MOTOKO!
So, do you mean to tell me that even if the flesh is lost, a person's thoughts can...
...wander the net and continue existing as a unique individual?
I'm not so sure.
It's hard to imagine that a will that's free of its shell...
...could maintain its individuality in the sea of the net.
So, for someone who lives on, even as they continuously lose their individuality,
this world is despair.
I guess that depends on how you define despair.
At any rate, there's always the option of giving death a try, right?
I suppose there's always that option.
Anyway, I'm in your debt. Thank you.
The way you kept your promise was extremely charming.
"We don't have convenient excuses like team plays here at Section 9."
"All we need is teamwork that comes about as a result of a grandstand play."
That was the first bit of advice that the Chief gave us back in the early days of Section 9.
When all that happened, did the Chief really throw us to the wolves?
I was subjected to unproductive questioning,
unable to contact my teammates, or even access any data from the outside.
And then, 15 days later, I was suddenly released.
Written in the orders I was handed then were two things.
The fact that Public Security Section 9 had already been disbanded,
and orders from the security company that I worked for as my cover...
...saying that I was on indefinite home leave.
But who was I supposed to wait to be contacted by?
I ran around, trying to find out what had happened while I was arrested.
243 Ruling Party Coalition Candidates in General Assembly Election
"Armed Coup Plot by Certain Radical Public Security Members Uncovered."
That was how the incident was summed up and reported to the general public.
Even the use of force by the Self Defense Army to foil the coup plot...
...was given a positive spin in pretty much all the media.
The members of Section 9,
made out as the plan's masterminds and charged with high treason,
were captured by the military, arrested, and sent before the public prosecutors.
Then a quick verdict after a summary trial.
Their whereabouts after that, though, were put under a press blackout, claiming it was classified.
Having been stripped of all special privileges and reduced to a private citizen,
there was nothing I could do to access any further information.
But there were two things that I just wasn't able to swallow.
One was the fact that the very existence of the Chief, the heart and soul of Section 9,
had completely vanished from the public arena.
His name isn't in any press report,
and he doesn't show up in the list of ringleaders, either.
Did the Chief really abandon us, then?
And the other thing is the fate of the Major,
the one team member whose status after the attack was clearly spelled out.
Did the Major really die...?
That was three months ago.
Sometimes, carrying out your Public Security duties...
...is nothing more than an exercise in summoning up the force of will...
...to endure investigations that seem as if they might go on forever.
But I never once suffered because of it.
But in these three months, in this time that never stops flowing,
why am I the only one left free, as if nothing had happened?
These days, in which I keep playing the role of unemployed husband in my family's eyes,
have brought with them an unbearable suffering, and crushed my spirit.
Maybe it's about time I started looking for a new line of work...
We have reports that the public prosecutor will be arriving shortly.
Throngs of reporters are gathered here in front of ruling party headquarters,
and the scene is surrounded by a tense atmosphere.
The MHLW scandal involving Serano Genomics that made the rounds...
...in certain tabloids before the Lower House elections...
...implicated Secretary General Yakushima, and now, a week after the forming of a new Cabinet,
it has finally escalated into a full-scale investigation by the Public Prosecutors Office.
A full-scale investigation by the Public Prosecutors Office is underway, and...
It's the D.A.!
A full-scale investigation has finally started,
but will Yakushima be arrested before the day is out?
What about the Serano stocks that are rumored to be here at ruling party headquarters?
We have reliable information.
We will probably ask the Secretary General to come with us for questioning.
Is there a chance that the cash in consecutively numbered bills...
...referred to in Mr. Serano's testimony is being stored here?
Everything will be made clear shortly, that included.
We have worked long and hard to prepare for this day with the aim of arresting Mr. Yakushima.
Long and hard, he says...
This full-scale investigation is backed by confidence gained from that hard work.
I don't know how the Public Prosecutors Office got their hands on all this information,
You have every right to have high hopes.
but the information circulating in the tabloids and personal sites...
...was clearly the intel that the Major and the rest of us had uncovered.
Even the investigation into the money trail leading to Serano...
...was originally the work of those of us at Section 9.
It's true that if Yakushima is arrested, our objectives will be accomplished.
Who actually carries out that arrest is a trivial matter.
But in spite of that, what's this I'm feeling?
The triumphant attitude of the public prosecutors...
Even the whiteness of the shirts that they're wearing pisses me off.
Is this how things should be...?
These facts that the Major and my teammates pieced together,
isn't this the real truth behind the Laughing Man incident that's tied into this from six years ago?
Even if the Public Prosecutors Office successfully uncovers the whole MHLW scandal,
Yakushima might not even resign from the assembly.
How does this make the world a better place?!
It's not like I ever wanted to be a hero or anything.
But I'm convinced that we followed the justice we all believed in without ever compromising.
Laughing Man...
You were the one who first tried to shed some light into the abyss of this case.
Could it be that right now, you're feeling the same as I am?
No, you wouldn't. You're not the sort who cares about such things.
