"So, here's one for you-aah, Jessica, just take it already!" Kyrie swung the small bag around, while the children- who were just into budding teenagers chatted amongst themselves at the dock on Rokkenjima. For Jessica, who lived here her whole life, to have friends over was a miracle in and of itself. The servants, even Shannon, acted so cautiously around her she could hardly call them friends. When George and Maria came to play with her, her days were light and carefree. For such an extrovert, she sure missed having someone that was as enthusiastic about just being a kid as she was. George, who was so polite and well-regarded by the adults, could be a little stiff and boring. Maria was the most adorable kid on earth, but she was only six. The adult humor that Jessica had gotten from stalking the servants flew over her head so fast it would take her favorite crown-y looking hat with it.
The kids, who had already known the situation in their family, were glad to hear from Battler. Of course, this wasn't the first letter's they'd received from him. His letters in 1981 and 1982 got delivered straight to the house though, which meant the adults perused them before they even got to read them. Anything idiotic or embarrassing, which essentially meant everything the embarrassing idiot said - was covered with white-out and then passed along. The messages that remained seemed like a reversed game of Mad-Libs, where only the blanks were left in the message at all. Battler must have known somehow, since he sent his letters through Kyrie-oba-san this year.
Jessica pulled her letter out, and passed the bag along to George. George, smiling, took out a letter. "It might be a bit crude but its nice to see what Battler is actually saying this time." Maria grabbed the bag and practically pulled in onto her head trying to find the letter. The last time she'd seen Battler was when she was three. She didn't really remember all that much about him, through it was a favorite game of hers to write in silly things around the words left on the page, so that the censored letter made even less sense when she was done with it. Maria had always been a bit slow for her age. Her letter obviously contained something in it, since it was fat and had a couple little bulges sticking out of it.
Jessica looked up at her cousins, who were all looking at the letters they received and smiling a tiny bit. She knew that the way they were acting wouldn't be how Battler wanted them to act, so she gave her aunt a huge hug. "Thanks Kyrie! You're alright, y'know, for Rudolph's family!" She darted away past the servant who was last there to unload their bags and up the steps. "C'mon, guys! Lets go read them out loud at the beach we always went to! C'mon, it'll be fun!" Jessica looked down at Maria, who had already opened her letter and almost tossed out the note and the envelope when she saw the other objects inside. "Uu-uu! Wooow, look, you guys!" she said, holding up four knock-off bunny figurines. They looked like wind up toys, something you'd get out of a vending machine. George held back his sarcasm and looked at the four figurines Maria was holding above her head. "Oh, Maria, those…those are…" George fumbled a bit with the language.
"They are very pretty. I'm envious, lady Maria"
George looked up to see Shannon smiling and blushing above Maria. Maria cheered loudly. "Uu- thanks Shannon! You're so cool!" George coughed and turned away. "Maria…that's not how a lady compliments someone. You should say thank you." George said smiling. "Thanks a lot!" Maria, said, running after Jessica.
"You kids have fun. Im sure I won't…" Kyrie said, starting for the manor. "Shannon, have some fun with the kids before you work on those heavy bags. If anyone asks, blame me, ok?" she said, back still turned walking down the cobblestone pathway. George smiled and waved. As he looked back to his cousins, he could see Shannon as she walked up the steps after Jessica and Maria. Her shoulders seemed sagged, and she looked as if she was carrying some great weight. All the cousins eventually knew what was going on with her. After all, despite how close they were, Battler hadn't sent her any letters. Even today, when his letters were hidden, he didn't even leave a note. George had managed to get this far just assuming Battler was too distracted with his family situation, but this just seemed low. George began to wonder if Shannon deserved such cold treatment. He didn't have any lecherous intentions, but if Shannon was hurt…he'd be there. "Battler-sama….you're such an idiot, I swear…" George said under his breath as he followed his cousins in the beautiful entryway of Rokkenjima, his home away from home. As he stated walking, he noticed something a little strrange. The empty bag was no longer on the dock. He thought it was tossed aside when it's contents had been delivered. As he picked up speed a little he saw Jessica with it, and a strained look on her face, like trying to figure out a math problem.
