Legend of the Golden Witch

pov character: varies, mostly battler; i realized midway the pov isn't nearly as crucial at it was in cicada

timeframe: october 1986

reading time: 06/03/25 - 10/03/26

DAY 1 morning
• third person pov; kinzo ushiromiya has a medical examination by his old friend, the doctor nanjo. he's instructed to stop drinking altogether, to which he retorts he can't live without booze; he has his servant genji pour more absinthe. he calls genji his closest confidant
• nanjo recommends he writes a will as soon as possible. kinzo goes into a frenzy, explaining all his wealth will evaporate upon his death per a contract he made with a witch, so there's no use in writing a will. he says his kids are all idiots undeserving of his empire anyways
• his one life regret, the one task he wants to see through before he dies, is to see beatrice the witch's smile one last time. he calls upon her desperately, like she's a spirit haunting him or a fixture of the mansion
• it's october 4th, 1983: the ushiromiya family conference begins today
• pov battler; introduction to ushiromiya family relations and dynamics as each sibling's family branch enters the airport
• the family's names are all written in proper japanese but pronounced like western names (its like kanji transliterations)
• for example battler is formally written as 戦人 (soldier/fighter) but pronounced and informally written as ばとら (batora) (the use of hiragana over katakana seems important)
• battler's aunt is the teaser eva, the second eldest sibling, who's married to hideyoshi and has a son, george. george and battler get along like brothers; battler is 18 while george is 23
• battler's dad is the third child rudolf; his step-mom is kyrie. battler and kyrie's relationship is decidedly not very familial, but they get along alright
• eva is really into martial arts and beats rudolf up
• rosa is the youngest sibling. her 9 year old daughter maria is autistic. rosa is constantly correcting her for her echolalia and incorrect use of keigo
• kyrie's daughter ange (battler's half-sister?) is skipping this year's conference due to poor constitution
• battler has been absent from the past 6 years of conferences; lines up with the timing of his mother's death per TIPS
• (the TIPS system is completely different from cicada; a notes tracking screen thingy accessible anytime, with the author left up for debate)
• TIPS section explains that eva would've lost her place in the family register as an ushiromiya heiress if not for the fact she forced her husband to take her last name
• in a similar vein, maria's father is completely unknown to the family; it sounds like if rosa had gotten married, she would've lost her already slim chance for the inheritance
• the group takes a small plane to niijima then via boat reaches rokkenjima
• on the boat they meet up with jessica, the heiress cousin. the eldest son krauss and his wife natsuhi comprise the head family as kinzo's direct heirs, while the kids/siblings and grandkids/cousins are all considered "branch families"
• jessica speaks with an extremely brash tone. her and battler are the same age and get into scuffles a lot
• battler jokes about groping jessica, and also maria once she grows up ... its less bad than keiichi because its comparatively milder briefer scenes where he's quickly shut up... but borderline treads into worse territory than keiichi because theyre all blood relatives
• they're picked up by the servant kumasawa, a spirited and tricksy elderly woman
• battler struggles with travel. his dad also kinda hates him
• for the past 6 years, battler has been living with his maternal grandparents and using their surname (undisclosed) instead of "ushiromiya". thus he had been living an (upper?) middle class high schooler's life until now, disconnected from the ushiromiyas' much crazier wealth. as his grandparents passed away recently, he's slowly returning to the ushiromiya side. his mom's name was asumu (rudolf did marry her)
• he's considered the guest of honor for this conference as he's finally returned after 6 years
• of the cousins, the heiress-to-be jessica is the least interested in the family's wealth. george is well put together (possibly moreso than the siblings), battler is a lazy mess and maria is too young to be involved
• until last year, near the island's entrace beach there was a torii gate accompanying a god's shrine. the kids realize it's suddenly gone; kumasawa explains it was struck down by sudden lightning, which is taken as a horrible omen of impending misfortune
• maria takes this extremely seriously. battler explains the only thing they have to worry about is the expected typhoon, but maria remains serious, saying misfortune will descend from the skies. she freaks out a bit
• kumasawa goes to describe a dark rumor about the island's history but is interrupted by jessica
• at the harbor, they're welcomed by the servant gohda
• battler comments that there's a lack of typical seagulls on the island. george explains they're attuned to the weather and are probably hiding from the incoming storm
• arriving at the guest house, they're greeted by a rose garden. maria becomes preoccupied with a sole wilted rose, marking it with a candy wrapper to re-find later
• the 16 yo servant boy kanon is introduced as he does yardwork. he's very cold; refuses to do proper greetings, saying the servants are merely "furniture"
• he trips and makes a mess; gohda tells him he's embarrassing the family. battler makes a point to help talk informally with him; gohda protests, but battler and jessica help him with his wheelbarrow. alone, kanon briefly unclearly lingers on the topic of battler

DAY 1 10.30 AM
• settling in the guesthouse, jessica reports to her cousins that kinzo has 3 months left to live but is as lively and terrible as ever. she says he's getting up to weird black magic in his study "as usual"
• the siblings leave for the main house while the cousins stay back to hang out. they tickle george until he confesses he has a soft spot for the servant girl shannon

