This is the second light novel for No. 6.
Synopsis[]
Chapter One[]
A mouse scurries up Shion's leg and "asks" for Shion to read him a book. Shion offers to read a more fun book and says that there would be a great book somewhere if Nezumi would sort out the books. Nezumi then says that Shion should build up his strength before thinking about stupid things like sorting out the books. When Shion says that he's been cleaning the park for a while in No. 6, Nezumi says that that doesn't count as physical labor since all he did was drive cleaning robots. He then proceeds to say that physical labor was using every part of your body. Determined to prove to Nezumi that he can do physical labor, he decides to organize, sort, and shelf the books. As a bonus, Shion says that he can clean it in a week instead of a hundred years, as Nezumi approximates.
As Shion examines the underground home, he wonders how long Nezumi has been living, implying that Nezumi mustn't have grown up in the West Block and asks him where he came from, only to be interrupted midway by Nezumi's cold, icy stare. He then threatens to kick him out if he asks him more about his past. When Shion talks about really wanting to know about Nezumi, Nezumi kneels down in front of Shion and asks him what he wants to know.
When Shion answers that he wants to know about Nezumi, Nezumi gets surprised and asks if Shion has ever read any cliché romance novels. When Shion says that he hasn't, Nezumi asks where he got the line, "I want to know about you,", a line Shion had said earlier. When Shion tried to press for details about his past, Nezumi grabs his wrist and holds it to his chest, asking what he felt. Shion says that he was alive, so Nezumi says that he's alive and in front of him, so that's all that matters. He then accuses Shion of wanting to know every little thing about him, from his birth date to his IQ, saying that's why he can't understand anything about the living people in front of him.
After that, Shion reveals all of the personal things he's learned about Nezumi in the short amount of time he was there. Then, Nezumi says that Shion shouldn't be so interested in strangers like him because it would make it harder to kill him when they become enemies. Shion disagrees with the idea of them being enemies, saying that it's stupid, so he and Nezumi argue over the idea. When a pile of books topple over, Nezumi says that Shion had better get to organizing the books if he wants to do it in one week.
Nezumi then leaves for work as Shion starts organizing the books, tossing him a pair of gloves, saying that Shion would break a nail if he didn't use gloves.
Shion starts thinking about Nezumi and how he doesn't want to lose him at all.
He starts cleaning up the piles of books, getting distracted and scolding about the mouse. On the third day, he finds the old emergency kit Nezumi took from him four years ago that day. He opens it and sees that everything is still intact. The mouse scolds him again.
The week passes and Shion manages to clean up most of the living space, with fewer piles of books now. Nezumi scans his findings, sarcastically saying that he was disappointed that he couldn't find an entry permit into No. 6. Shion gets mad at Nezumi, saying that he doesn't want to go back to the city even if his mother is still in there.
When Nezumi wonders why Shion is saying that he wants to stay even if it's conditions are horrible, Shion confesses that he is drawn to Nezumi. When Nezumi says that the word "drawn" should be reserved for someone irreplaceable, Shion offers to say "I love you," instead, which makes Nezumi give up entirely.
Nezumi then says that he won't trust Shion, but then puts a hand to Shion's cheek gently, saying that he doesn't hate him or has a grudge against him. Stroking his hair, he lets him take a look outside at the world he's decided to live in. Shion decides to keep his hair white, saying that it's better than being bald.
They decide to go to the Latch Building, from a note that Karan sent Nezumi. Before that though, Nezumi lets Shion write a short letter to his mother. As he thinks about what to write, a mouse wants Shion to read him a tragedy. Nezumi tells Shion to read him the tragedy, complimenting his reading voice, saying that the mouse loves to be read to.
Before Shion could start reading, a child starts knocking on the door. Nezumi is suspicious of the child, but Shion says that they should help the child.
When they open the door, Shion recognizes her as the girl who screamed "Snake!", saying that someone, a male, is dying. Shion orders Nezumi to bring the emergency kit and some blankets.
