[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 954-957: A song named ASACA

[MeiTanteixX 184]

The "fake" was probably that Gosho expected for us to think that Haneda Shuukichi is a survivor of APTX and that he is actually Kouji. But nobody really made that connection with certainty...

[Shinan-Kudogawa 26]

I don't think that's completely true,maybe ASACA is not RUM but She is related to RUM ,All these chapters would be a waste of time and We return to Zero point. At the worst case they will reach ASACA and know from her about RUM's identity (i highly suspect Mary to be ASACA in that case)

I didn't totally disregarded the two as related, simply that what Gosh-sama meant by 'fake' is the understatement that they are the same person. I do believe however, like you said Asaca will lead to Rum..Be it Asaca is Mary/ Father Akai or anyone else.. 

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

Here are the 957 Text Spoilers from Spimer from DCTP:

File 957: The truth of betrayal

Amuro asks a forensic to give him a rope identical to the one used in the murder and demonstrates the trick.
He uses a "transport knot" [a type of knot used to tie ropes when transporting things] and easily lifts Takagi by usey the pulley principle.
Only the manager, who'd worked in a freightening company before, can do this kind of knot but she's NOT the culprit. She did it to camouflage Rokumichi's SUICIDE.
(He'd originally died at a lower height).

ASACA turns out to be 2 girls: it seem that Rokumichi picked the name based on both of them knowing they were pregnant at the "Asa" "Ca"fe. But Rokumichi got to know they'd had a miscarriage after 17 years and added lyrics to an unpublished song... Supposedly. Because he killed himself without coming up with the lyrics. The reporter says that he won't make an article out of this: this type of stuff doesn't fit with a rock n' roller.

The manager is arrested for damaging the corpse: Megure mutters that she'll surely try to defer the prosecution to extenuation. The stuff with the backband member having drugs on him has already leaked to the net.

Akai did try to stop Scotch from killing him but Scotch got afraid at hearing the approaching footsteps and shoot himself: to destroy the phone he had on his chest pocket.

Ran asks Azusa who she really is but Azusa shoots back "don't get further involved" and doesn't answer.
Vermouth (thinking): "Because you're... one of my 2 treasures... the only ones I have in the world..."

Side-note:A lot of truths have been revealed...! Next number: THAT great detective appears!

This is classic Gosho—murderous intent caused by misunderstanding.

 

Wow, Ran straight up confronts Vermouth and Vermouth responds as herself... didn't expect that.

 

We're either getting a Heiji case, next time, or a Kid case... (first in nearly 3 years—this has been the longest drought without a Kid case since the gap between Sunset Manor Murder (299–302/219) and Miraculous Midair Walk (453–456/356)) with Saguru Hakuba (his first appearance in nearly ten years (Detective Koshien; 562–566/479))!

 

EDIT:

Or this "great detective" could be Shinichi (thanks to Serinox and your most recent tumblr post for reminding me that Shinichi could be the one, as well!  ).

[EthanHunter 7]

Or this "great detective" could be Shinichi (thanks to Serinox and your most recent tumblr post for reminding me that Shinichi could be the one, as well!  ).

Yeah yesterday in the spoiler chat I considered that possibility too, but that would mean next file something very drastic will happen out of nowhere, so I don't really think it will be Shinichi.

My bet is on Heiji, though I miss Kaito too

[Serinox 127]

Yeah yesterday in the spoiler chat I considered that possibility too, but that would mean next file something very drastic will happen out of nowhere, so I don't really think it will be Shinichi.

Could also be another flashback case with Shinichi, that would still technically be an appearance ^^

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

Could also be another flashback case with Shinichi, that would still technically be an appearance ^^

 

And you don't mean the meeting Masumi flashback, I take it? You don't think we're getting it as soon as next week (or in two, if we have a break next week), right?

[Serinox 127]

And you don't mean the meeting Masumi flashback, I take it? You don't think we're getting it as soon as next week (or in two, if we have a break next week), right?