DAY 1 11 AM
• third person pov; in the main house, the parents talk with krauss' wife natsuhi. natsuhi is stern and resolute; she suffers from stress-induced headaches nonstop and does not tolerate jokes. eva is very snide to her
• the maid shannon serves them tea late, incorrectly. natsuhi is very short with her, as shannons mistakes reflect poorly on her as a hostess and heiress
• kanon greets shannon on her way out, cursing the family on her behalf. he says it's "his role" watch over her; they're twins(? they have the shmion expression match) and she's eldest
• gohda messed up the tea timing and thrust the job onto shannon to take the blame
• the head servant genji orders them back to work. kanon tries to stand up for shannon, but she shoos him off, pretending that it doesn't bother her

DAY 1 12 PM
• shannon enters the guest house to fetch the cousins for lunchtime. battler goes to grope her hoping she'll hit him and "make for a good gag moment", but she's completely subservient; jessica attacks him right before he gets her
• battler tells shannon she needs to attack perverts like him, but she's very timid. she calls herself "furniture", obligated to obey the family
• shannon has been a servant for the family since she was 6 (?????????). she says kanon isn't "actually" her little brother
• "shannon" and "kanon" are pseudonymns; they seem to be the only servants with pseudonyms...? or the only ones with anglo pseudonyms (matches the lineage)
• shannon hands the cousins off to genji in the main house mansion. battler notes that genji is closer to kinzo than kinzo's late wife ever was, or any of his blood relatives currently are
• up the stairs, battler is arrested by a huge portrait of beatrice the witch. genji explains the portrait was ordered then set up about 2 years ago
• apart from the 2 mansions shown thus far, rokkenjima is otherwise completely untamed forest, considered "an ocean above ground". to keep the siblings from going into the forest when they were kids, the household would warn them that an evil witch lives in the forest
• jessica explains that the witch is real and "exists" on the island to kinzo. he had the painting made so that everyone else in the household could understand her realness; he's become more and more obsessed with her since the portrait was hung up
• for lunch, the family has precise seating arrangements delineating rank. the siblings' spouses have the worst ranking; battler notes that grandmother would have the worst rank of all at the table
• krauss and kinzo are running unusually late. it's 12.20; battler remembers kinzo being extremely punctual, but jessica explains that he's gotten laxer and laxer in the past few years
• third person pov; kinzo is in deep, frantic focus. krauss tries to summon him through the door, but he ends up in another shouting spiral
• it's as if he believes leaving his study will bring about the apocalypse. or the apocalypse is currently ongoing? he screams for beatrice's return
• krauss considers his father already dead... kinzo considers his whole family unworthy of his inheritance. he drinks with genji instead
• his study is full of occult objects and ancient tomes. his room is locked with a mechanism only he can open
• he calls upon a "demon's roulette", saying that magic is produced by probability and risk. miracles can only happen once per given situation, and always in response/ratio to the amount of risk/chance at hand (hehehe...)
• he wants to call forth beatrice with a miracle. he screams for her
• krauss returns to commence lunch. george explains to battler that kinzo received his 3 months left to live diagnosis a year ago; it's as if he's prolonging his life by willpower alone (more cicada alarm bells...)
• battler pov; the conference originally was meant for discussing each sibling's allocation of borrowed money from the main house, but now is more like a regular extended family get together
• nanjo is kinzo's chess partner
• the ushiromiya family was once extraordinarily wealthy, basing its wealth in mills; kinzo was just a branch family member rather than a typical heir
• in 1924, an earthquake struck that destroyed the mills and most family branches. kinzo wound up with the inheritance, which he very devotedly invested in ways that can only be considered miraculous
• he was a war profiteer. he owns this island via a mix of legal loopholes / strong connections with the ghq

DAY 1 2 PM
• third person pov; kumasawa saves shannon from her hesitance/intimidation while serving food; shannon looks up to her like a mother figure
• natsuhi is uniquely cold. TIPS menu explains the siblings don't understand her very well, and krauss is disinterested in family dealings, so she had to set up the conference herself...
• the cousins are sent out while the siblings discuss the inheritance.
• the reason kinzo refuses to leave his room is last year his kids tried to send him to a hospital for long-term care (per nanjo's orders)
• eva and rudolf in particular allude to just killing kinzo. natsuhi is indignant throughout but receives no backup from anyone
• krauss declares the japanese economy is on the cusp of having the same boom that kinzo experienced when he built their current fortune
• eva and rudolf say krauss mistimed his investment into resorts and is now in significant debt. krauss wants to turn the island itself into a resort
• the guesthouse (recent construction) is actually going to be a hotel. eva and rudolf keep strongarming the youngest sibling rosa to agree with them against krauss
• they accuse krauss of years-long embezzling their father's fortune, which messes up the calculation of their inheritance cuts. natsuhi demands eva leave for her rudeness; eva explodes, telling her to know her place as nothing but a womb meant to generate an ushiromiya successor (!!! WOW)
• she notes that members of the family wear the one-winged eagle crest; kyrie, natsuhi and hideyoshi are not allowed to wear the crest. notably, shannon, kanon and genji do wear it
• natsuhi turns to krauss for support, but he simply tells her to go cool off. she breaks down, sobbing that the burden of this family always falls upon her
• kumasawa turns to the camera(!?!!?) and explains natsuhi struggled to bear an heir for a very long time; the whole family, but especially krauss, abused her over this
• eva leveraged natsuhi's infertility towards ensuring she won't be removed from the family register for marrying; eva gave birth first, and to a boy

