Its bedtime in the Ushiromiya mansion, well, bedtime for a few of its permanent residents and temporary resident's at least. Of the servants, Shannon is walking around locking the various windows and closing the curtains scattered throughout the mansion. Genji and his subordinate Kanon are drinking steamy cups of tea in the servants' quarter, and the newest hire, Gohda, is off fanaticizing about ways he could possibly please his madam and master, Ushiromiya Krauss and Natsuhi.
The eldest servant, who lives for the most part off the island, on the mainland of Japan, but still near the coast, is sleeping in her bed located in the recently built guesthouse, her name is Kumasawa. Also taking shelter from the oncoming rain, while keeping themselves occupied by playing a game of cards, such as Old Maid, are four cousins by the name of George, Jessica, Battler, and Maria.
Yards away from the guest house is the main mansion, where Natsuhi is sleeping in her room, with her brown hair with slightly red tips are untied out of its usual pony-tail style. A floor below where her room is located, a heated conversation was raging on between 6 adults about a certain inheritance of the head of the family, Ushiromiya Kinzo, who by now was wandering somewhere in his study, or possibly sleeping. These 6 adults, parents to the cousins currently playing cards, are Rosa, Krauss, Rudolph, Kyrie, Eva, and Hideyoshi. Of these 6, Eva and her beloved husband Hideyoshi are going to leave this discussion and head back to the guest house at a quarter past midnight.
This is what the cackling witches would later refer to as, "The First Game"
Nothing noticeably odd was wrong at this time, not even the greatest detective in this world could point out what was wrong, and why 6 people were about to get their lives cut short by an unknown force, that will later kill another 12 people, and live on in legends as "The Rokkenjima Mass Murder Case"
What is wrong? What could possibly go on to kill 18 people? The answer to these questions was the hair of someone who was currently drifting off into their dreamland. Two people were sleeping at this time, Kumasawa the elderly servant, and Natsuhi, the woman in charge of the servants that help keep this house running.
Was it Kumasawa's hair that would manage to murder people in cold-blood, as she dreams of riding a giant mackerel across the seven seas, with an eye-patch and a pirate hat? Her laugh is a well known cackle that everyone in her dreams fears, Ohohoho! Could it perhaps… be Natsuhi, with her brownish-red hair, while she dreams of waking up one day, with her daughter's hair back to its natural, no longer dyed color? Her daughter, Jessica, was of course wearing one of those "fancy yet casual" dresses Natsuhi ordered for her.
The answer, like the texts of the magic world, lies with the red. Kumasawa sure doesn't have anything 'red' to her character, only graying hair, and a plain old servant's outfit. The red has eliminated yet another theory, which in turn makes the answer Natsuhi. If this was a battle of wits, this was the point where the detective would yell out "Natsuhi is the killer!" in what is known as blue text.
So how is it, that Natsuhi's hair could kill someone? Does she use its length to choke people to death? Or is it some magical being that comes to life in the middle of the night, pushing servants down stairs, and playing pranks by opening and closing locked windows. Is this being, the legend of Beatrice passed down by the servants? Could everything told to you be a lie, and Natsuhi's hair never killed a single person?
Well then, has it ever occurred to you why the tips of Natsuhi's hair turn red, while they should usually remain brown? Her hair is stained red, by the victims that fall to this "magical beast" that lives in Natsuhi's hair of course!
Long strands of hair crept out from the bed, and reach towards the door just feet's away. This magical parasite, like any parasite that follows the rules given to them from above, is using its host body. Some feast off of the victims' life, some co-exist together. Is this magical lice that dwells in Natsuhi one that saps the life out of its victim? Or is it… a creature some form of parasitic worm that wiggled its way into Natsuhi's intestines, using its magical energy to possess its caretaker to do its deed? We'll see in time, let's look back to what was going on before this interruption.
Unaware of what was happening; Natsuhi's body was dragged along the carpeted floor lurching forward each inch her hair takes. Now four times the length of what it usually is, this monster could kill people in a multitude of ways… starting with Shannon who is innocently passing by this very hallway on her route….
The hairs grabbed seize of the golden-colored doorknob, twisted it open, and crawled its way out the door, making sure it carefully closes the door without a sound… Using its weird way of moving from place to place, the parasite in her head slowly moved forward, starting at the speed of a snail, and then slowly moving faster as Natsuhi falls deeper and deeper into her sleep.
