This is a summary of the second half of chapter 3 of No.6 Reunion #2. Any errors are my own. Spoilers in abundance—beware! (Previous summaries: Chapter 1 part 1, part 2, Chapter 2 part 1, part 2, Chapter 3 part 1). Chapter 4 (the final chapter) summary coming soon.
The flashback to the meeting transitions to another flashback, this time to the events that led to Yoming’s reinstatement to the Restructural Committee. The text gives a brief summary of what happened with Yoming up until this point: No.6 had killed his wife and child, he had led a resistance effort to destroy No.6 from the inside, he had been a key player in the early Restructural Committee, he had stolen gold from the Moondrop, and been arrested and placed on house arrest. Though Yoming had indeed stolen the gold, Shion had fabricated the evidence that had gotten him arrested because he had felt that Yoming was dangerous to the fragile state of the growing new city and needed to be taken out of the picture.
Yoming had accused Shion of only wanting power, just like the old regime, and though he hadn’t said it at the time, Shion felt the hint of truth in Yoming’s words. While Shion hadn’t actually wanted power, he still felt within him the turbulent call to destroy everything that he had six years ago on the night he met Nezumi. Yoming had called him a monster, just like Nezumi had called No.6 a monster.
Shion thinks that the moment he becomes unable to hold back that violent urge to destroy, he might indeed become that monster. It’s the fact that Shion longs for Nezumi and can’t live without him that shows Shion is still human. When Nezumi left, Shion lost half his world, and if Nezumi were to vanish completely, he fears he’d lose the other half and become a monster in truth.
Four months after Yoming’s fall from grace, Torey shows Shion a red notebook he had found amongst the possessions of those who had died while in custody of the Security Bureau. The notebook had belonged to Nana—Yoming’s deceased wife. Torey also shows him a photograph of Yoming, Nana, and their son Nozomi. While Shion opens the journal expecting Nana to have written of the terror and resentment she felt after being kidnapped by the Security Bureau, he’s surprised to find that’s not what she wrote of at all.
Nana wrote of her daily life, her memories, and her hopes. She had been a children’s art and music teacher, and an artist herself, so the journal is full of her sketches. The picture of Nana as a complex individual comes together for Shion. He turns to the final entry in the journal.
It’s a letter to Yoming, assuring him that she’s alright. She’s going to come back home to him. Nana describes a painting by Jean-François Millet called “L'Angélus,” which depicts a farmer and his wife out in the fields under an evening sky, praying the Angelus prayer with their heads bowed. She writes that she wants to end her day together with Yoming like that couple, offering up gratitude as they look up at the sky. She wants to see the painting in person some day with Yoming and Nozomi, and is sure that it still exists in this world—how could such a beautiful masterpiece just vanish like that? As they gaze upon the painting, its evening sun might shine upon them too—how wonderful that would be! She reassures Yoming that she is alright, that she will return soon, and that they will keep their promise to go on a walk with Nozomi in the stroller.
Shion closes the journal, and Torey says his mother had a copy of that painting, and she had wondered how the couple in the painting looked so happy even though they were very poor. Shion asks Torey to gather more details about Nana, and as Torey turns to leave, says he, too, has seen “L'Angélus.” Torey is amazed—hadn’t Shion had no arts education due to the city abolishing it?
Not replying aloud, Shion recalls when he had seen the painting: in an art book in Nezumi’s underground room. At the time, Shion had only been able to describe the painting as simply beautiful, as he had had no other experience engaging with art. His heart had been drawn to it even though he had been struck at how dull the painting’s palette was, but it was frustrating only being able to describe those feelings clumsily.
Nezumi had responded to his declaration of its beauty seriously, saying that paintings are just as beautiful as songs and stories. Shion wondered that if art is beautiful, then he must have been kept isolated from beauty when he had lived in No.6. Nezumi said that it wasn’t that beauty was kept isolated, but that it was stolen from him. Shion asked why No.6 would do such a thing, and Nezumi told him to find the answer himself.
Back in the office with Torey, Shion thinks he’s found his answer.
The scene transitions to three days later, with Shion standing in front of Yoming in Yoming’s home. There are Security Bureau members posted throughout the residence. Shion’s internal narrative goes into an aside about how as the old No.6 tightened its hold, it had shrunk the judiciary system considerably as it had become useless and unnecessary. Right now, the Restructural Committee was working to establish a judiciary system with public courts that answer to the law so that people could be tried fairly for crimes, rather than the government doling out punishment as it saw fit, and without trial or proof of guilt.
As a result, Shion knew very well that he had overstepped his authority as Chairman when he had done exactly that to Yoming. He had violated the law. And yet, no one around him had rebuked him for doing so.
In the chair in front of him, Yoming, holding Nana’s journal, is shaking crying as he calls the names of his wife and son. Shion thinks this is a good thing—it means he hasn’t sunk so deeply into depression that he can’t cry anymore. That was one way that No.6 killed people—through shattering their souls and thus driving them to death. If Yoming can still cry, though, he could make a recovery. No.6 couldn’t kill him that way.
Shion tells Yoming he’s going to lift his house arrest tomorrow, and restore all the rights that he had had revoked. Yoming says he doesn’t have the authority to do that, but Shion counters that he does—that if he says something is right, then right it becomes. Yoming himself had once accused him of desiring such control.
