1980

I walked down the hallway, humming a soft tune silently to myself as I dusted. I made sure to be very careful while I did this task. The feather duster would always cause me to sneeze if I wasn't careful. And for a maid, this was something that shouldn't be done. Madame would probably scold me if she knew this happened regularly.

“Shannon.” Speaking of, the madame.

I watched Natsuhi-sama walk up to me with a displeased look on her face. I could tell she was about to yell, so I braced for the insults.

“Shannon, would you please go a greet everyone when they arrive? Kumasawa can finish the dusting.”

“Yes, right away.” I stopped dusting and headed towards the door. I was actually really excited about greeting everyone, for I couldn't wait to see Battler-sama again this year. He was my crush, my love. Every year it came close to this time, I got excited, which unfortunately caused my work to feel even more methodical and to drag.

At the moment, Battler-sama didn't know I liked him. It was just a fantasy crush. Something that lived in my head. But soon, I decided I would tell him how I felt. Soon, I would tell him.

The day passed by normally. I stayed with milady, Battler-sama, and the one with the glasses. All the while, I stared at Battler-sama. I just stayed there. I tried to avoid talking as furniture should do, so I only spoke when spoken to. But how I dreamed I could talk more with Battler-sama.

When Battler left, he spoke words I swore unto my heart, so I would never forget them. “I'll come back for you riding on a white horse.”

It was exactly like in my fantasies, Battler-sama would come to my rescue clad in a knight armor and riding a noble white steed. It was a fantasy I always thought about while working, but never did I think it would actually be brought up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1986

I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was just dusting the picture hanging near Milady's door. And I heard it... Battler-sama was coming back.

Conflicting emotions erupted in me. I loved him... but now.. I also hate him. I hate him for building my hopes up, and then watching me fall. I hate how I was tossed aside like an old toy that he got tired of. It was if I didn't matter anymore, I was just...furniture...

I told myself I would forget about him, that he was just a distant memory. And before... it worked, but now... I told myself he died in a car accident 5 years ago, and that was the reason he didn't show up. It wasn't because he forgot about me, but because he was dead. But now that I know he is coming back, those illusions were broken. The shield I had created around my heart had been shattered to pieces.

The days passed agonizingly slow. As if I was on death row, slowly heading towards the guillotine. Each day was another step. Step after step, until finally I was standing on the platform. My head pressed down and the executioner standing above me. Battler-sama raised the giant cleaver into the air, and swung it down.

“Hey look, it's Shannon-chan. Hello Shannon-chan.”

I shook as he said those words. “.........Hello....Battler-sama....”

The atmosphere was thick and tight. All the yelling and screaming had finally stopped for the moment. A settlement had finally been reached. One we all had agreed to. After Aniki's situation was brought to light, things cooled down.

Things, however, were still not in the best of shapes, for it was now out in the open. We all need lots of money, and fast. So in the end, while we weren't fighting anymore... things were just as bad as though we were.

What would we be able to do if we still couldn't get any money? After a lengthy discussion, Father's epitaph was brought up. After a while, though, it was brushed off as silly nonsense.

However, later, Kyrie brought up the notion again. And soon we began trying to solve it. We skipped dinner, saying we weren't feeling well, and we continued trying to solve the puzzle of the epitaph. I once suggested that, maybe, we should get Battler and Ange and make it a family activity, but it was shot down, as was getting Erika and Will to help us.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we cracked the code, and we headed off to our reward. But we were in for a surprise. Rosa, Eva, and Hideyoshi were there as well. But it wasn't really a problem, as there was more than enough gold for all of us.

“What about Nii-san?” Rosa asked in a soft voice. “He is in trouble too.”

“Nii-san can fend for himself.” Aneki sharply commented back. “Relax, Rosa. I'm kidding. He'll get just enough to pay his debts, and not a yen more.”

We talked a while longer, before the ticking of the sound broke all thoughts. It really was a loud clock.

“What is this?” Kyrie commented to herself. “It looks like a bomb.”

“What?!” Rosa screamed.

“Don't worry, Rosa. I'm deactivating it.” Kyrie said as she started fiddling around with the clock.

We all decided we would leave the room for now and come back later, just before leaving. As we did, Aneki started laughing. “With this, all our problems are solved.”

I had just come down from Kinzo's study when I noticed Shannon-chan standing in the hallway. She seemed really nervous, so I went over and asked her what was wrong.

“Shannon-chan, is something the matter?”

She suddenly burst into tears. “Nanjo-sensei, I need your help. Will you help me?”

I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but I couldn't stand seeing a young girl like her cry her eyes out. So I agreed to help her without first even asking what she wanted my help with.

As we walked down the hallway, we bumped into Rudolf-san, Genji-san, Gohda-san, and Ange-chan. We started walking together. As the six of us walked down the hallway, we heard the sound of laughter.

“Where do you six think you are going?” The voice came from behind us.

We turned around and saw Beatrice, or at least someone who looked like her. I was in shock, but Shannon-chan acted right away.

“Everyone hurry! Follow me!” She shouted as she ran down the hallway. She quickly unlocked one of the rooms and ran inside, locking the door after all of us entered the room.

“This won't hold Beatrice-sama off for long.” Shannon-chan held out her hand and a glowing barrier appeared in front of the door and the windows.

“Sha-Shannon-chan what is that?” Gohda screamed in confusion.

“A shield, it should stop Beatrice-sama from entering.”

