We continued to move around the first floor, looking for survivors. Now that we knew there was a killer on the loose, we couldn't take any chances. The rooms we'd previously found locked had to be broken down. We had to make sure that the silence on the other wasn't because they'd met the same fate as Kanon.

The closest room to check first was Rudolf and Kyrie's room.

Sorrow

— Who saw him die?
I, said the Fly,
with my little eye,
I saw him die.

"This door," Battler began to explain, "isn't actually locked by a key." To demonstrate, he grabbed the handle and pushed forward. His push, however, came to an abrupt end, as the door remained held in place by a chain. He nudged it once. Twice. Unsurprisingly, the door wasn't interested in just opening anyway. "I tried calling out, but..."

"Call out again." Kinzo said.

Battler nodded. "Dad! Kyrie! You in there?"

"Louder." the head of the Ushiromiya head demanded.

"Um... is that really a good idea if there's a killer roaming ar--"

"--RUDOOOOOLF!" Kinzo screamed into the room through the gap. No response.

The visibility into the room was nonexistent. The only thing we could make out through the gap was a while wall.

Left with no choice, Kinzo once again used the power few believed he still had in him and kicked the door down.

I immediately covered my mouth.

This time, the realization was immediate.

The headless bodies of Kyrie and Rudolf had been placed in the center of the room, each positioned in a chair - forced to face each other. Of course, given their lack of heads, it was less "facing" and more...

Well.

You get the idea.

"NOOOOOOO!" An unexpected burst of emotion from Battler as he rushed into the room. "No, no, no!"

"George, restrain him!" Kinzo ordered and George followed the commanding lead. Before Battler had a chance to reach the bodies, he was already firmly in George's grasp.

"Let me go! I said - LET ME GO!"

"...Battler. I understand how you feel, but this doesn't achieve anything! It's a crime scene! Not to mention, the culprit might've set a trap in the room!"

"If the culprit wanted to kill us, ngh-" Battler tried to struggle out of George's hold, "HE WOULD'VE KILLED US WHEN WE FUCKING SLEPT!"

"That's still not justification to go in rushing like a mad dog." Kinzo ultimately said, beginning to carefully look around the room, scanning for any signs of danger. After finally making sure there were no apparent threats, the rest of the group stepped further into the room. George released Battler, but by that time, Battler had no intention of running towards anything. Or screaming.

He ran his hand across his face, keeping it over his mouth for a solid minute.

He then began moving around. Searching. For something. Anything.

My guess at the time he was just trying to distance himself internally from the situation. That it was easier.

"Chain... chain must've been set from the inside... so... so is the killer still in here maybe...?" he murmured. But a quick search of the room established that couldn't be further from the truth.

Yet, Battler continued to search.

Eventually, he seemed to come across something.

It was a key.

He lifted it up so we can all see it. It had a red skull drawn on it. What looked like a red skull on it, anyway.

"Anyone got any idea what this opens?" Battler asked. His voice was shaking.

Nobody had a response.

"Well? Anyone...? Anyone know... Anyone know what THIS IS IN MY PARENTS' ROOM?!" he finally roared, before falling to his knees, landing on the palms of his hands. He looked up. Tears rolled down his cheeks. His hand reached out towards Kyrie's corpse, before stopping. He was entirely frozen. The pathetic look in his eyes told you that he didn't know what to do with himself.

George approached him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Battler... I..."

Battler said nothing.

Despite both Jessica and me having seen someone as important as Kanon dying like that, we still got close to him and tried to comfort him. No - actually - maybe it was precisely because we'd seen something like that, and forced in those few crucial moments to come to terms with the reality we'd never see or speak to him again - that we thought we could pull him back together for just a few hours until we figured out what to do next.

After that, we promised ourselves we'd all get to cry.

Eventually, Battler picked himself off the ground, and wiped off his tears. He took the key, clenched it in his fist, and then slid his hand into his jacket. "...You never know." he explained. "It might be useful later."

There was nothing really especially important regarding that particular room, looking back on it. The layout was similar to Krauss' and Natsuhi's room. Actually, thinking about it, almost all of the bedrooms had the same layout, with the exception of the body's positions. The windows, the only other means of going in or out of the room, were closed shut. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.

If nothing else, I was thankful to have not come across any strange contraptions in the bathroom.

Nightmare

— Who caught his blood?
I, said the Fish,
with my little dish,
I caught his blood.

We moved to the second floor.

"We hadn't had a chance to fully search it before we heard Battler." Nanjo explained. "W-We checked some doors, of course, but--"

"They got the gist, my friend." Kinzo simply waved at the doctor, his guard visibly still up.

We got to Eva and Hideyoshi's room.

"Th-That's one of the rooms we hadn't yet checked." Nanjo said, again, quite redundantly.

George was the one to step forward. He knocked on the door. "Mom...? Dad?" He called out. He seemed calm, but his heart was in his throat. He was expecting the worst. When I noticed his hand shaking, I grabbed it. It was so cold.

His eyes met mine. It's impossible to think what someone else is thinking at times like these, of course. I only had his expression to go on. The way I told it to myself at the time was... He was praying. Praying that he would hear his mom's voice from the other side. His dad's sleepy laugh. A joke about sleeping in. Yeah. That's what he was hoping for, surely.

"It'll all be okay." I gave him a little smile.

And he smiled back.

And I felt fucking awful because something in my head was screaming at me that we were all fucked and that his parents were no exception and that opening that door was going to be the worst decision of his life.

The door wasn't locked.

Oh, no.

