Brrrrrrriiiing.

Stumbling, I dutifully rise to answer the ringing phone on the other end of the servant's quarters. It's rare that I'm disturbed this late at night. Did some kind of accident happen? Worries flood the creases of my mind as they often did.

Brrrrrrriiiing.

I pick the phone from its receiver. I try to sound as awake as I can manage. “Hello?”

“Shannon-chan, is it?”

I don't completely recognize the voice at first. The person speaking, a male, sounds dull and monotone. They continue: “Why are you sleeping, Shannon-chan? Don't you want me to come over and squeeze those tits?”

My heart does a cartwheel. That's Battler's voice! But how had he known the extension to the servant's quarters? And why is he calling so late? Why is he calling at all?

My mouth opens and I try to voice these questions, but it just comes out as a “What?”

There's a brief pause. “Don't pretend, Shannon-chan. You know you want my lecherous hands all over your breasts. That's the kind of person you are. A common whore that will offer herself to anyone that shows you the slightest bit of attention.”

My throat clams, becoming hot and swollen. I can feel my knees visibly shaking and my stomach churns as if I had eaten rotten food just prior. Battler couldn't have done more damage if he had used Jessica's brass knuckles. His unemotional, calculated words burnt like poison.

“Why-” I choke out. “Why are you saying these things?”

Another slight pause. “You're pathetic, Shannon-chan. Or maybe you'd prefer if I called you...” there was a noticeable gap in his voice. “Kanon.”

“Stop it!” I'm not in control. My impulses take over. “Stop talking! Stop it!”

I surprise myself. No matter how bad my mental state had been in the past, I managed to keep a semblance of outward control. But Battler crushed that with a few words.

A choke down a few sobs and listen into the phone. It takes a few seconds before he speaks again: “How desperate do you have to be, anyway? George and Jessica? Maybe if you asked, they would have taken you at the same time. You'd probably enjoy that, huh?”

He's silent for a few moments, possibly waiting for a response. I don't give any. I couldn't if I tried. “I read your stories, you know. Legend and Turn of the Golden Witch. Not bad, actually. It was pretty fucking funny to see how you envision me as some brave knight who defends the innocent. You should really do a better job of hiding your writing, oh great Beatrice-sama.”

I want to slam the phone down. I want to crawl under my sheets and hide in the darkness of my room and wait until morning when everything will go back to normal. But I don't.

“You should come see me, Shannon-chan. I'll be in the main hall by your photo.”

Last edited at 14/03/02(Sun)15:01:05

The phone cuts off and I rush over to my the broken floorboard under my bed. I remove it and, sure enough, my manuscripts are missing. Just when I was planning on getting rid of them, they had to be found!

I slam my hand against the bed frame and curse. Against myself, I leave the servant’s quarters and walk in the direction of the main hall. My photo. He means the portrait of Beatrice, the Golden Witch.

When I reach the hall, nobody is there. Still, I move around as quietly as I can in front of Beatrice's portrait. If I really had her magic, I could turn into a golden butterfly and slip through the cracks into Rokkenjima's storm, away from this family conference and the dark night of October fourth. But, of course, magic doesn't exist except in the minds of children and in the darkness of men. The rest is parlor tricks and lies.

I hear footsteps above me. By the time I turn my head, there's a high pitched scream heading towards me from the second floor. Someone had fallen off the balcony directly above me!

I fall to the ground and shield my head with my hands, waiting for an impact. None comes. I open one eye. I see a pair of brown leather shoes dangling above me. Their wearer also adorned a white suit. For just a moment, it looks as if they are gracefully floating in the air above me. This is another lie.

A cursory glance reveals that the body is not floating. It is hanging. Very specifically, the body of Battler is hanging from a rope connected to railing on the second floor.

I pick myself up from the carpeted floor. My conscious brain realizes that there's no point in trying to cut Battler down. I comprehend completely that he snapped his neck when he fell, as revealed by the awkward position of his head. I understand that there's nothing I can do to help him.

My comprehension of the situation, however, doesn't stop me from rushing to his corpse and trying to raise him up. I can only grab his legs, though, and this task proves too difficult for me. I can only fall back to the floor and sob. His skin looks pail and his eyes look red and puffy from crying. Looking down his arm, I spot something in his left hand.

I pry open his fingers and grab the object inside. It's a simple, white handkerchief. Why would Battler be holding something like this?