By now, Natsuhi's dream had changed to that of a nightmare. Eva, her enemy and sister-in-law was verbally abusing her by using words such as "maid servant!" or "borrowed room!" Tears seeped out from under Natsuhi's closed eyelids, and they only grew worse as the torture escalated to psychical abuse, with vases being thrown at her, her skin being ripped apart by the shards, and then Eva started to unleash her cruel martial art skills, as poor Natsuhi lay on the ground crying as Eva pounds Natsuhi's liver with her left foot…
Shannon didn't hear the sound of the door closes, and she was humming a tune, while looking down at her finger. Here comes the bride, here comes the bride…. Shannon let out a little chuckle not knowing that a monster was just behind her. The soon to be Sayo Ushiromiya turned around to head back to the Servants Quarter, when something growing in the distance caught her eye. In this dark hallway, something was bringing itself closer to her….
A gasp escaped from Shannon's mouth, when she saw what was already in the pouncing stage of the attack. But that was all she could manage, going from a cheerful hum to a scared gasp was the last thing she would ever do in her life. Natsuhi's fibrous hair latched onto to Shannon's face like a leech…. The hair pierced four inches into Shannon's skull, and started moving rapidly like the blades of a lawnmower would. After ten seconds of hard work by the attacker, it detached itself from its prey. The hair was redder now.
Once again to Natsuhi's dreamland, her dream has once again changed, moving on from Eva attacking her with the intention of homicide, to Natsuhi sitting in a lovely rose garden. She was drinking tea with one of the servants, Shannon. The two of them sat around a table by themselves, with a look of awe on their faces, as the each individual petal on every rose turned golden, a swarm of golden butterflies surrounded the air, and a majestic figure of a foreign woman appeared out of thin air.
She was the Golden Witch, who has lived for a thousand years, Beatrice.
Thump.
Thump.
The hair crawled its way down the stairs, still dragging its host. Each step down the flight of stairs, Natsuhi's body would thump right back down, echoing throughout the building. All was not quiet in the night; No sound was vibrating throughout the hallways, except the ones coming from the argument going on between four adults.
The hair had finally crawled its way down to the bottom, when it understood more victims lay just around the corner. Making its way down the hallway, the hair carefully moved forward as to not make too loud of a sound to alert the four of its presence. It finally came upon the brown door that had a slight crack open, enough to peer inside and see what was going on. It would've been taking a quick glance at the adults, except no eyes exist on such a monster as this.
With a speed that completely contradicted the rate it went to reach this far, the strands of red rushed into the room, startling everyone with its presence….. Two of them let out a scream, Krauss and Rosa. The other two widened their eyes, and looked at each other for a moment, and grabbed the chairs they were sitting on. Chairs aren't that great of a weapon, especially against hair. Nobody in the room knew it was hair, but either way, Rudolph and Kyrie rushed at the attacker standing at the doorway…
Natsuhi's hair moved too fast, the two trying to defend for their lives were shot down before the first chair could get swung at the monstrosity before them. Just like with Shannon before this, the monster reached for the married couples faces, except this time, it separated itself into two different sections. One went after Kyrie, and the other went after Rudolph. With a swiftness three times as fast as it did with Shannon, the hair slashed its way 4 inches into the two's faces, and sucked some blood out.
Rosa and her older brother were too shocked to move when they first saw the attack, except now that the bodies were done with and tossed aside, the paralysis that prevented them from moving lifted, and they both reached for the door on the opposite side of the room. One tried to push the other out of the way, and the other tried to push back, it was a fight or flight scenario, and they both wanted to flee. Both preferred their own lives over the other, and the pushing contest between them would be their downfall, they stalled themselves, and their lives were over before they knew it.
Back in Natsuhi's dreams, a wonderful figure had appeared. The witch that could resurrect, grants wishes, or destroy someone's entire life had appeared before her a Shannon. She waved her hand, and four more tea cups and chairs appeared around the table. Above each of those chairs, a black hole like those found beyond the stars appeared, and four people plopped down onto the newly spawned seats.
These four were Kyrie, Rudolph, Krauss, and Rosa.
