The Traveling Drama Troupe Murder Case
Contents
Characters introduced
| Tamanosuke Ito | |
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| Megumi Ito | |
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Cast
Gadgets
Case
Situation
Part 1
While in the classroom one day, several female Teitan High School students, including Ran and Sonoko, gather around the new transfer student, Tamanosuke Ito, as he answers questions about his drama troupe. Sonoko shows everyone a flyer advertising the troupe's production and reads aloud that the show will be the first public performance run by Tamanosuke since becoming the troupe's second ringleader. Tamanosuke confirms this, later explaining that his troupe travels around the entire country and was previously in Beika two years prior when his father was the ringleader. When Ran mentions that she heard his father passed away, Tamanosuke confirms that the previous ringleader died of a disease the previous year. When his father died, half the troupe subsequently left, making transition very challenging. Sonoko volunteers herself and Ran to distribute the troupe's flyers so that Tamanosuke can concentrate on practicing for the big show.
Later, at the Mouri Detective Agency, Sonoko tries convincing Kogoro with a sob story to help Ran and her pass out flyers for Tamanosuke, but the plan backfires as he believes that Tamanosuke is taking advantage of the girls. When Sonoko comes clean and tells him that she offered to help him so that she and Ran could get close to him and go backstage, Kogoro tells them to instead study for school if they have time for such a thing. As the two girls head out to get the flyers, Sonoko tells him not to worry because Tamanosuke is honest and good looking, which makes him a good person, also adding that Ran will punch him if anything happens. When Conan and the Detective Boys ask to go as well, Sonoko tells them to wait until the performance. When the door closes, all four children simply smirk at the idea of listening to what they were told to do. After arriving at the theatre, Sonoko decides to go in the front door, despite being told earlier to enter through the back. Ran attempts to change her mind, but to no avail. Once inside, the two girls see a man and woman onstage practicing for the show and applaud them for their routine. When Tamanosuke welcomes them both, Ran and Sonoko apologize for intruding, as do the Detective Boys who snuck in too. An upset Sonoko scolds them for not listening, but Tamanosuke simply welcomes the children and thanks the girls for bringing them. He goes on to introduce everyone to the performers on stage: Ryuichi Muraki, age 26, playing the role of Edo Boy, and Yuri Shirai, age 22, who plays the main heroine. Sonoko introduces herself and Ran to the onstage performers and explain that they are passing out the flyers. She then tells Muraki that he had amazing moves, which he and Yuri explain are necessary in order to remain in the troupe. As Tamanosuke begins to take Ran, Sonoko, and the Detective Boys backstage, Muraki tells him to hurry back with the script because the show is in two days. Sonoko and Ran apologize for upsetting things and tell Muraki that they’ll be gone as soon as they get the flyers.
Backstage, Tamanosuke tells everyone not to take that to heart and that the script is finally finished. A concerned Sonoko asks whether that will be enough time, to which Tamanosuke admits that there is a lot to still get done and not much time left to practice. Suddenly, a door opens and out comes a little girl. Tamanosuke introduces her as his Megumi Ito, his little sister. Megumi tells them that her brother is unreliable and makes her worry. As Tamanosuke laughs it off, she states that his personality has pushed the troupe to its limits and that he no longer has time to talk to girls anymore. Sonoko tries to defend him by saying that they are all helping him by choice, but Megumi says she will take over for Tamanosuke so that he can get back to work. As her brother leaves to get the script, Megumi takes an immediate liking to Conan and rushes to his side. Ayumi butts herself in between the two and asks her how she knows his name. When Megumi explains that she transferred into Teitan Elementary School, Genta suddenly recalls her visiting their classroom. Megumi tells everyone that while she is in class C, she immediately took notice of Conan because he resembles her brother when he was younger. After rushing over to cling to Conan, she offers to bring everyone to Tamanosuke’s room to see the photo of him as a kid. Sonoko bursts out into laughter after seeing how jealous Ayumi was and says that Conan has become popular.
In Tamanosuke’s room, Megumi begins going through the unpacked baggage to find the photo of her brother as a kid. The photo of a young Tamanosuke dressed as a geisha catches Conan off guard, thinking to himself that he looks nothing like that. Ayumi and Sonoko both find the photo adorable, while Genta observes that Tamanosuke looks like a doll. The only one to see any resemblance of Conan turns out to be Ran. When Ayumi begins tugging at Conan’s arm, saying that he would look cute all dressed up like that, Megumi looks on with jealousy and takes Conan off to the makeup room. An increasingly upset Ayumi, along with Mitsuhiko and Genta, quickly follow along while Ran and Sonoko take their time.
