What exactly is the information that Sigma took from Atsushi in exchange for the location of the Page?
This question has been haunting me from quite some time; now thanks to @vampireonastick ‘s amazing saga of Mastermind!Ango (annnd since this saga has given me major trust issues about every character in the series lol XD) I finally formed enough coherent thoughts to put this in words. Of course, I might be looking too much into it but this was fun to brainstorm :)
To start with, from almost the first chapter of the series, the spotlight has always been on Atsushi or more correctly, the tiger within him. In the Introductory arc, Akutagawa, Higuchi and Kyouka were introduced and we did have glimpses into the abuse and upbringing that made them into the people we know today but don’t forget that the underlying skein was the huge bounty on Atsushi and the mystery of who could be behind it. Even the deal Dazai made with Chuuya in the underground interrogation cellar was based on this—
Right?
Well, eventually the bounty method failed and we cut to the ‘rich sods’ behind this lol (why this was cut from the anime idk)
The next Arc was the Guild Arc—the motive hasn’t changed yet. The Guild members attacked Yokohama with the intention of incinerating the city and kidnapped Atsushi once again. And, Fitzgerald says to Atsushi: (who is the prophesy ability user I wonder? The origin of all this trouble)
Is what this guy says but Fyodor doesn’t seem to mind lol
In the end, the Moby Dick plan failed too. And then, our hurricane of chaos steps onto the main stage and takes the story in a thousand different directions.
Okay but before that, we have the Dead Apple Arc which... also majorly features a brutal experiment on little Atsushi. How Fyodor knew about the tiger before it even fully manifested within the boy is beyond me—maybe he gets it from the prophecy ability user, maybe he gets daily hot news from his partner-in-crime, his ability Crime and Punishment or whatever but my point is that Atsushi was continuously targeted for three consecutive arcs.
And then, boom, a 360 deg turn after Dostoyevsky started his full-scale operations. Taking both the Cannibalism Arc and Decay of Angels Arc as stage 1 and stage 2 of the same plan— (yes I added this coz look how cute these three are in this chart!)
—I have to point out that not even once has the spotlight been on Atsushi like in the previous arcs. Yes, he is still the protagonist and yes, we still see the story from his point of view,,, but where is the constant attempt and abduction on him? He has been completely pushed to one side in favor of razing down Yokohama itself with no concern for the ‘tiger-beetle’’s safety. Why?
At first, I wondered whether Fyodor simply exaggerated Atsushi's importance to Shibusawa and Fitzgerald so they would attack Yokohama. Which... might still be the case ofc, because I can’t trust anything that comes out of the guy’s mouth. Every word is a well-crafted lie lol
But I think the correct answer lies in the yet truthfully unanswered question: why exactly was Sigma left in the Casino after his one use to locate the Page from Taneda?
The question Dazai rightly put forth to the guy on three different occasions and for which he continually used the first rule of a conjurer—Misdirection.
(The rest is just hc and speculation on my part and might be right or not but will def go long lol so I will put under the cut—)
Well, the answer Fyodor gave to the last one was yet another misdirection—he changed the question to pretending to be offended about comparing ‘levels of Sigma and the Hunting Dogs’, explained how Sigma was created from the Book etc. etc. which all might be true...
But he still didn’t answer the actual question, did he?
Going back to the Cannibalism Arc, Dostoyevsky pitted the two main protecting forces of Yokohama against each other to test the loyalty and trust among the members. A lot of things happen but what I want to highlight is how Atsushi has started to actively fight for the place he now thinks of as home instead of running away like he used to do in the beginning. Remember, how the first time he came to know of the bounty on his head, he ran away believing that him not being with the others will protect them from the Port Mafia? He didn’t think the Agency would be able to stand on their own against the Mafia. But now, he trusts in them and fights with and for them. Well, at least to some extent (coz he still freezes up when he is alone against an adversary but that's understandable)
Then comes the DoA arc and what is the true outcome of this arc? Every member of the ADA has been named a terrorist, either arrested or forced into hiding. Except for Atsushi (and Kyouka) who has been running from place to place, seeking help from various sources to clear the name of the place he has finally come to call home.
Which... exactly is Fyodor’s MO. Using the weakness of a person against themselves. Breaking them with their own weakness. (Just like how he did for Kunikida)
By making Atsushi feel like he is the only one who can save the ADA, he is actually playing right into the enemy’s hands. He is the one who needs to be protected the most bc of whatever connection he, or rather, his tiger has to the Book and yet he is the one on the center stage, most vulnerable to the enemy’s traps. The Agency members who continually came to his rescue in the first two arcs are now unable to provide him any help.
Finally comes the Sky Casino Arc.
Okay, to be very honest, I always agreed with what Dazai said about Sigma. I felt Sigma is indeed no match to the Hunting Dogs (no matter how profound his resolution is.) True; Sigma fought tooth and nail but in the end, in spite of having a gun lol, he really was no match to Teruko. Just as she asked: why do you think you’re the only one who houses that power?
See? Exactly. Say, if geniuses like Ranpo, Dazai or Fyodor (and others in this series) become truly ‘desperate’? Honestly, Ranpo fits in his classification of ordinary man is the strongest, doesn’t he? Someone without an ability or influence but desperate to defend the one thing he cherishes the most in his life? Even the latter two...they actually use their abilities so little—most of what they do are complete intellectual activities. So, whether or not Sigma was created from the Book, I don’t think he’d hold a candle to these men if and when they become ‘desperate’.
