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kyuu-rereads-umineko · 5 years

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Ep6, Chapter 12

it’s been 10 months but IT’S MURDER TIME

also did i mention this is chapter 12 out of 18

(Also, I’m aware that my formatting for coloured text is broken right now. I’ll look into it later.)

Erika is woken up by someone knocking at her door, and she snarks that they’d better “have a good reason for knocking on the detective’s door at an hour like this.” never change erika

actually i take that back please change stop being so unpleasant but ANYWAYS

In the Meta-World, Erika proposes that they “raise the stakes”.

“It’s simple. Battler got a shot off at us in the last game. So, if Erika does the same in this game, we’re only even.”

Lambda realizes that Erika’s saying she’s not going to make a detective proclamation, and Chick takes offense. “You intend to participate in the game with a foolish handicap like that...? That is not only presumptuous, it’s quite rude...!”

“If this game is won by a human without the detective proclamation, it’ll be impossible for Battler and the others to pick up the pieces of the Illusion of the Witch... But on the other hand, if Erika loses, that detective trash will be sent into the depths of oblivion along with the worst possible Fragment.” BERNKASTEL DID NOTHING WRONG

Battler asks Erika if she’s okay with this deal, and she stutters, which doesn’t escape his notice. Even if she doesn’t say it outright, Bern doesn’t try very hard to pretend this isn’t her doing, lol.

“After all, when Battler played for the Human side, he never had anything as convenient as the detective’s authority. All he was allowed to do was use the blue truth and demand that Beato repeat things he said.”

Erika proclaims that she’ll “destroy the Illusion of the Witch for [Bernkastel] without fail,” and we cut back to the game board, where George and Jessica have knocked at Erika’s door looking for Battler and Maria. Erika’s face lights up when she hears that there’s no sign of them in the guesthouse, and no one’s answering the phone at the mansion. She rushes out into the rain on her own, heading for the mansion.

“The first twilight usually starts in the morning, but it looks like we’ve got an early fight this time.” Pretty good indicator that, like in Ep5, whatever’s going on behind the scenes here isn’t the same murder roulette game that Yasu’s games were about...

Entering the mansion (the door being unlocked this time, for some reason), she runs into Gohda right away, screaming about calling the police or an ambulance or someone. Business as usual, here.

“That expression really is wonderfully pathetic. Just perfect for the first one to discover the crime.” lol

Erika snarks about the island being cut off from the outside world, as always, and in the Meta, she asks Battler to explain the crime scenes and such.

Again, business as usual here - the parlour was locked from the inside, door barred, etc., and Rosa and Maria were found dead inside.

“The entrance wasn’t locked when you came into the mansion because they went out through it to check the parlour from the outside. It had been locked before they left through it, so there was a chance that the others who had gone missing were lying elsewhere within the mansion, and the adults are now searching the entire building...”

Battler confirms that the victims were found where they were killed during the love trial earlier - Rosa and Maria in the parlour (of course), Natsuhi in her own room, Kyrie in Krauss’s study, and Eva in the VIP room (okay, she was moved there after being killed in the rose garden, but still). Though that still only makes five victims...

On the board, the adults have found a guest room with the chain set. Never a good sign on Rokkenjima.

Cutting the chain and entering, they find none other than Battler lying on one of the beds. Rudolf breaks down immediately, crying over his body, while Krauss confirms that the guest room was also a closed room. “They’re all closed rooms, aren’t they...? ...I don’t... understand... It couldn’t be suicide, could it...?!”

In the Meta, Erika feigns surprise at Battler being the sixth victim, and he just replies with, “It’s more interesting to kill yourself off every now and then.” lol

Chick claims the murders couldn’t have been performed without magic, Erika counters that it wouldn’t be a game if that were the case, and Battler coyly says, “That’s an interesting thought.”

“This game is fair. The goal is to explain without magic the strange crimes that are claimed to be caused with magic. If that couldn’t be done, it wouldn’t be a game.”

“To turn it around, the witch side had a certain responsibility. They had to make a crime that could be reproduced with tricks and not magic.”

“In other words, in order to carry out a closed room murder with magic... it was necessary to create a crime that would be possible by Human hands.”

To be completely honest? While, yes, that’s been an unspoken assumption all along, and implicitly confirmed in Ep5, I still don’t like how Ep6 just lays it all out like that. It’s a minor point, seeing as the howdunnit ultimately isn’t the key point of the story, but it still bugs me.

Meanwhile, in Featherine’s parlour (oh god I forgot how fucking nuts the meta was in Ep6), Ange finally realizes why the Stakes couldn’t murder her classmates when she asked them to back in Ep4.

“‘Magic can only do what you can accomplish by your own hands,’ ...is that it?”

“At that time, if I had been capable of killing my classmates... Capable of pulling it off... Then the Seven Sisters of Purgatory would probably have pulled it off for me. They could only accomplish what I could do myself... No, that’s not it either. They could take what I had accomplished and turn it into ‘magic’.”

