primrose

Agreed 100%. Not to mention the fact that Shiho's very comfortable talking about love/relationships in general, which I don't think would happen if she was raped. I've always had the impression Shiho had plenty of 'power' (for lack of a better word) while in the Org, and wasn't as 'sheltered' as many would believe. She was young and already led an important research, and seemed to have knowledge/interest in many 'normal' things (fashion/relationships/etc.), which is rather interesting. We know she didn't see her sister much, then who gave her those kinds of knowledge? Vermouth? lol Another thing that drives me further from those rape theories is the fact that Gin, so far, has been shown to be very hierarchy-savvy (see: his treatment of Vermouth and Bourbon). As he himself said, she was an indispensable member, and thus I imagine he wouldn't want to risk the boss's ire by doing something improper to her.

I'm wondering about that, too. If it was the boss's order to bring Sherry back alive, then why wasn't Vermouth or Gin informed of it? I don't think they would have planned to blow up the train had the boss given a specific order to keep Sherry alive. It seems Bourbon was doing things by himself. But according to his own words he had other BO members on a helicopter following the train - how could such a thing be arranged without Vermouth noticing? There's something fishy about the Vermouth-Gin phone convo, too. We get no reaction from Gin at the news Sherry has been blown to pieces. Considering how much pleasure he'd been shown to derive from her suffering in vol 24, could he be that nonchalant about her death? So many questions.

I seriously hope this hatred doesn't stem from some kind of love rivalry And over Gin of all people! I haven't seen anything from Vermouth to suggest she wants anything other than er, 'making Martini' with Gin, especially considering I'm in the "It might have something to do with Ai's parents' research" camp.

Something's still bugging me. Why did Vermouth even bother to tell Gin about Shiho? If she didn't want him to interfere with the train's incidents, wouldn't it be better to NOT tell him anything? Since I don't think he'd have found out that info from any other sources.

File 818's out!

Thanks for the reply, Chek! Hmm, I guess Ai had reached a point where she just got fed up with the Org (sorta like in a relationship when everything the other partner says will annoy you XD) and wanted out. I wonder if she knew Akemi's purpose in taking part in that robbery scheme. I don't recall anything that proves she did, but my memory is a bit fuzzy.

The wiki article is interesting. I find it unlikely that Akai had come into close contact with Gin prior to his promotion, since as the article says, they'd probably not have had to send the scout. Yet it's stated in the manga that Akai used Shiho to climb the org's ladder, and with the extreme likelihood that Shiho was in some kind of relationship with Gin, the two must have bumped into each other from time to time. So could it be that the Org smelt something fishy going on and wanted to make sure (hence the extra caution)? Still, I don't see how Akai can be so hateful towards Gin. He can't blame Gin for Akemi's murder, since he's just following an order (he should save that for the boss), and he probably doesn't even knows that Gin's the one doing the deed. So I guess whatever causes their antipathies must have happened during the 2 years when the BO tried to take Akai's life. I hope Gosho'll shed more light on it, but it seems he'll focus on the Akai/Bourbon showdown first, which means we'll probably have to wait 3-4 more years to have the answer.

First, why did the BO refuse to give Ai an official reason for her sister's murder? You'd think they would have fabricated some reason along the lines of "Your sister failed a mission and thus we had to dispose her". Or maybe more simply just kill Akemi without having her go through all the trouble of that robbery, then give Ai whatever reason. It's not like she had the means to find out the truth, isn't it? Second, does Ai know Akai is FBI, and that he first approached Akemi just to take advantage of her?