It may be, but it says famous detective, so it would be a bit weird to do a flashback to when he wasn't famous at all yet. So no, I don't mean that flashback and I honestly don't really think it will even be Shinichi who the side note means, I'm realistic enough for that (but I can still hope, right?). Well, heart says yes and brain says no ^^

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

It may be, but it says famous detective, so it would be a bit weird to do a flashback to when he wasn't famous at all yet. So no, I don't mean that flashback and I honestly don't really think it will even be Shinichi who the side note means, I'm realistic enough for that (but I can still hope, right?). Well, heart says yes and brain says no ^^

 

So we're either looking at a Shinichi's First Case/Aquarium Murder-esque flashback, a Heiji case, or a case with Saguru (and perhaps Kid).

EDIT (Crossposting this from DCTP):

 

-Amuro is very far from level-headed. If anything, he is as prone to succumbing to strong emotions/ acting irrationally as someone like Heiji. This is his main character flaw (and what makes him so interesting to me). As a character, he's meant as a passionate, emotional foil to Akai's stoicism and level-headedness. We've seen over and over how Amuro lets his emotions get in the way of his deductions/plans (again, to me that tension is part of what makes him interesting). Amuro wasn't being level-headed when he smiled at Chianti, who was pointing a gun at him, just for the satisfaction of taunting her, or when he basically put getting revenge on Akai before his actual mission of infiltrating and getting promoted in the BO. Amuro being irrationally angry about Scotch's death is consistent with everything we've seen up to this point. He's a man with strong feelings and is not very good at controlling them.

-A lot of people have have misunderstood this part, so Gosho probably should have written it in a clearer manner. Basically, Amuro isn't just realizing this stuff now. He already knew from the get-go. He's only recounting it to himself for the benefit of us the readers, so we can know what his issue with Akai is. The point here is that Amuro knows that Scotch killed himself but still hates Akai anyways for failing to prevent it. Not the most sensible hatred, but considering Scotch's importance to Amuro, it makes sense. Amuro needs someone to blame, and that someone is Akai. More importantly, there is no misunderstanding here. Akai really did fail to prevent Scotch's suicide. Even if it isn't his fault, that's not going to stop Amuro from hating him, which means their whole conflict is not going to be brushed away as a "misunderstanding."

Rei's/Tooru's anger at Shuichi is just increasingly magnified, here, compared to Shiho's/Ai's Shinichi/Conan in 181/129 over Akemi's death—both Shinichi/Conan and Shuichi failed to prevent the deaths of Akemi and Scotch. Rei/Tooru has just taken it to a level I don't think Shiho/Ai even began to consider.

One of my previous posts said that this situation was a misunderstanding—I must admit that said post is incorrect. This was NOT a misunderstanding.

Anyone who also made a post saying that this was a misunderstanding—do you stick by your initial claim that the Bourbon arc is based on a misunderstanding?

[Heliotropic 138]

Couldn't this "great detective" thing also apply to Kogoro? Would seem a bit odd if Gosho mentioned it in such a manner. I'm going with Heiji for now.

 

I'm not sure if I'd call the whole thing a "misunderstanding" but it kinda comes across that Bourbon suddenly realized it, and even if he didn't, at the very least, holding a grudge for this particular reason is quite stupid. It's a bit too early to tell with absolute certainty, isn't it? I can't really say I'm pleased with how they handled the situation, especially that it comes across that Akai is now hiding the reason Scotch committed suicide for Amuro's benefit... It certainly does come across as say, the Tottori Spider Mansion case, which was a misunderstanding.

 

But maybe I am the one misunderstanding things  - I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was at this point.

 

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

I'd like to remind everyone that this case proves the Black Organization is aware of the decoding of Kohji's dying message "ASACA RUM" and is paranoid anything that sounds related to it.

[Serinox 127]

Couldn't this "great detective" thing also apply to Kogoro? Would seem a bit odd if Gosho mentioned it in such a manner. I'm going with Heiji for now.

The side notes and the text on the cover pages are written by the editors though, not Gosho iirc, but even so, it would be a bit weird to refer to Kogoro in this manner, especially since he just had one of his nowadays rare Sleeping Kogoro appearances in 953.

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

I'm not sure if I'd call the whole thing a "misunderstanding" but it kinda comes across that Bourbon suddenly realized it, and even if he didn't, at the very least, holding a grudge for this particular reason is quite stupid. It's a bit too early to tell with absolute certainty, isn't it? I can't really say I'm pleased with how they handled the situation, especially that it comes across that Akai is now hiding the reason Scotch committed suicide for Amuro's benefit... It certainly does come across as say, the Tottori Spider Mansion case, which was a misunderstanding.

