Part 81: The Key to the Golden Land

October 5th, 1986, 9:00 AM



Maria got bored and started complaining that she wanted to watch TV. There was no TV in the lobby, so she decided to return to the cousins' room on the second floor. The adults probably wanted to make sure Maria wasn't left on her own...

They told all the children to go to the second floor cousins' room. George, who was grief-stricken by the loss of his fiancﾃｩe, led the cousins up to the second floor without any resistance. At first, Nanjo had been reading a book in the lobby, but when he noticed the relatives looking like they wanted to discuss something sinister, he said 'It seems I am in the way...' and returned to his room on the second floor.



BGM: Minute Darkness

"It's only natural. We didn't get any sleep at all last night."
"...We will probably end up being barricaded here for a full 24 hours. It may be wiser to take naps in turn instead of over-stressing ourselves."
"True. My husband and I will remain here, so I ask that anyone having trouble staying awake take it easy and rest."
"Our opponent might be expecting that, right? Even if they couldn't defeat this many people, if that number shrinks enough, they may plan to use that moment to strike."
"There are seven of us here, so we could take three-hour shifts in pairs. Tomorrow morning's a long way off. We still have some energy now, but tonight's going to be tough."
"Sure will. Anyone sleepy? Don't overdo it, and get some rest."

Hideyoshi looked around at everyone to see who wanted to sleep first, but no one volunteered. Everyone was just as tired, but no one was bold enough to go to sleep right away. Their fear of the unknown culprit was just as strong as their sleepiness.

"...Nobody? Well, don't overdo it, everyone."
"If we get tired, we'll deal with it then. I'll admit I'm sleepy, but I'm not in the mood now."

As Eva spoke sharply, she reread the second letter from Beatrice, which had been found in the boiler room.



And she'd even provoked them by saying she'd give up her assets and the Headship if they could solve it... Eva took out a notebook and opened it to a page with the epitaph copied onto it.

"...Is this that epitaph?"
"Yes. I hate doing what the culprit says, but we do have time to waste. I think it's the perfect way to stave off boredom."
"...Not a bad way to kill time. Why don't we challenge it together as siblings?"
"...Can I borrow that? I'll rewrite it just a little larger. Natsuhi-san, do you have a slightly larger piece of paper?"
"There should be paper in the servant room. I will bring some."

Natsuhi immediately brought a blank B4 sheet of paper from the servant room. Kyrie borrowed Eva's notebook, wrote out the epitaph on the paper, and laid it out on the table. Then, everyone quickly peered down at it. They automatically formed a crowd.

"I've heard about it, but, really, this is a tough riddle. I don't have a clue what it's talkin' about."
"At one point, I also did my best to solve it, but I was just as clueless."
"If you did know, you wouldn't have come all the way out here with a plan to make money. After all, it's 10 tons of gold we're talking about."
"...This is the first time I've read through it seriously, but... roughly speaking, couldn't it be split into three parts?"
"...I've been thinking this since last night, but you really are a good thinker, Kyrie-san. Perhaps you'll be able to easily solve this riddle that we couldn't."
"Yeah. Kyrie's sharp. She might find a more interesting take on it if she comes in without any confusing biases."
"...That's right. Kyrie-san, would you mind giving us you honest opinion after reading the epitaph?"
"I doubt you'll find it useful. You all give me too much credit."
"That's fine, just say whatever comes into your head. Let's hear your thoughts. The hints you give always help me out when I'm worried."
"Oh, so I have been helpful? It's nice to finally hear about this now."
"Come ooon, don't I always thank you?"
"You two sure are close. I'm jealous."
"And the rest of us would also love to hear these hints of yours. We're just killing time anyway, so relax, okay?"



...But they had all the time in the world. Realizing that this was just a way to waste time, she decided to accept the role she'd been given...

"...I'm sure I'll say something off the mark, but... well, I'll put forward my ideas."
"Indeed. What did you mean in the beginning, about how it could be divided into three parts, roughly speaking?"



BGM: Psy-Chorus

"First, there are the five lines up until 'There sleeps the key to the gold'. Up until this point is the first part, which directs you to the location of the key. And then there's the part formed by the 11 lines up until the tenth twilight, which refer to the location of the Golden Land itself. And the remaining six lines make up the part after the Golden Land has been reached."



"I see. It can be divided into three parts about the key, the Golden Land, and the Golden Land's treasure."
"Even we have been able to grasp that much. The three sections that refer to the key, the door, and the treasure."
"...Nii-san, don't butt in any more than you have to! Let Kyrie-san speak her ideas freely."
"Kyrie, please continue. We see it the same way you do so far. So then?"