Chapter Two[]
The girl takes Shion and Nezumi to the base of a white, spindly tree, where there was a boy choking on something. Shion got the boy to vomit the foreign object, which was something black and round. The boy starts to lose consciousness, so the girl, his sister, calls out his name, which is Rico.
Shion offered the boy water, so he drank it. Then the boy says that his throat hurts, since he scratched it so much when the object was still inside his throat. Shion uses the old emergency kit Nezumi took to disinfect the wounds. They look at the object Rico threw up, which was a nut. Rico then confesses that he was hungry since the bread he eats wasn't enough, so he ate the nut. Rico's sister's name is revealed to be Karan, the same as Shion's mother.
Nezumi starts thinking about the dead and Shion's words about him being drawn to Nezumi.
When Shion brings pitiful grapes and says that he refused the dried fish because he knew Nezumi didn't like fish, to which Nezumi says that wouldn't be picky about food. Besides, he says, he meant raw fish, since it's too unhygienic to eat anything raw.
Nezumi thinks that Shion's white hair looks beautiful and reaches out to touch it, and Shion doesn't seem too fazed by it. Shion then says that Karan's mother complimented his hair, saying that it was unique and pretty. Then Nezumi calls him a girl for getting so hyped up about someone complimenting his hair. When Shion offers to read Karan and Rico some pictures, to which Nezumi asks if Shion is intending to make his abode a kindergarten.
Later, the two got out to the marketplace, when some thieves drop an orange near him. The man who was stolen from opens fire. He then aims for an old lady in the road and was about to shoot, until Shion throw himself at the man and points the gun muzzle upwards, shooting the sky.
When Shion diverted the gunshot, the man thinks that Shion was in league with the thieves and accuses him of stealing. Even though Shion says that he isn't one of them, the man starts a fight with Shion. People crows around, taking sides. Then the man gets frustrated with him and points his gun right between his eyes. Then a meat store owner next to the fight scene says to bring the fight elsewhere or he'll dirty his meat. Then the meat owner and the man with the gun fight over who has fresher produce, to which a woman takes this opportunity to steal Shion from the scene.
The woman tries to rape Shion, but Nezumi intervenes, saying that Shion was actually heads-over-heels for him. Nezumi pays the woman with a kiss and an orange so that he can take Shion away safely.
Nezumi then tells Shion to get a thicker skull and learn to protect himself. Shion trips over a dead woman's body.
Nezumi and Shion talks about the parasitic bees. Nezumi asks Shion if it would be easier to go through getting devoured by the wasp or starving and freezing to death.
Nezumi shows Shion the Disposers, saying that they burn the dead bodies for money from people who want the bodies disposed of. One of the Disposers approach Shion, saying that his hair was interesting and saying that he looks a lot like a doll. After a while of refusing the man's offer for drinks and food, he realizes that Nezumi won't come save him, so as a ruse, he gives in to their offer, only to kick the man in the crotch and run away.
Shion trips and falls into an unknown place, which he identifies as a ruin.
Chapter Three[]
Looking around, Shion knows that Nezumi is around and calls for him, to which Nezumi says that Shion's senses are getting sharper. Shion then says that Nezumi's light on his feet. Nezumi says that his sarcasm's getting better. They resume the search for their destination.
Shion realizes that the West Block used to be a pretty decent town before No. 6 was established, when a series of large-scale wars broke out.
A dog from the Disposers followed Shion to the ruins, so Nezumi starts to pet it. Shion notices that he's nice to dogs and points out that dogs can't suture wounds whenever Nezumi gets one.
Then Nezumi says that he had nightmares about Shion smiling when he sutured his bullet wound four years ago. Nezumi later says that the stitches he got made a scar on his shoulder.
They finally reach the hotel Nezumi wanted to go to. Shion sees that it's in bad shape, but is informed that it's still a working hotel.
Shion smells something weird. Nezumi suggests that it's the candles, but Shion says that he actually smells an animal, which revealed to be a dog snarling at them. More dogs approach the duo, until one dog stopped snarling and acts friendly towards Shion. The other dogs stop and do their own thing, not attacking Nezumi or Shion. Shion then says that he must of passed their interview.
