UMINEKO NO NAKU KORO NI

THE PREMISE
This is the annual reunion of the rich Ushiromiya family on their private island of Rokkenjima, in 1986.
The head of the family, Kinzo Ushiromiya (hereafter called "Grampa") doesn't have much to live, but certainly is
taking his sweet time. His four children are squabbling over the inheritance. Their respective spouses (minus one, for
some reason) and one child each are also there. Add to this five servants and the family physician, and you get a total
of 18 people.There's a weird rumor that Grampa's got tons of gold stashed somewhere, and that he's used it to build
the family fortune. He's supposed to have obtained it from a "witch" called Beatrice. He worships her and has been
supposedly dabbling in black magic. Anyway, he now lives as a recluse in his study, barely allowing anyone inside.
(There's been various ghostly sightings of Beatrice among the staff over the years, who assuredly live in fear of her.)
The weather is very bad, making the island completely isolated. And then people start dying...

THE GAMEPLAY
This is a "visual novel" in the truest sense of the words : at least the first chapter is completely uninteractive. Your
only action is to control the flow of the scrolling text. Behind the text (which takes the whole screen), you can see a
background scenery of the room/place the scene happens, and usually some basic sprites of the people talking.

The When They Cry series are often called "sound novel", and it's accurate. The soundtrack is very well done, with
appropriate sound effects, and average-to-quite-good music.

Also of note is the "Tips" menu : instead of random bits of background info presented as deleted scenes (like in the
Higurashi VNs), it's just a collection of the various important (but cryptic) documents appearing in the plot. This way,
you can go back to them at any time to give them another look.There's also a diagram of the cast of characters, with
short profiles, as a reference of who's who. It gets updated everytime someone dies or disappears.

THE CAST
By order of appearance, mostly. I'll add my initial impressions on their possible degree of culpability.
Warning : Grampa is in love of occidental culture (he made his fortune in the post-war occupation), and decided to
give weirdly western-sounding names to his children, and the tradition has carried over to the grandchildren.

Kinzo Ushiromiya
Grampa. See the premise for more details.
Obviously he's a key player. On the other hand, it would be far too simple for him to be orchestrating everything.
Other agents are probably around to screw his plans.

Doctor Nanjo
The family physician, and longtime friend of Grampa.
I wouldn't exclude him being in league with Grampa or whoever else, but it has a low probability. Maybe he's just
there for the "character with medical knowledge" quota.

Genji
Head servant of the Ushiromiya home, and Grampa's right hand man. The "reserved butler" archetype.
If he's involved, it's obviously by following Grampa's orders.

Battler Ushiromiya
Our protagonist/POV character, at least for the first chapter. Son of the third child of Grampa. 18 years old, in high
school. Thoroughly despises his father, who apparently remarried only instants after the death of his first wife, six
years ago. Battler has been living with his maternal grandparents ever since, and is only coming back into the fold
now that they're dead.
Battler is rash, outspoken, prone to bad jokes, but very far from stupid.
An ideal POV character : involved enough to remember various bits of backstory, but his long absence means he's
completely out of touch with most recent events (as well as everything he was too young to be really aware of).
There's been a mention of him having a little sister, but she's not here.
I really doubt he's an active conspirator for the murders. Maybe he'll pull a Keiichi and kill some people out of
paranoid delusion, but some of the events are too well-planned to be just that. And we get too much into his head for
him to be deceiving us.

George Ushiromiya
The son of the second child of Grampa. Oldest of the "child" generation. 23 years old, already working as an
apprentice. The ideal son, calm, soothing. Deeply respected by Battler.
I doubt he's involved much, but who knows ?

Eva Ushiromiya
The second child of Grampa, George's mother. A sneaky bitch with a serpent tongue. Somehow, she's managed to
keep her position in the family despite her marriage (We'll get more details later).
I wouldn't put it past her to be involved in some way, or to be plotting something.

Hiroyoshi Ushiromiya
Eva's husband and George's father. A cunning businessman who built his business from scratch. Affable, pleasant, and
certainly far less stupid than his (fake) accent lets on.
I don't know. He'd obviously be following Eva if she was involved, but I don't see him as the instigator.

Kirie Ushiromiya
Battler's stepmother. Interestingly, he has a very healthy and pleasant relationship with her, considering her a "Cool
Big Sis".
Again, I don't know. She's very nice, but that doesn't mean anything in When They Cry. Also, she seems to have a very
sharp mind.

Rudolf Ushiromiya
Battler's father, and the third child of Grampa. A former (?) womanizer (it's implied his relationship with Kirie
predates his first wife's death), and overall not a very pleasant person (we're not told in what branch of business he
works, but it seems a bit shady). The object of Battler's scorn, though he doesn't seem to mind that much.
Possible suspect, but nothing definite.

Rosa Ushiromiya
The last child of Grampa. She seems to be quite nice and fading in the background, but her relationship with her
daughter looks quite strained. Her husband is the only spouse absent to the reunion, with the implication that he left
her a while ago.
You know what they say about sleeping water. Very high in my suspect list.

Maria Ushiromiya
Rosa's daughter, 9 years old. A gothic lolita if I've ever seen one. Interested in black magic. Her childlish speech
patterns get annoying very quickly (she aims for cute, and misses the mark), and not just to the reader (it's one of
the reasons her mother Rosa is displeased with her).
Again, high on the suspect list, though maybe manipulated by someone else.

Jessica Ushiromiya
Daughter of the first child of Grampa, and thus the heir of the family. She really doesn't care for it, though, and acts
like a tomboy (though her speech patterns don't translate well).
I really doubt she's involved, but who knows ? Maybe she'll pull a Shion at some point.

Kurasawa
The old family servant, and token gossip hen.
I'd be laughing extremely hard if she was the mastermind behind everything. Maybe she's an accessory, but I even
doubt that.

Gohda
The cook. Very professional, but distrusted by most of the staff : while they were all hired by Grampa, he's Krauss'
man (the first son).
Maybe as an helper to Krauss, but that's it.

Kanon
A young male servant. Orphan, and around 16 if I'm not mistaken. Very sullen, he barely talks at all and seems to
have low self-esteem.
Following Grampa's orders, probably.

Shannon
A young female servant, around Battler's age. A bit clumsy under pressure. It's not her real name : all those young
orphan servants take one of those "xxxon" names while working.
Ditto.

Natsuhi Ushiromiya
Wife of the first child of Grampa, and Jessica's mother. She seems to be in charge of the island mansion (since neither
Grampa or her husband can be bothered). She has a perpetual headache, and obviously doesn't like her awkward
position in the family.
Maybe as a support to Krauss, but I doubt it. She's too impulsive for this.

Krauss Ushiromiya
Grampa's first child, and the father of Jessica. He has all the hallmarks of a magnificent bastard. Manages most the
family fortune, so he has the most to lose in those inheritance talks.
Very high suspect, of course.
 EPISODE 1 : Legend of the Golden Witch

We open with a cryptic foreshadowing conversation between Grampa Kinzo, Dr Nanjo, and butler Genji. All three of
them have similar-sounding names, so it's a bit confusing. Anyway, the gist of it is that it's now time for Grampa to
conclude his contract with the witch Beatrice. Or something. Our good doctor appears bemused, and the butler
watches this stoically.

Opening credits ! It's surprisingly enthralling, given that there's no actual animation.

Everyone meets at the airport ! Well, actually, the three branch families : Eva/Hideyoshi/George,
Rudolf/Kyrie/Battler, and Rosa/Maria. This scene is very exposition-heavy, with eight characters and their
relationships to introduce. Thankfully, it's not too clunky : our viewpoint character, Battler, hasn't seen most of the
others for years, and thus gets a excuse to get exposition thrown at him. It's well choregraphed : each character
appears after the other, is introduced, and then fades a bit in the background.

I've already detailed my early impressions of everybody in the first message, so I won't elaborate. In summary :
Battler is a fun protagonist with lots of personality, Maria is already annoying, and most of the others try to stay
rather bland for now.

We are treated to another credit sequence while the plane is flying, with just the names of all characters (including
Beatrice !). I'm not sure why, but whatever.

We are quickly introduced to Jessica and old bag Kumasawa, would guide everyone to the boat for the island. Along
the way, we are treated to mildly funny scenes about Battler's travel sickness. The only thing that seems vaguely
relevant to the plot is that the island's shrine has been destroyed or something.

For some reason, the cook welcomes everyone on the island. This Gohda rubs me the wrong way. It's off to the
mansion, but not before Maria falls in love with a random flower in the garden.
All the guests settle in the brand new guesthouse for a while, then it's off to lunch. And what a lunch !
Grampa doesn't even bother coming down from his study, which of course humiliates everybody. Most of all Natsuhi,
who takes it out on the servants (poor Shannon !).
It's interesting that, in the seating order, Natsuhi, who runs the house, rates below the grandchildren. It's an obvious
sign of her place in the pecking order here, and it obviously wears her down.

Wait, I had forgotten. On his way to lunch, Battler stumbles on a big portrait of Beatrice, with a sinister epitath. It's a
TIPS ! There's a bunch of cryptic instructions to find the mythical family gold, and then it gets disturbing : it
announces 6 sacrifices, then another couple, then a succession of 5 more, and finally everybody dies anyway as the
witch is revived. Why do I have a feeling this is exactly what is going to happen ?

Anyway, after lunch the grandchildren go to the beach to play a bit and try to solve the epitath's riddle. They're
stumped, obviously. Shannon is with them, and obviously happy to spend her free time this way.
Meanwhile, the adults are talking about the succession. And it's far from cordial. Eva, Rudolf and Rosa are ganging
up on Krauss to try and extort money out of him. There are accusations of embezzlement of Grampa's fortune (which
Krauss is managing), stuff like that. Natsuhi is pathetic in her defense of her husband, and is chased out of the room.
Then Krauss counter-attacks, and points out that each of the other needs some money quickly for various reasons.
Anyway, he's not prepared to give up to them so early.
It's a very unpleasant scene, with nobody really getting the moral high ground. What a bunch of greedy rats !

Back at the beach, the conversation has shifted to Maria's interest in black magic. She's deadly serious, and gives
Battler and Jessica some cheap-looking talismans.
On the way back, Maria looks for the previously-mentionned flower in the garden, but cannot find it. The other try to
help her, but to no avail. Rosa comes, and ditto. She gets quite angry with her daughter's stubborness, up to mild
physical violence. Wait, what ? Okay, Maria is very annoying, but still...
In the end, everybody but Maria gives up, and she's left there alone.

Jump to dinner time... and it has apparently been raining a lot for a while. Nobody has seen Maria for hours (Rosa
thought she went with the other kids, and vice-versa). They find her still in the garden, under the torrential rain.
Fortunately, somebody gave her an umbrella. Maria, true to her unhelpful self, repeats over and over that it was
"Beatrice". And, back at the mansion, everybody denies having given it to her (except for Grampa, who's still in his
study).
Dinner is obviously tense : nobody has a good reason to hide this (Rosa wants to thank them !). And at the end, Maria
reveals she was given something else by "Beatrice" : a letter sealed with Grampa's personal crest (he indeed threw his
crest ring through the window in an earlier scene, though only a couple servants know that).
The letter was supposedly written by the witch Beatrice ; she announces that her contract with Grampa is over, and
that she will take her gold back as well as the family as interest, except if someone finds the gold first.
(The wording is interesting : she'll take the family, not the family fortune. Sinister...)

Everyone's flabberghasted, and the adults immediatly start squabbling over the gold (much to their kids' disgust).
Maria is grilled about who gave her the letter, but keeps saying it's Beatrice.
Later, Battler crosses the path of his parents, and they seem very tired by the whole thing. Kyrie encourages Battler to
think outside the box to find who has to gain from sending a letter in such a convoluted way (she thinks it has to be
one the 18, and denies there's a 19th person on the island). Rudolf off-handly states that he may die soon. Hum-hum.

Elsewhere, Natsuhi is in despair. Krauss has just revealed to her that Grampa's gold is probably genuine (he's found
an ingot), but has been hiding the fact to her for quite a while. Obviously, he doesn't trust her with his subtle games.
Jessica finds her mother in this state, and they reconcile. Jessica gives her Maria's protective talisman, which Natsuhi
puts on the door inside her room before falling asleep.

The kids are then sent to the guesthouse, as well as most of the servants (only Krauss' trusted Gohda is allowed to
stay in the mansion).
We are treated to an unexpected tender scene between... George and Shannon. There was some chemistry there, but a
full-blown relationship, with the scene ending with him proposing to her ? Wow, I didn't see that coming.

Anyway, Shannon goes to the mansion to occupy her minds. Gohda unloads all his chores on her, the slob. So she
starts checking the windows and doors are closed everywhere. It's midnight...

The morning breaks, and Gohda is nowhere to be found. Actually, several other people have disappeared : Krauss,
Rudolf, Kyrie and Rosa appear to have taken a morning stroll, and taken Gohda and Shannon with them. Natsuhi,
trying hard not to lose face in front of snickering Eva, makes Kurasawa prepare breakfast while Genji and Kanon
look for them. Without any results.
In last resort , Genji gives Natsuhi his key to Grampa's study. But Grampa's alone there, so no dice. (Though we are
treated a surprisingly nice conversation between him and Natsuhi.)

Finally, Kanon finds a suspicious cabalistic circle on the garden storage barn's door. Everyone else eventually gathers
there... and what they find inside isn't pretty. Six bloody corpses, their faces horribly mutilated. (Rosa, Rudolf and
Kyrie are recognisable only through their clothes). Everybody's shocked, of course. Well, except Maria, who's
surprisingly unaffected by her mother's death.

Later, Natsuhi and Eva go back to Grampa's study to warn him... But they don't see him there. Eva starts suspecting
Natsuhi : Eva had put a little piece of paper on the door just after Natsuhi had left earlier, and it was still there as they
came in (so the door was never opened).
Battler saves Natsuhi with a far-fetched theory : maybe Grampa was hiding under the bed, and left after the two
women came out ? Anyway, Eva and Hideyoshi where the last people to see the other parents : the same line of
reasoning would mean the couple had killed them... (After all, Eva had the most to gain in having the other heirs die.)

Natsuhi is getting increasingly paranoid, and found a shotgun somewhere that she's now waving around at the
slightest provocation. Eva and Hideyoshi prefer to lock themselves in their own rooms, the servants go into the
servant room, and all the others chill out in the parlor. (They avoid the dinner room, which looks like a crime scene,
what with all the blood spilled inside.)
Did I mention the phones are not working anymore ? At best, a boat will come next morning, when the weather will
become more bearable.

Battler pretends to go to the toilet in order to escape the stuffy atmosphere, and goes to the servant room instead. All
the servants are convinced that the murders are the witch Beatrice's doing. Battler's obviously not convinced. Then
Maria shows up and acts creepy. She claims he's doomed if he goes on denying Beatrice's existence. He's already
lucky to still be alive, probably thanks to Maria's talisman. (The other one seems to have been effective in saving
Natsuhi, since she found strange mark on the outside of the door.)
Battler won't believe any of it, and challenges the witch to commit a murder that's really explainable only by magic.
Wait, wasn't he trying to relax ? He'll go back to the parlor, thanks.

Hours pass, and it's already dinnertime. Eva and Hideyoshi are not responding, so Genji opens with his master key,
Kanon finds something to cut through the doorchain... And on to the next two corpses. They were killed by knifes
screwed into their head. Oh, and it's impossible to aim for them through the tiny opening allowed by the doorchain
(Hideyoshi was in the freaking bathroom !).

But what's this smell ? Ignoring all caution, Kanon runs to the basement (where he heard a door closing, even though
everybody else but the missing Grampa was together). He confronts alone whoever is there... and is staked through
the chest for his trouble (Let's kill all suspense : despite Dr Nanjo's efforts, he'll succomb to his wounds just a bit
later).
In that room, our survivors find the charred corpse of Grampa (with another knife in the forehead). And Dr Nanjo
assures us it's really Grampa : the body has six toes on each foot, a rare mutation Grampa also had.

We now only have 8 people left (Battler, George, Jessica, Maria, Natsuhi, Genji, Dr Nanjo and Kumasawa). And
they're a bit panicky, obviously. The boat won't be there until next morning, the killer(s) have already killed several
people at once, and have shown an uncanny ability to act through closed doors. After much debate, they decide to
fortify themselves in Grampa's study : there's enough room for everybody, the doorlock is impressively tough, and
there's even a protective magic seal on the door (with the same symbol as Maria's talismans).
There's only two keys to the study: Genji's, which Natsuhi still has, and Grampa's, which Genji had previously
retrieved on his corpse. Time to stock some canned food and burrow !

So now they're all comfortably inside the study. But wait ! There was another sealed letter near Eva's room, and
nobody could be bothered with opening it until now. It just says "Praise my name". Then Battler finally notices all the
deaths follow the sinister epitath under Beatrice's portrait (conveniently, there's a copy of both in the room). So
everyone turns to the portrait and epitath to discuss it.

And then they discover there's yet another letter on the food tray. Natsuhi is certain it wasn't there mere minutes ago.
Jessica, Battler and George were already by the portrait by then, so that leaves only the four others as suspects : two
devoted servants of Grampa, one of his old friends, and Maria, who's been creepy all day (though she has perfect
alibis for all murders). Natsuhi makes the decision to chase them out of the study (to probably a certain death). Battler
gives his talisman back to Maria in remorse, but that's it.

Inside the third envelope, there was a new taunt by "Beatrice" (basically : "there will be no draw : if you don't solve
the epitath, I win, you all die") and another magic circle. Not having anything better to do, Battler dives into
Grampa's black magic books in order to interpret that last item. Meanwhile, the others discuss Maria's behaviour,
which is probably due to the fact that Rosa didn't like her daughter much, and considered her a burden to remarriage.
That would screw anybody up.

Finally, Battler deciphers the magic circle : it's a symbol for "discord". Which is exactly what happened : with her
letter, "Beatrice" seeded discord in the group of 8 people, and made half of them leave the safe room. Well played.
While the four are wondering what to do now, the phone rings. Wait, weren't the communications down ? They hear
Maria singing distantly, and that's it. (The phone still can't be used to reach outside, of course.)
Our four characters decide to come to Maria's rescue. Inside the parlor, they find the three corpses of Genji, Dr Nanjo
and Kumasawa (all killed in the way suggested by the epitath), and Maria standing in the corner singing. She claims
she's obeying Beatrice, who's coming back to life soon (all the other steps of the epitath are now done).

Natsuhi discreetly goes alone to confront Beatrice in a duel (she apparently found a fourth letter about this), in the
room with the witch's portrait. Even though she has a shotgun, I doubt she has much chance to succeed. And indeed,
the four kids find her dead instants later, as if she had shot herself.
At this stage, Battler is the only one still denying the witch's existence. George and Jessica have given up trying to
find a rational explanation to all this madness, and Maria is the same as ever.

(ellipsis)

When the cops arrive the next day, nobody's left alive on the island. The children's corpses have been somehow
blown to bits, puzzle-style. Only Maria's identifiable, through a partial fragment of her jaw. Whatever happened to
them, it can't have been pleasant.
The cops also find a letter from Maria, imploring them to solve the mystery.

Episode 1, Bonus Scene 1 : Tea Party in Purgatory

So, we're in "Purgatory", which actually looks a lot like the mansion's parlor. Are present : Battler, Jessica, Maria,
George, Shannon, Kanon... and Beatrice. Everyone, including the narrator, berates Battler for his stubbornness in
denying Beatrice's existence and trying to find a rational explanation for everything that happened.
Beatrice re-enacts the more inexplicable deaths (Eva and Hideyoshi's), as well as those of all the other people in the
tea party, just to show to Battler how pointless it is to refuse accepting the obviously magical nature of the plot.

But Battler recovers from the assault, and picks up on what Beatrice is really doing : she cannot be revived until
everyone including himself acknowlegdes her. So he won't. He'll stay in his defiant posture, just to spite her.
Beatrice's amused to find such a spirited opponent.

Other points worthy of notice in this scene :

- Beatrice claims she'll recompense those who acknowledged her by restoring their lost love : the Shannon/George
romance, Jessica's barely voiced feelings for Kanon, and Maria's broken relationship with her mother.
- In the last moment, Jessica encourages Battler in his defiant attitude.

Episode 1, Bonus Scene 2 : The Witches' Tea Party

Beatrice has invited for tea another witch, the mysterious Bernkastel. Beatrice's openly fearful of Bernkastel, who's
recently defeated another witch called Lambdadelta.
Anyway, Bernkastel decides to slightly help Battler, supposedly out of boredom. Though her powers are a very bad
match for Beatrice's, so she doesn't hope much to happen before she gets bored again.
 EPISODE 2 : Turn of the Golden Witch

We open with a series of out-of-order setup scenes about the Shannon/George romance. I'm not going to bother
following the original order, and will just do a summary in chronological order. It'll be shorter that way.

- George and his parents come to visit Rokkenjima (the parents want to discuss some business or other). For the first
time, she notices how kind George is to her, and begins developping feelings from him. Eva nearly immediatly
intervenes to discreetly discourage her (she's only a lowly servant, "furniture"). Depressed, Shannon gets clumsier, is
scolded, and becomes even more depressed. Kanon (who views her has a sister) tries to comfort her, but to no avail.
- Shannon, in punition for her clumsiness, has to clean the room where there's Beatrice big portrait. There, Beatrice
appears in front of her. She thanks her for the care with which Shannon cleans her portraits, and offers to give her
George's love. Just one condition : destroy the mirror in the island's old shrine. Kanon barges in, and is very defiant of
Beatrice. She offers him the same deal with Beatrice, but she refuses. The witch disappears.
- Later, Shannon indeed destroys the mirror. We're later told that the shrine is destroyed by a freak lightning bolt soon
after. Her relationship with George progresses, and she has regular meetings with Beatrice. The witch has given her a
love-helping talisman, and she offers it to Kanon.
- It's made clear that only a few people can see Beatrice in her current "phantom" state, especially before the mirror is
broken. It's explicitely stated that Grampa cannot see her even when she's standing right in front of him. (She affects
to find him pitiable for this reason.)
- We jump to Shannon and George in an overnight trip at Okinawa (actually, this is the first scene in the chapter).
They're wearing some very awful casual clothes : George looks really stupid in a T-shirt, and I won't even comment
on Shannon's outfit. Anyway, they tread a fine line between lovey-dovey and embarrassed. At the end, George
announces he'll propose an engagement to her at the annual family conference.
- Later, Shannon discusses the trip with Jessica, who's a bit jealous of their love. She pretended to her schoolmates
she'd bring her boyfriend to the school festival, but she has none. Shannon suggests for Kanon to pose as one, and so
he does.
- Jessica has been secretly taking guitar courses, and fronts one of the bands at the school festival (she sings Tsuru
Pettan, which is an awesome sight). Kanon discovers his feelings for her. Anyway, thankfully her parents haven't
heard about this.
- Jessica starts flirting with Kanon, but he turns her down. Hard. He's very self-conscious of his position as
"furniture".
- Kanon is furious against Beatrice for encouraging the Shannon/George couple, as well as a Kanon/Jessica
relationship. He destroys her talisman in front of her. She's very open about her intentions : she's screwing around
with them because those doomed relationships are fun to watch.

Thinking about it, all these flashbacks are much more about Kanon than Shannon. Oh, well. Also, a good reminder of
how evil Beatrice is.

