The moment I remembered that Nezumi built the tiny mice and the distraction bomb things, I am now sold to the engineer Nezumi agenda. I think it is very underrated view maybe?? Engineer Nezumi grinds my gears (haha, pun intended) like outside of the personality traits including meticulous and analytical, I also think that it does something about Nezumi skills in making incredible use out of the scraps he has been living on.
But also I really want to manifest a space engineer Nezumi AU.
That whole entire post was me basically tip-toeing around saying people don’t understand Nezumi because they’re privileged and ignorant like Shion BUT I REALLY DO BELIEVE IT. Not a bad thing, even Shion had to acknowledge, face, and challenge his privilege and ignorance — hell, even in reunion volume 1 he is STILL having to work on it. He likely always will.
This is the narrative No. 6 gives us, the imperative Atsuko-sensei imposes upon us in her writing. It feels almost irresponsible to hate on Nezumi given the author is practically on her hands and knees begging us to see why his choices and actions are understandable and the result of systemic violence
Windows and Walls Pt.2: The Window That Can't Be Opened
So in my original post on this topic, I focused very narrowly on the window of Shion's bedroom as a mechanism through which we could understand the overarching themes of the story and how they would ultimately play out. At the time I wrote that essay, I didn't give much thought to the actual rest of the plot and how it continued to present the idea of tearing down the wall, in part because it was more a small exploration of foreshadowing at the very beginning of the story than a deep dive into that particular theme, and also just because it didn't really occur to me to go digging around in 700 pages of novel to investigate every single mention of a window. Which I think is a very normal decision to make as a person with limited time to work on his hobby essays. Unfortunately, I am not a normal person, and I now have more free time for my hobby essays. And as it so happens, during my latest reread, I noticed that there were a lot of mentions of windows and doors that fit into the theme of Shion's “third way” of dealing with No.6! So, first of all, I will list some of the instances I found that I feel fit that theme the most and briefly discuss those, and then I want to home in on one in particular that stood out to me. Because for all the times that Shion is more than happy to break down barriers between people, whether it be a window, door, wall, or emotion, for one single instance in the series, there is a window he is unwilling to break, a border he is unable to cross. And just like the window in his bedroom at the very start of the story, this moment shows us how he perceives the world around him and foreshadows exactly how he will act on that perception.
Karan and Rico – This is actually one of the scenes that first gave me the idea for this essay. There is a very literal wall between Shion and Nezumi in their room and Karan and Rico outside. What I think is interesting about this scene (besides Shion opening the door like he always does), is that Nezumi actually places himself inside the wall in this instance, keeping resources from people who need them on the off chance that those outside may in fact be dangerous. He does this a lot throughout the series, but that’s maybe another essay for another day. As for Shion, the choice is easy, even with the chance that it might be dangerous, he errs on the side of kindness and opens the door, removing the barrier between the two groups and allowing both to see each other clearly and exchange information. I like to think that far later in the series when Nezumi mentions that Shion’s “third way” actually made him stop and consider the possibility of something other than destruction, he is remembering this event along with the original open window.
Point X – Ok, so Shion doesn’t technically open the door between the basement of the Correctional Facility and the upper levels. He actually has nothing to do with it. However, he is the one who leads the way through the door, and it very much is framed as the joining of two previously disconnected worlds. The door at Point X was never supposed to open, and the wall surrounding No.6 was never meant to come down. In one sense this scene marks Shion’s re-entrance into the city, now carrying the knowledge of the reality that lies outside of it. But I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to also see this as the beginning of the cracks forming in the wall, not someone violently breaking through the barrier or crossing it temporarily, but fully leaving an opening that others can see and perhaps begin to question what lies on the other side. This one is definitely a reach in terms of whether or not I think this reading is meant to be there, but it stood out enough for me to include it here
Mayor’s Office – As this scene is taking place, the walls around No.6 are burning, bringing down the division between inside and outside that Shion has desired throughout the book. But besides the regular people living within the city, there also must be a meeting between the “leaders” of each faction. I put leader in quotes because neither the mayor of No.6 nor Elyurias are really ruling their respective regions, but each serves as a symbol for the conflict between urban civilization and nature that has developed throughout the story. Shion opens the window in the mayor’s office to facilitate this meeting in a sense, although it isn’t a direct one, and thus brings down the final physical barrier between spaces.
