Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 8

Chaos has begun. Secrets have been revealed. The time for Walpurgis Night is approaching.

Following the fight with the witch, Sayaka slaughters her opponent and gave Kyouko the Grief Seed in return for saving her earlier on. Not being able to stand up right after the fight, Madoka lends her shoulder and leaves the scene with Sayaka.



Madoka persuades Sayaka to change her style since it wasn't "right" to fight to such an extent even though the pain could not be felt. That however, sparked the fuse in Sayaka, who had already begun to regret her actions after the despair of having Kyousuke taken away from her.



Sayaka's feelings then went loose told Madoka that she knew she had the potential as a Mahou Shoujo which wouldn't require her to succumb to a state similar to Sayaka's. If Madoka really wanted to know about Sayaka's feelings, Sayaka told her bluntly that becoming a Mahou Shoujo like her would be the best possible way.



Sayaka then leaves a distraught Madoka behind and began to cry, having saying those harsh words to Madoka out of impulse. With all the stress acting like a mountain above her, it wasn't unexpected for her to break down in front of Madoka at all.

Meanwhile, Kyouko and Homura met up to discuss the location where Walpurgis Night will occur, which Homura was very certain that it will materialise at the clock tower. Kyouko was still doubtful of Homura since she had always seem to knew everything before hand and that sparked the curiosity from Kyubey as well, who butted in to the meeting between the two.



Having realised that Kyubey had "eaten" their soul without proper consent between both sides, Kyouko bared her spear in the face of the cunning white creature. It didn't bring good news for the two and gave them another information:

Miki Sayaka is exhausting her powers and wouldn't last for long. Which would be problematic if things go out of hand.

Kyubey suspected that Homura could've already knew about the outcome of Miki Sayaka but before he could ask further questions, it was dismissed by the two since it wasn't welcomed. Just how much does Homura knows?



From that day on, it was probably the last Madoka ever saw of Sayaka, who had been wandering around the city and looking at Hitomi and Kyousuke at a distance, giving up all hopes of living as a proper human once again. To remove other unwanted thoughts, Sayaka focused on eliminating familiars despite being persuaded to hunt only witches to purify her own Soul Gem which is becoming more tainted after every battle.

Looking at Sayaka's current state, Homura approaches her with a Grief Seed, prompting her to use it to purify her Soul Gem before it becomes incurable. Sayaka however kicks the Grief Seed away, telling Homura that based on her intuition, she knew her real intention wasn't to save her and it would've been better if she was left to die and not suffer in her current state any longer. True enough, Homura told her that her intuition was right, and her main motive was not to let Madoka see her downfall and not let Madoka to be hurt any longer.



With the current situation, Homura closes in on Sayaka, suggesting to erase her now rather than waiting for death in the future. Kyouko arrives just in time and binds Homura, buying time for Sayaka to escape.



Homura however releases a flashbang and escapes from Kyouko.

In the meantime, Kyubey had went to look for Madoka and had a chat with her, telling her that Sayaka couldn't be saved by its powers anymore but it might just be possible for Madoka. It tells Madoka that she had the power to surpass its abilities and would make the impossible possible.



Having given the chance to save Sayaka, Madoka accepts the contract but before she managed to complete it, the water droplets from the nearby fountain froze for a moment and Kyubey was shot by Homura laying crippled on the bench. Not that it would actually die, but Madoka was still shocked by the assault.



It then surprised Madoka even more with Homura started to show her emotional side. Homura questions Madoka why must she always sacrifice herself to save others and requested her to understand the feelings of those who want to protect her and would feel broken if she was hurt or gone. Being faced with a crying Homura, Madoka asks if they had met before but before a definite answer could be heard, Madoka apologises to Homura and leaves to find Sayaka.

