Unit One attempts to find the culprit behind the murder of a man known online as the popular avatar "Talisman", now controlled by his killer. Akane, with the help of the avatar "Spooky Boogie", infiltrates a CommuField gathering to expose the murderer, but the ploy goes awry. Afterward, the murderer, who happens to be working with Shogo Makishima, kills the owner of "Spooky Boogie" and takes over her avatar as well.

Ginoza and his team theorize that a mastermind might have influenced the murderous actions of two recent suspects by essentially providing them with the ability and motivation to carry out their deadly desires. Kogami sees eerie similarities between these cases and the earlier unsolved case that got him demoted to Enforcer which also resulted the grotesque death of his Enforcer, Sasayama. Meanwhile, Akane seeks out more information on Kogami from Kagari and Shion Karanomori and learns about Sasayama and the cold case known as the Specimen Case. At a girls' school, Rikako Oryo, the enigmatic president of the art club, ensnares an unsuspecting victim and mutilates her corpse into a work of "art" under the tutelage of the evident mastermind, Makishima.