Part 54: Devil's Proof

October 5th, 1986, 1:17 PM



BGM: Dead Angle

"Aaah, Shannon! Thank goodness you're safe...! If something had happened to you, I...!"
"...George-sama... uuuuugh..."
"George-kun, be quiet for a second! A murder occurred before your very eyes, right?! Did you see the culprit?! Or not?!!"
"Th, that is, umm... how should I explain...?! G, Genji-san."
"...Even we cannot explain what we saw very well."
"It certainly, umm, happened right before our eyes! It was right in front of my eyes! However, that, umm... what was it... Even I do not understand!"
"What are you saying?! It's impossible for you to have met anyone other than the witch, Beatrice, whose location has been unknown since yesterday, or Kanon-kun, who has gone missing! Was it a man or a woman?! You should be able to tell me at least that much, right?!"
"Aunt Rosa, calm down a bit...! Anyone would be confused if two people were taken out right in front of them! Gohda-san, Genji-san. There's no need to rush. Tell us what happened, one at a time."
"...About that... how should I say it..."
"..."



...And it seemed that it had occurred in front of these people's eyes. But even so, they spoke awkwardly. They admitted that they had definitely seen the crime with their own eyes. But when asked to explain what they had seen, their mouths went suddenly shut. I could understand why Aunt Rosa was irritated and flaring up...

"...Shannon. Did you see it? When Doctor Nanjo was attacked."
"Y, ...yes."
"Tell me. Just what you understand. What in the world happened?"
"...Came... to the back door."
"...Th, that's right. Someone came up to the back door. Then, wondering who it was, I opened the door..."
"Someone at the back door? Who was it?!"
"Let them finish! And after that?!"
"...That person was... stained with blood, and had a large wound. We carried that person to the servants' room, and Doctor Nanjo immediately began first aid. It was, a very deep wound."
"Like I said, who are you talking about?!"



In a manner that didn't match his large body, Gohda held his head and scratched at it... I didn't have a clue whether he was confused because he couldn't remember, or whether he was confused because he had seen something terrifying, and couldn't accept it. And Shannon looked the same way. If she let her guard down, what she had seen just a short while ago would quickly melt away like a daydream, and she wouldn't be able to remember what she saw. That's what she looked like.

Only Genji looked composed as usual. So the questions were naturally focused on Genji. However, even Genji took quite some time before he opened his mouth, and had to gather his thoughts.

"Genji-san. You saw it, right? Who was the person that came in through the back door?!"
"...At first... I believed that person, was Kanon."
"You see!! He was alive after all! My reasoning was correct!!"
"...By 'at first', you mean that your impression changed later, right...?"
"Yes. I cannot explain with words what happened after that. He killed Doctor Nanjo and Kumasawa, then disappeared. At that time, he was definitely not Kanon..."
"Yes! That's right! It's just as Genji-san says!! You really couldn't explain it with words!"
"...Do you have the same opinion?"
"...Yes... I also... can only say the same thing..."
"..."

...If we interpreted what they were saying favorably, it meant that Aunt Rosa's conclusion had been correct from the beginning.



Then, something terrifying had happened. Since these people couldn't imagine that Kanon-kun could have pulled it off, they had started to suspect whether that really had been Kanon-kun. Is that how things are? In other words, this means... Kanon-kun had appeared. No matter how confused they were, no matter how they muddled their words, that's what it meant in the end.

So just as Aunt Rosa thought, Kanon-kun had used some trick to escape that room while it was locked?! No, that doesn't matter anymore. The real problem is that Doctor Nanjo and Kumasawa-san were killed. Aunt Rosa had claimed that Kanon-kun was behind this from the very beginning. No matter how confused they became and no matter how much they tried to deny it, they were half-way saying that it was the truth. But even so, for some reason, I felt like their awkwardness couldn't be explained just by confusion...

...What had they seen?

Like they said, had they really seen something unexplainable with words...?