Returning with another body, Kyubey tells Homura that it had already discovered the source of Homura's abilities after looking at how the water had froze: Time Manipulation. Kyubey was now sure that Homura wasn't from this timeline and could have been from another time which knew about the future or the fate of the people here. Which was why she most probably wanted to change the fate of Madoka very badly. To Homura, she also knew about the true form of Kyubey and what exactly it was planning. And also Kyubey's real identity: Incubator.

Leaving the danger zone, Kyouko managed to locate Sayaka. Sayaka however has already given up all hopes after not being able to make sure what she wanted to protect any longer.



She then revealed her Soul Gem which was already tainted to a point where it would not be able to be purified. For Sayaka, the balance of hope and despair was always zero. When one gets a miracle, another would be cursed in return, and that is the story of a Mahou Shoujo.


"I've been such a fool"

were the last words that Kyouko ever heard from Sayaka, whose Soul Gem breaks and a witch's mark replacing it.



The soul-less body of Sayaka falls onto the ground and a witch has begun to take its form.

Elsewhere, Kyubey was looking over this town and with the growing young woman being known as "shoujos" and witches being "majous",



and it is only right for those turning into "majous" be known as "mahou shoujos".

Seeing how Sayaka had been broken due to granting a miracle of another individual, it is proven that miracles do not come cheap. It honestly did felt sour after seeing how Sayaka had knew about the truth of a Mahou Shoujo and giving up everything, which finally showed that she had been a fool all along. For Kyubey, A.K.A. Incubator, what i see is that it was the one responsible for the birth of witches around the world. It gives "birth" to Mahou Shoujos, who when exhausted, turns into witches and the cycle of hunting, or the "food chain", continues. With Sayaka now turning into a witch, i was deeply amazed by the fact that the people whom predicted that Sayaka was the witch behind episode 1's chaos were right all along.



Remembering the clocktower in episode 1, it could be that the time has come for that scene to appear again. So was Sayaka the source of Walpurgis Night? But it definitely seem to be possible now that Homura wouldn't be able to face Sayaka, now becoming a witch, and Madoka being persuaded to become a Mahou Shoujo to save Homura, as seen in the first few minutes of the start of the series.


Honestly, i was pleasantly surprised by Homura's showing of emotions. Which did revealed that she was indeed protective of Madoka, perhaps after knowing her fate in another timeline and wanted to change it. Now the big question lies, just who exactly is Madoka to Homura?

there is an upcoming event heading our way~

JPLEX Vol.1

4-6th March 2011 @ Republic Poly

website here!



yup, you saw it. FLOW and ANGELA are both coming to this event but the price ain't cheap though. Attending their mini-concert will cost you 98 bucks. How many songs are they going to perform? I do not have any idea but this is too costly for me =X

on the other days, there will be movie screenings which i doubt would be free as well, and a much more anticipated one would be the Fafner movie: Heaven and Earth. Seeing how it isn't a remake, i might actually consider watching this sequel to the series that ended years ago. Not forgetting GANTZ which would be showing somewhere in April as well.

GOSICK 7

Together with the travelers, Kujo and Victorique enters the village and which everyone was welcome to stay for the upcoming festival. The village elder then fired a shotgun round, warning the others that they should be extra careful due to the presence of wolves. He later rebuts that the people in the village are humans and aren't the wolves that the travelers suspect them to be.



Back in the chief's mansion, the maid Harminia, spots the similarity between Victorique and Cordelia and started to lose her composure as she had witnessed the murder of the previous village elder. A testimony was then given by the current village elder, where he and some others had witnessed Cordelia entering the previous village elder's room at precisely 12am and had knew so after checking the time on his watch at that time. However, one of the travelers had heard of testimonies that differ in the time of the incident.