Then a person emerges from the dark, who everyone calls Inukashi. Inukashi introduces himself to Shion, offering his hand out to shake. When Shion takes his hand, it turns out that Inukashi was wearing a ring with a spike the size of a pin, so it pricked Shion's hand. When Shion asks why he did that, Inukashi only starts laughing and teasing him.
Shion then pets a bunch of puppies, which makes Inukashi annoyed. Inukashi wonders why Nezumi is harboring Shion, but Nezumi just says that he's pretty good with a simple surgery.
As they walk down the hall in the hotel, Shion is informed that Inukashi's customers rent the dogs as heaters. Inukashi asks Nezumi where he picked up Shion, but Nezumi refuses to tell him, instead, he just gives him one of his robotic mice in exchange for the information Inukashi gathered on the Latch Building.
Inukashi said that the Latch Building doesn't exist and that it was made into a parking lot, but there was a newspaper that went by the name of Latch Bill. So, Inukashi sends the two to the third floor of the newspaper building, and that a guy who has ties to Latch Bill also has connections to No. 6.
In other point of view, scientists talk about live samples and toast to the Holy City. They seem to know about Shion's almost immunity to the parasite and that Nezumi is protecting him. One other man is revealed to be named Fennec.
Nezumi and Shion reach the building housing the former Latch Bill reporter. When they reach the door on the third floor, Nezumi says that the air feels weird and stops Shion from knocking on the door. When Nezumi says that they should come back another time, Shion says that they'll enter now, so Nezumi gives in.
When they walk in, there's a curved woman straddling a man, trying to kill him with a knife. Nezumi stops her, but she retaliates harshly. After a while, the woman collapses in a sobbing heap while Nezumi sings to calm her down.
When they're unsure if the person who they thought would be Rikiga is actually the Rikiga they're looking for, the woman confirms it.
When the woman tries to kill Rikiga again, Nezumi decides to pretend that he and Shion are Rikiga's sons. They manage to convince the woman that they're his sons and she leaves. Afterwards, when Rikiga calls Nezumi Eve, Shion thinks that Eve was his real name, but Nezumi stays that it's his stage name, proving that he's a stage actor. Shion then says that that was why Nezumi moves so gracefully.
When Shion imagines the playhouse Nezumi works in, Nezumi tells him not to get so worked up about it, saying only rich people who want to be distracted from their worries come here. Shion then says that it still makes people forget their worries, saying that it's amazing. Rikiga wants to know all about Shion, and Nezumi asks him about Karan.
Rikiga asks how they know about Karan, and Shion answers that Karan's his mother, and then Rikiga gets confused, asking for his name and who the father is.
It is revealed that Shion's parents separated shortly after he was born and Shion never met his father. Nezumi then suggests that Rikiga might be his long lost father.
For a more comfortable place to sit and chat, Rikiga reveals a secret room through fingerprint recognition. Nezumi and Shion notice that the room and food are luxury items to the West Block.
They start questioning Rikiga about the different aspects of Shion's father, seeing if Rikiga was actually Karan's ex-husband. When Shion asks him about the cherry cakes, Rikiga says that he doesn't have any recollection of sharing cherry cakes with Karan, also saying that he was never a resident of No. 6, so he can't be Shion's dad.
Rikiga then explains how he and Karan met, saying that Karan was still a student and was interested in the newspaper columns he wrote, so she visited him once. Meeting in the Latch Building, Rikiga started to fall in love with Karan. Then, Rikiga compliments Nezumi's acting ability and Shion's quick learning curve about the literature.
Nezumi later explains No. 6 and the other five cities' origins, saying that they were model cities for the future. He wants Rikiga to confirm the information he said, to which Rikiga says that classics weren't the only thing he can recite from the top of his head. It is revealed that Nezumi's stage manager doesn't know Nezumi's real name, age, or birthplace, calling him a wanderer from nowhere. Rikiga doesn't buy it, so tries to ask Nezumi for his real identity.