"Since Father went to all the trouble of telling us that it's beloved, we can imagine that it's a hometown he had strong feelings for. Did Father come from Odawara?"
"...Odawara is definitely where he was born, but I don't think that's the hometown he loved. I imagine all of us siblings have the same place in mind."
"...Right. This probably isn't Odawara. From what I've heard, he had a very fun time as a youth."
"Hahhaha. Being made the Ushiromiya Family Head was probably Dad's greatest bit of misfortune in life."
"...Probably. Father didn't actually want to become the Head."
"So where is this place? Is there a river there where sweetfish swim?"
"...Maybe there was at the time. There's been a lot of development there since then, and the sweetfish might have disappeared. It would be extremely difficult to investigate whether sweetfish were there during Grandfather's boyhood years."
"And there probably isn't just a single river. I believe we all gave this a thorough investigation geographically. You even went to the actual place to investigate directly, right, Eva?"
"That was only as a vacation. But, the townscape had changed completely since Father's time. After all, it was caught up in that war, wasn't it? By now, even precisely locating the place Father lived is impossible. I imagine that if Father went there himself now, even he wouldn't be able to pick out the place he'd lived anymore."
"Well, after all, those guys have also gone through a remarkable recovery..."
"...Does the part about a sweetfish river bring any place name clearly to mind?"
"Well, yeah. After all, they're sweetfish, right? People say they live in rivers with clean water, so there are countless rivers that might work. Any stream Dad innocently went sweetfish-fishing in was probably buried by the development later. It'd be different if we had a map from before the war or a person who knew a lot about how the area was before the war, but..."



"What do you mean...?"
"...Behold the sweetfish river running through my beloved hometown. You who seek the Golden Land, follow its path downstream in search of the key. After these two lines, there's a single blank line."



"What do you mean, something is being presented...?"
"...I don't know. At any rate, what we can get from these two lines alone isn't something vague, like the question of which river it might be, but the clear presentation of the keyword 'river'. It may be that this isn't a 'river' with water flowing down it. The 'sweetfish river' might be some kind of metaphor. What sort of impressions does the word 'sweetfish' give?"
"...Sweetfish are like salmon. They're freshwater fish, but they go out into the ocean right after they're born. When they get big, they go back to the river to live there, and then they spawn there and end their lives there. Well, they leave their home at one point, but when they get big, they come back and lay eggs. Might be able to link that to the idea of clan prosperity."
"Oh? They're freshwater fish, but they can live in the ocean? I didn't know that. I figured river fish wouldn't be able to live in the sea."



"What's that, Natsuhi-san?! You've never eaten salt-grilled sweetfish?! They're delicious! You should try it sometime soon!"
"It is a food for commoners. Hardly appropriate for your mouth."
"...This is just my wild idea, but the impression I get from a sweetfish river makes me suspect a family tree. The sweetfish go out into the ocean for a time, but they return to the river where they were born to spawn, right? It reminds me of myself."
"You're right. By this point, I can confess that I've sometimes suspected that it refers to you and Maria-chan."



"Isn't that right?! But as you all know, Father doesn't like Maria, and he almost never speaks with her. And, in the past, Father told me to give Maria a completely different name. I just decided to go with Maria on my own. Father was very mad about that. Given that, it's very hard to imagine that he would reference Maria's name in his precious epitaph about who would succeed his wealth and inheritance."
"Have you ever let Maria-chan read the epitaph?"
"Uh, yes, of course. But it looked as though she didn't have a clue. She didn't have a clue, and she kept going on about that same occult stuff, about how it was a resurrection ceremony for the witch."
"...A connection between Father and Maria. Certainly, they do share that occult hobby, but they never interacted. I can't imagine it that refers to Maria either."