'odd…' He thought as he gave chase, the four children all marching down the dirt road to the beach.
"Don't you think its cute? Two star-crossed lovers, in this shadowy kakera, fighting for their first true loves?"
"Mm. Not really. I'm still failing to see your point in this." a figure took a sip of their now-cold tea.
"You'll get it. It's hardly begun."
"You've failed to capture my interest. 9 days out of ten, you'd see me just leave. This is like every other story, just tales of the past."
"Hmmm. I wonder how far that thinking will take you." The figure made an odd gesture, as if talking to a room full of people. "I wonder then why you're here. This must be that lucky tenth-day. "
"…Maybe. We'll see."
The two figures chatted idly by in the player's gazebo inside Purgatorio. While the challenger seemed disinterested, the Game Master was sure they had prepared a game worth playing through. As they both turned to the glass windows, the tale resumed again, daring its players to probe a bit farther to the heart of this mystery.
Behind them slept a figure in an open laid casket. This game was played as a funeral tribute to who was inside. The heart of this mystery allowed not even the players to bury the dead. That it was so important - that is what kept the challenger there.
"George is a per-vert! George is a per-verrrt!" Maria cheered in her swimsuit and T-shirt. Which had belonged to George. "H-Hey, don't say things like that! Who else just packs bottoms! Didn't Rosa-oba-san help you?" Maria chased after George, who was up to his knees in the freezing Rokkenjima waters. He hadn't wanted to come in at all, but when he noticed Maria only packed her swimsuit bottoms, he had to make sure she had some modesty. Maria splashed at him, the water knocking off his always-present glasses. Maria cackled. "kihihihi, George looks funny! Without glasses you look sooo funny."
George froze in the water. After Maria stopped laughing, and the only noise was the cry of seagulls up ahead, she began to get nervous. "…George?" Maria took one step back.
George, still facing away, spoke in a voice more murderous and rage-filled than many thought the boy could muster. "Nobody…insults…" George turned around with a funny looking angry face. "MYYY GLASSES!" With that, his face suddenly turned cross eyed and stupid looking, obvious he was just kidding around. George swooped up Maria and stomped around the ocean with her on his back, making dinosaur noises. Maria was giggling and laughing and she started making tiger noises, which made George laugh even harder as they both fell down making a big -splash!-.
As the two cousin's goofed around, Jessica was a bit aways, talking with Shannon as they laid on the beach's warm sand. It was a bit of a funny sight to see, Jessica in a two-piece swimsuit and Shannon laying beside her in a full maid outfit. Neither of them seemed to care.
"Why don't we do this more often, Shannon? Y'know I always try and get my mom to let you off the hook for just one day, but she's such a bitch, y'know?" Shannon blushed and immediately whispered "Milady! I-If someone catches you talking about the madam…and, and your l-language!"
Jessica smiled and gave Shannon a funny look under her glasses. "Don't be so formal, C'mon! Let loose a little! We're in good company!" she said, nodding over at the other two. Shannon giggled. "That's…just how George is. He's a nice boy." Jessica sat up instantly and pulled Shannon close. "Hey, Hey, so now its George you like? What do you like about him? Do you think he'll like you back? I thought you had the hots for Battler? C'mon, spill! Spill!" Jessica said, shaking Shannon just a bit.
Shannon's eyes became heavy. She furrowed her brow at the mention of his name and it looked as if she were hiding tears. On any other day she would have burst in to tears and indulged herself around friends, but she had yet had the full weight of the situation sink in. While her mind lapped at thoughts like 'he's forgotten you.', she took care to push those out of her head. That didn't stop her from visibly showing her inner sorrow, if just for a second.
Jessica looked away, feeling guilty. "Um…You know…In my letter there was something extra…but, I-I don't know."