The Monster wanted to make sure we all saw it.

They weren't headless, Eva and Hideyoshi.

And to be honest, to this day, I'm convinced part of the reason that the culprit chose to keep those initial murders headless was so that we'd keep that expectation in mind. Headless corpses. That in a strange way, over just a few minutes, we'd accept it before we ever saw it.

That we could make it easier on ourselves.

But that's the thing. That's the thing the Monster wanted.

They were both naked.

Eva's body was in one corner of the room. Her tongue had been ripped out. Her eyes gouged out. Her face beaten repeatedly until it was blue. Her wrists and ankles showed deep blue marks - she'd been tied up before she was killed. And based on all the cuts and bruises on her body - it wasn't hard to figure out for what reason.

Hideyoshi, though, was the one who suffered worse.

He was positioned in the center of the room, put on his back. His stomach had been ripped open by a knife. His intestines had been put out on display. His groin had been mutilated. Just like Eva, his face had been beaten repeatedly to the pulp. His beating being much more brutal.

George took one step in.

He looked at the scene.

And then he screamed.

Jessica began to throw up violently and rushed into the bathroom, leaving traces of vomit behind her. Battler didn't even bother with the bathroom, he vomited in the hallway outside. Nanjo dropped to his knees, holding his head in his hands. Even the poor physician had seen enough death and misery for a lifetime. Kinzo merely stood, his expression - despite his age, despite his legendary reputation, despite his calm up to that point - was nothing short of mortified. And me -- no matter how much I tried, I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down. I jumped and hugged George. I buried my face in his back. I want to say it was because I wanted to comfort him. But the truth is, I was just trying to look away from it all. I wanted his warmth to comfort me, even if I should've been the one doing it for him. I'm sorry.

It was too much.

It was a nightmare.

George ran. Without a word. Everyone else was in too much shock to do anything about it. I, of course, ran after him, though. I heard Kinzo yelling something, but I didn't care. I needed to help him. I didn't care about anything anymore. Just George.

I had to save him. To help him.

I yelled. Telling him to stop. He, in turn, just screamed. Tears were stilling rolling down my face. I could barely keep up, but I did. At last, as we turned a corner, I'd caught up with him and threw the weight of my entire body - lunging forward.

I missed him.

But the sound of me hitting the floor made him stop.

He didn't turn around.

He merely dropped to his knees again.

And wept.

I crawled to him. I didn't feel worthy of getting up.

And once again, I hugged him. His faced dropped onto my chest. And he continued to cry. And I hugged him and held him tight. And I told him it was okay.

I knew that the killer was out there.

I knew that they wanted to kill us all.

And truth be told, had someone with a knife come around the corner, and even if I'd seen them, and even if I'd had enough time to react -- if doing something about it meant letting George go -- chances are, I would've taken any brutal death they had to offer me. I didn't care. I would use my body as a shield to protect him.

A living nightmare.

Yeah.

That's how it really was.

Everyone was out in the hallway by the time we'd come back. Battler had been keeping watch along with Nanjo. Kinzo had made an exception to his past rule of wanting to preserve the crime scenes and took the time to cover the two bodies. Jessica was in the corner, shaking, vomit and saliva soaking her clothes. Her head was buried in her hands. If this was the treatment George's parents got... perhaps the worst was yet to come?

"...New plan." Kinzo finally said. "We'll move to the kitchen, as a group. We'll gather some food and then hole up in my study. After all, the only person that'll be coming here is Kuwabata. And if the culprit ends up ambushing him, it'll take some time for the police to get here." His eyelids closed. "We... we're done with explorations."

Nobody argued.

What the fuck were we supposed to say?

The Keys

— Who'll make the shroud?
I, said the Beetle,
with my thread and needle,
I'll make the shroud.

We carefully moved downstairs. The rain had by that point began to ease up a bit. I remember thinking that it would end soon and we would be contacting the police from Kinzo's study as soon as we got to it.

You might think that Kinzo wanting us to get food was strange of him, seeing as how by that point, most of us believed we would be calling police and the nightmare would come to an end the same day. Kinzo explained that he was thinking ahead - there was a chance the culprit had managed to cut the phone lines. In which case, help would not be arriving until the next day. By which point - who knew what could happen? Going to get food as soon as possible, before the culprit had a chance to prepare traps or arm themselves even further, seemed like the best option.

Of course, as we later learned when we got to Kinzo's study, he was spot on in his way of thinking. The culprit had indeed cut the phone lines connecting us to the outside world.

We moved through the silent dining room and into the kitchen.

In retrospect, while Kinzo's plan was reasonable, it was stupid of us to believe that the angel of death hadn't passed through there, as well.

Upon entering, the first thing that struck us was the faint smell of smoke. Across the door was the stove, with five large pots on it - all were boiling, and had a lid covering them. The first thing one would think was that maybe Gohda had been in the middle of cooking something before he got distracted - or worse - but that didn't make sense. It was only breakfast. He shouldn't have been starting on something that big so early. And, more importantly perhaps, none of us had seen Gohda needing to prepare a dish that needed five of the largest pots in the kitchen to be boiling at the same time.

Kinzo carefully took a step forward to the first pot.

He took off the lid and looked inside...

The silence was only broken by the sound of boiling water.

Then, having seen something, Kinzo instinctively took a step back, dropping the lid onto the floor. "Don't come any closer!" he ordered us, before looking into the pot again. His breathing had gotten heavier. It seemed that not even great Ushiromiya family head, the man who some had said dealt with even the devil, could handle the stress of the situation.

