'Wahahaha! Straight flush!'

Battler smacked the cards onto the table, triggering cries of dismay and shock. Everyone scowled and tossed their worthless cards onto the table, except for Kanon. He clutched the cards tightly in his hand, a vacant expression on his face.

'Eh, Kanon,' Battler grinned at him. 'Do you know how to play yet? You seem unsure - '

Kanon laid the cards gently on the table, spreading them out. 'If I am not wrong, Master Battler, doesn't this beat a straight flush...?'

'Whaaaaat? A full house!' Battler nearly fell off his seat. 'You - you had a full house? Gaaargh!'

'Kanon has an excellent poker face,' Jessica giggled.

'Yes, milady,' Kanon said, and smiled a little.

'Damn it, if Kanon's this hard, I wonder what'll it be like playing cards with Genji?'

'Oh my god,' Jessica gasped, curling up in laughter.

'I'm sure even Genji isn't completely inpenetratable,' George said, shuffling the cards. 'Every human is still human, after all. I'm sure he has another way of showing his emotions.'

'Yeah. Hey, Kanon, Shannon, does Genji have a wife or a family or something?'

'Not that we know of...' Shannon said. 'He doesn't talk about his personal life at all.'

'He thinks he's just funiture...' Kanon said, looking down.

'Aw, come on! I heard from Kumasawa a few minutes ago that he used to be the son of a Yakuza Chief or something!'

'Huuuh?' Jessica cried. 'How can a Yakuza guy be that stoic?'

'Maybe he had some life changing experience or something,' Battler shrugged, and the others laughed at him. Battler grinned ruefully. The overhanging shadow of the family conference had disappeared from his mind. 'Hey, what about Gohda?'

'What about him?'

'He always seemed so...I dunno, cocky.'

'He seeks to bear the mark of the one-winged eagle,' Kanon growled. 'But yet, he's so incompetent, and he thinks that - '

He suddenly shut his mouth, as if it was heresy to speak ill of another servant in the Ushiromiya family. Battler reached forward and threw an arm around him.

'Come on, we're friends here! Say what you like, we won't tell!'

Kanon smiled uncertainly. 'Gohda's an idiot.'

'See? Felt better when you said it, right?'

'Yeah...'

'If you keep all your worries and pain to yourself, Kanon,' George said, starting to deal the cards again, 'you won't end up with a healthy mind.'

'I know,' Shannon said. 'That's why I'm always be there to provide a shoulder for my brother to lean on.'

'That's what big sisters are for,' George beamed.

'Out of all the servants here,' Battler said, already steamrolling into the next topic, 'the one I like the most, besides you guys, of course, is Kumasawa. She's just so motherly and yet so mischievous at the same time! She'd make an awesome grandma!'

'Kumasawa is like a mother to us,' Shannon said. 'And, Genji, like our father. If we had to have a grandfather, though, it would be Dr. Nanjo.'

'Nanjo? Who's that?'

'The Master's physician. He comes here sometimes, and he's here today.'

'He treats us well,' Kanon said.

'Like a family,' Shannon added.

'Wow, I thought you were loners, but you do have a family after all,' Battler cackled. Then he stopped. The smile slowly disappeared as he began to recall his father's face.

'Ready to start the next round?' George said, picking up his cards. 'Battler? Are you alright?'

Battler looked away. He wondered what the adults downstairs were doing. He suddenly felt uncomfortable sitting in the warm light of his cousins, while the adults were tearing out each other's throats just a few meters below. He stood up.

'Battler? Where are you going?'

'Well, I just want to take a walk around for a bit. Start without me,' Battler forced a smile onto his face. 'See you later, okay?'

He walked out, back into the dark corridors of the guesthouse. The adults traditionally held their conference in the dining room at the mansion, and Battler started to head there, lost in the throes of his own imagination. He didn't know what exactly he would find when he listened in on the conference. He just wanted to know how bad it was.

'E-excuse me, Master George, is this any good?'

'What the - '

'Well done, Shannon It's a four of a kind.'

'Is that good?'

Their laughter stung his ears. Every instinct was screaming for him to go back into the cousin's room. He ignored them, and walked downstairs, his back slightly bent.

Their shouting could already be heard from the rose garden. Battler hesitated, gripping the railing, and then entered the mansion. He found the dining room, and trained his eyes on the double doors. Even as he watched the shouting got nearer and nearer, as the discussion moved closer to the door. It wasn't shouting now. It was screaming.

Then the doors burst open and Aunt Natsuhi stumbled out. Tears were gushing down her face. Battler froze, trying to process the sight. His Aunt Natsuhi had always been a stiff and regal woman, it seemed unreal for such a upright woman to be sobbing all over the walls in front of him. She dashed up the staircase, saw him, and her face instantly flushed red.

