Turn of the Golden Witch

timeframe: october 1986

reading time: 14/05/26 - 15/06/26

intro
• george pov; on a date with shannon at an aquarium. she's wearing cute fancy clothes he bought for her
• they're at the world's largest tank. shannon muses that to the fish inside, this slice of the sea is the same as the real sea
• the frog at the bottom of the well is mentioned (an idiom famously in a higurashi fredrika poem)
• they have lunch and clumsily flirt. its overcast so they don't get a good seaside view
• shannon says the ocean around rokkenjima may as well be gray to her during work
• they go for a walk on the beach. shannon claims magic that birthed a miracle is what brought them together, gazing out on the sea as she says it
• george tries to say its merely hitsuzen (inevitable synchronicity... xxxholic...) but she's very firm. he suggests maybe they were a once per 100 timelines gamble...
• he decides to go along with her and say he'll believe in the magic so as to not let it disappear (!!)
• she's still firm that it's real magic. she told kanon too and he also didn't believe in it
• george orders her for the first time to drop the -sama honorific when they're alone as a rule. punishment game for rulebreaking is mentioned...
• in exchange she reveals to him her true name, sayo. he embraces her; it begins to lightly rain
• shannon narration; she chose to learn love at the witch's temptation despite being mere furniture. for how sweet her days with george temporarily were, things went wrong (are going wrong now...?)
• throughout cruel days imprisoned as a servant she suddenly saw an alternate happy self in the mirror one day and decided to become her mirror-self
• she sneaks off to the torii-hosting cliff rock on rokkenjima via motorboat. she picks up a sacred mirror there and breaks it...
• the mirror symbolizes her unchanging fate; by breaking it she can shift from furniture to human
• (i realize now the chapter-shift graphic has always been a mirror shattering....)
• she breaks it and thunder immediately strikes. she screams out to beatrice that it's part for her part of the bargain-promise to be kept
• shannon narrates furniture is a mere tool and does not deserve education nor love. she was a middle schooler when she broke the mirror(?)
• scene swap: eva's branch of the family visiting krauss' branch in the main house unrelated to the conference
• jessica is rude to her mom and is scolded. she runs out; bumps into shannon bringing in tea. natsuhi is very rude to shannon to lash out in place of her daughter
• shannon can't take it at all. she was composed before but now suddenly makes a bunch of mistakes
• george tries to lighten her load by talking about the black tea she's serving. he learnt about tea while studying under the president of "okonogi foods". he tells her to try some tea if there's leftover and winks
• eva as always is taking potshots at natsuhi💘
• not having the chance to thank him, shannon prays her gratitude will reach him
• she meets up with jessica in the garden. jessica realizes shannon's crushing on george as a loveydovey gossip fan
• it's particularly embarrassing from the furniture's perspective for a guest to help with a task they fumbled (re: kanon with battler in ep1)
• shannon feels as if she isn't allowed to even dream of being with george
• kinzo descended to discuss business with his kids so george joins them in the garden. eva is seeking a loan
• shannon explains george was chased out as eva doesn't want him to see kinzo scold her like she's still a kid
• they chat; shannon tags along. she typically spaces out through conversations with the family but is suddenly enamored with george
• jessica steers their conversation towards if george's single. she pressures the pair to go on "practice dates" so george can get a girlfriend down the line
• eva interrupts dating talk to call george in to speak with kinzo. they're planning to formally matchmake him; he's troubled while eva is forceful
• she explains marriage is an important financial decision and any potential romantic attachment can blossom after the fact
• EVAAAAAAAAAA
• she slightly threatens him, that he shouldn't run around for a random unapproved girl he's caught feeling for
• as battler has left the family register, george is the only male heir so there's a lot of pressure on him
• as eva goes to leave, she venomously whispers to shannon to know her place.
• shannon is troubled and does bad with her chores the rest of the evening. as punishment, natsuhi very strictly orders her to polish the entrance with beatrice's portrait, forbidding her from meals or rest
• the other servant lunon (unseen) set shannon up for failure. kanon shows up and gets mad for her but shannon dismisses him
• as shannon cleans, she begins to vent in her heart (but within the tone of mere furniture doesn't deserve anything D:). beatrice answers and appears before her
• she proclaims that throughout history man has always sought to figure out the elemental makeup of the world: the ultimate singular elemant is simply love
• is beatrice love itself as the eternal constant witch...?
• she explains that shannon is furniture that is cursed with a heart and thus capable of love now, which has transformed her into a human
• as a witch beatrice typically grants wishes in exchange for something of the equivalent value (XXXHOLIC!!!!!!!!!) but since shannon is pious and cleans her portrait regularly, she is willing to give her a better deal (the exchange would be removing her heart)
• beatrice says she will via magic allow for shannon and george to unite if shannon goes and breaks the mirror on the torii gate; it's holding the witch back
• it's framed as a "promise" rather than a deal or exchange but it's clearly a dark deal
• there is no pressure. shannon could take up this deal at any time, up until george commits to his match his parents are arranging (unclear if that's about to happen very soon or not...); there is a perfect girl for george social standing wise, but no one else feels for george like shannon does
• beatrice's magic is limited in that she can bring couples together, but can't break up pre-existing happy couples
• shannon hesitates; beatrice ups the ante saying that shannon will experience absolute monotony of repetitive harsh days like she has had until now unless she chooses to break the mirror
• shannon still refuses; beatrice is troubled as she finds this offer very generous and means no ill will (?lol?) on shannon
• kanon suddenly appears and demands the witch leave shannon alone: beatrice lifts some unclear horror to threaten them, then relents on shannons pleas
• instead, she lifts both their left hands involuntarily and stamps them with butterfly-shaped bruises on their palms to serve as temporary proof of having met her. she vanishes into butterflies
• timeline: beatrice visit → eventually, mirror shatter → okinawa aquarium date → post-date
• scene swap: post-date: jessica begs shannon to explain how the date went. she's furious to find out they slept in separate hotel rooms during an overnight trip
