thinkoutsidethebox | Memory 26 (trivial positive)

Discovery of the first twilight. [EP6] Form of Springerle cookies. 4/5 remaining.

George and Jessica had been the ones knocking on Erika's door.
They were asking whether Battler and Maria had come to this room. ......Of course, they hadn't.
"A good while ago, they went downstairs, saying they wanted to get something to drink. We thought they might have come to your room..."
"Of course they didn't. ......Are you sure they didn't go to the mansion?"
"We called the servant room and dining hall of the mansion, but no one picked up..."
"......Please stay here, you two. I'm going to go check the mansion."
"H, hey, it's dangerous to go out this late."
"How could a stranger sneak into this sealed-off island? Stay in that cousins' room of yours. I'll contact you if anything happens. Also, tell the servants in the guesthouse servant room not to leave the building. Bye."
"W, wait a second, Erika-san...?!!"
".........She is a strange kid."

After speaking her mind and not listening to anything else, Erika had dashed down the stairs and rushed outside.
"......The first twilight usually starts in the morning, but it looks like we've got an early fight this time. ......No crime has occurred in the guesthouse. So, that means the stage of the tragedy is in the mansion..."
Though she had an umbrella up, Erika got drenched as she sprinted.
She brashly licked the raindrops that dripped down her face......

......Erika was at her most energetic...
According to her memory from the previous game, the entrance hall to the mansion would be locked after the start of the family conference.
However, the lock was undone this time.

......Had someone unlocked it, or had the lock not been set, or had it not been possible to set the lock?
"Well, no point thinking about it now. After all, that might just be a whim of the Game Master's."
As soon as she entered the entrance hall, the door to the parlor opened violently.
Out of it flew Gohda's large body.
"Ah, good evening, Gohda-san. Is something the matter?"
"A, awawawa, awawawa!! P, police...ambulance...!! Awawawawawa!!"

That expression really is wonderfully pathetic. Just fitting for the first one to discover the crime.
"Please calm down. How could the police or an ambulance get to an isolated island inside a typhoon? I'm sure the phones are out anyway, so please calm yourself."
Krauss and Rudolf's yells could be heard from the parlor.
Their shaken appearance perfectly signified the coming of the first twilight......

[IN THE META WORLD, ERIKA ADDRESSES BATTLER.]

"Well then, give me the victims, the scene, and a reconstruction of the situation."
"......Those who left to take a break didn't come back, so the adults went to the parlor. When they did, the door was sealed from the inside, and they couldn't open it. You'll see later, but the hat stand in the parlor had been used to bar the double doors from the inside."
"So you're trying to say that the door was blocked from the inside, and the windows were also locked from the inside...?"
"That's it. ......When they went around and looked into the parlor through the window, they saw Rosa lying on the sofa in an unnatural position, with blood pouring from her forehead. ......They then smashed the glass, entered the parlor, and discovered that Maria was also there, lying by the wall and covered in blood."
"......Got it. That would make them yell. And the other crime scenes?"
"The entrance wasn't locked when you came into the mansion...because they had gone out through it to check the parlor from the outside. ......Since it had been locked before they went out of it, and there was a chance that the other people who had gone missing were lying elsewhere within the mansion, the adults are now searching the entire building..."
"So does it match the places where the victims died in that long, crazy delusion of yours that you showed earlier?"
"......They match."
"Rosa and Maria were in the parlor. Also, ......Natsuhi was in her own room, and Kyrie was in Krauss's study. Eva was in the rose garden......no, wait, she was moved to the VIP room, wasn't she?"
"Yes. Eva's corpse was found in the VIP room."
"That makes five victims. Ah, that's one short for the first twilight. Who's the sixth person, and where?"

[BACK ON THE GAME BOARD.]

"......?! Krauss-sama! The chain on this room is also set...!"
"Cut it!! The culprit might be hiding in there!!"
"Gohda, do it!"
Rudolf and Krauss had brought Winchesters from Kinzo's prized collection.

They yelled at Gohda, who was carrying the wire cutters, to cut the chain.
The victims had been found one after another at several locations inside the mansion.

The men who had lost their wives searched through the mansion in a rage, looking for the culprit.
This was...a guest room.

It had previously been a room where the relatives would stay, but it hadn't been used much since the construction of the guesthouse.
This forgotten room was locked from the inside by the chain...
"......Nnnnn, ......hyaahh!!"
As soon as the chain was cut, Rudolf pushed Gohda aside and flew into the room.
"Is anyone there?! Get out here...!!"
"There's someone on the bed...!"
"Let's get some light, Aniki...!"
When Krauss pushed a switch on the wall, ......the guest room lit up, and the figure lying on the bed came into view...
"B, ......Battler......!! D, ......dammit, ...what are you doing...in a place like this......?"

Rudolf fell over Battler's corpse as though his knees had crumbled.
No words could console him as he cried with a mad sorrow...

......In a single night, ...he had lost both his wife and his son.
During this time, Krauss had checked the window and the bathroom and searched the closet to find if anyone was hiding there, but he had found no one...
"Battleeer...Battleeeeeeer......dammiiiiit......aaaaaaahhhhh......"
"H, ......how sad......"
"......I can't believe it, ......but this room is also...a closed room."
"Wh, ......what, again...?!"
"Yes...... My study, where Kyrie-san was, Natsuhi's room, the VIP room with Eva, the parlor with Rosa and her daughter... ...And now Battler-kun in this guest room. ......They're all closed rooms, aren't they...? ...I don't......understand... It couldn't be suicide, could it...?!"
"That's impossible...!! How could this be a suicide?! Aaaaggggghhh...Battleeeeeeer......"

[IN THE META WORLD, ERIKA ADDRESSES BATTLER AGAIN.]

"Oh, ......there's a surprise. To think that you yourself would be the sixth person."
"It's more interesting to kill yourself off every now and then."