Rikiga continues his story about the origin of the cities, saying he was kicked out for being a reporter since they abolished freedom of press. When Nezumi compared humans to cities, saying that they can corrupt easily, Shion realizes that Nezumi was trying to provoke Rikiga, saying that Rikiga has been secretly seeing high officials from No. 6 to get money, and that's how he can live a luxurious life. As Rikiga talks about how free the West Block is compared to the City, Shion felt pained to listen to him.
When Rikiga tells Nezumi to start selling his body to customers who want it, Shion snaps and hits Rikiga's head with the coffee mug and banged his head against the floor and started to choke him, telling him to apologize to Nezumi for saying such downgrading things. Nezumi then has to pull Shion away, stunned that Shion would resort to violence. Shion asks why Nezumi isn't mad at him, and then Nezumi says that if that happened then he would be mad all year round.
When Shion starts to cry, Nezumi uses Rikiga's silk tablecloth to wipe his tears and snot, which angers Rikiga a bit. Rikiga then says that it felt like he was getting scolded by Karan. After Rikiga apologizes to Nezumi, he lightly pushes Shion towards the exit and calls it a day. When they clean up the mess, they see a picture with men and women on it. Nezumi recognizes a man in the photo, and reveals him as his godfather.
Chapter Four[]
Shion's mother gives a young girl, Lili, a raisin muffin and a couple of doughnuts as a little treat since she's one of her regular customers. She promises to bake her cheese muffins. Lili is scared that Karan might close her shop.
Karan finds it hard to bear that Shion left her, thinking that he's already in the Correctional Facility and probably dead. she then gets a message from one of Nezumi's mice and is reminded of a time Shion mentioned a Nezumi. When the note says that Shion is alive and safe, she's relieved and writes back a message.
A month later, Shion writes Karan a note saying that he's sorry and that he's alive and well. She feeds the little mouse some bread with powdered cheese. When Karan writes a letter to give the mouse, a girl starts to knock on the door. Scared that the Security Bureau had come to collect the letter, she crumpled up the letter, prepared to eat it should anything go wrong. She recognizes the girl as Safu and relaxes.
Karan wonders why Safu is back so early, to which she replies that her grandmother had passed away recently. Safu then knows that Karan knows that Shion is alive and asks her where Shion is, guessing that he must be outside of the city. Safu then tries to go and see him while Karan tries to stop her. Safu says that she loves Shion and wants to see him, so Karan goes to hug her. Karan then asks Safu to believe in him, saying that he'll come one day. Safu asks who's with Shion, and Karan answers that it would most likely be Nezumi. As Safu starts leaving, Karan tells her not to do anything rash and wait until he comes home.
After Safu left, Karan realized that Safu had forgotten her handknitted scarf that her grandmother had made.
As Safu was leaving, she was called by Bureau officials and they tried to shove her into a car. She pretended to trip, but actually rammed into a man and sped through the space she made between them. As she started to run away, she saw Karan with the scarf she'd left and willed for her to stop. Silently, the Bureau officials took Safu and was dragged into the darkness as the officials drugged her.
Karan saw what had happened and tripped out of shock. She stayed still, watching as Safu's limp body was dragged into the car. As the car drives away, a mouse approaches Karan and she wonders if Nezumi could help her.
Chapter Five[]
Shion reads Karan and Rico a picture book about rabbits. Rico said that he didn't like the book and preferred books about food. When Shion offers to give them the leftover soup they had, Karan stands up and says that they have to go home.
Nezumi scolds him for offering Rico soup and being too nice to people. Shion then inwardly confesses that Nezumi's words hurt him. Nezumi says that there's no guarantee that he'll be able to see tomorrow since the Bureau is hunting him down.
When Shion asks Nezumi why the Bureau hasn't tried to track them down and capture them, Nezumi says that the City doesn't care about anyone outside of the wall that separates the West Block from No. 6.
Shion starts to worry about the parasitic wasps in No. 6, to which Nezumi tells him to just sit back and relax and watch No. 6 crumble. Then, Shion says that he's determined to at least go to No. 6 once to see if he can make a blood serum by spring.