A mess was left in the room where a murder had just taken place, and whatever the killer is shrunk back to where it came from. Making its way up the staircase, and ready to bring its host back to where she belongs, the parasite gets attracted to something unexpected. A sound of rattling is coming from somewhere far away…
It turned around, with a thump, thump, thump, as Natsuhi's body bounced up and down from hitting the wooden steps. Lurching forward once more with more vigor than it has ever previously had, the hair takes its direction towards the kitchen…. It's located another hall down from the room where four corpses were just made. Only one person could be making such noise at this night, the one with the fat face and bloated ego…. Gohda.
Humming a song like Shannon previously, except instead of "Here comes the bride, here comes the bride~" it was a more of an undecipherable jingle that a person sings when they're very bored. The man was stacking up spices, cans, and re-organizing the kitchen pantry when he was jumped. The hair was hungry, the monster wanted more blood. When had its blood thirst started? It had been used to sucking some energy out of the poor body that it was attached to, causing her migraines. But now, its hunger for blood was massive, and the creature was slowly becoming more intelligent with each drop of blood it sucked out…..
Just like the fate of the five previous, Gohda's face was latched onto by the hair. The strands cut inches into his face, and an indescribable event took place, then the body collapsed making a THUMP similar to Natsuhi's on the stair.
In what should be Natsuhi's dreams, another chair and cup of tea appeared as if materializing from nowhere. Another black-hole appeared above the chair, dropping down Gohda. Seven people were gathered at this golden tea-time, and the witch who graced everybody with her presence finally stepped forward. She said one thing to them all.
"Welcome to the Golden Land"
Much thought was put into what the now intelligent hair was going to do next. It was starting to understand basic human feelings, and it even started to inherit some of the traits that Natsuhi had. Her series of thoughts, how she would react, soon this parasite would totally possess her body and take control of this sleeping beauty, except her Prince won't be showing up to save her, Krauss was dead. If this monster wanted to get more of its delicious food, it would have to not startle the remaining twelve people on the island. Hide the bodies was of course, the easiest solution.
Where on this island could the corpses be hidden, where no one could find them? The monster-in-the-hair tapped into the memories of its host and came up with a solution that it would help. The tool shed out near the rose garden. It would just grab the bodies, lick up the blood that is just now drying, and then pull them out to the shed.
The slowly changing thing crawled its way up to Shannon's body first, increasing its speed as it flew past Natsuhi's room. A lot of fresh blood, and quite a bit of dried blood, was littered about by Shannon's corpse, and the first order of business was to lick it all up. The second was to drag the body out to the shed where only servants bother to go…..
A scream was let out while Beatrice was explaining to the seven what the Golden Land was. The eardrum-breaking yell came from the seat across from Kyrie, were Natsuhi was sitting. Her breath went ragged, and an interval of several seconds was in between each breath. Beatrice looked at her with a scowl on her face, obviously upset that her moment to explain was interrupted, but something deeper was in that look on her face.
"It's that damn parasite…."
Shannon's body was already moved out to the shed, and the hair was licking up the blood of Gohda when a biological change happened to it. Assimilation between the host and the parasite was already starting, and soon the two would become one….
More screaming was coming from Natsuhi. Her body was fading in and out of existence while everyone in this small circle of the dead was staring at her. The host of this party stood up out of her chair, and walked up to the pained lady. Her hands reached for her the head, and grabbed onto her face with a hand on each cheek.
"Its calling you back from the world you came from…."
"How do we stop it? Whatever it is that's hurting her?" which was spoken by Rosa, who had the honor of being the first to speak in this garden.
"Tch, I don't know. If teacher was here, she'd know what to do…."
The bloody hair fell limp to the ground, and the sleeping body it had been dragging around opened her eyes. The hair that stretched to a length of 5 feet shrunk back, and Natsuhi stood back up, rubbing her temples. Where was she….? Her eyes got used to the dark after thirty seconds, and then she realized she was in the kitchen….
"Why… am I here?"
Blood dripped from her hair as she stepped forward trying to find her way to the exit. The first step she took nearly made her trip on Gohda's corpse.
"Oh my god…. What is this!?"
The existence that had just disappeared from the table came back to their reality, whatever it is. Seven people stared Natsuhi down, not even considering what Natsuhi had just seen. Beatrice was contemplating what had just happen, when Kyrie spoke out.
"So, who are you? You look just like the witch of the forest. If you'd please enlighten us, we're all ears."
"I am that witch. One of them at least, there's multiple of us, but I'm the current."
"Were…. Are you…. That one…?" spoken with fear by Rosa, a fear that no one in this world understood.