I was also interested in that. Even if these people didn't have a clue what was going on in their confusion, if those of us who hadn't been at the scene calmly looked at the corpses, we might find something. But it was a little surprising that Aunt Rosa was also concerned about the bodies, just like I was. Even at this point, I still wanted to expose the culprit and the truth myself, if we could find any clues.

But Aunt Rosa should have been different. Hadn't Aunt Rosa's plan given a higher priority to staying safe than to finding the culprit? I couldn't really see why Aunt Rosa would go to all the trouble of leaving our barricade in the parlor because she wanted to check the bodies.

"We will all go to the servants' room together. If we all move together, it'll be safe. Maria, stop playing with scribbles!"
"Uu-. Not scribble-s. Solving Beatrice's proble-m. Uu-..."
"Beatrice's problem? What's that, tell me too."
"...Aunt Rosa. Are you, umm, bringing Maria-chan too?"

It seemed that George-aniki was against the idea of bringing Maria to the bloody crime scene. But taking into consideration the fact that Maria would be left alone here, it would surely be much safer if we took Maria with us. In the end, it was just Aniki's irresponsible humanism. We decided that all of us, including Maria, would go to the servants' room.



...No, not just the bed. The whole room was covered with a gruesome paint from countless blood stains. That dreadful scene alone was enough to give us an idea of the repulsive sight they had been trying to describe...

"...Uu-. Maria also loo-k!"
"Maria-chan, wait here with me."

George-aniki was standing by the entrance, covering Maria's eyes, with his back to the room. He probably didn't want to dirty an innocent girl's retinas with the repulsive blood in this room. That was surely the correct decision. I was acting tough right now, so I didn't mind... but for the rest of my life, whenever I see red paint scattered around, I'll probably remember this room and start to vomit. My retinas already had this room burned into them. In other words, it was too late for me...

"...Huh..."



BGM: Stupefaction

Right after they entered the servants' room, Gohda-san and Shannon-chan trembled. We shook, wondering what horrible new situation had arisen to make them tremble again.

"What happened? What is it?"
Aunt Rosa also shuddered, raised her gun high, and searched for whatever it was that had made them shudder. But she couldn't find it.

...It was only natural. They were trembling because they couldn't find it.

"Hey, what in the world's going on..."



"What does this mean?"
"...Th, that can't be...! Those two were definitely, here...!"
"...Wait wait wait. What the hell, are you saying the corpses just walked off somewhere? That couldn't happen, right? I mean, wasn't the servants' room locked? Didn't you unlock the door when you came in just now, Gohda-san?!"
"...What does that mean? Isn't this the same as Jessica's room?! They've disappeared from inside a closed room again?! That's ridiculous!!"
"I don't have a clue what happened either!! When we left this room, we definitely locked it...!! I don't have a clue what's going on anymore...!!"

There was a timid and pitiful smile on Gohda-san's face that he definitely wouldn't have let show normally. Shannon was the same.

"Two corpses disappeared! And furthermore, they disappeared while the door was locked! Even if Kanon-kun was the culprit, he shouldn't be holding a master key anymore!!"
"That's wrong...! Kanon-kun is not the culprit...!!"
"...Shannon... I believe Shannon. Kanon-kun is not the culprit. This is definitely the work of someone who looks a lot like him."
"No. Kanon-kun did not have the master key. After all, his master key was found in the pocket of Jessica-chan's corpse. And, who took that key?"
"!! Th, that's right! It was Doctor Nanjo...!!"



Then, if they'd had the opportunity to search Doctor Nanjo's corpse, it would have been easy to take the master key back...

Aunt Rosa searched under the bed and in the locker. By now, I also understood what that meant. If you assume that there were two culprits, it could be easily explained. The first person was Kanon-kun, or maybe an impostor that looked like him. He had finished off Doctor Nanjo and ran off somewhere.

