- Togusa makes new discoveries on the Laughing Man. He investigates the matter.
- This episode follows on from #11 Portraitz.
A janitor pushes a cart through the aisles of a vast records storage room. He open a banker box and takes out a blue binder and puts it in his cart, then leaves the building. He then leaves the binder on top of a waste bin by the sidewalk.
At Section 9 the team study the cyber brain of a female clerk. Togusa speculates someone high up in MH&W must have rewritten the brain and it must be related to the Laughing Man incident. Aramaki agrees there is something suspicious at the Ministry but is wary of further investigation.
At dinner Togusa reads a book at his dinner table with his wife. He then draws the Laughing Man logo on a misty bathroom mirror and recalls the blue paint writing at the training centre from an earlier incident (Ep. 11). Togusa then discusses the Laughing Man and JD Salinger in a rooftop conversation with Major Motoko Kusanagi. Togusa notes the LM writing had the additional phrase "or should I?" added to the Salinger quote. Following a train of logic Togusa concludes that the LM is looking for a paper copy of some information, Motoko gives him permission to proceed probing.
At the Ministry of Health and Welfare Togusa is in the large records room. He finds the same box the janitor had opened and determines the file with the names of the Murai vaccine recipients is missing. The clerk assisting him explains the Murai vaccine was effective against cyberbrain sclerosis but was not approved for regular use because it couldn't be proven how it worked. The clerk suggests the Sunflower Society would be the only ones who would want the file.
Togusa gives some history: in 2019 when cyberization was becoming commonplace, hardening of the brain and death occurred. This was called cyberbrain sclerosis. A scientist Chitosai Murai developed a vaccine but other scientists favoured micro-machines as a cure. The vaccine was not approved and shelved in 2021. However, the vaccine was secretly approved for a special fee-based trial. The Sunflower Society has long tried to get info about the vaccine but the government stopped access.
At the Sunflower Society Togusa pretends to be a journalist and talks to a manager, offering to help. He says he can create a scandal to publicize the vaccine. The Manager reveals the missing file with the names, the two men review the list and see many important names and celebrities who have used the vaccine. A Mr. Imakarusu chairman of the Drug Evaluation Committee is on the list.
Suddenly the lights go out and armed men enter the building shooting. Togusa knocks one out and finds out he is from the DEA Narcotics Suppression Squad. Togusa urges the manager to leave out a back door with the file. He confronts the NSS leader who is an aggressive cyborg. Shot and wounded, Togusa jumps out a window, hangs onto a truss then falls onto a vehicle. Meanwhile the manager with the file is also shot and killed and the NSS men recover the file they wanted. They see it from the packing slip it was a copy from Imakarusu.
A man video conferences with Imakarusu and shouts at him for handling the file and being named on the list. He acknowledges they know the vaccine works. Badly wounded Togusa staggers and collapses in the street, calling the Major and Aramaki for help. He lies motionless and bleeding in the rain.
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