DAY 1 1.30 PM
• battler pov; the cousins are again arrested by beatrice's portrait
• the portrait's epitaph supposedly contains a riddle that reveals where kinzo has hidden gold; the first to solve the riddle gets both the successor title with its attached inheritance as well as the gold
• they discuss theories about the witch and gold, that she was a mistress or first love of kinzo's, does the gold exist and is it actually the supposed full 10 tonnes, etc
• the legend goes that the gold is real, impossibly pure, and was used as collateral for kinzo's loans towards his now vast fortune
• maria becomes indignant when she senses battler doesn't believe in witches. her career goal is to become a witch (yay)
• third person pov; the siblings have ganged up on krauss, saying either they will have him thoroughly investigated for embezzlement, or he will distribute 7.5 billion yen to them per the gold's worth, with 10% down before march of next year (in 6 months)
• krauss' theory is that the gold never existed, it was a way to launder in the public opinion a much shadier business deal (and the witch does not exist)
• eva and hideyoshi need money immediately to buy back stocks of their public restaurant chain to prevent an impending hostile takeover
• rudolph is losing a suit against an american company and needs settlement money immediately
• eva has cosigned something undisclosed and needs money immediately; she completely loses it when krauss mentions it
• the offer of a bribe to quell the embezzlement probe is thus extinguished; the younger siblings all need money way more urgently than krauss does. he refuses to sign the contract they've presented
• the siblings thus resolve to solve beatrice's puzzle instead
• scene swap: kanon relays the siblings' schemes to kinzo
• beatrice is most likely to be resurrected if more and more people are seeking her out, as the chance/odds factor is what births miracles
• he thus encourages even the servants to participate, as he'd give the gold to anyone who finds it, not just his family
• he offers kanon some candy on his way out, but kanon refuses, saying he's merely furniture; the only people kinzo trusts is his furniture
• in the parlor, in conversation with nanjo, genji calls himself furniture too. they ponder the epitaph together; it is read aloud in full:
  
  My Beloved Witch Beatrice
  Behold the sweetfish river running through my beloved hometown.
  You who seek the Golden Land, follow its path downstream in search of the key.
  As you travel down it, you will see a village.
  In that village, look for the shore the two will tell you of.
  There sleeps the key to the Golden Land.
  The one who obtains the key must then travel to the Golden Land in accordance with these rules.
  On the first twilight, offer the six chosen by the key as sacrifices.
  On the second twilight, those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close.
  On the third twilight, those who remain shall praise my noble name.
  On the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill.
  On the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill.
  On the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill.
  On the sevent twilight, gouge the knee and kill.
  On the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill.
  On the ninth twilight, the witch shall revive, and none shall be left alive.
  On the tenth twilight, at journey's end, you shall attain to the power of the Golden Land's treasures, once for the last time.
  The witch shall praise the wise and bestow four treasures.
  One shall be all the gold from the Golden Land.
  One shall be the resurrection of all the dead souls.
  One shall be the resurrection of the love that was lost.
  One shall be to put the witch to sleep for all time.
  Sleep peacefully, my beloved witch, Beatrice.
  
  

DAY 1 3 PM
• battlers pov; on the beach, battler and maria ponder the riddle. jessica and george have already exhausted all of their guesses in the past 2 years; shannon tags along happily on her break
• the only hometown guess they have is odawara, but they're not even sure kinzo grew up there
• maria gives battler and jessica scorpion charms to ask the witch's forgiveness because they don't believe in her enough; they humor her
• shannon shares the servant-side rumors of the witch, that she haunts the building at night
• shannon heads back to work. the cousins mess around a bit more. it starts to drizzle, so they head back too; maria gets preoccupied with the roses before the guesthouse, asking everyone to find her rose she had marked with the wrapper; it has vanished
• rosa is nearby; maria yells for her to help, but rosa is incredibly impatient with her rose and "uuu-uu" echolalia. she beats maria a lot, which only makes her cry more
• battler keeps trying to lightly intervene; rosa chews him out. maria's "nonsense" and "childishness" humiliates her and complately takes her out of the potential successor role
• the cousins scoot away guiltily. maria is eventually left alone, trying to figure out why she can't perceive her rose anymore; it starts to rain
• in his study, kinzo welcomes the rain as beatrice's return. he claims the island has now been cut off from the world, and everyone is viable as a sacrifice to her. he casts his signet ring out into the rain