To our surprise, he suddenly reached into the pot.

Moments later, he held up a key.

"This is--" Kinzo began to comment, but was suddenly cut off by a gasp from Doctor Nanjo.

"Is that..." the old physician exclaimed, "blood on the key?!"

We all looked. Indeed, even though it had been in water, there were distinct red stains covering it. Meaning...

"What... is in those pots?" Jessica asked.

"None of your concer--"

"What's in those pots?!" Battler now demanded, moving in the direction of the family head. It seemed as if the general had lost some of the strength he possessed over his troops. But, he was still Ushiromiya Kinzo. The moment Battler got close to him, he grabbed him by the shoulders, stopping him from getting to the pots.

This, however, only meant that he would be unable to stop the rest of us when we got to the stove to take a look.

Inside the pot, surfacing and disappearing into the red bubbling water, was Gohda's head. Without thinking, we began to take off the lids of the other pots. In one - a human hand. In another - a human foot. In yet another - what I assumed was a kidney. And in the final one - an actual human heart.

All of the parts looked to have been cooking for hours, at least.

Another shriek of shock might've been warranted, you would say. But after Eva and Hideyoshi's deaths... we were already too shaken up to scream any further.

It was at that point that George seemed to notice something. "Hey... over there." he said, pointing to the pot with a hand in it. "Is that another key...?"

Kinzo and Battler had stopped struggling with each other and turned in the direction of the stove. Nanjo lacked the fortitude of Kinzo to simply dip his hand in a boiling pot with a human part floating in it, so he grabbed a pair of tweezers he had in his pocket and pulled out the object George had pointed to.

Indeed, it was a key.

Upon closer examination, however, it was a key we'd seen before.

A thin, silver key with a distinct red skull painted on it.

Our eyes turned to Battler. Finally, I was the one who asked: "Battler... that key you took from your parents' room... You still have it on you, right?"

Battler's eyes slightly widened. "What...? Of course I do. Why? What's in those pots?!" he demanded.

"Please, let us take a look at it." I said, ignoring his plea.

Kinzo let him go, as Battler began to do as he was instructed. He reached into his suit, only to stop, confused. The sounds of shuffling could be heard, as Battler's expression went from worry to panic.

"Where...where is it? I... I know I...!"

"Calm down." I told him. "Where did you put it?"

"I-It was right here! I put it in my waistcoat pocket!"

Not willing to take any chances, we had him take off his suit jacket. I slid my hand into the pockets of Battler's waistcoat. Indeed, there was nothing in them. To be certain, I asked Battler to roll up his sleeves. I checked the pockets of his pants. I then checked the pockets of his suit jacket.

Just as he'd said - there was no sign of the key.

"Maybe... you dropped it?" Jessica suggested.

But thinking about it, there really was no point where a key he'd put in a breast pocket could've just fallen out. We all had our eyes on each other. Nobody - especially not Battler - remembered conveniently crouching down to tie his shoelaces, or anything of the sort. Plus, we'd probably have at least heard the sound of a key hitting the floor.

The other possibility was that someone had pickpocketed the key, but in Battler's own words:

"I'm pretty sure I would've noticed someone reaching into my jacket, thanks!"

"What about the key you found, Grandfather?"

Upon George's question, Kinzo looked at the key he'd found in the pot. "...It's the key to the VIP room."

Despite Kinzo's own words, after gathering food, we ended up making our way to the second floor, where the VIP room was. It was almost as if Kinzo's drive for self-preservation had been replaced with morbid curiosity. Or maybe, his indifference had been replaced by the need to catch the Monster that was roaming the mansion? The Monster that had killed his children and servants?

Regardless, we got to the room. It was locked.

Kinzo wasted no time in unlocking it. Thoughts of a bloodbath waiting for us on the other end started to turn my stomach again. But I had to keep it together. There was just no other choice.

The door creaked open to reveal...

...Nothing.

Well. That's not entirely accurate. What I mean by that is - that bloodbath I was anticipating wasn't there. Even after we'd searched the room, it wasn't there. No sign of the culprit, either.

We were just beginning to wonder why the culprit had left us the key to the room, when Jessica pointed to a key on the desk. It looked exactly like the key Battler had found - the other key that was in the pots - with the exception of the fact that in the stead of the red skull drawing, there was a drawing of a blue half-crescent moon.

It didn't take much to come to the realization that these keys must have come in a pair of some kind.

Then, it dawn on me. Just like it did for Kinzo.

"...The vault." I said.

"The vault?" George turned.

Kinzo's face darkened. "...It's not really a vault. Not in the true sense of the word. It's actually the library, containing old valuable books. Last year, I had the door to it changed to a double barrel lock."

"Er..." Battler's eyebrow raised.

"Think just like a normal lock, except you can't lockpick it." I explained.

It was true. The door itself was pretty plain looking. If you were to approach it from the outside, you'd find it looks somewhat like an apartment door. One key was for the lock with the knob. The other key was for a bolt. The keyhole for it was about a foot above the knob. The bolt itself, however, was more reminiscent of a chain. Which is to say, you could slightly open the door before the bolt stopped it from opening. This was no chain, however - it was pure steel. One that Kinzo had been assured was unbreakable. And the gap wasn't big enough to really do anything about. The only way to set or undo it would've been with the door closed, and with the key. Well, actually - you could've set it with a rotating lock from that was on the inside. It didn't require a key. Still, to actually lock the door - a key was absolutely necessary.

Of course, you're already starting to figure out why I'm telling you all this.