Anyway, we finally come to the day of the family conference. We get an explanation of why Rosa and Maria were
late for the plane : Maria was being difficult, Rosa beat her up, they made up, and Rosa went around town to buy her
some candy (and so they missed a train correspondance).
This scene is a very good examination of how broken the Rosa/Maria relationship is. In the past, Rosa used to cede to
every of her daughter's whims, which obviously spoiled her. Now Maria's completely unbearable, which of course
annoys Rosa and makes her resort to physical violence in desperation. But it doesn't work at all : Maria thinks an evil
witch has possessed her caring mother, and just waits for the storm to pass. She never learns anything. Then Rosa
feels remorse, and spoils Maria more than ever to assuage her guilty conscience. And then the cycle continues.
Though her flaws are understandable, Rosa is a terrible mother. And she knows it.

And now we're back to the opening sequence of the first episode. Actually, we skip a large portion of it, and it's made
clear that it's a different scenario through careful dialogue alterations (this time, Maria is obsessed with Halloween).

The "Maria obsesses over a random rose" scene goes slightly differently. She starts blathering about Halloween again,
which leads to another beating by Rosa. She chases everybody else, and goes back to the mansion's "adult discussion"
after that. It starts raining a lot sooner (it's not lunchtime yet), and this time Rosa remembers she left Maria alone
outside immediately. She runs to her daughter, which means that overall she completely misses the siblings' argument
about the inheritance.
Rosa finds Maria still in the garden... and then they both meet Beatrice. In flesh and blood, apparently : she even has
a different costume (something that barely resembles a cross between a business suit and a western schoolgirl
uniform, instead of her usual fancy dress). Anyway, she does a magic trick in front of them, and gives them a sealed
enveloppe each. And then goes into the mansion through the front door.

Genji greats her as an honored guest, and leads her to a special guest room. They meet Kyrie on their way, and they
exchange a couple of words. Beatrice's especially arrogant, and Kyrie is left nonplussed. She warns Rudolf, Eva and
Hideyoshi about the new guest, and they can't decide whether this is a trick by Krauss or Grampa.

Kanon confronts the witch while bringing her lunch. She threatens to kill Shannon & George as part of the "couple of
deaths", but accepts not to do it if Kanon licks her shoes and convinces Shannon to refuse George's engagement ring.

Nothing much happens during the afternoon.

Shannon brings the witch dinner. She completely refuses the deal, and states that Kanon was foolish to accept. I agree
: there's nothing in the deal preventing Beatrice from killing Shannon & George at any other point in the ceremony.

In the main dining room, it finally comes to light to all that there's someone calling herself Beatrice in the guest room.
(At this point, only Rosa, Maria, Genji, Kyrie, Kanon and Shannon have seen her.) Krauss and Natsuhi were
obviously not aware of it, and everyone starts wondering if this is a ploy for the inheritance. The discussion is getting
quickly ugly, so the children are chased to the guesthouse.

Later, in an isolated room, George gives an engagement ring to Shannon, who accepts immediatly.

(ellipsis)

Late in the night, Beatrice has somehow gathered Krauss, Natsuhi, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf and Kyrie (but NOT
Rosa) in the small chapel beside the mansion. She's apparently shown them something that makes them acknowledge
her as the Golden Witch.

It's the early morning of the second day, and the staff is frantic. There was a note about the chapel displayed in plain
view somewhere (I don't exactly remember), and they found a cabalistic circle on the door of that building. There's
also an inscription with "Happy Halloween, Maria", so they call Rosa.
There's only one key for the chapel door, and it's missing. Rosa remembers the enveloppe given to Maria by Beatrice
seemed to contain a key, goes searching her (still asleep) daughter's handbag, and indeed finds the chapel's key there.

Inside the chapel... Six corpses : Krauss, Natsuhi, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf and Kyrie (no surprise here). They're sitting
around the altar, and someone has gouged out their stomachs, and stuffed them with sweets. This method of death
means that the corpses are identifiable without any doubt. On the table, three gold ingots, which are presumably the
reason why the six acknowledged the witch the night before.
The kids have noticed the commotion, and come to the chapel. They're upset, of course. Jessica runs to confront the
mysterious 19th guest, followed by Gohda and Kanon (ordered by Rosa to protect her).
Battler calls for a "time out", and confronts Beatrice in the astral plane or something. They debate for a while about
this closed room mystery (how was the chapel's door closed if the only key was in Maria's possession ?), but it
quickly ends in a deadlock. Then, Beatrice adds a new rule : everything she'll say in red is "true". Battler somehow
manages to use this stipulation to corner the witch into admitting that the key could have been taken from Maria's bag
at various points. So there's no need for supernatural explanations yet.

Meanwhile, Jessica finds the guest room empty. Well, of course "Beatrice" wasn't going to wait there : she's even left
a letter to brag about it. Jessica's so angry she has aspthma fits ; Kanon helps her go to her room to rest. He goes into
the corridor to allow her some "alone" time... and meets Beatrice there. Uh oh. The witch brags that she will be
targetting Jessica & Kanon instead of George & Shannon : their couple is more tragic and angsty. Just in cue, Jessica
screams. Kanon dashes back into her room.

There, Kanon finds lots of golden butterflies (a sure sign of the witch), which coalesce into a goat-headed man in a
servant uniform. Wha huh ? The goat-servant manifests an arc of light around his hand that looks like a blade, and
prepares for assault. But wait ! Kanon does exactly the same, and goes in front of Jessica to protect her. Epic fight
scene with un-moving sprites ! Thanks to the superb score and clever editing, this is actually a lot better than it
sounds. In the end, Kanon slices the goat-servant in half, and he dissolves.
It's not over ! A skimpy-clothed girl enters the room like a ghost, gloats a bit, and transforms into a knife. It targets
Kanon's back, but Jessica puts herself in between and is killed instead. Not that it helps Kanon much : he's killed
minutes later by another girl-knife.

At this point, I more or less give up any hope that this story has a rational explanation. Not that I mind : this scene
was very, very cool, and it's an intriguing direction for some of the 18 people to have genuine magical powers. It does
make Battler look a bit stupid, though (or at least, in complete denial of the obvious).

Anyway, the other characters notice it was probably a bit stupid to let Jessica run alone (even if she was followed by
Kanon), so they rush to her room... and discover another locked room mystery. Inside, there's only Jessica's body
(Rosa makes sure to search the room). There are only six keys to the room : Jessica's (in plain sight inside the room),
and the five servants' master keys. Jessica had taken Kanon's key to open the guest room, and it's still in her pocket.
Shannon and Genji have an alibi (they were with Grampa) for that precise period of time. That leaves Gohda and
Kumasawa.

In his timeout session with the witch, Battler is a bit nonplussed (though he does get the critical information that
Kanon is dead and was killed in that room), and refuses to decide what happened yet.

Rosa is getting more and more paranoid. She decides to hole into the parlor with the children, and exiles the servants
(+ Dr Nanjo) to the kitchen. Also, she collects all 5 master keys.

Time passes. Suddenly, someone knocks at the servant room's door. It looks like an heavily-injured Kanon, but
something's off. (After all, he's supposed to be dead !) Shannon goes to the basement to gather something, just in
case. Meanwhile, "Kanon" is gushing blood from his wounds to a ludicrious degree (Dr Nanjo has no idea how he's
still alive), and tries to mount everyone there against Rosa (who does have some motivation for the killings up to
now).

When Shannon puts some spiderweb on "Kanon" (it's apparently something painful to demons and the like), he goes
completely berserk, and kills both Dr Nanjo and Kumasawa in one blow. Shannon is a bit dumbstruck, and survives
only thanks to Genji's reflexes and l33t knife-throwing skills. Gohda and Genji manage to overpower the thing, and
Shannon makes it dissolve thanks to more spiderweb application.

The servants go to the parlor to warn the others, but they're not really able to explain WTF happened (which is
completely understandable). Especially to an impatient and trigger-happy Rosa (did I mention she found the same
shotgun as Natsuhi in episode 1 ?). It doesn't help that when everybody comes back to the kitchen, the corpses have
disappeared (and yet another closed room mystery ! Yeah !).
At this point, Battler's rational reasoning is completely defeated by Beatrice's assault of "truths". He loses his spirit,
and more or less acknowledges the witch.

Rosa goes back to the parlor with Maria and Battler. On the other hand, George decides to trust Shannon and the
servants. He gets an explanation of what happened, and takes it in full stride. Now, the question is how to prevent
being killed by those supernaturals things ?
They remember about a talisman mirror kept by Natsuhi in her room. Of course, they don't have master keys
anymore, so only key available is... Natsuhi's. Probably still on her corpse, back in the chapel. And they can probably
break a window to enter there.

Genji decides to stay back in the servant room, in case he's needed by Grampa. Well, whatever. When the others have
left, some golden butterflies appear near him... and he nails them with a carefully-thrown knife. Wow, Genji really is
badass.
George, Shannon and Gohda's expedition to the chapel goes more or less well. They're pursued by golden butterflies,
but at least they found the key and escaped. They run to Natsuhi's room, Gohda barricades the room with his own
body, and George starts searching frenetically for the small mirror. Behind the door, some... things... are trying to
enter. Then a Knife-girl manages to go through the door and kill Gohda. Oh dear.
Goat-faced servants swarm the room, Beatrice herself shows up, all appears lost... and then Shannon erects magic
barrier fields around herself and George. Wait, she can do that ? It works against the goat-faced servants, but even
with the mirror's power it's not enough against the last two knife-girls. But this was certainly an impressively heroic
scene.

Genji has somehow found Dr Nanjo and Kumasawa's bodies, with the addition of those ubiquituous knives, and
warns Rosa, Battler and Maria. They're sceptical, then twig out that Genji is now alone. He tells them the others have
gone into Natsuhi's room. There, they find yet another locked room mystery. Eh.

But wait, there's more ! When Rosa, Maria and Battler come back into the parlor (locked by Rosa), Battler finds a
letter from the witch. How did it get there ? Well, Rosa accuses Battler, so he's thrown out of the parlor too. He
drowns his sorrows with some strong liquor in the dining room.
Genji invites him in Grampa's study, where he also finds the witch Beatrice. Battler submits to her, and she makes
him her "furniture".
The four then go down to the dinner room, where there are lots of people with goat heads/masks. (One of them is
Bernkastel, who barely looks at the defeated Battler before leaving. "Sore loser", comments Beatrice.) The goat-
people then start eating Battler and Grampa alive.

Outside, Rosa and Maria are running for their life, pursued by golden butterflies and goat-people. Rosa has taken one
of the gold ingots in the chapel, and hopes to swim out of the island with it to start a new life from scratch. Nice try,
and the shotgun does help quite a bit, but in the end they're overwhelmed and eaten alive too.

Episode 2, Bonus Scene 1 : Tea Party in Purgatory

Rosa wakes up in the same parlor-like "Purgatory" we saw last time. She's very groggy and can barely move. Beatrice
shows up and thanks her for her tenacity in denying her. What could the witch offer her for this ?

Flashbacks to Rosa's childhood. Basically, each of her siblings treated her like shit : Krauss abused her physically,
Eva verbally, and Rudolf did both. Which explains a lot about her psychological problems.

Beatrice offers Rosa a superb meal. In Rosa's state, this is more like force-feeding, actually. Especially once the witch
lets the penny drop : the wine is actually Krauss's blood, the "salad of tongues" is made from Eva, the main course is
Rudolf, and the dessert is Maria. Rosa hated them all, right ? So there's no problem...
Rosa is completely horrified, and tries to spit out. After a while of this cruel torture, Rosa breaks down and finally
acknowledges the witch Beatrice. Has the Golden Witch finally won ?

No ! She's kicked by Battler : Rosa's struggle has helped him regain his spirit, and he's ready for another round.

Episode 2, Bonus Scene 2 : The Witches' Tea Party

Beatrice notifies Bernkastel that she's noticed her meddling, and gloats that it was useless. She's now brought in
Lambdadelta, Bernkastel's archrival, to better counter her moves now that she's getting serious in fighting Beatrice.

Alone, Berknastel gives a motivational speech to Battler (I presume : the scene actually looks like she breaks the
fourth wall and addresses the player). She's been in his position before (the toy of a cruel witch), and empathizes with
him.

Then, it's Lambdadelta's turn to encourage Battler against Beatrice (!). After all, Lambdadelta's goal is to get back the
position of "most powerful witch" taken by Bernkastel. If Beatrice wins against Bernkastel, LD won't gain anything.
Or will she ? Her powers are more suited to fighting Beatrice than Bernkastel (a "rock-paper-scissors" analogy is
made).
Anyway, Lambdadelta warns Battler that Beatrice is currently torturing Rosa, which presumably leads to the end of
the previous scene.
 EPISODE 3 : Banquet of the Golden Witch

We open with a scene at some point in the past. A young girl inside the mansion has broken a vase, and is afraid of
her grandfather's reaction. She invokes her friend the witch Beatrice, who fixes things so that the girl is not blamed.
Impressed, the girl asks to become Beatrice's apprentice, and the witch accepts.

This is a very intriguing scene : we're not shown the girl's identity, and this isn't the Beatrice we know. She looks
completely different, and moreover has a completely different behaviour (she's kind and humble). Also, she's a lot
less powerful (she's quite far from the "Endless Witch" status she has in our main story).
I have the sneaking suspicion that this happened a very long time ago, and that the unnamed girl actually usurped
Beatrice's name and role at some point.

We cut to the boat on the way to Rokkenjima, which is mostly an excuse for Eva to reminesce over her childhood.
And it's not pretty. She was an overachiever, trying to surpass big brother Krauss on every opportunity. But Grampa
and Krauss will have none of it : she has to prepare herself to being a good wife for her future husband. I know this
flashback takes place around the 50s or early 60s, but the misoginy is grating. Interestingly, Eva doesn't even come
off very well from this scene : her arrogance and horrible sense of timing make don't do her any favor.

And now we learn that Eva has the ghost of her child self always egging her on to be more assertive and screw those
misoginysts bastards. That can't be good for her temper... I'm a bit suspicious about this "young Eva" : has she been
around since the beginning, or is this someone else meddling ? I really wouldn't put it past Lambdadelta, for example.

Anyway, we're now at the "Maria has lost her flower" incident. (This episode is skipping a lot of the boring setup
stuff that we've already seen twice. I approve.) Again, we see Beatrice helping her (sans Rosa this time), and actually
bringing that flower back to life. There are yet more hints that Beatrice was indeed the little girl in the beginning.

Battler calls a time out ! Well, whatever. We're introduced to Ronove, Beatrice's demon butler. I hate the smug bastard
already. His only redeeming value is that he often shows no respect for his boss, which is quite entertaining. Anyway,
his appearance brings up an interesting point : the more Battler doubts himself (such as last chapter, when he nearly
gave up), the more powerful Beatrice becomes, and the more servants she can use. Well, that's what she says. I
suppose Ronove could just have been hiding in the background all along.
Then we cut straight to Maria reading Beatrice's letter at dinner. Wow, that was fast. The mandatory bickering
between the siblings goes on for a while before the children are dismissed.

The discussion between the adults goes in a very interesting direction (mainly thanks to Kyrie's sharp reasoning). The
letter states that anyone that finds the gold will become the new family head. This is an obvious ploy to put the
younger siblings (who have everything to gain) against Krauss (who has everything to lose). But wait. The letter's
author claims to be Beatrice, Grampa's mysterious financial backer. So she may already know where the gold is, and
be using this to become the family head in exchange of the gold. Which wouldn't be that bad of a deal for the siblings,
actually : the family's finances are far from healthy at this point. But does the gold really exist ? What is "Beatrice"
trying to accomplish by giving the siblings a chance to find the gold themselves ? Is it just arrogance ?

Then there's some speculation that the "Beatrice" person may actually have been on the island all along. The rumors
about Grampa's mistress have always been strong, and there's a suspicion he built her a secret hidden mansion
somewhere on the island, decades ago. Nobody's ever found it, but that's no proof. Also, was Krauss's failed resort
project on Rokkenjima (the "guest house") just an excuse to look for this hidden building ?
Of course, if Beatrice was still alive, she'd be pushing at least 60 by now. But then I remember some speculation from
episode 2 : maybe "Beatrice" had a daughter ?

Switch to the mysterious parlor where Beatrice and Battler are starting their game. Battler's opening move is the
"Devil's Proof" : there's no way to prove there isn't a 19th person on the island, so he'll chose to believe that this 19th
person is the culprit, and that the 18 known people are innocent (and there's no witch involved, of course). Beatrice
counters with "Hempel's Raven" : it's far easier to prove the 19th is not the culprit (if they're a victim, or have perfect
alibis), than to do the same for all of the other 18 people. Battler counter-counters by pointing out he can add other
people on the island infinitely, which would make them innocence unprovable.

Of course, at this point Beatrice could wheel out her red "truths" to limit the number of people of the island. But for
the moment, she's reluctant to do it. Battler tries to trick her into saying "The culprit is one of the 18 known people",
but then bungles it by acknowledging it's a self-defeating move (since it removes the possibility of a witch). Battler,
don't prevent your opponent from making stupid moves ! Of, course, she refuses. She also refuses to state how many
people really are on the island.

Beatrice gives the reason for this decision : there was a time when she lived on the island as a human. She didn't
know who she was at the time, or why Grampa kept her confined in an isolated building. The only way out was
suicide (of course, death is far from the end for witches). Ronove helpfully confirms in red that there is indeed a
hidden building on the island, and that such a scene between Grampa and "Beatrice" did happen about 20 years ago.
Well, thanks.

Meanwhile, in the siblings' argument, Rosa has seemed more and more uneasy as the existence of "Beatrice" is
discussed. (She's already been trampled over and over by Krauss and Eva in this conversation.) Finally, she drops the
bomb : she killed Beatrice 20 years ago !

20 years ago, Rosa was just a kid, and one day she ran away from the mansion into the island's forest. She got lost,
and found by chance the hidden building where "Beatrice" lived. She managed to find a hole in the fence, and led
"Beatrice" outside her golden cage. Their path took them to the cliff, "Beatrice" missed her step, fell and died. Oops.

But wait, if the human Beatrice died 20 years ago, she can't be on the island now. And Beatrice choses this moment to
confirm in red that "there are only 18 people on the island". Well, so much for all that speculation about the 19th
person...

It's about midnight, and Grampa is alone in his study. He's drawing tarot cards to predict what will happen... and the
results are bad. So he calls for his closest servants (Genji, Kanon & Shannon), because he's that kind of bastard.
Beatrice is there with Ronove (who is apparently an old friend of Genji's), and kills Grampa as soon as the servants
arrive.

Genji and Shannon are fine with dying now (Shannon is fulfilled from getting George's ring). Kanon, on the other
hand, rebels yet again. Beatrice promises he can chose the five last survivors if he defeats her "furniture". And
summons Lucifer, the eldest of the knife-sisters, for a duel.

None of those fights against the knife-sisters went well in the former chapter, but Kanon eventually manages to defeat
Lucifer. It helps that she's crippingly arrogant, and announced where she would hit him. He stopped and caught her at
the price of his left hand. Yeah Kanon !

Oh crap. Beatrice calls the remainder of her furniture : the six other knife-sisters. Kanon is so screwed.

But wait ! Shannon was moved by Kanon's struggled, and decides to protect him with her magic shields. She won't
last long, though. So Genji does the honorable thing and swiftly kills them both through some variant of the vulcan
nerve-pinch. Beatrice is super-annoyed, but before she can do anything, Ronove mercy-kills Genji in the same way.
I'm starting to like this guy.

There's still two sacrifices to do, so the knife-sisters corner poor Gohda in the kitchen. They're going for the full set of
servants, so old bag Kumasawa is next. For some reason, she's waiting for them in the garden... and completely
immune to their attacks ! WTF ?

Wow ! Remember the "predecessor" Beatrice in the flashback at the beginning of the chapter ? she's been sealed and
asleep in Kumasawa's body for a while. Beatrice's growing power has now awakened her, and she's not happy about
what her former disciple has done. It'll be a fight to the death between the two witches, and the knife-sisters are
politely invited to get the heck out of here.

Wow, this is an impressive fight scene. Beatrice and The Witch Formerly Known As Beatrice go all-out, draw giant
weapons out of nowhere, and even grow giant buildings from the ground as protection. It nearly looks like Beatrice is
defeated, but not so fast ! we're only halfway through the third chapter out of at least four. Indeed, she had actually
pulled a sneaky move early in the fight, and killed her former master without her noticing. Eh.

It's geting late, so Beatrice orders Ronove to place the six bodies in impossibly closed places to maximise confusion.
Eh. Battler's spirit self, who has seen everything, is completely nonplussed.

The second day opens with Grampa and all five servants missing, with five rooms in the mansion (+ the chapel)
sealed with an ominous cabalistic sign painted in red on the doors. Gee, I wonder what's inside...
The (remaining) adults break into the parlor through the window, and find Shannon's corpse inside. Well, duh. For
reference, Kanon was found in the chapel, Grampa burnt up in the boiler room, and Genji, Kumawasa and Gohda in
random other rooms. There's nothing as macabre as the Halloween banquet from last episode, and the corpses are
clean and perfectly identifiable (except Grampa).

On the other hand, Ronove has outdone himself with the closed room setup. Each room was closed, and contains both
each servant's master key, and the key to another closed room. In the end, the six rooms constitute a perfect closed
circle.
Battler's spirit looks completely defeated by all this, but then receives an unexpected pep talk from... The Witch
Formerly Known As Beatrice. She's still dead, but is still able to give advice to Battler. She points out that all of the
magical happenings are only one explanation for the murders. They could be just an elaborated PowerPoint
presentation from Beatrice, and just represent the witch's theory. As long as Battler can present a concurrent rational
explanation, he can still win the battle.
And just when typing "The Witch Formerly Known As Beatrice" is getting annoying, she adopts the name of Virgilia.
Well, that's convenient. And yet another Dante Shout Out, I assume.

Anyway, Battler's spirit is back in action ! Virgilia plays Ms. Exposition to sum up the facts (sparing us protracted
scenes of all the corpses being found), and Battler ends up pushing that one of the six is the murderer, created the 5
other closed rooms, then locked themselves in the sixth room and accidentally killed themselves. Beatrice has
blocked most of the other possibilities (faked deaths, outside influence, suicide, etc.), but is unable to refute this one,
and concedes this round.
Back to the island, all twelve remaining people have locked themselves in the guest house : the mansion cannot be
safe, what with five people getting killed there. And the guest house is smaller and easier to defend, I guess. Speaking
of defense, they've found four shotguns, so it's one for each heir (Krauss, Eva, Rudolf & Rosa). The children (and
Nanjo) go upstairs in their rooms, while the adults prepare their guns in the guest house's parlor room. And since
they've got nothing better to do, they start brainstorming about the epitaph's riddle.

Well, with Kyrie in the room, this could actually go somewhere, for once. Rosa and Eva also contribute their
thoughts, though by the end of the scene they're still far from the answer. Wait, Eva has somehow sneaked out to the
guest house's library, in order to check into a hunch. And not just a hunch : the "Young Eva" spirit is egging her on to
stretch her brain and solve the riddle.
Cut to a bit later, and... Eva has somehow solved it ? (Of course the narration won't tell us what the answer actually
is.) She's in some sort of underground tunnel, and finds at the end of it a hidden underground room. Very ornate,
probably the bedroom of Grampa's lover when she was alive. Also, there are tons of gold right in the middle of it.
Wow. Congratulations, Eva : you've won the witch's challenge. Hope you survive the experience...