I think that was for us (the audience), more than anything else... and a lot of grudges can be seen as stupid from the perspective of outside observers.

 

Ultimately, Shuichi failed to prevent Scotch from doing himself in, and for Rei/Tooru, that's what mattered most. While Shiho/Ai accepted that there was nothing Shinichi/Conan could've done to save Akemi, this is nowhere near the case for Rei/Tooru.

[Kurara-chan 13]

This is a rare suicide case (a double one, to boot)... When was our last one?

 

It's nice to see a passionate but cunning one like Rei... Hopefully he can gain a better control over his emotions...

Heiji is too easily baited for me... 

[Serinox 127]

This is a rare suicide case (a double one, to boot)... When was our last one?

Chapters 906-908, the case with the three first discoverers.

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

This is a rare suicide case (a double one, to boot)... When was our last one?

 

And Rei's/Tooru's introduction, fittingly, before 906–908/792–793.

 

957 Spoiler Pics are out:

http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4489113649

 

EDIT:

957 is out:

http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4489644409

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

Abridged summary of flashback:

Scotch: "I'll kill you! I'll kill me!"
Akai: "I'm FBI. I'm here to rescue you!"
*Footsteps*
Scotch: "Oh shi-"
*bang*
Amuro: "NOOOOOOOOOOO"
Akai: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Or Kor's version:
Akai: "how cunning Scotch, pretending to be thrown aside by me and steal my gu-"
Scotch: "Are you... describing what just happened a moment ago...?"
---
Akai: "It's useless, if the revolver's cylinder is being grip-"
Scotch: "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TRYING TO TEACH ME ABOUT GUNS? PS FUCKING B DUDE!"

---

Kor: I'd like to think Akai has been doing this to Scotch from day one.

Akai: "That was a nice bass line, Scotch. You moved from the A to the B and then the C, and then you went back to the A and from there to the E and then the A again-"

Scotch: "please... shut up..."

But seriously some info about the file with translations by Black Demon and presumenothing:

Akai gives his true name to Scotch.

 

p12: Vermouth/Azusa: "But we still have no idea, right? Why KA in ASAKA was written 'CA'..."

Okuyasu: "Because he heard about her pregnancy at 'Asa Cafe' after pulling an overnighter... So the girl would be named 'Asaka'!" (note: kanji here is 朝香, not 浅香 as in the bodyguard's name, both pronounced Asaka) "If writing it in the alphabet, then take 'Ca' from 'Cafe' to make 'ASACA'..."

Vermouth/Azusa: "Oh, is that so? I get it!"

p12 Amuro: "But, since he told you even stuff like that, you must've been a good friend of his..." "But you turned on him, and pushed him to retire... could it be that you found out that his accompanying band had been recently arrested for involvement with drugs?"

President: "N-nothing like that..."

Vermouth: "Oh... as expected of your omniscience..."

Amuro: "The news broke online..."

Okiya (thinking): "As expected..." "As expected..."

(flashback) Akai: "As expected of you, Scotch... Pretending to be thrown aside by me, and taking the chance to steal my gun... Even though I'm not begging you to spare my life... But before you shoot me, will you hear me out?"
Scotch: "I-I didn't... steal your gun in order to shoot you... It was to... Do this!!" *Scotch points the revolver at himself. Shuuichi rushes forward and grabs the cylinder*
Akai: "It's useless... If a revolver's cylinder is being gripped... The trigger can't be pulled with a human's strength..."
p14: Akai "Give up on killing yourself, Scotch... You're not the type of man who should die here..."
Scotch: "What!?"
Akai "I'm an infiltrator from the FBI, Akai Shuuichi... I'm a wolf who wants to bite down tightly on those guys, just like you... Well, if you understand, then let go of the gun and listen to me... To allow you, one person, to escape isn't difficult at all..."

Scotch: "O-okay..."

*Amuro's footsteps*

*Scotch manages to pull the trigger despite Shuuichi's earlier speech*

Akai: (thinking) "So that's how it is... he snatched the gun... In order to destroy this, huh.. *Shuuichi holding Scotch's mobile*
p15: Akai (thinking) "There's probably data on his family and partners... On this handphone..."

 

Page 15: Rei: "That high collar... Even though I'm really eager to pull it down right here... But never mind... There will be one day...