“Please Shannon, you think these worthless things can stop me? You're killing me.” In an instant, both shields crashed and shattered to pieces.

“Beatrice-sama, you promised. You said that if I broke this spirit mirror... I could.”

“Silence, furniture. I'm fickle. I don't have to keep my promises.”

“But Beatrice-sama?!”

“Arise.” Beatrice lifted her pipe, and goats appeared in the room. I didn't know what to do. I was frozen from shock and fear as the blades appeared on the goats' arms and butchered each of us into pieces.

Why am I even posting with this picture? Anyway what now?

A "traditional" gameboard at last. Would it be correct for me to assume that Meta-Battler is your opponent here?

Well, I look forward to spectating, at least.

>>687
Also, this is for you.

>>720

Nice job. Though only problem is you'd have to do that for each and every picture, that and it isn't really the full Justice suit. Sucks eh?

>>722
Technically I'd only have to do it once for every body pose. But I agree that it'd probably get a bit tiresome after a while.

>>722

>>812
There's a fun little feature in Photoshop that lets you save "actions" and reuse them as you wish. This can include making the changes, saving them, and then closing the picture.

>>812

It definitely would get tiring.

>>814

That's exactly my reaction. Where the fuck is Rosa?

>>814
>jaggies

>>815
That would be quite useful indeed if I was using Photoshop. Alas, GIMP is my image manipulator of choice. I'll see if it has anything similar.

What the hell is taking so long?

I shall proceed to complain and make you feel bad for making me wait.

>>974
Why must you act like a kid? Rosa put a lot of hard work into this, so waiting is the least you can do for such an exciting game, nya.

>>975

Why are you talking to me, mongrel?

>>976
B-Because you're there to talk to? Do I need a reason!?

>>977

Talk to yourself then, you aren't worth my time.

>>978
Why not? I entertained you before, don't even lie. You're just bored waiting for the game anyway.

>>979

Because I don't like people who betray my trust. Go find someone else to bug.

>>980
How did I do that...? I knew you hated me for some reason. You know I really really didn't mean to do that in any way.

>>981

Process of elimination. Now go bugger off.

>>982
...Explain further? That's not giving me much information..

>>983

Figure it out yourself. Now go drown in a sink I'm too busy.

>>984
Yeah you're real fucking busy just sitting here. And for your information, I didn't tell Bern anything serious. I just said you were upset and trying to cheer up Riri during that fiasco. You're the one who assumed I told her everything about your personal life for no reason. I'm not that cruel.

>>985

It doesn't even matter anymore, does it? You might not be cruel, but you are an idiot.

>>986
By ruining my friendship with you? I guess trying to have Bern fix things was a mistake. I didn't mean to upset you that bad though.

>>987

Things don't need to be fixed by people who aren't directly involved with a situation. You don't need to be a detective to figure that out. If for example John couldn't fix his marriage with his wife Jane, and he went to a therapist about it and asked the therapist to help him that would be the most idiotic thing to do. If you can't fix it yourself then you don't deserve to have it fixed at all.

>>988
However, a lot of people wanted it to be fixed. There were people scheming all kinds of shit behind the scenes besides me, and Bern let me in on it. We were just trying to control everything...and I did have you take the lead with Riri. Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter now.

Have fun with whatever you're doing, and I'm sorry for offending you.

>>989

Well see ya, I hope you drown in a pit of guilt....But I will say this. I don't remember why I hate you.

>>990
Believe me, you're not worth enough to guilt me. I miss how you used to relieve my boredom, but it can't be helped.

>>991

Why do I hate you again?

>>992
I dunno; why do you? Can't you remember?

>>993

My memory is slowly slipping away, so much sometimes I can't remember what I did the past few days.

Who knows? All I know is I have this feeling of hate and betrayal. Who knows why?

>>994
No way...really? That makes me curious. I'd like to talk to you more about it, but I have class now. Stupid fucking English.

Anyway see you later, if I'm lucky.

>>995

Suppose we'll discuss it. Hey? To be honest I can barely remember you, just that we talked. I forgot your name, I remember you have a sister. That's about it. Oh, you were like a nurse or something.

>>996
Damn...even when you were the very first person to figure it out and tell everyone?! Yeah I'm the retarded nurse, at least you got that right.

>>997

Oh right, Danny boy. I only remembered because it's a song on the piano.

Yup, still waiting, again. God damn this no-edit button bullshit.

>>1001
Rosa mentioned she had some writing assignments to do, so she wouldn't be around for today at least.

>>1002

Well shit, it'd be nice if he told me. When I was told about it I thought it was going to be like a "I already have it made, just need someone to solve it". I didn't know I was going to be waiting a week or so for it. Well I shouldn't expect much from someone who hangs around /seacats/. Well whatever, I'm not going to keep checking so if he's ever done he can contact me via Kinjo.

>>1003
>Well I shouldn't expect much from someone who hangs around /seacats/.
>kinjo

My attention span is too short for this mystery. Someone summarize it for me in three sentences or less.

After getting fed up, I decided to finally analyze the story. After doing so I have found the culprit, or so I believe. 75% sure. Either way.

The culprit is Battler.

>>1006

With that said, if you look at the story closely and in accordance to the rules you can fully see why Battler is the culprit. If he is not the culprit then you are misleading the reader instead of tricking the detective and then the reader by proxy. Either way I've grown bored of waiting and so anyone else can take my spot.