Oh boy, this is a weird one. This episode not only has the ridiculously long and multi-layered Ange and Maria subplots, which take up as much if not more screen time than the actual “game” without providing actual clues to the murder mysteries in question (though they do nudge the reader towards a certain mindset that helps in uncovering the overarching mystery), this is also an episode where EVERYONE aside of the cousins are in cahoots with Yasu to some degree. Add to that the fact that this was the first chapter where the Blue Truth appeared to complicate the solutions (in addition to a reduced number of case-relevant Red Truths), and you can clearly see why it took me so long to resolve myself to actually replay this episode and write this. Oh well, I might as well get started…
Krauss and Kyrie play along believing that they are playing a murder mystery game aimed at Battler. The rest of the adults and the servants are the same, though less involved. The instigator is Yasu who bribes them, along the servants and everyone else, but Krauss and Kyrie are the two who work closely with her and talk to the cousins repeatedly.
On the other hand the accomplices are separated and mostly left in the dark regarding what Yasu is actually doing and probably none of them are aware of the murders until they get killed off as well.
Also, while I don’t find it necessary myself, there are compelling arguments pointing at the possibility of Yasu using the threat of the bomb set up under Rokkenjima as a sort of “Insurance Policy” to make sure that at least her most important accomplices (namely Krauss and Kyrie) would stay in line.
Since this episode barely focuses on the actual murders and even the order in which people died is questionable, I will attempt to first construct an independent timeline instead of going through the usual Twilights.
This episode was especially hard to crack because it has less Red Truths than even EP1! Yes, the episode that didn’t even have the Red Truth invented yet has more of it retroactively because of the later episodes then the last episode of the first tetralogy. Go figure…
The only solid thing we know about the order of the deaths was that Kanon was the 9th, courtesy of these Red Truths:
There are two ways this could be possible: Either the six First Twilighters + Jessica and George, or the six First Twilighters + Gohda and Kumasawa had to die before Kanon. In my opinion it’s the latter. My reasoning is as follows:
It has to start with the six people in the dining hall, otherwise we wouldn’t have our target number of 9th.
If after that she were to kill one of the cousins, it’s safe to assume that she would have had to “kill” the persona relating to them. Therefore if she were to kill George for 7th, then Shannon would have been “killed” as well, which would contradict #1. However, if she were to kill Jessica first and then “kill” Kanon, then he would have been the 8th at best. I would also argue that killing off the relevant persona would happen -before- the cousin in question is killed, for obvious reasons.
Therefore the only way both Red Truths could be fulfilled if there were two separate deaths (aka. Gohda and Kumasawa) that would add up to the required 8, so that when Yasu would “kill” Kanon and Shannon in preparation of killing the two cousins they would become the 9th and the 10th.
Now, for the actual timeline:
Eva, Rudolph, Rosa, Hideyoshi, Natsuhi and Genji are killed in the dining hall. This probably happens -after- the second phone call by Kyrie requesting that Gohda and Kumasawa would be locked up. Yasu leaves under the guise of letting Kumasawa and Gohda out of the shed but instead she uses the opportunity to go to the dining hall first and kills the people there and then smashes their heads.
After this she goes to the shed. Gohda gives her the key through the small window, believing that it is still part of the game, but when she opens the shutter she kills them both. Afterwards she props up the bodies as if they were hanged so that when she locks the shutter from the outside she could use a long rod or some other method to easily return the key to the pocket of the now standing Gohda through the window, thus creating a locked room.
After this point she returns to Kyrie and co. to deliver the next call regarding “Kinzo’s test” and then discards Kanon and Shannon, thus “killing” them (Fulfilling #1-2)
After this she meets up with George and shoots him in the head.
She then goes to meet with Jessica and convinces her that the entire thing was just a game (alternatively she is informed of the existence of the bomb and threatened into playing along, however I once again find the threat unnecessary). Jessica plays along, calls Battler and gives him information that she should not have, like that George was also dead or that she would die from a head wound. After the call is over Yasu shoots and then smashes her head open.
She returns to the mansion where Krauss, Kyrie and Nanjo are non the wiser. She tells them that George and Jessica also agreed to play along and hid themselves. Kyrie then delivers the final phone call, after which Yasu kills them and moves the bodies to their final locations/sets up the crime scenes to match Kyrie’s description.
When Battler doesn’t remember his “sin”, Yasu sets the bomb, goes to the well next to Nanjo’s corpse and uses the same trick as in EP2: She ties something heavy to the gun with a string, which is then lowered into the well. She then commits suicide and then the weight pulls the gun down into the well where it cannot be discovered. Note that the well has iron bars on it that cannot be opened at all (probably built into the concrete) just big enough for a handgun to fall through but not big enough for a person, meaning there is no way to get in or out of the well.
Maria was poisoned and laid to rest in the time between Battler moving over to the chapel and returning with the keys. By the time he enters the mansion Yasu had long since left through the back door.
Battler was killed by the bomb Yasu set up in advance that blew up the entire mansion, thus explaining all the final Red Truths of the episode regarding to Beatrice killing Battler.
And now the rest of the mysteries and questionable events:
Maria claims that Kinzo gave her an umbrella when she was out in the rain in the rose garden.
It was probably Krauss in disguise. He dressed up as Kinzo and acted like him in order to create a witness and thus throw the other siblings off-balance after the previous arguments over whether Kinzo was alive. It is quite possible that this was the moment where Yasu and Krauss first meet eye to eye (since usually this is the point where she would give Maria the letter of challenge) and where Yasu gives him her offer.
