-Present time-

"Let me ask you again, why did you became an inspector?"

When Enforcer Shuusei Kagari asked her that, Akane was speechless. Shuusei had already made it clear that he didn't accept her previous answer. However, she didn't know what else to answer.

Before she had said that she wanted to find the purpose of her existence, why she was born at this age and time. Back in her school days, Akane had always been the best in class. No one had ever doubted her decisions, not even herself. Everyone thought she'd be able to do any task completely without failure. Now she wasn't so sure anymore. It became a moment of self-doubt for her. Had she really been taking things for granted?

Why did she chose to work for the public safety bureau?

Right then Akane couldn't answer the question herself. She didn't realize it then or to be honest, she had forgotten. It happened a few years ago back, the reason she made her decision to join MWPSB…

Psycho-Pass

-Step back in time-

"Fuwaah," Yuki Funahara stretched her arms up, "Finally the tests are over!"

The two other girls couldn't agree with her more. Just moments ago, they were sitting in class for one of the most important tests in their live, the job aptitude test. The test was specially designed by the Sibyl System to determine one's most suitable career by their knowledge and personality. The questions ranged from geography to mathematics and even to general knowledge. A total of 700 points can be achieved. To say that the test was hard was an understatement. It was nerve-wrecking as well since even only one question could really make the difference to their future.

"So how did you guys do?" asked the girl once more.

Now that they had already finished the test, they were free to do whatever they wanted until the results came. That was why the three girls could chat without any reserve as they walked out of the school building.

"If you ask me," Kaori Minase answered thoughtfully while she placed a finger on her chin, "I think I scored pretty well. I should get a B-ranked job at the least."

"Eh? Really? I didn't get some of the questions so I think I only achieved a C-rank job."

Akane Tsunemori stayed quiet and listened closely to her friends' conversation. She didn't stay quiet because of her already quiet nature—she was quiet because she didn't really have much to tell. She herself enjoyed listening to her friends' chat so she didn't really mind being left out. Too bad they suddenly decided to pull her into the conversation.

"How about you, Akane-chan?"

Akane blinked twice in alarm. "Me?"

"Yeah," Yuki nodded, "Don't tell me you couldn't do it too?"

"Uh, well…" muttered the brunette. Truth to be told, she had a feeling that she actually aced the test, but she couldn't tell her friends that. She would sound like an arrogant fool especially since she didn't know if she did make a mistake or not.

Kaori noticed Akane's uncertainty and decided to speak out for her, "What are you talking about? Unlike you, Akane's our very own Albert Einstein. There's no way she couldn't do the test."

"Ouch, that hurts, Kaori. I'm not that dumb."

"Haha," Akane could only laugh to brush off the conversation although she didn't even try to deny what Kaori said. Suddenly, she felt that she had forgotten something.

"Hey, why don't we stop by the Karaoke place first? We should really celebrate the end of our hard work!"

"Sure, I'm in."

Yuki noticed that Akane didn't answer her question since she was too focused on looking for something in her bag.

"Akane, you in?"

"Huh what?" Akane faced in panic, "Oh yeah, sure. I just need to go back to the classroom and get my calculator first. I think I left it earlier."

"Do you want us to come with you?" offered Kaori.

"No, it's fine. You guys go on ahead. I'll just meet you guys at the usual spot," Akane told Kaori and Yuki and hurried back to school.

Behind her, she could hear Kaori shout to her, "Okay, but don't take too long or we're going to start without you!"

Akane faced her friends and nodded, silently watching them walked away and then running again to school. It only took Akane a few minutes before she was once again on the school grounds. She failed to notice that a black van was parked right in front of the school gates as she entered the building.

Psycho-Pass

"Ah, found it!" Akane exclaimed. Now all that she had to do was to bid adieu to the school and went to the karaoke place. She didn't want her friends to wait for her for a long time.

Nevertheless, since Akane was no longer focused on finding her calculator, she started to pay closer detail to her surroundings. She could see the orange painted sky turning darker with each passing minute through the window. Shadows danced in the light of the setting sun. Akane couldn't help but let her mind ran free with stories of ghosts and mysteries of the school at sundown.

Suddenly, Akane was pushed to the ground. She shrieked in response as she felt sharp pain from her back. Luckily, the tables and chairs were all in front of the classroom. She would surely experience more pain if she fell on them.

