So to revive this little discussion without getting distracted by the logistics of the red text again, let me write an answer to this post.
Yes, Battler’s defense of Kinzo is absurd. Eva calls him out on it as you said. But everyone else gladly jumps on the opportunity to put Eva back in her place, since nobody else likes the way she puts Natsuhi on the spot like that. It’s hard to emotionally accept for them that Natsuhi could be lying to them, and Jessica manages to dissolve the argument when she fakes an asthma attack.
Eva and Hideyoshi are accomplices to what they believe to be a game (which it really isn’t) in my interpretation so I’ll skip over the next two points. But I’ll at least point out that at this point everybody has yet to realize that the murders are following the epitaph.
She knows of Kinzo being dead. She wanted to get out of that uncomfortable argument. Maria’s not in on it, she genuinely believes in the Beatrice revival ceremony with sacrifices.
Yeah, it’s like it was right next to them or something. First Twilight: all victims poisoned, carried through the rain by two people, faces mowed. Second Twilight: shot with gun, stake inserted into hole. Sixth-Eighth Twilight: Probably shot with guns in the head, faces mowed to muddle cause of death, shot again in the respective body parts, stakes inserted into holes. Duel with Natsuhi: Natushi’s gun was tampered with, Yasu just shot her outright.
She doesn’t take risks, no. Her being fickle means that she’s willing to go with whatever situation she finds herself in (something that would be hell with 14 accomplices btw). And no it’s not rigged; Yasu is fine with time running out as much as she’s fine with the epitaph being solved and her deeds being exposed. On that note, I have to pose this question: What’s the whole point of the special clause with solving the epitaph if everyone but Battler is in on it anyways?
Something I’ll also point out: Battler is actually quite graphic in describing how the 1st Twilight victim’s faces were messed around with. And you may say that he also described it as makeup, well think of his mindset going into this: at first it seems unbelievable, but then he realizes how it’s all real and goes into detail describing not the makeup as he could only describe it as at first, but the actual state of the faces. Comparing that to Natsuhi’s room in Episode 2; at this point his heart is so numb that he describes the scene before him in a completely deadpan tone. Both ways of narrating fit perfectly with his demeanor.