DAY 1 6 PM
• the cousins laze around. jessica lives on the island full-time, but takes a boat to school on niijima every day. she's really eager to move to a city for university
• maria never returned... kanon fetches the cousins for dinner. elsewhere, rosa fell asleep on a sofa; as genji places a blanket on her, she freaks out as if she's having an intense PTSD flashback, then calms down
• rosa and the cousins (separate) panic as they realize maria is still out there in the heavy rain. battler finds her with an umbrella; rosa is howling, apologizing intensely. maria only cares for her rose
• heading in to warm her up before dinner, maria explains beatrice brought her the umbrella
• kinzo refuses to join for meal again, but this time is absolutely calm in his study; he claims the demon's roulette has begun
• as dinner begins, one by one everyone denies having brought maria an umbrella at rosa's inquiry. maria is directly asked, and excitedly repeats it was beatrice
• darkness looms over dinner. the servants discuss too, nobody knows who lent the umbrella
• there's conflict between the servants as the very young shkanon have tenure and genji is their leader, but the newcomer high class cook gohda is overeager to soak up praise/show off and absolutely doesn't respect that people younger than him have seniority
• after gloomy dinner, maria produces a letter with kinzo's personal envelope design, complete with wax seal stamped by his crested ring. one by one everyone falls into utter disbelief
• maria with sudden fredrika-like clarity reads the letter, calling herself beatrice's messenger: beatrice is kinzo's alchemist, here to reclaim her loan with interest unless her puzzle is solved. should anyone best her, they will be given the full gold fortune
• one by one the siblings go about rationalizing this logically with more and more frenzy

DAY 1 8 PM
• kinzo refuses any knocks

DAY 1 10 PM
• the siblings have started openly fighting about the inheritance due to the letter, pestering maria for information
• jessica is disgusted. battler drifts; he winds up conversing with kyrie, who thinks beatrice is actually someone of the island's 18 people in diguise, rather than a new arrival
• kyrie's propensity for logic puzzles is introduced; she has rubbed off a lot on battler, who uses her "turning the chessboard around" (re-imagining a scenario from your opponent's perspective to suss out their true goal) technique frequently
• maria is alone, crying by beatrice's portrait. kyrie suggests battler try to cheer her up. rudolph joins his two... and suddenly proclaims he fears he will die tonight. kyrie takes this to be a dramatic way of saying he wants his wife's support amidst tonight's drama, but battler is a bit unnerved. rudolf and kyrie leave together
• alone, natsuhi considers that the witch is actually shannon dressed up as the portrait, acting under kinzo's orders to level the inheritance playing field
• she feels useless as a wife. she he a a flashback to just a few hours ago: after she blew up at krauss in private for abandoning her in the afternoon's inheritance argument, he brought her to a hidden, private locked room, revealing to her for the first time a single gold ingot that matches the rumored description of kinzo's gold, supposedly proving the legend
• (he lied through his teeth earlier...)
• natsuhi is far more shocked by krauss' lack of trust in her than the gold. he asks her to stop participating in the siblings' deliberations for the night
• natsuhi pov; she thoroughly regrets everything, as the stress of managing with this insane family has strained even her relationship to her daughter
• she herself had been forced to marry into the ushiromiya family, and has chosen to completely cut off her non-ushiromiya family ties as a show of loyalty. she aims to have jessica be the successor, getting her to marry someone who truly cherishes her (auu....)
• jessica meets her; she's completely freaked out by seeing her mom look so unwell. jessica vaguely tries to comfort her; she gives her maria's charm
• the cousins take the now sleeping maria back into the guest house. the servants' schedules are swapped at krauss' orders; now all servants but gohda are to stay in the guest house
• deliberating amongst themselves, the "furniture" servants permitted to wear the crest due to answering directly to kinzo, realize they've been intentionally removed from both kinzo's radius and the ongoing inheritance dispute by receiving sudden guesthouse shifts
• shannon is invited to hang out with the cousins; genji urges kanon to join, who refuses
• george and shannon sneak off to a gazebo together; jessica explains to battler their secret relationship
• shannon is an orphan brought up in an orphanage funded by kinzo. exemplerary kids are taken as servants (BRO) fukuin orphanage that gives its kids the "on" kanji suffix
• shkanon arent related; as they were brought up in the same orphanage they consider eachother family (i still doubt this bc of the shmion cue)
• shannon has considerable savings as the family pays very well, but no goals nor plans to spend any of it. it's as if she's too timid to quit
• george urges her to think about her future seriously, calling her by her real name, sayo. they hang out
• george then orders her to wear a proposal ring; he asks her to covertly tell him if she wants to be with him by tomorrow, which will be her own choice, by placing the ring on either her left hand or right hand. she can keep the high value ring even if she decides to reject him
• (SHES 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

DAY 1 11 PM
• shannon runs off to the main house mansion to cool off. gohda puts patrol duty onto her, so she gets to roam around
• she suddenly sees a golden butterfly, beatrice's supposed trademark. she's completely frightened

