Section Nine must solve a hostage crisis at a restaurant staffed by android geisha. The geisha proceed to take the customers hostage, which include several highly important government officials, and it falls to the team to rescue them using their unique skills.
After the hostage crisis is dealt with, Aramaki is approached by Kubota, who reveals that the Japanese Foreign Minister was being investigated by military intelligence after expressing interest in the Ichinose Report, a document detailing government actions to be taken in the event of a national emergency.
Given the highly political nature of the case, Kubota asks that Section 9 take over the operation where the original team left off. While reviewing the details of the hostage crisis at the geisha house, Togusa figures out that the Foreign Minister had his cyberbrain switched with that of an American Empire agent.
Section 9 prevents the American Empire agent, who is using the Foreign Minister's body, from leaving the country with the sensitive report in his possession.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Bait-and-Switch: The terrorist attack is actually a feint for an attempt to switch bodies.
- Blatant Lies: As The Mole is trying to leave Japan, the airport staff inform him that his flight's been delayed due to "sudden unseasonal weather"—despite the fact it's a beautiful day with hardly a cloud in the sky. When Section Nine arrests him, he even looks out the window to see another plane taking off. Immediately after, Aramaki confirms the weather excuse was a lie, and Section Nine pulled some strings at the airport to ground the mole's flight so he could be arrested.
- Cyanide Pill: A sci-fi variant. The agent who hacked into the geishas, upon getting captured by Batou, deliberately shorts his own memory banks so he can't reveal anything about his masters' plan. He survives, but Batou notes afterwards that this was an extremely risky move that easily could have killed him.
- Grand Theft Me: An agent of the American Empire wants to steal a sensitive report by switching cyberbrains with a Foreign Minister.
- Spotting the Thread: Section Nine figures out that there was switch in the bathroom by noting that he was in there for a long time and out of camera sight.
- R-Rated Opening: To sell that this definitely isn't a cartoon suitable for children, the Batman Cold Open features the Major in her "battle teddy" and a brief but visceral shot of a hacker's leg shattering where the Major shoots him.
- Xanatos Gambit: The terrorist attack was designed to insert The Mole into Japan.
