Bourbon

[Balthazar Manfredie 226]

For scar akai:

maybe he wanted the FBI to go after him since there was a sniper outside the store so they could get rid of them. So he left even more evidence around, of akai being there. But okiya stopped jodie to go outside and get shot.

Scar akai knew the BO was there from the beginning, otherwise he wouldn't smiled back at her

[Scar Akai 65]

Scar Akai was smart to set up that trap for the FBI which could make most of their star agents perish but Akai(Okiya) was smarter when he saw through the brilliantly conceived plan and ruin it, with the help of Conan.

[hopes 237]

For anyone to think of who Bourbon is, you'd naturally think Okiya because of him drinking Bourbon. But I'm pretty sure it's the same as Jodie and Vermouth... But maybe Aoyoma Gosho wouldn't do the same thing.

However, I think that it's Scar Akai.

[Balthazar Manfredie 226]

the okiya drinking burbon is not so much a big deal

akai loves burbon to, its just a deception to make you think that he is a BO

i just dont get why jodie thinks that scar akai (burbon) is the real akai and has amnesia and lost the ability to speak.

if she thinks these stuff why hasn't she asked her self if he has all of that what is he doing in a bank if he cant speak or remember who he is

[Glass Heart 34]

For anyone to think of who Bourbon is, you'd naturally think Okiya because of him drinking Bourbon. But I'm pretty sure it's the same as Jodie and Vermouth... But maybe Aoyoma Gosho wouldn't do the same thing.

However, I think that it's Scar Akai.

But still, this is strange. Aoyama said clearly that Masumi could be the sister of a character, and about Scar Akai he almost makes Gin said that he is Bourbon.

Unless all that is to mislead the reader, I really don't understand why he almost reveal the key revelations of the Bourbon's arc.

In fact, that's one of the main reason I think Scar Akai couldn't be Bourbon. It's too obvious that he can't be the real Akai and so Scar Akai being Bourbon is a very likely idea for the reader given his hatred for him (which is explained during the same story). And Gin seems to confirm it directly, which is even more suspectful.

Still, except Bourbon, we have no way to think of any other possible role for Scar Akai for the time being. I really think he can't be Bourbon for real, but I have not the singlest clue about who he could be yet.

And there is also something that bothers me: the reader has informations about Bourbon that even Conan and the FBI don't have, such as Bourbon being a detective and hating Akai. But ultimately, Aoyama's goal is to deceive the reader until the resolution, to give him false leads.

And Aoyama probably gave us these informations about Bourbon during this case to make Scar Akai even more suspectful (if he wanted to hide Scar Akai/Bourbon, he could have said it at any other story where Scar Akai doesn't appear), while the BO member's true identity could only be revealed to the reader by Conan.

And all that naturally deviates the suspicions from Subaru Okiya to Scar Akai, but maybe the first suspect was the real deal all the time (I don't say that I'm absolutely sure he is Bourbon, but he's my main suspect).

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

And there is also something that bothers me: the reader has informations about Bourbon that even Conan and the FBI don't have, such as Bourbon being a detective and hating Akai. But ultimately, Aoyama's goal is to deceive the reader until the resolution, to give him false leads.

We had similar "reader omniscience" in the Vermouth arc. We got to see Jodie's thoughts and phone conversations, Vermouth thinking to herself in her office with targets, and Akai lurking around and his communications with people like James Black, all of which Conan did not know about. Also, Gosho never lies to us, that is when he shows us something, it always fits in with the final plot although it may be deceptive at first like you pointed out.

[Glass Heart 34]

We had similar "reader omniscience" in the Vermouth arc. We got to see Jodie's thoughts and phone conversations, Vermouth thinking to herself in her office with targets, and Akai lurking around and his communications with people like James Black, all of which Conan did not know about. Also, Gosho never lies to us, that is when he shows us something, it always fits in with the final plot although it may be deceptive at first like you pointed out.

I agree, everything is subject to interpretation and, even though it's appear deliberately deceptive during the first reading, it takes its true meaning later. I think that's also the case of the Masumi scene at the end of the recent Youtube plot.

Now, I think Gosho Aoyama shows us the BO to make Scar Akai very suspicious because that's from their dialogues that we know most informations about the character (during this very plot), to the point Gin also seems to point him out as Bourbon.