Following the elder's story, Cordelia let out a scream before running out and the previous elder had been stabbed to his death. At the scene, gold pieces were scattered across the floor and those gold pieces were collected by the previous village elder to prevent villages from using it. After that incident, Cordelia was under high fever and when she recovered, the elder exiled her and she was forced to live in the outside world, a world that she does not know anything about it. All that was given to her was a gold coin and a trunk. And now, Cordelia's child has returned to the very village that exiled her mother. Leaving the mansion, Victorique decided to take a walk and with Kujo, the elder's assistant, Ambrose, took notice of Kujo's weird appearance, most instinctively, his black hair. In return for a thorough examination of Kujo, Victorique exchanged Kujo's "body" for Ambrose to bring them to a place, Cordelia's home. Seems like the place scared off Ambrose, possibly due to the rumour of the curse and Victorique enters the house and notices a hidden compartment in the floor soon after.



With Kujo's help, the compartment revealed a box that had a photo of Cordelia carrying Victorique while she was still a baby. Victorique then concluded that someone had definitely came here and swapped the contents of the box with the photo. Heading to the graveyard next, Victorique started digging into the previous village elder's grave and noticed a carved sentence on the gravestone: "i am innocent. C-".



Victorique teared up after seeing the words her mother left behind and she was certain that her mother was truly innocent and was exiled from the village. Kujo notices strange noises around them and the wolves came into sight. Grabbing Victorique, the duo ran back to the mansion and Kujo was certain that the wolves did have green eyes just like Victorique's. Safely away from the wolves, the duo later meet up with the nun who had went to search for the telephone. Apparently, a sponsor by the name of Brian Roscoe had came to the village 10 years ago and installed the electricity.



Late in the night, while guarding Victorique when she's having a quick bath, the lights went off and a glass of water that had a fake eyeball in it shocked Kujo. Worried about Victorique's safety, Kujo confirms whether Victorique was alright and she feels that someone was trying to drive them away from the village and had resorted to such means.

The following day signaled the start of the festival which included a dramatic battle between men who were grouped with either the Winter Army of the Summer Army and the stage was set where the Summer Army would overwhelm the Winter Army and burn down the carts of Red Turnips that belonged to them, with their leader, the Winter Man in it, which was just a model lying on top of the cart. One of the travelers, Alan, then started to make a fuss out of the festival in the village that sparked rage over some of the villages, including Harminia. Ambrose then leaves Kujo and Victorique behind and went on with the staged battle whilst the duo are pelleted by small fruits that the villagers were throwing. The duo then spots Alan running away in the midst of the festival and then, the battle begins.



However, things started to go wrong when the carts were burning, with a voice being heard inside the model of the Winter Man. The fire was put out too late and the man inside the model, Alan, had lost his life. The village elder however dismissed his death as an accident and continued with the festival. Victorique later leaves Kujo alone which led him frantically searching for Victorique but ended up in the church, asking about his future about Victorique as adviced by Ambrose. It was then said that the two will definitely be apart from each other but their hearts will never be apart. Thinking about what the elder had read for him, he spots Victorique leaving the church in tears after learning that she most possibly couldn't grow taller anymore in the future. In the time where she had left Kujo alone, Victorique had headed to the scene of the crime where she knew that someone else was the criminal as the previous elder was stabbed in a region where a mere child like Cordelia would never be able to reach.

With that, Victorique managed to piece the Chaos together but lacked evidence of the criminal she had in mind. Before she could reveal more, the village chief headed out with the shotgun and together with Ambrose, Kujo and Citorique, the four of them headed to the mountains to chase the wolves away from the village. Spotting movements in a bush, the village elder takes aim but Victorique knew something was amiss and prompted him to stop. But the trigger was still pulled and behind the bush was yet another traveler, shot in the chest.



Now this arc is definitely much more mysterious than the previous cases and a Chaos that Victorique isn't able to piece together easily... With the man, Brian Roscoe, arriving in the village around the same time as Victorique was born, he is definitely suspicious of being the one who had swapped the contents of the box. Adding on to the suspicions of the villages, Harminia seems the most suspicious of them all, with her losing her composure or go into rage that easily, for someone with green eyes as well, a possible wolf existence? And just how Alan managed to get into the model which was left in the stage for everyone to see when he just ran past Victorique and Kujo? Perhaps that was a fake? Brian Roscoe? O_O

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 7

Even after extracting souls out of humans, Kyubey just had to force the truth into Sayaka again and tampered with her soul gem. As though trying to convince Sayaka about the "good" of having her soul out of her physical self.