Page 16: Ran: "–or should I say, you... are not Azusa-san, right? You're probably... that time from before... called me Angel..."
Vermouth: "I've already told you, Ran-chan... You shouldn't get further involved in this... Because you're my treasure..."
Ran: "T... treasure?"
Vermouth: "That's right... [One of] the only two in this world..."

[detConShin 0]

Wow!

Vermouth did not even try to protect her identity        

[Rohan136 1]

Edit: One thing I forgot is that many people are accusing Amuro of irrationally hanging on to his resentment after finding out Akai didn't kill Scotch in cold blood because Amuro now thinks that Akai could have gotten Scotch out of the situation alive. While I don't disagree about Amuro being rather unreasonable, remember Akai did pull off a fabulous fake death plan so Amuro's frustration is sort of justified. Amuro just doesn't know Conan was the mastermind. Sometimes people just become hysterical when someone they deeply care about dies, and unfortunately Gosho seems portray the feeling ham-handedly to the detriment of the likability of the character. Jodie's complete loss of composure, independence, and detective skill when Akai died is a prime example.

Amuro most definitely is aware that Conan is the master mind behind Akai's fake death. Because, when he goes to meet Okiya at his house, he says that what Akai said was, "Who ... would have thought that it would come to this." and he points out to Okiya, that what Akai meant to say was, "Who, but him, would have thought that it would come to this. Those were words of admiration for that boy, the one who put it together" and he thinks about Conan. So, yes he knows about Conan's intellect, but no, Amuro isn't being too irrational in his resentment. He feels that since Akai knew about Scotch's real identity, he could have really tried to save him - to stop him from taking his own life, but even standing right in front of him, he is unable to do much about it. He probably doesn't realise that the sound of his footsteps could have triggered Scotch's reaction. 

 

Hopefully, in the next 50 chapters somewhere, we will see the talk between Conan and Okiya occurring about Conan's identity and Akai's dad. And hopefully about his mom too. Wonder though if Akai and Sera will talk. Seems like he wants to hide it from even them that he's alive.

[moonlightluna 0]

Oookaaayy... looks like Vermouth's 2 treasures are Shinichi/Conan and Ran.

 

Who here thinks that she'll die betraying the Organization and successfully protecting Conan and Ran? Conan is a huge threat and she had let him live several times by now, and she is totally unwilling to drag any more of her former acquaintances (like Yukiko) to her mess...

[gas057 19]

Oookaaayy... looks like Vermouth's 2 treasures are Shinichi/Conan and Ran.

 

Who here thinks that she'll die betraying the Organization and successfully protecting Conan and Ran? Conan is a huge threat and she had let him live several times by now, and she is totally unwilling to drag any more of her former acquaintances (like Yukiko) to her mess...

She will definitely go against the BO but I don't think she'll die, probs just take on a new identity

(I don't think gosho will kill off anyone important who's a good guy)

[EthanHunter 7]

*Scotch points the revolver at himself. Shuuichi rushes forward and grabs the cylinder*

Akai: "It's useless... If a revolver's cylinder is being gripped... The trigger can't be pulled with a human's strength..."

 

*Amuro's footsteps*

*Scotch manages to pull the trigger despite Shuuichi's earlier speech*

 

Okay lol that was probably the most ridiculous scene in DC history hahaha xD

I wonder why Akai isn't sharing this with Amuro... there are two possible reasons

1) What Gosho wants us to think- Amuro would feel guilty

2) What I think- Amuro would think Akai is a complete noob who knows nothing about guns =.=

 

I am sure Gosho will come up with an explanation(or at least I home) but I mean come on the gun was literally in Akai's hands, stop acting cool and just snatch it from him... 

What's more? Apparently it was Akai who had the gun at first, but Scotch snatched it from him, so no wonder Bourbon thinks it's largely Akai's fault. I guess this does kinda show Scotch was more experienced than Akai, he stole his gun and even pulled the trigger, not sure if this has any meaning though. Anyway this Scotch-Akai conflict turned out to be kind of ridiculous in my opinion.

I wonder if Gosho will ever talk more about Scotch, because so far it seems the only reason of having Scotch was to make Bourbon hate Akai, because if they were friends things would go too smoothly.

Also for those who think some day Bourbon will accept Akai, I doubt it... going by the Gundam reference they would probably be eternal enemies.

