So, er, where were we ? Oh, yeah, Shannon was going on and on about the legends of the witch Beatrice, doing little unnerving things such as opening windows after the servants closed them.
"So, to sum up, rumors of the witch started because you're a klutz who sucks at her job ?" Okay, that was a low blow from Erika, but it was Actually Pretty Funny.
Ensues an epic debate between Erika and Maria (who soon morphs into MARIA) about the existence of magic. In another demonstration of needless cruelty, Erika tears through MARIA's arguments and brings the poor little girl to tears. Dlanor assures us that "this arguments is entirely UNNECESSARY", but I beg to differ, as it finally states clearly how magic works on the gameboard. Yes, it's only Erika's opinion, but it's confirmed by pretty much everyone else during the course of the VN.
Here's how it goes : Beatrice's magic trick for Maria works because Maria closes her eyes while it happens. Leaving ample room for Beatrice to smuggle in the candy while she isn't looking. Erika can easily reproduce it, and she does. More generally, magic can only work if an human could have done the same thing through rational means. Which means that magic is just an embellishment of the stuff actually happening. It had already been heavily implied, but it goes better with it being clearly established as a ground rule for the game. Of course, this means that the Game Master's task is fiendishly difficult, as he must come up with "impossible" murders that can still be explained rationally.
After this discussion, the group comes back to the guestroom. And nobody's keen to stay with the unpleasant Erika, who's stuck talking with Kumasawa for a while.
Because Game-Master!Battler just loves —ing with Erika, her guest room is now very far from the cousins' room (so no listening on them !) and there's not a strip of usable tape in the whole island. Eh. Erika ups the ante by refusing to make the detective proclamation, robbing herself from the power of the red. Why ? Because this way she's in a weaker position than in EP 5, so if she wins this rematch the overall balance of the games will be in her favor.
Oh, and we also have a flashback to her sob-story of an origin story. Which isn't much : she got 96 instances of proof that her boyfriend was cheating on her, which apparently broke her heart. I'm completely unmoved, especially considering her history of misinterpreting facts on purpose, and downright fabricating evidence when needed.
Meanwhile, we get the usual "pledge of love" scene between Shannon and George... except he's even more goddarn creepy than usual in this one. He reveals that Shannon first caught his attention while Battler was flirting with her six years or so ago, and decided to conquer her from that point on, remaking himself into someone she'd love. Er, right.
Kanon and Jessica have a similar scene later on... except that Kanon goes on and on about how he's not human and needs magic for their love to work. He's still got half of the butterfly jewel given by Beatrice, but he needs Shannon's half for it to work. You know what this means : magic duel !
Enter Furfur and Zepar, the two demons of love briefly shown in the wedding flashforward. Reading their description again, I now note that they're siblings of opposite sexes. Er, it's far from obvious which is which. Anyway, they'll offer one of the couples a chance at love, in exchanges of a few trials. And just to make things more confusing, new!Beato enters the fray, as she needs magic to become complete too. Her partner, of course, is Game-Master!Battler, who's by now stopped seeing her as a failed Replacement Goldfish and genuinely supports her quest to become like her former incarnation.
First trial : each lover must kill someone to prove their love. Uh oh. George goes first, and ambushes Eva, the main obstacle to his romance. Awesome martial arts ass-kicking ensues for a while. He succeeds, of course.
Then comes Jessica's turn. She targets Kyrie more or less at random (the parents' discussion has reached a pause by then). Kyrie's love pep-talk to Jessica is... quite disturbing, as she once again goes on and on about how Asumu was a Manipulative Bastard and that Kyrie was about to kill her when she died on her own. Moral of the story : do anything for your love. If that implies for Jessica to ambush Kyrie out of the blue (she's seen through her excuse for being in the mansion), so be it, but don't expect Kyrie to go without a fight. And a pretty good fight it indeed is. (Jessica wins, of course.)
No such drama for Kanon, who swiftly and quietly kills Rosa in the parlor room. Too bad Maria was in the same room... But then Shannon appears, and even the combined might of MARIA and Sakutarou (negating all attacks on Maria) aren't enough to counter her Lethal Harmless Powers. Ouch.
Meanwhile, new!Beato gets the better of Natsuhi in her bedroom. As for Game-Master!Battler... he's done his part.
...
It's a few hours after midnight, and the parents discover the series of corpses. Eva in the guest suite (where George supposedly moved her corpse after their fight), Kyrie in Krauss's study (where she uselessly barricaded herself during her fight with Jessica), Maria and Rosa in the parlor room, Natsuhi in her bedroom... and Battler in another guest room. Interestingly, the "master key" puzzle is completely bypassed, as all the rooms are closed from the inside with a chain. (The parlour room doesn't have a doorchain, but the coat-hanger serves the same purpose.
Your move, Erika.