On her way back in the tunnel, Eva crosses Rosa's path : the younger sibling has also solved the riddle, but a bit too
late. After some posturing with their guns, they reach an agreement : as long as Eva gives Rosa the previously-
agreed-upon share of the gold (1/8th for each sibling, with the head - Eva - taking 5/8ths), she'll support her sister and
keep quiet about finding the gold (which gives Eva more time to smuggle it out without Krauss noticing).
"Young Eva" has stayed in the room with the gold, and she does not seem to like all this talk of "sharing" the gold.
And then, the witch Beatrice appears before her, and congratulates her for solving the riddle. So now, "Young Eva"
has won the right to be the new Beatrice, Golden Witch of Rokkenjima. Wait, WHAT ?
The Young Eva is led into some big reception room, where she's dressed in proper witch-y attire, and the various
assembled demons all congratulate her. Even the spirit of Battler have joined applaud her for becoming the new
Beatrice by using her wits. There's a nicely awkward shot of Battler and the former Beatrice applauding side by side.
Eh.

[edited to add] Oh, and Lambdadelta is also there. She claims to have been Young Eva's sponsor to become a witch,
which is an interesting claim. No sign of Bernkastel, though. Is she sulking ?
Because it would be too confusing otherwise, the new Witch Formerly Known as Beatrice is given a nickname :
Beato (which is much less dignified than Virgilia, eh). It's not actually new (it's been used at various times in previous
chapters, usually in derision by Battler), but it's now consistently used in the narration to avoid confusion with EVA-
Beatrice. (This nickname is used only in the TIPS, where they insist on still calling Beato "Beatrice". Well,
Whatever.)

Back in the real world, Eva is apparently a bit sickly, and goes resting in her room with her husband. Meanwhile,
Maria has another of her "episodes", and insists on checking upon the flower in the garden. Rosa eventually relents
and goes with her.
(Maria really is a Manipulative Bastard. She starts with her usual annoyingly incoherent cries, and then cheefully
announces she'll be quiet for the remainder of the week-end if her mother accompanies her to the garden. Maria
knows very well how to pull Rosa's strings...)

In the garden, Rosa and Maria are attacked by the new Beatrice (whom Rosa recognizes as Eva almost instantly.
Humm...). Curb Stomp Battle time ! The new Beatrice completely massacres Rosa and Maria... several times over.
And over. And over. With more cruelty than Beato ever showed. The girl is gifted, and obviously drunk with power.

Elsewhere, Beato and Battler are watching this... and Battler is appaled that Beato is enjoying the show. He calls her
on it, and refuses to resume his logic battle with her. He doesn't want to see her face anymore, and tells her to get out.
(Ronove is still fine for playing the witch's side in interim, since he's got a lot more class and restraint than her.)
Beato appears completely dejected... and it's her turn to get a pep talk from Virgilia. She likens the situation to the
fable of the Sun and the North Wind : both want a traveller to take off his coat, but the North Wind's brutal and direct
approach is counter-productive. On the other hand, the Sun patiently warming up the traveller is much more
successful. Basically, Beato is mistaken on her goals : she needs to make Battler accept her as a witch. There is no
need to make him surrender with a direct assault.
Anyway, Beato goes to tell the new Beatrice that maybe she should calm down a bit, and stop torturing her two
victims. Battler's rant has obviously got to her, even though she sounds like a complete hypocrite (as the new Beatrice
delightfully points out). Beato points out that the new Beatrice still need to obey the ritual in order to properly
become the Endless Golden Witch, and shows her how to do it : pushing Rosa on a fence and strangling Maria (come
on, we've all wanted to do it by now). These quick (and final) deaths are much more gentle than what the new
Beatrice's been doing (or than Beato used to be doing, for that matter).

Beato starts hoping that this will help her get back into Battler's good graces, but no dice for now : he's still not
talking to her. (Ronove is still playing for her, but had to concede early for this round : Battler's theory that Eva did it
is much too powerful to try countering now.)

Meanwhile, thinks are looking difficult for the new Beatrice, too : she's facing a group of heavily-armed rational
people barricaded in the guest house. Apparently, Beatrice's magic isn't much good when there are many people
together. Especially with the low-key nature of the murders up to now not doing much to grow supernatural fear
(Take That, Ronove and Beato !). Interestingly, it's explicitly stated that despite her power, the new Beatrice can still
be killed by a gunshot.
But don't worry, she's got a plan...

It's now 01:00 PM (I love that clock annoucing the exact time for each scene), and the adults are getting hungry.
Actually, not that much, but Kyrie and Rudolf insist in mounting an expedition to the mansion in order to retrieve
enough canned food for everybody to last until the boat comes the next day. Hideyoshi tags along, having been given
Rosa's shotgun when her corpse was found. (Yeah, Beatrice didn't bother hiding that powerful weapon. Overconfident
much ? Or did she know that Hideyoshi would get it, as the only adult male without a weapon ?)

The three reach the mansion's kitchen without too much trouble, but the food cart is a bit heavy, so Hideyoshi pushes
it while Kyrie takes his gun. Just before they reach the mansion door to the outside, two knife-girls show up before
them, and prevent their exit. So the three split up in different directions. For some reason, the two knife-girls go after
Kyrie and Rudolf, even though Hideyoshi's defenseless. Hum...
We're then treated an awesome but nonsensical scene where Kyrie confronts her pursuer. The knife-girls are modeled
after the Seven Capitals Sins, and this one is Jealousy. She powers up and becomes immensely fast by feeding on her
own jealousy for her sisters (or something, my memories are getting fuzzy). But Kyrie has 18 years' worth of jealousy
(for Asumu, Rudolf's first wife), so she can get even faster, and manages to shoot through the knife-girl. Who dies.
Wow.

Forget about the mechanics of the fight scene, which are completely laughable : what's actually interesting is what
Kyrie says about herself. She and Asumu were already rivals for Rudolf's attention 18 years ago. They both got
pregnant at the same time (Rudolf is a player !), but Kyrie miscarried, while Asumu had Battler. So Rudolf did the
honorable thing and married Asumu (Kyrie implies that this was all a ploy but Asumu, but obviously her opinion is
debatable). Anyway, Asumu died six years ago (and Kyrie does nothing to deflect my suspicions in this speech), and
Rudolf married Kyrie immediatly after (provoking Battler's anger). It's not exactly clear when they conceived Ange
(who's now 6 year-old, and absent from the island for health reasons), but the whole thing is very suspicious...

Meanwhile, Rudolf's a lot less successful. He's heavily wounded, and EVA-Beatrice has even appeared to gloat. The
knife-girl is impressed enough to allow him a traditional duel (back to back, three paces, and bang!) to go out with a
bang. He has no chance, of course : the knife-girl is fast enough to dodge his shots. So he shoots and... the knife-girl
did not move ? Because EVA-Beatrice was just behind her, and she noticed only at the last minute ? Wow, that was
sloppy. Well-played, Rudolf.
Kyrie and Rudolf are now marching on the witch (that they immediatly recognized as Eva)... but she turns the tables
by summoning two heavy-duties demons, the Siesta sisters. Beato, our greek chorus, informs us that this is very
impressive and that she had trouble doing that back in her time. Well, our protagonist's parents are screwed, then. And
indeed, they barely last 10 seconds. EVA-Beatrice then goes into her despicable pastime of killing them repeatedly in
creative ways.
Hideyoshi is back, and protests about this. Well, I approve, but this is a bad time to show a spine. So the inevitable
happens. So long, Hideyoshi.

Beato appears in front of EVA-Beatrice and tries to tell her she's maybe going a bit to far with the repeated killings.
Who denounces her as a complete hypocrite, of course, and proceeds to tell her to get lost. With both of the Siesta
sisters aiming at her, Beato obtemperates.

Anyway, it's been at least half an hour since Kyrie, Rudolf and Hideyoshi went to gather some food, and the others
are starting to panic. I vaguely remember that some characters decide to go and see what happened, and discovered
the corpses. This includes at least Battler (anxious to know what happened to his parents) and Eva (the same about
her husband), but I'm not sure about the rest. Maybe George and Dr Nanjo, too. But not Krauss and Natsuhi, who
have to stay at the guesthouse to protect it.
Nothing really happens during or after the discovery of the corpses, except that now everybody is depressed : the
murderer(s) got to THREE forewarned people who had TWO guns. Now, there are only seven survivors left, with
only two guns (this time, the victims' guns where hidden out of reach). They hole back into the guesthouse.
Beato's not feeling very good. She barely has any power left, her "apprentice" doesn't want to see her face, and it's the
same with Battler (Ronove unhelfully informs her that he's had to concede this round of their game too, as Battler's
theory that Eva did it is too costly to fight back against yet). She's starting to understand what Virgilia tried to explain
to her : breaking things up without consequences isn't what being a witch is about (and EVA-Beatrice is a perfectly
repulsive counter-example) : it's more about helping humans and mending things (remember that opening scene ?).

By a happy (?) coincidence, George is brooding about Shannon's death. So Beato offers to help him bring her back to
life for a limited time. He accepts, and Beato leads him out of the guesthouse by... flying out of a second-story
window ? Hum... Anyway, they go to the parlor in the mansion, where Shannon was. It looks difficult, but Shannon is
resurrected by the combinination of George's willpower and Beato's magic. Happy reunion time for the two lovers !

Meanwhile, Krauss and Natsuhi are mounting guard in the guesthouse's lobby. Eva has conveniently gone to the
bathroom. This is the perfect moment for EVA-Beatrice to attack, with the Siesta sisters managing to fire and kill
them... from the garden, through locked doors. Wow, those two are quite powerful.

EVA-Beatrice notices that Beato's been resurrecting someone in the mansion, gets fed up, and fires the Siesta sisters
in that direction. George and Shannon are killed immediatly. Beato only survives because Virgilia did a Heroic
Sacrifice and got killed instead. Now that I think of it, EVA-Beatrice has never seen Virgilia, who IS a "former
Beatrice"... That's a good trick indeed. Though Beato's still in a dire position.
Eva cannot find George, Krauss or Natsuhi, so she warns the remaining survivors (Dr Nanjo, Jessica and Battler).
Since the guesthouse has proved completely unsafe, there's not much incentive to stay there, so they go hunting for
corpses. They find Krauss and Natsuhi's near the garden, and George's in the parlor.

At this point, Jessica snaps, and accuses Eva of being the murderer. They fight around Eva's gun, and a shot rings out.
Fortunately, nobody's killed, and Jessica is merely injured in the eyes. Dr Nanjo goes with her to the servants' room in
order to find a first aid kit, while Battler and Eva search the mansion.
Jessica's wounds won't be too deep, but she's still mostly helpless for now, what with being blind. Dr Nanjo steps out
of the room to let her cool... and is immediatly attacked by EVA-Beatrice and the Siesta sisters. Oh Crap.
Beato, now openly defiant of her apprentice (who believes her dead), is trying to at least protect poor Jessica. So she
manages to bring Kanon back to life, and Kanon discreetly leads Jessica out of the room and into the parlor while
EVA-Beatrice is busy slaughtering Dr Nanjo repeatedly. There, Kanon and Jessica will be able to enjoy his last few
minutes to live (did I mention Beato's magic is getting weaker and weaker ?). Beato uses the last of her power to seal
the door from the outside.

By now, EVA-Beatrice has found out about her predecessor's actions : there'll be no escape now. The Siesta sisters
fire on her repeatedly... but Beato. Just. Won't. Die. Both of the witches know that when Beato dies, her shields will
disappear, and it will be game over for Jessica. So Beato toughs it out, finding inner force in her last few "good"
actions.

The Siesta sisters can't kill Beato, so both them and Ronove start acknowledging Beato as the real Beatrice. EVA-
Beatrice's dumbfounded, but Beato knows she can't beat her that way, so she transports everybody to the place where
she was playing chess with Battler's spirit. Battler is quick to understand, and challenges EVA-Beatrice to finish the
game. On the witch's side : EVA-Beatrice. On the human's side : Battler, with some help by Beato (and... Virgilia ?
Wha uh ?). Ronove is the referee.
EVA-Beatrice's first challenge to Battler's "Eva did it" theory is about the bizarre actions of Kyrie. She wasn't
hungry : why did she lead the expedition to find some food ? EVA-Beatrice claims she planted this desire in Battler's
stepmother. Any counter-theory ?

Well, Beato finds a crucial clue on Kyrie's body. A cigarette butt, but not the brand Rudolf was smoking. The one
Hideyoshi was smoking. And then Battler finds the answer : Kyrie must have found it in Eva's room. Why would
Hideyoshi have smoked near his ill wife ? The only valid explanation is that Eva was away for a time - when she
committed Rosa and Maria's murders ! Kyrie must have come to the same conclusion, and used the food expedition
as an excuse to confront Hideyoshi.
All good and well, but EVA-Beatrice counters with another puzzle : who killed Dr Nanjo ? Jessica couldn't do it, she
was blind. And Eva never stayed away from a very suspicious Battler who was watching her every move. EVA-
Beatrice even helpfully confirms in red that neither of the three was his killer, that there were only 18 people on the
island, that each of the other 15 (by name) is dead now, and that it was neither a suicide nor an accident.

Of course, Battler is stumped. And all appears lost... until Beato steps in. She decides to make the ultimate gambit :
she'll explain everything, all the mysteries, and how humans were responsible for everything. All course, this will kill
her in the same time as EVA-Beatrice, but she's grown beyond such considerations. She just asks of Battler that he
closes his ears while she does it. Awed by this self-sacrifice, he accepts.
So, conveniently, we don't get to hear the solution. Well, that would have been too easy...
Anyway, it works, and EVA-Beatrice dissolves into thin air. Yeah !
Back in the real world...
Battler : "Aunt Eva ! YOU were the killer !"
Eva : "Well, duh. Took you long enough to notice."

And then she shoots him.

In some sort of formless afterworld, Battler congratulates Beato for becoming a "good" witch, who helps people
instead of torturing them. This acknowledgement is apparently enough to open the doors to the "golden paradise",
where everybody is alive and happy, and everybody congratulates Battler.
Now, wait a minute...
The only thing Battler has to do in order to confirm the Golden Paradise is to sign the registry. But why does this
whole scene seem reminescent of the first Tea Party ? And the one in the second episode, for that matter ? Why is
there written "I believe Beatrice is a witch" on the registry ? Wasn't this what Beato was trying to achieve in the past
few episodes ? Why is Beato sneering ? Why is Virgilia (!!!) sneering ?
Oh Crap. It was all a lie. Beato never "reformed". It was all a trap to lead Battler to this instant. Okay, it didn't
completely work, but there's enough goat-servants in the room to force him to sign...

And then, a red-haired girl crashes through the window (what window ? from where ? who cares ?). She saves Battler
from the goat-servants' grip, and berates him for being so gullible. And not allowing her to participate in the game,
for that matter.
It becomes obvious from context that this is a teenage version of Ange, Battler's half-sister. Beatrice recognizes her as
Bernkastel's agent, and invites her to the next game.

Episode 3, Bonus Scene 1 : The Witches' Tea Party

In the aftermath of the end of the episode, Lambdadelta is wondering who the mysterious girl was. For obvious
reasons, Beatrice and Bernkastel are teasing her for her cluelessness.
But as soon as Bernkastel leaves, the atmosphere completely changes. This is actually the first time we're seeing
Beatrice and Lambdadelta alone, and thus can gauge their actual relationship. They're not really allies : Lambdadelta
is Beatrice's master. She claims she transformed Beatrice into a witch and owns her now. Beatrice is aquiescing
meekly, so I guess it's mostly the truth.
Lambadelta's plan is chilling : she helped Beatrice set up her perpetual "murder week-end" so that Bernkastel would
be lured in to try helping Battler. Lambdadelta doesn't want either Beatrice or Battler to "win" (she will even help one
if the other is in position to win) : she desires a perpetual draw, where Bernkastel would be trapped forever !

Episode 3, Bonus Scene 2 : 1998

Twelve years after the Rokkenjima incident, Eva was indeed the only survivor. Somehow, the police investigation
cleared her (though the public suspicion remains), and she's built an even bigger financial empire with the
Ushiromiya fortune. Her ruthless methods made her a controversial figure, often called a "witch"... (And of course,
the Rokkenjima Incident doesn't help her reputation.)
Now gravely ill, she's on her deathbed in a hospital. She's summoned her only living relative : Ange, Battler's half
sister (daughter of Rudolf & Kyrie), who is now 18. Ange was ill on that fateful weekend of 1986, and so didn't come
to the island. She's become Eva's heir by default, but there's no love between those two. Of course Ange blames Eva
for her family's death, and Eva resents Ange for not being her beloved son George. Eva had taken Ange into her
custody, but only to send her into a private school/prison where her life was miserable.
Anyway, Eva has now decided to give her whole fortune to Ange. Which is obviously a poisonned gift : as a very rich
teenager, Ange's life will become a living hell. Everybody and their brother will try to get close to her and try to make
a pass for her fortune. Worse of all with be Kyrie's family, who are technically next in line to Ange, and sound like a
horrible bunch of vultures.
Eva also gives to Ange the title of "Beatrice, witch of Rokkenjima". Er, okay...
After Eva croaks more or less in front of her, Ange goes to the hospital's roof. There, she sees Bernkastel, who offers
her help to master her witch powers and solve the Rokkenjima Mystery. Ange accepts, officially gets the title of
ANGE-Beatrice...
...and jumps off the (12-story-high) roof...
 EPISODE 4 : Alliance of the Golden Witch

This episode looks like it'll be a pain to summarize, with at least four main story threads happening in different time
periods (or even parallel universes). I'll try my best, but expect quite of lot of Meanwhile In The Future. Hopefully it
will make sense in the end...

We start with a new O Pening : still the same song as far as I can see, but integrating all the new characters from
Episodes 2 & 3. It's actually very impressive how good it looks when all characters are still sprites.

Ange's story picks up right after she jumped off a 12-story-high building (in the second epilogue of Episode 3).
Through sheer luck, magic or good planning (she had noticed lots of stuff that would soften her fall on her way
down), she survived without a scratch. She goes to see Okonogi, an old business partner of Hideyoshi's who had
become Eva's trusted right-hand man. He seems genuinely friendly towards Ange, but of course she's now the main
shareholder of the company whose board he presides.

Ange presses Okonogi about what he knows of the Rokkenjima Incident, which does not amount to much. He trusts
Eva did not commit any murders : after all, the police cleared her, and if she was the culprit she wouldn't have killed
her beloved husband and son. Ange points out the obvious counter-arguments : the police can be bought off, and Eva
may still have had a reason to kill them both (the 3rd episode actually had some hints in this direction), or they may
have died in another way. It's all a matter of belief, now that everybody that was there is dead. Ange is obviously not
satisfied with this, and announces she'll lead her own investigation. Okonogi wishes her good luck.

By the way, Kyrie's family is coming to kidnap, er, pick Ange up... right now. Action story time ! Okonogi, always
diligent, has prepared a car waiting for Ange at the second basement, so that she could escape discreetly. Ange smells
a rat and leaves the elevator at the third floor instead. She goes for the outside emergency staircase, but some goons
were waiting down there for her and are now climbing up. Oh Crap. Ange jumps off the third floor, and her fall is
broken up somewhat by the roof of the goons' van. But one goon was smart enough to wait back down there, and
quickly pins her down. Is all hope lost ?

No ! A black car comes out of nowhere, stops right besides the goon pining Ange, and an athletic young guy comes
out to dispatches him (with a stun gun) while taking her with him. That's Amakusa, a super-trained black ops agent
(ex-French Legion, currently on vacation from Blackwater) that used to work on Ange's security. Eva fired him
because he was acting friendly with Ange ; Okonogi re-hired him temporarily to help Ange escape Kyrie's family. He
was the one waiting in the second basement, and Ange's lucky he kept track of the goons' whereabouts. So yeah, We
Could Have Avoided All This if Ange hadn't been so paranoid. Eh.
Anyway, Ange and Amakusa are now on the road. Next stop : the person who found a bottled letter in a nearby island,
a couple of years after the Incident.

In the lobby, Okonogi greets the representative of Kyrie's family : Kasumi Sumadera, Kyrie's younger sister. She's her
complete opposite : Kyrie was always cool and collected ; Kasumi is not. She's also not half as clever, since Okonogi
more or less manages to fast talk her about Ange's escape.

Meanwhile, in the past... Well, it's not really the past. While Ange appears to be investigating the future of the third
iteration, a fourth one is starting. So this 1986 has no direct relation to the 1998 future we see. I especially suspect
that Eva won't be the "survivor" this time around.

Anyway, Ange is somehow lurking around this Rokkenjima in spirit. She can't physically be there, though (Beatrice
has contrived the game so that the 6-year-old Ange can never be on the island). She intrudes into the place where
Battler and Beatrice are starting their new game. She presents herself as Battler's ally, under the pseudonym of Gretel.
Of course he sees the resemblance with his half-sister, but she says he can't completely trust her (after all, he was
completely fooled by Virgilia last time).

Now, Beatrice is changing the rules. In the last two iterations, she was helpful enough to say the "red truth" when
Battler prompted her (which allowed him to have solid foundations for his next theories). Now she won't, except
when it really fits her fancy. Or at the end of the game, when she will have five minutes to debunk Battler's theories if
she hasn't yet. On the other hand, there's no problem with Battler preparing lots of contradictory theories for each
mysterious happening : Beatrice will have to show how none of them work.

Basically, Battler has to switch from a single-minded, laser-guided reasoning to a "More Dakka"-style assault on
Beatrice. I like. And Ange/Gretel is no slouch on the reasoning front, so this promises to be entertaining.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the Ushiromiya siblings are again quarrelling. But not about the inheritence or the gold
(yet) : they want to see Grampa. Krauss refused last year because "Grampa wasn't in the mood", but this time they
won't back down. This time, Kyrie leads the assault with a pervasive argument : what if Grampa was already dead,
and Krauss was delaying the announcement, for example to keep the inheritence from being distributed yet ?

Now, this is a very interesting argument. It certainly would explain some things about the third iteration, especially
the Nanjo murder. The way the red truth about that was worded, it left open the possibility of Grampa's body not
being on the island, and the 18th person on the island being an unknown murderer/accomplice. With Gretel's help,
Battler points this out, but of course Beatrice chooses not to answer.

Of course, we're on a new iteration. I expect Grampa to be very much alive this time. And indeed, when Krauss
concedes to his siblings and goes to try and convince Grampa to see his other children (it was that or paying an
ungodly amount of bribe money to them), Grampa completely chews him out for being such a weakling. But he will
show up after dinner for an important announcement.

In between all this, we've been getting quite a few flashbacks. They started with Ange's adolescence : stuck in a
private school, shunned and bullied by all her peers... Her only respite was then she could hide in a corner with her
most treasured possession : Maria's diary, that she somehow managed to snatch after the Incident. When she reads it,
she can escape her dreary life in the company of her Cool Big Sis Maria (remember, she was three years older than
Ange). And I mean this litterally : when reading that diary, Ange can somehow actually see and talk to her cousin. Of
course, Ange's classmates mock the crazy rich kid talking to her imaginary friend, but what do they know ?