“If I had called those classmates out somewhere without witnesses... and if I had succeeded in murder... At that point, ‘the Seven Sisters of Purgatory would be capable of carrying out a magical murder’...”

And Ange hits the nail on the head: Magic, in this context, is an adornment. Not even a Witch can make a lollipop appear out of thin air, unless she’s already got one hidden in her pocket.

“Those who accomplish something without using magic... later claim that magic was used and call themselves witches.”

And of course, because Erika already knows and understands this, she simply won’t ever surrender, unlike Battler early on, when he still didn’t know up from down. Ange finds herself getting stuck on the same point as always, though - Since drawing the game out longer would mean more hints for the Human side, i.e. a higher chance of the tricks being seen through and the magic being destroyed, why would Beato deliberately drag things out until she lost...?

Back on the game board, Erika takes advantage of the confusion in the mansion to quickly check all of the crime scenes. Dlanor reminds her that without the detective’s authority, her “photographic memory” isn’t infallible. For instance, she can’t confirm by investigation that someone is genuinely dead, as opposed to just pretending.

(spoiler: she totally can and she totally will)

“I quickly visited the VIP room, Krauss’s study, and Natsuhi’s room on the second floor, as well as the parlour and the guest room on the first floor, this time checking with my own eyes, as I had failed to do in the last game...” I’d forgotten that Ep6 actually confirms that Erika didn’t check the corpses herself in Ep5, huh.

“The closed rooms were all made without relying on any elements that could be locked or unlocked from the outside by a master key or something else.” AKA, the chains were set, windows were locked, etc.

"It is probably their goal to construct closed rooms where explanations using master keys are made completely INEFFECTIVE.”

Erika homes in on the fact that the parlour doesn’t have a chain lock - instead, the door was just barred with a hat stand, like Battler said. An interesting choice when there are plenty of guest rooms with chain locks, indeed...

She asks if the deaths could be confirmed “even without the detective’s authority,” and Gertrude replies, “Know that there were no corpses that could have been confirmed dead with certainty by physical means.” RYUKISHI.............

Lambda points out that, while she liked the closed room chain from Ep3 better, “these closed rooms are even more complete, considering that master keys don’t help you at all.”

“There are two general ways of breaking closed rooms that Battler might be after... An illusion of a closed room, or an illusion of a crime.”

Lambda states that, looking at Battler’s game board “from the underside,” she knows the closed rooms are “perfect.” Bern asks her to say that in red, she refuses because it’d be rude to Battler, saying, “If you do love me, you must see my words as red truth already, right...?” lol

“...Then the closed rooms are perfect.” lol

Either way, the alternative is that no one actually died, of course. “Doesn’t this mean that everyone got so pissed at Erika bragging about detectives and stuff that they joined together and set up a fake murder to make fun of her?”

(spoiler: yes)

Bern, however, replies with, “Unfortunately... this isn’t a fake. The victims really have been killed.”

“No detective proclamation has been made, but Erika’s very accurate when examining corpses. She’s good enough that I could give her examinations the red truth.” FORESHADOWING...

Of course, Bern being Bern, she won’t confirm anything that easily. “Well, she isn’t even the detective this time around. I won’t give her any red.”

“Still... that makes it incredible. This time... Battler’s really made a perfect closed room!”

Lambda asks if this might be too much for Erika without her authority, and Bern says, “No matter how it turns out, it won’t be boring.” TRUE NEUTRAL

“Lambdadelta had guaranteed that it was a perfect closed room. Bernkastel had guaranteed that it was a perfect murder. A perfect ‘closed room’ and ‘murder’.”

Meanwhile, Battler asks Erika if she’s satisfied with her investigation. She says yes, and asks if they’ll start throwing reds and blues at each other now or later. “I don’t like putting things off. I think the same goes for you.”

(booooo i have to worry about text formatting after all)

In order, Battler confirms in red:

All six rooms were closed rooms (until Gohda & co. cut the chain locks and entered)

The “closed rooms” couldn’t have been constructed from outside

Interference from the outside is impossible (barring immaterial things like sound)

When the closed rooms were deconstructed, the only people inside were the victims

...but when Dlanor asks him to confirm “No murder was committed after the deconstruction of the closed ROOMS,” he refuses. Erika jumps on this, claiming that the victims were alive and Krauss’s group were the culprits, and Battler... doesn’t respond. Instead, Chick says, “The murders will continue to occur, so we cannot say in red that no murders will happen after this.” HMM

“Sheesh, what twisted logic. You probably see what we’re getting at. Krauss’s group cut the chain and destroyed the closed rooms, then killed the people inside. I just want you to counter this.” Dlanor points out that “Krauss’s group” isn’t a specific number of people, but Battler acknowledges in red that “Krauss’s group” - i.e. Krauss, Rudolf, Hideyoshi, and Gohda - were the only people besides Erika to enter any of the rooms, as of the current time.

While it’s framed as being a “who knows what might happen next” kind of deal... Hmm. I wonder...