• jessica jokingly ousts shannon as a traitor for having found a boyfriend before her, but then has an asthma attack
• as shannon brings her medicine, jessica breaks into tears. she's worried her city-oriented way of dress and masculine speaking tone is pushing boys away. her school friends saku and hina already have boyfriends; on top of living on a remote island she feels like she's completely falling behind
• shannon stays with her until jessica calms down. after shannon leaves, jessica quietly desperately wishes that she could fall in love, too
• in the garden, shannon encounters beatrice, impossibly sitting on a rose arch
• she demands gratitude for the spell working; shannon is extremely humble
• bearice says two lovers falling completely in love is enough to create an ideal "world" for them; witches are jealous of this power
• over black tea, shannon gives her souvenir cookies (same with jessica earlier). beatrice is very surprised; shannon considers her almost a friend...
• shannon wants to return beatrice's golden butterfly brooch, considered the "fertilizer" towards her romance, ifthe romance was a "rose"
• beatrice says it would be fine to not "use" it all the time, but returning it would displease her
• beatrice's magical gifts tend to unnerve her patrons after they fulfill their duties (bc its evidence...?); shannon is the first to both want to keep it and continue to actively thank beatrice
• shannon is scared of her but senses a lonely side to her and thus wants to be her friend
• beatrice can only be fully perceived by shkanon
• kinzo also cannot perceive her; complying with his summons was something beatrice did on a whim, out of wanting to help his compeletely desperate pleas to the point of developing meager magical talent for her
• he's otherwise magic-less like battler
• after attaining everything, kinzo's final pursuit was the singular element; shannon has forgotten what that is(...?)
• this pursuit tied beatrice to the island where she has remained ghost-like, bored and lonely with reduced power for decades
• she claims the mirror shannon broke wasn't a seal for herself, but an unrelated soul spiderweb type thing that caused interferance with her own magic
• beatrice finds the overcast sea ugly, while shannon now sees it as still lovely
• shannon's treatment by the family has overall unexpectedly improved
• going to leave, beatrice sends a tea spoon to nearly attack kanon, who was eavesdropping from a bush behind them; she then makes her leave
• kanon probes shannon saying she cannot trust the witch no matter what. he says that she's been corrupted by her and has forgotten her place as furniture
• shannon insists she's become human and kanon can, too. she gives him the brooch and makes him promise to take good care of it; he's intent on disproving the brooch's power but doesn't want to refuse a gift from his dear shannon
• shannon says that without love, the deep blue sea cannot be seen; without love, "it" cannot be seen
• the word love is censored in-text but fully pronounced once, then kanon doesn't hear it due to a gush of wind etc.
• heading back into the mansion, kanon bumps into kinzo going on a secret walk. he's raving mad
• only kanon can see that behind him, beatrice has her hand on his shoulder gently, telling him his pursuit is pointless as he lacks love and thus cannot 'see' it
• scene swap: jessica at her high school's cultural festival. her friends are all discussing and showing off boyfriends
• she's been lying that she has a boyfriend all year; shannon recently convinced her to present kanon as a fake boyfriend to complete the story
• jessica is a blubbering goofy mess but she has had a genuine crush for ages, probing shannon about it constantly
• shannon also had to convince kanon, who is indebted to her
• kanon shows up at school in a cool coat, jessica's besties go nuts. she beats them up with brass knuckles LOL
• the girls are performing on stage. jessica shoos kanon to go take a seat in the audience while they prep
• kanon pov; he has to report back to jessica's parents in detail
• natsuhi is the president of the pta but can't attend jessica's performance
• kanon of course can tell she's head over heels for him; he has a distanced stance on it as unbecoming of her
• on stage jessica dances and plays electric guitar. kanon sees a rockstar side of her he didn't know existed
• she's dressed like marisa touhou and performs tsurupettan (references cicada independently). she's skilled like an experienced idol; the crowd adores her with an apparent nickname "jessie(sama)"
• at home over dinner her parents only discuss their political connections in the school: diet member takamiya and president emoto were present
• natsuhi praises jessica's halfhearted speech as student president; jessie had been hoping she would be praised for the performance instead. she's dejected; goes into the garden before bed
• near tears, she wishes anyone could see her for who she truly is. kanon stumbles upon her; he praises her performance, but immediately cuts off saying as he's mere furniture, their relationship cannot become more familiar
• jessica gets into an uproar that he's perfectly human and needs to have an "inner self" where he doesn't act servant-like, the same way she has her nickname jessie to lean on at school where she doesn't have the heiress burden looming over her
• unlike shannon, kanon has forgotten his real name (!!!!!) he's touched by her words but puts up his guard very coldly
• he bluntly explains he knows jessica has feelings for him but they can never be together as he can never become human
• he genuinely thanks her for her kindness but says anything more than this would become cruel to him (as in, her love can't actually help him)
• completely shocked and broken by his acknowledgement of her crush back2back with rejection, jessica runs off. beatrice appears, thoroughly entertained
• kanon realizes that beatrice is not bringing any sort of good fortune, she is a demon intentionally sowing impossible love that will lead to ruin
• beatrice concedes that she's sometimes called that; her favorite form of entertainment is tricking humans with mirages of impossible love and gold
• kanon breaks her brooch, which was tethering her. he realizes the mirror was definitely without a doubt sealing her
• beatrice dissipates, saying her revival will be soon and the three seeds of love will inevitably sprout and then bear fruit: for jessica, george and kinzo; the former two have fallen for furniture, which could never end well, but beatrice has limited control over furniture rather than humans
• in his study, kinzo is again beside himself with longing for beatrice. in parallel, jessica is completely sobbing, refusing the concept of furniture
• scene swap; on another trip/outing with george, he announces he's commissioned a ring and plans to propose to shannon at this year's conference. if she accepts, he will boldly announce the engagement to the entire family, even kinzo