Speaking of them, Bourbon is again suspecting Okiya, he is probably starting to understand he was fooled again by Conan, at least I will be looking forward to another scarlet showdown

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

Okay lol that was probably the most ridiculous scene in DC history hahaha xD

I wonder why Akai isn't sharing this with Amuro... there are two possible reasons

1) What Gosho wants us to think- Amuro would feel guilty

2) What I think- Amuro would think Akai is a complete noob who knows nothing about guns =.=

 

I am sure Gosho will come up with an explanation(or at least I home) but I mean come on the gun was literally in Akai's hands, stop acting cool and just snatch it from him... 

What's more? Apparently it was Akai who had the gun at first, but Scotch snatched it from him, so no wonder Bourbon thinks it's largely Akai's fault. I guess this does kinda show Scotch was more experienced than Akai, he stole his gun and even pulled the trigger, not sure if this has any meaning though. Anyway this Scotch-Akai conflict turned out to be kind of ridiculous in my opinion.

 

I don't think it would matter whether Rei/Tooru knew what happened or not—he'd still blame Shuichi for what happened (Either, "You forced Scotch to kill himself, you bastard!", or, "You let Scotch die, you bastard!").

 

I don't know why you're making a big deal about whose gun it was—again... either, "You forced Scotch to kill himself, you bastard!", or, "You let Scotch die, you bastard!"

 

Given that his mission was to infiltrate the Organization, Scotch must've been at least near the level of Shuichi and Rei—him grabbing Shuichi's gun should've been easier for him than it would've been for most others.

[MeiTanteixX 184]

Detective Conan FILE 957 Review/Discussion:

 

Case Discussion

 

Hado's stage hanging case finally gets its resolution, and as usual, Gosho manages to twist up the truth and surprise us at the end. It ended up being suicide and was disguised as murder by Enjo(below). It's funny how you think you've gone through all the possibilties, but you end up leaving a simple one such as this. I was first following the trail of it being suicide, then came the contradictions of it looking like an planned murder, so mixing them together ended up with what I wrote on the last review.

 

 

We also find out that the "ASACA" name of the song was based on the word "dawn"("asa") and "ca"(from "cafe") combined together. I actually thought that information on Hado sitting in a cafe, during dawn, in the past was too trivial that it had to be important and thought maybe he heard the name "Asaca" there, but it ended up being completely unrelated to the BO.

 

Plot Discussion

 

We start with entering the awaited flashback that reveals the truth between Akai and Scotch. We start with Scotch tricking Akai and stealing his gun in order to shoot himself(below). It would seem that Akai confronted him and as Scotch tried to resist and Akai thought he succeded in making him unconscious after a little struggle. From the look of the scenario and why they might be there, it looks like Scotch went up to the roof in order to jump off and kill himself. The fact that Scotch didn't have a gun on him indicates that he must have found out about his cover being blown(most likely through phone) while he was somewhere where a gun would be inconvenient or risky. He then hurried to the nearest high building to commit suicide, but got stopped by Akai. Akai must have been following him or got hints of where he could find him somehow. 

 

 

Then we come to the crucial moment where Akai revealed his true affiliation and that he wants to help him escape(below). It's interesting that I actually predicted this scene where Akai tries to make a deal with him, a long time ago(among ocean of errors ofc:http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12248&start=1215#p823585).

 

 

And now comes the tragic part,... where we found out that Scotch shot himself quickly after they both heard someone climbing up the stairs(below). We finally find out how Scotch died and that it was due to the misunderstanding of him thinking that the BO were coming, even though it actually was Rei(Bourbon), his ally. This is another scene that I called a long time ago(but under the assumption that Akai shot Scotch in self-defense). How Bourbon found them has to be by tracking the whereabouts of Scotch's phone, after getting the suicide text(FILE 954).

 

 

We find out that Scotch aimed to his heart in order to destroy his phone alongside with him, since it probably contained sensitive info of his identity, his family and PSB coworkers(below). The fact that he had his private phone with him further supports the fact that he was somewhere where a gun would be inconvenient, or risky, like with his family for example. A topic, that is up for discussion, is whether we will ever find out Scotch's true identity. It's certainly possible that we won't find out, since he might not be more relevant to the plot than this, but if Scotch's story ends up connecting to other stories, such as Kuroda, Rum or even the Hondou(if their resemblance means anything), we might find out his true identity. Since Scotch seems to have gotten his codename before Bourbon, if he was the one that shared the info of Vermouth's secret to Rei, we might get a chance to get more info on him. After that, Bourbon's resentment towards Akai grew from the belief that Akai caused Scotch's death(whether it's through forced suicide or not) since Akai took that "honor" himself.