October 5th, 1985
DAY 2 morning
• natsuhi retrieves a treasured antique mirror to give to jessica in exchange for the charm. the telephone lines are down; exiting her room, blood-like scratching markings are on her bedroom door...
• gohda, shannon, krauss, rudolf, kyrie and rosa have gone missing. genji hands natsuhi the secret servants' key to kinzo's study to check up on him
• before natsuhi enters kinzo's study, eva briefly greets her at the stairwell then hurries away (seemingly doesn't want to actually talk to kinzo)
• there, kinzo is awake and speaks to her. he refuses to join for mealtime, but confides in her that he believes she is a true ushiromiya, with the crest "in her heart" rather than her blood or clothes
• kanon reports something is off; eva and hideyoshi tag along to find a sigil written in blood in the garden storehouse
• everyone missing is inside the storehouse: they were killed, then had their faces heavily mutilated. some of the faces are only half mutilated (shown in TIPS, really cool). maria is spared from the scene as she was left behind, while the older cousins are held back by their mothers
• (the music is kickass?! jessicas voice actress is really good at screaming)
• one by one, the cousins lose it, especially george over shannon; she had signaled accepting the proposal by putting the ring on her left hand before being killed
• eva points out they need to leave the corpses undisturbed. natsuhi and genji swap the lock
• natsuhi departs to speak with kinzo; capriciously, eva motions that she should accompany her as the next in the succession line after krauss
• suddenly, kumasawa tumbles in screaming; she's found puddles of blood in the dining hall
• nanjo posits that the victims were killed in the dining hall around midnight, then dragged outside to stage a scene. the dining room is thus closed off
• genji returns; even by emergency radio, he cannot contact anyone in niijima for help
• maria notices something is up. she's told about the situation; she reacts absurdly calm, comparing what's happening to the witch's epitaph
• the moms return; kinzo's room was empty. he's presumed on a walk. natsuhi goes to inspect all exits and seal them
• george feels particularly guilty, thinking he proposed at the wrong time and got shannon killed (as she went to the main house to cool off from their meeting when she was scheduled to be in the main house)
• eva and battler discuss who the culprit could be. eva strongly suggests it must be a servant due to the familiarity with+access to keys necessary to open the storehouse lock, and likely multiple conspiring together
• eva tries to suggest it's natsuhi's doing, while battler starts to think the servants are being framed
• he notes that apart from the shock factor, all presently alive were heavily affected by the deaths... save for eva and hideyoshi
• eva says she thinks she's being framed. she proclaims if she had killed her siblings, she would've wanted it to look like an accident
• the living room group ponders the sigil found on the garden storehouse shutter. battler supposes it was either drawn by kinzo, or intended as a message for kinzo
• hideyoshi tries to recreate the sigil to maria, thinking her interest in occult stuff could help. maria cackles, as if possessed. she draws a more accurate version of the sigil, calling it the seventh magic circle of the sun. it's based on an old testament passage and is meant to "free" someone from their unbeatable fate via human sacrifice
• battler breaks off to think; he gets very frustrated
• he recalls a childhood important memory: rudolph explaining to a terrified younger him that horror movies are made to pseudo "make real" that which does not exist. demons and monsters do not exist at all, which is why humans crave them so bad so the point of making art of them (trying to make them real). art/culture that elicits terror and fear are meant to stimulate the truly bored
• as rudolph (as a shitty dad) told a very young, frightened battler that magic isn't real to comfort him and kyrie is a logic fan, battler will absolutely refute all claims that magic is afoot (🙄....)
• he resolves that the murder was staged such that the family would find the bodies (obviously?) with presentation that suggests kinzo's involvement/approval
• aunt natsuhi returns with a rifle. everyone fawns over its make / it being kinzo's rather than being alarmed
• its an illegally owned gun, the same model as a cowboy movie kinzo liked
• either the witch exists as a 19th person on the island, or one of the 11 survivors present in the mansion is a murderer

DAY 2: 1 PM
• for lunch, the 3 servants are allowed to break from the group to prepare food in the kitchen. genji and kanon discuss how shannon's death was merely "bad luck"; kanon wishes anyone else had died "in her place", as if the 6 deaths aspects was predetermined
• kumasawa is heartbroken in a more normal way. she wishes she could see shannon's smile once more
• (echoes kinzo wishing to see beatrice's face once more)
• genji and kanon theorize that natsuhi was an intended victim but somehow evaded her fate. battler sneaks in and interrupts to ask who beatrice is, threatening kanon; they explain to him that she is a real person but she has no physical form, unless she wants to. she takes the form of a butterfly haunting the mansion at night, which servants are instructed to never ever chase after as it leads to injury
• in particular it's repeated that some years ago a certain servant doubted beatrice's existence and then fell down a flight of stairs
• doubting beatrice's existence is what upsets her most. maria appears, creepily; she explains everyone but battler can see beatrice as he is a nonbeliever born without a sixth sense
• she explains cackling that he would have been killed if not for the scorpion charm she gave him; he retorts that he's lost the charm and will only believe in things he can see
• maria proclaims beatrice will be revived soon allowing even him to see her, and she has already promised to love and care for maria alot
• back in the parlor the cousins discuss maria's shifts in personality. they conclude she's putting on airs of posession due to having a niche interest no one around her cares for
• they say this isn't a new phenomenon for maria at all, it's just that battler hasn't seen it before. rosa would slap maria every time she acted like this in front of her, so maria doesn't present it to everyone
• george explains that refuting beatrice's existence goes against kinzo's desires and thats why everyone plays along, rather than it being the truth
• probing logic further, battler concludes the killer has failed to make themselves appear as a witch to him by failing to secure and prove the survivors' alibis (failing to make the murders appear airtight)
• battler posits that the murders are actually threats against kinzo from a survivor to divulge the riddle's solution and thus the gold
• natsuhi returns genji's study key. eva presents her argument: when natsuhi greeted her at the stairwell around 8am, she lodged a piece of paper into the door to kinzo's study. between natsuhi meeting with him pre-corpses and later him not replying to natsuhi+eva post-corpses, the receipt was intact, meaning the door had not been re-opened in-between the two times natsuhi went up there
• she suggests natsuhi has killed kinzo and manufactured an alibi. natsuhi is gradually upset; she picks up the rifle. eva then claims she's hidden kinzo's body to prolong the inheritance dispute for entire years (for him to be legally declared missing rather than presumed dead), securing her fortune. natsuhi aims the rifle (!!!!!)
• eva dares her to shoot. she claims natsuhi threw kinzo out the window, and her long detour to check the doors/windows just now was actually her hiding the corpse
• battler cuts in calmly, explaining kinzo may have been hiding somewhere in his room during natsuhi+eva's post-corpse search for him, then left after them
• he spins it around on eva, since she has no alibi of the freak murders past her husband
• while trying to join the argument, jessica has a really bad asthma attack (mentioned in TIPS). george explains she's been getting worse recently
• everyone is stressed. they agree to quit the interrogations as the police will surely be able to arrive and solve everything tomorrow (once the seagulls return to crying)
• eva and her husband depart to their room within the main mansion. they refuse an escort, saying they'll ensure they lock their room. george refuses to accompany them
• battler tells maria he'll accept the murders as the witch's work because he no longer wants to suspect his family. he asks her to relay that her next crime ought to really leave no room for doubt
• maria emphacizes entering locked doors is no problem for witches; beatrice is in contact with "all 72 demons"