october 4, 1986

• rosa and maria are on the train towards the airport for the conference. maria sees halloween decorations and starts going on about how she wants to celebrate halloween
• rosa tries to quiet her down; a granny in the train hands maria a candy, but rosa demands she give it back
• the granny tries to ask how old maria is in an affectionate tone but rosa is humiliated by maria's "childishness" at her age
• maria protests giving the candy back; rosa hits her so she cries. the train car goes completely silent, judging rosa who refrains from further beating her
• at the destination, rosa takes maria to the end of the platform and beats her relentlessly. she stops only when an attendant was asked to intervene for how loud this all was
• horrified by onlookers' judgement, rosa snaps out of it; she falls to her knees, embracing maria and nearly crying as she apologizes
• maria conceives of this behavior as a bad witch temporarily posessing her mama
• it's described as rosa's parenting style is bad because she tries to discipline maria but unavoidably always relents to her demands. the abuse is also of course framed as bad but it's setting up something about rosa's own upbringing with her inability to stand her ground and tell her kid no... compounded with maria's autistic traits which leads to her being told no / to stop over things that are harmless (but reputation-harming for an ushiromiya)
• desperate to make up with maria, rosa takes a detour to get halloween candy for maria to share with the cousins. this will make her very late to the airport (ep1)
• (up in the air if its like higurashi's timeloop-y format or this is just throwing alternate perspectives)
• scene swap; right before their relatives arrive, natsuhi asks krauss to divulge the planned inheritance conversation route but he's acting like she isn't a part of "that world"
• his investments are going poorly. his foresight is wise but mistimed; he always pulls out and goes into debt just before he's about to make a profit out of lack of courage
• krauss has a tender doubtful side that only natsuhi ever sees (hmm) thus she has cleared his schedule and ensured the other kids will not get 1 on 1 access to kinzo (fear of murder?)
• scene swap; the servants prepare. genji instructs shkanon that the conference will likely be extended due to poor weather and that a particular very important guest is expected, which goes over their heads
• shannon is spacey as she expects her engagement
• scene swap; in the airport bathroom, george practices his proposal
• the airport family greetings play out more or less the same
• except for the halloween candy: battler's reintroduction with maria revolves around it. maria proclaims she wants to dress up as beatrice for halloween
• scene swap; in the mansion, jessica is hiding from her mom. she's lingering around beatrice's portrait, accompanied by kumasawa who's slacking from cleaning
• jessica muses that beatrice could be another "relative" that'll show up to the conference one year
• kumasawa divulges that rokkenjima (six-room-island) was originally called azukishima (redbean-island), corrupted from akujikishima (evil-appetite-island) (in ep 1 kumasawa went to explain this on the boat but jessica stopped her)
• back then, a travelling monk built the torii shrine to quell the island's demons. but this summer the shrine was destroyed...
• (ok now im confused on the timeline; did shannon break the mirror ~2 years ago or this year? because there was a mention of her being "in middle school" when she cast the spell and started dating george(?) as opposed to now she's 16)
• scene swap; it's raining. rudolph is in a meeting regarding the copyright infringement lawsuit. his lawyer is dale watanabe; their best bet is to settle immediately
• the company that's suing them's internal restructure affecting the settlement outcome heavily alludes to higurashi's tokyo group power struggle
• rudolph awakes; he was dreaming on the plane. he thinks of himself as a scumbag
• scene swap; kinzo discusses with nanjo that he will not meet his kids this year. he explains he will begin the ritual soon
• kinzo was once called the "golden gambler"
• the long-awaited guest is battler; kinzo is disappointed that it's not beatrice
• scene swap: back to the ep1 tea party. like higu ch8's fragment section, all the pieces are in place now
• beatrice declares that she will eternally torture battler until he accepts witches
• he counters saying it'll be torture for her instead (ace attorney style sprite)

DAY 1: 10.45

• a quick replay of the rose garden scene, except now maria and battler are discussing halloween
• maria explains the history of halloween which intrigues even the adults. however she ends on ranting about beatrice's return, humiliating rosa
• everyone goes ahead to the guesthouse while rosa stays back to beat maria. she stomps onto maria's jackolantern candy screaming that maria is ungrateful for rosa's concessions towards her stupidity
• rosa eventually leaves to sob intensely in her guesthouse room alone
• maria is joined by kanon who observed the whole scene from the bush. he tries to exchange the destroyed candy for his own (maria gave to him as well as the cousins evidently) but she refuses, her own candy is too important to her
• parents black tea scene again
• eva had some sort of very open hostility towards kinzo before his 3 months to live announcement
• rudolf in particular is deeply stressed when around kinzo face to face
• eva and hideyoshi have some sort of scheme for meeting with kinzo face to face just the three of them...?
• rudolf doesnt let kyrie speak during the conference much (ego)
• shannons tea serving has no issues this fragment
• kyrie and rosa split from the group and chat. kyrie convinces her to leave the inheritance discussion and focus on maria. its set up a bit that kyrie intentionally tricked her into leaving so that rudolf has a bit more bargaining power
• ange who was mentioned in ep1 is kyries daughter (battlers half sister?)
• the rain begins: in the rose garden, rosa again breaks down apologizing. motioning to take maria in, thunder strikes and beatrice appears in a different outfit (horseback racing-ey)
• beatrice gives one letter to maria that will serve as her ticket to the golden land, and one letter to rosa to be read after dinner. rosa is in disbelief; maria goes to meet the cousins at beatrice's instruction
• she mends maria's crushed candy with magic that only rosa witnesses. she calls rosa chosen by the roulette
• beatrice heads towards meeting kinzo with genji in tow. kyrie greets her poorly and beatrice scoffs at her (in a way that suggests kyrie isnt a proper ushiromiya)
• cast page shows new outfit beatrice wears the crest on her thigh like shannon
• she goes to open kinzo's study but is burnt very badly by the scorpion ward on the doorknob. she's shocked as she really wanted to talk to kinzo, but takes this as its own form of message from him about the roulette

DAY 1: 13.00

• beatrice is staying in a dedicated vip room in the main house that kinzo insisted is always prepared for beatrice's return. kanon brings her food; hes hostile but speaking polite to her
• quoting and explaining the epitaph, beatrice explains that she will target shannon as a sacrifice unless kanon submits to her. he's torn; he realizes that his affection for shannon is his only weakness
• he's also plagued by the feeling that he really would love jessica if he was allowed to, which the witch offers as a possibility in the golden land
• he submits, kneeling to kiss her shoes
• scene swap; the family watching tv in the parlor lounge after lunch. rosa getting black tea from ginza is mentioned (i feel like this was a suggestion to her in ep1 or carried over from ep1 but i forget)
• battler curls up to take a nap. george and jessica admonish him saying he's hitting the bench way too quick when he's the guest of honor, but he counters saying it's more like its not "his turn" yet, he's just waiting backstage before his role is necessary
• maria goes to curl up with him but is given her own blanket (cute......)
• jessica is very bothered, saying everyone is the main character in their own life, there is no "stage". she realizes that what she's truly upset about is kanon
• scene pauses; in "overlay" (purgatorio) atop the current scene, battler is upset that beatrice has messed up the sequence of events but still refuses her
• she claims all she's done is changed her opening move to prove that there absolutely was a 19th person (battler's main doubt in ep1)
• her opening move is not over: it's still the turn of the witch
• (the guy who just claimed hes read higurashi doesnt understand the concept of fragments.???)
• the family branches split up from the foyer to let battler rest
• eva and rudolfs families discuss that kyrie met with beatrice. they strategize thinking she's another heiress and resolve to keep their cool when meeting with her
• kyrie remains unnerved, thinking if beatrice truly is nonhuman, reasoning and logic will fall apart now that they're isolated on the island
• eva backhandedly reveals to kyrie that rudolf has a tremendous debt he needs to cover that he's keeping from her. kyrie takes it calmly but its clear this is intense
• rudolf really relies on kyries chessboard thinking technique, he takes it as a kind of fortune telling to calm his nerves when doing business

