Bad∞End∞Night Vol 1 Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Search

The Master issued orders to everyone, and we all split up to search our assigned areas. The mansion was too large and we too short on time to search all together, so it was divided up among the seven. The divisions were made to overlook as little of the mansion’s roughly thirty rooms, halls, stairs, and hallways as possible. The Master, Lady, and Doll Boy took the second floor, while the Mistress, Butler, Maid, and Doll Girl took floor one. And the Villager, who was not a resident and knew nothing of the mansion, was told to accompany and help any one of the seven. 

The Master’s assignment was the area to the right after going up the stairs, the south side of the second floor. The southeast storeroom, the forbidden room beside it, the Master and Mistress’s room, the southwest study, the antique collection room, and guest room #8 - a total of six rooms, and their surrounding hallways. 

On the north wall of the forbidden room on the second floor was a large painting of a girl dancing alone in a forest, large enough to cover the entire wall. The sheer size of it made me stop in awe. The girl in the center was painted life-size, almost exactly as large as me. The Master told me that there was a similar painting and forbidden room in the same place downstairs as well. 

As for what the “forbidden rooms” were, they had apparently been locked for many years and were never used. They were already locked when the Master inherited the mansion from his grandfather; since even his grandfather didn’t have the keys, entering would require busting down the door. Yet that had never seemed necessary, so those rooms were never opened. We checked just to be sure, but there was no sign of the door having been forced open, so we deemed it impossible for anyone to intrude and focused on thoroughly searching the other five rooms. 

First, we went to the storeroom in the southeast corner. The moment the door opened, the Master’s eyes widened with surprise. Trying to keep in my hasty feeling that we might have found the page so soon, I entered the room behind the briskly-walking Master. He picked up a broom lying on the floor and held it in silent thought for a while. 

“Um… Is there something about that broom?” 

“Fell over? Maybe someone used it and didn’t put it back properly…” 

“Despite appearances, the maid is an absolute stickler for orderliness. There’s simply no chance she would handle a cleaning implement so roughly. But if someone entered this room, then perhaps…” 

“…Yes.” 

I searched the room, my chest bursting with hope that we’d find it right away. The room was full of unused furniture and fixtures, as well as cleaning implements, and everything had collected a lot of dust. We gave a full search of every nook and cranny, but found nothing small like a piece of paper. The Master, just in case, moved around all the large furniture to carefully check the gaps between the furniture and the floor. But this was also in vain. 

The once-orderly storeroom became a mess, and most everything came to be assembled near the entrance to the large room. Next time someone opened up the storeroom, the pile of things would topple over and block entry… No, not likely. But when I tried to put the furniture back where it was, the Master stopped me. There was too much else to search, he said, and no time to be putting things back. 

Not even taking a moment to be despondent, we hurried to the nearby bedroom used by the Master and Mistress. I felt a bit tense stepping into the room, decorated in a uniform refreshing blue. It didn’t matter that it was just scripted character backstory; it was still a high-class married couple’s bedroom. 

A gorgeous chandelier with crystals liberally embedded in it, a huge canopy bed like a king might sleep in, a closet containing an astounding number of dresses and tuxedos - and beautiful display shelves, tables, and chairs that one could tell at a glance were all finely-crafted to the smallest details. We searched everywhere in the room with eyes like saucers, but found nothing here either. 

Drawing a close to our exploration of the master bedroom, we went to the Master’s study, which could have the highest possibility of hiding the page. But the luxurious aged desk there had only an unworking fountain pen on its surface, and nothing showed up after much opening and closing of drawers. The Master searched the bookshelves, taking each and every book with an elegant motion, flipping through the pages with his slender fingers as if toying with them, and putting it back… again and again, until the last book was checked, and he let out a quiet sigh. 

We’d already searched half the rooms and still hadn’t even found a clue. My shoulders slumped a little. Either the Master wasn’t as concerned as I was… or it was literally in his character to always be a calm, composed, and rigid gentleman. Either way, I sensed no disappointment in him. 

The real Kaito was big-hearted, mild, had a weakness for women, and smiled often. But I’d still yet to see the Master here soften his expression at all. His personality was the complete opposite of Kaito’s real nature. Yet I did happen to know that Kaito really was the son of a wealthy family, and watching his practiced actions acquired from that noble upbringing did allow me the nostalgic sensation that this man was Kaito. 

I certainly found it strange to think “nostalgically” of people who I’d seen just a few hours ago, but for whatever reason, that was the way I felt. Perhaps while searching for the page, I could obtain some clue by simultaneously observing these “people in the play.” I wasn’t suspicious of any particular person. But if the page thief was among them, I had to at least gather some clues. 