Shannon's heart fluttered a little even though she focused all her might on pushing down her hopes. She didn't want this. This seemed cruel, to have her heart wrung dry."…What was it?"
Jessica sighed and turned to her. "Um, well. Before I say anything, just let me say, I wasn't going to bring this up. I might have just thrown this away…" Jessica said, now whispering under her breath. She looked almost pale, and clearly annoyed with her block-headed cousin. "I…I'm glad you like George. George is better for you, anyway, because…" Jessica reached down by her feet for the small bag and opened it. Taking out her letter, she unfolded the center of the envelope, showing a thick piece of yellow paper. Shannon's heart almost sank just looking at the front.
Jessica looked into probably her best friend's eyes. "So, you know…If I have a boyfriend, and you see him do something bad, I think…" Jessica trailed off, pulling out the piece of paper. She presented it to her friend and looked away. "I think I'd want to know. So, that's why…that's why im giving you this. I think…I think it might be…someone's phone number…"
There were seven numbers on the card. The first three had been in one row. There was a hyphen and then another number, and a set of three more underneath those numbers. An odd looking thing, though since he was a teenage boy, seven numbers is almost always a phone number. Especially since this didn't look like scratch paper. Shannon gazed on, and even though her hopes were dashed in the first place, she felt stupid for allowing her hopes the initial instinct of rising at the thought. Shannon looked like she had the air sucked out of her by a vaccum. Jessica instinctively talked before she thought.
"Oh, my god I am so sorry, I-I-I just thought it was weird and, and, I-I didn't mean to make you upset, it's that asshole Battler who should be upse- oh no, Shannon, Shannon, don't, please. Don't cry, please."
Shannon didn't sob, or weep, or make a scene. Even a girl at her age should have been allowed the right to cry. Underneath her exterior she was supposed to be perfect. A perfect maid, that never made mistakes and was loved by everyone. Even she felt a stray tear wander down her face as she sat. Jessica pulled her into a hug, and the two just kind of sat there, one holding the other, until Shannon reciprocated, and hugged her friend back. Looking over her shoulder, she saw George in the water, who had stopped playing with Maria at this point and was looking directly at her. George clenched his fists in anger. Both him and Jessica muttered the same thing as they looked at their normally perfect friend who finally had been cracked.
"Battler, you're such an idiot."
Shannon pulled the scrap of paper up to her gaze. Such a small fragment seemed unnatural. To Shannon, it seemed like she was holding something she shouldn't have, like this paper was secret. It was an odd feeling that distracted her from even her sorrow as she stared into it. It flapped in the breeze as Shannon continued to hold it like that, long after her and Jessica parted.
Jessica looked at the paper with her and scowled. "Come on, you really shouldn't dwell…I shound't have given it to you, I should have trusted my instinct…"
Shannon glanced at Jessica. She had a puzzled look on her face, like what she was feeling was no more than a crossword puzzle at the end of a newspaper. "So…You weren't going to show me this…at first, right?" Jessica looked a little uncomfortable, being questioned on her decision. "Well yeah. I thought it would be hard…" She paused, to move her hair so it didn't bat her in the face as it did. "Hard to see. I was just gonna throw it away…besides, you know, we don't really know what those numbers mean, anyway."
A few times during the family conference, Jessica had heard Kyrie-oba-san use a certain term. She didn't really understand it all that well, but it seemed to sprout at the top of her mind. "What…would happen if we turned it around?"
Shannon looked at her incredulously. Slowly, she turned the paper over and showed it's blank backside to Jessica.
Jessica rolled her eyes. "Not that. Like Kyrie's chessboard-thing." Shannon looked confused. She had been so fixated on the conversation that neither of them even noticed George approaching, and even Shannon's pain had disappeared as they stared at the piece of paper. When George spoke, both of the ladies jumped and looked up at him. "What she means is that Kyrie sometimes uses chessboard-logic. You 'turn the chessboard over' to see what your opponent is thinking. But how would that apply here?" George wrung out his towel and sat down, both he and Shannon looking at Jessica.