DAY 1: 16.00

• rosa has been repeatedly asking maria if they really met the witch in the garden
• maria explains she's been meeting beatrice on the island for many years during the family conference, learning magic sigils from her
• she shows rosa her notebook: its full of perfect magic circles she claims were drawn by beatrice alongside scribbly imitations by maria
• rosa is unnerved. to her, beatrice is a source of childhood terror rather than admiration
• she goes to open her letter early thinking it can help her collusion with the siblings, but is stopped by maria
• rosa hits maria telling her to stop acting creepy, deciding to not leave maria's side so that if beatrice re-appears, she can intervene

DAY 1: 18.00

• shannon hangs out with jessica and george in the guesthouse. jessica teases them, explaining sayo is her closest friend so she's jealous she has such an adult relationship. goerge explains she plans to give her the family she's always wanted regardless of ushiromiya approval
• shannon leaves quickly, as she's late for dinner preparations
• in the kitchen, gohda is getting fired up over not being allowed to serve his fancy dinner to neither kinzo nor beatrice
• shannon is second in rank after genji, so she will serve to beatrice
• kanon appears, informing shannon that beatrice told him that the ceremony to enter the golden land begins tonight, which startles her a lot
• he explains that shannon could bolster her chance of surviving the ceremony if she refuses george's ring tonight, as that way the pair does not become a "two who are close" candidate. shannon refuses
• kanon begins crying in anger. deep down, he had also been fully swayed by the concept of becoming human to love jessica, which is combining with his fear of losing his sister shannon
• shannon is called to bring beatrice her food
• scene swap: krauss calls kinzo down for dinner with genji in tow; he refuses. kinzo and nanjo suspend their game of chess
• in particular kinzo was planning around a bishop and knight, while nanjo was devastated by the loss of a rook
• in departure, nanjo affirms that even though they won't complete the game, they succeeded in spending their time together happily as friends (okay...) (re: nanjo and genji are kinzo's only friends, only they can get through to him etc)
• kinzo says he cannot leave his room as the ceremony is now in motion
• established that nanjo knows how to operate the study's lock
• kinzo is certain his room is inpenetrable, which will ensure his being one of the five to enter the golden land
• scene swap: shannon meets with beatrice for dinner. beatrice admits she only granted shannon love to toy with her, but shannon simply thanks her for this joy even if it was temporary
• she claims beatrice taught her to be human and is no longer furniture. beatrice appears almost wounded; she was looking forward to shannon's distress...!
• resolutely, in bold font shannon refuses the witch, saying she will not stoop to entertain her even if she is ranked far below her
• beatrice falters, but keeps trying to spin this as entertaining still for her. shannon flat out interrupts and leaves WOW
• dinner time: the siblings get into an argument over gohda's sauce
• then they realize beatrice may not be an assassin/envoy of krauss', and that the inter-sibling animosity may be a cudgel she'll use in general (still assuming she's after the inheritance on kinzo's side)
• kyrie probes, trying to ask if gohda knows if beatrice will be joining them. she confirms krauss and natsuhi are unaware of her arrival
• the mood gets really serious. battler points out the probatio diabolico angle: nobody can prove that a second boat carrying a 19th person didn't arrive
• the adults get into discussing the inheritance in a panic, and then kick the kids out. dinner is thus completely interrupted. genji enters, after having checked that all windows of the mansion are closed
• (rather than a natural alternate fragment it almost feels like beatrice presenting a tampered version where all of battlers counterarguments are fully addressed)

DAY 1: 22.00

• the cousins + nanjo + kumasawa enjoy dessert in the guesthouse
• everyone sans maria discusses that beatrice is like her santa claus. they all hide sweets for her in this way
• (sweets seems like something recurring and new this chapter to build up lambdadelta)
• discussing with nanjo, the cousins conclude this beatrice is an illegitimate child between kinzo and his past love beatrice here for the inheritance
• the guys point out it would be more effective if beatrice's arrival had been secret (like in ep1)
• devil's proof is simplified as "a devil could prove its existence by just showing up"
• battler says that this is a human woman claiming herself as the witch beatrice. maria points out the faulty quod erat demonstrandum
• maria says that the witch will demonstrate things impossible for humans to do for battler, which would put him in check. chessboard thinking doesn't work if the opponent doesn't think like a human
• beatrice is posited as a chess queen with battler as opponent chess king
• scene swap: george meets with shannon in the gazebo deep at night. their tone is very serious and dark as the witch has spooked them
• shannon plays dumb, refusing to give straight answers about the witch
• she then suddenly asks roundaboutedly whether he truly intends to marry her, gauging whether he'd propose even if he knew they could never actually marry
• he explains he'll marry her in 3 years once he's done with his current work rendezvous. she must wait, as if having been marked as already "sold" / his territory
• george emphacizes he wants 2 kids with her. shannon falters, crying knowing they won't be able to live together
• rather than wear the ring properly or not tomorrow, shannon interrupts and immediately puts it on her ring finger
• shortly after, shannon meets with kanon. hes deeply upset with her; as he probes, he realizes he's so upset because he wasn't given the chance to love jessica properly. shannon concludes that even if love cannot be eternal, it's still the point of living. kanon cries
• swap to beatrice; swapping between her two outfits, she was watching the twins from the garden. she proclaims the game is now about to begin: the key to beating her is in the epitaph. as she follows the epitaph's rules on how/when to sacrifice people, the location of the gold is still hidden within and could interrupt her ceremony if solved
• scene swap: in a wedding hall chapel...?? the siblings plus their spouses one by one acknowledge beatrice
• natsuhi almost falters, then kyrie fully shows disbelief, but in the end they all relent
• the clock strikes midnight. a montage of the most likely to be killed candidates is shown...