Ending Scene – The wall has come down, people are learning to live with one another in the new No.6, and Shion is once again placed in front of a window which he opens without hesitation. This one is literally just a callback to the first scene, only now he knows that he is waiting for Nezumi and opens the window in order to invite him to return rather than to vent his own personal frustrations. For the purposes of this essay, him opening the window can be viewed as a statement he makes to Nezumi that he feels that he succeeded in his goal of destroying the wall down and bringing people together, and that it is the choice that he will always make, no matter what awaits them in the future.
So, we have these examples of Shion over and over choosing to join two spaces and/or people, even when others around him tell him that it is dangerous or shouldn’t be done. Despite the risks it may pose, he has decided that it is more important for things to be joined than separated, and that while it may be difficult at first, it will ultimately lead to a better society. This exists in direct opposition to what Nezumi states throughout the book up until the very end, that one side of things must always come out on top, and some people and places can never coexist. And while by the end of the book Nezumi has begun to change his mind about this and trusts Shion enough to bring his vision of a unified No.6 into existence, a bit earlier in the story we actually see Shion also experience this kind of reversal, and just like the times his ideals are reinforced through the opening of a window or door, it is his refusal to cross that barrier in this instance that is immediately followed by his intense -- if temporary -- desire to destroy No.6 and all that it represents.
Over 7 volumes into the series we, as well as Shion, are already well acquainted with the horrors of No.6 -- the general treatment of the West Block residents, the manhunt, the basement of the correctional facility, the massacre of the forest people, as well as the authoritarianism present within the city -- all things that are horrific and inexcusable, but in their own way are still very human. This is politics and violence that we can recognize as existing in the real world. The basement probably comes closest to breaking this illusion, and we see with Shion that this is also nearly his breaking point, that something so horrible couldn’t possibly exist in the world, and yet is not only in front of him, but something he is directly experiencing as a victim. But that scene and the door that opens between the basement and the upper levels of the facility is not where I want to focus, but on the window that is presented shortly after that, where Shion is no longer a participant or victim, but merely an observer.
The conveyor belt room is a scene that is very strange to look at. It doesn’t necessarily bring to mind the excessive violence witnessed in previous scenes, although we can (rightfully) assume the bodies have come from the basement, and yet it is so very clearly a wrong thing that shouldn’t exist. Unlike the explicit violence of earlier scenes, the conveyor belt doesn’t come across as a human expression, merely a process that goes on without anyone's interference. The larger setting the room exists in only reinforces that feeling of distance. The bodies are only being moved to a disposal area, not really examined in any discernible way, and yet the window into the room takes up the entire back wall of the researchers’ office, with many of them observing the process with no concern for what is happening. It's something that is in such close physical proximity to “normality” and yet exists completely outside of it. Inside No.6, violence is only carried out in secret, while in the West Block it exists out in the open, but here those places overlap and the aftermath of this violence is instead put on display to be observed with mild interest. In that sense the “wall” has already partially broken down, from a full divide to a literal window between the two worlds.
And now Shion, our resident wall-breaker, is faced with a choice, he can accept that this type of violence is also a part of No.6 that needs to be dealt with rationally once they escape, or he can admit that perhaps Nezumi was right and it was never worth saving to begin with. Can he fully break down that barrier between inside and outside, or are there things that are so horrible that they should be forgotten in their entirety? Despite everything, up until this point Shion has been able to stick to his ideals no matter the circumstance, but it is here, faced not with brutal and excessive violence, but instead the mundanity with which that violence is treated by No. 6, that he can no longer accept the city for what it is. He cannot open the window between himself and the conveyor belt room. He cannot see the ones responsible for this scene as fellow humans, only as an obstacle that must be destroyed in order for him to move forward.
