It was a bright and sunny day on the dock of Japan and Battler Ushiromiya was there with all his family, they were going to Rokkenjima Island for a family conference and he was so happy to see his cousins again!
"I can't believe it's been two years since we met John Phoenix," said Battler. He was right, it had been over 700 days since that fateful family conference when a young man in green had washed up on their island and stopped Toshiro Gohda from killing the entire family as revenge for years of enslavement.
"It's also been two years since we last saw everyone, including Gohda," said George. He was also right. Battler wondered how the old chef was doing after John Phoenix revealed he was the Golden Witch.
"Righty-o boyos and girlos let's weigh anchor to Rokkenjima!" said Pete the boatman.
And so everyone got on the boat. The people on the boat were Battler, his parents Rudolf and Kyrie, his cousin George and his parents, Eva and Hideyoshi, his other cousin Maria and her mother Rosa and also Pete since he was the captain. They were going to Rokkenjima where his last cousin Jessica lived with her parents Krauss and Natsuhi, and also their madman grandfather Kinzo. There were also servants Shannon, Kanon, Kumasawa and the chef Toshiro Gohda. Genji had left the island to serve John Phoenix. Some doctor called Nanjo came too. And that was everyone Battler was expecting to meet on Rokkenjima that day.
Little did he know that there was one other person who would be joining their conference, a visitor Battler will never forget for as long as he lives...
Welcome to the gameboard, here are the rules!
There is one culprit.
The culprit is a human.
The culprit is the person responsible for all the murders in the story.
There are no accomplices.
The boat docked on Rokkenjima and everyone got out. Everyone walked all the way to the mansion where the head servant Shannon greeted them. She was the head servant now because Genji was gone. Kanon was there too but no one noticed.
It was almost 10 so their first stop was to go to the dining room to eat lunch. On the way there, Battler passed by the painting of Gohda the Golden Witch and written under it was the legendary puzzle known as the Witch's Epitaph.
On the first twilight, offer the six chosen by the key as sacrifices.
On the second twilight, those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close.
On the third twilight, those who remain shall praise my noble name.
On the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill.
On the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill.
On the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill.
On the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill.
On the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill.
On the ninth twilight, the witch shall revive, and none shall be left alive.
On the tenth twilight, at journey's end, you shall attain to the power of the Golden Land's treasures, once and for the last time.
When Battler was a kid he used to be scared of the witch because witches are monsters but now that he knows the witch is actually Toshiro Gohda he doesn't mind it but the story's still scary because whoever's telling it wants a lot of people killed.
They moved on and stopped at a large heavy door on the second floor. Krauss slammed his fist on it loudly.
"Dad, get out here now!"
There was a click, and the door opened very slowly and very loudly and the figure of the great Kinzo Ushiromiya emerged.
"WELLLCOOOOOOOME!" he screamed but he lost his voice halfway through and started coughing. Shannon suggested he have some water so Kanon came and awkwardly pushed a glass up to Kinzo's mouth and made him drink it.
Kinzo came out through the door, which lead to his study, then placed his finger on the mechanism next to the door and it went "bing!" Then, the door to the study closed, just as slowly and loudly as it opened. What Kinzo used was a fingerprint scanner that activates the door. Battler wasn't impressed because he didn't understand how it worked.
"We have much to discuss my friends and family but worry not, for now, we shall feast! Servants, bring us to our food!"
Kinzo and his family were escorted to the dining room, and at his command, Kumasawa came in with a trolley full of plates. Shannon and Kanon placed the food in front of their guests one by one.
"Hey, what's this?" said Battler.
"It's mackerel of course, hohohohoho!" Kumasawa chuckled because she always cooks mackerel.
"Why's Kumasawa cooking this stuff? What happened to my man Gohda?" said Battler.
"Toshiro Gohda retired after the fiasco two years ago," Kinzo said solemnly. "I pray he has recovered from the terrible treatment he faced from all of us but mainly Krauss."
Krauss slammed his fist on the table but said nothing because his dad was scary. Everyone ate up until they got tired of eating.
"This fish is gross," said Maria and Rosa was about to smack that fish out of her before George quickly took Maria's hand and stood up.
"Let's go get some fresh air fellow kids!" said George with a smile even though he was eight years older than even Battler and Jessica. Jessica got up but Battler remained seated.
"Nah I'm gonna stay and socialize with the rest of the adults!" said Battler who wanted to look mature, so the kids left and Shannon and Kanon went with them, and Battler stayed behind which he soon regretted because he had to talk about boring politics with the elderly, which was especially painful considering they were all rich capitalists.
"Alright enough of this!" said Eva. "Let's start talking about how much money we get when dad kicks the bucket!"
But they never did, because at that moment, the door swung open! A blond man in a gray suit carrying a shotgun walked in!
"Who in tarnation is this!" said Rudolf.
"I'm glad ya asked, friend. My name is Ryuji Gohda, and I'm the culprit around here!"
Then Ryuji Gohda pointed his shotgun at the parents and he fired six shots at the table that hit Krauss, Natsuhi, Hideyoshi, Kyrie, Rosa and Kumasawa!
"WHAT THE FUCK!" shouted Battler and he fell backwards in his chair and hurt his head.
"Mr. Ryuji Gohda I hope you have a good explanation for this!" said Kinzo.
"It's like I said, Gramps," said Ryuji Gohda. "I'm here to exterminate everyone in the Ushiromiya family for what they did to my father!"
"THEN WHY DID YOU KILL KUMASAWA!" shouted Eva.
"She was in the way," said Ryuji with a smirk. "And I'm also gonna kill your bitch maid too, cause there can only be one culprit!"
Ryuji Gohda picked up a knife from the table and was about to start swinging it around but then Battler started making siren noises with his mouth like "wee-woo-wee-woo!"
"Shit, the cops!" Ryuji Gohda ran away.
Battler got up and rubbed his head.
"Jumpin' billygoats Battler, you saved us!" said Rudolf.
"Not for long!" said Battler. "We've gotta stop that guy from killing the rest of our family!"
TO BE CONTINUED