"This is when you get pierced by a spear". Allowing Sayaka to feel the pain through the soul gem just doesn't quite fit the bill in convincing Sayaka in the benefits of a painless body. Sorry Kyubey, but that just isn't right no matter how it's phrased.

Knowing that her own body was a mere shell and what she really is, the soul gem, Sayaka took some time off from school to manage her feelings, while Madoka confronts Homura about the soul gem. Homura apparently knew about the secret and that was the reason why she told Madoka to give up on Sayaka since the path she had took was a path of no return. After Homura declares that Mami had died without knowing the truth to the soul gem, the overly kind Madoka questions about Homura's coldness towards the others. Not being human and your soul kept in a gem would most probably lead to the loss of emotional feelings anyway, which was what Homura gave as a reason.



With the truth of the contract spilled out, Kyouko decided to have a chat with Sayaka and brought her to a church which was previously owned by her father. Kyouko shared about her path to becoming a Mahou Shoujo, which reinforced her point of living without using magic for others. Her father was the previous owner of the church but as he looked upon the teachings in another way, his followers decreased and everywhere the family when, they were ignored and looked down on. Kyubey became the solution for their family when Kyouko decided to form the pact with a large number of followers in return for the contract. However, her father later realises that the followers he had were all created by magic and called Kyouko a witch for doing so. An irony it was, when Kyouko's the one fighting the witches herself. Her father couldn't take it much longer and broke down, killing off the rest of the family, leaving Kyouko by herself.



That was when Kyouko made her resolution, after seeing how magic had ruined her family, she just didn't want to risk it, using magic to help others might backfire in the end.

Sayaka however remained determined as a Mahou Shoujo to eliminate the threats and wouldn't regret her actions either.



Unfortunately for the two, the different mindset just doesn't sit well with each other. Would have preferred them to form a new friendship though.

The following day, Ryousuke returned to school which incidentally sparked the interest from Hitomi who later reveals that she had loved Kyousuke for a long time and asked for Sayaka's connection with him. Sayaka, who's still unable to follow her true feelings, was still in a state of shock about what Hitomi had told her. Hitomi however, still gave Sayaka some time to take action before she confesses. This makes me wonder if Hitomi was actually in love with Kyousuke but had not decided to take action due to Kyousuke's handicap. Or that she had lied to spur Sayaka forward to force her to take action on her true feelings before she regrets it in the future. Do hope that it is the later that is true.



Later that night, Sayaka and Kyubey embark on another witch hunt and this time, Madoka decides to follow her again to keep her company. Having heard those words from Hitomi, Sayaka breaks down on Madoka, telling her that she might have started to regret accepting the contract. Not being able to hold or kiss Kyousuke with her real self is indeed sank into her own heart and she'll never be able to get into a relationship with Kyousuke with her body being only a shell. And this time, Hitomi was going to take Kyousuke away from her.

With the emotions being let out, the trio heads to the witch. Kyouko didn't barged in to steal the witch away from Sayaka and Homura arrived to check on them, and wondered about why Kyouko wouldn't want to take action when a Grief Seed was right in front of her.



Kyouko then noticed that Sayaka was losing and rushed into the barrier, rescuing Sayaka from the grip of the witch. Sayaka however, told the rest to stay back and started engaging the witch once again. This time however, Sayaka took all the attacks head on and continues to rush forward. Having an invincible body and painlessness seemed to have taken the toll on Sayaka.



A breakdown.