I assure you, at the time, I couldn't have possibly foreseen what awaited us when we got to the library.

Just as we were about to leave the VIP room and go investigate the library (like animals, following a bait), something caught my attention as I looked out the window. The rain had settled down even more by that point, and I could have a clear view of the forest surrounding the mansion.

And then, I knew.

Why the Monster had wanted us to come here.

It wasn't just for the key. He wanted us to see.

The bodies of Natsuhi and Krauss - each hanging by the neck, from a tree of their own.

I announced my discovery, but... nobody wanted to look. Not even Jessica. Her expression was blank. In a way, I suppose she might've been grateful. Of all the awful deaths, hanging was probably the most merciful one.

But that's just the thing, isn't it?

Murdering someone in cold blood - someone that didn't deserve to die - isn't merciful any way you cut it.

There was no "mercy" here.

None of these people deserved to die. For all their greed, for all their recklessness, for all the hatred running amongst each other - it didn't warrant being murdered and have their bodies desecrated and treated like just pile of flash a child could play with. And what about Kanon? What about Gohda? What had they ever done to anyone?

The Monster

— Who'll dig his grave?
I, said the Owl,
with my little trowel,
I'll dig his grave.

TRICK OR TREAT

In big red letters, much like on the door to Natsuhi and Krauss' room, we found it written on the door to the library.

"I've had enough of this bullshit!" Kinzo declared, taking the two keys to the room. He first tried the red key on the upper lock. That one didn't fit, but the blue one did. He turned it. Twice. The red key fit the bottom lock.

The first turn.

Click.

The second turn.

Click.

And without resistance or hesitation, he pushed the door open.

Last edited at 17/10/19(Thu)10:43:53

The room was dark. If I had to guess, the culprit had probably gone through the trouble of breaking all the lights, since I remember Kinzo instinctively putting his hand on the switch next to the door and it doing nothing. He tried it a few times, before giving up. The scene before him required his attention far more.

The three walls - across, left, and right of the door - all had a large bookshelf filled to the brim with books covering them. The center of the room was almost always empty. Not even a table to read on.

...I did say "always". But only because that day, there was an exception.

Two food carts had been placed, side-by-side.

Three candles were lit on each. Meaning six, in total.

And near each one was a head.

Rudolf's.
Kyrie's.
Kanon's.
Rosa's.
Genji's.
Kumasawa's.

They were all - quite literally - on a plate.

And in that moment, you may think to yourself that you can breathe a sigh of relief, strangely. That you can tell yourself deep down "the shock that I'm feeling right now is the worst of it, it'll pass". You may want to close your eyes and imagine a world where none of this happened. You may think that you've seen worse. You may think that, at least, you know the fate of everyone. That the culprit won't get you now that you're all together. You see yourself years from now, awakening from nightmares caused by scenes like these.

But you miss one crucial detail.

This is a nightmare.

And it's still happening.

As we stood at the doorway, looking at the horrific scene before us, we witnessed the culprit's most evil act that day.



The eyelids

of all six heads

began

to slowly

rise

exposing

their empty

lifeless

eyes. .



And then - we screamed.

All of us.

"WHAT KIND OF FUCKED UP PERSON WOULD DO THIS?!" Jessica yelled, tears running down her cheeks, as we all ran upstairs to Kinzo's study. It couldn't have happened. There's no way it could've happened.

But... but I knew what I'd seen. We all did.

"EVERYONE! KEEP MOVING!" Kinzo ordered. Even Doctor Nanjo, despite his physique, had his feet carry him as if he was running a marathon.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" George grabbed his head.

"CALM DOWN!" Battler yelled. He was visibly not able to take his own advice.

"KANOOON! MOMMY! DADDY!" Jessica's face contorted and twisted into a mess of tears, snot, and more vomit. But she didn't stop running.

"WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" Kinzo said, trying to keep everyone together. His study was on the third floor. I realized I was still carrying what food we'd gathered from the kitchen earlier. It consisted of strictly non-perishables. We wouldn't have had anything to keep the food that required refrigeration cold. And Kinzo was against fruit, stating that it would've been too much of a pain to carry for so little gain. He was probably right. Any other food that existed was in the pantry - on the other side of the mansion. A trip we weren't willing to make anymore.

Even after everything I'd seen - my body was still not giving in to the shock completely. Was it the fact that I was just a cold person? Or was it my maid instincts kicking in? It sounds silly, I know, but even so - I do have to wonder. Maybe I wanted to be strong, for George's sake. Maybe the adrenaline had been flowing through my veins since the moment I'd witnessed Kanon's charred corpse and was refusing to let me fall apart completely until it was all over.

"SHIT... THAT BASTARD... THAT MOTHERFUCKER!" Battler cursed the culprit.

"I'LL... I'LL KILL HIM! I SWEAR, I'LL KILL HIM FOR THIS!" George promised.

"SHUT UP!" Kinzo shouted back, as we finally got to the last floor. We didn't stop running, of course. It wasn't over until we got to the study.

...And when we did, it was almost like the punchline to a perfect joke.

HA

HA

HA

Written in the same ink we'd grown accustomed to seeing.

What truly made me shiver was that, when George and I had searched through the third floor earlier - that writing wasn't there.

Kinzo scoffed. "A pathetic attempt." He declared, drawing a key from his pocket. "This is the only key to here. I was the only one that was ever in that study. The windows were all locked shut, and I know I locked the door when I left. Hell - the door auto-locks, anyway! Nice try, but you're not getting through this...!"

He opened the door and we stepped inside.