 

 

After the flashback, we see a worrisome, but funny, scene where Bourbon says to Okiya(Akai) that he's dying to turn down the high collar in order to check if there's a voice-changing choker(below). Bourbon basically reveals that he is strongly suspicious of him and that he revived his suspicion of Okiya being Akai in disguise (just because he realized in FILE 955 that Okiya(Yusaku) from before was right-handed while the current Okiya(Akai) was a lefty). Gosho simply forshadowed a future confrontation between them, where Bourbon might find out that Akai didn't kill Scotch.

 

 

Here comes the juicy part of this chapter! another person who surprisingly revealed that she had a strong suspicion is Ran. We were teased that she thought something was suspicious with Azusa, who in fact is Vermouth in disguise, since she called Ran "angel", just like the "kidnapper"(Vermouth) from FILE 434. Ran just took the huge step of confronting Azusa(Vermouth) asking her if she's the "kidnapper"(below). That scene just rose Ran's character development to a new level and did her perceptiveness(which we have seen a lot of before Kir arc) justice.

 

 

Vermouth gives her the most heart-melting answer that further provides us with in-depth look into her character and her feelings. She answers Ran with that she should stop digging any deeper and enter her world, because of the danger that awaits, and that Ran is her treasure(below). She then follows up her touching answer, in her mind, that Shinichi and Ran are the only treasures she has in this world(below). Getting this development of Ran and Vermouth was the best thing we could ask for after they appeared in the same case for the first time and I certainly see hope for Ran's future development and involvement in the main plot(like towards FILE 434).

Judging by the side-note(below), it looks like we might get a Heiji case, since Gosho even mentioned about a romance comedy being involved in FILE 958.

 

 

[Shinan-Kudogawa 26]

Since the chapters are out.. OK so we know that Vermouth's only 'treasures' are Ran and Shinichi, just to what extent does she hates the Org. She is obedient but acts to her own thoughts, hated by most members, and have a relationship to Anokata. So Anokata is no 'treasure' of her, meaning she is more of a family member mostly a sister or daughter more than anything (assuming human cloning is not probable in DC)..

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

And now comes the tragic part,... where we found out that Scotch shot himself quickly after they both heard someone climbing up the stairs(below). We finally find out how Scotch died and that it was due to the misunderstanding of him thinking that the BO were coming, even though it actually was Rei(Bourbon), his ally. This is another scene that I called a long time ago(but under the assumption that Akai shot Scotch in self-defense). How Bourbon found them has to be by tracking the whereabouts of Scotch's phone, after getting the suicide text(FILE 954).

 

 

We find out that Scotch aimed to his heart in order to destroy his phone alongside with him, since it probably contained sensitive info of his identity, his family and PSB coworkers(below). The fact that he had his private phone with him further supports the fact that he was somewhere where a gun would be inconvenient, or risky, like with his family for example. A topic, that is up for discussion, is whether we will ever find out Scotch's true identity. It's certainly possible that we won't find out, since he might not be more relevant to the plot than this, but if Scotch's story ends up connecting to other stories, such as Kuroda, Rum or even the Hondou(if their resemblance means anything), we might find out his true identity. Since Scotch seems to have gotten his codename before Bourbon, if he was the one that shared the info of Vermouth's secret to Rei, we might get a chance to get more info on him. After that, Bourbon's resentment towards Akai grew from the belief that Akai caused Scotch's death(whether it's through forced suicide or not) since Akai took that "honor" himself.

 

 

 

What do you think will happen if Rei/Tooru finds out Scotch shot himself because he ran up the stairs?

 

Shuichi/Dai is kind of to blame for Scotch's death—he evidently got distracted enough for his grip to loosen to the point where Scotch could pull the trigger. This is why I think Rei/Tooru will still blame Shuichi, in addition to coming to blame himself.

 

Scotch was the one who misunderstood the situation—and who could blame him? Neither he nor Shuichi/Dai knew who was coming up those stairs.