"Well h-how should I know? I just remembered it for some reason. I mean, she's lways going on and on about it, and we did just see her…" Jessica said, in a fluster. She couldn't even reason why she brought it up. It was just a natural thought.
The seagulls cried above, marking their akward silence with a large stamp, as the two cousins and the servant thought.
"So, if we turn it around, having hidden it means he wanted it to be hidden…but also found." George said, grasping the paper for himself. Shannon was oddly hesitant to let go of it. Jessica laid back down, looking over at Maria playing with her cheap rabbit toys. "What? What do you mean, all of the sudden. So you can read thoughts now, George-aniki?"
George wanted to shove the paper away, and make Shannon feel better by forgetting all about it. But the Battler he know wasn't this smart. "Anyone who hides a hidden message intends for it to be found of its investigated. Even I don't think Battler is dumb enough or weird enough to open the backing to your card and stick this paper in it. Doesn't that seem elaborate, just to throw away someone's phone number?" George paused, feeling like he was understanding a bit of what this message meant, but only the How-dunnit, in mystery terminology. "Besides, Kyrie-oba-san said Battler worked really hard on these letters."
Shannon spoke up, nodding along with George. "And look at this number-doesn't it seem off? Whenever you write down a phone number, it usually goes 111 - 1111. Even when we say it aloud, it goes one-one-one…one-one, one-one. But this is different." Shannon said as she placed the paper down and all the cousins looked at the error she found. The number on the thick yellow paper indeed read off for a phone number. The pattern looked off.
111-
-2
398
This was how the card read, and Shannon's observations were true. There was even an extra hyphen in the numbers for it to be a phone number. It looked off.
Jessica squirted some sunscreen into the palm of her hand, rubbing it on her sensitive skin. The further along they got, the more it felt like a puzzle. The more it felt like a puzzle, the more boring it became. Besides, the Battler she remembered was an idiot. It seemed a little hard-to-believe he put a code in their letters.
"So, what, it's a code? What kind of idiot hides a code in the letters? I mean, I'd get it if he sent us another one that got its guts chopped out like the older ones-" Jessica almost snapped her mouth shut. Somehow, Shannon was too fixated on the paper for her to hear the blonde-haired girl. It hurt Shannon enough that she didn't get a letter today, but her and George had promised not to tell Shannon that they had gotten letters from him before. George looked down at his cousin, shooting her a dirty look. "Yeah, and he gave this letter to Kyrie-oba-san with specific instructions. She even handed them out in a particular order."
"So maybe the numbers go to the letters."
All three of the teens looked back at Maria, who had her hands behind her back and was looking down at them. Something seemed off about Maria. Her look seemed almost…Menacing.
"Maria-chan…" George said nervously, trying to break up the tense mood.
"Here. George, come and play with me." Maria threw her letter down at Shannon's lap."I don't like being ignored."
George laughed, a little bit of fright in his chuckling. Maria was so adorable, but sometimes she seemed outright…creepy. "Ok. Here, Shannon, I'll give you my letter-" he reached into his small pocket on the outside of his luggage and pulled out the letter. "-as long as you don't think too much. Maybe we're all reading way too much into this. I wouldn't put it past Battler to play a prank like this." George grabbed Maria's hand and led her back into the water. He thought to himself, not looking back at his two friends. 'but would Battler really be this mean?'
Shannon looked at the letters in her hand and looked up at Jessica. Jessica almost snorted. "George-aniki is right. We shouldn't be wasting such a nice day on, on stupid…" She trailed off, as Shannon's eyes were saying everything for her. That this meant hope for her. Jessica wanted nothing more than to make sure Shannon didn't cry again. But Shannon, she knew, wasn't going to give up that easily. She finished with her sunscreen and reached under her towel for the letter.
"There. I should have just thrown it away, thrown it away. Than maybe you'd wanna have fun instead of looking at some numbers." Jessica, unlike George, had no brain-to-mouth filter. Luckily, Shannon didn't even notice.