It's not that I think Scar Akai can't be Bourbon from the story point of view, but I just can't buy it. Narratively speaking, Aoyama, as an author of detective story, wouldn't have any interest to point out so much at its true culprit, to make him the main culprit. I think it's a deception to make the reader focus on the wrong suspect.

Still, Gin's lines are clear: Bourbon was involved in the case. Meaning he could either be Subaru or Scar Akai, or even a person we don't seriously think to be a suspect (André Camel ?).

Scar Akai's intentions are also really strange. Whoever he is, why did he do all this ? I wondered if it wasn't to lure the BO out to confront them, but he wouldn't have simply disappear during Conan's diversion if that was the case.

As for Conan, he seems to think Scar Akai could be the real deal for the time being (otherwise he wouldn't have tried so hard to save him), meaning that maybe he really doesn't know what happened to Akai after his supposed death.

Edit: No, obviously, there's something I'm missing completely in this case. I read it like a dozen times and I still can't figure out why Scar Akai appears in this chapter, what his true intention is. There should be some elements somewhere which, if interpreted well, could bring some logical explanations about what's truly going on.

[Balthazar Manfredie 226]

scar always appears around the FBI and is always looking around for someone (most likely akai)

[Glass Heart 34]

scar always appears around the FBI and is always looking around for someone (most likely akai)

I know the facts, that's just the reasoning behind it that I can't point.

Now, for Scar Akai looking for Akai and trusting he's not dead, even if these informations are likely true, they could have been introduced into the story in order to mislead the reader into thinking that finding and killing Akai is his main objective.

Even with the "Subaru is Bourbon" perspective, it could be a mislead. Subaru could have been on a whole different mission but, when he saw Akai, he decided to investigate while it was not his main objective.

The only thing I am sure about Subaru (whoever he is), it's that his mission implies him to spy on Conan and Haibara, but at the same time he shows no hostility toward Ai, even showing a protective behaviour toward her.

At the contrary, Ran somehow feels uneasy about talking about Shinichi in front of him. Even more than Haibara's, Ran's instincts often prove to be true. And Conan is extremely cautious about him learning too much about Shinichi, while he's somehow more careless in front of Masumi.

Edit:

scar always appears around the FBI

Of course ! You're absolutely right ! I missed something obvious.

Facts:

By Scar Akai's appearances here and there, what ultimately happened, it's that every major characters of the story (the FBI, the Black Organization, Kir and Subaru) were all brought together at the same crowdy place.

Speculations:

Maybe Scar Akai's aim was to provoke an open battle between the FBI and the Black Organization into a crowded place. Maybe he wants both organizations to be destroyed and maybe this "Scar Akai" is an enemy of both Akai and Bourbon who would work for another criminal organization. It would also explain why Subaru looked at the window to verify the BO's presence once he saw Scar Akai (knowing him, he could have guessed his intentions), why he stopped Jodie to prevent the first fire between the BO and the FBI, while also giving another possible interpretation to his "But in the end, he wasn't who I thought he is. I've known him for a long time. There's no way I could be mistaken !".

It could also explain why someone (Akai ?) left a message to Jodie to run, even though no one could have guessed the hostages bomber case. This person would have understand that Jodie was falling into a deadly trap (I'm talking about Scar Akai's trap of course) and wanted her to run away. All that before Subaru actually discovered Scar Akai's true identity and intentions, implying Subaru could not have been the one who left her the message.

Of course, it would also imply that Subaru/Bourbon would have contacted his BO comrades (Vermouth) to warn them about Scar Akai's identity and intentions and have them retreat without fires and blood, thus explaining Gin's complains about Bourbon doing things his way.

[Balthazar Manfredie 226]

bout the speculation, you also could say:

Scar akai wants to get rid of some FBI agent while hes on the search for akai. The FBI has caused a lot of problems for them in these past months. So louring out jodie on that snipers mark was his plan ( he could hear her voice while going out side, she was yelling his name but he ignored her and kept walking knowing she would follow him. Lucky for her subau bumped in to her not by a coincidence. )

I cant imagine that akai has other ORGs after him except the BO, hes at least, say 27 years old. At 22 he goes in the BO stays there until he was 25 (they found out his real ID) and these last 2 years hes only been investigating the BO.

gosho never makes up such plots like you described

[Glass Heart 34]

Scar akai wants to get rid of some FBI agent while hes on the search for akai. The FBI has caused a lot of problems for them in these past months. So louring out jodie on that snipers mark was his plan ( he could hear her voice while going out side, she was yelling his name but he ignored her and kept walking knowing she would follow him. Lucky for her subau bumped in to her not by a coincidence. )

If Scar Akai is Bourbon, how would he benefit from killing Jodie ? It wouldn't help at all in his investigations, it would be purely sadistic and it could cost the lives of some BO members in the process. It would be a cheap slaughter and he could have serious problems with his boss because of it.

