I agree: it’s definitely not a first person narrative, but for the most part we are viewing things through Shion. We know what he knows and don’t know what he doesn’t. Which is what makes this description strange to me. Surely from Shion’s perspective it would be more like she looked to be in her twenties. And if it’s more from a narrator’s perspective, it could just be stated that she is in her twenties.
Maybe I’m missing something (in fact, I almost certainly am), but ‘is thought to be’ seems to be a rather odd / convoluted way to describe her.
I understand where you’re coming from with that; I can’t put my finger on why the author chose to write that way, but in some respect I feel that the narrator is a character in its own respect.
This is a pretty common Japanese phrasing that I’ve encountered several times. I agree with Caracal’s suggestion that it’s meant to have the meaning of “to appear” in this context.
Found the first mention on p. 12. Apparently it’s the 市庁舎 （しいちょうしゃ-town hall), I guess of the entirety of No. 6? I forgot about this but it sounds like it’s in the center of the giant park where Shion currently works, making it the center of the center of the city. It’s white, dome-shaped, and has 5 underground floors plus 10 aboveground, making it one of the taller buildings in No. 6. And yeah, I think Shion mentioned that it’s fairly intimidating and that he doesn’t like it in general.
Yup. Shion hates the danged thing. Btw, the anime translates it as the “Moon Drop,” which is a pretty literal translation anyway, so that’s how I tend to think of it.
I’m also pretty confident it’s hiding some giant secret absolutely central to the story and that it’s going to be the setting for the final climax of the whole series.
Oh, and here’s a little discussion question: Given what we’ve seen so far of No.6, would you like to live there?
Given what’s happened so far? Hmm…depends how I’d’ve done in the 「二歳児検診」, I guess. There’s a chance I’d have scored high and gotten special privileges like Shion, in which case (given what we know at this point and no further), maybe?
No way Already it seems clear that the hierarchy is waaay too unbalanced. After losing his privileges Shion ended up in a place called “Lost Town” for crying out loud, and I’m sure that’s still way better than wherever Nezumi came from
Plus, where I’m at in the beginning of Chapter 3 makes it sound like the government is trying to cover up the death/possible murder. Very あやしい…
On pg 93 I’m not sure I’m getting what’s quite so surprising about what Shion says. He tells Yamase 市当局による情報操作が行われているんでしょうか which I think means something like he’s checking
the 市当局 are conducting an operation about the information (mentioned earlier). But Yamase then acts really shocked and I don’t get why. Is something more being implied here?
Also, I think I have this part right, but just confirming: on pg 96 (this is a real spoiler - seriously DO NOT read if you haven’t got to this pageShion is imagining the line 紫苑、こんなことってあるのか。おれ、信じられないよ。is coming from Yamase’s corpse, right?
The phrase 情報操作 means to manipulate information. That is why Yamase is shocked and responds the way he does.
To page 96:
And yes, I believe he is imagining this based on the following line: 薄開きになった口が、そう語っているようだった。(His slightly opened mouth seemed to be talking about that.)
The literal meaning out of context doesn’t make sense when you think about the thought process Shion has during this moment, but I’ve interpreted it as "However, I think about life (i.e., current circumstances) now (four years later). " After this he muses about whether if he had the chance would he do it again. Although not a perfect translation, but that is how I interpreted this passage.
Already it seems clear that the hierarchy is waaay too unbalanced. After losing his privileges Shion ended up in a place called “Lost Town” for crying out loud, and I’m sure that’s still way better than wherever Nezumi came from 
