Some notes on this chapter:
I use some wordplay in this chapter in the dialogue, but for it to work, you need to assume that the characters use English as their first language, but they all know Japanese. It'll all make sense when you read it.
I changed a piece in the last chapter, for those of you who read it before this chapter was posted, when Mion cuts Shion's face, she only cuts about an inch from the corners of her mouth. Again, it'll make sense as to why when you read the scene.
Mion picks up a cube of meat with a pair of chopsticks. She pops it in her mouth.
"Wow guys, this is good. You should try it." Mion says. "You know, I heard cannibalism is addictive. There are stories of people, after eating human during times of famine, get a craving for human flesh from time to time. Sometimes, it's so powerful that they have to be locked away from other people until the desire passes. Some of them even kill themselves before the first craving ends, having resorted to removing and eating their own flesh.
"Now, who wants a bit?" Mion asks. She looks at each of her victims. "Neither of you? That's too bad. Keiichi, you want some, don't you?"
"Stop this, Mion." Keiichi pleads.
"Oh, it's too late to stop now. The police are outside. Now open up or you'll get up close and personal with Shion's 'wata'."
Keiichi closes his good eye and opens his mouth. Mion puts a piece of meat on his tongue. He struggles not to gag as he chews and swallows it.
As Mion savors another piece of meat, Keiichi thinks, "Wata. Why did she say 'wata' instead of 'intestines'?"
Keiichi suffers through another piece of meat, alternating with Mion, who seems to be getting orgasmic pleasure from the taste. When the meat is gone, she sets the plate down. She picks up a thin wire. She shows it to both victims.
"Do you know what this is? This is part of a medieval torture device known as a garrote. It goes around the victim's neck and into a crank behind their head. When the crank is turned, the wire is tightened. Eventually, the wire crushes the windpipe. It is a very slow and painful death. There is another use for it, however. If you wrap the wire around a different body part, such as an arm or leg, it will cut through the flesh like an egg slicer.
"Wata." Keiichi thinks. "Why am I obsessing over Mion saying 'wata'? Am I doing it to keep sane? Is it because I'm already insane?"
"I've placed the crank behind you, Shion." Mion says.
Keiichi is oblivious to what Mion is doing. He thinks, "Wata. Watanagashi. Cotton drifting. Wata is cotton. Wata is intestines. Watanagashi is intestine removal. Who told me that?"
"Now don't scream, dear, or those cuts on your face will rip open right up to your ears. If that happens, you'll quickly bleed to death, and that would ruin our fun." Mion explains.
She feeds one end of the wire into the crank, then continues. "Which do you prefer? The right or the left? I want the right."
Mion wraps the wire tightly around the base of Shion's right breast. She feeds the other end of the wire into the crank and tightens up the slack.
"Are you ready to start, Shion?" Mion asks. She clicks the crank one notch. She looks at Shion's breast. She stares with joy as each click tightens the loop of wire.
Shion's breast quickly turns red, then fades to purple. She grits her teeth against the pain, forcing herself not to scream.
"Stop it! Stop!" Keiichi shouts. "Don't do that to Shion!"
Then Keiichi realizes something. He thinks, "Shion told me how 'wata' means 'intestines'. Right here in this shrine!"
"Stop this, Shion." Keiichi says with tears in his eyes. "Why are you doing this? Why torture Mion like this?"
Shion, the torture, spins around to look at Keiichi. Flipping the garrote release, she walks over to him. Mion gives a sigh of relief as the blood flow returns to her breast.
"Why am I doing this?" Shion asks. "It's all her fault." Gesturing to Mion.
"I wasn't lying when I told you that you awakened the demon inside me. You act so much like Satoshi.
"But she's the one who gave me the demon!!" Shion screams in hysterics. "She's the one who promised me that ripping off three fingernails would free Satoshi, she's the one who didn't shed a single tear as I did it, and SHE'S THE ONE WHO KILLED SATOSHI!!"
Shion runs over to Mion and pulls out the gag. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"You're wrong." Mion whispers.
"What was that?" Shion screams.
"You're wrong. I didn't kill Satoshi."
"Like hell you didn't. That old whore of a grandmother told me all about it before I killed her. Stupid bitch.
"She said you were in ecstasy when you got picked to pull out his intestines. That ceremony's pretty vicious, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about?" Mion asks. "I've never bee involved with any of the murders."
"You should just shut up if all you're going to do is spout bullshit. You were there when I was forced to remove my fingernails. Only the most desensitized, cold-hearted bitch could silently watch her twin sister be tortured."
"Stop it, Shion." Keiichi interrupts. "If Mion says she didn't kill Satoshi, then she didn't kill Satoshi."
"Oh dear." Shion says, turning to look at Keiichi. "I really liked you, Keiichi. I thought you were the only one I could trust. I was even going to take you with me when I escaped. But now I find out you're in league with the enemy."
Some more author notes:
If anybody cares, wata written 綿 is cotton and wata written as 腸 is intestine.
The method of cutting somebody's face in that method is called a 'Glasgow Smile', named after Glasgow, Scotland, where it originated. It is possible to bleed to death from the injury, the not in the time span Mion suggests. The murderer would cut the person's cheeks about an inch, then punch them in the stomach or kick them in the groin to make them scream and rip the cuts up to the back of their jaw. Then the victim would be knocked out and hid. After several hours, the person would silently die of blood loss, assuring that the murderer was nowhere around at the time of death.
The comments about cannibalism are true, often occurring in the Native American tribes around the US/Canada border. It's called 'Wendigo Syndrome', named after the mythical beast that some tribes believe enter people during times of famine and turn them into cannibals.
The garrote a real execution device, but was never used in the method that Mion uses it. It was used exclusively around the neck as a method of execution. The practice of cutting through flesh with a wire as torture does exist, and it is called Mancuerda.