[AuraTwilight]

The question I have is: If George was never any more than a replacement for Battler, why would she go as far as covering for somebody who she will then not end up with anyway? George culprit is possible, but I don't see the causation in her covering up for him if she actually knew of his planned crimes prior to the 1986 conference. Creating a cover for something she believed she herself would commit, yes, but I have trouble believing that she would go as far as actively protect that party.
But that of course depends largely on the personal interpretation of Yasu.

Just because he's a replacement doesn't mean she doesn't love him.

That, and the possibility that she's apparently willing to cover for people like Battler's parents, as implied in the EP7 Tea Party. Her standards aren't very high for the "Who I'll Shame Myself For" list, given that she has like NO self-esteem.

Well, her biggest fear is to give up on George and Jessica to be with Battler only to find out that there was no love to begin with. I think it's more or less a sign for her that she is that unimportant and unworthy of love, that nothing else matters anymore. It really shows with EP4 Beato when she meets Battler on the balcony. She basically threw everything in the gutter for him and he doesn't even remember a simple promise.
And for the others...
Gohda is carrying out orders, it's pretty imaginable in EP4 that he was working together with Kumasawa to watch the hostages.
Kumasawa is killed by the stake of envy in both narratives written by Yasu...which could imply that she suspected her of actually lusting after the fortune herself.
Nanjô is marked with the stake of sloth in those...which could show is absolute willingness to let everything happen as long as he is payed by the Ushiromiya's.

Bull. Gohda is a bumbling oaf consistently shown to be bad at lying, Kumasawa is Yasu's only mother figure and whenever her characterization is touched on by Yasu she's described as literally sinless (Virgilia's introduction at the First Twilight for instance), and Nanjo didn't even like...DO anything.

Plus, it's not consistent with Yasu's self-image or system of values as depicted to kill everyone else because she's afraid of romantic rejection,

And Maria...let's accept it, she is not that much of an innocent girl. She is actually pretty scarred by those events and it's at least imaginable by Yasu and Tôya that she has an urge to hurt others. And even though we still have to remember that she never kills Maria with evil intent, she always "lays her to rest".

Yea right. Maria is the most innocent character in the series by leaps and bounds. She never does anything to hurt anyone at any point except in a goddamn dream where she vents her frustrations at her horridly abusive mother, and even then once she wakes up goes right back to sucking up to her and praying for her to love her.

I think by that we can assume that Yasu's mind is as warped that she actually believes that death is an option when the world offers you nothing else. Which would also explain why flicking the switch is an option at all.

Then why not kill yourself? Why do you have to kill everyone else? What the hell did Jessica do to deserve being killed? What the hell did Genji do? Why does Hideyoshi need to die?

Yeah, well, that depends more on your own definition of love...
Every kind of love starts out as a form of compensation but quickly turns into something different. You enter a relationship because you don't want to be alone, that's how I see it. Love is something pretty dirty...that's why I kinda like Umineko.
Ryûkishi himself even said that while at the beginning George might have been nothing but a replacement, the very fact that Shannon existed in the way she did shows that she developed honest feelings for him.

I don't agree with that. For one thing, wanting to be with someone to avoid loneliness isn't "compensation" by any definition of the word.

Because the roulette decided that there was no longer any room for Shannon or Kanon, only for the witch Beatrice who holds all the love for Battler. She is no longer indecisive once her path is pretty much decided...the problem is, she doesn't know which path to step on, that's the reason why the roulette exists.
The fact that she told him is pretty indicative of the fact that he actually remembered...the question is at which point. Either she already had become the "murderous Beatrice" and could do nothing more than let him and Eva escape...or her plan actually did go wrong at all ends (which I suspect) and even though she found out Battler loved her people used what she had prepared for the tragedy that occured.

I'm gonna stop you right here and suggest that the most logical course of action was that Yasu planned a murder mystery game, using the only thing she had in common with Battler to try and spark his memory and revive any love he might have had for her, and that way he could have the gold and her heart and she could be happy and everything would be awesome. Then someone ursurped it.

This is even hinted in EP5 and EP6, so booyah.