She immediately turned around to face her perpetrator. The man was a person she easily recognized. He was the new history teacher who started teaching just a week ago. She could only guess that his psycho-pass had turned more clouded than the limit when she saw that unnerved and slightly crazed expression on his face.

"Sen—"

His hand suddenly covered her mouth, her hearbeat raising unmistakebly on her chest. A lump raised to her throat as she felt her fear intensified. He was laying on top of her, preventing her from escaping with his weight.

"Mmmf!"

"Don't bother calling out for help. There's no one else here except for you and me," he whispered in her ear and she felt a shiver ran down her spine. She resisted as much as she could but it was all futile.

Her eyes immediately widened when a hand slipped under her skirt. Reflexively Akane bit his hand as hard as she could.

"Ouch! What did you just do, you bitch!"

She could taste the metallic taste of blood in her mouth but she paid no attention to it. All she could think of was that she finally had a chance to escape as the teacher let his guard down. Akane pushed him off her and ran as fast as she could.

She tried running towards the door but the man was one step ahead of her. He grabbed her shoulder roughly and pushed her into the wall, taking out a pair of sharp-looking scissors.

The man smiled frantically, his pupil dilated immensely. "I'll show you what'll happen if you don't obey your sensei's order."

Akane felt that everything else in the room disappeared and all she could see was the scissor aimed for her head. As he swung down his hand, Akane.

"No!"

Suddenly Akane heard a gunfire and the teacher dropped dead soon after. Fortunately, she was not wounded, only a handful of Akane's hair got cut in the process.

Almost immediately she felt weak on her knees and followed suit to drop to the floor. As dazed as she was she kept focusing her eye to look at her savior.

A tall man with short, spiky coal black hair stood at the opening door. His eyes were metallic steel hue that had a slight electric blue tint in them. He was holding a black gun which was aimed straight at her or to be precise, where her perpetrator had been.

He lowered his gun and for a moment, they just stared at each other. None of them said a thing for a few minutes.

"Ko-chan yo—"

A voice pierced the silence, snapping Akane back to reality.

"T-thank y-you," her voice cracked when she said it, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do then was to get away from the school and forget that that had ever happened to her.

Even though moving her legs were still painful, she still forced herself to run, passing the black-haired man and his companion that wore a blue jacket.

Psycho-Pass

A week passed without Akane telling even a single soul about the incident. Even though rumours of the new teacher quitting were immediately spread, no one but her knew the exact reason as to why. Thankfully her psycho pass wasn't deeply affected either. All that reminded Akane of the incident was her now short hair. She had cut the rest of her long hair, lying to her family and friends that she had cut it on a whim. They might be suspicious of her sudden action but no one questioned her.

The results of the job aptitude test were also released and exactly as her instinct had predicted, Akane passed with flying colors. She earned full marks for the test, gaining aknowledgments and jealousy from her friends.

"I can't believe you could choose any A-ranked job you want from all over the country," Yuki pouted. "You truly are a genius, Akane. It's such a shame that you cut your hair though."

Akane blushed and averted her gaze away from her. "It's nothing much really, and what's wrong with cutting my hair?"

"Actually I think you look pretty good with that hairstyle," complimented Kaori, "By the way which job did you actually choose?"

"Yeah, won't you tell us Akane-chan? I'm also interested to what geniuses like you would choose for their job."

"Well, I'd love to tell you guys but I haven't decided yet. I'm really not sure which job I want to apply for," replied Akane.

"Eh? That's a problem you're lucky to have." Kaori squinted her eyes at Akane. "There's no one here that has that kind of problem, except for you."

Akane could only laugh awkwardly at that comment.

"But you've probably got something you're actually interested in, right?" Kaori asked.

Interested, huh?

A sudden flashback of the man with the gun entered her mind.

"I think… I want work for the MWPSB."

Psycho-Pass

-Back to the Present-

After she left Shuusei at the cafeteria, Akane still felt guilty. Perhaps her decision to join the MWPSB was a bad idea after all. She was more of a textbook girl, wasn't she? Maybe she would resign in the near future. Right now, the least she could do was checking her subordinate's condition.

The door to the Comprehensive Analysis Laboratory opened in front of her, the distinct smell of tobacco reeked from the room.

"Well if it isn't Akane-chan?" greeted Analyst Shion Karanomori, "What can I do for you?"

"Uh," Akane was still unsure whether she should ask the analyst or not, "I wanted to know how Kogami-san is doing."