The second person was... probably the 19th person, Beatrice, whose location was unknown. That person had hidden under the bed in the servants' room beforehand, and while Doctor Nanjo's body had been enshrined here, that person had waited for Genji-san and the rest to leave. Then later, they had crawled out, taken the master key back from Doctor Nanjo's pocket, and carried the two corpses away for some reason. If they had then locked the door with the master key, this closed room would be created.



"...If the culprit had taken the master key back by the method you say, that culprit would have to know that Nanjo had taken the master key from Jessica's body."
"...You don't have to tell me that... You're probably trying to say that it's information only the people in that place, at that time, could know..."
"...Heh! This third closed room was crushed so fast that you can't do anything but say that sarcastically. There's no art in repeating the same content..."

Even though I was bluffing, that move of the witch's hurt bad... I realized I was cracking under the thing I wanted to deny the most.

This person's trying to close in on me from two directions. On the one hand, there's the frontal attack, where she tries to force me to believe there's a witch using closed room tricks that only a witch could do. And on the other hand, there's the rear attack, where she tries to lure me into thinking it would be better if there was a witch by strengthening my suspicions of those close to me.

In the first closed room, the chapel, she had used the frontal attack, but it hadn't worked on me. So by the second closed room, and now on the third closed room, she was definitely changing the direction of her attack... However, the fact that she was changing the direction of her attack also proved that my resistance was working a little. And she had surely given up on the frontal attack because she clearly couldn't win with it... I tried to force myself to accept my own position by thinking that. But it seemed that the witch had seen through these thoughts of mine long ago.

"*cackle*cackle*. The frontal attack is not lacking. The rear attack only has meaning because it advances at the same time as the front attack. If I were to degenerate into only using the rear attack, it would be nothing more than a foolish plan occurring when my means became my goal."
"...Ihihi, really? Well then, won't you repeat 'someone was hiding in the servants' room' in that red you're so proud of?"
"There is no need. The premise of your reasoning will be destroyed starting now."
"Oh, oh?! You refuse?! So someone really is hiding?!"
"Rosa will destroy your premise starting now. *cackle*cackle*! Well, let's try listening in."



Aunt Rosa began to search through various objects around the room, her back to Gohda-san as he cried out in supplication. Eventually, she found something, and for a while, stopped moving.

"Rosa-sama, we definitely aren't lying...!! The two corpses were definitely here!!"
"Be quiet. The person who hid the corpses is confessing that they took the corpses to another place. With this."



BGM: Witch of the Painting

"What on Earth is that?! It couldn't be... a letter in a sealed envelope, just like in the chapel?!"
"...Yes, that's right. It was set here, out in the open. I'll read it."







ﾂ猶eople of the Ushiromiya family.
I wonder if your attempts at solving the epitaph riddle for the gold are reaching a climax.
Solving the riddle of the epitaph is the single method by which you can stop me.
You will not be able to stop me, or this ritual, by way or any other method of any kind.
I ask all of you to take care not to mistake your goal.
Attempting to search for me is useless.
Attempting to escape from me is useless.
Attempting to deny me is useless.

ﾂ唯eatrice the Golden

"...P.S. I borrowed two corpses for the ritual. I'll return them later, so please forgive me. Furthermore, since these keys belong to all of you, I'm returning them."

As Rosa read that aloud, the contents of the envelope lay exposed on the palm of her hand.



Video: Battler's Brave Counterattack



BGM: Organ Short #600 Million in C Minor

"I haven't said it in red, alright...? I haven't denied the possibility that after they locked the door and left, someone was hiding in this room, alright...? *cackle*cackle*cackle*!"
"...If they were hiding under the bed, that doesn't necessarily mean that they wouldn't be able to carry the bodies away somewhere. But that way they couldn't lock the door! The master key they went to all that trouble to get their hands on was set down right here!"
"...That's right, I'd forgotten. What about the original key to this room, the 'keys to the servants' room'?!"