"...I believe this word 'beloved' here at the beginning... must refer to a place full of very important memories to Father."
"...Hmmmmmm. Well, that's fine. It would be hard to pinpoint since we don't have even a trace of a map from that time, but at any rate, there were probably several rivers with sweetfish swimming in them near Dad's hometown during his youth."
"That's if we're looking for a river with water flowing down it, right? And then? Go on, Kyrie-san."
"...I don't really understand the three lines starting with 'If you follow the river downstream, you will find a village'. It's probably linked to the two lines about the sweetfish river. I imagine it's something we'd understand automatically if we knew what the sweetfish river really was. Until we figure that out, it's probably useless to try and solve those three lines any further."
"So we're stuck unless we know what the 'sweetfish river' really is... And there's no guarantee it even means a literal river. Seriously. What's up with the sweetfish? Did Dad like to eat them? Or does it have some special meaning? Is it pointless to read too deeply into it?"
"...If you don't have both a micro and a macro perspective, your field of vision grows narrow. It might be better to be flexible and avoid thinking too deeply, focusing on an abstract image of a river where fish swim, or something that can flow... up or down."
"Then, the answer behind the 'sweetfish river' passes through the next three lines and makes its way to the 'key to the Golden Land'..."
"If you think about it this way, I wonder if it was a mistake to split it into three parts. There's actually four parts. 'Go down the sweetfish river', 'find the key to the Golden Land', 'journey to the Golden Land', and 'the treasure of the Golden Land'."
"Hmmm... Truly intriguing. Well, you've gone this far. Would you mind continuing and telling us your opinion on the most central portion of the epitaph, up to the point when we reach the Golden Land on the tenth twilight?"
"...That's the most symbolic... and also the most disturbing part."
"Since the word 'sacrifices' keeps coming up, I can't help but think it has something to do with Father's occult ceremonies... How do you see it, Kyrie-san?"

Kyrie recrossed her arms several times, peering into the paper with the epitaph copied onto it as though she was looking through it...



"...Just like how the 'sweetfish river' isn't necessarily a river with water flowing down it, it's also doubtful that this 'key' is actually something shaped like a key."
"Right. It might also be a code or a keyword. After all, this key isn't something to be stuck into a keyhole. It's something that selects six people to be sacrifices for the first twilight. In that sense, we can say for sure that this key isn't being used to open the door to the Golden Land."
"...But what a disturbing key it is. A key that can choose six human sacrifices..."
"How would a key select anything? Do ya spin it like a roulette...?"
"This key indicates a certain group of six people. No, we should say it indicates a certain group of six things... if this doesn't mean a literal command to offer sacrifices. For example, it could be an anagram."
"An anagram? Do you mean playing with letters...?"
"Yes. I've been thinking about it ever since Rosa started talking about the family tree, and about how village was a part of Maria-chan's name."
"...It seems that ever since the words 'beloved hometown' came up, Rudolf-san, for example, has assumed that this epitaph points to some coordinates or some other geographical feature, but that might not be the case. This could be some kind of puzzle, or maybe playing with letters."
"...Forgive me, what do you mean by playing with letters?"



"...Merry?? Take out the e's and r's, huh? ???"
"Stop it. It is an undignified game, inappropriate for you."

Only Natsuhi didn't get it and had a blank look on her face. It seemed she'd only guessed that the answer had to be something undignified, going by Rudolf and Eva's sniggers.

"Ah, Natsuhi nee-san, it's something like this. This is just something from Maria's book of riddles, okay? There's this thing called a Tanuki Notebook. It's a notebook written like a code, with a lot of 'ta's mixed in, and if you 'remove' all of the 'ta's, then the true paragraph pops up. It's a game like that."
"Ah, oh, I see...??"



"...So maybe 'kill' actually means 'remove' in that sense, right...?"
"Yes. I also thought that. It's possible that the key to the Golden Land is a word with six characters."
"In other words, the 'ta' from the Tanuki Notebook... is actually six characters here...? Hmmm, this is getting complicated..."
"Playing with letters, is it...? Hmmm. In Japan, it really feels like a child's game, but it's apparently a stylish form of humor among intellectuals in the English world. It is easy to imagine that Father was interested in it."



"'Sweetfish river', 'go down it', 'then find the key'... all of that is extremely sequential. And as a result, we can guess that we gain a six-character key, but in that case, we now don't know 'what' we kill the six characters from."
"That's right. Where do we pull the six characters from? It doesn't tell us."
"...On the second twilight, there are 'those who remain'. Which means that, at the very least, that 'something' has a limited number of characters. You could read it like it's telling you to continue with the remaining characters after the first six characters are removed. And yet, we don't know what this 'something' is, even though it should've been shown to us at the beginning. Are we wrong even in our assumption that this is playing with letters...?"
"...Hmmmmm..."

Everyone crossed their arms and fell silent. It felt like they were about to reach a novel understanding they hadn't managed before, but they stumbled just one step short.

Then, Hideyoshi's stomach rumbled heartily. That silence was broken by laughter.