Just as an extra precaution, we searched the study and found nobody to be hiding. Kinzo made sure the door was locked. He and Battler pushed one of the bookshelves to cover the entire door - just to be sure. Although, in truth, it seemed like Kinzo was the one putting more strength into it. The windows were also different than the other ones in the mansion. These had a lock - a damn solid one, at that - and required a human hand to close and lock it. No chance of getting in from the outside.

At long last - we were safe.

No Safe Haven

— Who'll be the parson?
I, said the Rook,
with my little book,
I'll be the parson.

Tick-tock.

Tick-tock.

The clock in Kinzo's study ticked away. Everyone sat in their own little space in the room. George and I had mine. Battler had his. Jessica hers. Kinzo and Nanjo theirs, as they played chess.

Kinzo would occasionally say something to deafen the silence. But it was hardly as reassuring as he'd probably told himself it would be. "No matter what... the Ushiromiya legacy will not die today. I will ensure that at least some of you live through this." His attention was then immediately drawn back to the chessboard. He didn't notice the awkward glances everyone had exchanged amongst themselves upon the declaration.

"Who could've done something like this...?" Some time later, Battler wondered aloud.

"Someone must've snuck onto the island, right?" Jessica suggested. She'd managed to wipe away most of the vomit that had been on her clothing. Her eyes were still red and swollen from crying. "Y-Yesterday, before the storm, they could've gotten by a boat or something, right?"

"...But who would do something like this?" George interjected. "I can understand the Ushiromiya family making enemies over the years - fine - fair enough. But for someone to take it this far... and be this brutal... Why? Why do something like that?"

"Ahem. In addition, there's something else that I have to wonder about myself." Doctor Nanjo now spoke. Kinzo's focus did not move away from the chessboard. "If it was purely a vendetta of some kind - why are we still alive? They did all of... that last night. Why not just have killed us off, as well?"

"I think you've put too much thought into it." Kinzo remarked. "All of you had been in the guesthouse. The culprit probably didn't bother going there at all. If it was an intruder, they might've not even seen the guesthouse, depending on how they approached the mansion. I was here, in the study, all day yesterday. This morning was the first time I'd stepped out. Chances are, they simply couldn't get in. Or didn't know I was inside."

"Didn't you notice anything last night?" Battler asked. "I mean... for the culprit to have done all this without you not noticing anything..."

Kinzo's eyes shut. "This room is soundproof. In addition, I spent most of the afternoon drifting in and out of sleep." He finally looked at his friend on the other side of the board. "Doctor's orders."

"Still, though..." I now felt inclined to speak. "What if the culprit kept us alive... to mock us? After all, the writings on the doors were clearly meant to be seen by someone."

"It could've been the police." Nanjo suggested.

"Maybe... but what if the culprit is still playing some sort of twisted game here?"

George looked at me. "What do you mean?"

I didn't answer. But chances are, the thought had crossed a few people's mind's then and there.

What if the culprit was one of us?

It was as dusk was setting in that I realized George wasn't eating. By that point, it'd seemed that everyone's nerves had somewhat calmed. To contrast, the downpour outside began to get worse. Rain feverously tapping the windows, demanding to get in.

"...George?" I said to him. "Everything okay?"

"I'm... I'm fine." he said. But he didn't look fine. He looked pale and sickly. And I understood why, everyone did - but still... Even so...

"You have to eat something, George." Battler tried to reinforce. "We haven't eating anything since last night. That's coming to be twenty four hours now. You're going to crash, dude."

George shook his head. "I'm not hungry. Really, I--"

And then, he coughed.

And even though he'd covered his mouth, I still saw it. We all did.

The drops of blood dripping between his fingers and onto the wooden floor.

"P-Poison!" Jessica shouted, pointing at George. I jumped to my feet, my thoughts no different. But George raised his hand, telling us to stop.

"It's not poison." He said, taking a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his mouth. "It's... heh." He chuckled. "It's not poison."

He then looked at me.

"Wh... What do you mean? What do you mean - it's not poison?!" Before I even realized it, I was already shouting in panic. The sense of safety had gradually shattered my nerves.

"...I was going to tell you. I swear." He stood up, and took my hand.

"Tell me what...?" My eyes widened in terror. Somehow, I knew that whatever he was going to say next would leave me far more devastated than any cruel murderer ever could. Well. Maybe that's not true. No, that's probably not true. It still wasn't as bad as what we'd seen. But his words still pierced straight through my heart.

"...I'm daying, Sayo."

Lung cancer. Inoperable. Not even the famous doctors Eva had demanded be brought in could do anything about it. I asked how. I pointed out he never smoked in his life. He said it happened. I still asked how. He'd never shown any signs prior to that point. He said he knew how to hide it. How to make the smaller coughs unnoticable. I wanted to know how, anyway. I pointed out that he would've told me. There's no way he would've kept that from me. But he said he had. He said he was sorry.

I then noticed, in the corner of my eye, the way Nanjo was looking at him. He knew. He apologized as well. But if Nanjo had known, then Kinzo must've known, as well. And he had. Thankfully, Battler and Jessica seemed just as surprised as me.

Not nearly as upset, though.

I punched him. I punched a sick, dying man to the ground. It was just one punch, but it did the trick. He wasn't knocked out. He didn't seem that surprised or hurt. Nobody did anything in fear of me doing it again. I guess they recognized impulse when they saw it. George merely got up, smiled.

Then, he coughed again.

"...We were prepared for this situation." Nanjo said.