When Megumi, still clung onto Conan, and everyone reach their destination, they notice a woman inside who Megumi introduces as Itoe Ogara, the troupe’s treasurer. After asking if they can use the room, Itoe tells Megumi that they need to be brief. As she leaves the room, Itoe asks Megumi if Conan is her boyfriend. Megumi enjoys the question almost as much as Conan dislikes it. Ayumi, however, quickly interjects, “No way!” Itoe apologizes to Ayumi, stating that Conan must be her boyfriend, to which Sonoko smirks in the back as Megumi glares at Ayumi. After Itoe leaves, the Detective Boys, minus Conan, play dress up with the Geisha props. When Megumi tries forcing the detective to join in, Conan attempts to hide behind Ran and asks her if they can leave. Ran, however, picks up Conan and puts her back in Megumi’s reach, telling him that he needs to try everything. As the Detective Boys try makeup while Megumi tries putting a wig on Conan, the building shakes, causing the lipstick to smear all over Mitsuhiko’s face. Everyone stops what they are doing and rush into the hall.
Meanwhile, Tamanosuke is thrown out of a room and into the hallway where he slams into a wall. Muraki and Yuri both rush from the stage to see what’s going on, the former rushing to the ringleader who was sprawled out on the floor. When Megumi, Conan, Ran, Sonoko, and the Detective Boys reach the hallway and see Tamanosuke on the ground, Megumi rushes over to her brother’s side. When his sister asks him if he’s okay, Tamanosuke tells Megumi he is fine, all the while gasping for breath. While the visitors look on in shock, Itoe returns from her office in complete shock. Muraki yells at the man, Tetsuo Chikaishi, who threw Tamanosuke, asking him what he meant by a disagreement over the script. Chikaishi responds by stating that he finished the script and is in the process of printing it out, but that Tamanosuke requested he rewrite the ending. The writer defends his actions by saying that he was simply trying to scare the ringleader, stating that the boy has no way of understanding society at such a young age. Looking for agreement, he asks a second man in the room, Kenzo Tajima, who simply glares back at Chikaishi. Noticing that his cigar had run out, the writer throws a bag of coins to Tajima and tells him to go buy cigarettes. Although Yuri offers to do the task for him, Tajima simply complies.
Once Tajima has left, Megumi tells Chikaishi that he had too far this time, leading her brother to try and calm her down. Tamanosuke asks why the ending can’t be rewritten, to which the writer answers, “Fact is fact, fiction is fiction. You can’t mix it together.” The young ringleader chooses to give in, thanking the writer for his hard work and telling everyone that they need to go rehearse. Although Muraki, Yuri, Megumi, and Itoe all rush to his aid when he struggles to get to his feet, Tamanosuke tells them that he’ll go to his room for a bit. Megumi lends herself for support as the two siblings head for the ringleader’s room. Conan thinks to himself that age aside, there was no need for Tamanosuke to get so agitated; the little detective believes there is more to the story than the ringleader let on.
Later, Conan entered the room where Chikaishi was working. As the young detective puts on his child façade, Conan speaks out loud about how surprising it is that the script prints out so slowly. When the printer finished, he grabbed the script and began to skim it, all the while being stared at in confusion by Chikaishi. Conan reads the title aloud as “Kaito Edo Boy”, surprising himself for real this time. The writer confirms what Conan is thinking, telling him that the current day thief inspired him to write the script. Suddenly, Itoe take the script from Conan, however, and goes to photocopy it per Tamanosuke’s request. As Chikaishi closes his laptop and pulls out a disk, he notices the Detective Boys reading through his notebook compiled of notes on Edo Boy. When Ayumi asks Conan who Edo Boy is, he tells everyone that he is a nationally famous thief that recently appeared near Tokyo just half a year prior. Conan goes on to say that Edo Boy is a new-age thief that escapes via rooftops or jumping around off as if he was weightless, a talent that would later earn him the name “Flying Kid” from the police.