"Which means that the situation hasn't changed at all since the time with the key to Jessica's room... It's not like the servants would walk around with an unnecessary key when they have those convenient master keys. I can accept that they're all kept in the key box..."
"And nothing has changed in the other conditions. Entry or exit is impossible except for the single door and single window. Therefore, hidden doors and irregular methods of entry are denied. Rejoice, great detectives. *cackle*!"
"And those were both locked. The door and the window do not permit any kind of entry or exit when they are locked. So it wouldn't work to remove the door and make a crack to slide in through or anything like that while the lock is still on. And obviously, it is impossible to unlock the door without a key to the servants' room or the master key."
"...It's a pain having to read all these aloud every time. Sooner or later, I should think of a word to put this all together and abbreviate it."
"But you can't repeat that someone was hiding in this room! However, that alone won't break open the door of a closed room... Aaah, damn it, damn it!! It's no good, no good, no goddamn good at all...!"
"*cackle*cackle*! What happened to that turning over the chessboard thing that you're so proud of...? Please, announce your boastful strange theory."
"...Turn over, the chessboard. What would I do if I were the culprit? I carry the corpses off somewhere. I leave a letter. I lock the door from the inside. Then I just have to escape this room by some means. Damn it, is that even possible?! I was told in red that you can't get outside except by the door or the window...! ...ah-"



...Carry the corpses, leave the letter. And not relying on a hidden door, in other words, not even able to escape...

...That's it. This isn't a question, it's an answer...



"What have you thought of? Very well, I'll explain. A hidden door refers to an entrance or exit that cannot be recognized by those who do not know of it. Even children know that."



BGM: Melody (instrumental)

"Hoh... Here it comes."
"I kept thinking that it was something that let the culprit escape the closed room... That's wrong. Even the culprit couldn't escape the closed room! So the culprit decided to hide until we passed by!"

For the second closed room, I had used this theory to reason that Kanon-kun might have done this. But I had given up that reasoning when I had been told 'Kanon-kun was killed' in red. And next, I had guessed that there had been three people and that it was possible that they had escaped through a hidden door. And then, for the first time, the claim had been made in red that 'no hidden doors exist'. And what I'd learned just now. These 'hidden doors' the witch was talking about referred to things that made it possible to get into or out of the room.

...In other words, things that didn't permit entry or exit to the outside, and also wouldn't be noticed by people who didn't know about them, wouldn't fall under the definition of 'hidden door'.



In other words, the third person in Jessica's room was hiding here, waiting for us to pass by! Heh, how pathetic, just a little playing around with words! Looks like even this third closed room in the servants' room will be handled by this method. If there's a hidden shelf under the bed or anything like that, that would be enough. The culprit's hiding somewhere, waiting for us to leave. The culprit is also trapped in the closed room even now!!

Which means... this very moment! The culprit is still hiding in the servants' room, holding their breath...!!!

Which means... what the hell... Even though I was tortured with closed rooms three times... in this very moment, we've actually gotten the culprit in checkmate!!



"Repetition requested! 'There is no one in this room other than us'! By us, I mean me, George-aniki, Maria, Aunt Rosa, Genji-san, Gohda-san, and Shannon-chan, alright?! What do you think?!! You can't say it, right?!"
"...Hoh... hoh...!"
"I'll bet I hit you where it hurts!! If you refuse, then say you refuse, damn it!!"
"Here comes the next one!! Repetition requested!!!"

I don't know how they're hiding in this room. But if that's a fact, then this also resolves the second closed room, Jessica's room at the same time!! I've finally caught her by the tail! With this, I can explain everything! Witches don't exist, I don't have to doubt anyone!!






BGM: Organ Short #600 Million in C Minor

"...Wha..."
"Let's go back to Jessica's room. When Jessica's corpse was discovered, only Battler, George, Maria, Rosa, Genji, Gohda, Shannon, Kumasawa, and Nanjo were in Jessica's room. Whoops, the corpse of Jessica is also included. Therefore, both in the case of Jessica's room and the case in this servants' room, no humans exist that you were not aware of. No one is hiding."
"And I'll say more. No method exists by which the door can be locked from the outside without using a key. Regarding the window, no method exists by which it could somehow be locked from the outside."





