"Ah," Rat says. He nods, thinking of the divisions of No. 6, ranked by IQ and potential contributions to the city. The ones with less potential had had the worst housing and jobs. Shion himself should have been at the top tier, but he'd given it up because of childish sympathies. Because one boy had been kind to another, he'd been demoted.

How about that for kindness?

"Sounds like an appropriately rigid and impossible system," he agrees, glancing over at the girl. There's something sharp edged about her that reminds him of the Dogkeeper, stark and blunt. "How long before it fell to pieces?"