[Verg Avesta]

Originally Posted by Oliver

Now I'm not sure which possibility to pick! The ring being buried sounds quite possible -- forging Kinzo's handwriting is hard, since the children are obviously very familiar with it, and would create solid physical evidence that can be used against Kinzo Phantom Conspiracy, so denying yourself the possibility doesn't change anything.

To me, the second one sounds more logical. If Krauss and Natsuhi are going to pretend that Kinzo just went to the forest and disappeared, then they would have to get rid of all evidence that would speak against it, so that even if Shannon, Kanon or someone else would rat them out, they could just limbo under it as there would be no evidence against them. And that ring would be a sure-fire way to prove that Kinzo did not, in fact, disappear in the forest. So, if the body was buried, then I'd say it's logical that the ring would go with it, as would all other stuff Kinzo kept on his person.

Originally Posted by Oliver

The letters date back over a year ago, and so does the fake murder plan, which makes it very likely to be Kinzo's direct order and unwritten will. Seeing as how they're written in such a neutral fashion, and other letters signed with Beatrice differ so markedly in style, a Fake Murder Prank Kit hidden somewhere is certainly a possibility.

I think this would be possible for most of the letters. However, the "Letter-Beatrice" of episode 2 has to have the ring in his/her possession, as the letters there are closely related to the events that have just occurred. Of course, in episode 2, after the first one of these kinds of letters has appeared, Kanon disappears completely off the map.........which is kind of suspicious on itself.

Originally Posted by Oliver

Kanon writes the letters himself and is thus a "Beatrice" even if he doesn't think he is, they are his attempt to disrupt one plot or another -- for example, prevent anyone from solving the epitaph and a Kinzo Bomb.

While this is somewhat plausible, it raises another important question. We have the ring, but where are the envelopes, and wax used to seal the letters?

No, wait a minute. Hold that thought.

I just checked episode 2, and the mocking "letter" was not actually a letter at all. Just a sheet of paper. Maybe we should check all the letters left for the survivors and see which ones are actually in envelope, and which ones are not. That way, it could be possible to see if only those letters in envelopes are "neutral" and do not describe the events, and thus could have been written a year ago.

Originally Posted by Oliver

So what the heck is going on in here?

Actually, after checking the boiler scene again, it seems that the whole thing is more than bit strange. Natsuhi and Genji are quite calm, despite seeing the burnt body of Kinzo. Now, think about it for a moment. If they didn't know that Kinzo's body was burnt, and thought it was somewhere safe/buried, then at least Natsuhi would most positively freak out in a major way. And then there's the key-thing you mentioned, which is weird to say at least. Hmm, let's try something like this:

There's actually a "epitaph killing" party, which tries to kill the people according to epitaph, not just fake murders. Kanon was part of it, but decided to betray the group. He dug up Kinzo's corpse, hid it in the underground storageroom, and told about the whole thing to Genji and Natsuhi. The three devised a plan which to use to catch the culprits. The key which Natsuhi used to open Kinzo's study was actually her own, and it had been given to Genji just moments prior. Genji's key was with Kanon, and he burned it at the same time as he burned Kinzo's corpse. After the Second Twilight, Kanon rushed to the boiler room, faked his death along with Kinzo's. This created "discord" among the epitaph killing party, as they had no idea what was going on anymore. Meanwhile, Kanon was free to kill off the epitaph killing party members in a Wargrave-esque manner.

......Okayyyy, maybe a bit too complicated and far-fetched.

But it just shows how weird the whole thing with Kinzo's burnt corpse is.