"I was that one. Yet I'm different. If that's all you have to say, I would be honored to be allowed back to my work with this girl" said in a sarcastic tone by the blonde-beauty.
Once again, the hair took complete control of Natsuhi's body, and hers returned to its sleep. The hair could also not understand what just happened, but it shrugged it off and moved the now free-of blood body of Gohda to the shed, and went back to work on the four people in the dining room. Fresh blood…
A little sip here in there from the blood oozing out of Rosa, a little bit from Krauss face. More than enough blood to keep it satisfied for a long time. If it could hold cups, the hair would store some of it in the fridge for later. It was a glutton, drinking nearly half a gallon all-in-all today, enough that only a few more sips and it would be able to totally possess Natsuhi's body in its entirety.
Kyrie's body had the pleasure of being the one that supplied the hair with enough blood to accomplish just that. The full metamorphosis between the parasitic monster and Natsuhi took place in this very room. Blood leaked out from underneath Natsuhi's hair, and then the creature was capable of thought. If this was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, whichever scientist created this creature would yell out "It's alive! Itsss allliiiivvveeee!" Being of magical origin in the first place, nobody had technically created this beast, so the poor thing would have to go without praise from a master.
A series of images flashed into the monsters new mind. A gate made out of wood, painted red. An outline of something that looks like an eagle's wing, followed immediately after by a girl with blonde hair. After these two was an aging man, who looks about fifty years old. Two more followed after this, one was a mirror inside a drawer, and the other one of an old man about seventy or more.
Then what used to be Natsuhi's body moved her hand, and started breaking out in a fit of laughter brought on by nowhere, as if a sadistic Witch had taken possession of the body, instead of another magical being. Haaaahhaaaahahahaaaaa! A creepy laugh that would send chills down the spine of anyone, including an axe-happy murderer.
The 2 yards of hair that flowed out from the back of her head reeled themselves back in, now with more of a reddish tint then previously. It would keep getting redder with each murder, if it planned to continue on. 'Natsuhi' picked up one of the bodies, and dragged it along the ground back towards the shed. The first one taken out was the man who appeared in the series of images that had first showed themselves to this new creature. After him, the woman with white hair was taken out, and after her the one with medium-long length hair was taken and tossed inside. The last one was the man with the purple suit, who was carried as his feet dragged on the floor.
Passing through the front room once more, the monster noticed something it hadn't on the previous trips, and dropped the cold body on its back when it saw the huge painting. It was of a woman who had blonde hair tied up into a bun, and an elegant dress with gold stripes. Underneath this spectacle was a block of rock that had something written on to it.
'Natsuhi' moved her eyes along each line, reading it carefully. It came naturally to her; the monster had not only possessed some of her memories, but the capability to read as well. What was written here mentioned what 'Natsuhi' thought of as killing, and it was perfect. Follow this, and maybe the hair could get more of its blood. Gouge this, and gouge that, seemed easy enough to 'Natsuhi'.
Rudolph's body was once again picked up, and carried off to the shed along with the others. Six people were all in the shed, and the job was done… except the gluttony was back. 'Natsuhi' crouched down onto the floor, and picked up the body of what should be her husband, that still had some blood splattered across his face. The tongue of this monster wiggled its way out of the mouth like a snake would out of its den, and pulled closer to Krauss's face. Her tongue licked around the open-wounds, and tasted the irony-liquid one last time before leaving the shed.
Blood seeped out of Natsuhi's pores, tainting this golden wonderland with red. Natsuhi was scratching at her head, akin to someone who might be sick with some unknown disease and is desperately trying to get whatever is in there out…. Rosa looked at her with disgust, Kyrie kept her calm face on, and Rudolph had a similar expression to him. Shannon and Krauss ran up to Natsuhi shaking her body, with one yelling out "Somebody save her!" and the other yelling "Madam!" Gohda just contorted his face into some odd structure only possible for him.
The screaming continued for another minute, and then the scratching stopped. Flakes of dandruff fell off of her head, but disappeared into the drops of blood that crushed them. Blood continued dripping, and the color from Natsuhi's face was fading, and she fell unconscious. Not enough blood poured out to kill her, but if it continued, Natsuhi would disappear from the golden land.
"You there, rip the hem of my dress!" Beatrice pointed at Gohda, and in a flustered manner, he ran up to the witch, and he set down on his knees. Beatrice lifted up her dress a little, and Gohda used all the force he could muster to rip the witches clothing. A little too much, and Beatrice's legs would get a little cold from what little wind blew through this land.
