Let me propose an alternative that might be harder to dislodge than you think:
Illusion to illusion: Nobody died in Legend until the very end. Everybody but Battler was in on it. The red’s not much of an obstacle since it can demonstrably refer to things that are only in the “script,” so to speak; besides which, I don’t see any red in the text of Legend. I think it actually hurts the official explanation more to attempt to use the red than not, even.
Before you dismiss the matter out of hand, consider:
- Battler’s defense of Kinzo is absurd, isn’t it? Eva says as much repeatedly, and she never actually accepts his argument. Everybody agrees to dismiss things after Jessica’s convenient “asthma attack,” and Eva tells Battler to think about it again.
- Did Hideyoshi know George was going to ask about the ring? In fact, how could Hideyoshi be sure of anything that George might say or do even if we assume Shannon told him about meeting with George? Is George’s proposal the only explanation for why he and Shannon might have left the guesthouse? Was George being ordered not to come in more for George’s sake or for Battler’s?
- Would Eva and Hideyoshi be willingly complicit in what they believed to be actual murders? And if they were, why in the world would they isolate themselves knowing there’s a murderer about and that the Second Twilight had yet to happen? It’s like a dumb decision out of the second act of a murder mystery or slasher film and not the rational decision of free-thinking people. So is Natsuhi just allowing them to leave. So is Eva making it explicit to everyone in the room that they’re going to be using a chain lock on their door.
- Does the official explanation actually explain the logistics of the Second Twilight? Is explaining the chain lock the difficult part of this sequence? This is one area where the red causes more trouble than it solves.
- What exactly is the deal with Jessica? If she’s not in on it, why does she keep acting like someone with information that would only be known by someone who was totally in on it? Why did she have an attack at the exact point where Battler had turned the Kinzo thing around on Eva and Hideyoshi? If she’s in on it, and Maria’s in on it, is it not more likely that George is in on it? And if all the cousins are in on it… well, why?
- The sound of gunfire sure was noticeable there at the end, huh? Hey speaking of which: How were all these supposed murders committed again? Don’t explain the puzzle, explain the physical act.
- Does Beatrice really take risks? Is she actually as fickle as she claims to be? Is the Devil’s Roulette, dare I say it, rigged?
- Think about End and Dawn. Just… just think about them.