DAY 2: 06.00
october 5, 1986

• kinzo awakes, shocked that he's alive. he wants to check to see if the witch tried to kill him, but resists the urge; he believes resisting human urges is what's made him likely to achieve a miracle
• the servants are all alive. they go about morning chores
• shannon goes to clean up the dining hall. the siblings are gone, with their tea seemingly abandoned. a sole memo remains, reading "chapel" (rosa's letter?)
• (theres a chapel on the island now? all of a sudden....? is this new information being revealed as the story unravels or has this been planted by beatrice's retelling)
• genji urgently awakes rosa in the guest house and tells her to accompany him to the chapel, which is behind the mansion along a path
• there a blood sigil like ep1's first greets them, this time subtitled "happy halloween to maria" in english
• everybody is generally forbidden from entering this chapel; the servants' typical reserved key for it is missing
• rosa realizes where it is; she sneaks into the guesthouse to confirm the cousins are okay, then finds the key in beatrice's letter to maria
• battler rouses at the noise then falls back asleep
• inside the chapel, a birthday party-like table arranged with halloween decorations is set up upon the altar. the remaining siblings are sat there, with vertical slices across their abdomen
• they have been disemboweled, with blood and sweets spilling out onto the carpet (higurashi)
• rosa vomits in horror; she's additionally reminded of a young birthday meal she had of a turkey stuffed with omurice which traumatized her
• she sends the servants off to contact nanjo and the police; she vomits again. she's horrified but finds the scene "weirdly beautiful"
• back in the guesthouse the cousins are lost. maria is screaming about her stolen letter while battler isn't sure if he recalls that rosa took it
• the servants dash in; all four cousins tag along despite realizing they probably shouldn't
• they freak out upon the corpses, like last time. rosa is failing a bit as the responsible adult compared to natsuhi/eva
• battler and beatrice in "present time" overlay the scene: battler is enraged. beatrice explains this version of the game is simply responding to what battler found to be airtight evidence against her: the victims faces are all in tact while beatrice's presence on the island is indisputable
• back in "game time", jessica dashes out in a rage trying to find and kill beatrice. george, battler and rosa find a fresh letter: its the ep1 dinner letter
• rosa beats maria for creepy laughing, as she's unnerved
• they realize theres about 60 million yen in 9 golden ingots as part of the halloween decor

DAY 2: 06.45

• kanon and gohda chasing jessica as she storms to the vip room
• the room is locked, then empty when unlocked by kanon's master key. a taunting letter is on a table; jessica reads it then flies into a rampage, destroying the room then having an asthma attack
• jessica runs away and kanon chases after her alone. he tails her at a distance but is there to grab her when she finally can't walk further from her asthma
• he carries her to her room and gives her medicine, then tells her he'll be right outside if she needs anything. they both hesitate; he fumbles and exits the room
• beatrice appears from behind him and taunts him for his failure to sit by jessica when she needs him most. she boasts that whether the two become a proper pair (to count as "the two") or not, jessica will be killed right now, if only to enrage kanon for her amusement
• jessica suddenly cries out; beatrice has summoned her own piece of furniture from the dark: a pawn goatman butler thingy. it raises an intense energy sword; a similar sword is suddenly (ripped out of?) raised by kanon as he runs in
• this is framed as kanon's subhumanity as funiture being forcibly shown to jessica
• kanon is very powerful as a "handcrafted" piece of kinzo's furniture
• the two fight; kanon wins, then attacks beatrice
• she then raises her two stakes: asmodeus of lust and satan of wrath, two pervert girls in matching outfits who appear, taunt the couple, then transform into stakes and kill them (like in ep1)
• in death, kanon almost admits his real name
• scene swap: genji and shannon inform kinzo of the murders. he suddenly asks shannon to transcribe his will, beginning with his first meeting with beatrice (cuts out)
• scene swap: the remaining survivors exit the chapel and wonder about its significance
• kinzo, who wasn't devout, forbade anyone from entering the chapel and had the servants regularly clean and redecorate it (like beatrice's room)
• since it was never used even as far as the siblings' childhoods, it has been nicknamed the "sealed chapel"
• they find a relief labelled "this door is opened only at probability of [huge number]" in english; kinzo had alluded that this door could only open at an immense miracle's occurrance
• they conclude the chapel must've been the set place of kinzo and beatrice's reunion wedding
• the crowd realizes that the chapel is a closed room. the only chapel key has been in maria's possession since noon the day of the murders
• beatrice and battler overlay: overlay-battler is not aware of current-fragment-battler's thoughts and actions as a whole per se, but "absorbs" them actively as the reel actively unwinds
• beatrice says his reliance on low information is his downfall, while he says the concept of a closed room is a devil's proof in and of itself
• they go back and forth; beatrice declares a perpetual check. she implants a new rule that will vanquish his claims of lack of information or unreliable source of information per argument: every line of beatrice's dialogue that appears in red is undeniably true
• she demonstrates the red text power. when battler asks for actual proof, she supplants the rule saying red text cannot be doubted as it does not require evidence (looool)
• in red: only one key to the chapel door exists, nothing but the key can be used to open the door, and when the door is locked nothing can enter or exit the chapel at all
• cornered, battler hatches an argument that revolves around probing what beatrice can and can't repeat in red
• he argues that the key beatrice gave to maria and the key rosa retrieved from sleeping maria's bag had been swapped out in the 12+ hours between the two events
• in red, beatrice can initially only say that rosa's key was genuine...
• she pauses to instruct him to call her the familiar nickname beato, and he titledrops (it's still beatrice's turn) (he doesn't question it, but im left with feeling he doesn't deserve to call her by a nickname. they arent close, he hasnt known her very long?)
• in red: maria was initially given the key
• not in red: the key was always in maria's possession until rosa took it, nobody could tamper with maria's bag