Anyway, the flashbacks soon shift to Maria's childhood, before October 1986. Upon first sight, this Tastes Like
Diabetes : Maria's hyper-happiness drips through every line of her diary. Okay, mama Rosa often has to stay late (or
whole week-ends) at work while leaving Maria all alone at home, but the scenes they do share together look
genuinely endearing. But Ange is very good at reading between the lines. And so is the reader, who has seen Rosa and
Maria interact without the rose-colored glasses. You can easily gather that (1) Rosa's work is often just a cover story
for avoiding Maria, (2) Rosa is hiding her Parental Abandonment to her neighbourhood, making Maria lie about her
mother being home, (3) Rosa often goes on evening dates, where she drinks quite a lot, (4) Rosa barely interacts with
her daughter anymore, and (5) Rosa recently went on a thermal cure while pretending she was stuck at work for the
week-end. (And of course, let's not forget the various instances of terrible parenting shown in previous episodes.)

So, basically, Maria was a Stepford Smiler. And, after a while, Ange duly calls her on it. Maria thinks it's all a
question of perspective. She, too, thought her life was crap, until she found a secret... When Beatrice taught her magic
! Cue another flashback... And it's an interesting one. Basically, it happens somewhere on Rokkenjima, with Maria,
Beatrice and Virgilia. Maria is already Beatrice's apprentice by this point (curse those generic character sprites that
make it impossible to date those flashbacks, but I assume this must have happened one year before 1986). Beatrice
thinks Maria's reached a step in her training, and should be elevated to the rank of "Witch of Origins" (specialized in
affixing life to objects). And indeed, her stuffed pet lion Sakutarou gets a dedicated cat-boy sprite, indicating that he's
somehow got a life of his own (and his speech patterns manage to quickly get more annoying than Maria's !). Also,
Maria gets a shiny new "witchy" dress. All this is formalized by an invocation contract written in Maria's
diary/grimoire by Beatrice, and co-signed by Virgilia.

There's also some talk about "Mariage Sorcire", an alliance between witches (Argh, the terrible Gratuitous French, it
burns !). From context, the alliance is only between Beatrice and Maria, and it's both a non-agression (extending to
their servants, which is why the knife-girls cannot kill the harmless Sakutarou) and non-interference pact. Well, I had
guessed as much from the previous episodes, especially in the third when Maria was surprised to be attacked by EVA-
Beatrice (with Beato making a contrite posture : "sorry, I cannot prevent my apprentice from doing this").

Of course, this scene could all be a delusion in Maria's mind. But just wait a second for an intriguing "confirmation"...

Meanwhile In The Future, Ange is chatting with an old professor who's dedicated his life to the search of the occult,
is very interested in the Rokkenjima Incident, and part of a worldwide organisation of similar-minded people called
The Witch Hunt (a Shout Out to the unofficial translators). Anyway, the Rokkenjima Incident was initially just a
gruesome "accident" with some suspicions against Eva, the lone survivor. But six months later, desperate for cash
(the succession was still being argued upon at that point), Eva sold the whole of Grampa's occult library. This
included some rare or even unknown manuscripts, which made the whole occult community's collective eyebrows
raise simultaneously. And started the rumor of the Rokkenjima Incident having some occult origin.

Because of all this fuss, some fishermen from an island nearby to Rokkenjima brought to light a Message In A Bottle
they had found a bit after the Incident (here, there is an explicit Shout Out to And Then There Were None, with the
professor lampshading that this is a common plot device in western mystery novels). It's supposed to be written by
Maria, and reads like a diary of the two days. What prevented it from surfacing earlier was its content : it claims the
Witch Beatrice did it. Also, the police reveal they've found a similar Message In A Bottle a couple of days after the
incident. And the handwriting matches the first one. So from then on, the legend of Beatrice grew worldwide.

Of course, there's three problems that could prevent those messages from being authentic. First, though both
messages were written by the same person, that person wasn't Maria : the handwriting doesn't match. Second, there
would have been no time for anyone involved in the events described to write them, so they must have been written
either before the incident (making it premeditated) or just after it (when the only person left alive was Eva). And third
: both manuscripts are completely contradictory about the events happening (and the order of the deaths)... and both
of them have Eva among the first victims !

All this is common knowledge from anyone with a passing interest in the case, and even Ange acknowledges she
didn't learn anything in this As You Know scene. That's not what she came for, anyway. She pulls out Maria's diary,
opens a page, and shows it to the professor. From his stupefied reaction, she knows she's hit the jackpot : it's the same
handwriting as the bottled letters. (And from context, it's obvious it's the "invocation" written by "Beatrice"...) Having
gathered all the information she wanted, Ange leaves the befuddled professor then and there.

By the way, you may be remembering Ange was on the run from the Sumadera family, who of course are monitoring
the people Ange would try to meet, including the professor. But Ange cleverly bypassed the professor's surveillance
team by introducing herself as Sumadera. So it's official : the Sumadera goons are idiots. When Kasumi arrives and
catches on, Ange is long gone...

After visiting the professor, Ange finds the best way to hide for the night while on the run : a high class hotel for the
obscenely rich. No questions asked, and very discreet. Amakusa sleeps on the couch in the living room of the suite, of
course : Ange doesn't have any hormones.

Since she can't seem to find any sleep, Ange reads Maria's diary once again. Cue Maria on the passenger seat, this
time in her fancy new witch dress. To pass time, Ange decides to do some magic, something she apparently did a bit
in the past, but stopped after a while. She had somehow managed to lay her hands on the last existing killing knife
from the Incident (you know, the ones the knife-girls become), and now she's trying to invocate this specific knife-
girl, Mammon. Which she manages to do, with some difficulty.

Mammon being aligned with Greed, she immediatly asks for her sisters to be invocated too. At the sixth one, Ange
starts faltering, and collapses. But hey, not bad for the first invocation magic Ange has done in ages. She'll do better
in a while.

Meanwhile, around the chessboard for the 4th iteration, "Gretel" has isolated herself a bit, discussing some stuff with
Mammon. She's not supposed to be her master yet, so they try their best to have a friendly if cryptic chat. (I don't
really remember what they talked about, but I doubt it was that important.)

Just after Mammon leaves, ANGE/Gretel senses time stopping, with Lambdadelta showing up to have a friendly chat.
Basically, our evil witch justs points out the obvious Plot Hole in Bernkastel recruiting ANGE : if Battler wins against
Beatrice with her help, Ange's family will probably saved, and return to the 6-year old who is waiting for them. not
the 18-year-old ANGE, who won't exist in this reality if Battler wins. So, ANGE will never be reunited with her
family.
On the other hand, if ANGE helps Lambdadelta stalling the game, by helping Battler only when he's in danger of
losing completely, she could play with her brother forever. Wouldn't that be nice ? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Wow, Lambdadelta only shows up one or twice per episode, but she manages to top her Magnificent Bastard-ness
each time. I have no doubt ANGE will recover in a while, but this is a very well calculated blow. I like it. And it
makes Bernkastel look more manipulative, which is always a bonus.

Back to the flashbacks to Ange's childhood. Maria has started teaching her magic, which mostly involves summoning
the knife-girls and playing around with her imaginary friends. But at least now Ange is happier.

The main problem is that Ange has now become a worse student than ever. Which is a bad thing, because she's
attending a Boarding School Of Horrors. Her bad grades lower the average of the whole class, which makes her
classmates despise her even more. Even when they "help" her by giving her tests subjects in advance, she screws it
up. So they set up a "teaching group" for Ange... and the upshot is that now her free time is completely gone and
replaced by hours of her classmates humiliating her. Fun !

After a few hours of this, Ange snaps, and orders the knife-girls to kill her classmates. Which they can't do, since
there are two many magic-repelling humans in the room, or some such nonsense. Ange's not pleased, and dismisses
them brutally. And Sakutarou too, since the catboy is annoying. At this point, Maria thinks Ange has crossed the line
(you DO not assault servants of a fellow witch, especially someone as helpless as Sakutarou), and expells her from
Mariage Sorciere.

And then Ange really snaps, uttering a soul-crushing speech with so much self-loathing that her classmates are taken
aback. Basically, she thinks she should have died with her whole family. Ouch.

Now we're back to the Maria flashbacks... and Maria's complaining about Ange being mean to her. Wait, what ? The
Timey Wimey Ball makes no sense here... For the moment, I'll assume Maria is alluding to something else the 6-year
old Ange did back in 1986, because it makes no sense otherwise. (Anyway, it's not as if it matters that much in this
scene.)

Maria has been left all alone at home once more by her mother for the whole weekend, due to "work". This time, she
manages to lock herself out. Thankfully, the neighbourly shopkeepers warn the police, and Maria's able to eat some
dinner and sleep in a bed. But there's now a stern social worker wanting to have a good talk with Rosa. Especially
after the police found out that Rosa was actually not working, but on a three-day vacation with her lover. But Rosa
won't have any of it, and chews out the social worker. Then she transfers her anger onto her daughter, for not being
discreet enough when she was alone. Especially with that big stuffed lion she always walked around with, making her
very recognizable. So Rosa tears up and destroys Sakutarou there and then.

Rosa, BEST MOTHER EVER. No wonder Maria turned into a Creepy Child after that...

Meanwhile In The Future, Ange has arrived on Niijima (an island nearby to Rokkenjima, but with a proper town and
everything) to interview some relatives of the victims. This includes Dr Nanjo Jr, and a son of oldbag Kumasawa.
Both have received a curious letter... sent on the day before the fatal weekend, supposedly from themselves, and to
their respective deceased relatives at a nonsensical adress (the street number is something like 12345678). So the mail
company sent them back to the "expeditor" about a week after. (Ange also remember receiving something similar
back when she was six, but lost it.)

Anyway, inside the letter was a key and a password for a coffer in a high-class bank. Inside the coffer : millions in
cash. The relatives smelt a rat and left that blood money well alone (or so they say). But who could have prepared all
this ? On the day just before the massacre ?

But enough of all that. This is a show about 18 people on an island, and we've barely seen them in the last 10 hours.
Let's check back on them, shall we ?

Grampa has summoned everybody but the four grandchildren (who are sent back to the guesthouse) in the main
dining room. He's very displeased with his children, whom he considers complete failures as heirs. One of the
grandchildren may qualify as his successor, so he will test them ; but the adults are definitely out of the running. But
they'll still be useful for something : Grampa needs 13 sacrifices to revive Beatrice, and besides himself there are 13
people in the room...

Grampa has barely announced he'd kill everyone in the room when he suddenly summons three Siesta sisters. They
immediately snipe Natsuhi, Hideyoshi, Eva, Rosa, Rudolf and Genji. The quota for the first set of sacrifices is
reached, so the others will just be kept as hostages. He summons another demon called Gaap (whose costume design
is Stripperific Gone Horribly Wrong), who teleports Krauss, Kyrie, Shannon, Kanon & Dr Nanjo in some sort of cell
(that's her power). Gohda & Kumasawa manage to escape and reach the guesthouse, where they warn the
grandchildren about what happened.
In the cell, Kyrie finds a working phone (!) and manages to call the grandchildren in the guesthouse. Everybody
compares their notes, and the hostages decide to do nothing for now while advocating the young ones to hole
themselves up in the guesthouse.

Grampa shows up soon after, accompanied by his cronies (Gaap, Ronove and Virgilia). He gloats that the phone was
on purpose, so that the grandchildren could be given instructions for their tests. First, they have to lock up Gohda and
Kumasawa in the garden shed (which they do, but leaving the key inside : they can't go out, but nobody can attack
them either). Jessica goes first to her own room in the mansion, while George goes to the rose garden. Each of them is
handed a Sadistic Choice (by resp. Ronove & Gaap) : they have to sacrifice one of the following three - (1)
themselves, (2) their loved one (resp. Kanon & Shannon) or (3) everyone else. For the record, Jessica choses herself
(she would not be able to stand becoming the woman who'd have done any of the other choices) and George choses
everyone else (he was prepared to fight his whole family for Shanon anyway).

Not that it matters much, since they both Take A Third Option (well, fourth... or even fifth, since "chosing nothing,
and everyone dying" is acknowledged as a valid option). Jessica assaults Ronove with brass knuckles that are
surprising effective, while George declares that "everyone else" should start with Gaap, and immediatly demonstrates
his knowledge of karate, jiu-jitsu and capoeira.

Those fight scenes are epic, but alas Gaap manages to subvert both of Jessica and George's killing blows by
teleporting them next to each other. Ouch. Somehow, Jessica survives long enough to give a depressing phone call to
Battler.

Meanwhile, the hostages have been left alone, and Kanon choses this moment to reveal that he's got psychic blades
that can go through bar cells in no time. Time to escape ! Virgilia sends tons of goat servants after them, but they're
too big to go through the little gaps in the bars our heroes have gone through. She readies the Siesta sisters, but
Shannon manages to BSOD them through her long-distance shields (er, what ?). But just as they say Nothing Can
Stop Us Now, our heroes are stopped by Virgilia and a super-goat. Time for a boxing match between it and Krauss !

What has happened to Virgilia ? I know that everything I liked about her in Episode 3 was a lie, but here she's become
a stupid James Bond villain with a full-scale Idiot Ball. She's spouting bad guy clichs like "I Lied"... and there's even
a counter at the bottom right of the screen for each element of the Cliche Storm ! For some reason, this powers up
Krauss's boxing ability. Combined with some Gretzky Has The Ball-style nonsense that sounds nothing like real
boxing, this allows Krauss to overpower the super-goat, and make it land on Virgilia. So now our heroes can escape !

But they've barely reached the garden when the Siesta sisters reboot themselves, and take aim. Kanon, Shannon and
Dr Nanjo are shot down immediately. Krauss is killed at the door of the mansion. Kyrie manages to reach some
random room and lock herself inside... but she can sense the Siesta sisters trying to reach her through the keyhole.
She uses her last moments to call Battler and narrate him everything that happened to her group. And then she stops
talking.

Battler has barely hung up and started to go down the stairs when the phone rings again. Maria receives the
instructions for her own test... and then passes the phone to Battler before going. It's "Beatrice" ! Battler is to meet her
at the mansion's entrance !

Battler, using his last remnants of Genre Savvy, tries to gather the help of Gohda and Kumasawa... But as he looks
from the window of the garden shed, he sees them both hanging from ropes, looking very dead indeed...

"Beatrice" is waiting for Battler near the mansion's door... but from a balcony on the second story. She foregoes the
Sadistic Choice test (since Battler has no obvious loved one, it would be pointless ; he jokes he should put Beatrice's
name on the second choice), and instead requests him to repent for what he did six years ago. Battler retorts that his
dispute with his father has nothing to do with her, and that they resolved it at Asumu's funeral anyway (with Rudolf
apologizing profusely). But "Beatrice" is talking about something else (and it doesn't have anything to do with the
two of them, since she didn't exist back then). Battler has no clue what she's talking about, which infuriates her. She
leaves.

In his study, Grampa is celebrating Maria passing her test with success. Somehow, this annoys "Beatrice" even
further, and she burns him down without warning. WTF ?

The scene switches to the room where Beatrice and Battler are playing there game... and Beato has a new strategy.
First, she removes anyone possible interferer from the room (this includes Lambdadelta and Bernkastel, but also
ANGE/Gretel). Then she announces that she thought her game was with Grampa's grandchild... and uses the red text
in a tricky way to prove that Battler is not Asumu's son. Having an existential crisis, he dissolves into nothingness.

Meanwhile In The Future, Ange has finally reached Rokkenjima, unboarding on the secret mansion's side. In full
Idiot Ball mode, she leaves Amakusa on the boat, and goes exploring. Of course, she's easily caught by Kasumi and
half a dozen henchmen. But this time around, she manages to kill all of them by summoning all seven knife-girls (!).
Then she finds herself ready to help Battler...

Back to chessroom, ANGE/Gretel manages to come back, and summon back Battler's spirit to the board. She points
out the obvious flaw in Beato's attack : Battler not being Asumu's son does not prevent him from being Grampa's
grandson. Which he is.

Battler is still shaken by this attack, so ANGE/Gretel uses her ultimate card : she reveals that she is indeed his sister
Ange, from a future where he never came back. This shakes him up out of his funk. But then ANGE/Gretel has to
face the consequences of her action : not revealing her identity to Battler was the one condition she had to subscribe
to in order to attend the game. So she dies horribly.

All this has completely reinvigorated Battler. He's ready to fight Beatrice on her game. Bring it on !

It's now midnight on the first day...

Episode 4, Bonus Scene 1 : The Second Day

Nothing at all happens the second day.

Battler spends the whole day looking around, finding the various corpses. Maria is found poisonned in the dining
room with the first six victims. Battler even breaks into the garden shed to confirm Gohda and Kumasawa's death.
Only Kanon's corpse is missing : as he fell into the well, it's now inacessible for some reason. No trace of "Beatrice",
either.

Despite his growing paranoia, nothing at all happens to Battler. Even after he finally fells asleep. Nobody attacks him
at all. There seems to be noone else alive on the island, though he obviously can't search it comprehensively.

And so he finds himself wandering in the garden at midnight of the second day. Time for a final duel with Beatrice !

This time, Battler has prepared his argumentation for all of the four iterations. Basically, he argues that Grampa has
always been dead, in all four of them. Yes, even the fourth one (this wasn't his original argument, but Beatrice forces
his hand by stating in red that "Grampa's status at the beginning was the same in all four cases"). This opens room for
an unknown 18th person, which explains most of the mysteries.

Beatrice counters by upgrading "there were no more than 18 people alive on the island" to "there were no more than
17 people alive on the island". Oh Crap.

Battler nicely recovers through clever if sometimes ridiculous theories (some people faked their deaths in the first
iteration ! Some elaborate traps were set to kill people bizarrely - for example Natsuhi in the first case ! There were
some impersonators - for Kanon in the second case, and Grampa in the fourth !). Each time, Beatrice seemingly
cannot counter. There is a lot of What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome imagery with Battler's theories piercing
Beatrice's body. It's a bit ridiculous.

But Beatrice reserved her best weapon for the end : "Only Battler is alive on this island right now. Nobody outside the
island can affect you. I WILL KILL YOU. And, of course, I am not you !"

Oh Crap.

At this point, we get the usual cast list and summary of how everyone died. It's interesting how Ange's is just "died in
1998", which opens a lot of possibilities for what really happened...

Episode 4, Bonus Scene 2 : The Witches' Tea Party

Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are hanging around in some bedroom (Les Yeah !). Lambdadelta complains a bit about
Beatrice's taste for theatrics : she deliberately waited until the end of Battler's assault to strike back. Even though she
had tons of ways to cripple Battler's theories all along. Then Lambdadelta proceeds to lampoon most of Battler's
arguments by denying them with red text. She even overdoes it a bit by stating that Natsuhi was definitely killed by a
normal human being.

From this conversation, it's obvious that Lambdadelta knows the solution to the murder mystery, but not Bernkastel.
Or does she ?

There's also some talk about Ange, as Lambadelta is impressed by Bernkastel using and sacrifying such a powerful
pawn so quickly. But it had to be done.
And then it appears that Lambdadelta and Bernkastel are much more friendly than would be expected, as they agree
to gang together against Beatrice if it appears she has any chance of winning. Which is logical : Bernkastel wants
Beatrice to lose, while Lambdadelta yearns for a perpetual draw. So Beatrice has no chance of ever winning...

My thoughts on Episode 4

Well, this was certainly different.

I liked the future elements a lot : it's a complete Genre Shift into an action thriller, and it works. I'm not enamoured
with the ending of that thread (I find the magic battles the weakest element of the novels, and the knife-girls are
borderline Scrappies for me), but by then the main focus had thankfully shifted back to the past.

The endless flashbacks could have been a chore, but they're handled rather well. It helps that Maria's sugar-coated
narration is subverted at every instant. Overall, it bridges some gaps in the backstory, and raises a bit more mystery
about "Beatrice". Ange's flashbacks were a bit more painful, partly because I don't like the knife-girls, but chiefly
because her dreadful childhood experiences resonated a lot with me (although, of course, I was never sent to an
horrible bording school).

There was a lot to like in the past sequences, but I at times got the feeling that most of it didn't matter (since it
becomes clear that barely any of it is real), and the author is indulging himself in truly ridiculous fight scenes. I could
just barely buy George suddenly knowing capoeira and the asthmatic Jessica being able to handle herself in a fight
against frigging Ronove, but the completely nonsensical battle between Krauss and the big goat was just stupid. Fun,
but completely stupid.

The real meat of this chapter is of course the battle of theories between Battler and Beatrice, now that Battler finally
has a decent fighting chance and more facts to his disposal. Still not enough, but he's getting there.

Now, we get a lot of interesting information in red here :

* Grampa has always been dead for the duration of the weekend. Which means that not only are all his scenes fake,
but anyone ever seen interacting with him is suspect. Krauss, Genji, Natsuhi and Dr Nanjo are constants, with the
addition of Kanon and Shannon in most cases. Most of them had every reason to hide his death (or could have been
bought), so I can see it working.
* Does "Beatrice" really exist, or is someone pretending to be her ? The "no more than 17" statement seems to
exclude her existence, which makes Rosa, Maria, Genji, Kanon, Shannon and Kyrie suspect in the second episode -
and, actually, most of the adults, because of the chapel scene. What was the deal with that ? (Battler seeing her at the
end is no problem, as he's drunk by then.)
* In the fourth episode, "Beatrice" can be dismissed as trickery : Battler only sees her from afar, and only confirms
everyone's death after. There's nothing to prevent, say, Jessica or Shannon, from impersonating her.
* The "Battler is not Asumu's son" revelation is an interesting twist. It's heavily suggested that he's really Kyrie's
son (which would make for some tragic irony), but my main concern is the suggestion that the "real" Battler could be
running around. Especially with all those orphans employed by the Ushiromiya (isn't it right, KANON ?).
* Speaking of which, this is the third time Battler can't confirm Kanon's death himself. Hum.