When Shion says that somehow, he'll convince Rikiga to get supplies to help him make a serum, Nezumi kicks his chair and sends him flying. Nezumi pins him down to the floor and wraps his fingers around his neck. When Shion doesn't resist, he asks is Shion even cares about his own life. He has Shion recall the time Nezumi did the same thing on the bed four years ago, where he used a spoon. Now that he has a knife in his hand, Nezumi makes a tiny prick right under Shion's chin, saying that he didn't save him just so he'd sacrifice his blood. Nezumi strokes the prick with his finger and says that Shion shouldn't do something foolish with it. As he tries to leave, Shion grabs his wrist and asks him why he hates No. 6 so much. When Nezumi answers that it's because it's Parasite City, but Shion doesn't buy it and wants Nezumi's personal reason.
Shion suggests that Nezumi wants revenge and asks why, Nezumi says that if he tells him, he must help him destroy No. 6. When Shion says that he can't, Nezumi squats in front of him and asks who he'll choose: him or No. 6., reminding him that if he chooses No. 6, they'll become enemies. After Nezumi says that he's late for his job, Shion tells him not to underestimate him. He says that Nezumi can only love or hate, be friends or foes, outside or inside the wall. Shion says that there could be a third way.
Nezumi gets irritated that Shion's spitting out nonsense. Shion says that instead of destroying No. 6, they could make it disappear, tear the walls down. Nezumi bursts out laughing at the idea, saying that Shion always looks for a way to avoid pain. Shion then says that they could try his third option, and then saying that he wouldn't be Nezumi's enemy no matter what. Nezumi says that Shion's naïve ideas make his head hurt and tells him to shut up, but Shion refuses, saying that Nezumi would be the coward if he told him to shut up, which makes Nezumi's expression tense up. Nezumi gets mad and Shion wonders if he'll have to fight him.
They are interrupted by a bark and scratch at the door. When Nezumi opened the door, they saw one of Inukashi's dogs with a white parcel in its mouth. It was a note from Inukashi, saying that there was a job request for Shion. Shion gladly accepts it and Nezumi agrees to go with Shion and the dog partway. When the dog licks the wound under Shion's chin, Shion comments that the dog is nicer than Nezumi, and Nezumi gets jealous, making Shion smile and his child-like self.
As Nezumi proceeds to lock the door, he gets a message from Karan, asking for help, saying that Safu was taken by the Security Bureau. He is torn between telling Shion or not, but decides to not tell Shion. After that decision, he tries to imagine life without Shion should he die trying to save Shion, but all he sees is sheer loneliness.
Light Novel VS Anime[]
- The light novel says that Shion wanted to clean up Nezumi's books, but he doesn't suggest it in the anime, anything about the cleaning in the light novel doesn't happen in the anime.
- Shion doesn't bite his tongue in the anime.
- The anime doesn't reveal what Shion has learned about Nezumi.
- The anime doesn't have Rico choking on a nut.
- The anime doesn't have Shion bring home grapes.
- In the anime, Shion already reads books to Karan and Rico, instead of the light novel, which showed that Shion offered to read books before actually reading books to them.
- In the light novel, Nezumi says "kindergarten", while in the anime he says "daycare".
- In the anime, Nezumi doesn't give the woman an orange.
- The anime doesn't show the Disposers.
- Shion doesn't fall into a ruin in the anime.
- They don't talk about Nezumi's shoulder stitches in the anime.
- Inukashi doesn't attack Shion with a spiked ring, or at all, in the anime.
- Shion doesn't meet puppies to annoy Inukashi in the anime. It was the dog that licked Shion first.
- Nezumi doesn't give Inukashi a robotic mouse in the anime.
- Fennec isn't introduced in the anime.
- The woman didn't try to kill Rikiga in the anime, instead, she just broke off their marriage as she was leaving the building.
- In the anime, it's unsure if Rikiga does print out pornos.
- The anime doesn't make a big deal about Rikiga being Shion's dad.
- In the light novel, Rikiga's secret room is through a wall, but in the anime, it's through the ceiling.