Leaving the study, we then tried the Master’s collection room. Before the door was even open all the way, a “Wow…” of awe fell out of my mouth. Just one step into the room brought me to a dead end, and my eyes were drawn to the collection sprawling before me. A packed arrangement of bronze statues, sculptures, weapons, ornaments, jewelry - all gorgeous, certainly very old, wondrous, and somewhat odd things I’d never seen the likes of before. 

“Surprised? It’s a collection of curios that have been passed down in my family. Most of this, I inherited from my grandfather, but I’ve gathered some of these things myself.” 

The Master proceeded into the room with a light gait. One wall was decorated with artifacts from all times, places, and cultures, and it seemed no two things had the same shape. One looked something like a vampire, one like a king of beasts, and yet another like a goddess of ancient mythology. 

“Wow… What a long nose this mask has…” 

“It’s God? …He’s kind of scary.” 

“The eastern lands have a variety of religious customs somewhat different from ours. In particular, one country still has a unique long-held tradition of polytheism. This mask, for instance, would be called a god in some places, but in others feared as a "youkai,” a kind of monster.“ 

“…It is my only hobby, yes.” 

Come to think of it, while the Master and the real Kaito’s personalities were totally different, both had a hobby of collecting things. And Meg’s love of classical mysteries overlapped with the bothersome Maid’s love of incidents. I again thought, in a new light, how there were these similarities between the characters of Crazy ∞ nighT and their actors. 

In reality, I’d broken the clock that Kaito went through so much effort to get his hands on during the show, and had been on my way to ask him how to fix it… So as I watched the Master search this collection room being very careful with everything, the fact that I’d left the clock broken started to make me feel really guilty. 

“That reminds me… Kai… er, I know someone who has a hobby of collecting things too. He seems to collect a lot of stuff… but I broke an important clock of his once. I’m still sort of in the middle of fixing it, and I don’t even know if it can be fixed yet. And I haven’t even gotten to apologize, either… I hope I can do both soon…” 

Why did I have to come to this world? But no, that was all my fault too. 

“All things with form… will rot away with time. It’s an unavoidable fact so long as time exists. You need not worry about breaking it.” 

“Even the most fantastic creations will decay when left alone. Is that not why people feel a desire to protect them?” 

“Huh…?” 

Relics of my ancestors? I turned to look around at all the antiques. These were relics he had inherited from his ancestors, protected over generations. But my “relics” could be none other than Burlet’s works and company. Of course I wanted to protect them. I even joined the troupe out of a desire to carry them on to future generations. 

“Yes! I want to carry the treasures of the past into the future… Even if times change, and even if their form changes, I want them to remain, adopting the qualities of those times.” 

I took a look at each mask, statue, and sculpture along the wall. The statues and sculptures were up on pedestals, ominously staring down from up high. My eyes fell on a large statue enshrined above my head. It was a woman riding a horse, holding two long swords up toward the sky, with mouth open wide in a war cry. She looked like she could attack at any second, yet that moment was frozen in time. The swords she was holding appeared to be real. 

“Fond of it? She’s a valkyrie, a goddess from Norse mythology. The sword in her left hand is one my grandfather used as a retainer to the king, on the battlefield and in protection of His Majesty. Centuries since, it’s now a family heirloom. Under her protection, you see.” 

"One of…? Are there other goddesses?” 

“Well, the number can vary depending on the tradition.” 

“Thank you… I’m fine. But anyway… I’m so sorry! Is the sword… okay…? Don’t tell me I broke it…” 

“Time to perform…?” 

I’d heard them using that phrase earlier when everyone was gathered together. 

“There’s limited time in which to perform the play. We still have a good deal, but we need to find the page quickly and move on to the next scene. Already…” 

The Master paused and closed his eyes to focus on something. 

“…About a third of that time has passed.” 

He reopened his eyes and re-established his neutral expression of strictness with a hint of grief. 

“Um, this "time to perform”… How can you know how much is left? Is there a clock anywhere?“ 

“Well then, how…?” 

“Ahead…? Waaahhh!” 

“Ahaha…” 

“Ehh?!” 

My half-monologue thoughts were interrupted by a hysteric shout from the Lady. She stared at me with face warped in terror, like she’d seen a monster. 

“Uh… U-Um…?” 

“Eh?! …I-I see. It’s nothing. I just, ah…” 

Her gaze timidly wavered left and right, the words seeming to be caught in her throat. This was a habit of Luka’s when she was deeply worried; I’d seen it only once before. The Lady’s current behavior reminded me of Luka’s flustered face when she forgot about an agreement with an important sponsor, and my heart ached again. 