"Natsuhi, isn't there anything to eat here?"
"There should at least be enough set aside for breakfast. I will prepare it."
"I'm also starving. And I'll bet those brats above us are the same. Still, I doubt there's enough for the 18 people here, much less a full three meals, right?"
"That's right. It'll be a long journey 'til tomorrow. Maybe we'd better take a trip back to the mansion and fish around for some canned food or somethin' in the kitchen."
"There's nothing more than crackers and snacks here, but if that will be sufficient, I can get them ready for you all. But with this many people, there might not be any left for lunch..."
"That will do for now. Would you mind getting those ready?"

It looked like the men had been taken over with an appetite that stopped all thought. The atmosphere grew more peaceful, and the epitaph investigation team split up for the time being. But Eva kept staring at the paper the epitaph was written on like she was going to burn a hole through it...



"...Thank you. I'll just keep doing this on my own. Would you mind leaving me alone?"

Eva spoke coldly. Kyrie didn't bother her any more, and instead went to help Natsuhi prepare breakfast.

"Nee-san, shouldn't we also help prepare breakfast?"
"Then you go help. I'm busy solving this!"
"S-Sorry... Th-Then I'll help..."
"...Good grief. How can you be like that?"
"...Huh?"
"The Ushiromiya Family Headship will be given to the person who solves this epitaph. It looks like you've given up from the beginning, as if it has nothing to do with you, but if you can solve it, there's a chance even you'll be able to receive the Headship."



"...Um... umm, I..."

Rosa hung her head, unsure as to how she should answer. Too late, she regretted carelessly speaking to her sister when she was in a bad mood.

"If you've noticed anything, say so. Even though Kyrie-san and I were thinking hard, you just kept nodding your head, didn't you? Come on. Isn't there anything you've noticed? Come on!"
"...Uh, umm... Don't... you think this part's strange?"
"...Strange? What is?"



"What's your point? Do you get some keywords by splitting up the characters in 'Golden Land'?"
"Um, umm, that's not it. Look, isn't just the tenth twilight strange?"
"...Huh? ...Ah."



"...Oh, uh... but I'm probably splitting hairs over nothing, if you think about it. This is Father we're talking about, after all. He probably just said it that way to make it sound more dramatic."
"..."

For those interested in the epitaph, but not interested in Japanese wordplay: The Steam version of Umineko uses a different translation of the Epitaph, and a this conversation between Eva and Rosa is different as well. You may want to check it out.

Of course, nothing will come of it. Uncovering the location of the hidden gold is an optional challenge, even more difficult than discovering the truth of Rokkenjima. It's far beyond the abilities of any mere human.

Part 82: The Key to the Golden Land II

BGM: Organ Short #200 Million in C Minor

"Oh? What is boring...?"
"...Boring, boring."
"My, my. What on earth is this child grumbling about?"
"She's probably annoyed by all the tips you gave Battler-sama, Madam."
"...Nooot really. That doesn't annoy me. On the contrary, I'm happy to see that useless Battler finally reach a level where he can match me."
"Hohohoh... Did Battler-kun and I get a little too close? Perhaps us old fogeys had best leave you young'uns alone."
"Pu ku ku ku ku..."

When Virgilia and Ronove giggled and cackled, Beatrice's irritation meter finally reached its limit.

"Gaah, enough with everyone laughing at me! Ronove, vanish for a while! Disappear, disappeeear!"
"Certainly. Then I shall rest for the time being. Pukukukuku..."

Ronove bowed his head, still laughing, and vanished. After that, all that remained was the grumpy and irritated figure of Beatrice...and Virgilia, who was cooly enjoying her tea.



"...I knew it... I did have this feeling it might be a bit too early... I suppose that was right after all, wasn't it?"
"If you had led him further astray first, things might have been different, but as it was, that trump card was a real waste. You ended up rousing him instead."

In addition to denying the witch, Battler had possessed a second victory condition, one of explaining everything without suspecting one of the 18. It was at that point, when he'd been tossed about by two opposing goals, that his heart should have been at its weakest. However, Beatrice had used the red carelessly, proclaiming that there were no more than 18 people. Because of that, Battler had been forced to suspect one of the 18, and he had finally begun to build up the resolve he needed to accept that.

Battler was stubborn, but that was exactly why fissures would run all through him, like breaking china, when he was struck in a fragile spot. That itself should have been his greatest weak point, but...



"Yes, you were too careless. The last game was a difficult one for Battler-kun, but it seems this game will become a difficult one for you."
"...A broken vase will never return to its original form. So, it would be more constructive to think of a next move, rather than regretfully picking up the pieces. However, now that Battler has figured out as much as he has, how should I plot against him...?"
"Hohohoh. Your troubled face is an even better snack than Ronove's cookies."
"...Uu-. You and Battler... and even Ronove are treating me like sweets now. Even though I'm not sweet at all."

