A real frog is exactly what I am. A product of neither metaphor nor allusion nor deconstruction nor sampling nor any other such complex process, I am a genuine frog.
-- Frog (N/A)

Importance: Frog makes these statements during his first interaction with Katagiri. Frog's choice of words seems to signal to both Katagiri and the reader that he is to be interpreted strictly in a concrete and literal manner. However, these instructions fall into narrative tension with Frog's symbolic and thematic functions, as well as with the fact that he may simply be an imaginary figment.

It was not Katagiri but the thugs surrounding him who got nervous when they saw him so calm and cool.
-- Narration (N/A)

Importance: This line of narration refers to Katagiri's courage and calmness in the face of the hazards that his work sometimes incurs. Katagiri sometimes must collect money from dangerous gangsters who are in debt to the bank, but...