Akai's fake death technique

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At the end of Clash of Red and Black, Shuichi Akai faked his death with the help of Rena Mizunashi and Conan Edogawa.

The basic summary of the plan to fake Shuichi Akai's death is that Rena Mizunashi met with Akai and pretended to shoot him. To make it look realistic, blank cartridges and blood packets with small detonators were used. Akai pretended to die and fell down in the truck. When Rena was fiddling with the small bomb, Akai placed Rikumichi Kusuda's body in his place. He exited the truck, hid out of sight, then snuck in Kir's car and left with her.

Meanwhile Jodie Starling had the one of Conan's two cellphones that had Rikumichi's fingerprints on it. She thought they were Akai's and when she went to validate the identity of the body with the police, it matched Rikumichi's fingerprints and she was fooled into thinking Akai died.

Background

After the events of Clash of Red and Black, Gin is suspicious of how easy it was to recover Rena Mizunashi from the FBI and that Shuichi Akai didn't make a strong move. Gin thinks Akai is still hiding something and that doubt is relayed to the boss who plans a test of Kir's loyalty. Gin meets with Kir and conveys the boss's ultimatum: Kir must kill Akai in order to regain the Black Organization's trust. Akai and Kir meet at Raiha pass where Rena shoots Akai twice and blows up the truck with his body inside; however several abnormalities surrounding the circumstances of Akai's death invite the possibility that Akai faked his death with Conan and Mizunashi Rena's help.

Initial Planning

Rikumichi Kusuda whose cadaver will be Akai's body double.

After the death of Black Organization agent Rikumichi Kusuda, Shuichi Akai and Conan went to talk to Rena Mizunashi after getting Eisuke Hondou to "wake her up". They speak with her about sneaking her back into the Black Organization, received her promise to cooperate, and they began to formulate a plan on how to reimplant Rena without the Black Organization rejecting her. At that point, Akai figured that the return Rena plan would make the Black Organization's recovery of Rena seem suspiciously easy, so the Black Organization wouldn't trust Rena and would require her to do some task to regain the boss's trust. Akai, who has experience in the Black Organization and knows how they think, guessed the requested test of loyalty might be to kill him, so he decided to prepare appropriately to be safe. This would be the time frame when the plan to fake Akai's death was formulated.

At their disposal were two important articles: One is Rikumichi's body which will be used as Akai's body double. The second item is one of Conan's two identical phones, which has Rikumichi's fingerprints on it from when Conan got him to pick it up back when he was trying to determine which of three patients was the Black Organization operative. Akai will later hold the phone while his fingertips are covered with glue to trick the FBI later into thinking Rikumichi's fingerprints are Akai's.

Conan and Akai's preparations: Setting up the phone trick and Akai's body double

Akai takes one of Conan's cellphones with his right hand during an FBI strategy meeting where Jodie was present.

Akai covers his hands with glue so that he will not leave fingerprints. He drops a can of coffee because his fingertips were slippery. In the hospital during the FBI planning meeting, Akai makes a show of taking Conan's phone (the one with Rikumichi's fingerprints) with his RIGHT hand. It has to be his right hand because that's the one Rikumichi used to handle the phone, Akai would normally handle the phone with the other hand because he is left handed. Jodie has this scene imprinted in her head. Meanwhile, either Conan or Akai steals Jodie's phone and causes it to malfunction, perhaps by dropping it in water like Conan did to Rikumichi's, so Conan has the opportunity to loan Jodie the one with Rikumichi's fingerprints on it.
Sometime before Akai and Rena's meeting, Akai and Conan will abscond with and prepare Rikumichi's body to look somewhat like Akai. The time frame for this could be the night before the strategy meeting after the fake death plan was devised or after Rena was returned to the Black Organization but before she called to meet with Akai.

Rena and Akai's preparations: Faking the gunshots for the camera

Before Rena is returned to the Black Organization, she and Akai discuss the timing and the location of the fake gunshots. They decide on the lung and forehead for reasons explained later. Akai prepares fake blood packets, small detonators for those blood packets, a small remote to detonate them with, and protectors that go between the skin and the detonators. Rena takes blank cartridges, likely from the FBI or Yukiko, and hides them on her person since she will be under watch and may be searched by the Black Organization. She might carry a few different calibers for different models of handguns.

Akai and Rena's meeting

With Akai, Kir, and Conan's prep work done, the FBI plan to return Rena with the vans takes place and Rena successfully returns to the Black Organization, and as predicted is tasked with killing Akai right away. Akai gets the expected call from Rena. He stops James Black from calling Jodie to prevent the other FBI from interfering with the plan. When Akai grabs James' hand to prevent him from dialing, James feels the glue on Akai's fingers. Akai is forced to reveal the plan to fake his death to James. Akai heads out after loading Rikumichi's body in the backseat of his truck. His model truck probably has a backseat/extended cab because it has rear side windows. He could have also loaded Rikumichi's body in the bed of his truck which was covered and moved the body to the backseat when he reached Raiha pass before meeting Kir. Meanwhile, Conan passes the phone with Rikumichi's fingerprints off to Jodie.