With a shameful, childlike face that she would never have shown in front of Battler, Beatrice rolled her head around on top of the table.

"...Teacheeer. At least gimme a hiiint."
"Oh? What kind of hint?"
"If you know some really good move that'll leave Battler speechless and make him wanna accept me... I won't ask you to say it outright, so, umm, even if it's just a hint..."
"Hohohoh, I can't. I am on Battler-kun's side right now, so I couldn't teach you something that would give you an advantage."
"...C'mon, don't be so stingy... Your disciple's in trouble, right...?"
"I seem to remember you brazenly boasting that you had surpassed your teacher."
"...Uu-... Please act like an old person and gimme just a bit of your crafty ideas... Pleease... It's mean if you only help Battleeer..."
"My, my. You're still a spoiled child... But, it's true that I may have given Battler-kun a few too many hints. It did serve as a scolding to you, but perhaps it was a little too much support for a fair game."
"Isn't that right, isn't that right...? Please, Teacheeer, at least just a hint now..."
"...This is only a hint. Think about what it means by yourself, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah! I'll think about it myself, so please! Please, gimme one that'll leave Battler down in the dumps, Teacher."

Considering how she acted like a great and mighty witch in front of Battler, the way she acted when he wasn't around was truly pathetic. Virgilia sighed at how childish Beato still was, despite all the time that had passed.



BGM: As Time Goes By

"Of course. It's a story about how the north wind and the sun challenge each other to see who can steal the cloak off a traveler, right?"
"That's right. Violent, impatient methods aren't necessarily the best decisions in all cases."
"...You don't have to tell me that. I've already reflected on the mistakes I made when I was too anxious to achieve victory."
"...Think well about what this means. And furthermore, there's one point that Battler seems to be misunderstanding a bit, but he isn't the only one. Do you understand the victory conditions of this game?"
"...What else is there, other than making Battler surrender?"
"...See? You're already wrong there."
"How am I wrong?"



"...What's this? You want me to butter him up, begging him to accept me as a witch?! How foolish! I haven't sunk that low!"

Grrrrrrrrrrr... Beato growled like a dog in a bad mood. Virgilia shrugged her shoulders, snickering at her disciple, who was as short-tempered as ever...

"That is my hint. For the rest, you'll have to consider deeply on your own. In any event, your moves up until now will not work on Battler-kun. A significant tactical adjustment will probably be required."
"...I don't need you to tell me that. I don't have a clue what you mean by the North Wind and the Sun, but at any rate, I realize I'll have to alter my course. I'll introduce a scheme clever enough to surprise even you, Teacher...!"
"Hohoho... I look forward to it. I wonder how Battler-kun will tackle that. I wish you good luck as well."
"After Battler, you mean? Hmm..."



BGM: Haruka

...As my mind grew vague and I pretended to fight my drowsiness, while sinking deeper and deeper into the sofa, 'I' scolded myself.

"...You also dreamed about stealing the position of Family Head from Krauss, right...? Even though my magic's given you a chance, are you already throwing it away...?"

You could say that, but... This riddle is really hard. Even a wire puzzle would be better. At least in that case, you know for sure that it's solvable. But in the case of this epitaph riddle, we've been given no reason to be sure of that. I might just be fighting a useless battle.

...Still hazy, I looked at the notebook I'd been holding the whole time. It was opened to a page with the epitaph, which I must've stared at hard enough to burn holes in it on so many hundreds of nights, I'd lost count.



On the other side lies the 'Golden Land', the place I've wanted to drag myself to no matter the effort ever since I was a child... and the place I was never able to reach. Am I touching the door with both hands, with the book... no, the door right there in front of me, ready to be opened, and yet still unable to reach the other side?

"...That's right. Your hand is already on the door. Come on, open it with all your strength. And read the characters written on the door."



Strain your eyes. See through to the thing beyond the epitaph written in the notebook...



That's right... Then what about the 'sweetfish river'? There are several rivers where they swim, and there's reason to doubt that this just refers to one close to the place Father lived. If we take out a map and start calculating which rivers with sweetfish were closest, things will quickly get vague and we won't be able to narrow it down...

"Didn't you say it yourself? You said it didn't have to be a river with water flowing down it. If the word sweetfish is too complicated, why not forget it...?"
"Think of a river. A river. Linking it with a 'family tree' wasn't a bad idea. Try thinking about how to link a river with something else along those lines..."