'so these letters were carfully made, and he even gave instructions on the order….is this a puzzle? In what order were they given? Why is he hiding a note?' Shannon's mind raced on as she thought back to at the dock. The first person…Was Jessica. Jessica was first, followed by George. Then Maria. How did these numbers line up to them? Were they a key? Many times, Battler and Shannon had talked and theorized and played a game in the form of figuring out many mysteries. Some of the common numbers in them were called 'Alphabet Ciphers.' That was jjust a fancy word that meant the numbers were how many steps in the alphabet it took, and then you were to write down the numbers and they'd spell a hidden message. Shannon looked confused as the cogs turned in her mind.
AAA
-B
CIH?
That didn't make any sense at all. Frustruated, but not defeated, Shannon reached deeper. She tried the chessboard thinking that she had read about, even before Lady Kyrie had arrived. She was a lover of mystery novels and the methods it took to reach the answer were not lost on her. 'So he included this note in Jessica's letter…Does it have to do wit Jessica? The only thing special about Jessica in this scenario was she was the first to get a letter given to her. That must be important. But if we turn the chessboard around, we can think that he didn't include any details that weren't important. So if he included directions that ae important, the order the cousins received their letters is important. Shannon furrowed her brow as everyone else relaxed or pplayed in the water. She head the faint sound of George pretending to be a bunny, like Maria who was hopping about in the water. Shannon suddenly thought back to the Alphabet Cipher
'When I tried the alphabet cipher, there were three as the most letters in a row. It went 3, 1, 3. But the middle number was all the way to the right, or 3rd column. Does that mean the 4th letter is both of the first two letters in the note given to Maria? That's it!' Shannon made sure not to make a noticeable scene as she looked at the notes given to the Ushiromiya cousins.
The first column had the numbers 1 and 3 in it. The second column had the numbers 1 and 9 in it. The third column had numbers 1, 2 and 8 in it.
Shannon looked at the introductory paragraph to each letter, and matched her guess to the letters in the notes.
Jessica's intro read:
'So, how's my favorite rude and crude cousin doing? Its been three years since I last saw you. Girls these days are so boooring. Nobody just lets loose and just has fun anymore, they're all uptight. Haha I'd love to see you in MY school. The teachers would flip out if they knew that there's another Ushiromiya that acts like me, ehehehehe….
George's intro read:
"Ah, you get 2 of our good-looking cousins in beach wear this year all to yourself. You lucky bastard! Ahaha, how are you George? I know if you were here with me, you'd probably get so embarrassed by my language. You always are prepared. Eva raised you good, unlike my damn old man. Its been too long, and I heard from Kyrie that Eva in particular likes to guy my letters…
Maria's intro read:
"Yo, I put 70 yen into a machine, and look at what pops out! The perfect little gift for my adorable little cousin, Maria. You don't remember me, but I remember you! You're gonna turn out to be such a babe, Maria! You gotta be proud of it. Next time you see me, you gotta walk up to me all innocent and then say'Am I a babe yet, Battler?' You gotta say that to me when we meet up! It'll be awesome! Keep this letter on you, because I don't think it'll make sense when you first read it, you gotta read it in a couple years…
Smiling at the cheesy parts of Battler's personality that she remembers, Shannon paused before writing down the total letters she got. The way he spoke was so idiotic, and yet, she was drawn to it. He was honest, and kind, and his voice echoed in the back of her head as she read her words. She felt her chest tighten. Against her own will, she had gotten her hopes up again. That these letters when she wrote them out would say something, mean something about her. She wished they did as her mouth went dry writing down the final letters. When she got to the end her heart almost sank.
SHA2YO0
Instantly, she recognized her true name in the jumbled mess, and hurried to rearrange the lettersin the correct fashion.
SAY
O
H20
In one of the stories of the great Hercule Poirot, she and Battler stumbled upon a key that only worked when it was submerged in water. They both argues to and fro about the mystery of the key, and wether or not it was a fair trick. Even at the end of all of their arguments, their conversations and their moments, they walked back together hand in hand, as equals. Her mind instantly wandered back, as she slowly stood up, as though not to make a scene. She waited until she thought Jessica had fallen asleep and George was busy with Maria, and walked down the shore.