"Does anyone here have any medical skill? Any at all?"
Kyrie stood up, answering the witches question with a yes. Beatrice instructed her to wrap the ripped piece of clothing around Natsuhi's head, and Kyrie did so with the perfection she does with everything else.
"If you are a witch why aren't you healing her!? My wife is over here dying, and you aren't even using one of your fancy spells to put a stop to it!"
"I usually would use my magic to help a little… except the magic resisting toxin is strong here. One of you doesn't believe in my existence."
The night passed after 'Natsuhi' climbed back up the stairs, this time with no THUMP. She opened her door, and walked away without shutting it. The last lick of blood she got from Krauss made it possible for her to control both the human body and the hair, so she shot out the bloody strands of hair to close the door from the outside, wiping blood all over the place.
'Natsuhi' crawled into the bed that was in the middle of the room, and laid down on it, bouncing up a little as her weight pressed down the mattress and it sprung back up. Another smile swept across its face, and the hair reached out of the bed once again, and moved towards the little cabinet sitting above the dresser. The drawers were opened by the hair, and it pulled out the mirror idly sitting in the lone drawer at the top.
Reeling in the hair again, 'Natsuhi' lifted up the mirror with her hands and stared into its reflection. Nice eyes, with perfectly straight teeth, and quite well-endowed in certain areas. The more it stared into the mirror, the worse a throbbing got in its head. The mirror seemed like it was repelling 'Natsuhi's' very being. The image of the wooden-gates painted red flashed once again. It still didn't understand, so she put the mirror back into its drawer, and closed her eyes, and drifted off into what it understands as sleep.
"What do you mean one of us doesn't believe in you!? You're here, aren't you!? You exist, now save her! Just save her!"
Beatrice let out a sigh, and started to explain the situation, and what she meant by "one of you doesn't believe in my existence", but couldn't even start before Natsuhi woke up. The make-shift bandage still couldn't stop the blood from pouring out, but it stalled it. Still very delirious, but more aware of what was going on before she passed out, Natsuhi asked…
"What's wrong with…" with a pained struggle to finish the sentence "me?"
Night turned to day, and it awoke from its slumber by the sound of knocking. The knocks were coming from directly outside the room, and it was a light one, obviously from someone who is getting on in their age.
"Madam. It is me, Genji. Could I please have a word?"
Genji? Who was Genji? It searched through Natsuhi's bank of memories, and discovered the Genji was the head servant for the Ushiromiya family. Ushiromiya, it assumed, was its new name. She got up, and walked towards the door, running her fingers through the red tips of her hair. Using hands was still a new subject for her, so a slight struggle to open the doorknob happened, but not anything one from outside the door to notice something was up.
As she opened the door, an old man stood in front of it, bowing. Wrinkles caused by age and stress covered his face, and in a very polite way, he said.
"Madam, Gohda is nowhere to be seen. Breakfast will not be ready in time."
Gohda? Breakfast? Neither of those two mattered for her, all that was necessary for her was blood. Gohda, she assumed, was the man with the chubby face that she had killed the previously night, which would explain why he was missing. It didn't care if he was 'missing' because he was in the shed last time it had bothered to care about it.
"Go and search for him… I'll go and make myself presentable to the guests…."
'Natsuhi' turned back around, when even she was shocked to see a series of hand marks made with blood. The previous night, when she used her hair to shut the door behind her, blood got wiped across the door…. But no hand prints should've been there. An image of a woman with orange hair popped into her brain, with a wide smile.
"How horrible… Genji, please clean up this mess…"
Then she shut the door, and started to pant heavily. The Natsuhi from the Golden Land had once again possessed her body for the entirety of that last conversation….
After barely being able to finish her last line, she passed out once again, and more blood dripped out of the bandage wrapped around her forehead. Krauss shook Natsuhi even harder, making more blood spray out, as he cried out to Beatrice once more to save her. Being the calmest of the group still, Kyrie told Krauss…
"Stop shaking her. Can't you tell its making her situation worse?"
"Well what the hell do you know!? Sure, you might be smarter than me, but I think I know how to treat Natsuhi better than you!"
"Krauss, your displacement isn't necessary, and it's not going to get us anywhere. Please, calm down."
Beatrice whacked Krauss on the head with her pipe, and told him to back off.
