"The 【Galopin Mansion Incident】 is actually a gathering of reclusive flesh-eating cannibal cultists---!!!"

  This blue arc of truth swings downwards, straight and true!

  It connects!

  I felt a solid hit there!

  A fountain of sparks fly where my bde welds with Madi-san's...

  Madi-san's...

  Beneath the curtain of obscuring blue and red sparks falling onto the wooden theater floor,

  an arced curve forms on the purple-haired biichii's face...!

  N-nani?!?!

  No matter how hard I press down,

  the bde never seems to reach Madi-san's neck!

  Beyond the point where the sparks collide,

  Madi-san is holding something up,

  blocked by the fireworks show going on now!

  And that something---

  --- is her flipphone!

  Holding it in an offensively obnoxious reverse grip, The bde of my truth is trapped right between the gap where the cover and the phone base swivel away from each other!

  Even if I press down harder, Madi-san's stable posture doesn't even flinch!

  Her knees slightly bent and spread wide apart,

  the mocking abyss opens up once more across her face!

  "「Nanda」, I thought moi' accomplice would learn after the first time! It's just like they say, 'they never learn'!! "

  Who says that, you madwoman?!

  Even as she speaks, the molten-hot sparks are still raining down upon both of our clothes with seemingly no effect, like this was just a circus lightshow! I'm sure that if there are people in the audience, there would be more than a few rows craning their necks to witness this exchange of bded bodies right now!

  Now still in a binding lock with the middle of my katana, the purple clown actually is slowly pushing back...! Flipphone and katanacrossed, our faces pull close to each other.

  "What kind of magick is this?! Why can't my truth cut through your damn phone?!?!"

  "It's magick, son! I ain't gotta expin sheeto!"

  "Argh!"

  With a shove of finality, Madi-san forcefully breaks the bind, pushing me off the center of this stage! Shaking the stun off my face, my stance is broken with my bde hanging limply at the side! The malevolent daemon puffs out a breath of air, shrugging both my attack and her shoulders with both palms to the theater ceiling!

  "Wow, for all your (experience), you sure do suck at this! You sure you reached the golden nd by yourself and aren't just parroting some veetuba's opinions??? Imagine believing in Rosatrice, THAT is embarrassing!"

  ... >YOU are the embarrassing one! You can mock it all you like, but Rosatrice's logic is sound!

  Of course, this is the most unconvincing comeback, because I spent far too much time locked in the bind without being able to deal a resounding blow on Madi-san's weakpoint. Huffing and gasping for air while leaning over, I simply can't understand! Why?! I thought that if I simply solved for the 'Whydunnit', I'd win!! Is it just a difference in menne?! Is this a reixtsu problem?!?!

  Oh nooooooe! Now the purple cow is barreling towards me!

  Body, quick!

  Enter [Bde Mo---]

  "Oh no you don't! It's MOI turn now!"

  A thin horizontal arc of light shines as she swipes her phone across the front of my body...!

  "THERE ARE NO ZOMBIE-TYPES IN VESPANA, NEWFAG!"

  Her tiny flipphone completely broke past my defenses!

  [SFX:THUMP]

  Taking the passthrough under my left elbow, that cut with her red truth completely destroyed my argument! Everything that I had deduced tonight about Fox-Mask had hinged upon Fox-Mask needing to blood for something! That something being subsistence!

  Now the very existence of an entity needing blood has been wiped away by the red!

  If there are no zombies, there aren't any ghouls and there certainly won't be any cannibals! Then what else would Fox-Mask need the blood for?! Cake baking?! Scam ancestry tests?! Print for goth-rock concert T-shirts pyed by fox-eared mikos???? What false bel or accusation is this?!

  It isn't enough that my tiny frame is sent flying backwards in the air by that blow, just as my head passes the front of her body in slow motion...

  She grabs the front of my head,

  hand seemingly passing through,

  wrenching it outwards,

  something intestinally long and lightly glowing

  is pulled out in her hands!

  Which Madi-san promptly crushes in her hand!

  "Get un-alived on!"

  [SFX:BODY HITTING THE FLOOR]

  [SFX:CLATTER]

  In the midst of all my screaming, Madi-san drops to the ground knees-first over my lying body! Legs parted to lock me between her hips, she pushes the struggling side of my face down with one hand, flipphone in the other!

  "Any st words before we finish, no-stamina detective????"

  AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

  tasuketeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

  [BGM:OMINOUS ENTRANCE MUSIC]

  [BGM:OMINOUS ENTRANCE MUSIC]

  [SFX:CHEAP POPS]

  Just as I cry out to the skies and abyss for help, help really arrived!

  Whoever sent this rescue ship, I don't care!