DAY 2: 07.00

• the group returns to the parlor. kumasawa is informed of whats going on. maria watches tv
• rosa decides to steel herself and take charge to go meet with kinzo alone (and to meet back up with shannon and genji)
• rosa has a significant age gap with her siblings and thus an inferiority complex. kumasawa's presence cheers her up
• on her way up, beatrice perches on her shoulder in butterfly form. she doesn't notice
• kumasawa proposes they have black tea with a bit of breakfast. she unknowingly suggests they have halloween cookies which now grosses them out
• battler shares beatrice's letter with the servants. he ponders that the chapel scene was set up more for the crowd to find the corpses, rather than plain defilement
• gohda calls the phones being down a specific mechanical problem (like one part being destroyed; higurashi)
• kumasawa notes that the servants' gossip dictates only 1 bar of gold was ever confirmed in krauss' possession, presumed the last surviving or from the get-go sole existing one. the presentation of gold was another taunt towards solving the epitaph
• gohda ponders if beatrice herself doesn't know the location of the gold and is using this plot to make the family figure it out lol
• maria starts cackling about beatrice's abilities. battler smacks her a bit; rosa storms back in with shannon and genji then beats maria repeatedly
• rosa has kinzo's gun. she spoke to kinzo, who was shaken up and requested to be left in his room (and she got his gun with permission?)
• they realize it's bad they left kanon and jessica alone, to try and stick as a large group as much as possible (wolf/sheep/grain puzzle)
• relieved to reunite with george, shannon almost lets slip that she was just transcribing kinzo's will
• rosa is incredibly, uncharacteristically stern acting as leader. they reach jessica's room as a group; the door/puzzle sigil is outside
• a master key is used to unlock her door: they find her corpse with a pick in the back. nanjo immediately declares her dead. kanon is missing
• requesting silence, rosa finds jessica's room key on the ground near a table (with a keychain like keiichi's from higu arc2)
• the servants explain they each have 1 master key; along with jessica's key that was in here, no other key can open her room
• jessica only locks her room when going to school for the day so that krauss doesn't go through her stuff (hmm?)
• overlay: beatrice explains she made this change in moves to account for battler's arguments that the amount of master keys in circulation is nebulous
• in red: the only master keys are 1 per servant
• gametime: rosa proposes that kanon killed jessica then locked the door on his way out. the other servants are his accomplices
• TIPS says the witch erased kanon's corpse for her amusement
• rosa presents an ultimatum: either kanon killed jessica and is now hiding, or kumasawa and/or gohda killed jessica (unlikely as they were not close enough with her to lead to a backstabbing)
• overlay: beatrice set up kanon as the perfect impossible blamepoint, as it becomes choosing if he killed the person he'd least want to kill or that beatrice the 19th person is to blame
• gametime: under rosa's glare, the group agrees that kanon is suspicious until proven otherwise
• the music gets all sad then shows jessica and kanons ghosts reaction (which becomes a bit too much lol): jessica is adamant the truth needs to be learned while kanon is satisfied with only jessica knowing the truth. beatrice (overlay without overlay graphics?) revels in their torture
• very dramatically battler suddenly proclaims the situation is useless. in overtime, his sprite really coolly overlaps his gametime sprite but he admits he doesn't have an argument prepared (again muddying how aware / in control of game battler the over battler is)
• beatrice can't repeat in red that kanon had his masterkey on him at the time of jessica's murder. swapping between game and overlay, battler explains that gohda told the crowd that jessica had borrowed kanon's key to enter the vip room and never returned it
• nanjo finds that key still in jessica's pocket; kanon is cleared
• overlay: battler fell into beatrice's trap
• in red: no hidden doors to this room, only entrance is this one door, only keys are masterkeys/jessica's, the window is locked from the inside
• not in red: the window could be used
• repeated in red: kanon was killed in here
• not repeated in red: kanon's corpse is still in here, the last use of a lock on this door was a masterkey
• they go back and forth over and over. battler wants to prove that the 19th person was beatrice as a human, not a witch nor someone he already knows
• gametime: battler resigns, saying hes not sure about his objection (of trying to clear kanons name). he makes up with rosa
• all this went on til 8AM

DAY 2: 13.00

• back in the parlor, rosa forbids investigation so as not to split up the group. battler muses that the culprit is someone who cant take out the whole group at once
• they eat from cans again
• maria has battler play logic puzzles with her based on a book she carries in her bag. battler explains the wolf and sheep puzzle to himself, then realizes the reason rosa mentioned it earlier is cause she thinks of the servants as "wolves" the ushiromiyas must not group with
• she ushers everyone but the kids out (servants+nanjo). battler turns to her and says there's no way a servant has committed the murders, but all evidence is messy and difficult; it's as if the locked door puzzle is engineered to induce paranoia more than anything else
• rosa and battler conclude it must've been kanon, who stayed hidden in the room the entire time the group investigated
• overlay: beatrice reconfirms that jessica's room has no hidden passage, but it's a devil's proof which leads to rosa's reasoning
• (beatrice can read game-battler's thoughts / narration that isnt said "out loud"? and that battler repeats a bit of her red text in not-red...)
• gametime: in jessica's room, rosa raised a fuss accusing gohda and kumasawa specifically to gauge their reactions more than actually solve the murder
• rosa concludes all the servants are culprits/accomplices, even shannon; george is upset
• rosa, like natsuhi from ep1, proclaims that as a mother she would "even become a demon" to protect her daughter, aiming to bunker alone with her but also extending this to the other two cousins (not just obligation)
• when asked to prove her innocence, she immediately aims at battler then laughs it off, explaining her position of being able to kill the kids at any point but demonstrably not doing so acts as proof
• overlay: beatrice mocks game!battlers inner monologue of "if only beatrice stormed in and argued with me!". out!battler tells her to shut up
• game: the servants enjoy fresh soup in the kitchen free from rosa's canned food only rule
• suddenly, a knock is heard at the back door; a severely injured kanon stumbles in. genji swipes a knife and shannon runs out to the boiler room
• taken to the servant room for first aid, he chokes out that rosa killed jessica then proclaimed she'll kill them all. he insists their only option is for the servants to storm the parlor and steal rosa's gun (to save the kids)
• slowly, kanon unravels (red eyes reveal), then stands up and fingers his horrible wound dramatically. everyone freaks out
• shannon returns with a spiderweb wiped upon a handkerchief: if this kanon is beatrice or an illusion of hers, it cannot come into contact with spider symbols as thats a butterfly's natural prey
• panicking, the kanon kills kumasawa and nanjo, narrowly missing shannon. genji and gohda overpower him and burn him via the spiderweb (implying genji has furniture powers/reflexes)
• he explodes into butterfly confetti

DAY 2: 13.20

• the servants hurry back together to report to rosa, but fail to put to words what they witnessed (as if dropping their guard would make them forget it, like a daydream)
• eventually they go back to the servant room to observe the corpses: the corpses are missing
• overlay: battler realizes (again) beatrice is trying to corner him towards either believing she is actively directly the culprit, or generating a desire for her to exist simply to absolve the 18 members
• gametime: rosa finds a new letter, mucking up overlay!battler's theories. the letter says their only hope now is solving the epitaph
• letter contains 2 master keys (kanon's and kumasawa's)
• overlay: key position discussion, battler tries to reason how someone could have hidden in the room and moved the corpses out that way (same as the theory kanon stayed in jessica's room after killing her)
• in red: the servant room keys are kept in a keybox in the centre of the servant room; all keys are currently in there
• in red: entry is impossible, everything is locked etc (window mentioned)
• not in red: no one was hiding in the room. claims that rosa's letter disputes this (im not sure...)
• battler proposes that beatrice's definition of "no hidden doors" does not account for hidden compartments like closets to hide in. he frames her to repeat "no one else is in the room" in red; she does LOL
• in red: no other human was there, no one was hiding, opening the door/window from outside is not possible, battler is incompetent
• beatrice humiliates him: the best explanation was that jessica and nanjo are simply in on the crime. battler begins drowning in paranoia / doubting his family; the ui is tinted red (kinda like higurashi's rena pov)
• the scene devolves, redder and redder. beatrice triplicates, pushing battler to surrender and submit to her as her beloved piece of furniture until he burns away (SO COOL)
• (intensely suggests red text never was indicative of "the truth", shes tricked him towards constricting his logic. no magic involved with this except for however she changes the text color??)
• gametime: rosa loses it and threatens the remaining servants. george protests, shannon and gohda plead desperately. game!battler is redder and redder hypnotized by the witch.....?
• almost like a casting call sequence, the servants starting with genji calm down and one by one surrender their keys to rosa as a symbol of loyalty & innocence. all master keys and servant room keys are concentrated in this room
• its heartfelt but drags on. george plans to split off from the group and sleep with shannon during their possibly only night together as "married"
• meanwhile, maria is holding battler; hes breaking down apologizing for not accepting the witch sooner, recognizing that he impeded the golden land's ushering-in "last time" (like keiichirena's fragment recall!!?!?) while maria tries to calm him down
• the line between game!battler and overlay!battler is completely blurred. he's begging for beatrice's mercy while she's explaining what being her furniture entails (intense), saying his last twinges of resisting submission are her greatest pleasure
• the servants exit: george accompanies shannon. completely swapping demeanor, rosa turns and proclaims the servants could never be trusted even after such symbolic surrender to her. she calls the potential existence of more keys another devil's proof
• battler fully breaks down: swapping between game and overlay again, he's pleading for beatrice to enter the scene and explain that everyone is innocent due to her magic. she's relishing in it. the scene ends with a mini audio jumpscare