I cant imagine that akai has other ORGs after him except the BO, hes lets say 27 years old.

His age isn't important. He's a dangerous man, one of the best agent of the FBI. It would be natural for him to have many enemies.

gosho never makes up such plots like you described

I could also say that Aoyama never made up a CIA plot before he revealed Kir was actually part of it (that was the first time we ever heard about the CIA being implicated). He just left two tiny clues about it behind to protect that secret.

[Balthazar Manfredie 226]

but if she was important to his investigation why was he leading her out, where a sniper was waiting outside.

And the show does not involve other criminal ORG that are targeting akai

[Glass Heart 34]

but if she was important to his investigation why was he leading her out, where a sniper was waiting outside.

I didn't say Scar Akai was investigating anything. I said he wanted to reunite every major character on a crowded place and have both groups killing each other's agents, and that's likely what would have happened if Subaru, Vermouth and Conan haven't stopped everything.

And the show does not involve other criminal ORG that are targeting akai

That criminal organization would target both the FBI and the Black Organization. I never said anything about Akai, they would just use his face to bring the FBI, the BO, Kir and Subaru together in the same place. But Scar Akai could himself hate both Akai and Bourbon, explaining how Subaru/Bourbon (in my theory) would know him.

Also, they wouldn't have really appeared by their presence (in the shadows) would be hinted through Scar Akai in this plot before the organization being properly introduced later.

Now, as I said, that's just speculations. I just try to connect the elements together and to see if it has some logic with the events of the story.

[Balthazar Manfredie 226]

OK and what is the reason that scar akai is doing this, getting them all in one big gun fight

[Glass Heart 34]

OK and what is the reason that scar akai is doing this, getting them all in one big gun fight

To have both groups' agents killing themselves.

Having both group fighting and killing each other at a crowdy place would only benefit another criminal organization who wouldn't care about the casualties. An organization who would want to stay hidden in the shadows and who has everything to gain by having the FBI and a rival organization destroying each other without having to do it themselves.

I've also tried to think about what possible benefit Bourbon (if he is Scar Akai) could have to have both organizations fighting each other but, even if he doesn't care about the BO, the aftermath of the battle could only complicate his own investigation so he has absolutely no interest into doing it.

[Balthazar Manfredie 226]

but the BO is the only big org in this show, any other was caught by conan

[Glass Heart 34]

but the BO is the only big org in this show, any other was caught by conan

Euh... Even if my speculations are wrong, I think there are several other big organizations in the world that Shinichi has never even heard about. The black organization is just his main enemy, but that doesn't mean that this is the only organization that exists in his world. Kaito Kid's enemy organization could also be another one than the BO.

Because, if I say "but Conan, Heiji and [the other one who is after Kaito Kid] are the only high-school detectives on the show", how do that prevent another high-school detective to appear later, such as Masumi Sera did ?

The fact that we have only seen the BO so far doesn't mean that another big criminal organization couldn't appear later on the story (and, with exception of the BO, every big organizations who appeared in the story were first secretly half-introduced through their members before their proper introductions later).

In fact, Scar Akai being from another organization is so far the only explanation I thought of which could bring some light to this "what the hell is going on ?" situation that only Subaru seems to have understand.

[Balthazar Manfredie 226]

this is just an anime.

kaitos and conans ORG. are different

besides, only snake was in the OVA 4 one time but OVAs are not manga related

[Glass Heart 34]

this is just an anime.

(and a manga before it)

Yes, but how do that prevent any other organization to exist into Conan's world ?

[Balthazar Manfredie 226]

it doesn't

but the the show focuses on conan and only the BO

[Glass Heart 34]

After thinking about it again, I realize I made a little mistake in my reasoning.

I assumed that Subaru couldn't have let the note to Jodie before he was sure of Scar Akai's identity, but I was wrong.

