A/N: Ginoza is so badass in the Case 01 film. I'm like sobbing at how beautiful he is. Help me

Chapter Two: Old habits die hard

When she opens her eyes, she finds herself in a white room. She shakes her head in an attempt to gather her thoughts, trying to remember how she came about here. Frantically, she looks around and realizes that she's in a bathroom.

The sight feels oddly familiar, as if she's been here before, yet she can't remember anything.

What is she doing here?

The sound of droplets of water catches her attention. She finds herself involuntarily following after the sound. Her bare feet make contact on the cold tiles, mindlessly wandering around to find the source of water. She stops when her feet make contact on something wet, almost sticky.

Immediately, she looks down and her breath catches on her throat when she realizes what it is.

Blood.

"What–"

She snaps her head back but lets out a shriek when she finds the tub filled with blood as well. There's someone in it, their head slowly moving to look at her.

No. No. This can't be – NO!

"Nozomi!"

Fujisaki wakes up with a start. High ceilings greet her sight and it takes her a moment to realize where she's at.

"A dream..." she murmurs, heaving a sigh as she gets up, tossing the blanket to the side. The wooden floors are cold against her feet as she stands up.

The sunrays are already filtering through windows, reminding her that she needs to purchase some curtains. There are still some moving boxes littering the floors, abandoned in a corner. She really should finish unpacking and stop procrastinating...

"It's already morning, huh?" She sighs once more, brushing her hair back while gazing at the bustling city outside. It's a nice change of view, compared to the white walls she's used to looking at when she was still at the isolation facility. The sky is a bright blue, suggesting that it will be a beautiful weather today.

Rubbing her eyes to rid of the last remnants of sleep, she taps on her wristcom to check her Hue. Royal blue, cloudy, and dangerously close to being black.

Well, that's to be expected, she thinks dismissively. She's required to take mental supplements to make her Psycho-Pass better but she's never liked taking those. They've never worked on her anyway.

Her attention shifts to the time situated at the top corner.

09:00 hours.

She blinks.

Doesn't her shift start at nine o'clock?

"Shit," she curses before frantically speeding to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Asano inarguably does not look impressed when she walks in office just after ten o'clock. His stern expression almost reminds her of the headmaster she used to work for, waiting for her arrival so he could scold her for her tardiness. It seems like old habits die hard even to this day.

"You're late, Fujisaki. Again," he glowers, arms crossed to his chest.

Oh, even the tone and stance are similar. How eerie.

"Yeah, my bad. I forgot to set up my alarm," she explains with a sheepish smile, strolling over to her desk in a leisure pace.

"You said the same thing for the last few days," he points out dryly.

She only shrugs her shoulders, sitting herself on the computer chair and hovering her fingers over her touchpad to log in for the day. The screen lights up, showing the logo for MWPSB while it initializes her login identification.

"Faulty alarm?" She lamely suggests, not even bothering with a proper excuse.

Asano releases a tired sigh but otherwise swivels his chair around to get back to what he was working on earlier. He knows better than to argue with her by now. It's been like this since she started and that was a few months ago.

It's been a relatively easy job so far, albeit busy. Most of the cases assigned to them are the following: removing the source of an elevated stress level within an area, the occasional arrests of someone who is deemed as a latent criminal by Sibyl, or even the petty crimes here and there. Since she first joined, they have yet to be given any high-leveled cases. Apparently, most of such cases are given to Division 1, what with some Inspector Tsunemori being the favoured employee by the Chief Chairman.

Of course, that's a taboo topic around the Inspectors here in this division. For them Enforcers, however, it just means easy money.

Still, most of her workload is filled with the desk work. Writing reports have always been the bane of her existence. As a teacher, there was not much report writing required yet as an enforcer, one is required to write up a report after every case and always had deadlines. The paperwork seems endless, too, almost which can be eliminated but is required for formality purposes.

The usual bureaucratic crap. Life of a corporate slave is just great.

Or would a slave dog be of a more suitable comparison...?

"You better ease up on the teasing, Maa-chan, or you're going to give him an aneurysm," a male voice advises before a canned latte is placed on her desk. She shifts a bit to look behind her and sees Kouichi Hatano's form towering over her.

An enforcer who was transferred here from Division 2 long before she joined, the two of them got along well since day one. Of course, being of the same age helps but not only that, he has a rather macabre sense of humour, something of which she also possesses. It makes life here at the Bureau a little more bearable.

"Quit calling me that, Kouichi," she quickly admonishes with a glare.

The man only flashes her a cheeky grin in response, making her roll her eyes as she turns around to open the canned tea. It's still warm. The man certainly spoils her.

"Thanks for this though," she says as she sips the warm drink, savouring the calming taste of jasmine tea.

"Well, I figured you'd be late again. Did you even have breakfast yet?" He asks as he makes his way back to his desk beside hers.

She only scoffs in response.

"That's not healthy," he scolds.