“…I just thought I saw something… shining behind you. It scared me, slightly. Perhaps it was just me…” 

I turned around and saw a large portrait on the wall. But nothing else. Was it the ghost the Master claimed haunted the mansion? Surely not… I carefully inspected my surroundings and found nothing. So maybe she’d thought the portrait was a ghost… I took a careful look at the person in it. I felt like I’d seen this person before, but… 

“The man in this portrait…” 

He had bangs that went down to his eyes, wore a black hood, and posed with a slightly-lowered head, a finger to his lips, and a fearless grin. 

“Hmm… Father tells me it’s been here since he inherited the mansion from his grandfather. I believe he calls it a "portrait of the Silk-Hat Baron”? But what a strange name for someone wearing no such thing…“ 

“…All right.” 

The Lady looked me over with a scrupulous gaze, but said nothing else and returned to the long gallery in front of the stairwell. 

When I took the stairs back down to the hall, I saw the Doll Girl squatting by the clock again. I still wasn’t used to her as a doll, but she was originally Rin. I was surely only scared because she’d become a doll, I mentally told myself, and quietly approached. She spun her head around 180 degrees to face me, and I screamed. I reflexively backed away from the owl-like motion, but for a moment, I saw something resembling tears faintly sparkle in her eyes. 

“What DO you WANT, miss VILLAger? YaHAH!” 

That “yahaha” laugh was a habit of the Doll Girl which Rin played, but to be honest, hearing it from the actual doll before me was scary. Rin would often call me to the empty green room in the dead of night and have me stare at her as she assumed her doll part and didn’t move a muscle… an eerie kind of practice. Her acting then certainly emanated a rather ghastly terror, but thinking of it again as I looked at this doll here, I could see there was a clear difference between humans and dolls. 

“Err… I guess I was just wondering if you’d finished searching this area.” 

“Oh…” 

“Hey, LET’s play HIDE and SEEK!” 

“I’ll be THE seekER! I’ll count TO twenTY, so HIDE, miss VilLAGER! OOONE, twooo…” 

“S-Sorry… Once we find the page…” 

“…” 

The Doll Girl forcibly invited me to play hide and seek, but I had to refuse. There was no time to play; time was still slowly progressing as we spoke. The Master said earlier that even if the play was stopped, the performance time would advance. 

I looked at the grandfather clock in front of me. In act one, the clock was stopped as a result of my unprecedented accident, but Rin and Len’s assistance kept the play itself from stopping. But this clock… It, too, was stopped a little bit before midnight. 

“Come to think of it… I wonder if there’s any way to make time move for that clock…?” 

“…You SHOULDn’t do THAT. You can’t FORCE it.” 

The tone of the generally-cheery doll’s voice suddenly deepened. I was sure the energetic Doll Girl would reply “Let’s GIVE it a TRY!” without a second thought… 

“Err… But can I at least move it a little to see…?” 

I went up to grab the hands on the face of the clock, but the Doll Girl’s little hands reached to grab my right arm. 

“NO… BAD things will HAPpen…” 

“…” 

“Hey, is there something about this clock? Some kind of secret…?” 

“…!” 

Someone will die…? What in the world did she mean by that? If I moved this stopped clock, would something bad happen… would a scene occur where someone died? I stared the Doll Girl in the eyes to incite her to say more, but she only stared back with firm resolution. She wouldn’t answer me, and wouldn’t let me touch the clock hands… So her eyes seemed to say. 

A thought crossed my mind. She and the Doll Boy were often here; was it because were they guarding the clock? And if moving the hands would really cause someone to die, were they trying to prevent someone’s death by protecting the hands? 

I slowly turned away from her, and instead toward the hands of the stopped clock. The gold hands glinted from the light of the large chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. With a close look, I saw that it was exactly the same as the prop used on stage. 

That clock was an antique Kaito had obtained after searching all around for the perfect prop. However, it was no exaggeration to say that this clock was like new, with not a scratch on it. And the hands? I couldn’t tell just looking at it, but if this hour hand were also a knife, just like the prop clock… 

“Don’t YOU dare…” 

The Doll Girl’s low, oppressive, emphatic voice echoed ominously against the ceiling of the hall. The glint in her eyes was so strong, and carried such imperativeness, that I shuddered and nodded my head. Satisfied with this, the Doll Girl bent her head back slightly up at me, and gave a soundless, creepy grin. 