"Hmm you weren't satisfied earlier?" Shion stopped typing and looked at Akane with a playful smirk upon her lips, "Oh wait, let me guess. You've got the hots for Shinya, don't you? That's why you're so worried."

Shion expected either a retort or at least a blush coming from the female Inspector as a result of her tease, but she only got a worried, yet pleading look on the girl's face instead.

"Okay, okay," Shion sighed as she returned focusing on her computer, "Just don't give me that look."

With a few seconds of typing in an almost impossible speed, the video from the surveillance camera in Kogami's room appeared on the computer screen.

"So far Shinya had had a consistent improvement on his condition. If everything goes well, he would have a full recovery and be up and ready to work by tomorrow morning."

Akane couldn't believe how relieved she was when she heard the Analyst's answer. Now that one of her problems had disappeared, she should really consider quitting her job.

"Thank you, Karanomori-san," Akane bowed, "I guess I'll be leaving now."

"Wait, aren't you going to see him?"

"Eh?"

"You were so worried about him earlier so I thought you might want to see him in person. He's going to wake up soon either way so why don't you just stroll in and give that boy something to look forward to? I can even turn off the cameras for you in case you decided to join him in bed heheheh."

A normal girl would have been embarrassed by the added comment but Akane wasn't like most girls. She immediately dismissed the joke the moment it was said.

"Okay. If it's possible then please let me see Kogami-san."

Psycho-Pass

Exactly as Shion had said, Enforcer Kogami awoke the moment Akane was inside the room. She apologized to him once more for her incompetence and his reply had utterly shocked her. His speech held more truth than Akane had ever expected to be spoken from such a stoic person. And it had actually let her gain her confidence as an Inspector back.

But his speech wasn't the thing that surprised her the most. What made her astonished the most was the willpower revealed in his eyes as he stated his resolve to live, to survive. Akane had never seen such a determined look on anyone else before and it perked her curiosity like how a kid was with a brand new toy.

"There's something I need to settle no matter what."

When Enforcer Kogami tried to get up from his bed, Akane did not know what to do. She was very afraid that he would hurt himself but she did not know how she could help him. So instead of calling for help or trying to encourage him to like back down, she had him in a strong yet gentle hug.

"I may not be helpful but please, allow me to lend you my help. If someone as determined to live as you had such a strong goal in mind, then I would do my very best to help you."

Shinya was shocked at her, touched by her words. It had been a long time since he felt warmth that was as comfortable as this. Eventually he leaned in to the embrace.

"It's rare to find an Inspector who sould say such a thing to a latent criminal like me."

"I know but until you've accomplished your goal, I'll stand by your side, always."

"No, I can't accept that."

"Huh?"

Slowly Shinya pushed Akane away and leaned back to his bed.

"Promise me this instead. If there comes a time when I completely lose my mind, promise me you'll stop me through any means necessary."

Realizing what he meant, Akane's eyes widened in shock. "No, I-I c-can't promise that."

Shinya took hold of her hand tightly in his and looked straightly into her eyes.

"Please. It's the best thing you could offer to me."

Akane saw the way those unwavering pair of eyes bored into hers and she knew she couldn't change his mind.

Hesitantly she nodded.

"Thank you," Shinya smiled sincerely.

Author's Note:

So, I know I said on my other story (Reminiscence of the Past) I wanted to focus on my studies for this month, but I couldn't resist making this oneshot. I really love Psycho-Pass and it's such a shame there's only a few fan fiction available for that anime.

If you guys hadn't already realized, this story happened in the second episode of PP. It's kind of a personal interoperation of what I wished had happened. Though note that Akane still doesn't remember what happened on school that day. That's why I named this story Psychogenic Amnesia, a condition where a person locks away a memory due to trauma or something like that. Check wikipedia for further details.

Yuki Funahara and Kaori Minase are not OC characters. Just so you know, if you guys don't already, both girls were in episode two. They were Akane's friends whom she met at a cafe before work. Though I still don't know who's who. In this story I imagined the blue-haired, glasses girl as Kaori and the brown-haired girl as Yuki. If I was wrong tell me ASAP, I'll change it once I get the chance.

Most importantly I want to thank my friend aNiMeLoVeRs21 for giving me the concept and proof reading the story for me. If you guy've got the time, why not check out her stories? (And leave a review to motivate her to update! ;)

Now that you've read 'til the end of this author's note, why not leave a review? Just type it in that box below. I accept anonymous reviews too!