The Japanese Government's health department is hacked into and classified documents have been stolen. The source of the hack turns out to be a special health facility for dealing with cyborgs that suffer from Cyberbrain Closed Shell Syndrome. Togua heads to the place to go undercover and befriends a child within the building that indicates someone called "The Chief" was here during the hack.
Togusa is soon found by the staff as an attack on Section Nine's databases occur, forcing the group to try to extract him. Togusa, instead, ends up rescued by a boy named Aoi who had previously been perceived as catatonic and is the Chief's true identity.
Unfortunately, Togusa can't draw the features of the boy as he's been hacked and only can draw the Laughing Man logo.
Tropes in this episode include:
- All Just a Dream: Togusa finds that the staff and their conspiracy was all created by the Laughing Man. Probably.
- Call-Back:
- One of the boys is implied to have been using an adult avatar during the chat session in Episode 9.
- Togusa draws a description of Aoi, only to find he's drawn the Laughing Man symbol, which is said to have happened with the original incident with the Laughing Man.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Cyberbrain Closed Shell Syndrome is basically cyber-autism.
- Pet the Dog: The Laughing Man has been treating the children and somehow helping them overcome their conditions.
- Shout-Out: The appearance of Marta is based on Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
- Unreliable Narrator: Togusa's view of events after he enters the clinic is open to question, due to the Laughing Man altering his memories.
- Wham Episode: We finally meet the Laughing Man's "true" identity and get a sense of what he's about.