I opened the door to the living room, immediately in front of me upon entering the hallway behind the stairs. No one was inside, and only the crackling of the fireplace echoed through the otherwise silent room. 

On the first floor, the Doll Girl was assigned the west side of the mansion: the entrance hall and the two reception rooms on either side. The Mistress took the east side: the dining room, living room, and guest rooms #2 and #3. The Maid handled rooms to the north: the restroom, kitchen, her own room, the washing room, and the billiards room. Lastly, the Butler searched the south: the cellar and neighboring forbidden room, guest rooms #1 and #4, his own room, and a wine cellar underneath the stairs. 

I suppose the living room had already been searched. I opened up the door to the dining room beside it and looked all around, but no one was there either. However, the door to the kitchen beyond that was slightly ajar, and I heard voices as I approached. Peeking inside, I found the Mistress and Maid having a seemingly-serious discussion. I listened in, looking for the right time to intervene. 

“Well then, who did it? Is there any evidence?!” 

“Oh, dear…” 

“…So, everyone being in one place… In other words, everyone being under the same conditions, that’s what gets things going. You’re made to think that everyone is a possibility, and anyone could have done it… Yes, it should be only one person, but you’re made to think it’s everyone… impossible… establish a motive…” 

What were they talking about? Motive…? They moved further away, making it hard to hear, but from what I could make out… Could they have reasoned out who the page thief was? 

“Well… I don’t know if I fully understand, but I think I get the gist of it. Still, I’m thirsty. Could we have a break for tea? I’d really prefer to drink wine, but the butler would be furious with me.” 

“Yes, but it wouldn’t do if there weren’t that many people, would it?” 

“Sorry… I just thought you might be getting tired of it. Besides, mistress, you don’t like milk tea that much, do you…?” 

“…Why? Isn’t the most suspicious person the one you suspect first?” 

“That’s what the culprit wants you to think. First they give you the impression that since everyone is in the same place in the same conditions, in all likelihood anyone could have done it. Then as everyone goes back through their memories, they find the servants the most suspicious. But at the same time, they approach the fact that there were many chances for people besides the servants to put poison in her glass. Then in the next step, when unnatural proof comes forth to say a servant did it, a young detective says someone plotted to frame them…” 

“I see. And?” 

“What?! That’s much too sudden. Is the truth somewhere completely different?” 

“Yes, exactly right… The truth is somewhere else entirely. For the truth to be at work elsewhere… that’s the crowning jewel of mysteries! Everyone was so certain about the whole poison in the wine thing, but it was all wrong. Right before the party… Everyone had tea in the living room, see? The culprit used arsenic. The really popular stuff for murder. And the poison was made to take effect right as the toast was made at the party. 

"Not to mention, she hadn’t been in good condition recently… She had a cold and lacked sleep, so she was very fatigued. Thus, a bit of sweating and staggering wouldn’t make people notice it was poison at work. Only when the poison in the tea began to reach around her whole body…” 

“Which was right as everyone began to drink wine. Then there’s only one person who could have done it… The culprit is…” 

“…Yes.” 

“But mistress, the case doesn’t end there.” 

“Why do you think the deceased was in such poor condition to begin with?” 

“How terrifying…” 

“For that day alone… the maid engineered the ultimate royal milk tea, and made her drink it for every little occasion. Making excuses to give it to her was, in fact, the hardest part. The victim preferred to stay at home, to say the least, and hated to socialize with people, so she would only go out on rare occasions. But as she was repeatedly given that first-rate tea, she changed. To the extent that she’d make her own excuses to visit the neighboring mansion, she became a slave to its flavor…” 

My heart beat fast as I listened intently to the Mistress and Maid’s conversation in the dining room. What in the world was this…? The royal milk tea the Maid poured earlier was very tasty. I would be willing to call it first-rate. I had no fever, or breathlessness, or dizziness… and my pulse was normal… I think. Yet I couldn’t pass their conversation off as just idle chat. 

I wanted to shake away my panic somehow, but I kept calling forth bad premonitions instead. I’d have to get away from here and find somewhere to calm down. Right as I silently moved away from the door… 

“What are you doing?” 

I turned around and met the Butler. I was petrified with fear and didn’t make a peep, but heard the two in the dining room preparing to stand up from their chairs. The Butler took initiative, grabbing the half-open door and entering the dining room. 

Finally getting away from the shock of him showing up, I timidly followed behind him with a slight delay. The Mistress and Maid looked surprised, but the former quickly put a smile back on. The Maid went around to the kitchen and brought the remaining water from the kettle. 

“My, my… This isn’t the time to be sitting down to tea, you two.” 