The Catcher in the Rye
You must've had a revelation about something,
and are watching this situation with eyes that have a broader outlook than mine.
Isn't that right? I can tell.
The Catcher in the Rye
Major...
If this plays out like I think it will...
Hold it!
Pull out your hands nice 'n slow, and turn this way!
As bad as you are, you'd get caught way before you got anywhere near Yakushima.
Big...man?
You're an idiot, you know that? Come with me.
And the star arrives!
What took you so long?
So, where did you tail him to?
Just like we figured, he went to ruling party HQ.
Are you serious?!
Hey, what's up with you? Are you crying?
Get real!
So, how did things go on your end?
Seems like the Secretary General has given in.
That's an ex-military guy for you. Looks like he's fully cooperating with their questioning.
I suppose the Public Prosecutor folks are gonna get the hero treatment for a while over this.
You got that right...
But is this okay with you guys?
The credit for tracking down Yakushima...
"Should go to us here at Section 9," you want to say?
Well, it ain't like I don't understand how you feel,
but this is exactly what that devious old ape had planned all along.
Planned?
Yeah.
The old ape realized that the Prime Minister was going to avoid...
...a Secretary General shakeup before the elections.
So he boldly chose to make Section 9 out as the bad guys.
At the point when the Major disguised herself as the Laughing Man and got the truth out of Serano,
Section 9's existence was leaked to the mass media,
making us unable to do our thing in secret like we had before.
So the Chief's plan was to make a deal with the PM,
forcing the Public Prosecutors Office to take action by ostensibly sacrificing Section 9.
Sacrificing Section 9...
Even if that's the case, do you have any idea what it was like for me these past three months?!
Hey, don't take it so hard. Think of it as a special vacation.
It's not like we were filled in on this little op beforehand, either.
The Chief believed that we'd all survive and come together again to regroup,
and made the tough decision to go ahead with his plan.
Hell, even your being arrested and confined first was the Chief's way...
...of keeping you alive by getting you clear of the Section 9 mop-up operation.
For one thing, you're all-natural and had just gotten out of the hospital.
Plus, you're a married man, so manipulating information would be more difficult,
so you had to be kept away from Section 9 until all his preparations were in place.
Don't take it personally. The records say that I'm spending the rest of my days up the river.
"More profit, less honor."
This means that we're back to being an offensive organization that doesn't officially exist.
That's what all this was about?
But, hey... What about the Major?
Who cares? I don't give a damn about that bitch.
That reminds me, Batou, weren't you bawling your eyes out back then?
Aw, screw you.
Oh, really?
In that case, what say I grab the satellite footage from the scene?
Hey, and send it to the Major, too!
Hey, cut it out!
"Motoko!" Was that what you said?
You bastard!
- I said to stop it! - Okay, I give!
- Say goodnight! - Hey, cut it out!
It's all over, I see.
The rest can be left to the attorney general.
My work is done here now.
The Public Prosecutors Office will be able to hold their heads high to the public thanks to this.
But what do you have left now?
I was able to see to it that justice was served in my own way.
That's enough for me.
So, what will you do now?
You can't keep playing war with guns and tanks forever.
What do you say? How about joining up with us?
I've always thought that you were better suited to the judicial world.
I'm not so sure about that.
It will take more than a trivial matter like this to finish Section 9.
I'm on my way to scout a prospective new member with the aim of rebuilding Section 9.
Now I get it...
You're really aren't the Laughing Man, that's for sure.
Welcome.
You took longer than I expected.
Don't give me that. You didn't even send me an invitation.
If you stand still, people will come to you.
Who said that? Doisneau?
Yes.
Well, part of it was that I spent a lot of time thinking about what we should do about you.
I was little worried that you were going to decide...
...to stay floating around like that and die.
I'm not really looking forward to death just yet.
Though I did get a nice little near-death experience...
...when my fully-remote prosthetic cyberbrain got destroyed.
So your brand-new body was destroyed, and you still haven't done a prosthetic swap...
You've got a sharp eye.
Well, peeking is my hobby.
So anyway, what's the deal with this place?
It's like an information graveyard.
Did you seriously think you could change the world from a place like this?
At first, I kinda did.
So, how do you feel about it now?
I'm not burning with satisfaction or anything.
The truth is, maybe it all ended for me the instant I shared my memories with you.
I figured that you would probably be able to take it from there.
Of all the...You're one hell of a liar, you know that?
What was that bit about me standing back and doing nothing?
I'm sorry.
But the instant you've shared and synchronized all your information, you lose your uniqueness...
...and become absorbed into the unconscious maliciousness of a third party with no motive,
Or perhaps into the will of someone who has a motive.
Are those your words? Something derived from hard-earned experience?
Yes.
Because the fact is, in the end, you yourself played the role of Laughing Man Copycat, too.
I'll admit that it was a fascinating phenomenon.
At any rate, what was your motive for triggering such a huge incident in the first place?