In the "Subaru is Shuichi" perspective, upon seeing Jodie in a place where he investigates on someone who looks like him, it would be natural for Shuichi to ask her to leave, wanting to resolve the matter without her being involved.

Still, in the context, the message seems to imply that the writer knew about the organization's presence, something Subaru couldn't have known before discovering Scar Akai's true identity first (and as soon as he discovered it, he checked to see if the BO was anywhere near).

So I still think Subaru is unlikely to be the one who left her the message.

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

Now, I think Gosho Aoyama shows us the BO to make Scar Akai very suspicious because that's from their dialogues that we know most informations about the character (during this very plot), to the point Gin also seems to point him out as Bourbon.

It's not that I think Scar Akai can't be Bourbon from the story point of view, but I just can't buy it. Narratively speaking, Aoyama, as an author of detective story, wouldn't have any interest to point out so much at its true culprit, to make him the main culprit. I think it's a deception to make the reader focus on the wrong suspect.

You have this wrong. The manga is overtly pushing Okiya to be the most suspicious one. If you check the manga sidebars, the manga is busy assuming that Scar Akai is the real Akai and that Okiya wants to do something bad to him. I quote:

700b: “The bomb case begins and Akai and Subaru are also involved! The tension rises in the next issue.”

701b: “Gin has started to work it out!! Will the assassin's bullet reach Akai again...!?”

702b: “Subaru has discovered Akai and wears an unbecoming smile. Could this situation get anymore dangerous?”

703a: “Gin and company are planning to ambush Akai in front of the department store...”

704b: “Is Okiya Subaru also searching for Akai!?”

As for Gin's quote, the alternate (and I believe incorrect) interpretation is that he is referring to Subaru and he let "Akai" go because he's Subaru's target, and because "Akai" caught on that Chianti was there, and bystanders were beginning to notice.

If you think about it a little and ignore all the smirking, dark expressions, and stuff that are designed to trick you on an emotional level, you can see the logic doesn't make sense, but you have to remember the existence of that layer of misleading stuff.

Scar Akai's intentions are also really strange. Whoever he is, why did he do all this ? I wondered if it wasn't to lure the BO out to confront them, but he wouldn't have simply disappear during Conan's diversion if that was the case.

....

Edit: No, obviously, there's something I miss completely in this case. I read it like a dozen times and I still can't figure out why Scar Akai appears in this chapter, what his true intention is. There should be some elements somewhere which, if interpreted well, could bring some logical explanations about what's truly going on.

…because he is Bourbon and because he is appearing in front of the FBI in disguise as Akai to gauge their reactions to him. This explains all his actions so far, everything from why he targets one FBI member at a time to why he appears in crowded places. I know I already explained this once before, but I'll elaborate even further this time.

Gin and Vodka told us that Bourbon doesn't believe Akai is dead and also believes he is the only person who can kill Akai. We don't know why Bourbon thinks this way and whether his beliefs have any rationality behind them vs. just pure obsessive hatred, but that's the info we have been given and there isn't a good reason for Vodka or Gin to lie about it. If they thought Kir might pass info on that Bourbon might be hunting for Akai, they wouldn't have mentioned it at all.

So now Akai seems to be dead, but Bourbon, given his personal beliefs, thinks Gin was duped which naturally means Kir was involved. The problem is finding Akai now because Bourbon wants to kill him properly. Unfortunately, Akai could be anywhere. More unfortunately, Kir isn't spilling and Gin thinks she did her job properly, and thus she is loyal so excessive interrogation is out of the question until he can come up with reasonable doubts the others will buy off on.

He investigates Kir as best he can without upstarting the chain of command and gets ahold of her cellphone which was left in Gin’s car when Kir changed her clothes just before phase 2 of the Domon assassination. He looks at it, but doesn’t find anything especially interesting other than a text message from one Mouri Kogoro with his routing number. Bourbon notes the number anyway in case it has anything to do with finding Akai.

So anyway, Bourbon has to find Akai. The problem is Akai is a smart b*****d and could be anywhere. And worse, Akai isn't going to just slink off and do nothing while pretending to be dead because that isn't Akai's character. No, Akai is going to be plotting or something. So how can Bourbon find Akai short of knocking on every door in Japan? The best chance of success is to probe his close friends of course. These friends may have helped him with his faking death. Vermouth may have told Bourbon that they seemed to have genuine mournful reactions, but maybe Akai dropped by later to clear things up with them and arrange for disguises, papers, or something while he stays in hiding.