It's at this point that I should elaborate that Kinzo's study consisted of the main living space, a bathroom and a bedroom. As it turned out, Kinzo had arranged for medical equipment to be installed in his bedroom, in case George got too ill and needed emergency treatment. He was also supposed to go through a session of chemotherapy, administered by doctor Nanjo. When we'd searched the study to see if anyone was hiding, we'd all assumed it had been for Kinzo.

"...I suppose it's good timing, isn't it? I was supposed to take it somewhere around this time, wasn't I?" George smiled.

Nanjo nodded.

"As I've said. I've been here this entire time. The killer couldn't have possibly tampered with the equipment."

Of course - my immediate thought was that if Nanjo was the culprit, he could've simply sabotaged the equipment then and there. I wanted to object and say he could just take it some other time. But I then reasoned that if Nanjo had been the culprit, and the police determined his cause of death to be related to the equipment, Nanjo would be the only suspect. Hell - if George suddenly dropped dead - he would've been the only suspect, anyway. It would've been a bad move. Besides - I had no reason to suspect the doctor. Or anyone in the study, for that matter.

So, the two men went into the bedroom, and closed the door behind them.

As I understood it, the administration took a few hours.

I wanted to wait for him until he walked out. When I knew he was safe. I wanted him to put his head in my lap and rest.

I ended up falling asleep in less than an hour.

The few bits of my dream I recall right before I came to was me standing in the mansion's rose garden. The roses were doused in bright, yellow gold. Their flower petals began to rip apart, as a strong and loud wind past through. I could hear the sound of rain - although I couldn't see any signs of it. The sky was pitch-black. Stars had been replaced by the shining petals floating in the air. Instead of falling to the ground, however, they chose to go dance up to the heavens.

In front of me, on the other side of the garden, I saw Kanon.

He smiled.

I couldn't say anything.

"niboR kcoC dellik ohW?" he asked me.

"Fuck... sh..." I came to the sound of someone cursing in the distance. Shuffling around me. Or maybe just around the room. "He... ll... o? Anyone? Fuck!"

It didn't take me long to realize it was Battler.

I forced myself to open my eyes. I was in the study. At first glance, nothing seemed to be out of place. The bookshelf was still covering the door. Kinzo was sitting in his chair, behind his desk. ...But no sign of Jessica. Battler was going up and down the study. He'd peek into the bathroom. Groan audibly and then move to the bedroom. "Hello?!" he'd ask, before going back to the bathroom, checking it again.

Then - he turned his attention to me.

"...Hey." he told me. "Hey, wake up!" He sounded angry.

"Ugh... wh... what happened?" I asked. "What's...?"

"George, Jessica and doctor Nanjo are gone! I can't find them anywhere!" he stopped, looking over at Kinzo. "...But no. No, it's even worse than that...!"

"Huh...?" I asked, as I looked over to Kinzo once again. He was sitting in his chair, just like I'd seen before. ...But it was only then, when my eyes were fully opened that I saw it. One of Kinzo's decorative stakes sticking out of his eye. His head was tilted backwards. His other eye wide open. His mouth left hanging, and motionless.

He was dead.

It was like a jolt of electricity had passed through my body.

I jumped to my feet. "Wh... what on Earth...?! Master Kin... Ge... J... WHAT?!"

"YEAH, EXACTLY! WHAT THE FUCK?!" Battler began to move around the room again. "I... I must've fallen asleep! When I came to, things were... things were like this! Have you been asleep the entire time?!"

"Y-Yeah!" I said. "I feel asleep shortly after doctor Nanjo and George went into the bedroom! Are they really not there...?" And upon saying that, I peeked into the bedroom, just as Battler had. It didn't look any different than it had the last time I'd looked into it.

It was rather small. There was a bed. Next to it the medical equipment. It'd looked like it'd been prepared for someone to lie down and have a chem bag administered to them through an IV. The bag, however, looked only half-empty. Was George not supposed to take all of it? Or were they interrupted by something? I stepped in and searched it. Nobody seemed to be hiding. The room had no windows, either, so it's not as if they could've reacted to something happening outside.

The only other thing of interest seemed to be a phone in the corner of the room. The only places it could've connected to were other phones in the mansion. However, as I picked up the receiver, I realized that someone had cut the cord going behind the stand it was on. No dial tone.

I remembered Kinzo had another phone in the living area, on the desk. But I quickly saw the situation was the same. That cord had been cut, as well.

"Shit... where are they...?" Battler was still running around, trying to figure out what to do. At one point, almost comically, he ended up slipping. "MOTHER... FUCKER... Ngh..." he groaned as he stood back up.

I then examined Kinzo's corpse. The only things I found on him were the two colored keys, the key to the VIP room, and the key to the study.

I checked the windows. All were closed and locked.

I looked in the bathroom. No signs of anyone, either.

"...Do you think the killer somehow got in?" Battler asked me. He glanced at the bookcase. "I mean, with that thing there..." He put his hand to his chin. "Actually, even if he had... how would he have escaped?"

Before he even had a chance to finish that thought, I'd already grabbed one of the decorative stakes from the wall. They might've been decorative, but they were undeniably sharp. I pointed it in Battler's direction.

"H-Hey, whoa, whoa! What...?" his eyes widened.

