After the events of "PORTRAITZ", Togusa uses J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye as a starting point and develops a theory that the Laughing Man is after something published on paper. Togusa receives permission to check out a Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) records building and stumbles upon a key piece of evidence: a list of Cyberbrain Sclerosis patients treated with a secret medication, known as the Murai Vaccine, has disappeared from the MHLW. Togusa traces the missing list to a group called the Sunflower Society, where he learns that several prominent Japanese citizens have been secretly treated with the experimental medication. Elsewhere, the head of the Japanese DEA unit dispatches the Narcotics Suppression Squad to eliminate the members of the Sunflower Society and recover the missing list. When the squad storms the Sunflower Society’s building, Togusa ends up getting caught in the massacre. He manages to escape, but receives a serious gunshot wound in the process, and collapses on the street a few blocks away.