Another problem Bourbon faces is that Gin and Co. really believe Akai is dead, so they aren’t going to help with the plan. Vermouth is sympathetic because only she knows Conan is buddies with the FBI and may have manipulated affairs. (The reason why I am saying Vermouth is involved with Bourbon’s plan is because of the conversation with Gin) So with only Vermouth’s help, how is Bourbon going to figure out where Akai is? The best way to hunt Akai down is to find his contacts. From his contacts, Bourbon could try to get some evidence showing reasonable suspicion that Akai is alive, and then use it to convince the rest of the BO to investigate further and find Akai, or else he could try to find Akai himself via the contacts, by, say, threatening them and hoping Akai comes out of hiding to defend.

Any contacts will know Akai is alive, versus everyone else who will think he’s dead. That’s when Bourbon gets a genius plan: disguise as Akai but with some obvious difference, like a big burn and fake amnesia, and show up suddenly in front of potential contacts. If they react like “WTF, you are alive!?” they are off the list. If they react with suspicion or aggression against Akai who suddenly has a large burn and fake amnesia, they are the targets. This disguise-as-Akai plan only requires one person, Bourbon himself, and Vermouth is willing to provide assistance to make a believable disguise.

What exactly happens in order to get the boss’s approval is unclear. Maybe Bourbon complained to the boss directly and boss agreed just to get him off his back, or maybe Vermouth came forward with the proposal to placate Bourbon. It doesn’t matter. The boss agrees to tell everyone else the lie that Bourbon is looking for Sherry in case Kir gets wind of it and reports to the FBI. (This causes trouble later when Gin mistakes Bourbon for the real Akai and doesn’t know the real plan until Vermouth pulls up on her bike to tell him about it.)

So naturally Bourbon goes to target the person closest to Akai first – Jodie Starling. Of course, this is a risky business. If Jodie is in contact with Akai, she might try to kill Bourbon or sic her friends on him. So Bourbon tails her and picks a location to appear that is both public and highly populated so Jodie can’t try to kill or capture him all of a sudden without getting noticed or stopped by random bystanders. He also times it so he appears when Jodie is separated from her friends. Jodie takes the bait and runs after him, but suddenly stops at an alley. Bourbon doesn’t quite know what to make of the reaction so he approaches her again in Teito bank to make sure that she is reacting like “WTF, you are alive!?” and thus is not Akai’s contact.

Then a coincidental robbery happens and Bourbon gets trapped in the bank with Jodie. Bad luck, because Jodie’s reactions tell him that she definitely is not a contact of Akai’s. Worse luck is the robbers have people duct tape his eyes and face, which means his mask is going to get destroyed when the duct tape comes off. Bourbon therefore needs to book it out of the bank before Jodie finds out he isn’t the real Akai and can warn her friends, who may be Akai’s contacts without her knowing, that there is a fake Akai wandering around. Bourbon salvages the rotten situation as best as he is able to by firing a gun at Conan’s attacker and escaping. It provides a distraction where people will run around in confusion (think Conan’s plan at the dept store!) and then the police will come in while everyone is still duct-taped and Bourbon can remove/fix his disguise in the confusion and escape without Jodie finding out. The plan coincidentally also has the side benefit of tricking Jodie some more into thinking he is the real Akai.

Bourbon aims for Camel next. Why Camel? Remember this guy?

This guy administered Akai’s final loyalty test. While he could be just anyone, maybe he was Bourbon in disguise (got to admit the clothes look alike!) who hated Akai even back then and was hoping to catch Akai out at the very end. Anyway, Bourbon does the same thing he did to Jodie with Camel; he follows Camel to a public place with lots of people around generally, and catches Camel all by his lonesome in the bathroom. Camel has the “WTF, you are alive!?” reaction so Bourbon doesn’t bother with a repeat check.