Akai keeps his right hand hidden in his pocket while Kir shoots him.

Blood packet placement and Akai's strange behavior while getting shot

When Rena goes to shoot Akai, Akai is forced to unnaturally keep his right hand in his pocket during the whole ordeal in order to push the detonator for the blood packets. The shot to the head was above Akai's hat line where a fake blood packet was placed. In order to bleed from his mouth, Akai could have bit open a small packet he was carrying inside his mouth or simply bit his tongue.

Disappearing blood trails indicate Akai's body was switched out

The blood trails on Akai's face disappear and the position of Akai's head changes after Kir prepares the bomb. This indicates Akai's body was switched.

After Rena shoots Akai and he falls down in the seat, Akai's face has a blood trail running down it; later after Rena planted the bomb, the lower half of Akai's face and his body is visible, yet the blood trail is gone. Akai's head is also positioned differently. There is no reason for Rena to wipe the blood off Akai's face, nor is she shown doing so. This is direct proof the body was somehow tampered with or switched by someone other than Kir. Furthermore, the body without the blood trail from the mouth has dimples at the corners of the mouth, something that Rikumichi has but Akai does not.

Rena uses psychological traps to trick Gin

Rena used psychological traps to trick Gin into overlooking that she and Akai could have predicted enough details of the assassination plan to concoct a trick. Rena manipulates her conversations with Gin by suggesting possible courses of action and making requests which she already knows will definitely be rejected by him. These rejected requests subconsciously manipulate Gin into falsely assuming that Rena had wanted or planned on having things as she requested and had not anticipated his demands. The result is that Gin fallaciously believes that he was in control and Rena could not have plotted anything in advance.
The psychological trap was used when Gin told Rena how she was going to kill Akai. Rena suggested alternate options like Gin and company would surround Akai to shoot him, and that she would like some extra time to prepare - both requests Gin denied.

Additionally, Rena and Akai planned another psychological trap for Gin with the placement of the gunshots. Rena and Akai decided to pick a fatal- but not quickly so- lung shot for the site of the first “shot”. Rena will then say “that’s good enough, he will die quickly anyway”, but Gin will be sure to object and order her to finish him in the head where it’s certain. Rena will then deliver the coup de grâce that Gin ordered. Of course, Rena and Akai knew in advance Gin would ask for a headshot in these circumstances because Gin would not want to leave anything up to chance. The trap is forcing Gin to ask for the shot specifically by himself because it is hard to escape from the fallacious thought that "this couldn’t be planned in advance because I alone specifically asked Kir to shoot Akai in the head with no forewarning."

Conveniently timed police arrive which allows Akai and Kir to avoid additional scrutiny

Kir moves to the front of Akai's truck to prepare the bomb, creating a gap of time where Gin and Vodka cannot see Akai's body with Kir's camera.

After Rena delivers the shots, she is interrupted by police heading her way. They were probably called on purpose to force Gin to order Kir to leave and not examine things more closely. Kir walks over to the hood of Akai's truck to prepare the bomb which means the inside of the truck is not visible. Akai switches places with Rikumichi's body at this time. Kir places the bomb by the already switched body and leaves, which gives Akai more time to maneuver without the camera watching him. He left his phone in Rikumichi's pocket, and he also put the right hand of the body in the pocket as well to make sure Rikumichi’s right-hand fingerprints survive and can be tested later against Conan’s phone for a match to complete the trick. The bomb has the additional effect of destroying Rikumichi’s face and obscuring the powder burn from the self inflicted gunshot wound.

The identity of the accomplices who would have timed the accident is unclear at this point. Agasa and Conan were tied up with the Shiranpuri case at the time, so someone else must have been involved. The FBI, minus James who coincidentally found out at the last minute (and thus too late to help), were unaware to know Akai faked his death, so it would have to be someone else whom Akai trusts. Yukiko, who was shown to be working with Akai later, is one possibility. It is also possible the assistants are the two subordinates whom Akai asked to follow Yukiko and the Detective Boys in the movie pre-screening murder case.

Conan checks his phone to see if the plan worked

After Jodie goes to the police to verify the fingerprints on the phone she borrowed from Conan match the body's prints, she returns his phone and Conan checks it right away. Conan notes the serial number is different which means that the police kept the original phone as evidence, and thus the plan was a success. The reason for Conan's inspection could be that should something not work out properly, the plan would change so that Rena really would kill Akai. If Akai really died, Rikumichi's fingerprints on the phone would not match the dead Akai's and the police would return Conan's original phone. Conan is relieved to see the police kept his phone as evidence and gave him a new phone meaning everything did go according to plan. Later when Eisuke tells Conan "it sounds like there is a heavy atmosphere over the FBI, like someone died," Conan smiles to himself and thinks "that is OK" because Conan knows the fake death plan succeeded.

