
While at first he had a small crush on him, his crush start to slowly turn into true love for Shion, which results in him in becoming greatly protective of him to the point that he does not want to risk scaring or traumatizing him. He is shown to be very fond of Shion due to him being the very first person ever to treat him kindly, and after Shion's banishment from his old house, he starts to keep an eye on him to help him. Later in the story, it is revealed that the government of No.6 perpetrated the genocide of his people, leaving him the sole survivor of his village. He despises the City of No.6, calling it a "parasitic city" and has spent years trying to find a way to destroy it. He is a skilled fighter and has very honed 'street smarts'. He often quotes these books on the spot (specifically Macbeth and Faust).


His home is filled to the brim with books, most of which are classics. Nezumi is a well-known actor/actress under the stage name Eve and is talented in singing, acting and dancing. Nezumi usually hangs out alone and leaves Shion at home, he used to be a loner and Dogkeeper hints to him that he changed because of Shion. Together they escape to the West Block, where Nezumi lives by himself and allows Shion to stay with him. When he learns that Shion is being forcibly transported to the Correctional Facility, he risks his life to save him. The next day he escaped to safety, and now lives outside of No.6 in the West Block. Nezumi was shocked when Shion, despite understanding the danger of helping him and the lack of potential reward, treated his wound and sheltered him for the night. Wounded and dripping wet, he met the room's occupant, Shion, a boy roughly his own age. Four years ago, on his desperate run from No.6's police, he by chance found a house with an open window and went inside. Nezumi ( ネズミ) Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese) Kalob Martinez (English) Nezumi is an intelligent, cynical boy around 16 years of age with a dark past. They kiss again in the finale - with less confusion over whether it was romantically inclined - as they said their goodbye, with Shion deciding to patiently wait for him until the right time comes. He dubbed it a 'good night kiss', which seemed to be more of a 'goodbye kiss' in order to confess his own feelings. While at first he thinks of Nezumi as his best friend, it later becomes apparent that he has begun to fall in love with him Shion becomes slowly aware of this after spending some time speaking with Nezumi that resulted in Shion kissing the other. He is childhood friends with Safu, and his development generally centers on trying to come to terms with the underlying brutality of the world he lives in while still retaining his humanity. Later in the story, he works part-time for Dogkeeper. Shion nearly dies himself when he is infected with a parasitic wasp, but Nezumi saves him a second time, though Shion is left with white hair and a scar that looks like a red snake curling from his ankle to his neck. Nezumi saves him from the authorities and takes him to West Block, the slums outside the city.

Shion is then arrested under the pretense of being suspected for murdering his coworker. Shion later witnesses his coworker age rapidly and die as a wasp emerge from his neck. When the man's death is not reported in the news, and Shion finds out that the body belonged to a man only 31 years old, he becomes suspicious of a government cover-up. One day, Shion and his coworker discover the body of an apparently old man in the park. Four years later, Shion, now 16, works for the Park Maintenance of No.6 where he controls waste management robots. He and his mother were forced to move from their elite home in Kronos to Lost Town and he was no longer allowed to enter the Special Curriculum. Following a police investigation, he was punished for taking in a known fugitive and was stripped of his elite status in their caste-based society. Although he knew Nezumi was a wanted fugitive, he cared for the bullet wound that on his shoulder, fed him, and sheltered him for the night in his room. What Shion soon discovers is how drastically life will change after meeting with the mysterious Nezumi, with whom he had shared one unforgettable, stormy night.Ĭharacters Shion ( 紫苑) Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (Japanese) Greg Ayres (English) Shion is an intelligent, idealistic boy who was on his way to going into the Special Curriculum for gifted students, specializing in Ecology, until his fateful encounter with Nezumi on his twelfth birthday. Shion, a boy raised in the elite and privileged environment of his home, gives shelter to another boy, who only gives his name as "Nezumi" (or "Rat") on the former's twelfth birthday. The story takes place in a dystopian city known as "No.6".