Last edited at 14/03/02(Sun)15:03:18

I need to alert the family, I realize. My first instincts are to locate Gohda-san, who hold the night shift, but I didn't see him on the way here and I had no idea where they would be now. Nor do I have any idea where I could locate Genji-san or Kumasawa-san at this late hour. My only option is to go to the family directly.

I walk to Eva-sama and Hideyoshi-sama's room, the closest one on the second floor, while fighting back tears. As a servant to the Ushiromiya family, it is my duty to appear composed even in the most harrowing of times.

My fingers rap against the door a few times. Nobody stirs from within the room. I try again. Same (lack of) response.

“Eva-sama, Hideyoshi-sama, I apologize.” I use my master key to unlock the door and walk inside. “Excuse me, there is an emergency--”

I stop talking. There's no point. Nobody's in the room for my words to reach. That is, nobody who's alive.

“No!” Four corpses litter the floor: George, Eva-sama, Hideyoshi-sama, and Gohda-san. George's shirt and jacket is ripped open, although there aren't any wounds on his chest. Rather, he suffers from the same wounds that all the others seem to: blunt force to the skull.

Last edited at 14/03/02(Sun)15:06:04

I grab a lamp from the top of a dresser to use as self-defense and search the room. Gohda-san's master key is in his pocket, attached to a keyring on his belt, as is mandatory for all servants to avoid potential theft.

The sheets on the beds are messed up, but nothing interesting exists on or under them.

I walk inside of the bathroom and switch on the light. There's nothing particularly of note inside. I even check behind the shower curtain to make absolutely sure that nobody is hiding within the room, but my search returns empty.

Next, I leave the bathroom and check the window. It's shut and locked from the inside, of course, but I do notice some mud on the windowsill. My hand gets some dirt on it and I wipe it on my uniform.

How could any of this happen? Why did it happen? I scream out into the night, partly because I wanted to alert someone. Mostly because I needed some way to release the feelings that swelled up and threaten to explode.

I start to turn back towards the door, but I'm interrupted by a warm blow to my right temple.

On the first twilight, you shall lift up as sacrifice the six chosen by the key

Bring it on, nerds

Request, was it really Battler on the phone?

"The person speaking on the phone with Shannon was Battler Ushiromiya. This is the same person she saw in the main hall."

Culprit: Jessica

Why: Because she loved Kanon, but Kanon was just another fragment of Shannon's personality, and not really real. So she was filled with hate and rage and both George, Battler, and Shannon, for all of this.

Evidence, the fact Battler had been crying hints that he was regretful of what he said on the phone, hinting that he might have not meant what he said and was forced to say it. George was killed as well, leaving only Jessica of the characters who share the Shannon-Kanon Connection.

How: She forced Battler to call Shannon, and then pushed him off the 2nd floor balcony. She murdered George, Eva, Hideyoshi and Gohda and then locked the door from the inside, she let herself out the window and stayed outside until Shannon went into the bathroom, she then climbed back inside and shut and locked the window, (Hence the mud). She hid and then bashed Shannon from behind.

"Jessica did not coerce Battler to say anything on the phone, nor did she push Battler off of the second floor.

Your Jessica theory can not work, since Battler did not commit suicide. Therefore, it would follow that the rest fails as well."

Last edited at 14/03/02(Sun)15:18:17

Request: The culprit's name is in the story.

"Any person has any relevance to the murders is named in this story."

Request: the 5 people who are believed to be killed have been.

"The five people that Shannon believed to be dead were, in fact, dead. At the end of the game, she was killed.

Request: Were there any injuries to Battler besides the broken neck?

"Besides his broken neck, Battler had no injuries."

Request: There is only 1 culprit in this story, all 6 were killed by the same person.

"I refuse."

Request: Kanon and Shannon are separate people

"Kanon and Shannon are the same person."

Request: Kanon/Shannon did not kill anyone

"I refuse."

>>13857

Request: Was Battler conscious before he was hung?

"Refuse."

Let's modify Rosa's theory a bit.....

Battler was coerced into saying things on the phone. This was probably done by George who also pushed Battler to his death, intentionally or not.

Proof is most clear in the handkerchief in Battler's hand as well as the damage to George's apparel.

This does not mean that I'm accusing George of being the [only, if applicable] culprit. I'm still most suspicious of Jessica at the moment.... mostly because of how you responded to Rosa's blue.

"...Confirmed. George coerced Battler to say things into the phone, then pushed him off of the balcony.

Human side wins, since the rest can be explained by Rosa's theory. Jessica killed the rest of the victims, used extra rope to escape from Eva and Hideyoshi's window, then re-entered when she saw that Shannon was in the room.