"D, dumbaaaaass... So, it's really... a closed room, isn't it... I... it was so hard to think of, too. If you had been hiding... that explanation would fit everything. Just when I thought I'd broken the trick... damn iiit..."
"...u... uooooooooooooooo ooooooohhh!!"

It's useless it's useless it's useless it's all useless!! For a second, I thought I'd had it! It was all useless!! Beatrice, you bastard, you spoke in riddles by playing around with words and skillfully using the red, and you probably saw through me, realizing that you could skillfully trick me...!! Just when I thought I'd seen a light in the darkness, ...it disappeared, it just disappeared, swallowed up by a blood-red sea...! Red... redredredred!!



Have you just proven that it's all impossible?! Has the Devil's Proof... been fulfilled... with a frontal attack?! Impossible... this is impossible!!



"Yes, that's a really wonderful method. Truly wonderful how you tried to make me fall over laughing and drown in a sea from the tears of my own laughter. That's what you were really trying to do, right? You were trying to make me laugh and laugh and laugh myself to death, right, Ushiromiya Battleeer???"
"Magic?! I'll definitely deny witches exist!! I definitely won't believe in you!! You used the power of magic, and bullied and killed everyone for fun? I definitely won't accept thaaaaaaaat!!"
"Hey, Battler? Sorry for bullying you too much. I'll 'turn the chessboard over' from my side. I'll teach your side the best move in your place. Want to heeeeeaar??"
"Don't screw with me, I don't want to hear, I don't want to hear!!"
"The case in Jessica's room. You really struck on a good spot, right...? Trying to hide and wait for you to pass by. That truly was a good observation."
"...But why did you think that could only be Kanon or me, the 19th person...? I see, the 'hide' part of hide and wait for you to pass must have gotten in the way, so you didn't think that far."



If Jessica were the culprit, a farce like this could be easily constructed!! She killed Kanon-kun, and carried him off somewhere! Then, she played dead and let us walk by!

But that's ridiculous!! Doctor Nanjo had definitely checked that she was dead! So was Doctor Nanjo an accomplice too?! That's wrong!! I had also made sure that Jessica was really dead! Of course, I'd never performed an autopsy before, but she was definitely dead! I think she was dead!! No, that's probably surely definitely what I thought but certainly wait... she was dead!! She was dead!!!

"Jessica was also an accomplice. And Nanjo, who performed the autopsy, was also an accomplice. *cackle*cackle*cackle*cackle* *cackle*cackle*cackle*!! Then the third closed room was a faaaarce."

Yeah, then it's simple. Doctor Nanjo was an accomplice so in other words, he was on the culprits side in other words in other words, so he hadn't been killed in the first place?! We only thought the body disappeared because he had been killed, but he wasn't in the servants' room in the first place?! Then is Kumasawa baa-chan, who disappeared with him, also an accomplice?!

That's not all that's not all! The servants who had prepared this story beforehand, Genji-san and Gohda-san, and even Shannon-chan were accomplices! Then, the one who stole the key from Maria's handbag was Jessica, no no, it's also possible it was George-aniki! After all, if Shannon-chan was on the culprit's side, then George-aniki would automatically be on the culprit's side!!



Not only am I drowning in an ocean of bright-red blood, there are packs of wolves clamoring on the banks, whose blazing eyes tell me that if I crawl out, they'll eat me!! Which way should I die?! Will I deny everything and drown in a bright-red sea?! Will I know the truth, and have my whole body chewed to bits by the wolves?! It's either one hell or the other!! I can't choose! Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!

Part 55: Devil's Proof II

"Wha...? What, are you saying...?"
"Those two that you kept saying were dead aren't here. And now we have the letter from Beatrice, where she was kind enough to confess that she carried the corpses off."