DAY 2 7 PM
• during dinner preparations, nanjo plays chess with genji. nanjo's terrified while the servants are quite calm
• natsuhi and hideyoshi relax in their room. krauss and natsuhi struggled to conceive for 6 straight years; eva's ploy to have a kid asap was greed on her end but for hideyoshi it was his desire for extended family connections, so he didn't mind changing his surname at all (ok...)
• as george was brought up to be a perfect successor, he was forbidden from romancing shannon. eva is relieved she's now dead...
• eva apologizes that her branch of the family is wholecloth / based on a plot against krauss, whom she hates. hideyoshi comforts her, saying he truly enjoys being part of this family
• they plan to take a private vacation together. the scene cuts away implying they're about to have sex. they are sooooo getting killed
• shortly afterwards, genji and kanon go to fetch the couple for dinner. they don't respond to knocks; another letter is under the door
• kanon cannot "sense" anyone in the room ("kehai" presence). genji instructs him to fetch a chain cutter so they can open the door
• genji and kanon return to the kitchen
• kanon goes with kumasawa to a tool room then returns. when kanon returns to the door with genji, there's now a blood sigil on it. only 5 minutes have passed since they were last there
• eva upon her bed has been stabbed in the forehead with a fancy occult-looking knife. hideyoshi has the same, but he's naked in the running bathtub, with his arm outstretched pointing
• natsuhi and nanjo arrive. nanjo assesses they were killed about an hour ago. it's not knives, its ice picks
• the cousins run up behind. george freaks out while battler cries a lot morosely. jessica and maria are chill
• battler swears he'll catch beatrice tonight. the room is closed off
• the group returns to the parlor. natsuhi goes to read the letter, but something suddenly smells awful; the cousins discuss that between the storehouse, kinzo's study and natsuhi+hideyoshi's guest room, the latter is the truest "closed room" with no potential suspects
• maria cackles, explaining it's nothing but beatrice granting battler's wish from the kitchen. he bonks her head...
• she explains the door had the first magic circle of the moon: it can open any door and divine a solution to an unsolvable problem. the witch is taunting battler
• the smell is coming from the boiler room. kanon lunges in, thinking the killer is escaping from the oiler room's courtyard exit; kumasawa hesitates
• kanon grabs a hatchet and confronts golden glittery butterfly-like patches of darkness. he proclaims he's no longer furniture; now that shannon of all people was killed he refuses to participate in the demon's roulette, calling himself the "0/house" option for betting. he goes to attack the butterflies, but is instead stabbed in the chest
• he manages to pull the icepick out. kumasawa enters, horrified. genji, natsuhi and battler pile in; the dark corner kanon was facing is empty. battler chases out into the courtyard with a flashlight
• battler twirls around looking for the culprit but no one's there. he loses it, pounding on the door crying. natsuhi enters and cradles him...
• kanon was rushed into the servant room for first aid but isn't going to make it. examining the murder weapon, it has a spiral shape sharp edge. it's compared to an instrument of demonic ritual (higurashi)
• in the boiler room, the source of the stench is a charred corpse that had been thrown in the incinerator: it's kinzo, who has a pick in his forehead too
• the body is unrecognizable, but he has 6 toes on each foot which genji and natsuhi explain confirms it's him. polydactyly is hereditary and considered an omen of fortune for the family
• they note kinzo's ring is missing, confirming its in beatrice's hands
• battler resolves this is further evidence someone is working very hard to "manufacture" a 19th person.
• higurashi's miyo faking her burnt body is alluded to as a solution for the initial 6 victims (but some of them had half their faces...)
• maria is fixated on the weapon. battler demands why she isn't scared: she explains beatrice promised to take her to the golden land very soon, once she revives and none are left alive
• battler starts to suspect maria a bit, thinking she of all people would really want to prove the witch's existence