While making sure he loses Camel and any other FBI by wandering around, Bourbon heads to the sports floor and… gets caught up in another case where he can’t leave. Lucky him. Fortunately, this one doesn’t involve duct-tape. He doesn’t know that someone in the BO (out on a shopping lark?) saw him, informed Vodka/Gin, and so Gin and friends have set up assassins for Bourbon by mistake. I am going to ignore this for now because Bourbon doesn’t know about it. As the case draws on, people are using cellphones to take movies and stuff, at least one of which gets Bourbon on screen which he notices (you can see him looking back at the video taker). Bourbon really wants out of the dept store because the FBI might also see said footage if it gets broadcasted or posted online somewhere, then bring friends, and confront him.

Adding to Bourbon’s woes is that Great Detective Mouri Kogoro is on the case!!!!!… and is failing miserably. Bourbon, who figured out the case as best as he could without an internet, decides to speed the case solving process along by pickpocketing someone’s phone so as not to compromise his own phone number, dredging up Kogoro’s cellphone number from when he stole it from Rena’s phone, and texting him the answer with the end-note to hurry it up already so we can leave!

It works, and Bourbon heads for the front door. Whether he heard Jodie screaming from behind him or he just felt eyes on him, he looks up to see Chianti. He smirks at her because he is amused his disguise worked well enough to drag the other BO members out. He does take the opportunity to disappear because he doesn’t want to be shot. Meanwhile Vermouth comes up to talk to Gin and correct his misconceptions. Gin asks Vermouth if the boss agreed to this plan because he is pissed Bourbon has been jacking him around for the past few hours, then calls off the snipers and complains about Bourbon running around doing things on his own.

Incidentally, Okiya stopping Jodie but merrily letting scar Akai go on his way resembles the practical philosophy about getting rid of bad guys that Sera showed when she tried to lure the hostage taker at the detective agency into police sniper sights. It runs in the family I guess.

As for Conan, he seems to think Scar Akai could be the real deal for the time being (otherwise he wouldn't have tried so hard to save him), meaning that maybe he really doesn't know what happened to Akai after his supposed death.

Conan just doesn't like dead people as the fox, elephant, and rat case revealed. Even if Conan strongly suspects Scar Akai might be Bourbon, there isn't any harm in screwing up the BO's plans anyway because Conan is an idealist who doesn't even want to see a bad person killed. There is additional benefit of covering one's bases on the offchance scar Akai is just some unfortunate lookalike citizen with a burn or the BO was targeting someone else at the department store.

In the "Subaru is Shuichi" perspective, upon seeing Jodie in a place where he investigates on someone who looks like him, it would be natural for Shuichi to ask her to leave, wanting to resolve the matter without her being involved.

Still, in the context, the message seems to imply that the writer knew about the organization's presence, something Subaru couldn't have known before discovering Scar Akai's true identity first (and as soon as he discovered it, he checked to see if the BO was anywhere near).

So I still think Subaru is unlikely to be the one who left her the message.

If Subaru did leave it, it could also be a matter of his investigation revealing (what did Okiya ask that lady anyway?) that someone was targeting them, and they shouldn't be out in public places like this because of what happened last time. Scar Akai could have left it as well. I'm still not sure.

[hopes 237]

You have this wrong. The manga is overtly pushing Okiya to be the most suspicious one. If you check the manga sidebars, the manga is busy assuming that Scar Akai is the real Akai and that Okiya wants to do something bad to him. I quote:

700b: “The bomb case begins and Akai and Subaru are also involved! The tension rises in the next issue.”

701b: “Gin has started to work it out!! Will the assassin's bullet reach Akai again...!?”

702b: “Subaru has discovered Akai and wears an unbecoming smile. Could this situation get anymore dangerous?”

703a: “Gin and company are planning to ambush Akai in front of the department store...”

704b: “Is Okiya Subaru also searching for Akai!?”

As for Gin's quote, the alternate (and I believe incorrect) interpretation is that he is referring to Subaru and he let "Akai" go because he's Subaru's target, and because "Akai" caught on that Chianti was there, and bystanders were beginning to notice.

If you think about it a little and ignore all the smirking, dark expressions, and stuff that are designed to trick you on an emotional level, you can see the logic doesn't make sense, but you have to remember the existence of that layer of misleading stuff.

…because he is Bourbon and because he is appearing in front of the FBI in disguise as Akai to gauge their reactions to him. This explains all his actions so far, everything from why he targets one FBI member at a time to why he appears in crowded places. I know I already explained this once before, but I'll elaborate even further this time.

