The Last Stage of Agave's Dance
If you peel away the armour
Is something underneath?
- "Skin", by The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo,
from Dark at the End of the Tunnel
In the eleventh century, in a secret castle bereft of guards or servants, five knights of a hidden order gather, awaiting the arrival of their missing leader.
One by one, they die in inexplicable locked rooms, assailed by the fear that one of their brothers in arms might be a traitor. Kept awake by thunder, Dame Eresia Versa
leaves behind a record of the mystifying case.
In the present, an overly beautiful young man claiming to have an answer to the mystery of the past heads to that very same castle from all those years ago...
For a bit of background, I originally wrote this story for the July 2025 edition of the Guess the Culprit game on the lovely
Honkaku Discord Server. As such, it follows the somewhat rigid structure of a 'Question' and 'Answer' part,
which would have originally been served separately, the answer only revealed at the end of the reading session. In this case, everything from the section titled
Conclusion onward is the answer, so if you want to replicate the feeling of those who first challenged this story, you can pause your reading there
and think about it for about two hours. Or not. Partake of it however your heart desires.
My acknowledgements go to all of the lovely participants in the aforementioned session of the game, who offered plenty of delightful commentary throughout their reading,
as well as, of course, to you, dear reader.
- Genma496, September 2025