After many attempts at forcing open the Scarlet Devil Manor's prestigious front door using any material they could find, they quickly understood that none of their powers were strong enough to open the door, despite its clear inferiority to their powers. The storm raged on outside, despite the fact they could not see it. Whatever was outside those windows ended up being obscured by the red mist in the way of their view.

Remilia sighed, shaking her head.

"Not even fate can destroy this door…"

Sakuya shrugged. What a mess… If that's the case, the barrier must be nigh invincible. Yukari turned around, shrugging as well.

"I'm afraid we're stuck here. Well, until we find the reason we're stuck. Maybe we could bargain for an escape…"

Yukari spoke this as Patchouli thought to herself. It was definitely a strange situation. One that would normally get trumped by Yukari's ability, but it seems it's beyond that ability somehow…

Just what could this be, exactly…?

Cirno started throwing things around the place with Rumia, bored out of their minds. They wanted to play ball, but they didn't have a ball. Well, they were the least serious of the group. Patchouli wondered why she even invited them at all, but they did have quite the potential despite their general low intelligence. Rumia had that… weird seal on her head, and Cirno was a lot stronger than most fairies. Though, it's not like Cirno could have really done this… She wasn't a sorcerer either.

Alice was sitting down on a nearby sofa, drinking some tea. She was sitting next to Reimu, who wanted to start up a conversation but couldn't. Too much was on her mind at the moment to do that.

Patchouli sighed, watching the two fail at basic conversation. Well, Marisa was kidnapped and she did play a big enough role in their daily lives. She shouldn't be shocked.

Akyuu was cowering below an adjacent sofa. Likely because of the objects being thrown around… She couldn't exactly afford to be hit. Especially when they're under a strange barrier like this one. Flandre tried to comfort Akyuu, but she was on a wheelchair… She couldn't exactly reach down in her current state. She attempted to bang into the sofa instead to try to reach Akyuu. Obviously, this backfired and made Akyuu even more scared for her life.

Rinnosuke saw this and tried to walk up to Flandre, but he realised that it would probably be a better idea for his own life if he stood away from them. He didn't want to get the flames on himself… Plus, surely Akyuu wouldn't die from that… Maybe. Hopefully.

Patchouli sighed. She thought of the perpetrator within her mind. The labyrinth of her mind started working in a calm manner, allowing the cogs within her head to slowly connect the pieces with pure logic.

What could their goal be…? With the grimoire, she had her suspicions on multiple people. Magicians especially. Though one she was most suspicious of was Alice. Only Alice had a grimoire like that. It was almost too obvious though. Why would Alice do such a thing as well? Kidnapping Marisa seems like an extreme response, especially if the grimoire wasn't even in her possession anymore. Would it not be better to free Marisa?

But, the real answer could be in the scenario of the perpetrator. The question is not why they did it, but why they had to do it. Marisa must have found something within that book that no one else had found. It would be something only Marisa could understand… In that sense, Alice makes even more sense due to how close they live to each other. But that also might implicate Reimu, since Marisa visits her a lot more often.

One thing that is odd is that Alice's grimoire isn't known to have two states. Why would it have two states? Maybe that's just a natural part of that grimoire…

Alice and her grimoire are mysterious in general. She almost never attacks at her full power, choosing to bring herself down to someone else's level. That grimoire must have an absurd amount of magical power that might not be active all at once…

As Patchouli thought, Alice stared into her soul. Patchouli hadn't even noticed it until now, but apparently she was staring at Alice out of instinct and Alice stared back.

Alice sighed, remarking.

"...You're suspicious of me, is that it?"

Patchouli sighed as well, nodding.

"...Let me make an announcement first, and then I'll ask you to follow me."

Alice nodded too. Well, she wasn't shocked. She lived close to Marisa. It was only natural.

Patchouli walked onto the top of the stairs, clearing her throat. She then spoke out with magic that could spread her voice further out.

"Calm down everyone. Also Cirno, Rumia, stop messing with the furniture."

Cirno and Rumia stared at Patchouli before throwing furniture at her in response. Patchouli quickly used magic to force the furniture back into its normal positions.

"Stop. Or else."

Patchouli warned both of them. Cirno stood forward. She wasn't going to be backed down by such a threat! No way! No way! She threw an icicle at Patchouli, and Patchouli in response melted the icicle before it could hit her and erected a small barrier around Cirno. Rumia was in shock, hiding in the corner.

Rinnosuke could be seen comforting Rumia in the background. He's half youkai after all. He thought he could give her some comfort without being eaten, hopefully…

Patchouli cleared her throat again.

"Ahem. Sorry about that. Anyway, I'll be interrogating all of you one by one. First up will be Alice. If you follow me, I will lead you to the interrogation room. Is that alright?"

Alice nodded, going up the stairs to Patchouli. Patchouli walked into a door and gestured for Alice to follow.

The hallway Alice and Patchouli entered was quite dark for a moment, before the lights suddenly turned back on again. Patchouli noted this in her head. Interesting. Usually that only happened with these specific lights when there was a high amount of magic stored within someone. That's why she set them up there before she brought Alice inside this hallway.

At any rate, Alice followed Patchouli down the long winding hallway. Eventually they got to a double door, with Patchouli opening it and Alice entering inside.

Inside was a small comfortable living room. Patchouli sat down on a sofa with a table in front and asked Alice to sit down on an adjacent sofa.

Alice sat down… and the interrogation began.