So, let's think back about all the suspects :

* Grampa is dead, so he's out. Except that I'm not completely sure Beatrice said that much in red. For all I know,
the "always been dead" character could have been Kanon or whoever. Anyway, the more interesting aspect of
Grampa's death is the number of people who must have been in on it (at least 6 by my count), which does make me
wonder about what else they've lied.
* Krauss & Natsuhi... I have a hard time seeing them as masterminds. They obviously hid the death of Grampa, but
that very fact gives them no motive for the massacre. Their involvement must be limited to wildcards who have no
reason to play nice with our killer(s).
* Eva and Hideyoshi : ditto. I take Episode 3 as a scenario where the original killer(s) lost, and Eva took over the
massacre. Beatrice was barely able to save face on that one.
* Rudolf and Kyrie : there's something very dodgy here. There are tons of hints that they have some clue about
what's happening (Rudolf knowing he'll soon be dead in Episode 1, for example). Also, I've read a WMG stating that
the Episode 3's initial six deaths felt very Kyrie-like (clinical, and a bit too clever)... and I cannot help agreeing with
it. The "Battler is not Asumu's son" revelation adds to the mystery of what their game really is.
* Rosa. Oh, Rosa... Her role in Episode 2 is very suspicious indeed (the chapel scene alone !). She's also one of the
few characters to have seen "Beatrice"... and twice, both in Episodes 2 and 3.
* Jessica : alas, she looks a bit too innocent to be true. She's one of my prime suspects for "Beatrice" (with some
MPD, of course). Is her asthma an act ? Did she know about Grampa being dead ? So many questions, so few
answers...
* George : Ditto, he's too good to be true. On the other hand, he could just be wild card, like his mother (but not
necessarily on the same side).
 * Maria : pitiful dupe, or Complete Monster ? The jury's still out. She's got one hell of a Freudian Excuse, for sure.
On the other hand, her movements are mostly well-documented, so she can't be the main killer.
* Genji : an obvious accomplice to the killer(s), that's for sure. I can't quite fathom why he's taken out very early in
Episodes 3 and 4, but his actions in Episodes 1 and 2 are very suspicious indeed. Not to mention that he must have
been aware of Grampa's death.
* Shannon : another prime candidate for "Beatrice". Various scenes have proven there's a hardened steel core
behind the Dojikko faade. Also, she must have known about dead Grampa too.
* Kanon : where to start ? No corpse seen in three cases out of four, some very suspicious actions, an orphan
background that could hide anything... And he must have known about dead Grampa too.
* Gohda : I'd say completely innocent and unrelated to all this madness. Which would make him the only one...
* Kumasawa : I have a deep suspicion she's the original "Beatrice", but the Virgilia connection may just be a red
herring.
* Dr Nanjo : his complete failure at notifying everyone that his old friend was dead makes any of his later
diagnostics a complete joke. He's clearly been bought out (possibly by multiple parties), and is not to be trusted.
* Battler : we've got a clear account of most of his actions... but his background has enough holes to drive whole
buses through. I wouldn't exclude a secret agenda, whether with or without his parents.
* "Beatrice" : I can't completely exclude yet that she does exist as a separate human being from all of the eighteen,
but I do find it highly improbable. The most obvious suspects are Jessica, Shannon and Rosa (I find the flashback of
their meeting in Episode 3 highly suspicious), but I'm not completely closed to highly bizarre suggestions (such as
Kanon, Natsuhi or Battler himself).

That's for the "who". The "why" depends highly on it (though there are lots of possible motives, and hardly anyone
motiveless). As for the "how", with all the bizarre closed room murders... I'm mostly dumbfounded.

My only conclusive guess is for the final deaths (the "10th twilight") : I suspect some sort of landslide that obliterates
most of the island. It would explain the last victims dying without anyone to kill them, the authorities never finding
any clue despite all the traces we find, Eva surviving in Episode 3 (she was in the hidden mansion on the other side of
the island), and Ange not even bothering with exploring the main mansion in Episode 4.
 EPISODE 5 END OF THE GOLDEN WITCH

The Witch Hunt have offered us for Christmas their translation of EP 5 (the first of the "Core" arcs, in what is now
called Umineko No Naku Koro Ni Chiru), so let's have a look at it.

I've tried my best to keep away from spoilers about this chapter, though I am aware of the existence of Erika Furudo,
and that it somehow ends with Battler becoming a Witch or something. Oh, and they're apparently going to introduce
yet another set of interchangeable magical minions, as if the Stakes and the Siestas weren't enough. But these few
tidbits have only wetted my appetite : the interesting part will be the execution, as always.

The title screen shows that rock cliff where "Beatrice" supposedly fell to her death back in EP 3. It looks like there's a
dark cave below, but it's hard to see.

As always, we get a creepy preambule as a description for EP 5 :

Good Morning. Please enjoy this new game, with its new Game Master.

However, this game has already reached its climax. The culprit has been cornered, and it's only a matter of time
before the end. You should be able to use this clearer perspective to spot something.

The difficulty is fairly easy. What could possibly fool you now...?

On this ominous note, let's start the actual episode.

Cold Open to Beato and Battler discussing... actually, I don't quite get it. Beato is gloating about killing "her" to
cause Battler pain, and about her Tsundere act winning her points in his esteem (I'd think gloating this way would
defeat the point, but whatever). This sounds like a bit like a reference to the events of EP 4, but it doesn't quite fit. Or
Is It a flashforward ?

We switch to that garden where Beato had taken refuge with MARIA... and the narration tells us that Beato is... gone.
She's sitting there lifeless, with Virgilia tending her. Next to her, Battler is examining a chessboard. We're told that
instead of playing the white side as usual, he's on the black side, trying to understand Beato's past strategy. And it
makes less sense to him the more he reflects upon it. Well, I can understand the sentiment. He comments that some of
her moves make no sense compared to her stated victory conditions.

Okay, I get it. We're picking up after the end of EP 4, where Lambdadelta had forced Beato to keep playing the game.
She can't run away anymore, so she's playing dead while waiting for Battler to defeat her. And that's what he's doing
in earnest by trying to understand her strategy. They're really trying their best to make Beato into The Woobie, aren't
they ? I mean, look at her !

Lambdadelta and Bernkastel are getting impatient, and want the next game to be started. Lambdadelta in particular is
ready to take over the witch's side in Beato's absence, and has the fifth game all set. Battler is obviously resenting the
interference from those two witches he barely knows, and doesn't refrain from showing it. They alternate coddling
and threatening him, and they finally reach a compromise : Lambdadelta can play her game with Bernkastel as the
antimagic side, he'll be sitting in the garden while continuing to review the first four games.

A bit later, Ronove informs Battler that they didn't wait for him being around to start the fifth game, and they've
already reached the second day, with 6 people dead and others soon to follow. Ronove communicates his distate for
the two witches' way of playing, which he qualifies of "dishonorable". I love the chess metaphor being continued :
while they obviously can't play cards with the chessboard, nothing prevents them from throwing pieces at each other
or scribbling on the board. No self-respecting chess player would do that, but...

Battler barges into the playing room, and demands to take his place back on the antimagic side. The witches relent a
bit, but concede that there's no harm in letting watch the end of the game. And hey, apparently Bernkastel is winning :
after all, isn't this episode called "End of the golden witch" ?

Okay, that was unexpected. Beato suffering from Heroic BSOD after the events of EP 4 is a logical conclusion, but
the way the other two witches are taking over her game is funny as heck, and a good way to shuffle the boardroom
dynamics a bit. And hey, the antimagic side may get a competent player for once.

I love the contradiction of Battler struggling to maintain the purity of Beato's game against the meddling witches.
Make no mistake, Bernkastel is clearly depicted as a villain here, and acts as a complete asshole throughout despite
claiming to be on Battler's side.

And of course, there's the possibility that all of this is yet another manipulation by Beato...

So, we're on the second day... and six people are dead. Rosa, Jessica, George and Maria were found in the
grandchildren's room in the guest house, with a deep cut across their throat that leaves no doubt as to their death.
Genji was found with similar wounds in a servant room in the mansion, and Hideyoshi's corpse was laid in a guest
room of the mansion with a stake in his back disqualifying the eventuality of suicide.

According to the narration, all the remaining living people on the island have gathered in the parlor room. All of them
but one have been shown not to have committed murder. And the culprit is among them.

(Since this is not written in red, excuse me if I take this with a grain of salt.)

Everyone stands around pointing finger at a single person, particularly Eva (who lost her two closest family
members). The conclusion seems obvious...

"You are the culprit, Ushiromiya Natsuhi-san !"

Wait, What? Whoa.

No, my surprise doesn't come from Natsuhi's presumed culpability. While I strongly doubt it's the full truth (and she
of course denies it), it's far from unbelievable.

No, the problem is that this last line was uttered by a blue-haired girl we've never seen before.

Cue the new OP. As always, it's impressive how dynamic and nice-looking it is considering that it's mostly a set of
sprites moving around (though it cheats by having bits of CG animation for the sea and a golden butterfly). We see all
the various characters already introduced, including a few ominous shots of our new mystery girl.

Okay, THAT was unexpected. I'd heard of it, as previously mentionned, but it's still as shocking. Who the is that
girl, and what is she doing in this private family reunion ? And how come she has the authority to wave such
accusations around ? I await the explanation with trepidation...

Flashback to... some unspecified time before the fatal weekend... as Natsuhi enters Grampa's study and learns that
he's just died over the night in his bed. Ah, an official confirmation of a past event nearly everyone had speculated as
having happened. It's explicitly stated that Krauss, Dr Nanjo, Genji and Kumasawa were already in the room and
knew about it.

It's pretty much what I had expected. Krauss has a bit of a breakdown, since Grampa's death means his siblings will
look closely into how he's been dealing with the fortune behind their back. And it didn't go well : he's entered tons of
perilious business ventures, and even been comprehensively swindled on several occasions *
Seriously, a "moon tourism" joint venture ? How gullible is he ?
. He's in a lot of debt, and has apparently mortgaged the mansion through not-really-legal means. (As the narration
states, Grampa's business acumen didn't pass through the blood. After all, we know that the other siblings' financial
situation isn't great either.)

Natsuhi is obviously angry at him for hiding this from her, but also at herself for not noticing earlier and preventing
her husband from screwing up so easily. Krauss claims that his latest real estate investments could allow him to clear
up his debt if given some time, but I suspect he's fooling himself. And when he starts mentionning chasing after
Grampa's mythical gold, I perfectly understand Natsuhi slapping him back to his senses.

Of course, they've been having this conversation in their bedroom, far from the servants. For now, Krauss has asked
Dr Nanjo and Genji not to report Grampa's death immediately (and everyone to keep their mouth closed), but they're
clearly madly looking for an actual medium term plan.

Natsuhi goes back to Grampa's empty study (well, apart from Grampa's corpse), and starts having hallucinations of
the old guy talking to her. To her credit, she's lucid enough to know it's all in her brain. Anyway, she asks for advice,
and gets a pep talk along the lines of "you have to be tough". (We learn in passing that Kinzo was initially a puppet of
his relatives, and it's only after the war that he became strong-spirited enough to embrace his position as the head.
Presumably after meeting "the witch Beatrice", or so he claims.)

Along the way, Beatrice shows up, and Grampa helps making her to support Natsuhi in her quest to consolidate
Krauss as the new head (though it's obvious that the subtext is that the "real" head is Natsuhi herself).

A bit later, Natsuhi gathers the four other people aware of the situation, and explains that the party line should be that
Kinzo is still alive, though living as even more an hermit than before. His death should be announced later on, when
Krauss's investments have paid off. Dr Nanjo is a bit wary of the future autopsy, but Krauss interjects that having
Grampa disappear mysteriously on the island, and declaring him legally dead, should take care of the problem.

Okay, this is quite interesting. There's not much new information in this scene (Kyrie had guessed most of it back in
EP 4), but it's nice to have a confirmation that corroborates everything else we know. It cements Krauss as a weak
businessman, while bringing out interesting insights into Natsuhi. While she has a tighter grip on the situation than
her husband, the Sanity Slippage is clearly showing. I can now totally buy her as someone fanatic enough to fulfil the
epitath in order to find the gold, if despair at this situation going on for too long gets the better of her.

On a completely unrelated note, we have another clear usage of Beatrice's magic in a "positive" way (i.e., the
MARIA/ANGE way) : it brings Grampa back from the dead. But as with Maria, I fear this is heading south very
quickly...

We return months later to the 1985 family conference, where Natsuhi and Co. will be maintaining the mascarade of
Grampa still being alive (obviously, Krauss's investments haven't paid off yet, which doesn't surprise me at all).
Natsuhi has yet another pep talk with Grampa and Beatrice, who congratulate her for her strength, while they all walk
in the garden. Oh, and Kanon somehow participates in the conversation...

"BREAK TIME !" interrupts Lambdadelta, which causes Bernkastel to deadpanly indicate that there are more
discreet ways to ask for a bathroom break. It's time for Battler to explain why Grampa can still be walking around the
mansion and interacting with people if he is dead. Surely it's magic !

(Insert here a lovely parody by Lambdadelta of Battler's catchphrases and tactics, including suggestions of a virus
called Rokkenjima Syndrome, hallucinogenic scales of a butterfly only native to the island, ans a secret organisation
called Yamainu using a mysterious delusion-causing drug.)

Of course, Battler sees the easy answer : it's just Natsuhi, Krauss and the servants doing their best to maintain the
Mascarade, always talking as though Grampa was with them just a second ago. No magic needed.

Bernkastel slow claps, but what she adds is full of reproach against Battler's past tactics : she's playing the "mystery"
side, so she'll avoid invoking crazy theories such as mystery drugs, mystery weapons and secret passages in her
reasoning. They're barely different from Lambdadelta's "fantasy" tools, and thus self-defeating. Any such argument is
a waste of time : Battler's strict "anti-fantasy" moves are sterile and lead nowhere.

Oh, and she points out that Beato's body is right behind they, suffering from his every blow against the "fantasy" side.
Nice job hurting her, hero !
Back in the real world, Krauss's siblings and their families go back on the boat without having doubted an instant that
Grampa was alive, and Natsuhi congratulates the servants for their acting chops while confirming they'll get a big fat
bonus for this. Then she goes off to have tea with Beatrice, reminiscing about her honeymoon (it's not really flattering
for Krauss).

Meanwhile, Battler is spoon-feeding tea to the inert Beato, while Bernkastel questions his resolve to really kill her.
She compares his actions to removing fingernails, and that by taking so much time he's just making this torture more
painful for Beato. And then, because every scene has to remind us that she's an asshole, she counters Battler's theory
that Natsuhi may not be delusional, and is just talking to a real person calling herself Beatrice, by stating that Natsuhi
is alone drinking tea. That was just cruel and unnecessary, and Battler rightly calls on her for it. Bernkastel doesn't
care, and indicates that she's starting to enjoy the game, and certainly won't leave...

Nearly one year later... And Krauss's investments still haven't paid off. It still looks good (or so it seems), but it needs
more time : there's a big risk in appearing desperate to get the payoff quickly. So it's time for yet another mascarade
for the 1986 family conference... This time around, Natsuhi plans for Grampa not to leave his study, and briefs the
servants in the know accordingly.
Elsewhere, both Eva & Hideyoshi, and Rudolf & Kyrie, come separately to the conclusion that Grampa's death might
have been hidden. (Kyrie is ing scary here, ruthlessly suggesting using this as a bargaining chip against Krauss, and
mentioning ominous "Kyoto contacts" able to do the research.) They meet with Rosa and promise her a share of
several millions in exchange of her support. (Of course, Rosa has promised Maria to go to an attraction park that day,
so she had to reluctantly use the flimsiest pretext to cancel that. Ah, Rosa, still the BEST MOM EVER, though this
scene is rather sympathetic to her.)
(We also get a quick tender scene of Battler telling the comatose Beato that he doesn't care about the events before the
fatal weekend, and asserts in blue theories that allow the possibility of her existence before then. This seems to heal
her a bit after Bernkastel's piercing red truth. Owww...)
Back to Natsuhi, who receives a curious phone call by an anonymous person... who claims he's her son, wanting
revenge for what she did 19 years ago. Wait, what ? Natsuhi mostly dismisses it as a prank call, though she does seem
to have some painful memories from that time (that we don't get to learn anything about). Also, we get remarks that
it's very difficult to discern if the call was from a girl or a boy, and what age they had.
Lambdadelta refuses to confirm the authenticity of this scene without a blue challenge, and Bernkastel doesn't press
the issue (attacking before the fatal week-end isn't worth her while).
On this note, we finally start October 5th, 1986, the first day, around 11 AM...

It's the big day, and it now seems clear that Gohda isn't in on the conspiracy. Which is for the best, since he spends the
next scene trying to show off every bit of information he has in order to look better. Not really someone I'd trust with
the secret (and it corroborates a few lines of dialogue from EP 2).
Beatrice presents Ronove and Gaap to Natsuhi, which doesn't really help her headache. Other than that, it's business
as usual : the siblings are suspicious about Grampa's status, Rosa has yet again forgotten Maria in the garden under
the rain...
But wait : she sees someone... she doesn't recognize at all !
Yep, it's our mystery girl. Erika Furudo, as she's named, fell off from a passing boat in the storm, and managed to
swim to Rokkenjima, where everyone treats the poor girl as a guest. (Obviously, Natsuhi & co will take precautions
so that she's kept away from the family conference and Kinzo's study.)
It's very obvious that Erika is Bernkastel's pawn (which she admits immediately), and in-game Beatrice & Ronove
notice it immediately. (Wait, how can in-game Beatrice have autonomy and remember the 4th game where Bernkastel
used Ange ? Oh, well, whatever.)
Bernkastel explains it all : since Battler was useless as a protagonist before, she's introduced Erika. She's the
detective, and thus not the culprit. Furthermore, Erika didn't exist and had no influence in the four previous games.
And with her, there's only one more person on the island than usual (and all of them are in the parlor room right now).
(Battler enumerates himself, Jessica, George, Maria, Krauss, Natsuhi, Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, Kyrie, Rosa, Genji,
Shannon, Kanon, Gohda, Kumasawa, Dr Nanjo and Erika... but I'm not discounting yet a silly eventuality such as
someone else hidden behind a sofa or something.)

Up to now, I haven't said a thing about Erika's personality... because she's just been a cypher, a woobie for the main
cast to confort. The dinner that evening (and the ensuing events) gives us a better idea of it, explaining how she fits
nicely in the Ushiromiya household. Which is to say, she's a clever bastard like everyone else.
Wait, that didn't come right. Let's backtrack and elaborate.
Erika is completed unintimidated by the tense atmosphere inside Rokkenjima, or the high-class dinner she
participates in. She's perfectly at home with the complex cutlery, for example. And then, seeing how tense this is
making everybody, she breaks the mask (or does she ?) and starts babbling childish nonsense about the superiority of
Japanese chopsticks, which livens up the mood and makes everyone relax. (This scene is described in Death Note-
like detail, each casual line of dialogue underlined by the narration explaining the subtext and machinations of its
author. In particular, Hideyoshi appears as a master of ice-breaking and Obfuscating Stupidity.)
Interestingly, for once the dinner does not go straight to the familial conference, as the lighter mood incites everyone
to have a break. On the way to the guest house, Erika notices Beatrice's portrait, and the discussion shifts to the
mysterious epitath. Apparently, she delights in this kind of intellectual puzzle, and becomes much more talkative as
she reaches her first conclusion : the epitath is Grampa's sign that he does not want his succession to be simple for
Krauss. He intends to make the solver of the riddle his full successor.
This is not really news for anyone, but having an outsider say it brings to the open what were only hopeful
conjectures for most of them. And it really displeases Jessica, who does not like her father's status challenged, and has
taken a strong dislike towards the newcomer (I presume that Natsuhi and Krauss are busy elsewhere, because we're
not shown any reaction or presence from them). Thankfully, George prevents this from degenerating by shifting the
conversation to the riddle itself. And Erika proposes to solve it with everyone...
Meanwhile, back outside the chessboard, Bernkastel announces she's achieved what Battler never could : solving the
epitath riddle.

Bernkastel transports herself, Lambdadelta and Battler (who takes some time getting used to it) to the Sea of
Fragments : a black immensity containing an infinity of small shards representing each a parallel universe. According
to Bernkastel, it's taken her a hundred or so fragments to sift through before solving the riddle, but this kind of
miracle is kid's play for her.
And, er, I have no clue why she claims brute-forcing her way through, since the only fragment she's looking at is the
third iteration (where both Eva and Rosa gave tons of hints while solving the riddle). But whatever.
New train of thought for solving the epitath : you have to take some word on the "first twilight", and then remove the
six letters indicated by the key found in the earlier part of the riddle. Then each further sacrifice removes a new letter
(and the third twilight is some sort of anagramming). Good way to make this epitath less morbid.
At some point during this scene, we have shifted back to Erika & co trying to solve the riddle through exactly the
same line reasonning. Battler himself makes quite a lot of clever guesses, which is to be expected since Bernkastel
was playing him at that point. But then Maria yawns, which is the signal for nearly everybody to go to sleep (it's
nearly 10 PM). Battler talks a bit with Rosa while cleaning up, which is a pretext to discuss further one of her theories
(basically, the "first twilight" may be a place somewhere along the way between Kinzo's childhood town and the
golden land).
Infuriatingly, Lambdadelta has decided earlier that she wouldn't give out the location of Kinzo's childhood town (the
riddle would apparently be too easy), so even though Rosa knows it, she doesn't tell it in front of us (or at all, maybe).
Battler then finds Erika snooping around the same library in the guest house that Eva spent some time in during
Episode 3 (how did she get the key ?). More theorizing, and I have the sinking feeling we won't get to hear the actual
solution to the riddle yet. Erika seems to be on to something, but she has to check an atlas first.
Scene switch to Natsuhi, who's very tired from maintaining the mascarade for a full day (Krauss has gone straight to
sleep). And still at least 36 hours to go ! She's conversing with Beato, Virgilia and Ronove in Grampa's study about
what to do next, since it's impossible to keep the study protected for so long. Virgilia suggests having Grampa appear
to walk around, but Natsuhi thinks it's ludicruous : they dismissed that plan as too dangerous to reiterate this year,
remember ?
Gaap shows up, and suggests having Grampa disappear. It's rather risky, but at least that's a fallback plan if nothing
else works. Natsuhi relents lets herself be convinced by Virgilia to try perfecting her own plan for now.
I had been wondering about various instances when Beato mentionned Bernkastel by name, and identified Erika as
her pawn ; here she slips up by mentionning she's the Witch of Certainty. Hello-o, Lambdadelta ! OF COURSE you're
playing Beato in this game...
Back to Battler and Erika, who are now somewhere outside under the rain, fiddling with some sort of mechanism ("so
that's what gouging the leg means !"). See what I mean about the riddle's solution staying hidden for now ? Erika
claims again that she's only in this for the thrill of riddle-solving, and if they find the gold it will be rightfully Battler's
(with the Head position this implies). He's not exactly thrilled about this ("Krauss can keep the headship !"), and even
less by Erika's apparent delight at imagining Jessica's reaction ("I'm an intellectual rapist who enjoys exposing things
people try to hide, get it ?").
While looking away in disgust, Battler sees something that looks a lot like Grampa's silhouette, who seems to silently
approve of him solving the riddle, and pointing him towards something that has moved. When Erika turns around,
Grampa has disappeared, but it does seem to indicate the entrance to those mysterious tunnels... And they find the
gold.
Lambdadelta immediately confirms that it's the real gold treasure, and none of it is fake. And both Battler and
Bernkastel (in flashback) counter Grampa's appearance by claiming that Battler was a bit overexcited, and must have
mistaken some random drape for Grampa's caped silhouette. Lambdadelta lets it rest.
Back to the real world, Erika makes it clear that she won't keep quite about solving the riddle, so there's no way for
Battler to keep it quiet like Eva and Rosa did. She delights in advance of all the chaos this will cause amongst the
family...