He didn't like the way she reacted to him. 'Erm, Aunt Natsuhi are you - '

She dashed past him without saying a word, thundering up to her room.

'You maid servant!' Eva screeched from inside, her face a terrible mask. Then the doors swung shut again, allowing Battler a brief moment of peace. His legs shaking slightly, he completed the rest of the journey through the hall, and came to an abrupt halt in front of the doors. The words from inside the dining room were audible enough. He heard Krauss bellowing like an angry bull, Eva throwing insults like daggers, Hideyoshi roaring in desperation, but worst of all, he could discern his father's strained voice try uselessly to restore order.

'Master Battler, what are you doing?'

Battler turned to see Kumasawa. She looked graver than he had ever seen her before. His expression told her everything.

'You're not supposed to be here,' Kumasawa said. 'Why don't we leave this horrible place for a while? I'll make you some tea.'

Battler nodded weakly, and turned to follow her. The shouts slowly faded out of hearing range, thankfully, but two things could not be erased from his mind. The terrible, desperate expression on Natsuhi's face, and the way Aunt Eva smiled when she had kicked Natsuhi out of the room, a wide, emotionless grin that stretched from ear to ear.

The conference had grounded to a halt after Natsuhi's - and Eva's - outburst. Everyone, briefly shocked, had weakly continued their argument until it had become apparent that they needed room to recover. Rudolf found himself strolling near the outskirts of the mansion, where he had a decent view of the guesthouse. He lit a cigarette and put it to his mouth. Krauss had refused to let them see Grandfather, claiming he was in a bad mood - and it was a pretty believable lie. So they had resorted to harping on Krauss's empty bank accounts, a pint that had been hammered into the ground for so long Rudolf needed a break. He wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned against the window.

He heard a footstep. 'Fancy seeing you here, Rudolf.'

It was Hideyoshi. Rudolf glanced at him in annoyance. 'Go away. I picked this spot.'

'Actually, it's my spot. I've been using it for the past few years, didn't ya know?'

'Well, let's share then.'

Hideyoshi drew next to him. 'Thought you'd be with Kyrie.'

'Yeah, well, don't get me wrong, Kyrie's a great gal, but she's a little...too vixeny, y'know?"

Hideyoshi chuckled. 'I know what ya mean.'

They stared out into the rose garden together, Rudolf's smoke slowly wafted up towards the ceiling.

'Hey, Hideyoshi.'

'Yeah?'

'You're a really nice guy, you know that?'

'Thanks.'

'Why did you ever decide to marry in with this crappy family?'

Hideyoshi stared at him. Rudolf continued to glare at the roses outside. 'I've alwasy wondered that. You don't seem like the type to get involved in this mess.'

'Whaddaya mean? This family is fine.'

Rudolf took out the cigeratte, and pressed it down on the windowsill, hard. 'Krauss hates all of us. Natsuhi hates Eva. Kyrie hates my son. Eva hates basically everyone. I think Grandfather wants to murder the whole family. Even timid little Rosa isn't akin to slapping Maria sometimes.' He dug the cigarette in deeper, as if he believed he could thrust it right through the ground. 'Some happy family.'

'Eva doesn't hate everyone,' Hideyoshi said softly.

'You're right. She adores you, doesn't she?'

'Only because I adore her,' Hideyoshi stood up straight. 'Ya see, Eva and me, we're a perfect match for each other. What one doesn't have, the other does. That's why I married into this family.'

'Huh?' Rudolf stared at him. 'The only reason you're here is because of Eva?'

'Yeah. We're joined at the hip, and there ain't nothing that's gonna change that.'

'What a crappy reason. You married in because of love?'

'Ain't that what's marriage supposed to be in the first place?'

'And thus winged cupid is painted blind,' Rudolf quoted, tossing what was left of his cigarette into the roses. 'Idiocy aside, you're really, and I mean really, quite some guy, Hideyoshi.'

'Don't ya forget it!' Hideyoshi grinned weakly, at an attempt at humour. 'You're not too bad yourself. You and Kyrie make a great couple. You two married for love too, right?'

'I'm touched,' Rudolf smirked. 'But please, let's stop. Wouldn't want to lose our mood.'

'I haven't lost mine since the beginning.'

'Yeah, right,' Rudolf threw an arm over Hideyoshi's shoulder, and the two of them walked back to the dining hall, arm in arm. 'Where there's love, there's hate, remember? Wouldn't want to forget that adage - '

A gale of mad laughter cut off his words.

It descended on them from above, like a disembodied voice, bellowing and thundering across the hall and echoing through the rest of the mansion. It was a sound of pleasure, purely animal. Both men stopped in their tracks immediately. Rudolf was the first to recover.

'The hell was that?' he demanded.

'It sounded like it was coming from upstairs.'