So, the scene that follows this is the Rashi scene. Quite frankly for a few reasons I have a very difficult time talking about this scene in any serious depth. I have talked about Rashi before, including this scene and its significance to the story, but I will summarize again here to make the connection to the preceding scene that is the focus of this essay.
Rashi is a character that, while he only appears a few times throughout the story, serves as a personification of No. 6 itself and escalates his behavior in accordance with Shion’s progression through the story. He takes Shion from his home in Chronos for sheltering Nezumi. He helps frame Shion for the deaths in the park and attempts to take him to the Correctional Facility. And here, at the end, he admits that he was not just a police officer in the city, but a leader in the military, and directly threatens to kill both Shion and Nezumi, even if it means his own death by electrocution. In the same way, the violence displayed by the city only ever increases, becoming harder and harder to justify until it begins consuming itself in order to maintain its systems, predictably resulting in the complete collapse we see at the end of the story. The lesson here is quite simple: authoritarianism is not sustainable. It will inevitably collapse under its own weight given enough time.
But back to Rashi. Rashi does not die from the walls electrifying as he expects, but is instead killed by Shion. The Shion that throughout the entire series has largely despised violence and only begrudgingly carried it out when it would get him out of danger or during a burst of anger does not exist in this moment. I think the main point a lot of people get from this scene is that Shion is willing to commit this type of violence in order to save Nezumi and to get closer to Safu. This is true. But putting it up against the previous scene where for the first time he leaves a window unopened, we get a bit of a different picture. If the window cannot be opened, then the third path Shion believes in cannot move forward, it has reached its end, and thus Shion reaches the end of his belief in the ability for No.6 to become something better than it currently is. And if it can’t become something better from its current point, then it must be destroyed so that something entirely new can be built in its place. At this point in the story Shion does not have the ability to actually destroy the city, and ultimately he is able to move past this block and return to his original ideals, so he is not the one to carry out that destruction. But in this moment, when he views destruction as his only path forward, he is presented with Rashi, who in so many ways embodies everything about No.6 that cannot continue to exist, and who yes, directly puts those Shion cares most about in danger. This too is part of No.6’s violence. Rashi is not No.6, but he may as well be.
So, coming back to that window. There are a few other factors at play here that I think are important to consider. Namely that, unlike the other windows in the series, having it be open or not does not make a difference to anything going on around it, and I think Shion is aware of this. Besides the fact that in a literal sense neither he nor Nezumi even have a way to break the window, if getting to the other side of it was important for either of them, then there would have been a way for that to happen. But there isn’t. Unlike the other windows and doors, there is nothing to be gained from getting to the other side, nothing that cannot be seen from their vantage point. As I mentioned earlier, the window is very much just a place where violence is observed, not necessarily carried out or examined in any depth. If Shion were to cross that barrier, would we expect him to come to a different conclusion or act differently in the following scenes? Probably not. And that only adds another layer to the horror of this scene. We learn about the world through interacting with it, by getting as close as we can to reality and judging for ourselves how to interpret the information we take in. We see Shion go through this process throughout the entire series. In fact, it's the main factor pushing the narrative forward in the first place. What does it mean for something to cause such an intense reaction in a person that getting any closer to it would have no effect on our interpretation, even if that effect would only amount to a stronger emotional response? What would it take for something to completely reverse our beliefs about the world from such a distance? It is in this moment, watching the conveyor belt move bodies across the room into an incinerator, that Shion finds his own answers to those questions, and discovers that there are in fact windows that should not be opened.
Something about No.6 that has always intrigued me is that the series has a very good potential of being a medical horror adjacent. The No.6 educational program is very STEM-based, so there are more chance of students becoming doctors. One of the people working in the government is wearing and being referred to/known for his lab coat, signifying the importance of the ‘doctor’ identity. ‘Gears turning’ scenes that has medical practice such as Nezumi pulling the wasp out of Shion’s neck by surgery and Shion patching Nezumi back up near the end with the limited supplies he can get. The kicker of all is that the Correctional Facility’s entire purpose is to study and enclose literal brains taken from West Block citizens — the science and the desire to ‘explore’.