Yoming asks if ultimate control is what he wants, and Shion says no. Yoming says he knew it—Shion just wanted No.6’s restoration to proceed smoothly, with no one standing in his way. He was impatient, and so made the mistake he did. Shion says yes, he made a mistake, but Yoming did too. Yoming says it wasn’t just a mistake, but a crime. Shion says yes, but you also lied to yourself about why you needed the gold you stole in the first place. It wasn’t that you wanted to rule, but that you wanted revenge. You wanted to destroy No.6, not rebuild it. Yoming says yes. That was the only thing he wanted.
Shion says, let’s get revenge, then. Yoming is caught off guard. Shion says No.6 stole his dear friend away from him—he wants revenge too. He asks Yoming to get revenge with him, but not through destruction. If they transform No.6 irrevocably, and strip away everything that the old regime had stood for—if they kill off the old No.6—then that will be the best form of revenge.
Yoming asks what he’s getting at here. Shion says he wants to appoint Yoming as Vice Chairman and head of the Education and Culture Bureau. He says that Yoming is the perfect person for the job because of “L’Angélus.” Elaborating, he says that No.6 stole the arts away from its citizens—why? He found the answer in Nana’s journal. Nana, though she must have been terrified, she didn’t despair. She didn’t surrender any part of her heart to No.6. This is because she was familiar with “L’Angélus,” with art. Beauty makes people strong, and when people are strong, they can withstand fear. They cannot be daunted, and don’t yield control of their hearts to anyone—this is what No.6 most feared, and most loathed. Let’s build up everything that No.6 feared and loathed, Shion says. Yoming, you understand Nana’s heart and legacy better than anyone else, and that’s why you’re the perfect fit for the job.
Shion also mentions that Yoming was the only person ever willing to criticize Shion, which is highly important. He needs someone like Yoming close by.
Yoming is silent, looking down at his wife’s journal. Shion says he will come back in two days for an answer, and as he’s almost out the door, Yoming calls to him, asking what he really wants. Shion says one word: reunion. Yoming is confused, and Shion leaves without elaborating. Two days later, Yoming accepts Shion’s offer in full.
The series of flashbacks ends, and the narrative is back with Nezumi and Shion on their way to meet Inukashi. Nezumi comments that Shion’s put together a good team on the Restructural Committee, but that it’s a little concerning that the divisions Shion described exist. They indicate that a greater rift between the city and the West Block might one day emerge, one that won’t be bridgeable.
Even so, Nezumi is still so impressed by what Shion’s managed to accomplish. Back all those years ago, Nezumi had once said, truly believing it, that if No.6’s walls came down, hell would appear in their place. Yet it hasn’t. Nezumi finds himself believing that hell might not be the ultimate fate of this world.
Shion says it’s thanks to magic—Elyurias’s magic, and Nezumi’s magic. Nezumi stops in his tracks, and Shion explains that on the day No.6 was destroyed, many people saw Elyurias and heard Nezumi’s song, and in the midst of all that was Shion, looking distinctive with his white hair and red snake scar. People had thus misconstrued Shion with hope, and Shion had taken advantage of that by creating the Restructural Committee with no one standing in his way.
Shion senses that Nezumi is smirking at him, and accuses Nezumi of making fun of him. Nezumi says Shion hasn’t changed a bit. Setting down his basket, he slowly reaches out to tightly grip Shion’s chin. Shion tries to shake him off, but gives up. He says Shion is still as full of himself as ever—he places too much trust in his own head, and thinks he knows every facet of the truth of reality when really he doesn’t.
Nezumi lets go, but they keep looking each other in the eyes. Nezumi says that magic can’t hold a candle to reality, and that people will come to their senses soon enough. Hell doesn’t appear out of nowhere—people create it themselves. And so Shion needs to open his eyes—there’s no hell here. Shion didn’t cast a spell. People know the truth of reality, and are living in it, without bloodshed, violence, starvation or death. That’s all thanks to Shion, and Nezumi tells Shion it’s okay for him to be proud of that accomplishment, and to stop getting lost in doomsday hypotheticals. He won’t be able to move forward otherwise.
Shion feels suddenly as if he’s about to cry. He leans into Nezumi’s chest, thinking about how he’s felt enormously burdened these past two years, with only Nezumi’s promise sustaining him. He’s felt so weak, pathetic, and shameful, but now he feels like he can hold his head high before himself, Nezumi, and Safu.
Shion bites his lip to keep from crying, but Nezumi says it’s okay to cry if he wants. Shion refuses, saying Nezumi will never let him hear the end of it if he does.
Interrupting the moment, Nezumi brings attention to four men clad in black who are lying in wait for them. The two dogs had been left with Karan at Inukashi’s instructions, so Nezumi and Shion are on their own, here. Nezumi proposes going half-and-half, but Shion says he’ll leave them all to Nezumi because of his injured arm. Nezumi complains about working up a sweat before dinner, and then the four men come flying at them.
so this European clothing retailer decided to advertise their jean cuts on youtube and it's unintentionally the funniest shit I've seen today. why? well.
now important context here: in German, die (pronounced 'dee') is just a feminine article, it literally means "the".
but if an ad gets placed in the middle of an English video and doesn't use a single explicitly German word for most of the ad, even a native speaker is gonna think "they want me to die how?" it keeps getting funnier.
stormborns
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