Gin and Vodka told us that Bourbon doesn't believe Akai is dead and also believes he is the only person who can kill Akai. We don't know why Bourbon thinks this way and whether his beliefs have any rationality behind them vs. just pure obsessive hatred, but that's the info we have been given and there isn't a good reason for Vodka or Gin to lie about it. If they thought Kir might pass info on that Bourbon might be hunting for Akai, they wouldn't have mentioned it at all.

So now Akai seems to be dead, but Bourbon, given his personal beliefs, thinks Gin was duped which naturally means Kir was involved. The problem is finding Akai now because Bourbon wants to kill him properly. Unfortunately, Akai could be anywhere. More unfortunately, Kir isn't spilling and Gin thinks she did her job properly, and thus she is loyal so excessive interrogation is out of the question until he can come up with reasonable doubts the others will buy off on.

He investigates Kir as best he can without upstarting the chain of command and gets ahold of her cellphone which was left in Gin’s car when Kir changed her clothes just before phase 2 of the Domon assassination. He looks at it, but doesn’t find anything especially interesting other than a text message from one Mouri Kogoro with his routing number. Bourbon notes the number anyway in case it has anything to do with finding Akai.

So anyway, Bourbon has to find Akai. The problem is Akai is a smart b*****d and could be anywhere. And worse, Akai isn't going to just slink off and do nothing while pretending to be dead because that isn't Akai's character. No, Akai is going to be plotting or something. So how can Bourbon find Akai short of knocking on every door in Japan? The best chance of success is to probe his close friends of course. These friends may have helped him with his faking death. Vermouth may have told Bourbon that they seemed to have genuine mournful reactions, but maybe Akai dropped by later to clear things up with them and arrange for disguises, papers, or something while he stays in hiding.

Another problem Bourbon faces is that Gin and Co. really believe Akai is dead, so they aren’t going to help with the plan. Vermouth is sympathetic because only she knows Conan is buddies with the FBI and may have manipulated affairs. (The reason why I am saying Vermouth is involved with Bourbon’s plan is because of the conversation with Gin) So with only Vermouth’s help, how is Bourbon going to figure out where Akai is? The best way to hunt Akai down is to find his contacts. From his contacts, Bourbon could try to get some evidence showing reasonable suspicion that Akai is alive, and then use it to convince the rest of the BO to investigate further and find Akai, or else he could try to find Akai himself via the contacts, by, say, threatening them and hoping Akai comes out of hiding to defend.

Any contacts will know Akai is alive, versus everyone else who will think he’s dead. That’s when Bourbon gets a genius plan: disguise as Akai but with some obvious difference, like a big burn and fake amnesia, and show up suddenly in front of potential contacts. If they react like “WTF, you are alive!?” they are off the list. If they react with suspicion or aggression against Akai who suddenly has a large burn and fake amnesia, they are the targets. This disguise-as-Akai plan only requires one person, Bourbon himself, and Vermouth is willing to provide assistance to make a believable disguise.

What exactly happens in order to get the boss’s approval is unclear. Maybe Bourbon complained to the boss directly and boss agreed just to get him off his back, or maybe Vermouth came forward with the proposal to placate Bourbon. It doesn’t matter. The boss agrees to tell everyone else the lie that Bourbon is looking for Sherry in case Kir gets wind of it and reports to the FBI. (This causes trouble later when Gin mistakes Bourbon for the real Akai and doesn’t know the real plan until Vermouth pulls up on her bike to tell him about it.)

So naturally Bourbon goes to target the person closest to Akai first – Jodie Starling. Of course, this is a risky business. If Jodie is in contact with Akai, she might try to kill Bourbon or sic her friends on him. So Bourbon tails her and picks a location to appear that is both public and highly populated so Jodie can’t try to kill or capture him all of a sudden without getting noticed or stopped by random bystanders. He also times it so he appears when Jodie is separated from her friends. Jodie takes the bait and runs after him, but suddenly stops at an alley. Bourbon doesn’t quite know what to make of the reaction so he approaches her again in Teito bank to make sure that she is reacting like “WTF, you are alive!?” and thus is not Akai’s contact.

