« on: May 12, 2014, 10:36:24 am »
Thesexymaid has pretty much said everything regarding my opinion on Shion and Safu's relationship. I've also had a friend that greatly reminds me of Shion's relationship with Safu. She was someone I cared about deeply, someone as close as family to me but we only got to meet a few times a month, sometimes even less and maintained most of our relationship over the phone and internet.
Safu thinks in her chapter with Karan in the bakery in the novels that Shion and her were connected to each other by all means the advance technology could provide. She reflects despite having so many means of communication, she is so far away from getting her feelings across to him. So I am pretty sure when they aren't / can't meet, they were keeping in touch via phone calls and internet conversations. The visual chat scene from the anime is not anime specific alone, it also happens in the novels once Shion returns from his chasing Nezumi down the streets of Lost Town after walking Safu to the station.
I also want to point out that once Shion's privileges were removed after sheltering and aiding a VC, he is not allowed to enter Chronos anymore. Nor is his mother as we see in Chapter 2 of Volume 3. She tries to visit Safu at her home in Chronos after she witnesses her being taken away by the Security Bureau. And was stopped at the gate:
We are very sorry. Due to concerns for safety, the area past this point is accessible to Chronos residents only. Thank you for your understanding. Further, anyone who passes the gates without a Entrance Permit for Special Residential Districts issued by the authorities is subject to removal from the premises and punishable by municipal law Article 203 Clause 42. I repeat ― Due to concerns for safety...
-No. 6 Vol 3 Ch 2
So, considering that Safu was still an actively efficient member of society in Chronos and was spending most of her time on her meticulously scheduled education, I doubt she had a lot of chances to meet up with Shion on a whim. And yet, as thesexymaid has pointed out, there are several mentions of them meeting up and spending time together somewhere outside anyway, walking together and talking about all kinds of things both Safu and Shion remember as precious memories. So I am quite positive they met whenever they could and every other time, they maintained their friendship through electronic means. In an era like that and technologically advanced city-state like No.6, I doubt that's remotely unusual. I think it makes complete sense that Safu only visited the bakery once, not only because of her extremely busy schedule as a Gifted Curriculum student but also because of how Shion was constantly monitored. I am not saying they were aware of that at the time, but there was an open opposition from the Security Bureau regarding Safu spending time with Shion; someone with impaired judgement bad enough to aid a criminal. It was clearly frowned upon;"Your ID cards, the two of you, please." Perhaps he had taken notice of Shion's rebellious attitude. The man wiped the smile clean off his face and demanded their identification cards expressionlessly. Safu passed her silver card to him. Shion silently did the same.
"Your Citizenship Numbers, in order."
"SSC-000124GJ."
"Qw-55142."
The man pulled the cards out of his portable card-reader, and turned to give Safu a slight bow.
"A Gifted Curriculum student like yourself shouldn't be roaming these areas at such a late hour. I advise you to go home."
"I was on my way... I was walking to the station."
"Let me walk you there."
"No thank you. He's going to." Safu clung to Shion's arm.
"I'll take her," said Shion shortly. "That's where we were headed in the first place. Let's go, Safu."
Snatching the cards from the officer's grasp, Shion grabbed Safu's hand, and strode swiftly away. When he turned around some moments later, the man had already disappeared into the bustling crowd.
"That scared me." Safu clutched her chest. "I've never been scolded by the Security Bureau."
- No.6 Vol 1 Ch 2
So, maybe, it was just arranged so she couldn't be spending too much time around in Lost Town. Karan always thinks of Safu as someone very dear to her and a precious friend to Shion despite her not having seen her all but once after they were kicked out of Chronos. That affection has to be rooted to their younger days when Shion and Safu spent every day together and both lived in Chronos, studying for their respective fields.
The parts I've italicized are two mentions of physical contact between Safu and Shion. I can find these scattered across the entire novels every time either of them reminisces or spends time together. And how could we forget that painfully devastating moment of Safu running to hug Shion and him reaching for her only to have her run through him.
I think Shion's feelings for Safu, despite Ahiku-mama's opinion, which I respect, is bare and painfully apparent throughout the novels. Even before he finds out about her being taken away, he often thinks about her and after he learns about it, he attempts to leave Nezumi whom he is so attached to to try and save her himself. Shion openly reflects that no one, not even Nezumi could compare to her and that she is his one and only. And the entire chapter with him talking to Safu in the Correctional Facility openly shows just how much Safu means to him and you can't squeeze all of that in his guilt for not returning her feelings or for not cherishing her more as a friend. Shion himself personally blames himself for these because he is the kind of a person to always blame himself for things he can't change but from an outsider's view, Shion was as honest and open with Safu as he could be given the situations. He never talks about Nezumi with anyone, even his mother and I think he is avoiding it out of concern for them as much as his possessiveness of the memory of him. In the Correctional Facility he is devastated and in such agony over the reality before him, he refuses to accept it. He is in denial and he doesn't want to believe that he can't leave that place with Safu beside him. He is so hurt with her loss he accuses the one person that shared his burden with him. That scene is one of the most excruciatingly powerful scenes in the entire series because it shows Safu meant something so irreplaceable to him, her loss is enough to break him and push him far enough to go against his very nature, nearly betraying the trust Nezumi has put in him. It was one of the most human scenes we see of Shion after his breakdown upon killing Rashi.
I think what leaves a sense of dissatisfaction on the viewers' / watchers' hearts regarding Shion and Safu's relationship is the stability of it. It doesn't call for a fanfare of declarations or explorations. It's an already settled relationship between two people that deeply care for each other. Shion's relationship with Nezumi is the fresh impact to the story, the catalyst to the series of events that changes him. He is the person he falls in love with for the first time in his life. So of course he'll be more occupied with his thoughts of him than his feelings for Safu as a friend. She is something stable and permanent in his life, he doesn't have any confusion or isn't restless regarding his relationship with her. She isn't shrouded away in mystery, she isn't the one that uprooted his entire life and opened his eyes to a reality he had never before seen while making an amateur poet out of him. The only thing about Safu that Shion is guilty of.. is that he took her for granted. He took her for granted like we all do with our best friends. We think they will always be there no matter what happens and when they are taken from us or are no longer in our lives, the pain of it hurts more than drifting apart would because it's dipped in guilt and served with regret as a side dish and that's what humanity feels like. That's what real relationships feel like.
Taking someone for granted doesn't mean we don't love them. It means we are disillusioned with their consistency in our lives. It means we fail to calculate any day could be the last day with them and that makes us overlook subtle signs of change and postpone things we want to say, rain-check things we want to do thinking we will always have a tomorrow. Nezumi has never given Shion consistency and that's why he never had the luxury to take him for granted. Shion loved Safu as his one and only friend and for that reason alone, he will never forget her, because seriously, saying Shion quickly moves on from the loss of Safu puts an enormous hole in Shion's entire characterization in the novels and he becomes someone else entirely without his genuine feelings for her. Safu has a big role in the kind of person he is, she always will. He will never move on from that loss. He will never take anyone for granted again.
« Last Edit: May 12, 2014, 01:24:05 pm by Elanra »
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~Absence is a house so vast
that inside you will pass through its walls
and hang pictures on the air.
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