"To you, everything that's going on in the world looks phony, doesn't it?"
J.D. Salinger?
Yes.
Of course, I'm pretty much the poster boy for cyberization,
so at the very least, I might have felt something like terror at the thought of cyberbrain sclerosis.
It was a piece of mail that I stumbled across in the net that began it all.
That piece of blackmail that had probably been sent to Serano Genomics...
...was armed with a thesis that was a comparative study...
...of the ineffectiveness of Serano micromachines versus the efficacy of the Murai Vaccine.
The writer was the original Laughing Man?
If you want to put it that way.
"I am the machine that shows you the world as I alone see it."
Dziga Vertov. Was he a film director?
Yes.
I deluded myself into thinking that it was my personal mission to prove and circulate...
...the information that I alone had stumbled upon.
And failed spectacularly.
The pure, innocent mediator grew dejected at the base nature of the social system,
and he turned mute.
Yes. And I became the vanishing mediator.
Just like an author whose existence is emphasized...
...by the fact that he rarely puts out new works.
In other words, "By disappearing,"
"it acts as a regulating medium for the dynamism of the social system."
"In the end, it vanishes, leaving traces of its existence neither inside nor outside the system."
Fredric Jameson.
Yes. And no. That last bit was Masachi Ohsawa.
Even though I knew the words, I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.
Who knew that the absence of an original would produce copies without an original?
If you had to give this phenomenon a name, what would you call it?
Stand Alone Complex.
Yes. Stand Alone Complex.
From the beginning, the very nature of our current social system...
...has contained the mechanisms to trigger such a phenomenon.
Personally, I have to feel that it is the beginning of despair,
but what about you?
I don't know. It's impossible to say.
But I have found one thing capable of restoring your individuality...
...after all your information has been synchronized.
And what is that?
Curiosity, I think.
Oh, I see. You know, that never occurred to me.
My brains have already started to harden.
So, what's going to happen to me now?
Arrest for kidnapping? Or for inciting multiple, simultaneous terrorist acts?
Beats me. That little matter is completely at his discretion,
so why not ask him directly?
I've been listening in for a while,
but without an external memory device, I can't follow your conversation at all.
Have you read all the books in here?
Not quite that many.
Allow me to introduce you. This is my boss, Daisuke Aramaki, chief of Section 9.
Nice to meet you.
Are you planning to go on with this dull work of preserving printed works...
...that are only published out of force of habit now?
If I'm allowed to.
As far as this case is concerned, it will probably be concluded...
...that the original Laughing Man never legally existed.
So I have a proposal to make.
What do you say? How would you like to put your skills as a hacker to good use...
...and join Section 9 as our ninth regular?
This is a surprise. Are you trying to scout me?
That's right.
I don't know what to say...
It does sound like it would be interesting, but I think I'll have to pass.
As much as I hate to say it, I'm terrible at baseball.
You've been shot down. What will you do now?
Not a thing.
Section 9 will continue as an anti-crime offensive organization...
...as long as you and I want it to stay that way.
That's all.
Mr. Serano, it's finally the first day of the trial.
Angely i demony kruzhili nado mnoj, Angels and demons circle above me,
Right.
Now I can finally keep the promise I made to him.
rassykhali ternii i vechnye puti. through the thorns to the stars.
Ne znaet shast'je tol'ko tot, Only those unable to perceive its call...
kto jevo zova ponjat' ne smog. ...do not know happiness.
That's all right, I'll get it.
Naljubuites', naljubuites'. Watch in awe, watch in awe.
You have to be flexible to survive.
Bestow a sound sleep unto the inflexible, righteous man...
Aeria gloris, aeria gloris.
Naljubuites', naljubuites'. Watch in awe, watch in awe.
Aeria gloris, aeria gloris.
Major! Call everyone together with an A2 loadout!
I am calling, calling now,
You copy that, Batou?
You need a lift?
spirits rise and falling.
Togusa!
I'm already on my way!
Soboj ostat'sja dol'she. To remain myself longer.
Ishikawa! Saito!
I'll take a separate route and meet up with you guys!
Calling, calling, in the depths of longing.
All ready on this end.
Paz! Borma!
Just give the word.
We gotta get lucky sometime!
Soboj ostat'sja dol'she. To remain myself longer.
Naljubuites', naljubuites'. Watch in awe, watch in awe.
Aeria gloris, aeria gloris.
Stand alone.
Where was life when it had meaning?
Nothing's real anymore...
Beskonechnyj beg Endlessly running...
Poka zhiva ya mogu As long as I live, all I can do...
starat'sya na letu ne upast' ...is keep flying without falling,
Ne razuchit'sya mechtat' and not forget how to dream...
lyubit' ...and not forget how to love.
Beskonechnyj beg Endlessly running...
Calling, calling now,
for the place of knowing.
There's more than what can be linked.
Calling, calling, in the depths of longing.
Soboj ostat'sja dol'she. To remain myself longer.
Naljubuites', Watch in awe,
aeria gloris.