Kyouko definitely wasn't a badass like how she looked but had previously attempted to use magic for someone else and it backfired. Maybe that was the reason for her to find Sayaka instead since she did have a similar circumstance as her. Believing that she didn't make a mistake and would definitely not regret it, Sayaka began to have second thoughts since what she did for Kyousuke did indeed seemed to have backfired now, since Kyousuke, once returned back to school, there will definitely be more competition for him now compared to being in the hospital where Sayaka was the only one that cared for him. Looking at how Sayaka had broke down, it did seemed to happen sooner or later after all the stress the others were giving her. And knowing that whatever she does wouldn't be exactly her since it was just a shell, and that possible, she began to doubt if her feelings for Kyousuke still remained true after becoming a Mahou Shoujo. Another episode down and Madoka's still away from Kyubey... Saving the rest of the other Mahou Shoujos and making herself as the sole fighter does seem possible now too.

GOSICK 6

With Avril now properly enrolled into the school, her interest in finding secrets never did overwhelm Kujo, after discovering secret exits in the compound. Having such interest doesn't really benefit much i guess, since it could be a risk with her poking around too much and got all caught up in another mystery again.

Kujo seems to have quite a bad affinity with magicians as well. Imagine having your textbooks made "magically disappear" and in exchange, you receive a fancy hat.



Not that i detest the hat, but that exchange just wasn't really fair. Furthermore, the loss of his textbook doesn't seem to have a large impact on Kujo either and continued to shop around with Avril until they witness a nun selling off antique goods. Avril picked up one of the boxes which burst open in a puff of smoke and birds flew out of it, similar to the previous magician whom Kujo had silently and unknowingly got into his ban list. Instead of the box poof-ing out smoke and birds, it poofed out a new mystery to interest the Golden Fairy once again. One of the antique plate had disappeared in the midst of the commotion.

Passively, Kujo heads to the library and gives Victorique the headstart to the small crime. Yawns~, was what Kujo received and such a small crime doesn't even require much thought from the Golden Fairy. Unlike Kujo. After allowing Victorique to wear the fancy hat that Kujo had unwillingly exchanged for his textbooks, the inspector arrives at the garden and was shocked to see Victorique in that getup as she had looked very alike to her late mother, Cordelia, who was a dancer.



It was deciphered that the criminal was most likely the nun herself through 3 possible outcomes that VIctorique came up with after hearing the description from ex-grim reaper:

The culprit was most likely the nun herself.

1. With her legs spread out while sitting down, she was most likely hiding the birds in the cage below her and released them at the right time.
2. The exploding box was most likely used to distract Avril and the rest to get enough time to release the birds below her.
3. With the attention all onto the birds in the sky, the nun grabs the plate and place it under her before claiming that it vanished.

Now that's some rather good observations...

And of course after cracking such a simple crime, Victorique got all bored again and Kujo gave her an article, listing the "Village of the Grey Wolves" and it's attempt to pull people who were curious about it. Reading it with intense concentration tripping over Kujo's leg, Victorique still managed her composure and asked Kujo to eat a snack on the floor, which he had smashed earlier, in return for tripping her.



Kujo suspects that Victorique might be extra sensitive to pain and out of curiosity, Kujo stupidly flicked her forehead, ultimately resulting in tears out of embarrassment.



Victorique then shuts Kujo for flicking her after resolving not to talk to him again. Kujo, who was the mastermind and had even went along with the tantrum and the cold war between the Golden Fairy and the Grim Reaper begun.

Victorique did showed some interest in the Village and attempted to sneak out of the town before she got found out by Kujo, who repacked her luggage once again and ended up going to the village with her. Incidentally, the nun whom was suspected of stealing the plate was also on the train heading towards the village. Kujo better hope he hasn't removed some vital things in the luggage like the previous ghost ship incident. At this time, Victorique's still able to hold the "ignore Kujo by any means" attitude. However, reaching a nearby village, Victorique was suspected to be a Grey Wolf since there was a huge similarity between her and them, small body and blonde hair. Victorique didn't let the rumours affect her and stayed at the lodge for the night. Whilst sleepwalking, Victorique ended the cold war much to her dismay and later, decided to share about her past when Kujo asked for the reason that she had decided to head for the village.