"We're not exactly the epitome of healthiness, may I remind you kindly."

She can hear him release a resigned sigh, giving up.

"You always have a comeback to everything, don't you?" He mumbles under his breath petulantly. "I kind of understand how Mr. Asano feels now..."

She only grins but doesn't respond.

"Is it just the three of us today?" She asks after a quick glance around the office.

Inspector Domoto's desk is empty and she doesn't spot Haga or the other enforcer anywhere.

"They just finished their shifts. If you came in on time, you would've seen them during the morning debrief," he teases.

"I'm sure I didn't miss much," she says, pulling open one of her desk drawers to pull out a snack. She offers the opened pack of pocky to her friend. He shakes his head, giving her a judging look for eating such an unhealthy snack first thing in the morning. "Hardly ever happens here, anyway."

Just then, the loud ringing of an emergency call interrupts their conversation. It's coming from Asano's wristcom. The man stops his typing to answer the call, the holo immediately turning on to reveal who is contacting him.

"What is it, Karanomori?...All right. We'll head over immediately."

The man is quickly up on his feet.

"There's been an incident. Let's head over to the Analysis lab for a briefing," the stern man commands as he's already out the office.

Hatano lets out a mocking whistle, his face smug as he looks at her.

"You were saying?"

She flicks a pocky stick at his smug face before they quickly follow after the inspector.

The strong stench of cigarettes fills the Comprehensive Analysis Laboratory, to the point where it's suffocating. The room is dimly lit by the multi-panel monitors and the flashing lights from the high-powered computers inside.

Amidst the machinery Shion Karanomori, the only analyst of CID. Her fingers are tapping on her keyboard in a rapid pace, a lit cigarette dangling in-between her lips.

All of them gather around her as an incident report is shown on one of the larger screens by the wall, the other showing a profile of a woman they assume is the victim.

"Victim is Yuuri Okita, 28 years old. She's a consultant for a publishing company called E&J Shoppe," she says as she debriefs them on the case. "She was reported missing by her husband who claims she has not been home for two weeks now."

"He waited that long until he reported her missing?" Hatano asks, his one brow up in bewilderment.

"Apparently, it's not odd that she disappears for a few days or more considering how her clients are all over the city. There are times that she would just board a hotel room rather than going home. The husband reported her missing after repeated missed calls."

"Have you checked all the records of street cameras and scanners of where she is last seen at?" Asano asks.

"I have. Let me pull up the footage."

Another window pops up, showing the footage from a street scanner Karanomori is referring to. She quickly plays it, showing Yuuri Okita who can be clearly seen entering a expensive-looking building.

"Footage is from June 2nd at 00:12 hours. Subject is seen entering Mouri Centre Hotel at Metropolitan Hotel. There's no other record that she's left the premises."

The analyst pulls up the map and an image of the hotel.

"Then she should still be there. Can you access their records?"

The woman only shakes her head, a cloud of smoke slipping out of her lips.

"It's a privately-owned hotel so I won't be able to pull out any information about their guest list unless we've been given access rights to their records system."

"We'll work on a search warrant then. Fujisaki," Asano suddenly calls.

"Yes, boss," she drawls unenthusiastically, head facing him.

"I want a search warrant request report submitted to me before end of this day."

She groans but nods her head anyway.

"Fine, fine," she confirms, elbowing her fellow enforcer when she catches him snickering at her misfortune.

Their briefing ends there then.

"I swear Asano has it out for me," she remarks.

Fujisaki and Hatano find themselves hanging out at the cafeteria. Since it's already past lunch rush, the cafeteria isn't as crowded as usual, with most tables being empty.

In front of her is a bowl of beef on top of rice and a warm canned tea provided from the auto-server. Though the beef looks and tastes like the real thing, it's actually derived from hyper-oats.

Meanwhile, Asano orders himself a western meal consisting of a large serving of macaroni and cheese and a canned coffee.

"Can you blame the man? You're almost always late for your shifts and barely take anything serious," he points out as he takes a spoonful of his food.

"That is false. I take everything seriously," she corrects him with a pout. "I just need more sleep than most people, okay? I told him I need at least nine hours of sleep and yet he doesn't believe me. And what's the point of meetings? We have wristcoms for a reason, right? He can just shootout a briefing note to everyone about what's happening rather than wasting everyone's time."

"It's because of that way of thinking that you always get in trouble," the man comments with a shake of his head.

"Ugh, now I have to work overtime to finish that damn report on top of the other ones that's been piling up on my desk. Had I known being an enforcer means writing a lot of reports, I would've declined."

Hatano raises an eyebrow at that.

"Now, that right there is a lie."

"Of course it's a lie. Just let me vent, okay?" She snaps, almost stabbing her bowl with her chopsticks.

"Still, Asano is rather lenient with you. If it had been Domoto or even my old inspector, it would be much worse, you know?" He reasons. "Besides, despite you complaining and moaning about it, we both know you get your work done."

