The Queen Berry's Voyage

The Queen Berry's Voyage is the second case featured in the Gosick anime series.

In 1914, a boat named the Queen Berry set off into the Mediterrenean. Aboard this ship are eleven children who are nicknamed "hares". These children came from different countries, and possess vastly different physical traits. Throughout the voyage of that ship, the eleven children began to kill each other off using various methods. Nobody was able to witness this event unfold, and any further evidence needed to start an investigation has sunk along the with ship itself, which is swallowed by the waves after that voyage.

Ten years later, as Victorique de Blois and Kazuya Kujo find themselves in a situation the fortune-teller named Roxane should have been in, they begin to recall the bloodshed that covered the decks of the ship that has acquired a place for itself in Sauville's many ghost tales: the Queen Berry.

Background
The Miniature Garden Box Night is an event which invites guests of various backgrounds in an evening inside a ship, with inclusive events not much revealed except for a dinner of hare meat. Roxane has received an invitation, and since she is dead, Kazuya and Victorique used Roxane's invitation to investigate for themselves.

Upon engaging in a quiet dinner with the rest of the guests (the food is apparently drugged so that they fall asleep after eating), they are taken to a cabin (with one other person in excess). Soon, a disturbing message pertaining to the guests as "hares" appears on the wall of the cabin, and Kazuya starts to feel that they might be in real danger. Cabin fever began to set in to some of the guests, and in a desperate move, one of the guests try to escape, only to die to an arrow fired straight to his head. The rest made it out alive after assuring the traps are cleared. However, six more lives are taken when they escape to one of the lifeboats installed outside the ship's exterior, thrashed by the waves the moment they left the ship.

Upon their return to the lobby where they are taken, Victorique finds the chance to dispel some thoughts of her fellow survivors regarding the Queen Berry.

Location
Although initially presumed to be the original Queen Berry, Victorique later exposes that the ship acts as a replica of the original which might have acted as a museum. The ship appears to be a luxury liner like the original, with the upper decks consisting of lobby rooms and other areas used for gatherings. The lower levels are reserved for the general passenger, composed of rows of rooms that create a labyrinth of passageways. The lowermost levels consist of the engine room and the radio room is located at the back of the ship, separated from the areas accessible to passengers.

Because of the size of the cruise vessel, elevators are installed for the use of passengers, although in this particular case, the ship's elevators are triggered to plummet to the lowest level, causing anyone to board it to be killed. Likewise, numerous contraptions like hidden weapons and traps are located throughout the ship's interior.

Persons Involved

 * Maurice - works for the Foreign Ministry of Sauville, and is directly involved with the original Queen Berry, having ordered to extract the remains of the children killed inside the ship.
 * Julie Guile - a woman from Sauville who admits to have no occupations, but is a daughter of a coal mine owner.
 * Ned Baxter - a stage actor from England. He is to act as a murderer in his next appearance on the stage, but his imminent role is not related to the case at all, according to him.

Behind the Wallpaper of Deceit
With Kazuya, Victorique, Maurice, Julie and Ned as the remaining people alive inside the ship, Victorique begins to piece together some clues she discovered as she follows the guests along their attempts to escape.

They returned to the lobby, and were surprised that upon their return, the same lobby that they entered now appears to be straight from a sunken shipwreck, with everything seemingly ruined and washed away. Victorique suspects that it is probably due to the minds of the people being tricked into following a certain location (in this case, the open room which they left, and thought was the same room when they returned). In fact, the room they left earlier is in the other side of the hallway. Victorique also reveals there that she assumes that the entire ship is a mere replica of the Queen Berry.

Victorique later examines the two rooms and discovers two important clues: in the washed-up lobby, she discovers that the writing they saw earlier is freshly painted (exposed by the scent of wet paint), and one of the wine bottles located inside the room are younger than what it looks like. Meanwhile, in the other lobby, she picks up torn-up wallpaper, left from an attempt to hide the painted message until needed to be exposed at a later time.

Then, Victorique warns them of the sound of water coming from the lower decks.

Countdown to Meltdown
Maurice reveals that the ship might be taking water, thinking that one of the rooms on the lowest decks have been flooding, and advises everyone to head to the radio room to ask for help. Upon their descent, however, they discover more traps, one of which almost endangering Victorique's life. Kazuya manages to help her in averting to the danger and proceeds with her.

