Taku Itakura was definitely not dead. In fact, it could be said that not only was he alive, but most of the condition he had displayed that morning—looking as though he was about to breathe his last—had been achieved through masterful special-effects makeup rather than illness.
As for the method, Hirotsugu Morofushi's account made it easy to see: it was standard Cognitive Science grafting technology.
"He had tried to kill Taku Itakura himself. In his own Palace, there had to be a Taku Itakura here who was already at death's door, restrained and unable to move." During the preliminary planning for the operation, Tangze had guessed, "Although he was about to become Taku Itakura's murderer, this room still wasn't a place he knew or could control. It belonged to Taku Itakura, making it a relatively weak area. This plan had an eighty-percent chance of working."
"You're the expert in this area. If you think it'll work, there's no need for us to rule on it." Hirotsugu Morofushi, who would be carrying out the operation, said, "The only issue is the difference in perception between the two sides."
In the killer's eyes, he had found the hotel where Taku Itakura was hiding two days ago and attacked him. Between midnight and dawn, before meeting up with Mori Kogoro, he had returned to Taku Itakura's room to confirm the results of his work, destroy traces and evidence, then casually joined the detective's clients and returned to the hotel with the others.
But in the eyes of the Organization watchers who had taken part in the offline campaign demanding updates, not long after he acted, Kumeru had found Taku Itakura's location. After some gentle persuasion, twenty-four hours, a keyboard, a computer, and a miracle later, Kumeru had obtained what he wanted. He had