Natsuhi is desperate... but Krauss comes with Genji, and skillfully distracts Eva while his wife gets out of Grampa's
study. Eva's pissed when she hears the auto-lock behind her, but the three conspirators manage to calm her down.
Well, that was quite the Pseudo Crisis. Sorry for abusing my Cliff Hanger powers.
Grampa, Beato, Virgilia and Ronove discuss the recent news : after all, Beato promised to stop the ceremony if
someone solved the epitath (and it looks like Battler has no intention to worship her, either). On Beato's insistence,
they agree to keep supporting Natsuhi's mascarade until the end of the weekend, since she's been so noble and all.
The scene cuts to everyone else (except for Jessica, George and Maria) having been led to the gold's hiding place.
They're ecstatic, until Erika coughs and reminds them that Battler is the one that can claim full credit for finding it.
Now, shall we start the real family conference ?
After Erika's little speech, things become really ugly. Everyone squabbles about how the gold should be divided, and
whether Battler really has become the head's successor. Natsuhi won't have any of it, but it backfires in the other
siblings demanding Grampa to play referee. After a while, they all notice that this damp, cold room isn't the best place
for arguing, and head back for the mansion.
Erika's delighted by all this strife, of course. Battler is obviously disgusted by all this, but reasoned that announcing
he doesn't want the headship would only make things worse. So he just shuts his mouth and hopes this will settle
down somehow. He tries going along with Erika when she returns to the guesthouse, but his parents catch him and
firmly nudge him towards the mansion for the family conference.
Back to outside the game board, Battler asks the comatose Beato whether she is happy now that he's solved the
epitaph, as she was always asking for in her letters. Virgilia helpfully (?) informs us that Beato has nothing to gain
from the riddle being solved. So why does she ask for that ? If solving the riddle is meaningless to Beato, and she
agrees to stop the murders in exchange of it... then that means that the murders are meaningless too, right ? They're
only a means to the end that is Beato's real objective... and if Beato really wanted to kill the whole family, the epitaph
murders are very inefficient : why not put just poison in the food or murder everyone at the same time ?
Battler reasons that there could be three reasons for the epitaph murders to happen as they do if Beato gets no direct
benefit from them :
Obsfuscating the real sequence of deaths, allowing for the real culprit to fake their own death and confuse
everybody. But most of the deaths are confirmed in red for Battler, so this is useless and can't be the real
reason.
Coincidence. But Beato went out of her way to give advance notice of the murders, and they still always
happen the "right" way, so that can't be it.
Which only leaves out... Inspiring fear on the victims. And logically, Beato would always leave her primary
target alone until the end, while first killing everyone they hold dear. Considering the jumbled murder
orders in the various scenarios, that would make the primary target... Battler ? (I'm guessing he's already
taking EP 5 into account in order to discard Maria.)

Virgilia helpfully pipes in to indicate that Battler isn't the culprit and didn't kill anyone in any of the games. Beato
isn't doing this to inspire fear or take revenge. So, why ? Why is Beato throwing those epitaph murders at Battler ?
What is she trying to get from him ? Virgilia adds that Beato doesn't get any pleasure from the murders, so it must be
something else. Is it related to that plea in EP 4 for him to remember his "sin" from 6 years ago ?
Battler still can't discern her motives, but he vows not to stop thinking.

Natsuhi had the good instinct to pretend that Grampa had confiscated Genji's second key to the study ; with Grampa
not responding, there's no way to enter it and the conference resumes in the dining room. Even the narration is bored
to tears of the relatives' arguments, and the first actual line of dialogue spoken is Hideyoshi complaining that the
conversation is running in circles and asking for a break.
Since Krauss has been weaselling out of his statements he'd made earlier, the relatives decide to start taking minutes.
And since a written document is easily tampered with, they'll use Grampa's tape recorder (ah, 80s tech !). After that,
Krauss & Natsuhi leave for a discreet planning session, and Genji is sent to have some tea prepared.
By the way, I said earlier that "everyone but the 3 children" was led to the gold. It appears that's not true, and only the
parents, Genji, Battler and Erika went there. At the very least, Shannon and Kanon aren't in the secret, and everyone
keeps quiet when they bring the tea. Which doesn't prevent Hideyoshi from trying to break the ice by being chummy
with them (to their obvious discomfort).
Before Hideyoshi can extort the secret of Kanon's favourite TV show, there is a mysterious knock on the door. It
sounds like a servant's knock, but Gohda and Kumawasa should be in the guesthouse, and Genji doesn't knock like
that. Who is it ? It's now exactly midnight...
But before resolving this slightly lame cliffhanger, let's backtrack a bit to Krauss and Natsuhi's conversation. Natsuhi
is now in tears, and advocates for staging Grampa's disappearance in the morning ; Krauss tries to convince her to
keep it as a trump card until the last moment. He'll take full responsibility if it goes south, and has even prepared
divorce files and special funds so that she and Jessica can go unscathed when the Ushiromiya family collapses. (And
I notice that he's using when instead of if now : has he resigned himself ?) Anyway, she's tired and should go and have
some sleep, he'll finish the night alone.
Genji interrupts, and tactfully takes Natsuhi aside. The prank caller is calling again ! (The clock ominously rings
midnight right then.) Natsuhi pretexts to her husband that she's calling it a day, and locks herself in her room after
having Genji transfer the call there. The guy (?) is as rude as before, and demands to know what Natsuhi's favourite
season is (no, not summer ; it's fall). He then has her look under the clock in her room... where she finds a card with
"fall" written on it.
Wait, is this guy on the island right now ? So he says : after all, he could have gotten there before the storm. Heck,
even that Erika girl arrived during the storm. (Oh, nice way to prove he's aware of the island's latest happenings.)
Anyway, she doesn't want him to meet her husband or her daughter (or anyone else), right ? So she'll obey his orders :
keep herself locked inside her room, and don't answer to anybody. Got that ?
Back to the dining room with the mysterious knock. After some bewilderment, Kanon asks for permission to open the
door... and finds nobody there. There's just one of the darned envelopes... (Wait a second : who put it there and
knocked ? We know Krauss, Natsuhi and Genji's whereabouts at that exact moment, all the others are in the
guesthouse, and the doors are locked.) Anyway, Rudolf opens it. Inside : Grampa's ring, and a letter from Beatrice
congratulating Battler for reaching the Golden Land and acknowledging him as both the gold's owner and the new
head. All the parents urge Battler to pass the ring to his finger, which he reluctantly does. Krauss and Genji chose this
moment to come back and announce that Natsuhi has retired to her room. Krauss is obviously shocked by this latest
development...

Three hours later... Battler finally manages to escape from the family conference. He's admirative of Rosa, who
slipped out around 1:00 AM by pretending to check on Maria. In the guesthouse's lobby, he finds the remains of a
small party, with only Gohda (as bartender), Dr Nanjo and Erika still around. (I wonder if they've been talking about
anything plot-relevant. Erika said she didn't peep a word about that, but what about the slightly inebriated Dr
Nanjo ?) Anyway, everyone calls it a night.
While stumbling to his bed in the darkened cousins' bedroom, Battler reminisces about his father's parting words.
Rudolf wants to talk to him the next day about his birth... even though he risks getting killed for it. (Oh oh, I like
where this is going. Way to connect two previously unrelated threads.) Then Battler falls asleep, and I'm getting an
awful feeling : he didn't have a good look at the room, right ?
But for now, let's go back to Natsuhi's inner monologue with Beato & co. She reminisces about 19 years ago, when
she wasn't able to bear a child and Grampa was getting impatient. He poured some big money into the Fukuin
orphanage, obstantly to help orphans inserted in society after learning the servant trade ; then one day he and
Kumasawa came with a baby in tow, ordering Natsuhi to raise it as her and Krauss's own child. Natsuhi was
obviously revulsed, and made two wishes : finally getting pregnant (and she would give birth to Jessica one year
later), and getting rid of this baby...
Three days later, the servant to which the baby had been given in care for the afternoon walked off a cliff, and they
both died (or so it seems). Beato assuages Natsuhi's guilt by claiming to have been the one luring the servant to her
death. If someone wants revenge, it'll be against a witch ! (The scariest part ? When Grampa learned the news, he just
laughed.)
And now the reveal of who has been phoning Natsuhi. Wait... Lambdadelta ? Seriously ? Back to the "Natsuhi is
bonkers" theory, then. Switch to outside the gameboard, with quite a boring conversation between Lambdadelta,
Bernkastel, her pawn Erika, Battler and the comatose Beato. It ends up with Battler vowing to take the game back...
but haven't we been through this already ? Let's get on with the show, please.
October 6th, 1986, the second day, around 7 AM... Battler is woken up by the alarm bell on George's watch, and
stumbles to switch on the light... Oh, dear. George, Jessica, Maria and Rosa laid in their beds, with their deep wounds
in their necks. Oh, and there's a big red magic circle on the wall. Interestingly, as some of the parents start to show up
and react, Hideyoshi appears to still be alive. Hum...
Erika shows up, and it's obvious that she's delighted that a new mystery has emerged. Will they please let her enter
and do her job as detective ? Battler is disgusted by her aplomb... and then he's hit by the red text claiming that the
detective has authority to investigate. Special rule, agreed upon by the human side. Perfectly legit.
And so Erika starts investigating...

Erika's first instinct when seeing the crime scene is to wonder where the other two corpses are... since, after all, the
epitaph requires six, and Lambdadelta can't be that inept. Though the Hebrew in that magic circle does look shabby.
Switch to some of the stakes complaining that some human is trying to frame Beato with those poorly-done magic
signs. Okay, that's an interesting angle : the supernatural beings don't claim the murders this time around...
The servants notice that Genji doesn't seem to have waken up yet, go to the servant rest room... and find his body.
(Once again, a couple of stakes are horrified by this development. Shouldn't Battler solving the epitaph have
prevented the murders ?) Oh, and there was a small piece of tape on the outside of the door, meaning that Kanon and
Kumasawa were the first to open it after it had been placed.
Cut to Natsuhi waking up to the phone ringing... Yep, it's still that same mysterious voice. They announce they've
captured Krauss (cue his muffled-but-recognizable voice), and require that Natsuhi (1) keeps quiet about this ; and (2)
shall go hiding in a closet at 1 PM in a certain guest room. A little game of hide and seek : if she's found, she loses.
Though the voice does indicate they'll free Krauss whatever the result, if Natsuhi keeps her promise...
Lucifer, the head Stake, was preparing to announce the bad news about the murders to mistress Natsuhi, but Kanon
and Gohda show up just then anyway.
Later, nearly everyone has gathered in the parlor room. Kyrie and Erika both intuit that it's time to look for a 6th
corpse. Aside from the dead, the only missing people are... Grampa and Krauss. Grampa's study is as impenetrable as
ever, so Natsuhi leads the run towards her husband's bedroom. There's nobody there, but those blood stains don't look
very healthy... (Aside, Bernkastel guesses that since they Never Found The Body, he's still alive.) Natsuhi's Inner
Monologue indicates that she suspects that, since she knows Krauss is alive, this is all part of a crazy plan of his. But
what ?
A discussion starts about who had the key to Krauss's bedroom, but Erika interject that it's pointless, since Genji's
master key has already disappeared. No closed room mystery in this iteration !
Natsuhi runs off to see her daughter's corpse in the guesthouse (and also partly to keep everyone's attention off
Grampa's study), and a surprise is awaiting : all four corpses have disappeared !
Bernkastel has theories about this, of course : Krauss has no alibi and could have moved the corpses ; or maybe they
faked their deaths and ran off when nobody was looking ; or maybe even those were decoy corpses, and the four just
hid away from view. Those theories reach the ludicrous (after all, those wounds looked entirely deadly, while
preserving the victims' faces), but Lambdadelta refuses to say anything in red yet.
Back inside the mansion, Gaap makes Genji's corpse disappear too. This should help Natsuhi a bit, but someone's
bound to ask about the study again soon...
Everyone congregates near Grampa's study. The door is locked, but maybe the window ? Gohda proves he's a great
Spanner In The Works by mentioning the super-size ladder in the boiler room (the other servants knew about it too,
but obviously were trying to keep quiet). As the most senior family member in the room, Eva agrees to take
responsibility for breaking in. Despite bragging just before about his climbing prowess, Gohda obviously has cold
feet, and Rudolf decides to show off and climb instead. He breaks in... and obviously there's nobody (though there are
some signs of the room being lived in, they're all cold). He opens the door from inside, and everyone can enter.
They search the room, but Grampa's nowhere to be found. Natsuhi, Dr Nanjo and Kumasawa improvise that it does
happen regularly that Grampa wanders outside his room at night, which doesn't sound very convincing.
And then Erika gets disappointed. Natsuhi is the obvious suspect (flashback to a scene where she pretended being the
last one to have seen Grampa, despite knowing he sometimes wanders around and could have met someone else).
What kind of crappy mystery has so easy to find a culprit ? Erika'd rather someone else... But why could Natsuhi be
so certain noone else had seen Grampa after 23:00 PM ?
Just as Eva prepares to announce her grand theory, Erika cuts the grass under her feet and wonders how long has it
really been since Grampa disappeared. None of the relatives have seen him in more than a year, and even the clumsy
Gohda corroborates that. The servants had supposedly been interacting with him, but they're all on Natsuhi's payroll.
Has she been embezzling the family money, and covered up Grampa's death to avoid investigation ?
Again, Erika is disappointed by such an easy answer.
She slides to the "magical" world, where she announces to Grampa's ghost that (1) she's pleased to meet him and (2)
will he please die, now ? But before she can give the final blow, Beato interposes herself, and attacks Erika with this :
Grampa may have left his study on his own between 23 PM and 7 AM.
Too bad Erika is now calling reinforcement. We have a new character ! Just as Erika is Bernkastel's perfect piece for
finding the human culprit, she also has a piece for fighting witches. Say hello to Dlanor A Knox ! (She speaks like
THIS. I've barely read a few screens of her dialogue, and I already find it ANNOYING.)
She comes with quite a few underlings in TOW. This somehow includes the Siestas, and being on the opposite side
from Beato makes them feel AWKWARD. Anyway, Dlanor STRIKES : Between 23:00 PM and now, the study's door
wasn't opened ONCE.
Back in the real world, Eva gives proof of this with her little paper slip...
Beato's footing in her battle against Dlanor gets less and less assured. The windows ? Certified as CLOSED. What
about a secret passage ? According to Knox's 3rd principle, that's FORBIDDEN. Maybe Grampa noticed the piece of
paper ? Already DENIED. He's a great inventor, and may have created a drug allowing himself to turn into mist ! or a
teleportation device ! According to Knox's 4th principle, such ridiculous plot devices are FORBIDDEN.
Okay, Beato acknowledges that this isn't working. Let's Get Dangerous ! Natsuhi only said she talked to him inside
the study : he might have used the phone while hiding elsewhere ! Or he may still be hiding in a blind spot of the
room ! Or maybe Natsuhi was calling the room itself "Grampa" ! Or even herself ! Heck he might have escaped
through the window while she closed behind him !
Too bad that Erika asks most of those ridiculous questions to Natsuhi, who carelessly denies most of them. Oops. And
Dlanor takes care of the last one : where would Grampa be hiding, EXACTLY ? Whatever Beato proposes, Dlanor
searches and indicates that he's not THERE. Uh oh...
And then, at the last moment, Battler jumps in. He has a theory that corroborates Natsuhi's version, the closed room
AND Grampa escaping from it. He asks Natsuhi to reenact the former night, while he'll be Grampa. Of course, after
seeing him going to sleep, Natsuhi would make one more check of the whole study, for cleanliness and supplies... For
example, checking the toilet paper in the bathroom, a place where she can't see most the study...
The door makes a huge honking noise while UNLOCKING. There's no opening it without Natsuhi noticing, and that
didn't HAPPEN. But then, who talked of the door ? Grampa may have opened the window, and jumped... Then
Natsuhi would have felt a draft, and closed it without thinking.
Wait a SECOND. This is the third STORY. Surely Battler isn't SUGGESTING...
Battler jumps through the window. He lands without a scratch, and waves back at Erika, who is positively fuming.
(Oh, and there's also a last-ditch battle in mid-air with Dlamor about Knox's 8th principle *
, but I'm simplifying things a bit here.)
With this Crazy Awesome move, Battler has saved Beato and Grampa's ghost from inquiry, and destroyed Erika's
closed room. (Everyone else agrees that Grampa could have pulled off such a stunt, so she has to concede.) He's a
well deserving successor to the Ushiromiya head...

Intermission ! Dlanor makes a visit in the Golden Land to Battler, Virgilia and the comatose Beato. It turns out that
outside of her job as ruthless witch-hunter, she's quite pleasant a person (and an old friend of Virgilia). She
congratulates Battler for his moves, and obviously considers him as a Worthy OPPONENT. (Despite piece-Battler
being manipulated by Lambdadelta there, his awesome stunt couldn't have been achievable without his SKILL.) And
thus she wants to apologize for holding BACK. Of course, Knox's 2nd principle excludes her just stating that Kinzo
is DEAD. But she could have stated that the window was never opened after it started RAINING. Lambdadelta and
Bernkastel seem to both be conspiring to keep Grampa alive for now, and are clearly up to SOMETHING.
Dlanor apologizes again for having to work in such conditions, and hopes that when Battler retakes control of his
piece, he won't hold BACK. Especially considering that little wretch she is working FOR. That Erika girl is EVIL.
And having delivered this warning, Dlanor takes her leave.
As if to echo Dlanor's words, Erika is gratuitously and cruelly torturing the underling who failed to protect the
window, passing her anger onto her. When Dlanor comes back, the dutiful witch-hunter sends the poor victim away,
and announces she'll take RESPONSIBILITY. This is no fun for Erika (who's too conceited to notice that Dlanor does
have a heart), but she's cooled down enough to start thinking again.
Okay, all this mess about Grampa's disappearance is irrelevant. Let's move on to the actual twilights, shall we ? But
before that, let's examine that mysterious letter and knock at 24:00. Erika fires off tons of theories, but Lambdadelta
dispels all of them : nobody inside the parlor put the letter outside the door, Krauss, Natsuhi and Genji weren't
involved in any way, there was noone else inside the mansion, and the 8 people outside who were the ''only people
outside did not have any way to do it. Oh, and the knock was a real knock on the door.
I won't go into the details of this battle, but Erika ends up thoroughly humiliated, with Bernkastel threatening to
discard her like the useless piece she's become.
Okay, speculation time : I'm pretty sure that Lambdadelta didn't rule out the knock being done by one of the people
inside the parlor... (Though she did rule out any of them putting the letter there in any conceivable way, so I'm
clueless for that point.)

It's 11 AM, and now that things have settled down a bit, everyone remember it's high time to have breakfast. Erika is
looking more than a little unhinged, still in denial that Battler could jump three stories down. Nobody really saw him
jump ! Maybe he used the gutter to control his descent ? Which, as Battler immediately notes, is besides the point : he
did prove that Grampa could have escaped the room. (He does admits in petto that he used the gutter, though.) Erika
is close to a Villainous Breakdown, openly invoking her "master" to give her a sign... and then lightning strikes.
Erika resumes eating calmly, as if none of this scene had happened, which makes the relatives wonder if they just
dreamed it. So, she apparently did receive a sign from Bernkastel...
(There's then a completely uneventful scene of Virgilia who's been going off to somewhere for most of the game
being brought up to speed by Beato and her accomplices. We don't learn anything new.)
Jump to later, as Erika has been reconstructing everyone's alibi and checked various other things. Suspicion falls
massively on Natsuhi, who left the meeting early and has absolutely nobody to confirm her whereabouts. (Nice job
framing her, mysterious caller !) She's obviously upset by this, and appears in clear need for a rest. Actually,
everybody could use one.
Natsuhi has actually been carefully calculating her outbursts, so that she could pretend to return to her room (and
instead go to a specified guest room) just before 1 PM. This is obviously a trap, but it's not as if she has any choice in
the matter. She has to wait there for one hour, hidden in a closet, in order for Krauss to be released ? So she will. And
she won't lock the room's door, so as not to raise any suspicion.
Among her various thoughts while sitting there in the dark, the important one is that she remembers that the only
person she ever told about liking fall was Shannon (yep, it's in red). She's shocked to be betrayed by a servant who's
been working there for 10 years (wait, how old is Shannon exactly ?), but then reconsiders that this information might
be a powerful tool in the upcoming police investigation. (Er, yeah, you might be fooling yourself a bit about the
chances of anyone surviving the night...)
Then Hideyoshi enters the room (where did he find a key ?), apparently to find a place to rest alone. He bolts both the
door and the windows, and then falls on the bed and starts to weep. Oh yeah, he just lost his son. Oh gods, they're
wheeling out a brand new One Woman Wail for this scene. Natsuhi resumes her wangsting... and then Hideyoshi
notices there's someone else in the room.
No, not Natsuhi. He's struggling with someone else ! The murderer ? But before Natsuhi can gather he wits and jump
out of the closet, Eva starts trying to open the door, while Hideyoshi makes his last gurgle. And then, silence.
Eva makes Gohda cut through the chain, and soon nearly everyone is inside, finding Hideyoshi's body. They make
sure that the windows and door were impenetrable, but are interrupted by Eva being adamant about transporting her
husband's corpse to the lobby so that it won't "disappear". Just as everyone leaves, Erika examines the whole
guestroom one more time, makes a move towards the closet... and is scolded by Battler, as everyone is going down
and they mustn't get separated.
Wow, that was close. Natsuhi exits the room discreetly, and it's obvious that this was another trap to frame her. She
almost escapes scot-free, but Erika spots her while she's climbing up the stairs to her room. Natsuhi bluffs her way
out of the conversation, playing dumb about the murder... but now, everyone must reunite to the parlor. Summation
time !

An astonishing amount of time is spent on preparing The Summation :

In the real world, Erika has gathered everyone in the parlor (including the reluctant Natsuhi), has the door
locked, and exclaims "Checkmate !"

Meanwhile, Virgilia is alone with the comatose Beato (we've reached the point where Battler has gone off
to re-enter the game). She delivers yet another pep talk to her pupil (including the interesting notion that
Beato needed the meddling of the two other witches to stir her and Battler out of their endless fight),
apparently finally managing to provoke a reaction in her.

And then, as midnight strikes, we are introduced to the magnificent location where The Summation will be
held in the magic world. Looks halfway between a cathedral, an opera and a tribunal. All 38 involved
characters *

introduce themselves again, in a scene that could easily be classified as Filler but actually ends up pretty
Bad Ass (the awesome music does help). Yet again, Battler won't be able to intervene until later in the
proceedings, which will give him time to cool his head and sort through his jumbled motivations.

And then, finally, Erika starts accusing Natsuhi of being the culprit, while Beato holds that she is the magical culprit.
Let's get ready to RUMBLE !
Erika immediately starts examining Hideyoshi's murder, which obviously is very bad for Natsuhi. Beato manages to
petition Lambdadelta for the events to be examined in chronological order, which Erika takes in stride, indicating that
Natsuhi is the only person without alibi between 24:00 and 01:00, and thus must be the culprit there too.
Or is she ? Beato has prepared tons of counter-theories. Can Erika deny them all ?
What about Kumasawa and Gohda, who spent the night alone in different rooms in the first floor of the guesthouse ?
Well, Erika used the old "paper in the door" trick to make sure that Kumasawa never left her room between 24:00 and
07:00. As for Gohda, Erika spent the time between 24:00 and 03:00 with him, and made sure he didn't come to the
second floor after that (since she spent the night there).
While we're at it : Erika saw Rosa come back at 01:00, and played with the three kids a bit around 24:00, so No
murder occurred before 24:00. (Lambdadelta provides the addition confirmation of Genji's liveliness just to speed
things along.) And of course, the five victims were unmistakably dead in the morning.
What about Dr Nanjo ? Well, Erika spent the whole time from 24:00 to 03:00 with him, and after that, used the paper
trick again on his room, which he never left until the crime was discovered. Well, shit.
Battler interjects : What about himself, who spent the night in the room with the bodies ? Er, it's not your turn to
speak, but we love you anyway. But we'll have to wait until next time for Erika's rebuttal of this (as well as the other
half of Beato's theories), as it's getting a bit late.

