I'll rudely dismiss myself

"Ah, I'm actually rather tired myself. If you'll just call me when tea's ready. Thank you."

"I see... Kids these days... My, my..." Kumasawa sighed, clearly wanting to complain further that, for whatever reason, she was being told to make tea for a folklorist who seemingly had no interest in the island's folklore. I guess I could see why that would make her annoyed. This lady is a famous busy-body, so she'll probably complain about it to Shannon or Kanon as soon as she can find them to do so. At least that will keep them occupied. For now, I needed to hurry upstairs with Gretel.

"This story of love you went on about actually has you being pretty rude, doesn't it? Aren't you supposed to love everyone in this story?"

Shit... She's kind of got a point.

If I want Gretel to understand my love, then I have to treat all of the characters with love.

I gave a deep sigh, then followed Kumasawa into the kitchen. Begrudgingly, I cleared my throat and apologized. I told her that my nerves had gotten the better of me and that, in actuality, I'd be fascinated to hear everything about the island's many mysteries. That seemed to cheer her right up and even Gretel gave me a nod, saying she thought I'd done the right thing.

I spent some time matching wits with the renowned old supernatural-buff of Rokkenjima, telling her what I knew of all of the island's mysteries, while she provided new details. Witches were weak to spiderwebs and scorpions, huh? That's kind of interesting. Hm, Beatrice opens all the windows in the mansions when nobody's paying attention. There are other witches too, are there? Tell me about those too. Even Gretel was curious to know more, as a sometimes-fraternizer with magical beings herself. The conversation was vaguely interesting...

But much too long.

At some point during our long talk, the lights went out. My eyes darted for the clock... no way was it midnight already, right? I couldn't actually see the clock's hands to tell. When I got up to find a lantern, something bashed me over the head, causing me to fall to my knees. None of us could see who or what it was, but they all heard the sound, along with my groan. I heard Kumasawa wailing and offering some sort of whimpering plea for Beatrice, the Golden Witch, to spare everyone... Ha ha... If that was going to work, you would have mentioned it in your lore, right?

Unfortunately, I had no magical mirror or spiderwebs handy. I died, unable to defend myself against an unseen opponent.

At least it'll be another nice tale for your spooky collection, Kumasawa.