After composing itself once more, she put on a new change of clothes and step back out to the hallway. The prints were still on the door, and Genji was off bringing a bucket of water with soap mixed in, and a sponge to clean off these marks. 'Natsuhi' took this opportunity to examine the blood further, so she went up to it, and licked the wood coated in red. She could taste some of the irony goodness, but another taste was mixed in with it that she couldn't quite put her finger on, so she licked it again. What was this? It had a nasty taste to it, and was rather horrible when compared to the blood that was incorporated into it.
A creaking sound bounced off the walls in the hallway, Genji was coming back up the stairs, 'Natsuhi' separated herself from the door, and started walking down the hall towards the stairs that were still creaking. The two passed each other on the way down, and they both casted suspicious glances at each other. It's hard to tell with Genji what was his suspicious, happy, angry, or any look other than what was always on his face. But something in the eyes alerted 'Natsuhi' to be wary of him.
Genji started work on the door, and 'Natsuhi' went down into the parlor, where two people were waiting for her. One was that a woman with orange hair, from when that vision passed through her and the other was a chubby man wearing a suit. These two also casted suspicious looks at her and a rage like no other infuriated 'Natsuhi'.
"Say… Natsuhi, you haven't seen Rudolph, Kyrie, Rosa, Krauss, and Shannon today, have you? "
"No I haven't…"
"Perhaps they are up in fathers study talking about the inheritance face to face."
The words came out of 'Natsuhi's' mouth as if natural. It didn't know what any of this meant at all, but it seemed to have registered something to this girl. Eva? And… was his name Hideyoshi? It thought so, that's what the memories said. The orange one was a…. a woman with such class as Natsuhi thought she had wouldn't say the word.
Genji walked into the room, after cleaning up the mess and dropping off the bucket and sponge in the kitchen. The same expression was on his face as when the two passed each other on the stairs, suspicion. It was all in the eyes, his expression was as unflinching as ever….
"If that's the case, please use this key to enter Kinzo's study."
'Natsuhi' grabbed the key that Genji had presented to her, and once again tapped into the mind of the real Natsuhi and used it to find out who "Kinzo" was, and where his study was. Up the stairs, like all other rooms in this house it seems. Natsuhi left the parlor, and walked up past a different flight of stairs then previously, turned a few corners and arrived at Kinzo's study. She pushed the key into the hole, twisted it, and walked inside.
The real Natsuhi almost possessed her body once more, anytime it goes to a place that Natsuhi has strong emotional attachment to, her spirit tried to back through between the boundaries of real world and the golden land…
At this same time in the Golden Land, Krauss and Kyrie were still having a mini-argument about how to save Natsuhi, when more blood seeped out from under the dress-bandage. The cloth was now tainted with blood pouring out of her pores, and it needed to be changed soon.
"You, Gohda, rip my dress again."
Flustered once more, he ran up to Beatrice almost tripping on his way, squatted down, and ripped the dress. His nerves were now hardening compared to what they were when he first arrived, and now he could grasp with all his strength. He ripped it a little too much, and there was a tear running right up her legs, going near the delicates…
"You fool! You ripped it too much!"
Gohda was whacked by her pipe, a little harder then what Krauss was hit with.
"I can't wear this thing any longer. Kyrie, change the bandage, I'll be back shortly."
She disappeared into a flock of golden butterflies, which flew off in the same direction as the wind.
The hair still was in control of the body, but something else had invaded this body. Emotions of its true owner, Natsuhi. It could grow its hair and move the body, but it could no longer speak for itself. Natsuhi turned around, and faced the window, and a man was standing there, with his back facing Natsuhi. A black cape with a golden outline covered his back, and then this man started to speak.
It stopped paying attention to the old man, and let Natsuhi speak to him. The hair got the gist of what was going on, something about her being a boy, and marrying some girl, and how something was in her heart. The hair was more interested in exploring its new environment; it grew a few feet long and scavenged its way around using a sense that is not unlike sight. A few demonic books here and there, and some sharp pointy objects in a case. They looked like ice picks, but they were trapped in a glass case.
Natsuhi finished her speech towards the man, and suddenly the man disappeared into air. Did this man even exist? The hair thought about it for a half second after taking control of Natsuhi once again. It had felt around and found the glass case, but now it would have to search with one of its newest senses, sight. Was it around the corner? Somewhere in the bathroom in this hidden apartment?