- In the anime, it's not sure if Shion learned every book in Nezumi's home.
- They don't go so in depth with Rikiga's past in the anime.
- Nezumi doesn't dry Shion's eyes in the anime.
- Karan isn't in the center of the photo in the anime; she's in the mid-left.
- Nezumi doesn't call the man in the photo his godfather in the anime, rather just someone who named him Nezumi.
- Lili doesn't talk about the other cake shop in No. 6 in the anime.
- In the anime, Shion doesn't tell Karan about Nezumi.
- In the anime, Karan tells Safu where Shion is. In the light novel, Safu guesses where Shion is and Karan confirms it.
- Safu was unable to fight back at the officials while she was taken in the anime.
- Shion never questioned why the Bureau didn't try to hunt them down in the anime.
- Nezumi doesn't get too gory about destroying No. 6 in the anime.
Quotes[]
(Shion to the mouse): "You really like tragedies, don't you. Why don't you pick something more fun?"
(Nezumi to Shion about physical labor): "Cleaning duties? Does cleaning count as physical labor in No. 6? All you had to do was operate the robots that did the maintenance and cleaning. What physical labor is, little boy...is using these arms, your legs, and putting your back into it. Using your own body. Remember that,"
(Shion explaining why he asked Nezumi about his past): "If it was something I could get by without knowing, I wouldn't want to know about it. But I do want to know. To me, this is something I need to know. I want to know, and that's why--[bites tongue]ach--,"
(Nezumi after he asked what Shion felt in him): "I know, I know.. Too bad for you, I don't have big breasts. What else?"
(Shion about Nezumi to Nezumi): "You're big on sarcasm, and love to make fun of people. You don't like fish, and you're a restless sleeper. You have an enormous amount of knowledge, and a wide range of it too, but none of it is systematic. Sometimes you're fickle and over-sensitive, but other times you're lazy and careless about the details. You adore piping-hot soup, and you get really grumpy when it doesn't have the right amount of salt. And last night, you kicked me three times in your sleep. Since coming here, this is what I've learned about you. They're not numbers. I would never substitute you for numbers. That's not what I do,"
(Shion to the mouse who's "reprimanding" him for reading a book): "Give me one more minute. I'll put it away as soon as I'm finished reading this part...Alright, alright. I'm getting on it, okay? Are you satisfied now?"
(Nezumi about Shion's findings): "The emergency kit, a couple of blankets, a mug, and an old heater. Is that all you managed to find? Too bad you couldn't find an entry permit into No. 6,"
(Nezumi talking about Shion's knowledge): "You don't know anything. You don't know what's it's like to starve, to shiver in the cold, to groan from a wound that's festered because it's been left untreated too long; you don't know the suffering that follows when that wound becomes infested with maggots, and you start rotting alive; you don't know how it feels to watch someone die in front of you, while there's nothing you can do to help them. You don't know a single thing. You're just rattling off pretty words. You've experienced it for yourself, you say? You've only peeled the surface of that city and sniffed at it, and already you're acting like you know everything about it. It might be a city of lies, but in No. 6 you have a warm bed, plenty of food and clean water. You have fully-equipped medical facilities, recreational facilities, educational institutions. Everything that residents here would never be able to have, no matter how hard they wished. And you say you have no attachments to those? That's arrogant of you. So arrogant it makes my screen crawl. Either that, or you're a liar,"
(Nezumi about Shion's past ritual): "You hated it, didn't you. Felt suffocated, didn't you, being forced to declare your loyalty. But you put up with it. Instead of retaliating, you recited this pledge every morning, not meaning a single word of it, and pretended it didn't bother you. Let me tell you something, Shion: words aren't things that you can toss around casually. You can't let yourself be forced to say something, and just put up with it. But you don't know that. So that's why I'm not going to trust you,"
(Shion to the choking boy): "Spit it out. Come on,"
(Nezumi to Shion when he opens the door after knocking): "If you're gonna knock, wait for an answer before opening the door,"
(The man with the gun to Shion): "The hell do you think yer doin'?"