"It's simple, isn't it?!" I yelled. "The killer DIDN'T LEAVE THE STUDY! Suppose Jessica was the one that actually fell asleep after me. It would've been only you and Kinzo in there. You could've taken one of the stakes and caught him in a moment where he let his guard down. He said the study was soundproof - that might apply to the rooms between here, as well. So, George and Nanjo wouldn't have heard anything. You then could've entered the bedroom. Nanjo was an old man, hardly fit to defend himself. And George would've been weak from the chemo treatment! You could've then moved the bookshelf out of the way, and carried everyone out - doing God knows what to them - returning here, putting the shelf back, and pretending like nothing at all had happened! Playing me for a fucking fool!

Playing another sick, twisted game!

ISN'T THAT RIGHT, USHIROMIYA BATTLEEEEEEER?!"

He had no rebuttal. He merely walked around the room. He looked at me. He looked at the stake in my hand. Then back at me. Then at Kinzo's liquor cabinet. I shouted at him. Told him to get away. To get out. He calmly poured himself some vodka. And he downed it in a gulp.

He sighed.

Calmly, he walked over to the door.

Without a word, but with some labor, he pushed the bookshelf aside. He didn't need a key to unlock the study door, so he merely stepped out. Leaving a clicking sound behind him, as the door automatically locked.

And just like that, I was left alone.

With the stench of the corpse.

I regretted not stabbing him then and there.

I also knew the others were probably dead, as well.
...Yet, I had to find them.

I owed it to them.

At the very least, I owed it to George.

So, I took the key to the study, in case I would need to bunker down again, and left.

Last edited at 17/10/19(Thu)10:50:08

The Crescendo

— Do you think any of this really mattered?

I found Nanjo and Jessica in Jessica's room. Jessica was on one side of the room, her body next to her bed. She'd been shot in the stomach. Nanjo was on the other side, slouched against the wall - a bullet hole in his head. The room was unlocked. No trace of a gun or the culprit.

I cursed myself for not thinking to suggest Kinzo we take the guns and keep them from the culprit's hands. Then again - if all evidence was to be believed - it wouldn't have helped us one bit.

The rain tapped louder and louder against the windows. It wasn't even tapping anymore - it sounded more like a chant ancient societies used when guiding a soul to the afterlife.

I needed to find George.

If nothing else, I had to save him.

He had to have been alive.

He just had to have been.

And just as the thought crossed my mind - I heard it. A male scream echoing through the mansion. By that point, I was on the first floor. Given that the scream had come from below me, I descended down to the main hall.

...And that's where I saw him.

George, lying in a pool of his own blood.

But, he was still alive. Clutching to his chest. Gargling blood. Squirming in that puddle of his.

I rushed over to him, tears in my eyes. I dropped the stake and dropped to my knees.

"G-George...?"

His eyes were losing light. "Sh... Sy... Grggf..." He couldn't talk. The only thing that came out of his mouth was blood. I looked at his chest. He'd been stabbed several times in the chest. His lungs were being filled with blood. And given the amount of blood he was in...

"Oh, God... George..."

"Ghhr..."

"Please, no..." I pleaded. "George... please... I... I'll go get th--"

"Ghhhrggldkk! Ghhr! Ghk..."

...And then, silence.

He stopped moving.

"G-George...? George, please... No. No!" I began to shake him "George! GEORGE!" No. No, I couldn't believe it. He couldn't have been dead. Those couldn't have been those last words. It couldn't have ended like that. No. He deserved so much more than that. Why hadn't he told me he was dying? I would've understood. We still could've spent that time together. We should've spent that time together! We had a right to live that time hoping for a future we knew we would never have. We had a right to still laugh and run away from all of it and be happy. We had a right to hold hands as he took his treatments. We had a right to be married, and have a small ceremony. We had a right to be a family, for however small of a time we had.

And yet... The Monster had taken all of that from me.

From us.

...

I picked up the stake and began to move around in the hallway.

My eyes stopped at a portrait that had been hanging there for years. A portrait I'd passed so many times next to in all the years and never thought anything of. The portrait of the Great Witch Beatrice, said to control the island.

Perhaps she'd been the Monster I was after? The Monster that'd taken them all away...?

...

I began to laugh.

I don't know why.

I guess it was just funny.

And the more I thought about how strange it was that I was giggling in a situation likethat, at a time like that - well - the funnier it got! And the more I laughed!

Eventually, my laugh turned into a menacing cackle not even the rain or thunder could drown out.

I began to wander the mansion, my footsteps echoing its walls.

...I guess it was just me and Battler.

And I also found that funny, for some reason.

"Battleeeeeeer... Come out, come out wherever you aaaaaareeeeee..." I began to chant, as my soul left my body, and only a cold human shell remained, ready to head into the darkness that fed the desires of the twisted heart responsible for it all.

________________________________________________

And, that's it.

Alright, let's do this. I'll begin by playing this safe...

Betting 1 chip

At least one of the people who seemed to have their head on a plate in the library was still alive at that point.

Honestly, I don't think this is what's going on, but it's best to rule out the obvious before all else.

(Number of chips will be tracked in my posts)

>>20939

Before I start giving out reds...

Assuming only one person was secretly alive - how did they get the other heads to open their eyes? Same if more than one person was still alive - how did it happen in unison? Not to mention, it worked out for the culprit pretty well that they didn't end up saying anything.

Given that you can reasonably assume at least 3 of the heads were from legitimate dead bodies, you'll always end up with the issue of at least one head's eyes opening.

...Hey. Can't go out giving out reds left and right so soon out of the gate.

>>20940
Irrelevant, dead head open eyes doesn't mean that none of the heads were alive. I'm not solving the trick for all of them but just... Ya know. Some (or one) of them.

The rest, if this is so, I can deal with l88r.

And stuff.