DAY 2 8 PM
• the boiler is sealed off. the group surrounds kanon as nanjo pronounces him dead
• jessica loses it, demanding maria reveal beatrice so she can attack her. jessica grabs maria, genji grabs jessica, then natsuhi slaps jessica
• maria explains within the golden lands she was promised her rosa is nice to her and her dad will stay by her side, so she's eager to go immediately. beatrice promised everything will be complete before the typhoon is over
• jessica strongly suspects maria. natsuhi warns maria to not speak so indiscreetly during an emergency
• the group moves to barricade themselves for the night. shkanon and gohda all had master keys, which were probably stolen by the culprit; the only room safe from the master key is kinzo's study
• two study-specific keys exist: genji's and kinzo's. genji retrieved kinzo's key from his corpse...
• battler concludes that barricading in kinzo's study will force the culprit to perform magic (proving nobody in the party is guilty)
• he has a flashback to kyrie explaining that her chessboard theory is her surface level simplification of game theory, and cannot account for all situations. this angle to theorizing does not factor in the human element with precision ("noise" of the calculation)
• the group runs to the kitchen to eat canned food (fearing prepared meal could be poisoned)
• reaching the study, maria points out there's a scorpion sigil (fifth magic circle of mars) on the doorknob. she claims beatrice could never penetrate this door
• she explains the charms she gave also had this magic circle. natsuhi relays her experience and maria explains the scratching at mama's bedroom door she noticed on awaking was beatrice getting frustrated she couldn't enter and kill natsuhi
• kinzo's room is large and fully decked out, like a house within a house. he has his own smaller portrait of beatrice
• natsuhi opens the letter: "praise my name"
• battler and natsuhi ask genji to explain who beatrice was to kinzo, but he remains silent. they theorize that she was his concubine; jessica recalls that her grandmother was certain kinzo had been cheating on her
• battler muses it must be a concubine or illegitimate child enacting revenge. genji confirms kinzo definitely cared for beatrice more than his wife
• the mansion was completed ~30 years ago (1952), but genji claims he's heard that beatrice passed during its construction... kinzo's obsession with the occult was due to how badly he wanted to revive her
• the family realizes kinzo's creepy study is actually a testament to his deep devotion and love for a deceased partner. nanjo explains kinzo's actual marriage had been decided by his elder relatives
• jessica realizes that the servants' going-along-with the myth of beatrice and subsequently her revival functioned more to comfort kinzo
• battler proclaims he believes in the witch, to honor kinzo. they discuss how deeply devoted love like this is a form of magic
• there's no known rumor of a child between beatrice and kinzo. there is however a rumor that kinzo's support of the fukuin orphanage was him trying to secure human sacrifices
• battler realizes the murders align with the epitaph; the puzzle is a resurrection spell, not clues towards the location of gold. 13 sacrifices are needed...
• a larger amount of servants than usual are on the island exclusively for the family conference, combined with how servants may have been "farmed" from the orphanage
• maria explains that kinzo is gambling for his outcome. he chose a day where he was least likely to be chosen as a sacrifice, but didn't luck out
• as they freak out, a new letter materializes on the table. as battler reads it, it's narrated by beatrice...!
• natsuhi orders kumasawa, genji, maria and nanjo on the wall at gunpoint. one of them must be beatrice as they did not crowd at the portrait just now
• maria continues to insist that beatrice is right there behind everyone, but they cant see her because they don't believe
• rather than shooting them, natsuhi sends them back to the parlor. kumasawa is deeply shaken up
• battler returns maria's charm; he lied earlier about losing it
• with 4 people in the study room now, they read the letter; its a magic circle they can't understand without maria

DAY 2 11.30 PM
• the study group feels awful; battler calls suspicion the worst sin of humanity (higurashi)
• battler recalls that jessica had a crush on kanon; she may have not even realized it herself yet
• they muse that maria's obsession with witches and magic stems from rosa, as a salve for father's absence and rosa's resentment towards her (also the abuse? hello?)
• they realize the placement of the letter in that way was intentional to get those four thrown out because beatrice cannot enter the study
• natsuhi bore jessica after 12 years of marriage to krauss. she admits she would do absolutely anything ("become the worst kind of demon") to protect her and thus doesn't regret potentially having killed those outside the room
• battler finds the magic circle in one of kinzo's misc books: it's the third magic circle of mars, that sows discord
• shortly, the phone rings as if the line is back up. on the other side maria's singing can be distantly heard
• the group rushes down; maria is in a corner singing alone mechanically, while the rest of her group lies dead via both the picks (per epitaph) and face mutilation
• maria is probed. she explains beatrice entered and told her to face the wall and sing for a long time, so she did not witness the murder directly. she was spared as she had a scorpion charm
• the kids realize natsuhi is suddenly gone from the group; maria says she received a final letter, which isn't shown
• natsuhi is in a duel with beatrice, who finally achieves human form; butterflies form into her shape...
• before leaving the parlor, natsuhi had barricaded the door; once the cousins manage to get out, they hear her gunshot
• natsuhi's corpse lies in the entrance as if she shot herself. the cousins are hysterical; battler raises the rifle towards the dark. only maria is calm: she grabs beatrice's hand in the darkness...
• the clock strikes midnight as the two witches cackle together