DAY 2: 18.00

• in the kitchen, the servants under george discuss what actually happened with the kanon imposter and how dangerous it was to discuss with rosa, hence their minced words around her
• shannon blames herself intensely for breaking the torii mirror earlier this summer
• they recall that natsuhi is a daughter of a shinto priest family; the mirror charm mentioned in ep1 may be able to repel or capture beatrice in place of shannon's mirror
• they plan to break into the chapel and loot natsuhi's corpse for her door key. genji stays back to serve rosa as the current mistress of the house
• once everyone leaves, genji silently kills a golden butterfly that was hiding in the kitchen sink
• in the parlor, maria and battler discuss the epitaph. battler drifts
• in overlay, beatrice explains to him that she will definitely keep her promise to the riddle solvers. she isn't after the gold location.
• she calls off his total submission; it's "too soon" for him to give up, she'll have no fun without him for their "eternal torture" duet (??? why pause his madness after all that)
• gametime: battler ponders that rosa has had it the worst of the siblings
• in the chapel, the servant group finds natsuhi's bedroom key but is ambushed by a whirlwind of beatrice's butterflies. they barely escape; she appears in the middle of it
• they rush back to the mansion. in natsuhi's room, gohda is killed by a stake
• surrounded by goat men, beatrice enters the room as george and shannon unlock the mirror from a box. beatrice summons another kanon illusion; shannon with sudden intense defensive powers protects george and instantly dispels the kanon (gore)
• beatrice loses composure. shannon insists beatrice is beneath her now as true eternal love has been promised with her engagement ring, going on romantically about eternal love while beatrice frantically rants that love is not achievable. as well as how cruel and lustful george really is (correct.)
• with an intense barrage of attacks, beatrice eventually crushes shannons shield. the couple die together, brutally killed just before george could say he loves shannon eternally

DAY 2: 21.00

• doing his limited rounds in the main mansion, genji discoveres kumasawa and nanjos corpses in the courtyard. he summons the parlor group, who investigate (umbrellaless)
• battler and maria realize these two corpses signify later sacrifices based on stake placement (leg and knee): they rush to natsuhi's room based on genjis account
• natsuhi's door is plastered in scratch/claw marks like in ep1 (no sigil)
• they enter via rosa giving battler a master key. they find the remaining three corpses: shannon is especially mutilated
• battlers narration suggests shannon and beatrice's face is one and the same...?
• battler gives up emotionally. maria reassures him that so long as he stays with her he'll be alright because the witch likes her. (its sweet...)
• they realize the sacrifices are complete and their own deaths are impending; genji is "robotically" calm while rosa is still outraged and distrustful (even of battler at the end)
• they retrieve natsuhi's door key from george's corpse, establishing it as a locked room. rosa asks genji to leave the family in the parlor once more
• while rosa re-inspects the locked windows, battler finds a beatrice letter impossibly placed upon the parlor table. rosa suspects him of placing it and he fails to really defend himself, calling this an absurd charade of paranoia (higurashi's "distrust is the ultimate sin")
• rosa goes so far to say she has no proof he's actually "ushiromiya battler"; he could be some random that's sneaking into the family conference to interfere and steal the inheritance (!?)
• overlay: in red: [a lot of factors] both the parlor and natsuhi's room have been and are locked rooms
• over!battler tells her to shut up (overlaying his game sprite again)
• gametime: battler tries to spin it as rosa being equally unprovably guilty as him
• maria gets between them and wails for them to stop as no one is to blame. battler breaks down again, begging for beatrice more desperately to come and disprove their blaming and paranoia

DAY 2: 22.00

• kinzo is alive; he awakes from an odd daze. he drifts to his portrait and wails: first that all he wants is to see beatrice's smile one last time, then that all of her body and soul belong to him and he'll never let her "escape a second time", then in hysterical sobs that he didn't mean to say that, that all he wants to do is apologize
• the ceremony as forfeiture of all his wealth is the culmination of dedicating his life towards atonement for what he did to her (something he can never take back but desperately wants to. did he kill her way back then?)
• beatrice as a butterfly flies about the room, inspiring kinzo. he takes to his chess set and re-sets a game he'd played with her once where he made harsh moves with his queen
• he suddenly chokes out that he loves her. beatrice's unclear narration dictates that this would only work on her under miraculous circumstances, and tonight may be that miracle
• he hears a knock, and realizes it's her

DAY 2: 23.30

• battler has broken off to drink alone in the dining hall. genji suddenly summons him to kinzo's room: its framed overwhelmingly as if battler is the truest heir of kinzo (esp his mannerisms and mindset) (just like xxxholic's clow and watanuki...)
• in the study room battler finds kinzo playing chess with beatrice. her reply move has taken 30 years to ferment and thus overwhelms him
• she says she will explain anything to battler as she doesn't believe in "uselessness" (impossibility); all questions are worthwhile. her banquet meeting with the other witches in celebration of the golden land's door opening is commencing very soon
• she's placed a bet with kinzo which of the two will come first: kinzo thinking of a new move to reply to beatrice's 30-years-in-the-making move, or battler's complete and utter submission
• battler accepts the possibility of submitting to her(!!!); the faux credits roll explaining the death toll and that beatrice is the winner, battler's place is still undecided. "everything" was explained to battler (not detailed). rosa was not invited to the golden land at all
• kinzo wished for his lost love to be revived, maria wished for a rosa that loved her, gohda wished for rest @_@, and battler is undetermined