Checking back, Erika used the same paper trick to seal Gohda in a servant room between 24:00 and 01:00. Okay, at
this stage her Crazy Prepared-ness has reached absolutely sociopathic levels : what kind of clever asshole does this
kind of stuff routinely ? I'm going to love seeing that girl fall.
Anyway, back to the discussion of the Battler option... He went alone at 03:00 in the room where the bodies were
found. Did Erika sneak into his bed to check out his alibi ?
Well, she suspected that the newly minted heir might be a murder target, so when she entered her own bedroom at
03:00 located right next to the cousins' room she immediately stuck her ear to the very thin wall separating the
two rooms and made sure that no violent sounds happened between 03:00 and 07:00. So Battler couldn't have killed
those four victims, who also must have been killed before 03:00.
Wait, so that girl never slept that night ? What kind of monster is she ?
But wait again, her Crazy Prepared-ness knows no bounds ! At some point before 24:00 (just after she helped Battler
find the gold), she came back to the guesthouse, and put various seals on every possible outside access to the second
floor (mostly the windows). In the rain. Climbing the walls like a spider in order to reach those high windows (she
reveals she put back the swimsuit she came in on so as not to ruin her clothes). Net result : it's impossible to reach the
cousins' room without passing through the guesthouse lounge... Which, since Erika spent the timespan between 01:00
and 03:00 there, means that the criminal must have reached the cousins' room before 01:00. (Erika admits that she did
not pay attention between 24:00 and 01:00. Nice trap !) So, who has no alibi between 24:00 and 01:00 ?
None of the people in the conference room (which excludes Genji, Krauss and Natsuhi) left it between 24:00 and
01:00, intervenes Bernkastel. Okay, now she's clearly cheating, but Beato's protests aren't heard.
Now, what about Genji ? He went straight to the servant room he was found in after connecting Natsuhi's call at
24:00. And it appears that Eva had placed yet another seal on that room during that break at 01:00. Remember this ?
Oh, and there was a small piece of tape on the outside of the door, meaning that Kanon and Kumasawa were the
first to open it after it had been placed.
So : Genji's murder must have happened between 24:00 and 01:00. It also appears that our dear Erika used (without
any permission) various chemicals found in Grampa's study to perform some forensic analysis that made sure that
Genji never left the mansion after 24:00. Perfect alibi.
Which leaves out only Natsuhi and Krauss. Will Beato accept the plea bargain of incriminating Krauss in order to
save Natsuhi ?
Meanwhile, on the sidelines, Battler reaches the conclusion that this "trial" is a trap to frame Natsuhi. He refuses to
believe his aunt is the culprit, especially because every clue converges against her. Beato's defence strategy is
completely useless, as it just tries to find holes in Erika's arguments. That's how he lost every time before ! They need
to find an alternative truth that still fits with Erika's red truths so far...
Virgilia, impressed by his Heroic Resolve, helps him by giving him a single, tiny truth : Natsuhi Ushiromiya isn't the
culprit...
Back to the main action, Natsuhi won't have any of that plea bargaining nonsense. To her, this would be as grave an
insult to the family's honour anyway. But in Beato's case, it's different : the Krauss option is no better than the "witch"
option, since he's basically gone missing off the board. So it would be a draw. The Natsuhi option, on the other hand,
completely does in the witch, and means the end of the Witch Illusion. And Beato's death, of course. So will she eat
up her pride, abandon Natsuhi, and live to play another game ?
Well, of course not ! She'll fight on ! Krauss isn't the culprit either !
So be it. Krauss isn't the culprit. He died long ago, just after the phone call. Everyone but Natsuhi has an alibi. She
committed the crimes between 24:00 and 01:00. She also killed her own husband. And by the way, she can drop the
pretence of conserving her dignity : Grampa never allowed her to wear the one-winged eagle inside her heart, that
was all an illusion of hers.
Well, f--k.

We're now back to point where Battler re-entered the game. Erika has just accused Natsuhi, and you know what this
means : CATFIGHT ! Eva lunges at the "culprit", and nobody intervenes (well, Battler tries, but gets an elbow to the
gutt for his troubles). Erika triumphs, as she's proved whodunnit and howdunnit. There's just the question of
whydunnit left. Natsuhi still denies everything, so Erika'll have to figure it out by herself.
Over at the trial, Natsuhi has gone into BSOD, and Beato is stripped of her witch rank and thrown to a pack of hungry
goats. Everything appears desperate, and this would be a very good time for Battler to step in.
Any minute, now ?
And then Dlanor steps in, claiming that Battler has an OBJECTION. He has no clue how to proceed, but at least it's
an opening. He'll have to battle everyone : Erika, Dlanor and her two lackeys, Bernkastel, and of course Lambdadelta
the Game Master. Odds aren't good, especially as he has no plans.
Oh dear, I don't have the heart to detail the following scene. Let's just say that all of Battler's attempts to instil doubt
into Erika's truths are curb-stomped by Dlanor's Knox principles, and it soon reaches pathetic levels of far-fetched-
ness. (Seriously, Rosa walking through the lounge holding a suitcase with someone hidden inside ? That's just
SAD...)
After everything else has failed, Battler resolves to use his last resort, that would throw back everything into the
darkness : Natsuhi isn't the culprit !
That's IT ? Knox's 2nd principle : Supernatural insight cannot be USED. Does Battler have any proof to support this
CLAIM ?
No, he doesn't. (Virgilia is nowhere to be seen.)
The trial for the 5th case is thus FINISHED.
Battler is pierced by this final attack, while Beato succumbs to the goats' onslaught. All of Beato's minions disappear.
Everyone leaves, with Dlanor remaining the last to see Battler's corpse expire. She had expected him to be BETTER.
What a PITY.

In order to discover Natsuhi's motives, Erika has ordered everyone else to search the mansion for her possessions. it
appears from her diaries that she resented her marriage with Krauss (which was forced by Kinzo on her family). Of
course Natsuhi claims she eventually accepted it and grew to love Krauss, but there's no proof of that.
And then Erika suddenly remembers that there's still the possibility that someone else is the culprit : Grampa
himself ! His whereabouts after 23:00 aren't accounted for, after all. But they've already searched the whole island
and found no trace of him spending the night anywhere.
Wait, after much searching, there's one place where he could have spent the night. By the way, Bernkastel informs
Natsuhi repeatedly that she can be vindicated by just acknowledging Grampa as the culprit. Plea bargain : Grampa's
honour for her own innocence. She refuses, of course.
Well, Erika seems to be determined to "break" Natsuhi, as she reveals that the one place Grampa could have spent the
night in is... Natsuhi's bed. Where Natsuhi also spent the night. And then some of the witnesses remember Natsuhi
having an awful lot of "secret meetings" with Grampa lately. Didn't she just go into his study last evening to "wish
him good night" ?
Urgh, that's just ignominious.
(Then follows some extracts from the minutes of an eventual trial with heavy input from Bernkastel, somehow.
The accusation that Natsuhi did some Beatrice cosplay in order to seduce Grampa her carelessness explaining the
sightings by the staff made me want to throw up. Oh, and they explained the first twilight as Natsuhi wanting to
frame Battler, the new head. The whole thing is signed by Dlanor, indicating that this wasn't any earthly tribunal...)

Back to the parlor room where The Summation has taken place... By the way, I really doubt the assertion that it
happened at midnight. Hideyoshi's murder happened around 14:00 : why would Erika wait so long ? (There's a limit
to her flair for the dramatic.) Also, it must have taken quite some time to go through all those explanations, and we all
know what happens at midnight...
Anyway, I hadn't noticed yet that they were now explaining the bodies' disappearance with Grampa doing it. Again,
that's a low blow.
By now, Natsuhi can't take it anymore, and confesses. No, not to the weekend massacre : to killing that baby from the
orphanage and the servant nursing him, 19 years ago. She eventually apologized to the grave of the servant's husband
a few years before, but never to the baby himself. Well, is he satisfied now ? She's lot her husband, her daughter, the
Ushiromiya family's name has been horribly tainted, and she's been painted as a sexual predator. His revenge is
complete, isn't it ? She's sure he or one of his pawns is right there in the room. Will they acknowledge her
repentance ?
Erika would like the crazy woman to stop talking nonsense and finally admit being the murderer, please.
"Eh, it's useless. It's all useless."
And then the cast list rolls, with as always a checklist of each of the 18's eventual status. *

EPILOGUE 1 : Tea Party

But wait, Erika has thus far only dispelled the Witch's Illusion in the 5th game. Time to hack it away in all the former
games too ! All of it will be based around Natsuhi being the main culprit, of course.
It appears the Stakes were actually fakes "made in USA" in the 60s, and bought for an arm and a leg by
Grampa. Ouch.

... Or maybe not, since it appears most of this will happen off-screen. Oh, well. Anyway, after a bit of talk about how
the witches will execute Beato's accomplices ("at least one of them should be quartered !"), Bernkastel congratulates
Erika for her work, and elevates her to the temporary rank of "Witch of Truth" until it's over and done with. As a perk,
she even gets a portrait to replace Beatrice's (why is the stuffing of the chair behind her coming out ?).
By the way, Bernkastel and Lambdadelta completely drop any pretense of being rivals (the Les Yay is heavier than
ever).
Surprisingly, the games will still be continuing, with this time Erika at the helm. She's already found a title for the 6th
: Checkmate of the Golden Witch.
And, er, that's it.
EPILOGUE 2 : ????
Battler's body is still pinned by Dlanor's sword on the cathedral's floor. Everyone else has left, and he is himself
pretty dead. Well, as dead as possible in this world, which just means that he's lost the will to think.
Suddenly, footsteps ! It's Emotionless!Beato ! Well, at least now she can move by herself ; and when she checks
Battler's lifeless form, she even murmurs "You liar..." Of course, with Battler banished from the games, she has no
more reason to exist...
Somehow, the "dead" Battler has a flashback to his conversation with Dlanor (as Virgilia and emotionless!Beato
watched). Apparently, there was a large chunk we were not shown back then. Basically, Battler and Dlanor went
meta, as he complained that Knox's principles are needlessly constrictive. Why should secret passages be blindly
forbidden ? It's no better than those fantasy explanations !
But Dlanor explained that Knox's principles were actually a crutch for reasoning. Basically, they say that the mystery
is solvable with all the clues presented, and the solution won't come completely out of left field. They allow the
readers to think, with the reassurance that it won't be pointless.
Note that Knox's principles are a double-edged sword. While the limit the kind of theories that the readers can make,
they also force the writer to include clues that make the mystery solvable. (Most of them have a caveat that they can
be bypassed with enough foreshadowing.)
And isn't that what Beato has been doing all along ? By using the red truth, she gave tons of clues to Battler, defying
him to solve the mystery... Acknowledging that there is a solution, and that he can prove that she isn't a witch ?
(Dlanor and Virgilia agree that Beato is a very interesting child...)
During all this, there's a running metaphor comparing the mystery novel to love between inexperienced young people.
Each of them unwilling to proceed before the other has acknowledged their love first... (Yep, the term "Tsundere" is
openly used.)
By the way, noone in this conversation is willing to confirm whether Beato's games do indeed abide by Knox's
principles. Virgilia will just indicate that Beato wanted Battler to solve them, and included what she thought were
enough clues for him to do so. Of course, that's no guarantee that Battler will be able to solve it... But it's a start, and
should be enough to make him start thinking. And while Knox's principles might not be applicable to these games,
they should at least be of some help to put him in the right frame of mind.
Somehow, this flashback has allowed Battler to gather enough Heroic Resolve to start thinking again. It's too late, but
then he now has all the time he wants to do it, doesn't he ? For some reason, he materializes inside the tea room where
he played the games with Beato (but all alone, of course).
So, let's examine each of the 10 principles, one by one :
[1] The culprit must be someone mentioned early in the story. So, it must be one of the 18. Let's not
worry about the mastermind showing up later (like that kid from 19 years ago in the 5th game), they must
have been among the protagonists of the 1st game.
[2] Magic can't be used as a detective technique. Which can be interpreted as "no crime was committed
through magic". Earlier, Battler often gave up when scenes of magical battles were described... But what he
should have done is question the witnesses' truthfulness.
[8] The mystery can't be solved with clues that aren't presented. So there must be clues that make it
solvable.
[6] It can't be solved by accident. So it should be solvable without just accusing at random.

... Now that he thinks about it, the games have been littered with hints of who, how and why the crimes were done.
He just needs to put it all together. It really looks like Beato has been adjusting down the difficulty and provided more
hint in each game starting with the second, doesn't it ? With Virgilia and Ronove showing up to help him... And them
finally having the climactic battle she desired at the end of the 4th.
And now Battler wakes up, with Beato at his side. "You idiot..." Er, except that Beato crumbles, what with having
been killed a while ago... But from her remains, Battler finds a golden sparkle... And then he's finally found the truth.
He painfully removes the red sword that had traversed him, and with the mixture of his blood and the red sparkle,
transforms it into a golden sword. Now he's ready to fight ! (Too bad it happened after Beato died, but eh.)
Bernkastel, Lambdadelta and Erika are all surprised by this turn of events (Dlanor, being her usual awesome self, just
indicates she didn't think it'd happen this SOON). Lambdadelta recognizes that Battler has now reached the rank of
witch ("Endless Sorcerer"), wielder of the red truth... and allows a retrial.
While he can't deny Erika's theory of Natsuhi being the culprit frontally, he can present an alternate theory that is just
as valid ! Bring it on !

Battler's theory : The crime was committed by the kid from 19 years ago ! Who is one of the 18... Battler himself !
After all, the 4th novel proved that he was not Asumu's son, both the 1st and 5th made Rudolf fidgety, and the 5th in
particular hinted at a reveal about Battler's birth...
But, didn't Erika give an alibi for Battler ? Well, it only goes as far as the "discovery of the cousins' corpses", which
was Battler screaming about it. But Erika didn't come there right away (she checked her various seals before that),
and didn't even examine the corpses in detail when she finally came. There was a distinct possibility for faked deaths
(especially if Dr Nanjo was in the confidence). Especially as the victims' deaths were only confirmed at 24:00 on the
second day, when the trial took place.
By the way, Erika has been using Grampa as an explanation for the corpses' disappearance. But he's dead before the
beginning of all games ! No, that's just red truth against red truth. Let's use something more powerful. Here is
Grampa's corpse ! The golden truth is a special weapon available only to the Game Master, and reflects a true
understanding of Beato's game. Which is what Battler has just achieved. Even Lambdadelta and (reluctantly)
Bernkastel acknowledge it, though Erika is determined to go down fighting.
Wait, how could Battler have lied about discovering the corpse ? The detective can't have a subjective point of view !
There was no hint that Battler had ceased being the detective in this game !
Actually, yes there was. Remember when Battler was on his way to solving the epitaph, and claimed to have seen
Grampa ? Or, according to the 4th game, nobody among the 18 could mistake Grampa with anybody/anything else.
The very purpose of that scene was to establish that Battler's viewpoint was subjective ! Wow, just wow.
(It must be mentioned that a lot more red and blue are used in this scene than I'm showing, but it doesn't translate well
in a summary. Also, there's an epic What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome fight scene as Battler summons Ronove,
Gaap, Virgilia and the 7 Stakes to curbstomp Erika and Dlanor. This should be very impressive if it's ever animated.)
Dlanor lies defeated, and Bernkastel is starting to get angry at her pawn . Will Erika please change her theory right
now so that it doesn't rely on Grampa ? Well, so she does, but everyone, from Bernkastel to Dlanor, acknowledge that
the new version is pathetic. But hey, it still works ! So does Battler's, though. And thus Lambdadelta concludes the
5th game as a draw. She'll now give control of the board to Battler, the new Game Master, the Endless Sorcerer.
So now the 6th game will start : Battler vs. Erika ! Let's get ready to ruuuuuumble ! (But Battler will change the title.
Erika's was far too cheesy.)

So, now that Novel #5 is over, let's think back about the "real world" events : who killed the seven victims of this
iteration ? We'll assume, of course, that it's not Natsuhi.
I don't think it's Battler either, though he might have been a partial accomplice.
I absolutely love the idea that Rosa and the cousins somehow faked their deaths (as Erika didn't bother with checking
the "corpses" thoroughly, and their deaths were only confirmed at 24:00), though I'm still a bit hazy about how
exactly Battler argued that. Let's assume for now that it worked. They'd have no trouble "moving" the fake bodies
while everyone is checking on Genji, of course.
Of course, Battler must have been in on their plan. And there's absolutely no problem with that : a very early scene I
haven't mentioned indicates that Battler had renewed contact with Jessica by phone just before Natsuhi receives her
first call from the mysterious boy from 19 years ago. Which makes me think that the cousins and/or Battler are also
behind those calls, by the way.
Which one of them is a more dicey question. Genji's obviously an accomplice, so the calls could easily be coming
from inside the island. Actually, considering what we know about the communications, the midnight and morning
calls must have come from inside the island. And we know that the cousins' room has a phone. Battler seems to have
an ironclad alibi for the midnight call... except that a good part of the scene just before discusses the presence of tape
recorders/players among Grampa's possessions. Chekhov's Gun at its finest, ladies and gentlemen.
The more I think back about the mystery, the more I notice that every single apparently trivial detail of this chapter
was an important clue. (Or a red herring.) Wow.
To conclude the theory : the cousins are playing a prank on Natsuhi and everyone for whatever reason (a game to
entertain Maria ?). One of them might be the kid from 19 years ago (my instincts are on George, for some reason),
and have actual bloodthirsty motives. That one kills the others. They also kill Hideyoshi later, having probably
provided him with instructions to go there like Natsuhi.
For Genji, my money's on Kanon doing the deed (though I have no clue why). As for who killed the mysterious
culprit later, I have no clue.
This theory is full of holes, but it's certainly a lot more interesting than "Natsuhi did it", isn't it ?
 EPISODE 6 DAWN OF THE GOLDEN WITCH

So, let's get started with EP 6 : Dawn of the Golden Witch, shall we ?

We open on... a marriage ceremony, in the cathedral from the end of last episode (although the narration stresses it
looks completely different with the decorations). The bride is Erika ; the groom's identity is kept hidden for most of
the scene, but considering Erika's wearing the Eagle on her wedding dress, it's soon pretty obvious it's Battler.
Somehow, he's frozen and incapable of preventing this farce to proceed... as it's explicitly acknowledged by all
participants that the goal is for Erika to bring Battler into submission and put her hands on his possessions (which
would be the gameboard).

Wait, how did we get here ?

Opening Sequence ! I actually have a hard time locating the differences with EP 5's, though I'm still impressed by
how dynamic it looks without any actual animation.

And now we find a nameless narrator awakening in one of the mansion's room and finding the only door locked by a
chain fixed by a stake. It's impossible to get out, and they have the feeling the Witch is coming...

I had a dozen theories about who this could be (two of them involving Battler), and the answer still takes me by
complete surprise : we next see Ange awakening from this nightmare into a waiting room. FUCK YEAH ANGE !

She's struggling to remember where she is, and Amakusa isn't very helpful. Apparently, she asked for an meeting with
someone called Toya Hachijo. And then her memories start coming back just as her host enters the room.

Oh, gods, Hachijo. If you thought Erika was an insufferably smug sociopath, you've seen nothing. Exposition tells us
that she's a great mystery novelist that has recently surfaced and made tons of insane publicity stunts (such as
submitting her masterpieces to different publishers with various pen names, and then revealing they're all hers when
they're published). She's kept her identity and even her gender pretty well concealed so far. So, er, why is she
dropping the mask and agreeing to meet Ange, of all people ?

Ah, you see, Hachijo is a Witch Hunter too, though of a different kind from Dr. Otsuki. She's a Forger, one of those
who make up new versions of Maria's letters detailing other iterations of the Rokkenjima massacre. The Forgers are
very badly considered in the Witch Hunt community (they're making the whole thing a joke), to say nothing of Ange
(they're killing her family over and over, often slandering them in the process !), but Hachijo's Banquet and Alliance
did get a lot of critical acclaim. Especially as the first one explains a lot of what actually happened in Ange's world.

Of course, those were written under a pen name too, but Ange was smart enough to decode it and link it to Hachijo,
hence her reason for paying the writer a visit. And Hachijo was impressed enough by the deduction to accept. (By the
way, Hachijo's name means "18 to the power of 8", which I'm sure has no significance whatsoever.)

After some passive-aggressive banter, Hachijo offers to show her latest "letter from Maria" to Ange.

Now, wait a minute... None of this makes any sense ! Ange does remember trying to reach Hachijo, but never got an
answer before going to Niijima... and she's starting to remember a lot of what happened at the end of EP 4. So, would
"Hachijo" please cut the bullshit RIGHT NOW and tell her who she actually is ? Ange had her pegged as a witch
from the start due to her smug attitude, of course...

FUCK YEAH ANGE !!

"Hachijo" congratulates Ange for seeing through her masquerade. She's really Featherine Augustus Aurora, a Witch
who is trying to assuage her boredom illness by looking at Beatrice's game from afar. She's got a manuscript of Dawn
of the Golden Witch here, and has resurrected Ange just to have it read aloud to her. Ange's not to fond of this, but
she's curious, and maybe could find a way to help Battler from there.

Oh, goodie. Yet another Greek Chorus to comment on the story. As if we didn't have enough yet...

Also, there are a lot of elements in Featherine's character design that remind me of Hanyuu, and some parts of her
description could definitely be interpreted as such if you're so inclined. She's certainly said to be a cut above all the
other witches in power and age.

Anyway, let's segue to Beatrice's game room. Erika, Dlanor, Bernkastel and Lambdadelta are still waiting for Battler
to start the 6th game. Here are the stakes : Battler proclaimed at the end of last episode that he understood Beatrice's
game, so this is his occasion to prove it ; he'll be fighting against Erika, who's eager for a rematch to untarnish her
reputation. Whatever happens, this will be the last game. Lambdadelta, as former game master, is here to check
Battler doesn't cheat.

They're all startled by Beato's appearance... except while she does look like the golden witch, her behaviour is polite,
friendly, and humble ; everyone's wondering what happened to the cackling bitch. What is Battler playing at ? Why is
he making piece-Beato behaving like that ? Is it just to unnerve them ?

Well, this was apparently not Battler's plan, as he's ordering Beato to exit and asking everyone to forget about the
incident. Don't worry, the game shall start soon.

Then we get scenes of Battler's preparations. Interestingly, he's served by Genji and Kumasawa, where one would
expect Ronove and Virgilia. Hum... Anyway, the Beato we've just seen has been recreated by Battler, but something's
off. Basically, she hasn't lived a thousand years yet, and thus hasn't become the bitch we all know and love. New!
Beato is completely innocent, which unnerves Battler to no end (that's not HIS Beato !).

Let us be clear : this is NOT piece!Beato. Piece!Beato is just an extension of Battler, and not capable of independent
action. There's a quite creepy scene where Battler monologues about Beato's talent at creating games, but half his
lines are said by piece!Beato. New!Beato isn't such a pawn, but an actual reincarnation of Beato. She's just not had all
the experiences that made Beato her cackling self.

