You know reasoning with her won't help

Your investigations had made a crucial fact clear to you: whatever words came out of Tschau's mouth, she was, in the end, the unfortunate victim of some mastermind's remote control. However they'd manipulated her, they'd taken such total control over her actions that she'd murdered a man she'd sworn not to harm; she'd attempted to deny her own desire for vengeance, only to find her blade pushed forward all the same. She'd been completely unaware that she was the culprit, even after carrying out the execution. Whether you died by Tschau's hand wasn't actually her own call to make. When the mastermind was really ready to see you dead, you'd be killed by Tschau, whether she was ready to do the deed or not.

Was the one behind all of this someone that could be reasoned with? That was a valid question, but you had no idea how to speak with them directly, one way or another. At the same time, you knew you couldn't afford to keep dancing with Tschau and drawing this out. You had to try something...

You appealed to their sense of ego and asked them directly to come out. You wanted to speak to the person pulling Tschau's strings.

The woman raised one eyebrow for a moment, then lowered them and narrowed her eyes. "Stupid Ciao... I told you this was all my own doing, didn't I? I came here on my own to destroy CEDIT's technology, because they're trying to use the same stuff Bortnik was. Don't get confused..." she answered, although a look of confusion in her eyes made you wonder if she was fully confident of what she was saying.

You asked Tschau to recount all of the details she'd glossed over that led up to this point. Why had she picked today to make the move, on the same day that an emergency report comes out of London? When had she begun conspiring with Promethia? How did Promethia get inside the building, anyway? How had the two of them gained control over the security systems here in the base?

"I... You're underestimating me. I did all of those things on my own. I know this place like the back of my hand. And Promethia... she..." Tschau mumbled, her hand increasingly shaky on her sword as she found herself incapable of summoning those details to mind. "Y-You're trying to confuse me! Don't-!"

You interrupted again, raising your voice over hers. There was one person who'd demonstrated that total knowledge of the situation so far and that mastery over all technology in CEDIT-- the very person who'd allowed you to get this far and, very likely, the mastermind behind all of this. The third accomplice in Tschau and Promethia's infiltration was none other than the most untouchable adversary you'd been presented so far: Namaste.

"The one who appeared during your mission with Au Revoir and Despedida? Why do you suspect-?" she started, then stopped abruptly, freezing in place like a statue. You gulped and backed up slightly as her eyes shut halfway, then stayed frozen that way, unblinking. Slowly, her expression seemed to change to a more cheerful one, then her eyes began to follow you again, staying open without a single flutter. The eyes that had been an albino pink lit up a new orange color, like a fancy PC case's lights whirring into activity.

The next voice to speak wasn't Tschau's, although it originated from inside her head. "You figured that much out, huh? I guess I wasn't exactly subtle." The voice was familiarly unfamiliar, with enough machine modification that you couldn't so much as place its gender. "It's nice to finally speak to you in real time like this. The pre-recorded messages were getting kind of old."

You adjusted your half-cut tie to loosen it from your neck and stood straight, while agreeing with the perpetrator that they hadn't been subtle. After all, when they never gave you any valid reason for all the help, you started looking for answers yourself. You thought you'd finally found the truth behind it. If Namaste had wanted to kill you specifically, they could have done it any time by controlling Tschau. Similarly, if they'd wanted to break up the Goodbye Girls, there were all sorts of ways they could have done it by controlling the group's stealth assassin. The way they instead lured you here and then misled Tschau, it was like they were having a laugh at your expense. The nonsense of their actions, with no gain of wealth or power to be had, but instead just pointlessly manipulating this one piece they controlled...

Your fist clenched your tie tighter as you pulled it free and fixed Tschau and the voice behind her with a glare. This was all a game to them, wasn't it? They were some kind of psycho.

"A game? That's exactly what it is! My favorite game of all, with the highest stakes in the world. I made this game many years ago and even now, it's the only one worth playing. Of course, you're a piece in it too. I call it... 'The Goodbye Girls.'" The giddy but warbled voice of the perpetrator echoed throughout the laboratory as the mastermind had a good laugh about their plan, begging you to ask them more. At the same time, Tschau's metal digits stayed firmly gripped around the base of her ninjoto, threatening to take you out in a single slice if Namaste got bored of talking to you.

That's exactly what you intended to do, not only because you were still as confused as hell, but also, because figuring out the mastermind's identity hadn't helped you figure out how you were going to beat them. You needed more time to devise a plan...