She remembered the game they used to play. Whenever she would borrow a book from him, or he would from her, right before the detective revealed the answer, they would pause, and stop reading. When they met up on the island, they would have many novels almost at the end that the other had read al the way through. They would theorize and guess the who-dunnit, how-dunnit and why-dunnit inn the form of a question game, or a duel. They would each reason and question and the two intelligent readers managed to figure out the answer about as many times as they simply gave up. The most important thing was there was never a case they didn't try to solve. Battler gave his best effort for Shannon, who was always a bit more intelligent than he. Though she knew Battler's dumb act was a ploy, and how smart he was at his core, from the long spent summer sunsets spent theorizing and laughing and guessing.
These were Shannon's favorite memories.
As she reached a comfortable distance, Shannon walked to the water's edge. She nervously took the piece of thick yellow paper. She dipped the end of it in the ocean on instinct. He could have meant, dump the whole letter in the water, but Shannon was always safe before sorry. Like in response to a question, the thick paper unfolded. There were some solvent marks that had glued the paper together, obscuring the message inside.
Shannon's heart leapt at the message. She hadn't been forgotten. She had simply been mislead. As she scanned the note all the way to it's end, eating up every word, the last sentence made her viens run cold. The last sentence in Battler's sloppiy written, hasty note made both her heart leap and her breath choke. She read the letters again in her mind.
-Meet me at the Kuwadorian. Sayo, Please. Help me find out what on this island killed my mother. I am near, Sayo. I'm ready to keep my promise. I just have to find out what happened to Ushiromiya Asumu in 1980. I have to know.-
Shannon's head reeled. This was so perfect, so wonderful, but it didn't seem right. The feeling of this message was that it didn't belong. Still, She had hoped against hope that a message would find her. That one day he would make good on his promise. Shannon sank to her knees and started crying, a mixture of release, anguish and love. He was here. If only they could leave and forget about Ushiromiya Asumu…than it would be perfect. Shannon's foolish heart leapt at the thought of seeing Battler again, and sank at the thought of finding out the truth.
'Battler, You're such an….idiot.'\
"So that's the difference in this Kakera? It hardly seems a difference to build a universe off of." The taller figure casually sipped at their black tea.
"You shouldn't rush a tale. You'll miss out on all of the positives in this sleepy story."
"I'm already sleepy. I don't need a bedtime story. Do try to rush things along.
The Game Master sighed. "You need to look closely. Have you ever heard of the poem 'In Want of a Nail'?
The challenger snorted. "And what if I have?
The Game Master stood up, and pushed in their chair. Then they walked all around the gazebo, by the windows, the casket, and eventually reached their opponent. "This is that nail. This is the minor change that causes a whole new world to unfurl. Besides, you yourself just found out the aim of the game.
The challenger glanced lazily at the GM. "To find out what happened to Ushiromiya Asumu in 1980?"
The GM walked calmly back to the chair. "Among a few smaller things, yes.-"
"Good." the challenger interrupted. The GM was slightly taken aback.
"Have it your way. Let the game continue…"
Hey, there. This is the first chapter, or was supposed to be the first chapter, but for some reason it saved the two different parts that make up chapter one in to two different documents. Oh well, stuff happens. REVIEWS AND CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM WOULD BE AWESOME. I could use something along those lines. Let me know how fast it took you to figure out the codex, if that kind of puzzle was hard or easy. Obviously, its not a very hard one, but its just the start and the riddles will get harder as the story goes on. Now, to give credit where credit is due…
This story was inspired by two visual drawings. First is the drawing "Worldend" by Hikusa_Rockgirl_X on Deviantart. The second is "Good End." by Schroedinger on Deviantart, as well. Thank you both for the ideas,
Lastly, I do not own Umineko. All the characters and story is copyright 07th expansion.