Little aside between Ange and Featherine (or Ange and Hachijo, it changes from one scene to another seemingly at
random). Ange's just caught up on the events from EP 5, and she still has no clue how Battler went to hating Beato for
repeatedly killing his family and having no clue about what he did "six years ago" that provoked all this, to admiring
Beato for her skill at setting up the game board and actually apologizing to her for the events of "six years ago". What
are we missing ? What did Battler learn to change his mind so much ?

The sixth game opens with Shannon and Kanon preparing the guesthouse. Shannon tells Kanon about George's
planned proposal and that she will accept it, which gives Kanon the impetus to finally confess his feelings to Jessica.
He goes with Gohda to meet the relatives at the dock, and everyone remarks his much sunnier disposition. Kanon
manages to be alone with Jessica in the gardens, and confesses to her. Jessica's more than happy, and reprocitates.
Both Jessica and us learn Kanon's real name : Yoshiya. Of course, Kanon still needs some time to make his affairs in
order, but Jessica'll wait.

Those two are SO DEAD.

New!Beato has been listening to all this, and wishes she had such intimacy with "Father" (i.e. Battler). She resolves
to learn as much as possible about the former Beato in order to become her and please Battler. Kumawasa agrees to
help her, morphs into Virgilia and leads her to... Featherine's library, which has accounts of all the previous games.
New!Beato is put into the care of Featherine's assistant... ANGE-Beatrice. Awkward.

Now, don't get me wrong : Ange actually quite respects new!Beato. But she's not really looking forward to this
innocent girl becoming the bitch she hates. Despite her misgivings, though, she starts reading the past games' account
with new!Beato (she's curious about the transformation too, after all).

We switch to an horrible storm, and I'm delighted to hear "Patchwork Chimera" as Erika ditches her lifejacket and
lands on the island. So delightfully creepy...

Erika's even more of an annoying guest as before, proclaiming her intellectual superiority over everyone else. George
tries to defuse the situation by holding a riddle contest, but it horribly backfires as Erika steamrolls through it. She
does lose her nerve, though, when Battler finds the best solution at the "what's the minimum number of times you
have to cut cheese to get 8 slices ?" riddle *
most of the room answers three, but Battler though that too simple, and suggested ONE cut to be enough.
.

Back to the person locked in the room... they try breaking the window with a chair, but the hole in the glass isn't
enough to let them pass... And the glass is growing back, trapping their left hand ! To make matters worse, the witch
is just outside (though they can't see her) and BITES one of their fingers. Ouch.

"Hey, did you hear something ?" Sorry, kids, the plot obviously doesn't want you finding that room yet. It's time to go
back to the guesthouse and sleep. Erika stops for a while near Beatrice's portrait, which is an occasion for Shannon
and the kids to share some witch stories.

Meanwhile, new!Beato has read all the tales about Beatrice, and still has no clue how to become her. She is sent to a
few years in the past, where she finds older!Beato... who doesn't look any older than her, but whatever (older!Beato
looks a lot like "Beatrice" from EP 2, but with longer hair). They're obviously both incomplete parts of the real Beato,
with older!Beato having the meanness and the budding magic power (although she's not that happy about having to
fuse with new!Beato). Older!Beato shows how she's building back her magic power, causing enough disturbances for
the rumors about a witch to grow.

So, er, where were we ? Oh, yeah, Shannon was going on and on about the legends of the witch Beatrice, doing little
unnerving things such as opening windows after the servants closed them.

"So, to sum up, rumors of the witch started because you're a klutz who sucks at her job ?" Okay, that was a low blow
from Erika, but it was Actually Pretty Funny.

Ensues an epic debate between Erika and Maria (who soon morphs into MARIA) about the existence of magic. In
another demonstration of needless cruelty, Erika tears through MARIA's arguments and brings the poor little girl to
tears. Dlanor assures us that "this arguments is entirely UNNECESSARY", but I beg to differ, as it finally states
clearly how magic works on the gameboard. Yes, it's only Erika's opinion, but it's confirmed by pretty much everyone
else during the course of the VN.

Here's how it goes : Beatrice's magic trick for Maria works because Maria closes her eyes while it happens. Leaving
ample room for Beatrice to smuggle in the candy while she isn't looking. Erika can easily reproduce it, and she does.
More generally, magic can only work if an human could have done the same thing through rational means. Which
means that magic is just an embellishment of the stuff actually happening. It had already been heavily implied, but it
goes better with it being clearly established as a ground rule for the game. Of course, this means that the Game
Master's task is fiendishly difficult, as he must come up with "impossible" murders that can still be explained
rationally.

After this discussion, the group comes back to the guestroom. And nobody's keen to stay with the unpleasant Erika,
who's stuck talking with Kumasawa for a while.

Because Game-Master!Battler just loves ing with Erika, her guest room is now very far from the cousins' room (so
no listening on them !) and there's not a strip of usable tape in the whole island. Eh. Erika ups the ante by refusing to
make the detective proclamation, robbing herself from the power of the red. Why ? Because this way she's in a
weaker position than in EP 5, so if she wins this rematch the overall balance of the games will be in her favor.

Oh, and we also have a flashback to her sob-story of an origin story. Which isn't much : she got 96 instances of proof
that her boyfriend was cheating on her, which apparently broke her heart. I'm completely unmoved, especially
considering her history of misinterpreting facts on purpose, and downright fabricating evidence when needed.

Meanwhile, we get the usual "pledge of love" scene between Shannon and George... except he's even more goddarn
creepy than usual in this one. He reveals that Shannon first caught his attention while Battler was flirting with her six
years or so ago, and decided to conquer her from that point on, remaking himself into someone she'd love. Er, right.
Kanon and Jessica have a similar scene later on... except that Kanon goes on and on about how he's not human and
needs magic for their love to work. He's still got half of the butterfly jewel given by Beatrice, but he needs Shannon's
half for it to work. You know what this means : magic duel !

Enter Furfur and Zepar, the two demons of love briefly shown in the wedding flashforward. Reading their description
again, I now note that they're siblings of opposite sexes. Er, it's far from obvious which is which. Anyway, they'll
offer one of the couples a chance at love, in exchanges of a few trials. And just to make things more confusing, new!
Beato enters the fray, as she needs magic to become complete too. Her partner, of course, is Game-Master!Battler,
who's by now stopped seeing her as a failed Replacement Goldfish and genuinely supports her quest to become like
her former incarnation.

First trial : each lover must kill someone to prove their love. Uh oh. George goes first, and ambushes Eva, the main
obstacle to his romance. Awesome martial arts ass-kicking ensues for a while. He succeeds, of course.

Then comes Jessica's turn. She targets Kyrie more or less at random (the parents' discussion has reached a pause by
then). Kyrie's love pep-talk to Jessica is... quite disturbing, as she once again goes on and on about how Asumu was a
Manipulative Bastard and that Kyrie was about to kill her when she died on her own. Moral of the story : do anything
for your love. If that implies for Jessica to ambush Kyrie out of the blue (she's seen through her excuse for being in
the mansion), so be it, but don't expect Kyrie to go without a fight. And a pretty good fight it indeed is. (Jessica wins,
of course.)

No such drama for Kanon, who swiftly and quietly kills Rosa in the parlor room. Too bad Maria was in the same
room... But then Shannon appears, and even the combined might of MARIA and Sakutarou (negating all attacks on
Maria) aren't enough to counter her Lethal Harmless Powers. Ouch.

Meanwhile, new!Beato gets the better of Natsuhi in her bedroom. As for Game-Master!Battler... he's done his part.

...

It's a few hours after midnight, and the parents discover the series of corpses. Eva in the guest suite (where George
supposedly moved her corpse after their fight), Kyrie in Krauss's study (where she uselessly barricaded herself during
her fight with Jessica), Maria and Rosa in the parlor room, Natsuhi in her bedroom... and Battler in another guest
room. Interestingly, the "master key" puzzle is completely bypassed, as all the rooms are closed from the inside with a
chain. (The parlour room doesn't have a doorchain, but the coat-hanger serves the same purpose.

Your move, Erika.

Erika's first instinct is to profit from the confusion to investigate the crimes scenes for a bit. However, without the
Detective status she has to walk around the adults and has neither the time nor the means to even identify whether the
victims are really dead. She's good, but not THAT good.

Erika does manage, though, to have a conversation with Krauss, Hideyoshi and Rudolf to convince them that the
servants are especially suspect. (The point of using the doorchains is to clear the master key holders from suspicion,
and who benefits from that, indeed ?) Darn, even without the Detective prerogative she's one smooth talker. She even
convinces everybody to hole up in two rooms in the guesthouse (Kanon, Genji, Gohda, Krauss, Rudolf and Jessica in
the cousins' bedroom ; Shannon, Kumasawa, Dr Nanjo, Hideyoshi, George and herself in the next room *
Grampa is of course dead, and he's safe in his study anyway
).

Side note : Rudolf yet again complains that he didn't have time to discuss something really important with Kyrie and
Battler. This is turning into a Running Gag by this point...

By the way, Hideyoshi raises an interesting question : why was Gohda the only servant on duty in the mansion that
night ? The former explanation was that he's the only one Krauss and Natsuhi trust, but that's bollocks : he's actually
the only servant not in the "let's keep Kinzo alive" conspiracy, so I rather think they don't trust him at all. So why ?

But first, let's do some meta-investigation. Battler gracefully confirms that Each of the victims was alone in their
respective room when the adults forced their way in ; only Krauss, Hideyoshi, Rudolf and Gohda entered those rooms
until Erika checked the rooms ; none of those four adults are the culprit. It is of course impossible to close the door-
chains from the outside, and to enter or leave the rooms through any other way than their respective front door.

None of which is really great news for Erika, despite her cheerful mood when she reports her findings to Bernkastel.
Her master is obviously irritated, and ponders sending her to oblivion without even waiting for her inevitable failure.
Seeing this, Battler takes pity for Erika, and is kind enough to offer her enough tape to seal three rooms, with even the
ability to put it into place retroactively. That's no substitute for the Detective status (or even enough to seal all the
murder scenes), but it gives her a fighting chance, eh ?
As soon as Battler has stepped out of the room, Erika announces that everything is going Exactly As Planned : the
whole thing was an act to trick Battler in giving out the tape at no price whatsoever. Especially considering the rules
for the Game Master : sure, he can readjust his scenario as must as he wants after Erika's alterations, but if she can
point out a logic error (a mismatch between the "real" and "magic" scenarios), it's even worse than a loss for him :
he'll have to spend eternity trying to solve the contradiction.

"You know, I wasn't acting..." Dear gods, Bernkastel, we know you're playing it both ways for your own
entertainment, you don't have to repeat it every ten minutes...

Back to the guest house. The reason why Erika had everyone separate into two rooms is that it makes her next trick
very easy : she pretends she still has something to ask Krauss, and steps out of one room purposely to go to the other
(and spend the night there). She plays up Hideyoshi's paranoia so that he closes the door very quickly, and now she's
free to wander through the domain as she wishes without anyone the wiser !

First things first : she seals both of the rooms with tape. And has it confirmed that the "victims" are each in the room
they were found in, while Shannon, Kumasawa, Dr Nanjo, Hideyoshi and George are in the next room other. After
some prodding, Battler even agrees to say that EVERYONE ELSE besides Erika is in the Cousins' bedroom. That's
interesting wording (after EP 3, she's careful about enumerations of people), and seems to favor the witch's side (as
Erika is now the only character wandering around), but obviously she's got a plan.

Just as she steps out from the guesthouse, Erika finds a letter proclaiming that Battler's body has disappeared. It
wasn't there when she entered, of course. Erika isn't very interested in pursuing the matter of the letter's provenance,
as it's actually perfect for her plans : you see, she's retroactively sealed Battler's murder scene just after she examined
it. Oh Crap. Either Battler loses some face and announces the seals are broken, or he persists in his original scenario,
with a high risk of logic error. Ouch.

Erika makes a run for Battler's murder scene. It's still sealed. As Erika enters the room, the whole scene goes into
bullet time or something, allowing both debates to adjust their theories on the fly. The guest bedroom is made of a
main bedroom and a bathroom. Erika starts by investigating the whole bedroom apart from one place ; she can't find
Battler's corpse. (Mate in two moves, both players announce.) Erika then enters the bathroom... and is distracted by
the water hose drenching her as she enters. Battler's corpse isn't there either. That leaves the one place in the bedroom
she hasn't investigated : the closet. Of course, while she's been busy in the bathroom, a not-really-dead-Battler would
have had ample time to leave the room. Battler isn't in the guest room anymore.

But wait ! Erika had sealed the door with the door-chain ! If you're wondering how she had set it after it having been
broken down by the adults, well, you'll note that "enough tape to seal one room" doesn't specify how many times one
can seal the room with it. She just fixed the doorchain with tape. And is now proclaiming a logic error on Battler's
part.

Lambdadelta steps in as referee. She checks with Battler, who to his credit has a counter-scenario : Kyrie might have
faked her death, entered the guest room while Erika was in the bathroom, let Battler exit, re-sealed the doorchain, and
hid somewhere.

Kyrie can't have helped Battler out of the guest room. Wait, since when can Erika speak the red truth ? She's made no
detective proclamation ! How can she be so sure of Kyrie's death ? And then I, the Reader, connect the dots and
realize the horrible truth. The monster !

What about Eva ? Rosa ? Maria ? Natsuhi ? Nope, they can't help Battler either. You see, this is the real reason why
Erika didn't make the detective proclamation : this way, she had her hands free to make sure those five were really
dead. By killing them herself. If you inspect those crime scenes now, you'll find the bloody plastic bags she used to
cover her clothes and not sully them with blood.

Battler and chick Beatrice are stupefied and in rage. More like Battler because old Beatrice is used to killing his
family and hiding the fact but, oh wait, she doesnt remember that so evil Erika is evil. Erika goes for the final blow
and appears in front of the cousins rooms to inform Battler that neither seal is broken on both the cousins rooms,
that rub it on his face that .. unbroken seal proves that there are still none who have entered or exited, not to
mention that it needs no second telling, but know that entry or exit without breaking the seal is impossible!! Battler
is cornered and unable to come up with a solution for this error in his game. Battler is sent to the closed room he
created to spend all the eternity there thinking how to get out of it. Erika and Bern trolled him one last time by telling
him he can get out by cutting himself into pieces and they keeping him hand. In case, should Battler ever escape this
room he must bypass this red:

This room is a closed room created from the inside. The seals on the windows are intact, so there can be no escape
from there. Of course, there is no way to escape by leaving through the bathroom. Ill make it simple. There is
no exit to escape from except for this door. However, the chain lock on this door is set. You can unset and reset it all
you want, but you can only do so from the inside. Furthermore, you are free to go out through the door, but you
cannot leave or escape while the chain lock is unset.

Lambda, as a fellow survivor, says this is Bernkastel and Erikas parting gift to him. His hatred towards them will
keep him sane and not make him give up as there will be absolutely no one for him from that moment. Battler is left
all alone in that dark closed room. Having disappeared from the room, Beatrice begs Lambda to stay because the
game will resume shortly Lambda knows for experience that it wont. Even Lambda is screwed up by that hell she
went through that she confuses reality with her hell. She gives yet another parting gift to Beatrice since she used to be
her guardian. Lambda gives certainty to her, that as long as Beatrice doesnt give up her dreams may come true.
The game board is left alone while Lambda bidding Beatrice a see you later instead of a goodbye.

You dont know. Because you dont have enough Love!

Even Featherine gives better hints. Furfur and Zepar confirm that BATTLER has left the Lover duel game and as a
result Beatrice is also dropping but of course, she is allowed to watch. Bad move, cousins. Both Meat and no-meta
Anges are pissed at Featherine for not telling her the answer and pretending she does. Sorry, but Im calling BS on
Auroras on this moment for telling that a closed room murder could be solved by these demons hint. Ok, Im wrong
according to R07.

Now that Erika has defeated BATTLER she rests on the courtroom victorious. A strangely alone Lambdadelta now
chats with Erika who wants to know more about Lambdas past life i.e hellhole. Erika learns from Lambda of
Bernkastels past games and when she used to be a game piece prior to becoming a Witch. Berkastel becomes
furious at anyone talking about her past. A slightly feeling superior Erika is seen after seeing that neither Lambda nor
Bern have fully escaped from their hells. Erika doesnt believe what she went through is less than the other witches,
in fact this is because their hell were meant to be escapable unlike her, giving her strength to face the truth, thus
where her Witch name comes from the one and only Witch of Truth

Instead of giving her a regular present (as if) Bernkastel offers Battler to Erika as a present to get full control of the
Beatrices game board. For this, as explained by Lambda, its a symbolic and not so symbolic way for Erika to get
power of Beatrices game board. Erika must marry Battler in a demons ceremony to get the territory lords ring.
Erika accepts and Trollkastel is pleased to know shell be welcomed to Erikas game board in a near future. The two
demons dont feel like giving chick Beatrice a real hint to how to save Battler. Heh, Im not even that vague.

Furfur and Zeppar have decided on the best method for both lovers by turning in an old fashion duel. Both Kanon and
Shannon will get one gun and one bullet, the duel is to resume until one of them perishes. Or one of them accepts
whos the trap. Whatever comes first.

Ronove, Virgilia who dont know what to do (where were they all this time?) ask Gaap in hopes of helping Beatrice
get Battler out of that closed room he trapped himself in. Gaap reasons that its not really a closed room. Someone
mustve slipped out of the guesthouse by the windows. How? Because Erika had only checked the seals from doors
of these two rooms. Erika didnt have the chance to check the seals of the windows. Dlanor and company who has
already showed up and who has been playing along with Gaaps game wants to return to her duties but are stopped b
Gaap, finally answering with red to shut Gaap up. IMPOSSIBLE. The seals on the windows were also INTACT. Of
course, this is at the time of the logic ERROR. To stop Beatrices people from using this as a possible argument, they
claim in red that, Know that it is forbidden for blue truth to be used if based on the argument that the window seals
of the next room over were torn at the time of the logic error. Gaaps last blue is ignored by Dlanor Know that there
can be no obligation to provide an answer to this blue truth!. Cheeky Jungfrau. And as they claim, they wanted to
use that against Beatrice in case she would show up.

Furfur and Zepar are already on the cathedral to tart the demons wedding an immobile Battler have his ring taken
from the bride Erika. Battler is humiliated, Erika inserts a too small and spiky ring into Battlers finger to seal the
deal. Battler who has lost almost of his will is still enraged at the witches for disgracing Beatrices ring and game but
hes too weak to fight back. Battler loses himself as trying to get out of the closed room prison he created himself.

Beato cant undersatnd why the duel must happen. As explained by both the demons there wouldnt be ANY love if
they wouldnt help both pairs of lovers. This is because the furniture arent people. So there arent two pairs because
there arent two people. The reason for this is that furniture is subhuman therefore a furniture + one human cant
add up to two people. They dont posses a full soul as the demon claim therefore where all this Dawn business
come from.

Kanon and Shannon have a final chat and their duel. Kanon misjudges Shannon and misses. Shannon has taken a
huge gamble by throwing herself on the ground to make Kanon miss his shot. Everything is not over as Kanon dashes
towards her to overpower as a last resort. In the struggle both of them have their guns mixed up and shoot at each
other at point blank. Shannon kills Kanon and becomes the winner of the duel. Chick Beatrice starts to disappear too
because of Shannons win which demands it. At this time at the guesthouse at the next room over Jessica is crying
and everyone is baffled, not even Nanjo could do a thing. Kanon is on the ground and bleeds from the forehead then
disappears in thin air like he was never there. Beatrices mind sees part of her past where Battler is seen talking to
someone and describes exactly what Beatrice is like. Someone, the original Beatrice gave this piece the mission to be
there for Battler until he came to fulfill his promise. Thats how the Golden Witch started.

Kanons spirit leaves the guesthouse, meets Beatrice on the outside. Kanon decides to help Beatrice to solve the
riddle by giving her the encouragement she needed. By reminding her who The Golden Witch she used to be.
Beatrice goes overdrive remembering all past murders and tricks of Beatroll and transforms into the Golden Witch
Beatrice. After all she must be, *cackle* HER.

Beatrice rushes to stop the wedding. Ronove, Virgilia, and Gaap give Beatrice enough time for her to sneak in and get
to Erika. Her plan to make Erika accept the challenge works. Beato brings Erika a new puzzle for her to solve and
in an instant Erika changes back to the detective role she shouldve been since the EP started.

Erika makes what Id call a really bad move that is to lift the red seal on one of the cousins room. Meta Kanon
switches places with Meta Battler and get him out of that closed room. Furfur and Zeppar get into it too and make it a
duel Beatrice and Erika both got guns to end this once and for all.

Beato claims that it was Kanon (corroborated in red later) who went to save Battler and that it wasnt Erika who
saved Battler at least purposely. On top of it the chain was reset and Battler was able to escape. It only makes sense
that only inside the room couldve done it, right?

Erika goes 200% detective mode for one final time. By process of elimination she concludes that Kanon must be in
the closet but Beatrice has made it so that shell keep moving him around the room therefore no matter what Erika
says shell get the wrong answer. And so she does. Erika keeps eliminating possibilities until Kanon can only be at
the closet she pierces the only place Kanon could be with the remaining stakes at the closet where a coat can only
be found with no body. Kanon isnt there either.

# Kanon does not exist in the bedroom.

# Kanon does not exist in the guest room. ..Of course, this includes all parts of the closet, the bedroom, and the
bathroom.

Erika loses. She is shot through the heart and falls to the ground. Dlanor rushes to her but without Bernkastels power
theres no way for Erika to make it. Despite that Erika wishes to go at it one last time and takes her role as the bad
guy of the story but more importantly of the detective. Both Battler and Beatrice shoot at the same time. Erikas final
lines are her own introduction late at the game.

Hi, pleased to meet you! I am Furudo Erika, the detective!! I may be an uninvited guest, but please, welcome me!!
# I am the visitor, the 18th human on Rokkenjima!!
# [......Sorry, but...] Even if you do join us-
# There are 17 people.

TEA PARTY

Kanon, Shanon, Georges efforts to bore us to death are recogznied by GM Battler and Beatrices. The so missed
siblings finally make a quick appearance as if everything is fine. now the Golden Land has been opened the epitpah
completed and such. Everyone will be back. And thats a wrap back Ange shes done reading what weve been
reading that is Dawn itself. Hachijo and Ange do their back and forth reader <> Writer commentary.

Ange is satisfied even a bit for finding one of the answers she was looking forward. Before going she asks Hachijo is
she is Featherine or Featherine is her. Getting deep here. Of course Hachijo brushes off that question of with what
might you be talking about?

Meanwhile, ever loyal Amakuzas been on the phone with his buddy the ever so loyal and lovable Okonogi.
Everything implies that Okonogi knows well of the situation and theyre planning on executing the plan the Ange
must die. Extremely douchy on their part to do that to Ange. Amakuza ends the call once Ange catches up to him
and drive off to Rokkenjima. Ange isnt telling him the end of Hachijos tale, as they drive off Hachijos resident
disappear and their journey of this fragment ends. See you again, have a nice day. Later Ange burgers.

????

An extremely bored Bernkastel who anticipated a good guys winning ending finds herself in the middle of no where
fragment. Certaintly no miracle would be possible to make with such easiness unless its due to somebodys design.
This part is about cats. Thats all you need to know. Bernkastel and Hachijo team up and are ready to troll everyone
on Rokkenjima once again in Requiem.