Even the mental sentence, "I am seeing the apple as red", occurs shortly after the experience that warranted it. The fact that a qualitatively identical experience is happening while I affirm the mental sentence, is a separate fact. So even knowing what I'm feeling right now requires non-epiphenomenal qualia.

But couldn't the mental sentences also be part of the lower-tier shadow realm? Not my mental sentences. My thoughts are the ones I'm typing, and the ones that I act on.