Akai keeps the plan secret from his FBI comrades to fool the Black Organization

The reason the other FBI, including Jodie, were left out of the fake death plan is the same reason why the FBI were also left out of the plan to return Rena with the three vans. Conan, Akai, and Rena needed everyone to react realistically to Akai's death. This wound up being a good idea because Vermouth checked out Jodie and James Black.

Bourbon's investigation

File: 894 - Scarlet Suspicion

It is revealed that the murder in this case was intended to be staged by Bourbon and Vermouth to gather information from the FBI. Vermouth, disguised as Jodie, receives information from Agent Camel that Rikumichi Kusuda committed suicide.
Bourbon finds this information interesting...

Bourbon's Theory

If Rikumichi Kusuda committed suicide, he would shoot himself in the head. Even if his body was to be burnt, the evidence would remain. Around the time they stopped receiving intel from Kusuda, another person was shot in the head and then burnt. They were able to identify the body as the fingerprints matched those found on Conan's phone. Why were they able to get fingerprints from a burnt corpse? Vermouth claims that "he's that kind of guy," meaning that he would shoot a shotgun with one hand while the other is in his fireproof trouser pocket. Bourbon believes that Shuichi Akai intended the hand to be found so that the fingerprints could be compared and his death could be confirmed. Vermouth claims that the video that was secretly recorded from Kir's hidden camera shows that this wasn't staged; she believes that those lines that were spoken by Akai cannot be scripted. Though Bourbon's full reasoning has yet to be revealed, Bourbon is very aware that Conan plays a big role in this façade.

File: 895 - Scarlet Interrogation

Bourbon deduces that the trick to Akai's death was a simple body switch. The fingerprints on Conan's phone were indeed Rikumichi's and the reason why Akai's fingerprints didn't show up on the phone was because he laced his fingertips with glue. This is also the reason why his hand slipped while holding his coffee. Bourbon also deduces that Kir was working with Akai to fake his death. Bourbon hypothesizes that Akai was given a device by Professor Agasa that squirts fake blood when a blank is fired, hence the blood on his head. They also anticipated that Gin would want a headshot as the coup de grace, which would be why they prepared the device beforehand. Bourbon also deduces that Conan was behind this whole plan from Akai's presumed last words. "Who would have thought that it would come to this" was really "who besides him would have thought it would come to this," with "him" being Conan.

Problems with this technique

The gunshot in Rikumichi’s body is through his temple, but when Akai “died”, he received a gunshot directly to his forehead from the center. Also Rikumichi didn’t have a lung shot. The second shot could be added later post mortem, but the coroner might be able to tell even with the burning.

The second problem is using blanks at a close range. Although blanks lack the bullet part, the weapon will still discharge a cloud of hot gas called muzzle blast that will burn at close range. Also, if the blank has a wad of paper or the like replacing the bullet or if there is shrapnel in the gun, it can be propelled out at high speed and be lethally driven into the body at close ranges. “Crimped blanks” exist which lack a potentially lethal wad, but that would not prevent the muzzle blast. Gosho Aoyama has ignored the actual dangers of blanks for dramatic license; however, the presence of a burn scar on Scar Akai's right side of the face could suggest muzzle blasts were actually considered (and maybe Bourbon designed the Scar Akai disguise with the idea that Akai was shot with blanks in mind, therefore having muzzle blast burns in the places where he was shot.)

Additional hints that Akai faked his death

• The place name Raiha Pass, the location where Akai supposedly died, is derived from Reichenbach Falls, the location where Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty apparently fell to their deaths at the end of The Final Problem. It is later revealed that Sherlock survived the fall, but decided to fake his own death and go into hiding in order to protect himself from Moriarty's henchmen.

• The fake death contraption has been used previously in the manga. The first was used in Black Pearl case by Sonoko Suzuki's mother and the magician Kazumi Sanada. The second time, Yukiko brought a special vest onto the Bell Tree Express for faking Shiho's death. The vest had several of the components that might have been necessary for faking Akai's death: a bullet-proof vest with a fake blood releasing contraption to make realistic looking gunshots. Yukiko may have been able to supply similar theatrical components to Akai and Kir before she was returned to the Organization the following day.

• Excluding Akai's apparent death, Gosho Aoyama has never killed off any character who has appeared in more than one case, much less a protagonist. The closest situation was the flashback to the death of Jinpei Matsuda in "The Trembling Police Headquarters" arc, but it was stated he died at the outset. Gosho Aoyama has had 650 chapters to set a precedent.

Gallery

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  Conan's satisfied expression after hearing that someone from the FBI has probably died from Eisuke, saying to himself "Yes, everything is OK".

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  Akai's hand in his pocket until the end

See also

• The last revision of this page while it was still a theory
• Okiya is Akai theory
• Scar Akai is Bourbon theory