Turns out that Victorique's later mother was from the village of the grey wolves and was exiled when her mother was discovered to be a murderer and Victorique had headed to the village to prove her mother's innocence. Heading up the mountains with the rest of the travelers, Victorique wasn't welcomed by the villages after what her mother had done, but the chief allowed her to pass, announcing that her arrival is to be celebrated, in coincidence with their festival.



That village chief does already seem suspicious and i suspect him to be the antagonist of this arc. Hopefully this arc would be more significant than the rest, with a direct link with Victorique's past. The early crime has yet to be solved yet with the nun appearing to be a traveler to the village as well. Kinda similar to the previous headless cyclist and the fake Avril Bradley? Crossing my fingers to hope that this arc would be better than the rest and HOPEFULLY a little more complicated :)

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 6

Kyubey is evil. It steals your soul. Literally.

So after what's like halfway through the series, with Madoka YET giving up her soul, we got to know about the true meaning behind the contract with Kyubey.

In return for a wish that you make, Kyubey will remove your soul and change it into your soul gem while your body becomes the shell which your "soul" controls. So instead of the body controlling the gem, it was actually the other way round.

Now that was unexpected... Thinking that plainly luring girls to risk their lives for it was bad enough... Now this.

After engaging Kyouko and being saved by Homura, Madoka got hit with the truth.



That Homura did not come intending to save Sayaka and warned that it what she did could be the last they'll ever see. Replenishing the light in her Soul Gem, Sayaka knows that she would have to keep hunting witches to keep her Soul Gem "filled" and she had lost to Kyouko due to Kyouko storing much more power in her Soul Gem with her hunting attitude, to let the food chain occur naturally. Sayaka, who stands on the side of justice, knows that familiars are dangerous beings to be left alone but if she doesn't hunt more witches, she wouldn't be able to fight on par with Kyouko, let alone knock some sense of justice into her.



Kyubey, taking the chance, suggests to Sayaka to allow Madoka to join in the fight after telling Sakaya that someone who has the potential as a Mahou Shoujo and could win over Kyouko without stuffing the Soul Gem full with power and Madoka was it's choice. Sayaka refuses to give in to Kyubey as she didn't want to get Madoka involved. Tsk tsk tsk. Kyubey just doesn't want to give up on Madoka doesn't it...

Homura then goes to arcade to find Kyouko to "pass" the city to her. Kyouko, on the DDR machine, with a pocky stick in her mouth and talking with Homura, has epic multitasking abilities.



Obtaining a perfect score while doing all 3 of those at the same time is just awesome. Side effect of a Mahou Shoujo maybe? :D Anyway, Kyouko really looks cool dancing there, kinda like her personality more :)

Homura reveals to Kyouko something big is arriving in the city and tells Kyouko that she'll get the pesky Sayaka out of the way. Homura does seem to know more secrets about what exactly was happening to this city but doesn't wish to reveal anything yet. Seems like doomsday to me O_O.

Busybody Madoka over-cares again and this time, she was told of by Sayaka. Not being on the same wavelength, attempts to communicate with Kyouko without engaging in a fight is rather impossible. Somehow Madoka's acting all "Nanoha"-styled again by attempting to communicate rather than fighting.



It isn't a wrong decision but placing herself in Sayaka's shoes, doing so isn't as easy as she would think it would be.

Turning to her mother for advice, Madoka learns about how trying one's best to do something "right" might not be rewarded with happiness, and doing something wrong now might just be a solution. To experience "falling" now would definitely be easier to pick oneself up as compared to the future. Meanwhile, Kyouko had went to seek her prey, Sayaka, who had went to Kyousuke's home and provoked her through suggesting to break the limps of Kyousuke, to make him helpless without Sayaka and that he'll always stay by her side.