Epilogue
• pseudo credits roll like tatarigoroshi's detailing that the next day, police entered the island and conducted an investigation. the cousins are considered missing; only a piece of maria's jaw was found...
• the victims list are marked as either chosen by the key, or killed with the spear of [ars goetia demon]
• the incident was known as the rokkenjima murders case or 18 murders or the serial witch killings. never solved
• years later, a note in a bottle that reached a beach apparently divulged the tale we just saw play out, authored by maria. at the end she pleads for the mystery [of the gold's location] to be solved
• the cousins were swept away to the golden land. george revived shannon, jessica revived kanon and maria revived a version of rosa that loved her
• battler is left very up in the air; his stanch refusal of the witch at the final hour, as he pointed the rifle at her, makes it sound like she would not let him into her realm

Tea Party
• in purgatorio
• the cousins + shkanon as if they're actors exchanging theories at a wrap party, commenting on their roles (teases higurashi question arcs' all-cast review sessions, but something is off)
• the tips victims list menu has updated as continuation! very fun. says that on the cusp of entering the golden land, battler's disbelief destroyed the magic and got them all killed. however, beatrice is very excited to have him as a new toy
• george describes it as if at the very end, the cousins were very brutally eviscerated
• maria explains they got the bad ending because they didn't believe. she alludes to fredrika!
• shannon says her death didn't hurt. there's upfront "let's try again next time" vibes (fragments tease); the group decides the problem is they didn't solve the epitaph, so they should try that right now
• battler alone, awkwardly still refutes the witch's existence. he doesn't have alternate explanations for the murders, but refuses to concede
• the atmosphere gets increasingly eerie as everyone else insists beatrice exists
• his potential explanations for the murders are really flimsy. everyone pities him and his childishness
• maria emphacizes that a miracle needs full effort from everyone to occur (matsuribayashi). battler takes this to mean that a lie that everyone pretends to accept/accepts then becomes the truth...
• he says that since his argument can be fully disproven by simply having magic performed before him, why hasn't that happened? miracles are miracles, not invocations
• BEATRICE APPEARS! accompanied by sudden rain...
• everyone except battler is very respectful towards her. beatrice says she's charmed by such an interesting, unusual human. she wants to break him!
• she explains that due to his natural resistance (biological?) to magic, he's an enemy of all witches who can shatter their magic with his disbelief
• she transports him with her into the mansion in rewound time, asking him to explain how a human could have killed eva and hideyoshi through their closed door
• her kiseru pipe is her magic wand. she demonstrates how her demon stakes (the ice picks) work; all seven are sent out (deadly sins themed)
• she returns him to the tea party. kanon keels over as a pick victim in livr time; battler freaks out
• shannon dissolves; battler's disbelief is destroying the tea party. george is consumed by redness then reduced to scrapmeat, then jessica as well. george's final words are pleading for battler to believe whereas jessica's are for telling him to continue to deny the witch to kill her
• maria succumbs. climactically battler promises he'll never, ever surrender while beatrice relishes in how great it will be to make him submit
• beatrice pulls him back to re-live those 2 days and explain to her how the murders were committed; the real credits roll
• (IT'S SO HYPE what a cool fakeout!!!! amazing!!!!)

Witches' Tea Party
• fredrika bernkastel joins beatrice for tea 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 she calls her "beato" both respectfully and affectionately
• they're enjoying black tea. beatrice loves black tea and ice cream. bernkastel requests a type of black tea that sounds likely to be cheap and available in hinamizawa yaaay
• beatrice is much more powerful than bernkastel; bernkastel's power is just that of endurance
• bernkastel survived against her fellow witch lambdadelta in a battle. lambdadelta's power is of ensuring someone's death with almost perfect odds
• (alluding to the events of higurashi; that fredrika is rika / a part of rika (saikoroshi) and lambdadelta is...? miyo...?)
• the tips menu now has execute/resurrect options and spots for the witches (who cannot be killed, but have fun notes for both states)
• beatrice's power is of "endlessly" killing an individual. she is demon-like
• bernkastel is visiting beatrice's domain as a break from her fragment-hopping. her approach in dice-rolling is pushing until she gets her ideal outcome, whereas beatrice is satisfied with any outcome, so long as she's rolling the dice herself
• bernkastel could not win againt beatrice, but lambdadelta might be able to. she compares beatrice's power to the "house rules" kanon described before his murder...
• beatrice departs to set up the next chessboard
• bernkastel lingers back, creating her own "game piece"; she doesn't want to fight against beatrice, but she wants to make preparations to ensure the game is not boring. boredom is the one and only thing that could kill witches. she explains she's like someone hopelessly yelling at the TV, but her piece will be something she can use to affect the game towards progression without interfering too much
• the golden witch beatrice is the sum of the world's rules given form, rather than necessarily being the/an individual named beatrice
• the full tips menu unlocks. theres some new info and new execute/resurrect mechanic from the witch's tea party can be used to see pre/post murder info
• battler is immune to the seven stakes as he has resistance to magic power