BGM: System 0

As Aunt Rosa yelled this, she looked over at everyone with a harsh expression.

"F, farce, you say... what do you mean...?!"
"I said it in Jessica-chan's room. You can't trust anyone but yourself and those whose corpses have been found. And since we cannot find the corpses, there's no reason we should accept that those two were killed."
"...P, please wait, Aunt Rosa. What do you mean by that...?!"



"How could you know that?! Are you saying that Gohda-san and the rest are lying?!"
"...Rosa-sama!! I, Gohda, no, all of the Ushiromiya family servants! We all swear that nothing of the sort happened!!"
"You all say that those two were killed. But since there are no corpses, there's no reason to believe that. There's a chance that you worked out a story beforehand, and that you're lying about that!!"
"There's a good way to prove your innocence, isn't there? Find Doctor Nanjo's and Kumasawa-san's bodies!!"
"If you can find them, then maybe I'll start listening to your story. But until you do, you cannot deny that you are all wolves!!"



"Rosa-sama...!! We... couldn't have!"
"Be silent! And Shannon, don't get any closer!! I can't believe that you would repay a ten-year long debt of gratitude with betrayal!! I'll pull the trigger without mercy!!"
"How... how could you... it's too... cruel..."
"...R, Aunt Rosa!! That's horrible!! A murder occurred in this room! Then the culprit carried the corpses away! They are only honestly reporting that to us!!"
"...Wha... Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Shannon had finally broken down in tears...



...And she had believed that she had built up a friendly relationship with Rosa. And this was how she was treated!! You could kill a person without using a knife...

It wasn't just George-aniki... even I could recognize that Shannon-chan had been stabbed deep into her heart, as blood by the name of tears flowed out...

"Shannon-san, stay back... Rosa-sama, it is true that I, Gohda, have not served for many years, and I understand that I have not earned your trust..."
"...However... could you not at least believe Shannon-san...?! She has sacrificed a full 10 years of service to the Ushiromiya family...! I'm not telling you to believe me...! At the very least, would you at least believe Shannon-san...?!!"

...But... I don't understand anymore!! I don't understand!! We can't demand an answer from them without suspecting them!!!

That's it, bit by bit I'm starting to understand... It's because we demanded an answer, that's why everything keeps getting stranger...



...Isn't that... good enough... I don't... want to suspect... anyone anymore...

Shannon-chan and Gohda-san were protesting their innocence, half-crying. Genji-san quietly stopped that.



That's right. By Rosa-san's argument, if the corpses could be found, then the innocence of only those people could be proved. But only the people who were corpses. Even if they searched around the mansion and found the corpses, in the end, their own innocence would not be proved.

They had kidnapped Doctor Nanjo and Kumasawa-san, killed them in another place, and locked the closed room with their own master keys. Unless the closed room could be broken by a method other than that one, it would be impossible to prove their innocence... But, that couldn't be done!! They only have one chance to prove their innocence. That can only happen when they meet with the culprit, become corpses, and are reunited with Aunt Rosa.

Isn't that strange?!! Innocent if they die, guilty as long as they are alive, almost like a witch's trial! Oh, right, the enemy's a witch. So everything's OK...?



BGM: Moon

"You really are a model servant. I truly understand why Father trusts you. It is truly heartrending that I must suspect even you."
"..."

Genji-san stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a master key. Then he set it on a nearby table.

"...I believe that I have been entrusted with this as a proof of trust. If that has been lost, I think it is only natural that I return it."
"...That's a good judgment. Those master keys are the greatest basis upon which you have been suspected several times today. It may seem elementary that letting go of those might clear away that suspicion, but, sorry, it won't."
"...You two."

Genji-san looked at Gohda-san and Shannon-chan. The two of them nodded, and set their own master keys onto the table. Aunt Rosa lay the two master keys that had come out of the envelope on top. With that, all five master keys were gathered in this place.



