Umineko no naku koro ni Ep 1 part 3

By now the story is getting really creepy, as we are closer and closer to the climax. The story is 15 chapters. The 4th or 5th post is to be the last. I also have to apologize again for a mistake I made in the first post (more info on that later).

Chapter 7

Our heroes and Shannon try to tackle the riddle but dosen’t get anywhere. Maria gives Jessica and Battler each a plastic beaded bracelet, saying that it will ward off Beatrice. They don’t believe in magic, but keeps the bracelets to make Maria happy. The weather worsens so they go back to the house, but Maria worries about her rose and looks for it. When she can’t find it at the spot where she thinks it is, she starts a fit, saying u-u-u and calls her mom for help. When Rosa got there she got angry at Maria for yelling and being stubborn and hits her. The teens leave, not wanting to disturb family matters, and Rosa leaves Maria to look for the Rose herself.

Kinzo is in his study, saying that everyone is human sacrifices and that he will bet it all. Working a rage, he takes a ring off his finger and throws it out of the window. (This was my mistake. Since this is the second time I’m playing this game, I sometimes get the order of things mixed up. Sorry.)
Chapter 8

The rain turns into a storm, trapping everyone on the island. When the teens bumped into Kanon, they are surprised to hear the Maria is still outside. Rosa hears the news from the butler and gets extremely worried. The teens meet Rosa on the way and finds Maria in the garden, looking for her rose with an umbrella. When Jessica comments how Maria is smart to carry an umbrella, Maria says that she received the umbrella from Beatrice.

Once again, Kinzo refuses to go down for dinner. When Rosa asks everyone at dinner about who gave Maria the umbrella, everyone in the room denies it, and the servants denied it too. Later, Kanon asks Genji is they should tell Kinzo that “Mistress Beatrice has returned”, Kinzo says not to since they do not yet whether or not she will appear and that furniture like them should not get involved like that.

After dinner, Maria shows a letter from “Beatrice”, given along with the umbrella. The wax on the letter was sealed with an imprint from Kinzo’s one and only unique ring. Here’s the letter’s message, thanks again to the hard working people at Baka-tsuki:

“Welcome to Rokkenjima, everyone of the Ushiromiya family.

I am serving Kinzo-sama and I’m called Beatrice, the alchemist-adviser of the family. “

“I was serving him obeying a contract that extended for many years but, today, Kinzo-sama sentenced the end of that contract.

Consequently, during today, I’ll have my duty as alchemist-adviser of the family to come to a closure, so please be understanding of that.”

“Then, I must explain one part of the contract to everyone here.

I, Beatrice, did loan a vast amount of gold to Kinzo-sama but with a certain condition.

As for that condition, he will return me all the gold by the end of the contract.

And as an interest, I can accept everything of the Ushiromiya family.”

“If you hear this much, everyone will probably be lamenting if Kinzo-sama is not being too merciless.

However, Kinzo-sama, in order to give a chance to leave the wealth and fortune to everyone, added a special clause.

Only when that clause is satisfied, I’ll eternally lose my right to collect the gold and the interest.”

“Special clause.

When the contract ends, Beatrice will have the right to collect the gold and the interest.

However, if a person who disclose the hidden gold of the contract appears,

Beatrice must eternally and completely abdicate of this right.

……From now on, the collect of the interest will be performed but, if whoever one person among everyone can satisfy the special clause,

Everything will be returned including the part already collected.

Furthermore, as an outset of the collect, I already have received in my custody the “Finger Ring of the Head of the Ushiromiya Family” that indicates that he succeeded the inheritance of the Ushiromiya family.

Please, confirm with the wax seal.”

“About the hiding place of the gold, Kinzo-sama already publicly announced it at the inscription under my portrait.

The conditions are equal to all the people who can read the inscription.

If the gold is disclosed, I will return everything.

With that, please, enjoy as much as you want Kinzo-sama’s intelligence challenge tonight.

I’m praying from the bottom of my heart that tonight turns out to be an intellectual and yet elegant night.

――The Golden Beatrice.”

Chapter 9

Everyone’s mind is in turmoil due to the letter. Battler start thinking about the possibility of the 19th person on the island, but Kyrie argues with him, saying that someone WANTS people to think there’s a 19th person when there really isn’t one. Rudolph uncharacteristically calls Kyrie and Battler together to say something: “…………Tonight, ….. I will probably………..be killed.” Kyrie says that Rudolph is cowardly and only wants to be spoiled, leaving Battler with some advice about communicating with a lover and chasing Rudolph. Feeling tired, most of the adults leave the sitting room to do their own business.