That’s why I think the real reason Sigma was placed at the Casino was not to fight the Hunting Dogs head-on (I think Dostoyevsky meant it when he said Sigma was free to run away if he faces the Hunting Dogs)
—or to protect the secrets of the terrorist Casino (the coin bombs are meant to be discovered by the Hunting Dogs so that they can pin the accusation on the ADA even more, so what’s there to protect? See, even that plane contains those coins—they are everywhere!)
—but to come in contact with Atsushi and co., so he can use his ability on Atsushi and extract whatever it is that Fyodor needs to locate the Book (assuming the Book is an actual physical blank novel and not a metaphor/allegory for something else)
Or, rather, I should probably put this as shooting two birds with one bullet.
Fyodor, as many people have pointed out, has a totally different aim (that is not World Domination)—he is seeking out the Book to destroy the sins of abilities and ability users. (However he might lie, I believe he did say the truth to Dazai in that panel coz of the framing.) He merely crafted a plan for Fukuchi for Fukuchi’s aim of World Domination. A plan that he didn’t plan out to perfection because ‘perfect is so boring’ (Who entrusts planning to this guy anyway? He is chaos incarnate)
To put it shortly, I think he sneaked in his own agenda disguised as steps-unto-world-domination. The coin bombs from the Casino were meant to be distributed all-round the world for bringing about an economic recession and tightening the rope of accusation around the ADA’s neck (this for Fukuchi). He moved his pieces in such a way that Atsushi is the one that escapes from the Wretched Chair Arc, is the one that comes to the Sky Casino so that Sigma can come in contact with him (this for himself). And then, Sigma gives away the information about the Page held by Kamui. Resulting in the Vampire Outbreak and the One Order and whatnot (this for Fukuchi)
Now, mayyybe, Fyodor will pull the plug on Fukuchi? Seems likely coz if he’s got what he needed, he no longer needs the guy’s powerful influence. Maybe, he will wait out till Fukuchi sinks lower and lower, till he is completely exposed and arrested/defeated etc. etc.. He must have some sort of firewall so his name won’t and can’t be dragged into the mess and so he can continue his Plan -insert letter- in peace allied with some other (next) influential personality (I am guessing The Order might be his next plaything. Hope Agatha Christie is skilled enough to not trust this guy with plans.)
Well, tl;dr of this post is once again—what exactly is the information that Sigma took from Atsushi in exchange for the location of the Page? I still don’t have a proper answer to this lol.
So I was totally wrong in my earlier theory that Fyodor messed with his brain literally, but he pretty clearly did figuratively, so whatever, Fyodor’s still as follows:
Sigma was instead created by the book. He is a foil for Tachihara, Atsushi, and Akutagawa in that he was desperately searching for a purpose. In particular, he’s closest in foiling with Atsushi, in that he wanted a family. (Chapter 75 translations & images taken from the translation provided by @akai-koutei!)
But he’s also incredibly close in foiling with Akutagawa: he knows he joined with a murderer, but he doesn’t care, because it gives him what he needs to keep living. He craves human connection and love despite being abused from the moment he was created--the first humans he met sold him into human trafficking.
We’re getting super anthropological in here now: what does it mean to be a person? Does it matter how you are created?
I’d say I doubt it, but we’ll see. BSD’s getting very, very meta with this: Sigma is literally an original character created from a book, but he walks among people, so what’s the difference between him and other people? He seems to have free will to an extent. He has desires and fears. So where exactly is the line between fiction and reality? Isn’t it blurred? (I love that BSD is actually exploring this concept in a meta way.)
Sigma is the ultimate stranger, as Fyodor notes--but he’s also the ultimate human. Sigma’s “how did I get there? What do I do?” scene mirrors chapter 1 of BSD, in which Atsushi is stranded and in desperate need of help, and the ADA finds him. Human traffickers found Sigma. The Hunting Dogs found Tachihara. The Port Mafia found Akutagawa.
At a point in every character’s life, they’ve been forced to question why they live, often with other people insisting they shouldn’t exist (the story is literally asking whether or not Sigma should exist). It’s also always tied in themes of belonging and human connection into these questions it asks, as it is done in Sigma’s arc too. He’s no different from other humans we’ve seen--in fact, his experience is the same.
So, is everyone a stranger in this world? Is no one a stranger? It’s especially interesting Fyodor comments as much to Dazai, who feels very... well, not human, despite the fact that he is very human.
All that to say, despite Sigma pulling out the gun at the end of the chapter and scaring me, I really hope he lives longer, because he has a lot to potentially offer the characters. That said, dying could perhaps offer a lesson to them too.
Wait, wait... do people really believe that Sigma is Fyodor’s OC?
As in, Fyodor wrote Sigma out of the Book??
There is no way this is possible because Fyodor has not yet got his hands on the Book, right? He has been searching for the Book for the past ten years, through various plots (most of which failed, the ongoing one is the Decay of Angels plan)
It’d too much to believe he got his hands on the Book three years ago, created Sigma just because and lost the Book again instead of focusing on his own goal of ‘eliminating the ability users’ with the help of the Book when the chance came his way.
Meaning, Fyodor absolutely didn’t create Sigma!
Sigma is the creation/experiment of someone else (most probably someone from the government or whoever is aware of the location of the Book or maybe the one who created the Book)
Of course, the Sky Casino was created from the stolen Page of the Book as per the DoA plans.
But again, not created by Fyodor iirc. As in, he isn’t the one to write it down on the Page. (Mishima Yukio, maybe?)
The Casino was created eight days prior to the Sky Casino Incident and Fyodor was arrested one month+ prior and moved to Mersault. He might have given the instructions from the prison but he couldn’t have written it by his hand.
(of course, all of this is valid only if Fyodor is telling the truth about the origins of Sigma. I trust maybe like 2% of what he says anyway)