"Maria, give me that handbag."
"...Uu-! Give it ba-ck!!"

Aunt Rosa snatched Maria's handbag, tossed the master keys in there, and pointed at one of them inside. She was announcing that she had all of the master keys.

"A... are you satisfied now, Aunt Rosa? Now, you are holding all of the master keys. Doesn't this satisfy you?!!"
"Yes, I'm satisfied. Even if I can't trust anyone, I can at least trust myself!"





At that time, Maria, who had looked like a spectator off by herself, sneered at her mother. Aunt Rosa reacted nervously to that laugh, and turned around.

"...Keys don't have anything to do with this. Beatrice can open doors with magic. She doesn't need keys. It doesn't matter who has or doesn't have something like that. Kihihihihihihihihihihihihihi...!"
"Don't I always tell you to stop laughing like that!! ...? Wha-t is it, Battler-kun?"

...I had just cut between the two of them. No, that's not it.



"Just... stop it already, Aunt Rosa... Maria was, right..."
"...Wh, what are you talking about...?"
"...Maria... I'm sorry for doubting. I'm sorry for... not believing."
"...Battler."
"It was all... the witch's doing... The witch's... doing... All that stuff about tricks and closed rooms didn't matter... It's just, it's just... that the witch Beatrice actually exists... and she's really a witch... Because, I didn't believe that... it was this painful... this sad..."
"...Battler... believes in Beatrice...?"



"Battler..."

Maria let go of my hand... and then she was the one holding my head.

"...That's enough, Battler. Beatrice, 'existed'. Battler, really couldn't believe that, so couldn't see her. The witch 'exists'. 'Exists'. Will soon 'come'.
"...Battler believed in Beato, so will surely be invited to the Golden Land. Very soon. It will be very soon. So there's nothing to be afraid of anymore. Not afraid, right? Always be together with Maria, hands joined, alright...? Let's solve the riddle of the epitaph together. Let's think about Beato's problem. Beato has been saying it from the beginning. She hasn't said anything other than let's play and solve the problem."
"Right... she did... Searching for the culprit was just a waste of time... If only we had... just believed in... the witch..."

After softly brushing my cheek as my tears kept dripping down, Maria kissed my forehead, as soft as a feather. For just that instant, Maria's smile, which I had once thought was creepy, looked like an angel...



"...You truly are an admirable person. When the typhoon passes, if the cries of the seagulls return to this island again... I wonder if we will be able to trust each other again."
"...If you were to grant us your trust once again, there would be no greater pleasure."
"I see. We'll definitely be able to understand each other. When the seagulls cry."
"...It would probably be better if we left this room as it is until the police come. Rosa-sama. If you would please lock it. We will return to the kitchen. If you need anything, please command us at any time."
"Thank you. If you are a wolf, how shamelessly you speak. And if you are a sheep, I'm sorry for throwing you into the cage of wolves."
"...Furniture entrusts its fate to the family. If it comes to throwing away this life, if by that, Rosa-sama's trust could be regained, it would be a great honor."
"...I hope that you can remain healthy until the typhoon passes, if that is at all possible. This is all a rhapsody of blowing winds and pouring rain performed by the typhoon. When the performance ends, the curtain closes, and we will surely be able to grasp hands together again."



Aunt Rosa nodded in response... Genji-san turned on his heels. He left the servants' room.

Gohda-san's face was still streaked with tears, but as he had listened to Genji-san's words, maybe he had managed to sort out his heart. His face had been truly shameful, but it had returned to the face of the Gohda-san we knew well.



"...Thank you. I can't wait for your breakfast tomorrow. And the boat will probably come by midday tomorrow. Thanks for everything up until now. Your cooking was my only pleasure on Rokkenjima."
"...Certainly. I, Gohda, will prepare a supreme breakfast. Please, look forward to tomorrow morning."
"Thank you... And Shannon-chan. Tomorrow morning, let's make up, drinking some delicious coffee."
"..."
"...? George-kun?"