>>20942
Good, good. It's important to realize I can mislead you with my own reasoning.

Unfortunately, it won't stop you from losing points. The six heads had all truly been cut off from their respective bodies! None of the six were alive at the time!

Last edited at 17/10/20(Fri)00:38:58

>>20943
Good beans! But I want to contest that red. Just because the heads on the plate are dead, doesn't mean that the body they supposedly came from is dead.

My blue was "At least one of the people who seemed to have their head on a plate in the library was still alive at that point."

You've denied that any of the heads on the plates were living people, however "one of the people who seemed to have their head on a plate in the library" could still be alive if a head was fake or, if we were to take your red as just standard wordplay, the head of someone else (maybe dressed up to look like that victim?) I'm not actually arguing either of these theories, just using them to demonstrate "The six heads had all truly been cut off from their respective bodies! None of the six (respective bodies) were alive at the time!" =/= not "At least one of the people who seemed to have their head on a plate in the library was still alive at that point."

Basically, your red denies my blue only if it's necessarily true that the heads on the plate were in fact the heads of the people they seem to have come from.

>>20944

I like that! I like it a lot!

However, the heads on the carts were all real human heads, and they unmistakably came from the bodies one would assume they would have come from. There is no room for mistaken identity here! (Or tricky dicky wordplay.)

I know this one's worded a bit weird but I couldn't think of another way to put it. Simply put - no deceptions here. Really was their heads.

>>20945
Alright, fine. I'll Let It Die on PS4 by Suda51.

Let's see what else we have here...

Bet 1 chip

While no master key exists, there exist keys that are used or can be used to open more than one door.

>>20946

Every door has one key and only one key that can be used to lock or unlock it. Conversely, a key can be used on only one door. In other words, no two doors that both share a single key for whatever reason and no multiple keys that can lock/unlock one door. This even applies to the library, since one key actually locks the door, while the other sets the latch.

And now, to seal it all up, no duplicate keys exist!

Alright, I think I've got something. Not something in game, but a way to play by the rules while also confirming a key thing I've wanted to confirm this whole time.

Bet: 3 chips
The culprit is dead by the final line of the story

Bet: 3 chips
The culprit physically shot Jessica and Nanjo. In person,
no automated traps or tricks or the like.

>>20958
I see no reason to contest.

PASS
PASS

Last edited at 17/10/22(Sun)00:25:19

>>20959
Alright, now to take a gamble and go...

Bet: 2

Shannon's suspicion of Battler at the end is intrinsically linked to the culprit's motive.

>>20960

Bit... abstract. If you're saying that the killer's ultimate motive had been to make Shannon suspect Battler - that is not the case. The culprit's motive for the massacre had nothing to do with making Shannon suspect Battler as a killer. For that matter, the killer's motive for the killings had nothing to do with Shannon ultimately disliking or suspecting Battler.

One could argue that, assuming Battler is innocent, the killer had constructed the final closed room for the sake of Shannon suspecting Battler, which is fair enough. But as far as your blue suggesting that it was the ultimate motive behind everything - no, that was not it.

Last edited at 17/10/22(Sun)08:05:06

Looks like I'm doing this now... rip.

Bet: 1 chip
Kinzo's death/people vanishing:
The culprit's body was still inside the study.
In other words - no issue with everything being found blocked/locked.

>>21116
I see no reason to deny you something like that. Have it your way, for now.

PASS

This is the part where you realize where the real gamble in all of this lies.

Bet 2 chips:
Kanon's locked room:
The culprit put the key inside the box after breaking into the room. The whole burning contraption was a distraction so they'd have time for it.

>>21118
Wouldn't that just be lovely?

The key to Natsuhi and Krauss' room was already in Natsuhi and Krauss' room by the time the group had reached the door.

Last edited at 17/11/07(Tue)15:01:05

Well that doesn't rule out it was put into the box after they broke in, so my blue is still valid. They put it into the room via some other, imprecise way beforehand, like through the gap under the door or through a window which they then closed from outside. Then when inside the room, they picked it up and put it into the box.

>>21120
The key to Natsuhi and Krauss' room was in the box it was found in by the time the group arrived at the door to Krauss and Natsuhi's room. This, of course, refers to the moment before the door was broken down.

Bet 1 chip
The old windows can just be closed from outside.

>>21122
You live in false hope.

The windows - all windows - must be closed from the inside. Which is to say, no outside force can close any of the windows.

Saying it for all windows? How generous.
...I mean, I could have guessed as much, but to some degree certainty seems important in this game.

Bet 2 chips
A window was closed by some contraption on the inside after the culprit left.
I hope you won't only let it count if I get the exact specifics right, but here's my take:
A weight was attached to the window closest to the corpse-to-be-burnt. This weight pulled the frame down after the culprit left through it. This was done near the body, and whatever the weight was, it burned in the fire.

>>21124
I can accept that explanation for the time being.

PASS

Well no freaking idea how to approach the second locked room so let's just put that one off for later.

Bet 1 chip
The 'HA HA HA' had been written on the door before everyone grouped up, but wasn't yet visible when Shannon and George checked.
The culprit used some sort of trick paint to delay its visibility.

>>21126
The 'HA HA HA' had not existed on Kinzo's door when the door was looked at by Shannon and George as they searched the third floor! Of course, neither of the two could've written the text at the time without the other noticing!

Well damn, that one makes things a whole lot more complicated.
I'll uh, save that one for later as well.

Bet 1 chip
The skull key in the pot was not the same object as the key Battler found earlier.