She lets out a sigh, running her fingers through her hair.

"I hate it when you make sense." she petulantly pouts.

The man grins amusedly before looking up when something catches his attention at the corner of his eyes. When he recognizes who it is, he calls out to that person.

"Enforcer Ginoza!"

She doesn't look up to check who Hatano is calling over, still lamenting over her workload for today.

"It's been a while. Did you just get back from your mission?" She hears Hatano make conversation with this person.

"Yes, it has been. We just got back yesterday," another voice confirms, sounding from right beside her.

She finally looks up, curious to see who this person is. Her eyes grow wide when she sees a tall attractive man standing by their table.

The man is wearing the typical dark suit most men wear in their line of work. He has long black hair tied in a ponytail like Hatano's, bangs framing his handsome face.

His eyes suddenly shift to hers and she feels her heart skip a beat.

Oh, green eyes. That's a rather uncommon eye colour for a Japanese.

Hatano, noticing their silent exchange, hums under his breath with a knowing smile. He then introduces them to each other.

"This is Enforcer Nobuchika Ginoza from Division 1. Ginoza, this is Enforcer Mami Fujisaki from Division 3."

"Nice to meet you," he greets with a polite smile, one hand extending towards her while the other remains holding the tray he has brought over.

"...Likewise," she says, shaking his proffered hand before quickly letting go. Ginoza notices this curt action but makes no comment of this.

"Do you mind if I join you?" He asks.

"No, I don't mind. What about you, Maa-cha–oof!"

She kicks her friend under the table in warning at the nickname but manages to keep a neutral expression as she says, "I don't mind either."

Again, Ginoza politely makes no comment of their exchange as he occupies the seat between the two of them.

"So, how's that young inspector of yours? Is she still difficult to deal with?" Hatano asks the moment he recovers.

"Mr. Hatano, you know it's inappropriate to gossip about our superiors," Ginoza points out, sounding like your typical straight-laced type of man. Still, that doesn't seem to deter her friend as he simply waves it dismissively.

"You don't have to be so formal. Everyone knows she's quite a challenging one to work with."

Ginoza doesn't deny or confirm that fact as he begins eating his food.

"Hah, you're still a stickler for rules, aren't you?" Hatano sighs when he realizes that the other enforcer wouldn't indulge any information. Then, his attention shifts to her.

"You should learn a thing or two from him, Maa-chan."

"I told you to stop calling me that," she warns, kicking him under the table once more. However, it seems he is expecting that as he manages to avoid her kick. She gives him a glare at his smug look.

"...You two seem to get along well," Ginoza observes.

"Well, I decided to take her under my wing since she's always butting heads with the inspectors," Hatano explains with a proud grin, taking another large spoonful of mac and cheese. "Have to look out for the newbies, right?"

"Please. We both know you only befriended me because you wanted to sleep with me," she reminds him with a dry tone.

Ginoza chokes midbite, his face turning red at her scandalous comment.

She almost laughs at his rather comical reaction, not having expected him to react that way. He's even red to the tips of his ears, his eyes wide. She can't help the slight curving of her lips as she revels at the sight.

How cute.

"Oi, oi. Can you blame me though? You're quite the attractive woman. Shame you're not what I imagined you to be though..."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Ginoza finally manages to recover from his initial surprise.

"Y-you both are certainly frank about this," he stammers, clearing his throat to hide his remaining embarrassment.

"Well, let me tell you, she certainly gave a me a good beating after I asked her," Hatano guffaws at the memory.

She only rolls her eyes, trying to suppress her grin at the memory. Asano and Domoto had to stop her from throttling his throat at that time...and that was her first day as an enforcer.

Her wristcom suddenly rings, surprising all of them. A quick check makes her pout when she sees Asano's familiar profile picture but that soon turns into panic when she realizes something.

"Oh, no! I forgot I have a meeting with Asano right now! Hatano, why didn't you remind me?!" She's already on her feet, her chair scrapping back sharply as she quickly collects her belongings with her.

"Oi, clean up your tray!" Hatano yells out as she runs out of the cafeteria.

She looks over her shoulder, not stopping.

"Please clean up for me! I owe you a favour!" Is all she says until she disappears to a corner.

"Seriously, that woman," Hatano sighs, rubbing the back of his head with resignation. He shifts his attention to Ginoza, looking confused. "You'll have to forgive her for her rude departure. She's not exactly the most organized and punctual person ever."

The man shakes his head to relay that he doesn't mind.

"Still, I know she was a bit curt with you but give her some time, she'll warm up soon enough," Hatano says, now assuming a more subdued tone. He calmly sips on his coffee, frowning when he realizes that it has gone cold now. "I'm a little bit bitter about it though."

"Your coffee? I thought you liked it black anyway," Ginoza asks.

Hatano only shakes his head, a sympathetic look on his face.

"You'll get eaten alive at the rate you're at now, Ginoza."

The Division 1 enforcer can only blink at him in confusion.