You won't wanna mess with her

The taunt worked as expected and the two prepares for another deathmatch above a highway until Madoka appears at Sayaka's side (by Kyubey's tipoff) and Homura on Kyouko's. Not wanting Sayaka to turn her targets onto other Mahou Shoujos as well, Madoka rushes forward and throws her Soul Gem down, onto the top of a truck.



Knowing the truth behind the Soul Gem, Homura disappears and rushes to retrieve Sayaka's Soul Gem. The others who were clueless soon knew the truth when Sayaka collapses and Kyouko discovers that she's dead.

While Homura closes in on the truck, Kyouko seeks information with Kyubey who tells her that she had just thrown Sayaka over and the body in front of her was just a shell. Any human body would definitely be in risk while fighting a witch but with such a shell and the Soul Gem, the shell could be controlled within a 100m radius, which explains Sayaka blacking out after the truck left the radius, and that being a shell, the body could always be repaired if serious damage was dealt.



With the truth coming to light, Kyouko grabs Kyubey up, disbelieving that she had signed such a contract with the animal. Homura returns just in time with Sayaka's Soul Gem and she starts breathing once again, still clueless about what had just happened and the truth behind the contract with Kyubey.



Seems like Kyouko might change her stand on her food chain theory soon after knowing about the truth. Homura seems to know way more information than the others, even about "doomsday" or even the secret of the Soul Gem. Now it seems rather likely that Madoka could be wishing for everyone to be released from this contract after knowing about the cold hard truth and this reason could play an even larger role in delaying Madoka's contract with Kyubey. Seriously, who would still want to give up their soul in exchange for a wish. Not many i suppose. Especially for someone who doesn't know exactly what to wish for, yet. SOOO, according to Kyubey, the shell could be repaired as long as the Soul Gem's intact, which might hint that Mami could be "remade" if her Soul Gem was still around. Unlikely but possible. Now that this truth is out, i doubt the Mahou Shoujos would just hold their Soul Gem proudly out since that's what they really are.


Want some Pocky?

GOSICK 5

With the closure of the Avril Bradley arc, we got to know more about the Golden Fairy and the truth about the Grim Reaper, which wasn't actually referring to Kujo at all. As a bonus, this time we're all given more screens of Victorique's blushing face.



This time, Victorique didn't just used her brains to solve the mystery but had also took physical actions to rescue Kujo as she deems him as her important servant. It turns out that the ghost stories that everyone was talking about in the school, were important masks to the depth of the mystery and indeed, Avril Bradley was the culprit, but it was the Avril that we got to know the previous episodes, which wasn't actually the genuine Avril Bradley. With the impostor Avril Bradley showing interest in a book in the warehouse previously, Victorique was certain that the book was hidden in the library with the concept of "hiding a leaf in a forest" and successfully sieved out the exact book that "Avril" had previously hidden.



The "i will now piece for you the fragments of evidence together to solve the mystery" kind of eyes seems to have taken the norm for Victorique whenever she's about to solve the mystery or that to disclose the details to our blank-headed Kujo.

With regard to fishing out the book from its "forest", Victorique uses the myth of the 13th step to heaven.



By using the ladder's 13th step, Victorique managed to pull out the exact book that "Avril" was hiding. For a non-knowledgeable man like Kujo, Victorique did not allow Kujo to read the contents with her, most probably knowing that he wouldn't know much anyway. Coincidentally, the book contained the story of the Golden Fairy at the top of a tower, who would grant the wish of an individual in exchange for the individual's soul. The main importance wasn't the book however, it was a hidden postcard addressed to Avril Bradley by Sir Bradley. Holding the postcard by her side, Victorique dumps the book back to Kujo and returns to her garden.