"...It's alright, George-sama... Please, return to the parlor. There are no more master keys anymore. So if you are with Rosa-sama in the parlor, you won't be threatened by anyone."
"That's right. That's how things are. Objectively speaking, I think that being with me in the parlor would be the safest."
"...But I won't force you to stay with us. George-kun, you may stay in any place you feel is safe. You are already an adult. It's up to you where and with whom you spend the time until tomorrow morning."
"...Yes. I will decide... who I'll spend the night with."
"A, Aniki..."
"Battler-kun, stay with Aunt Rosa in the parlor. I'm sure that's safest. Compared to that, I think being outside the parlor isn't safe. So I can't leave her in a place like that alone."
"...It's... not like I suspect Shannon-chan and the other servants... no, anyone at all... I don't want to suspect anyone... The inheritance? The gold? That's just stupid... There's no way people are killing each other over that..."
"Yes. I know better than anyone how pure your heart is, Battler-kun. No one will blame you. No one."
"...Anikii..."
"...It's alright. Maria will protect Battler. If he's with Maria, even Beatrice can't lay a hand on him. Because even though Maria's small, she's a witch."
"Yes. Maria-chan. I'm leaving Battler in your care. Alright, Shannon. Let's go."
"Yes... Rosa-sama, if you would excuse me. If you have an order, please call me at any time."
"...I'm sorry for saying something so cruel just now. I don't expect you to forgive me until tomorrow morning. But when tomorrow morning comes, let me apologize again."
"Yes... Thank you very much."



Now, only Maria, Aunt Rosa and I were left in this disgusting, bloodstained room. Until Genji-san disappeared, until Gohda-san disappeared, until George-aniki and Shannon-chan disappeared, we stood there, shocked...



BGM: None



That one sentence made me choke.

"...Wh... why are you... saying... something like that...?"



BGM: Prison Strip

"Th... that's not true, right...? B... by setting down those keys... they weren't just letting go of the keys... You've... made all their hard work count for nothing, disgraced it, trampled it... And in the end, you made them give up the keys..."
"What's with that parting line... They've shown that they're willing to go this far, and you still can't trust them?! Too much... that's just too much...!"
"It's a Devil's Proof! There are five master keys in all?! It's impossible to prove something like that!! You can show that there are five master keys by placing them here! But you can't prove that no more than five exist!! Only a demon or a witch could prove something like that, right?!"



"Please, Beatrice, show yourself right now, and tell Rosa in red that 'there are only five master keys'!! Please, for heaven's sake, this can only be proved by devils, a witch like you could prove it! Please, Beato, show yourself here and tell Rosa that those are all of the master keys, and that there's no need to suspect anyone anymore...!!!"



"*cackle*, whatever could be wrong? No matter how often I say it, it won't reach Rosa. Somehow, it seems that some people still exist that deny me, so she can't hear, right? Ushiromiya Battleeeeeeeer???"
"I accept it!! I accept it, you exist you exist you definitely exist! So for heaven's sake, stop this already!! Stop it already! Stop it already!! Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!"
"Your words alone will not reach me, show it with your actions. Swear from your heart that you will become my furniture."
"Can you do it? Take off your clothes, be naked, then put your hands together and crawl on the ground. Clothing is proof of one's humanity. From now on, you will become furniture, so it's only natural that you will lose that right!!"
"Then kneel, make your tongue crawl on my shoes. Can you do it? You can do it, riiiiiiiight?? When you do, I'll appear and say it in red! I'll tell Rosa that there are only five master keys!!"
"Oh, but I understand, there's no way you would throw away your lordly pride. But that's alright, that's more than enough, you're starting to waver a bit, aren't you? For just an instant, you though maybe it would be alright to lick my shoes, didn't you? And you immediately denied that and felt ashamed, riiiiight?? Just looking at that expression makes me feel just wooonderful!!"