(Nezumi about his nightmare): "You were grinning. You had this look on your face like you were having the time of your life. Every time I dreamt about it I had nightmares,"
(Shion trying to identify the smell): "No, it's not wax. It smells--almost like some animal...,"
(Nezumi about Inukashi): "He lives here. I don't know his real name. We just call him Inukashi,"
(Nezumi about the strange air): "No, it's just--the air is strange...Sounds serious. What now, Shion?...It looks like they're busy at the moment. Should we come back another day?...Thought so,"
(The woman about Rikiga): "This good-for-nothing liar goes by that name. Once upon a time he was a newspaper reporter, but now this shitty excuse for a man is reduced to making shitty porno magazines to pay for his liquor habit,"
(Nezumi about the playhouse he works in): "What're you imagining, Shion? We're talking about a playhouse here, in the West Block. People who've got a little spare cash to spend come out to forget their worries for a little while. We haven't got any embroidered drop curtains, decent costumes, or stage props. It's mostly impromptu song or dance. That's it."
(Nezumi after Shion identifies the quote he said): "Racing up that learning curve, aren't you? I can treat you to a little more fan service if you want, old man. How about it?"
(Nezumi about his feelings): "Angry? If I let a joke like that get to me every time, I'd be going mad all year round. I'm used to it. It's no big deal...Idiot? Shion, what're you getting all worked up for?...Shion--come on, don't cry. Why would you...--I can't believe you're crying,"
(Safu explaining to Karan why she came back): "I've come back. My grandmother passed away. I received word not long after I arrived there, so I packed up and came right back,"
(Karan telling Safu to wait for Shion to come back): "Wait, Safu. Promise me you won't do anything rash. You'll wait until he comes home, won't you? Right?"
(Nezumi about No. 6 to Shion): "Shion, in both good and bad ways, the city you were born in isn't interested in things outside of it. For them, everything's complete within those walls of special alloy. The West Block is their garbage can. Here, they throw away their waste, their pus. If you're pus to them, they probably think the West Block is an appropriate place for you. They've squeezed the pus out of their tiny wound, and thrown it away in the garbage. They're not going to come back looking for it,"
(Nezumi asking Shion to join his cause): "Geez, you're like a brat throwing a tantrum. Alright Shion. If I tell you, would you co-operate with me? Would you aid me as I stab a knife into the heart of the city you were born and raised in? Would you help me bring destruction--not salvation--unto that city? I don't need any blood serum. If parasite wasps do exist, then I'll use them. I want to wreak havoc on No. 6 from the inside. I want to watch as the people that have always lived in safety fall into a panic, flee in confusion, and lead themselves to destruction. That's the kind of thing I have in mind. Will you aid me, Shion?"
(Shion about Nezumi's decisions): "You put everything into dichotomies. You either love or you hate. You're either friends or enemies. Outside the wall, or inside the wall. And you always say you can only ever choose one of them,"
(Nezumi about Shion's decisions): "You're just looking for an escape route. You're looking for a way to avoid getting hurt. Say if you do get rid of the walls; you won't get any kind of heaven. It'll be hell. Tumult, disorder, fighting, looting--you don't know how much these people have been oppressed until now. You don't know how many people have been sacrificed so that city can be where it is. You don't know, and that's why you can spin fairy tales like that. Shion, it can't be done. It's not like mixing paint, you can't mingle them together and make them one. Either one will have to destroy the other, that's the only solution. That's what fate has set out. Love and hatred, friends and enemies, those within and those outside the wall--and you and I. They can never be as one, and neither can we,"
(Inukashi's note for Shion(yes the grammar is meant to be this bad)): "hey shion, feel like working? Its a dog-washing job. i need some help. If you wanna do it, follow this guy. As long as hes with you, the Disposers wont do anything funny. see ya Oh PS: this guy said your made for dog-washing,"
(Nezumi's thoughts about losing Shion): "I don't want to lose him. I would suffer. Have I still got a chance? Have I still got a chance? Shion, will I still be able to live without you? After some amount of suffering, would I be able to detach myself from the trap you've become?"