Kujo, still trying to decipher something from the book, spots the inspector being troubled and mocks him about his attitude towards him and Victorique. Amazingly, the inspector didn't really realise he was always going "Oh! Baby squirrel!"


...

Anyways, from the inspector, the 2nd generation phantom thief Kuiaran has been rumoured to be heading to their town right now. Dear Kujo seems to be concerned about the ghost in the warehouse as well and while attempting to investigate it further, he got hit from the back of his head and was knocked out. Waking up in the infirmary, "Avril" was sitting beside him and claimed that she had spotted him laying on the floor near the warehouse and asked if he was attacked by the ghost. Kujo, who realises that the book he was previously holding on to wasn't around and had suspected "Avril" to be the one who had attacked him and took precautions against her. Now now, having the book disappearing and a suspicious person sitting beside you when you are knocked out just proves that "Avril" wasn't really that smart of a criminal anyway. That is just so suspicious =X

To "Avril" and the rest of the people in the school, none of them have ever spotted Victorique and were calling her the Golden Fairy of the library. However to Kujo, he definitely knew that Victorique exists but "Avril" still does not believe so. Returning to the warehouse to search for the missing book, Kujo discover it in his teacher's hands and while wondering why was it with her, the duo hears "help me.." from the inside of the warehouse and got freaked out. Well, anyone would, considering how powerful the rumour had spread throughout the school...

"Avril" did went to look for Victorique but before she could lay her hands on the postcard in the book, Kujo interrupted her search in the garden and she was forced to leave empty-handed.



While munching on the "dog-poop-lookalike" sweet that Kujo had brought her, Victorique discloses that "Avril" was the 2nd generation Kuiaran. Not that i was surprised about this, but from this, it would mean that the beheaded motorist was not killed by "Avril", so that case's closed then i suppose? And then, VIctorique started piecing everything together:

1. The 1st generation Kuiaran was actually Maxim and had always returned to the school in spring to, most probably, hide the things that he had stole.
2. The Grim Reaper that arrives in spring was actually Maxim and not Kujo since every time Maxim returns, something bad would likely happen since he's the Kuiaran.
3. Before being able to hide the book, he was sealed in the tomb and lost his life. Coincidentally, "Avril" was also looking for the same book.
4. The "ghost" in the warehouse was most probably the real Avril Bradley and the impostor had used the various ghost stories in the school to cover them up.

Just as how Victorique had solved the mystery, the real Avril Bradley was tied up and left in the warehouse. Leaving Avril with the inspector, Kujo heads back to the garden to confront "Avril Bradley".


"I'm Kuiaran the Second!"

Now that, doesn't seem cool. Revealing your identity so quickly before defending it just seems to cliche. What "Avril" was really after wasn't the book itself and had thus left it untouched when she knocked Kujo out. But was really after the postcard inside the book that had the Penny Black, the world's 1st stamp, attached to it. Victorique might have realised it, unlike Kujo, and had taken it with her. To "Avril", VIctorique does not exist and rebukes Kujo with his delusions. Surprisingly, Victorique accumulated a pile of books and dropped them onto "Avril" to knock her out, while asking her to get away from Kujo, who was her precious servant.



For Victorique, she'll always be hiding in the nearby cupboard, with her snacks all stuffed in it, when someone she doesn't know appears in the garden. But she didn't explain to Kujo why she didn't conceal herself when Kujo first appeared in the garden. To Kujo, he believes that Victorique, if she was the Golden Fairy of the library, was always waiting for a soul that would never leave her to appear and someday, that soul would appear.



That concludes the Avril Bradley arc but they didn't really conclude the beheaded motorist case didn't it. It just felt like it was discarded after hinting that "Avril" could have injured her hand while tying the wire up at the road instead of being injured by the real Avril Bradley while she's swapping positions with her. It was quite a good arc though i still prefer the ghost ship's more. Perhaps the criminals shouldn't be so full of themselves and acknowledge their identity in such a hurry? ==