As they finally reach the lowest level, Maurice finally snaps after being put into severe mental stress brought by the events that occured earlier. and perhaps by his involvement in the original Queen Berry incident. Using one of the guns from one of the hidden compartments, he submits to the fate of "hares left being chased by hunting dogs" and plans to fire at the others. Julie then reveals a gun and fires it before Maurice could fire his, killing him on the spot. She then explains to them that she picked up a gun in a secret compartment. Ned, however, suggests throwing away the gun, in thoughts that the gun may be used to kill everyone else with it, which Julie reluctantly follows.

The Hunting Dog in Hare's Clothing
After leaving Maurice's corpse behind, they head upstairs, with Ned going ahead of Julie, Kazuya and Victorique. As he disappears into the staircase leading higher into the ship, the others hear a scream of a man. Upon rushing to Ned, they discover him motionless in the mezzanine, without a pulse. Victorique appears to acknowledge the fact that they are in mortal danger, and asks Julie and Kazuya to run away with her.

To defend themselves, they search a nearby room for any concealed weapons. After a few minutes of searching, however, they are forced to hide. They discover a man wielding a poleaxe, and he targets Victorique, whose clothing exposes her position. As Victorique is held by the collar, she discovers that the man is none other than Ned himself. Kazuya knows that he needs to protect her even at his life's expense and rushes in to attack Ned with a pair of knuckle dusters, immobilizing him for that moment. He then rescues Victorique and leaves the room with her and Julie, blocking the door from the outside.

Julie, Kazuya and Victorique manage to escape outside, with the radio room just on the other side. Ned manages to catch up with them and shoves Julie aside, seemingly targeting Kazuya and Victorique in his assault. Kazuya then comes up with a bold decision: to bide enough time for Victorique to contact help while he fends off Ned. Victorique does not approve of his plan, but she is locked in by Kazuya, whose determination stemmed from thinking about his past.

Although Kazuya can barely keep up with Ned, who is clearly more fit to fight than him, he landed enough hits for Ned to lose his weapon in the fight. Julie then stabs Ned at the back when the latter prepares to finish off Kazuya. As he staggers to approach Kazuya with his weapon lodged into his body, he falls to the sea.

Meanwhile, Victorique sends SOS signals using morse code in the radio room, where she is joined by Kazuya.

Conclusion
A boat picks up the distress signal Victorique sent in the radio room, and after being rescued from the sinking Queen Berry replica, is taken to the port, where Julie is invited to the police by Grevil.

The Mastermind Finally Speaks
Inside the interrogation room of Sauville's police department, Victorique explains how she determined that Julie is the culprit behind the killings inside the Queen Berry the previous night.

According to her, Julie's mannerisms of walking a few paces before turning around is uncharacteristic of a woman brought up in a lavish mansion, who should be walking several paces more before turning around. Also, she discovers that the bag Julie carries is too light to cause a headache if struck with, exposing the fact that Julie has a gun throughout the journey.

With the facts going against her, Julie finally confesses.

Julie is in fact, an orphan; more specifically, a Sauvillean orphan taken to the Queen Berry ten years ago. Within the few days inside the ship, she endures the incessant bloodshed, and was part of the survivors, including a girl named Lee, whom she became friends with. Also, they discovered that Ned is part of the survivors, acting as the "Hunting Dog".

Because of their achievement as one of the survivors of the "Running of the Hares", she and the others are given a large sum of money. Julie then uses this to purchase a ship, which she later furnished to replicate the Queen Berry. After a period of extensive planning, Julie invites those who are involved in the "Running of the Hares", with plans of making them experience the event that ended the lives of six.

Victorique then explains the link between the death of Roxane and the Queen Berry incident. She compares "The Running of the Hares" to an opera, whose outcome dictates future events.

Reuniting with a Friend
Grevil soon sends Julie to the authorities to be given a sentence. As they walk along the long hallway, a group of policemen pass by, with a woman with dark complexion standing in the middle. Julie soon realizes that the woman is none other than the friend she has found in the Queen Berry.

In the few moments that she has, Julie throws a heart-shaped pendant to the woman, named Lee. It is the same pendant that Lee has given to her at the "Running of the Hares" and because of the punishment that they have to face, they could only look at each other with tearful eyes.