[x] Visit the gardens. Meiling was the first witness.

"Was it really suicide?" I asked.

Meiling nodded.

"It looks like it. You should see for yourself."

The gate guard slowly led me into the woods. Before I followed, I turned to Elena. The fairy maid gave me a quick nod to show that she understood. I smiled a little, despite myself. She really was at a different tier from the other fairies. Even without words, she knew what I wanted to say.

"I'll be waiting, Master."

Meiling and I walked for several minutes. The woods near the mansion were too quiet. I had a bad feeling about it. Normally, there would be fairies and youkai wandering around. Some would follow travellers and play pranks, while others would be found challenging each other to danmaku duels. For the most part, they were relatively harmless. At least during the day.

As we headed deeper into the woods, I started feeling nervous. We hadn't encountered anyone else, and the silence felt heavy. But I didn't feel anyone watching us from the shadows. In fact, I was sure that we were alone. This place felt empty and abandoned. I glanced at Meiling.

"Don't worry," she said. "We are almost there."

We got to a small clearing a few minutes later. Two things immediately caught my eye. One was a large tree at the center with a long length of rope tied to one of its branches. The rope was tied in the fashion of a hangman's noose. The other was the body. It was laid beside the tree with a white sheet on top. There was something odd about it.

"Can I take a closer look?"

"Go ahead."

Meiling didn't follow as I approached the scene. My hands shaked as I reached out toward the end of the sheet. I swallowed nervously. In one quick movement, I pulled it away. I stepped back in shock. It was a ghastly sight.

There were rope marks around her neck, and it looked like it was twisted badly. I had no doubt that Koakuma was hanging from the nearby tree for quite some time. But that wasn't all. Something was sticking out of her left eye. I felt sick as I recognized the object. It looked exactly like one of the kitchen knives that disappeared from my room.

"No way..."

I turned back to Meiling. She looked just as surprised as I was. It didn't take me long to guess the reason.

"Was the knife there when you first found the body?"

She shook her head.

"Of course not! I only took her down from the tree! I couldn't just leave her like that!"

I stared at her closely. It didn't look like she was lying. The tree? I stood up and glanced up at the rope. Eh? I didn't notice it before, but now that I was standing closer, I recognized it. The rope looked exactly like the one used to bind Cirno. My eyes narrowed. This was too much of a coincidence. I quickly turned back to Meiling.

"Did you feel anything strange about this rope?"

"That rope?" she said. "Ah! Now that I think about it, it did feel a bit odd. Let me check again to be sure."

She hovered a few feet above the ground to hold the rope in her hands. Then, she closed her eyes and started muttering a spell under her breath. It shone brightly for a few seconds before returning to normal. She turned around and nodded.

"I'm sure now. This rope contains powerful anti-magic energies. It can probably seal away the abilities of most magicial beings."

"Like Koakuma?"

Meiling nodded slowly. I knew it. This was the same rope. Or the same type of rope, at least. This was no suicide.

This was a murder.

"Let's head back," I said. "We had better let the others know."

It was almost 6:00 PM when we got back. Meiling said that she was going to report to Sakuya first, so she left me by the front gate of the mansion. I was about to go inside when I noticed another strange thing. I turned around. There wasn't anyone else nearby. Huh?

Where did Elena disappear to?
[ ] Look for Remilia.
[ ] Look for Flandre.
[ ] Look for Patchouli.