“They also say to strike while the iron is hot… It’s an issue of values. You two will idle whenever you see the chance, after all. That’s no good.” 

“Gosh! Mr. Butler, you’re just too strict. We’ve absolutely been searching all over, not idling! Right, mistress?” 

“Yeees,” the Mistress replied very disinterestedly, not seeming to be listening to the Butler. 

“Well, Mr. Butler, what seems like idle chatting at a glance might just contain an tremendous hint, hmm? And the mistress here can’t drink beer at the moment, so she’s none too pleased. So as a desperate measure, I’m giving her tea loaded with caffeine instead. Come on, won’t you join us too?” 

“Sigh… I worry for what lies ahead. I merely reached a halting point, and came to check on you before beginning on the remaining rooms. I’ll be returning shortly.” 

“Mistress?” 

“Ah, did you hear it?” 

“Ahem! Searching at random just seemed boring, so I was trying to reason out the details of this incident. After all, having some idea of who might have hidden it and where has to be more effective, right?” 

“Well, in such a large house, finding a single sheet of paper is quite a task. She’s been going on about it being "A major incident! A harbinger of something huge! Something bad will happen for sure!”… so I got caught up in it myself. I mean, surely it is a major incident, but…“ 

“Oh, that! Well, we were talking about how the culprit could possibly steal the script and be seen by no one… no, not even the doll twins who were always in the hall! Er, and then it switched to how someone could do it without anyone else realizing… Huh?” 

“Yes. She said it was an impossible crime… And to explain how it came to exist, she started using a murder mystery as an example. I swear, she’s always jumping around between this and that. We were talking about a theft, and all of a sudden it’s as if there’s been a murder. She gets much too caught up in it all!” 

“Well, I mean, when I get talking, I just keep heating up… No, I start boiling over…!” 

“…Y-Yes.” 

The Mistress smiled to try and clear my concerns. Then the Maid finished up and set down cups for myself and the Butler. Warm steam rose up from the delicious-looking royal milk tea. I’d carefully watched the Maid’s movements while everyone was talking, but saw nothing unnatural about them… like sneaking in poison. 

First-class royal milk tea which a maid repeatedly laced with arsenic to kill a woman living nearby. After hearing a story like that… They could tell me it was unrelated, but it wouldn’t make me any more willing to drink the tea in front of me. The Butler had hesitated about stopping to take a break here, but once tea was prepared for him, he sighed, decided he might as well, and took a seat. His long fingers covered by white gloves reached for the cup without hesitation. Come to think of it, how long had he been there behind me? Maybe he hadn’t heard the conversation. 

“From the looks of things, I assume no one’s found so much as a clue yet?” 

“…I helped a little with the study and the collection room upstairs… but we didn’t find anything there.” 

While the conversation went on, I still couldn’t bring myself to touch the teacup. Somehow, I could feel the Maid glancing at me the longer I left it there. The Mistress claimed it was just idle talk, but… I was caught up on it. I stole a glance at her, sitting diagonally across from me. Her smile gave the impression that it was very tasty, as she held the tea… the milk tea in her mouth. 

But I was still hung up on what the Maid said earlier. “Besides, mistress, you don’t like milk tea that much, do you…?” To which the Miistress replied, “You do have a point.” What did she mean by that? There was something strange about it. Why, at a time when it would make sense to simply say “You’re right,” did she say “You do have a point” after a long pause to think…? 

Maybe the Mistress, upon the Maid pointing it out, realized that she doesn’t like milk tea that much - but drinking it all the time and having it recommended to her by others convinced her those were her own thoughts… That could be the implication. It was just a little niggling thing, but I couldn’t shake it off. 

The two of them kept recommending the delicious milk tea… That made me come to suspect there was a particular reason why they wanted people to drink it. And the case of the poison they had just been talking about fit in perfectly. Offering a guest tea would be unnatural if the maid were doing it arbitrarily. So the one who invited her couldn’t have been the maid, but someone else at the mansion where she worked… Yes, most likely the mistress. She would praise the maid’s tea and treat the visitor to it. Wasn’t that the most natural flow of things? That the maid had an accomplice… 

“Well, miss Villager, where will you search next? We’ve still about half of the first floor rooms to check. The most packed rooms are already done, so the rest will go quickly. After a bit more of a break… Did the master tell you to help anyone on the first floor?” 

The Butler finished his tea and stood up, bid farewell to the Mistress and Maid, and left. I thanked them for the tea and hurried after him. The Maid’s head hung down, staring at the milk tea, and I couldn’t see her expression. 

Chapter end