DAY 2: 23.59

• rosa in a panic grabs a gold ingot from the chapel then runs out, maria in tow. they're being pursued
• kinzo's group gets ready for the banquet. he thinks up a new move finally. kinzo and genji rise as host and lead servant; beatrice remains to change into her dress, having reduced a nude battler to her furniture, forcing him to dress her
• kinzo comments on how useless shannon is to him; beatrice comments on how she feels no shame to be un/dressed in front of someone as worthless as furniture, like battler is now
• the banquet begins in the mansion's parlor, right outside beatrice's main portrait: a masquerade ball of witches (inhuman men and women) wearing goatman masks
• lead by genji, beatrice makes her grand entrance; she has battler on a leash. amidst the crowd, bernkastel makes snide comments about beatrice's "hobby" of making battler submit
• a stake (or witch?) comments that bernkastel is nothing but a sore loser. the golden door opens: it's revealed the last alive members of the household are the meal eaten by the witches (as centrepiece of the banquet)
• they're eaten via being mobbed, its kinda unclear... really cool
• kinzo is eaten and reduced to a piece of his jaw; he's laughing madly as it happens, begging for beatrice's attention
• battler isnt ready for his devouring: beatrice comments that she must've not tempered him enough. he looks to her for mercy (like kinzo); she's no longer paying attention. he screams and is devoured
• (it's as if the primal level of fear felt in that moment is the meal itself? theres comments that "a cork must be unscrewed" and "women come pre-uncorked". a deep violation...)
• outside, rosa and maria are in a wild chase staving off witches/goatmen/butterflies in the rose garden.
• rosa opted to hold her gun in one hand and the gold ingot in the other, leaving maria to trip etc
• a goatman nearly snatches maria to eat her; rosa goes berserk
• they stumble down the stairs towards the beach; rosa loses the gold and breaks her ankle. she realizes at once her true treasure has always been maria
• maria says even if she isn't the best mama, rosa's all she has and refuses to swim away from the island alone as a last resort
• dramatically ends with rosa trying to fight off the swarm with bullets loaded into the gun by maria. title drop saying none were left alive (sooo hype)

tea party

• in purgatorio
• opens gently: rosa is incapacitated and wakes up in a beautiful tearoom like last teaparty
• beatrice describes how she wants to offer her a way to heal her deeply wounded heart
• explanation of how rosa's siblings bullied her; rudolf was the worst as he would always try to ally with the older siblings against rosa to keep from being bullied himself
• takes a dark turn in tone: she forcefeeds rosa via goatbutlers dishes made from her older siblings being killed endlessly (such as krauss' blood being repeatedly fully extracted from his body via a torture device, played live a bit); she gags, resists and chokes
• its emphacized these are undeniably the sweetest foods rosa could ever enjoy
• ends on maria for dessert: maria describes all the ways she's a burden to rosa, saying its ok if she wants her out of the way (kind of meakashi ending callback)
• greatly emphacized is how rosa is primarily concerned with how maria's autism and her treatment of maria makes her look to others, rather than maria's actual needs
• (WOW)
• battler suddenly appears, snapped out of his furniture fugue state: beatrice is genuinely shocked
• battler is a massive misogynist, then like in ep1 "jokes" that he wants to fuck his cousin maria once she's an adult. this is treated as cool......... contender for worst attempt at a dramatic comeback like worse than matsuribayashi
• seeing rosa resist the pleasure-torture made him remember his own fight. he vows to continue fighting the witch
• beatrice says she'll just make him submit to her endlessly the way she kills people endlessly, but is excited to hear his ravings of argument-explanations (the keiichi motormouth gene)
• (this got stupid...) (im really frustrated that battlers passes at maria are treated as frivolous jokes vs all of george is taken seriously)
• real credits roll

witchs tea party

• beatrice reveals she's caught on to the fact bernkastel is working against her. bernkastel removes this mask but has basically no change in demeanor
• lambdadelta appears: she laughs like satoko but resembles & is voiced by miyoko. beatrice summoned her to intimidate bernkastel
• freddy's magic is like beatrice's, but lambdadelta's is like a lightning strike (matsuribayashi prologue callback)
• lambda is offput by bern nicknaming her "lambda" and thus nicknames her "bern" in retaliation
• it's framed as lambda was the chessmaster behind higurashi within the concept of bernkastel being a player who controlled the chesspiece rika. bringing lambda into bern's presence is thus insane, and treated as such, but their actual conversation has a kind of playful affinity to it
• lambda and beato depart. freddy turns to the camera to talk to her piece; its battler(...?!)
• cicada fragments music starts playing!!!!! she explains her position and why she's helping: she believes beato is playing a uniquely unfair and cruel game
• by making suboptimal moves very frequently to toy with her prey, beatrice is difficult to predict; as bern's power is learning predictability through repetition, she's bad at countering her yet has the perfect type of stamina-willpower to try
• beatrice left some sort of massive tell in this episode within trying to keep it so unfair. bernkastel muses that this tell being so obvious could be in & of itself a trap, but it's what we've got to work with atm
• (i think its that red text isnt real)
• accepting the witch is one of beatrice's win conditions so it must be avoided at all costs. rather than trying to sniff out the tell and win, priority should be given to trying not to lose
• she tries to cheer up the heartbroken piece: battler(?) is sobbing desperately. she quotes her higurashi catchphrases 🥺 then leaves
• tips elaborates saying due to having been trapped in lambda's web once herself, she's unable to abandon others similarly ensnared
• lambdadelta's turn alone with the piece: she's tsundere, capricious and flashy dramatic. and helping battler too
• bern overthroned her position as the most powerful witch with higurashi's ending, so she's out to make beatrice the new #2
• there is a quasi romantic angle where she thinks bern is solely "her prey" but also wants to save bern from ever crying again
• it's rock-paper-scissors dynamics between these three witches, but also earlier they all cackled together reveling in their superiority over humans
• lambda explains that where she exclusively makes the best possible moves strategically, beatrice spends too much time playing with her food
• right now beatrice's torturing rosa just to get a rise out of battler and make him rejoin the fight, rather than out of any genuine strategy
• battler gets back up on his feet
• the tips updated interestingly to include the stakes sisters (multiple on reclick) and descriptions of kinzo's furniture:
genji is perfect but "incomplete"
shannon's weakness is that she was granted a heart
kanon's heart is weaker than shannon's as he's overall immature compared to her