Krauss pulls Natsuhi into a room and shows her something. That something turns out to be an almost PURE gold block with the family emblem carved onto it. Krauss says that it is the proof that 10 tons of gold exists. Natsuhi started to get angry at Krauss, as he discovered it a whole ago and never told her. Feeling depressed about the coldness of the family and her husband and the dislike from the daughter whom she pushed too hard academically, she regrets everything she did.

Just then, Natsuhi meets Jessica, but due to ineffective communication, neither of them can tell the other that they care about one another. But some progress is made and Jessica gives her mother the Scorpion beaded bracelet that Maria gave her. (This shows how the writer can make the story scary and also heartwarming.)

Shannon leads our heroes (the sleeping Maria is on George’s back, she IS still 9 after all) and Rosa back to their sleeping quarters. Shannon meets Kanon and Genji, who tells Shannon that the schedule had changes and she is to patrol the quarters at night. Shannon remembers an earlier invitation from our heroes to play some cards in their room and asks Kanon if he wants to go. But again he refuses, and he is “only furniture.”

Later, George says that he forgot something in the main house and tells Shannon to go with him. A bit of history is revealed.

Kinzo owns an orphanage, and sometimes people from there come to the main house as servants. But the people who come from there all add 音 or “non” to their name. It is the greatest honor for the orphans and is also a great chance at money. Shannon had worked for 10 years and saves a few million yen already. Since they are from the orphanage, Kanon isn’t really Shannon’s younger brother, but they are like family. There are also other servants from there, Manon and Renon and such, but they aren’t at the manor at that time. Now, I don’t think I mentioned this before, but people who are of Kinzo’s blood line wear the family symbol, the eagle wing, on their clothes. But people from other families like Natsuhi don’t have that right. However, the servants wear it because Kinzo trusts them, in fact, more than his family.

George says that Shannon’s real name is Sayo, and it is revealed that they are in love. George takes out a small box, a ring box. George commands Sayo (who is blushing all the way to her ears) to take the box and tells her to give him an answer. If she agrees, she is to wear the ring on her ring finger; otherwise she can wear it anywhere. Sayo is extremely embarrassed even though she knows what she has to do. She hastily makes up an excuse and goes back to the main house. (Awww…. isn’t that adorable?)

Chapter 10

When Shannon arrives, the cook pushed most of his work on to her. She hears people arguing but ignores it. As she is checking the windows she sees something shining at the end of the hall.

MIDNIGHT COMES AND GOES, AND A NEW DAY ARRIVES.

Kanon and Genji is preparing for everyone to wake up when Kanon realized that the cook, Toshiro is missing. When Natsuhi wakes up, she realized that she had put Jessica’s bracelet on her door handle (that’s supposed to be the way to use it). She takes out her treasure and wants to give it to Jessica when Genji calls her to report the missing person. It’s then that she realizes that her outside door handle is stained with a bloody handprint. (This IS a horror after all.)

In the sitting room where she meets Hideyoshi and Eva, Genji reports that Rudolph, Kyrie, Rosa, and Krauss are all nowhere in sight. Eva taunts Natsuhi about getting Kinzo to come down to breakfast, and Genji gives her his keys. When she opens the door, she is met by a cold Kinzo, telling her to leave. But, before she left, he changes into a gentler personality and tells her that even she does not wear it, she has the eagle’s wing on her heart. And that she is definitively a part of his family and he is proud of that.

When she leaves she meets Eva, but now Natsuhi’s confidence is renewed and she ignores Eva’s cruel teasing. When they arrive back at the sitting room, Kanon announces that he found something wrong with the garden shed. The some of the adults go there to look, and discover a rune written in blood on the door. Kanon says that the rune was not there last night.

Meanwhile, our heroes are still in the sitting room. But when the butler comes to fetch the doctor, they get curious and follow them. When Natsuhi sees them, she does her best to keep them away, but it’s too late. They see the mutilated corpses in the shed floor.

The doctor announces that the bodies had been dead for at least 6 hours (this is around breakfast time, at least 7:30). But the horrifying thing is that the corpses had their faces ripped off (Krauss only had half of his face ripped off, however). There are 6 dead bodies, Krauss, Rudolph, Kyrie, Rosa, the cook…..and Shannon. George didn’t look at her since she had half of her face ripped off, and Hideyoshi told him to forever remember the last time that she saw him. That time, she wore a beautiful Smile. George asked Hideyoshi to check.

She wore a ring on her left hand. On her ring finger.

Kanon, who was horrified at the sight of his sister, led away our heroes. Eva started talking about how it is a crime scene and that they shouldn’t move the bodies or even cover up the mutilated faces. A mystery is uncovered. There’s only 1 shed key, and it is at the place where it should be. Why would the murderer paint such a rune on the door and place back the key after he or she used it?

Wow, this post is much longer than I ever thought it would be. Anyway, by now you should have an idea of the complexity of the game. I’ll probably finish this is in the next post or the one after that, I hope you look forward to it.