Instead of Kinzo, it is Yasu that shows up at the conference and bribes the family and the servants to play along with her game in exchange for the gold. No one is killed at this point in time.
They all get the same basic cover story explained to them so that there would be no inconsistencies. Gohda and Kumasawa leave for the guest house to tell the cousins about the “events”. It is so that they would not move to the mansion and discover the “deception”.
In the meantime Krauss, Kyrie, Nanjo and Yasu leave for the chamber with the gold to prove her claim. These three are going because:
a.: Krauss is the eldest of the siblings and its his house, not to mention he is the one who first made contact with Yasu, so he is there to make sure she is telling the truth.
b.: Kyrie is there as the trusted representative of the rest of the siblings, and she is there to later talk to Battler in particular.
c.: Nanjo is there as a neutral third party to oversee the discovery of the gold and the later events.
The rest stays there to discuss what they were going to be doing with the money and whatnot.
After the confirmation of the gold (and the possible revelation of the bomb) the same group goes to a separate room to call the cousins as per Yasu instructs them.
Krauss, Kyrie, Shannon, Kanon and Nanjo are locked in a “dungeon” from where they manage to call the cousins through the internal phone.
This is the scene that makes it blatantly obvious that the entire group in the nonexistent dungeon (plus the two servants in the guest house) are in cahoots with Yasu. The call is only there to force the cousins to stay in the guest house so that they wouldn’t interfere with their plans, which as far as Krauss and Kyrie knew was just some eccentric but innocent murder-mystery game for Battler.
“Kinzo” orders the cousins to lock Gohda and and Kumasawa up in the gardening shed.
The servants are separated from the cousins for several reasons. First of all, it’s so that they wouldn’t accidentally spill the beans. Also, by locking them in the shed, Yasu created the circumstances for another closed room murder for later. Kumasawa and Gohda don’t put up any resistance against locked outside because they believe this is also part of the “game”.
The cousins are told to go to certain locations one at the time. Jessica has to go to her room. Later Shannon calls George and tells him to go to the arbor in the rose garden. They are given three choices: Sacrifice themselves, sacrifice their loved one (Kanon and Shannon, respectively), or sacrifice everyone else on the island. (BTW, in my humble opinion this is one of the most badass series of scenes in the entire series :3 Sometimes I wonder why Ryukishi doesn’t write battle shounen. It would be fourteen different flavors of awesome. :3)
Big surprise: the entire thing was a meta-event, including the choices. In reality Yasu convinced Jessica about the “game” in order to deceive Battler. George was killed either right before or right after this. All the badass meta-events are sadly completely fictional without even a grain of truth.
After the “test”, Jessica calls Battler in the guest house and tells him that his opponents are demons and witches. She also claims that Battler’s test will be the “resurrected Beatrice”.
Jessica, believing that this was part of the game, gives the account that Yasu (probably dressed as Kanon) gave her. Then, when the call was over, Yasu shoots her in the head and locks the door from the outside with her master key to create a simple closed room murder.
Kyrie, the only “survivor” who “escaped” the “dungeon” calls Battler and tells him about what “happened”, including Kinzo’s appearance, the demons, witches and everything else. She asks whether George and Jessica are alive and she too references the epitaph. In the end she directly tells Battler to believe in the existence of witches.
Once again, Yasu gives the instructions to the oblivious Kyrie who then acts them out in the phone. Once the call is over, she shoots her and then shoots four more holes to the locations where she said the “Golden Thread” was shot.
Maria receives a call just after Battler leaves the room. When he returns and takes the call, Maria leaves to take her test while Battler has a conversation with Beatrice.
Yasu in the flesh. Duh.
Battler goes to the entrance of the mansion for his “test” and there he meets Beatrice, who looks down on him from a balcony. After some verbal sparring she demands that Battler remember a sin he committed six years ago.
The meeting really did happen, but the dialog playing out is fictional, as there are just too many references to the events in the players’ realm. Beatrice asking for Battler to remember and repent for his “sin” is Yasu’s last gambit for making Battler remember her and his promise from six years ago.
Aside of the Red Truths, there is one very interesting detail: when Battler demands a Red Truth regarding that Battler’s presence is the trigger that caused the massacre, Beatrice refuses to provide one. This is in line with the idea that Yasu has been planning this for as while (as shown by the blown up shrine (which was the test-run for the bomb that later destroys the entire mansion) and the reparation-letters sent out in advance (which had to have extensive preparation, like putting billions of yen into the safes, creating the cards and mailing them)), and Battler’s return only changed the execution, namely the convoluted mystery-novel style murders instead of just killing everyone and being done with it.
The final part of the scene is also very indicative of Yasu: The gameboard Beatrice gives up after Battler declares that he remembers no sin and Meta-Beato “takes over” for her.
In 1998, Ange is confronted by Kasumi and her guards at the hilltop near Kuwadorian on Rokkenjima. In the end she “summons” the Seven Sisters to deal with them.
It was established that Amakusha had a big, heavy rifle-case on the boat and that he was not with Ange at the hill. He was probably at a nearby hilltop, sniping with a high-caliber rifle at Ange’s attackers, and Ange just painted over the events with her “magic” (read: imagination, delusion, mindset, self-deception… Magic is a LOT of things in this series…)