These factors (and perhaps more!) let me to think what if No.6 was a medical horror. Exploring the ethics of handling patients, using medical terms and hospital-ish settings in harming others, while also utilizing the skills needed to survive under pressure. It’s kind of like the series Dr. House vibes — but with more intense politics and legal challenges
Though I do think that is why it is so compelling for No.6 to be a socio-political literature because it is fighting against the science-based tyranny that No.6 established itself to be — the uniformed thoughts itself — as the story pushed for radicalization, emotions, perplexing decisions with no right answer, but there are gravely wrong ones — that it is so compelling like so
Putting this cross-posting this and on Discord and Tumblr because this is so intriguing
Shion and the snake imagery isn't too new in No.6 meta or casual posts, which is why I want to see the snake skin shedding metaphor as a division between two Shions: the perfect Shion and the imperfect Shion, and tying this to the self-contempt Shion had in the original Nine novels (double identity Shion dojhwoidv)
Original 9 suggested that from Safu, before Shion, the brown hair Shion had so many expectations and awards that things were being planned for him in the educational program. Even as he was removed from the program, Shion from before still got a job that he can sustain for quite a while. The Shion from within the walls was 'perfect' -- a highly intelligent person who had backup plans over backup plans when things are not right. The Shion as an identity crafted by No.6 itelf and holds the 'perfection' indifference of his.
Meanwhile, the Shion that survived the West Block and searched through the Correctional Facility, the Shion that reached out to Nezumi - the Shion who is conflicted and re-awaken is 'imperfect' - the person work for a new identity and the person who is more emotionally driven and hated -- really hated himself -- bit his tongue in frustration and disbelief of himself.
What separates them is the 'illusion' that was partially crafted by No.6. When Shion said that he isn't as truthful as Nezumi or Safu, I think this is what it is - the perfection in Shion is all a lie (or at least that's what he thinks, and its partially right via ignorance of the world outside). As the 'walls' within Shion breaks, Nezumi is one of the only people he can trust because that is what he's left of the world that lied to him.
Thinking back to the thought that there's a jarring voice that tells Shion he is weak, and that if he is going to leave Nezumi to save himself. I think that is 'Perfect Shion's voice - is that kind of twisted No.6 narrative that influences this thought - the narration of 'individualistic success', 'finding reason above all' kind of thought from Perfect Shion to Imperfect Shion
In Beyond and later Reunion, I think 'Imperfect Shion' is working through the scraps of 'Perfect Shion' - that indifference and more interrogative nature of the Shion who is built to think in highly bureaucratic and demanding nature - but also with the critical understanding, experience of Imperfect Shion - then it is Shion trying to figure himself out
SPOILERS FOR NO.6 REUNION VOL 2 (less about the actual content, but just like a hypothetical scenario that is compliant with what is introduced in Reunion 2)
Restructural Committee + Delusional Thinking
RC posting but now that I think about it, the mole narrative that there might be a mole within RC is actually pretty funny even if I don't really believe it. The reason is because that kind of plot line is an opportunity to see RC's argumentative skills and/or how long does it take for them to sell out the other.
Granted that they *kind of* tolerate each other since they are working together for so long, but that's the thing -- it's like how much effort does it take for them to make a good argument about either them being innocent or pulling one into the mess and branding that one as the "criminal". Not to mention that actually, the chances of Shion being 'the mole' is not high but never zero - in the circumstances of the story: my assumption is that if there is a company/body that is highly involved with government works and supervision, there is also an assumption that the people at the top - who are directly involved in government affairs - are most likely to be suspected. Yet I do think that in the case for Shion, he's like an "invisible" figure within the discussion since I think RC has some level of respect to Shion that they wouldn't consider him until someone pointed that one. Then again, I think it's hilarious for Shion to go another round of interrogation from "No.6" after the old No.6 branded him as a criminal (something that Nishata and Lana can relate haha maybe).