Something that I’ve thought for a while is that Battler’s gambit with the logic error in this Episode was completely intentional on his part, and something that he actively instigated and worked towards. With what we see of the GM’s awareness in other Episodes, I find it hard to believe that Erika could run off and kill five people without him noticing it somehow.

To that end... I wonder if his refusal is because he already knows that Erika’s killed off everyone? Those murders would have to occur after the “deconstruction of the closed rooms,” so he wouldn’t be able to say that nothing of the sort happened in red...

Thinking about it, I’m not sure that actually fits with Ep6′s sequence of events - Erika’s murder spree happens after she herds everyone into the guesthouse, doesn’t it? Either way, hmm...

At any rate, Erika continues by asking him to confirm that Krauss’s group “are not culprits.” After a moment’s thought, he replies, “I’ll acknowledge it, but I’ll make the language more strict. Krauss, Rudolf, Hideyoshi, and Gohda... were not involved in the murders of Natsuhi, Eva, Kyrie, Rosa, Maria, and Battler.”

“And that means, ‘it was also impossible for any of the other humans, who didn’t even enter the closed room, to have been involved with murder,’ doesn’t it?”

blah blah repeat of ep4′s rules, in order to win the witch side has to protect at least one of its riddles but the human side has to explain everything, blah blah

Having said that, Battler doesn’t confirm Erika’s last statement, saying, “I don’t give out red for free.”

“Let us CONTINUE.” Battler confirms in red that all of the victims were murdered, but when Dlanor starts to list off the seventh item in her list, Erika interrupts her, saying, “That’s enough.” Seems to me like she’s leaving some leeway for her insane murder spree later on, but...

“From here on, it’s time for me to argue back with the blue truth.”

“Sure, fine. Let me hear your masterful theories.”

Chick watches from the sidelines, thinking that Erika and Battler are probably having fun... and feeling a bit jealous. Sorry, Ryukishi, but no matter how hard you push Erika as being another rival for Battler, it doesn’t fly for me.

Back on the game board, all the survivors have gathered in the guesthouse. Yeah, Erika’s killing spree is after she returns to the mansion from here, huh...

The adults all question what the hell happened, how Battler and Maria got inside the mansion, etc. In hindsight, I can definitely see that they’re doing this to prod at Ms. Detective Erika about the crime being “impossible.”

Erika asks everyone to calm down, pointing out that how Battler and Maria got into the mansion might not have anything to do with how the culprit entered. Krauss agrees, saying, “I feel as terrible as the rest of you. However, we must take the initiative now and regain our composure.”

“The culprit is still on this island. And we can’t be sure that this tragic crime is over. We need to stay calm and prevent any further tragedies.”

Rudolf wants to find the culprit, while everyone else points out that their best bet is to wait until the police can arrive and investigate.

“Kyrie... Battler... Dammit... dammiiiiit... I never... had a chance... to tell you the truth...”

Erika successfully convinces Krauss and the servants to head upstairs, leaving her, Rudolf, and Hideyoshi behind in the lounge. “In times of confusion, when only men are around, it’s easy for a composed member of the opposite sex to take the initiative. Even without the detective’s authority, she was able to control them quite naturally.” lol

“This crime happened during a short break in the family conference. In that tiny span of time, six people were killed without anyone noticing. I can’t imagine a crime improvised on the spot going so smoothly. This crime was committed by someone who knew the layout of this mansion well, inside and out.”

Unsurprisingly, Rudolf and Hideyoshi are none too fond of the idea that the culprit might’ve been one of the other family members or a servant, but Hideyoshi’s line in particular stands out to me:

“I never even considered suspectin’ Krauss nii-san or Rudolf-kun...!! All of the siblings had excellent relationships with their spouses! True, the Ushiromiya family may be strict with discipline and money. But that doesn’t mean we treasure our own families less than anyone else...!”

“With their spouses.” “Our own families.” Foreshadowing that, whatever happened on Rokkenjima Prime in Ange’s world, Eva likely wasn’t the culprit.

Erika proposes that, while he didn’t kill anyone himself, Gohda might’ve let the actual culprit into the mansion. Well, we know in red that that’s not true, but that’s not particularly relevant to anyone on the board...

“Though the siblings hated each other, it wasn’t possible that they’d hate each other’s wives enough to kill them.” UM..........

Erika repeats some of the same points that have been brought up since early on when it comes to the servants - they’re relatively familiar with the family members, and they’ve got master keys. Pretty standard, though as usual, there’s no red-abiding explanation for how someone could set the chain on the door from outside.

“Though it might be possible [to set the chain from outside] in reality... the red truth had already declared that these closed rooms could not have been constructed from the outside.” Oh. Now that’s telling, isn’t it?

“It might be possible in reality.” In other words, each episode isn’t just a work of fiction for us, but in-universe as well.

“With her accomplished conversation techniques, Erika was cleverly grasping the initiative. ...Even without the detective’s authority, it’s possible to control human nature to this degree. What do you think, everyone...?”

#kyuutext #umineko #umineko no naku koro ni chiru #dawn of the golden witch

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