...It isn't a river? But where else could sweetfish swim? Oh, but if we're talking about places sweetfish can swim, then maybe the ocean has something to do with this... Didn't my husband even say that they go out into the ocean, even though they're river fish...?



BGM: Rhythm-changer

"...Did you notice? But that's just a faint memory. There's supposed to be a room for storing books in this building, right? If you investigate, you can make sure."

...If that's the 'sweetfish river'... And if the key might be a six character word... Then could the key actually be resting in that river?

I-I don't know, I don't know. Anyway, I have to search in an atlas... But, even if I know that, I don't know 'from what' I should take the six characters...

"...You really don't know? Think deeply. We're pretty smart, so our ideas are solid."
"Don't think of it like it's something as massive as the riddle of the epitaph, but like it's a child's riddle. Men are always children, no matter how old they get. Even if Father has advanced into old age, that doesn't change the fact that he's essentially a child at heart."
"...Throw away your awe of Father. Think of this like it's a worthless, infantile game with riddles, like the ones Maria suddenly brought out on the boat."

...Riddles. Worthless, infantile... Huh... ah. I'm sure that was... what was it... umm, umm... I'm sure, if my memory isn't wrong, that it's probably the case, umm...

No, I don't have to rely on my vague memory. I should be able to figure that out immediately by searching the library.

"...We've probably already noticed the answer. All that's left is to investigate whether it's correct or not. Come on, Eva. Let's go to the library, making sure no one sees us. There, we should find a mountain of thick books that didn't fit in Father's study. I'm sure we'll find a book that answers our question. Quickly. This is the first and last chance we'll ever get to make our dreams come true."



"...I'm sorry. It looks like I woke you."
"...Eva, if you're sleepy, don't overdo it. You rest first."
"...Th-Thank you. I'm just going to the bathroom for a bit to wash my face."
"You should take it easy and rest. You're just gonna make yourself feel worse, you know?"
"I told you I'm fine! I'll be right back."

After leaving only those words behind, I rapidly left the lobby. The lobby was partitioned off by a door, so as soon as I went into the corridor, they could no longer see me.



Father always owned a vast book collection, but ever since he started to become engrossed with his occult hobby, that collection grew even larger, so that the normal books suitable for a normal study had been forced out as his study overflowed. This so-called library was mostly used as a storage room for those normal books. They were all thick, like complete encyclopedias for intellectuals, but that was very convenient for me, now that I was investigating something.

I entered softly, and just in case, I checked the room with my gun readied, making sure that there were no suspicious people there. Then I locked it from the inside. I actually wasn't thinking that the murderer might be hiding somewhere. What scared me was the thought that one of my siblings might hear what I was investigating.

My heart had started racing before I realized it... I was half-asleep just a moment ago, so I didn't realize how significant this thing I noticed was. But as I gradually became aware, my heart started to feel like it was about to explode.



I don't think Krauss and Rudolf will notice. But I don't know about Kyrie. She has extraordinarily good intuition. And I don't know about Rosa either.

"Rosa's stupid too. She always has been, incredibly so."

Really...? I'd say she was wise enough to make you think she was stupid, so that she didn't earn herself unnecessary malice.

"...Here it is. I wonder if we'll find it in this one."

I pulled the book out and flipped through the pages...



I see... This is what the sweetfish river means. Don't dawdle around, research further.



Why have you stopped thinking?! Oh, is this too much work for you? If only you'd just give up... If only you'd just hand the Ushiromiya Headship over to Kyrie...!



...In the village, look for the shore the two will tell you of. 蟯ｸ means shore. Get it?

"Uu, *gulp*... I-I-I understand...! 'Shore'... 'shore'...!"

Right before my eyes, the pieces that I hadn't been able to understand at all... began to *snap*... *snap*... into place, all by themselves...

I couldn't even remember to close my open mouth. My throat grew completely dry...



"...But this isn't six characters at all. I'm absolutely sure this is the answer, but this doesn't reach six characters at all...!"

Did you stop thinking again? In that case, think of a way you could read it with six characters. If you can't think of one, then research it. There has to be an answer. You must not doubt that. Is believing in that too much for you? If only you'd just cry yourself to sleep, and then you can just give up and die...





Yes. This is...the key to the Golden Land. The key... to our childhood dreams. The only keyhole this key can be stuck in... is that place.

That... has to be what offering the sacrifices means. I'm sure you get it by now, right...?