I can imagine unsurprisingly, Yoming might be the person who is like "wait, nobody didn't say if the Chairman is a possible candidate" and then everyone else is like "...oh yeah..!" and then Shion just side-eye in such a *stunned* matter like "oh wow, you guys actually remembered me, that's crazy."
Also I'm kinda intrigued of the possibilities about who is entertained about the idea of being a mole (nudging Nishata, Lana, and Torey) because yeah that kind of implies the perception that most of RC has on them actually -> thrilling character study.
[NO.6 R2 + BEYOND META] RC might be the vehicle for Shion to embrace what being a "Monster" is
“Shion, you have potential to be a leader like no other. I, or even that mayor, couldn’t compare. Someday, you’ll try to dominate over all, try to have everything within your grasp. You’ll reign as a cold, ruthless, and exceedingly good dictator.” -- Yoming. Beyond, Shion's Days, Part 3. Nostalgia on the 9th Avenue.
I just want to preface that everything here I say is way before any possible new Restructural Committee content produced past Reunion Vol 2. I also want to say that everything that I say here is 1. biased and 2. delusionally-driven with a few descriptive sentence and memory of Reunion Vol 2. Also this is a very unhinged theory as we go so is this serious?? Sure, but in an unserious way.
Shion has a very complicated relationship as a new Chairman for the established Restructural Committee. More than 2 years past, with new people coming in, and old people coming out - Shion, since Beyond, challenged himself to not overstep his boundaries as a Chairman, person who witnessed West Block, heard the stories of the Forest People, and lived in the walls of No.6. A pretty hefty task for a person who turned 18 and already had huge responsibilities on his back.
The thing here is that, sometimes Shion does slip out of those boundaries. From kicking Yoming out with semi-lucky guess and no concrete evidence in Beyond to somewhat scheming alongside Torey to trap the gold smugglers in Reunion 1 (I don't remember this part too well, please correct!), Shion used 1000% of his wit to protect No.6 from being the No.6 in the past. Still, in the back of his mind, Shion still contemplates his actions - as he take accountability of his mistakes by reconciling with Yoming in Reunion 2.
Still, these worries eats his mind. In some ways, Shion might still worry that he will become the monster that he vowed to avoid - like those rulers of No.6 from before.
What does that leave us? Enters the heads of the committees in Restructural Committee.
Torey, Amal, Yoming, Nishata, Ason, Luna, Kihou, and let's add Ruka here too (iirc she's not actually a head of a committee but she still serve an important role in the Security Bureau I think).
All RC members had escaped No.6 clutches in some way, all of them went through some fucked-up shit in some way or the other. Torey's parents resisted the government without his knowing, his mom got executed. Luna and Nishata were jailed at some point by No.6. Amal risked her life to protect West Block woman and children from malicious attacks including No.6. The important thing is that all of them didn't quit at that point. Ruka, after the Hunt killed her parents, didn't stop becoming in RC. Yoming, fucked up is it can be, carried his wife's words and led a revolution and still went back to RC.
The thing about RC is that they are so fucked up, together and individually. The thing here is that almost all of RC are fucked up and they try to live despite all odds — despite what No.6 destroyed from them. And then they go back, and they try to rebuild the things within their power and place. I think that this, added with their own maturity, really is going to transform what being a monster means for Shion
It’s not so that Shion is going to definitely fuck up, but to see another ‘third view’ — to be alive despite it all with a very fucked up but so so human perspective.
And RC is going to be such a great yet delusional story perspective of that human nature.
something about shion having bottomless pits eyes. those eyes that has some dark matter swirling inside red or purple background. there are no sparks in his eyes, but he's still in a neutral and content state. shion with eyes that look emotionless, yet he still expresses interest and curiosity gives such a nice contrast because there is an underlying powerful aura within him