She searched around, and found the glass case again. Inside the clear box was a set of seven ice picks with odd carvings on it, each with a different name on them. Their names were Belphegor, Leviathan, Asmodeus, Satan, Lucifer, Mammon, and Beelzebub. They were written in black ink on the weapons in a calligraphic style, and in English. 'Natsuhi' picked them up each individually, and shoved them in her hair, like an accessory a teenage girl wears to make herself look prettier, except these seven were hidden deeply in her pony-tail out of sight from anyone, unless a thorough search for something would go on soon.
'Natsuhi' stepped out of the study, and shut the door behind her, this time using her hands, because someone was waiting for her just outside the room. Eva, that woman with orange hair and a folded fan she was holding in front of her.
"Were they in there?"
"…No."
The hair had nearly forgotten the entire purpose of going up to Kinzo's room was to look for the people that were killed the previous night. Natsuhi walked ahead of Eva, and then left Eva in the dust. Eva didn't even budge after Natsuhi started moving, and only looked back at the auto-locked door standing in front of her.
Climbing down the stairs once more, Natsuhi ran into a skinny almost feminine looking young boy with a weird hat topping off his head. He looked a little sickly, and slightly depressed, but while still having an emotionless face similar to that of the head servant.
"Milday… there is something out in the shed I think you should see."
"The shed?
It had grown into quite a great actor in its few hours of existence, like it really didn't know what was out in the shed.
A swarm seven times larger than when she first left, Beatrice reappeared with multiple young girls that were scantily-clad. The only way to tell which was which by just looking at them was by the color and style of their hair. One of them had long pig-tails with blonde hair, another had medium-lengths green hair, and another had straight-black hair.
"These young girls are my loyal furniture. Introduce yourselves to our guest, the seven sisters of purgatory"
"I'm the leader, and Lucifer!"
"Satan!"
"Asmodeus of lust!"
"Mammon of greed!"
"Beelzebub"
"Leviathan"
"Belphegor of sloth!"
"These energetic young girls will be helping us take care of Natsuhi. Feel free to use them to do anything for you."
Out by the shed, Natsuhi, Genji, Eva, Hideyoshi, and Kanon were gathered. A giant red, ominous circle was splattered across the door leading to the inside. The fat man was yelling how it was the work of demons; the two women just stared at it in awe, especially 'Natsuhi' who had not left it like that early this morning. The two servants conversed, and then both of them set out to go get the keys to the shed. Eva and Hideyoshi chased after them, asking questions about what was going on.
It was left alone in the rain, with an umbrella she had picked up before exiting out of the house. 'Natsuhi' dropped the umbrella to the ground, and walked up to the shut gate blocking her entrance inside. She brought out her tongue once more, and ran it up the shutter. Metallic taste, but not the one that it craved so badly, this taste was not that of blood, but the same thing splashed on her door this morning, with a hint of something metal coming from the door.
What was going on here? Nothing is what it seemed, faked blood was going around everywhere. In a fit of confusion, 'Natsuhi' started to rub her hair, scratching all over the place. One of the stakes was coming loose, but she fastened it back into place before it could fall to the ground. While the stake almost fell out, the sound of footsteps echoed in the rain.
Genji and company had returned, and he was still casting that suspicious look at her.
Beatrice not only returned with seven new people, but also a new outfit. It was a skirt, and a shirt similar to the style that Jessica wore when at home, a tie and everything. The pipe that was usually in her hand was replaced with a cane.
"Why'd you replace the pipe also? I though ya looked sexier with it" spoken by the flirtatious Rudolph.
"A cane has a longer reach to bop people in the head with than a pipe." She let out a play cackle.
Kyrie shot a warning glance to Rudolph after he checked Beatrice out, and finally brought up a major subject that had drifted off into the unknown awhile ago.
"You said that one of us doesn't believe in your existence. What did you mean by that?"
"One of you in this garden doesn't believe you are truly here, or that I am real. It is weakening my magic power greatly, and the only spell that I can use is using magic to teleport myself away."
"But we're all here! You exist, everyone should know that! Now just heal her!" and upset Krauss once again.
"Krauss, she'll be fine if you stop shaking her. The blood loss she is suffering right now is a lot, but not enough to kill her if you just tightly wrap a bandage around her and leave her alone. You're making it harder on both of you be shaking her body to and thro."
More blood seeped through again.
