities.
As I mentioned, we're still ironing out some legislative and procedural issues - that process should hopefully accelerate starting tomorrow, but we don't know how long it will take to get things properly organised. Because I'm going to be playing a key role in that process, I won't be available for much of the next week, even just to chat on the phone.
To compensate, Detective Shirogane will be arriving in Ayanagi City sometime on Tuesday. In addition to her career as a detective, she's a skilled Persona User. Hopefully, she'll be able to assist you on this case more directly.
I've CC'd her into this email chain. Please forward her any relevant reports you can so she can prepare prior to her arrival.
Akihiko Sanada
Executive Consultant
Special Experimental Ergonomics Section