Then a coincidental robbery happens and Bourbon gets trapped in the bank with Jodie. Bad luck, because Jodie’s reactions tell him that she definitely is not a contact of Akai’s. Worse luck is the robbers have people duct tape his eyes and face, which means his mask is going to get destroyed when the duct tape comes off. Bourbon therefore needs to book it out of the bank before Jodie finds out he isn’t the real Akai and can warn her friends, who may be Akai’s contacts without her knowing, that there is a fake Akai wandering around. Bourbon salvages the rotten situation as best as he is able to by firing a gun at Conan’s attacker and escaping. It provides a distraction where people will run around in confusion (think Conan’s plan at the dept store!) and then the police will come in while everyone is still duct-taped and Bourbon can remove/fix his disguise in the confusion and escape without Jodie finding out. The plan coincidentally also has the side benefit of tricking Jodie some more into thinking he is the real Akai.

Bourbon aims for Camel next. Why Camel? Remember this guy?

This guy administered Akai’s final loyalty test. While he could be just anyone, maybe he was Bourbon in disguise (got to admit the clothes look alike!) who hated Akai even back then and was hoping to catch Akai out at the very end. Anyway, Bourbon does the same thing he did to Jodie with Camel; he follows Camel to a public place with lots of people around generally, and catches Camel all by his lonesome in the bathroom. Camel has the “WTF, you are alive!?” reaction so Bourbon doesn’t bother with a repeat check.

While making sure he loses Camel and any other FBI by wandering around, Bourbon heads to the sports floor and… gets caught up in another case where he can’t leave. Lucky him. Fortunately, this one doesn’t involve duct-tape. He doesn’t know that someone in the BO (out on a shopping lark?) saw him, informed Vodka/Gin, and so Gin and friends have set up assassins for Bourbon by mistake. I am going to ignore this for now because Bourbon doesn’t know about it. As the case draws on, people are using cellphones to take movies and stuff, at least one of which gets Bourbon on screen which he notices (you can see him looking back at the video taker). Bourbon really wants out of the dept store because the FBI might also see said footage if it gets broadcasted or posted online somewhere, then bring friends, and confront him.

Adding to Bourbon’s woes is that Great Detective Mouri Kogoro is on the case!!!!!… and is failing miserably. Bourbon, who figured out the case as best as he could without an internet, decides to speed the case solving process along by pickpocketing someone’s phone so as not to compromise his own phone number, dredging up Kogoro’s cellphone number from when he stole it from Rena’s phone, and texting him the answer with the end-note to hurry it up already so we can leave!

It works, and Bourbon heads for the front door. Whether he heard Jodie screaming from behind him or he just felt eyes on him, he looks up to see Chianti. He smirks at her because he is amused his disguise worked well enough to drag the other BO members out. He does take the opportunity to disappear because he doesn’t want to be shot. Meanwhile Vermouth comes up to talk to Gin and correct his misconceptions. Gin asks Vermouth if the boss agreed to this plan because he is pissed Bourbon has been jacking him around for the past few hours, then calls off the snipers and complains about Bourbon running around doing things on his own.

Incidentally, Okiya stopping Jodie but merrily letting scar Akai go on his way resembles the practical philosophy about getting rid of bad guys that Sera showed when she tried to lure the hostage taker at the detective agency into police sniper sights. It runs in the family I guess.

Conan just doesn't like dead people as the fox, elephant, and rat case revealed. Even if Conan strongly suspects Scar Akai might be Bourbon, there isn't any harm in screwing up the BO's plans anyway because Conan is an idealist who doesn't even want to see a bad person killed. There is additional benefit of covering one's bases on the offchance scar Akai is just some unfortunate lookalike citizen with a burn or the BO was targeting someone else at the department store.

If Subaru did leave it, it could also be a matter of his investigation revealing (what did Okiya ask that lady anyway?) that someone was targeting them, and they shouldn't be out in public places like this because of what happened last time. Scar Akai could have left it as well. I'm still not sure.

HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH THESE DEDUCTIONS?!?! O.o;;

I TOTALLY forgot about that guy!! Very interesting...

[Balthazar Manfredie 226]

you read the manga more then 4 times to be sure and correct

[Meitantei xXTahmmyxX 0]

Hahaha. That's a pretty heavy argument going on there, I couldn't even finish reading the whole thing.

But I think it makes sense.

For some reason, I just think Akai is Okiya who is also Bourbon, who is basically spying.. And scar Akai is some other person. Who knows, maybe Sherry's sister ended up having to give birth, and the son ended up looking like the father? Or is there not enough years for that?