  I am thankful for this short intermisso!

  Dramatic and epic music is piped in full binaural surround sound! Invisible drumbeats sound out as the middle theater walkway rises slowly into a sloping shape! An oddly familiar white mist surrounds the back of the theater, completely obscuring the green exit sign until it is barely visible...

  There is a slow and measured creaking of wood,

  not unlike that of a wooden double door or a ship that has sailed its st!

  Long repeated chanting accompanies the walkway being lit up in floored stage lights,

  starting from the back of the sloped runway!

  Completely taken over by this entrance, the purple-haired biichii slowly stands up...!

  Turning her body to the entrance with narrowing irises...

  "This entrance music... could it be...?!?!"

  I don't know who this is, but this is a good time to roll off the stage! With breast-for-brains completely distracted by the front, I'm not going to have another chance to escape!

  Stepping through the mist...

  ... is a familiar figure in twintails, wide-brim witch hat, and sleeveless top!

  Ahh. Ahhhhh!!!

  It's Sachiko-senpai!

  What's she doing here in [Deroux Theater]!

  "You two... are too loud. I can hear you from my bedroom."

  "Ehehehe! Want to join in, Sachiin'? This stage is big enough for one more!"

  As she walks down the hallway taking all the time in the continent, Sachiko rubs her eyes while stretching her other in the air. A flicker of something runs over her irises, but she decides against it by shaking her head.

  "kekko, I'm already graduated, Madison."

  "Come ooooon, you know you want to, Sachiin'! It'll be like the good ol' Trabul Twins days!"

  "I can't say I approve of you bullying your kōhailike this..."

  Thank you, Sachiko-senpai! Finally, the voice of reason! Now that Sachiko-senpai has made her slow descent down the runway, the floorlights shutting off after her in pairs like the closing of eyelids, I immediately crawl up to her, clutching at her bck pantyhose and her pleated skirt at the side slit!

  "B-bwehhhh!!! Sachiko-senpai! Save me!! Madi-san, Madi-san's gone mad!!!"

  "Non non, my useless accomplice! Don't you see?! I'm training you so you don't immediately crack if a glowie bcksites you!! Gotta deal one BIG chunk of damage at once, otherwise it would be extremely painful!!"

  All that finger wagging is useless, Madi-san! All I know is that I've gone through an endless hell tonight and its all YOUR fault!

  "Fufu, some of it is partly my fault too. I can't say I agree with your methods, Madison." She gently clutches the back of my head, giving it a good rub. Thank you! Thank you!! I can feel all the funny stress cmping down on my head go away now! This definitely isn't Sachiko-senpai's fault, its all on boob-for-brains!

  "Hmm hmm... but knowing Sachiin', you..."

  "I prefer to take it nice and slow. If you can't enjoy an underground tea session slowly, what good is it? Like many things, going full gas gas gas is no good..."

  "Ehehehe... That's so twisted though, but its like you!"

  The only person getting it twisted is >YOU, Madi-san! Sachiko-senpai is the definition of a good girl! She's mature, level-headed, cooks and cleans, can you even say the same, Madi-san!

  "The difficulty is too high, even for Aya-chan here."

  I nod furiously in approval!

  "It's Aya-chan's fault for bragging she was going to 'hurr durr turn conspiracies into mysteries' anyway! Am I supposed to turn on 'Game Journo Difficulty' for someone who got so cocky?!?!"

  The Frxnch biichii has zero remorse for her accomplice at all! Throwing her hips out she points straight at my heart, like it was my fault! Cocky?! You're the one who dragged me into this theater! Please say a word of kindness, Sachiko-senpai!

  "But it is doable, though?" Sachiko thumbs through her front ponytail, perhaps not quite understanding our conflict.

  hai?

  What is doable?

  "The turning conspiracies into mysteries part."

  You mean... I actually have a full cannon shot at this?

  "No... I mean, Sachiko-senpai, you might not understand what Madi-san and I are doing here..."

  "Oh, I understand full well. That's why I came here to give you a hint."

  Please! Tell me what it is, Sachiko-senpai!

  "Ehehehe, if our local /x/ drawf (の)g says so! But I'll only allow for ONE hint! ONE!"

  "Don't worry, I'll give her one hint." Sachiko-senpai winks at me, and with a swiping hand movement,

  produces two small multi-sided objects, one red, one bck between her fingers!

  Dice?!

  "Aya-chan, as your senpai from /Paranormal/,

  I, Sachiko Sunset,

  guarantee that this conspiracy is solvable!

  To give you help, I give you...

  Rule [X+Y]!"

  Changelog

  250128 Corrected green color for >you, no narrative changes