'Come to think of it,' Rudolf felt another urge to reach for a cigarette. 'Laughing like a madman...is something I wouldn't put past Grandfather.'

The laughter continued, almost drowning out their words. Almost when it seemed like it would never end, it started to subside, although reluctantly, and finally the haunted sound fell silent, throwing the mansion into stillness once more.

'Well he's happy about something,' Rudolf groaned.

'I guess that means Grandfather is alive after all.'

'Yup. Fuck it. This island keeps getting better and better.'

Battler finished the tea. It was warm enough, but the taste had completely flown past him. Kumasawa had been silent all the while, but he could sense her watching him with worried eyes.

Then they both heard the laughter. Kumasawa stood up straight at once, as if the hairs on her back were standing on end.

'What was that?' Battler muttered. It was more automatic than genuinely curious.

'The Master...' Kumasawa shook her head sadly. 'He's been...sick for a while, and, his mind's not very healthy nowadays...'

He stood up. 'Thanks for the tea, Granny.'

'Are you feeling alright?' she said at once.

'Yeah. I just need to think things through a little.' A wave of exhaustion had struck him, and he wanted to sleep and forget. It was already late, after all - the clock showed it was ten o' clock. Without waiting for any parting words from Kumasawa he wandered back into the hall.

The doors to the dining hall opened in front of him and Hideyoshi and Eva strolled out, dark looks on their faces. Hideyoshi instantly brightened when he saw Battler looking at them. 'Battler! What're ya doing around the mansion this late?'

'Er, taking a walk, I guess.'

'You'd better not sleep too late,' Eva smiled at him. Battler imagined that smile morphing into a monstrous grin of triumph, and looked away uncomfortably.

'Where are you two going? Isn't the conference still going on?'

'It's clear we're at a deadlock, and we're a bit tired for the night,' Eva said. 'So we're going up to bed.'

'You didn't eavesdrop on anything, did you?' Hideyoshi said, his smile dropping a little.

'What were you guys talking about?'

'Oh, just some business deals,' Eva waved her hand in an offhand manner. Then she put it to her mouth and yawned softly.

'Well, Battler, we'd better get a move on. Eva's beat. See you in the morning.'

Battler watched them go, Hideyoshi's hand around his wife's waist.

He felt faintly sick.

He staggered though the hall, not paying attention to where he was going. Eva's flashed from alternatively warm to savage in his mind. And he didn't even want to imagine how Hideyoshi looked like when he was angry. Lost in thought, he suddenly found himself in front of the portrait.

In front of the young girl with blue hair.

There was some kind of plaque beneath the portrait, but Battler didn't notice it. His eyes were drawn to the girl. She gazed down at him kindly from above, smiling in perfect contentment. That smile, at least, was definitely real. He couldn't keep his eyes off her.

'You look happy,' he said to the girl. 'You've got a nice father, and some fun little brothers and sisters, right?'

Her smile was an answer enough.

'And you're also a witch, huh?' Battler said. 'Can you do magic? Perhaps you could work some magic into our family. Cheer things up a little. That's all.'

He immediately felt silly. Witches and magic didn't exist, of course, and the girl didn't exist anywhere beyond her soft little world in the portrait. He turned away, and started towards the front door. He realised the long walk back towards the guesthouse had turned unappealing. His legs felt like stumps and his eyes were heavy. He needed to rest for a while.

He wandered past the dining hall, ignored the raised voices, and entered the kitchen. Kumasawa had already gone, and the empty tea cup was already tucked away cleaned in the drawer. Battler threw himself onto the sofa, and stared up at the ceiling, thinking. Before he even knew it, he didn't want to think anymore, and he fell asleep.

'This game seems especially cruel,' Will said.

'You think so?' Bernkastel murmured. 'It still seems a bit boring, though. I'm only showing Battler some human biology - just showing him all the unpleasant-looking guts of a human being. You can't get more boring than that, you know...?'

Then she smiled. 'It'll get a bit more interesting from now on.'

Will looked at the clock. 'It's almost eleven. In less than two hours the first twilight will begin, right?'

'Six people will be murdered,' Bernkastel grinned. 'Inside perfectly closed rooms. The crime will be impossible for a human, which only leaves the Blue Witch.'

'Is that what you call the new Beatrice? The Blue Witch?'

'She'll terrorise the survivors, strike fear into their hearts, drive them crazy, and that's when all their guts will spill out into lovely patterns, you know...?'

'There's no need for any terror,' Will said. 'You've already said the culprit was human.'

'Yeah, but only if you can prove it. Can you, Willard H. Wright?'

'Start the first twilight.'

'I will,' Bernkastel's eyes lit up, and Will realised with disgust that it was the first time she had shown any form of emotion. 'Now it's the 5th of October, 1986. I wonder what Battler will find when he wakes up...'