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Conan asks Chikaishi if he is right, later stating how some of the people in the troupe could do acrobatics similar to that of Edo Boy. Getting straight to the point, the young detective asks if Edo Boy is somebody in the troupe. Chikaishi confirms the theory, stating that the troupe travels all around Japan to perform. When Muraki and Yuri suddenly appear at the doorway of the room, Chikaishi blurts out that Muraki had once been questioned by the police. Yuri looks away and chooses to leave the room, shortly followed by a glaring Muraki. Chikaishi then claims that he understands why the ringleader would want the troupe to do a performance based on Edo Boy, which is why he did so much research himself, and that the data concerning everything is on the laptop. When Ran and Sonoko pop their heads in the room calling for Conan, the writer tells the kids to get out. Once the door closed, Ran comments about how much trouble Chikaishi made for Tamanosuke. When Conan asks where he is, Ran says that Tamanosuke is resting from such a big shock. Ran then says that is time to go, with Sonoko adding in that they got the flyers. Conan says he and the Detective Boys don’t want to leave yet, but Sonoko tells them that they have to help distribute the flyers. As Sonoko leads the way, Conan mentions that the exit is in the other direction. She claims that by going through the backstage, it’s quicker to get to the station, leading the Detective Boys to discuss what kind of food they want Sonoko to buy them there.
At the station, while Ran and Sonoko are busy handing out flyers to people, Conan puts his stack into a brochure kiosk and runs toward towards the theatre in an attempt to sneak away. However, predicting Conan’s actions, the Detective Boys soon follow. Despite his best efforts to ditch the three children, Conan gives in and simply allows them to tag along. Upon returning to the theatre, Megumi runs into the hall wearing her costume for the play where she notices the visibly shocked Detective Boys. Pleased that they hadn’t gone home yet, Megumi asks Conan if she looks pretty and that she will be practicing soon. When Conan asks where the ringleader is, Tamanosuke walks out of the same run his sister came from, also in performance attire. Unlike with Megumi, the Detective Boys all think Tamanosuke’s costume looks cool. Conan asks the ringleader if he plays the role of the boss in the performance, to which Tamanosuke confirms, noting that their rehearsal is about to begin. When he offers the children the chance to watch them practice, Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko all accept.
When the Detective Boys arrive at the stage, they are shocked at all the props and decoration, with Ayumi even noting the similarity between the set and dramas she had seen on television. As Ayumi walks around the stage admiring the props, Tamanosuke arrives and yells to Ayumi to be careful and not stand there. Unsure of what was so dangerous, Ayumi notices a hole and loses her balance. While she does fall, Ayumi lands on the stage instead of in the hole, shortly toppled on by Conan and Mitsuhiko, both of whom had jumped over to save her. When Ayumi asks why there was a hole on stage, Tamanosuke apologizes for not warning them and tells her that it leads the stage basement. Running on to the stage from the other side, Tajima tells them to be careful, noting that it would have been a disaster if she fell. Both Tamanosuke and Ayumi apologize just as Muraki, dressed for his role as Edo Boy, comes up from the stage basement on a motorized platform, causing the Detective Boys to fall back from shock, only to later comment on how cool the thief costume looked. Once the platform reached stage level, Muraki pressed stop on his stop watch, reading aloud that the mechanism took 1 minute and 40 seconds, far too slow for the performance. Megumi then explains to Conan that the platform can rise faster if they chose, leading for a grand appearance or disappearance by the thief during the show with the help of other stage effects. After the brief explanation, she asks Conan if he’ll help her out of the costume later, stating she can’t change quickly by herself. Tamanosuke bops her on the head, asking how she could say such a disgraceful thing. He then asks his sister to bring the children to their seats in the audience. Ayumi rushes over to sit with Conan, making a sound of disapproval towards Megumi for clinging onto Conan again, while Genta and Mitsuhiko sit in the row behind. After being reminded that she still needed to practice by Genta, Megumi tells Conan to watch her during the show before rushing back on stage. As Megumi rushed back to practice, Conan wonders what Chikaishi changed the ending of the play to.
Conan then narrates the play in brief, first informing the viewers that Tamanosuke played as Officer Itarou while Megumi played as the officer’s assistant. The two had been following Edo Boy, who had gone all over Japan committing crimes, until they narrowed his location down to a drama troupe. However, Edo Boy was someone else; the person that Itarou killed was innocent. In the end, the troupe continued to travel on a new journey. Following the rehersal, Megumi yells out to Conan, asking him how it went. Ayumi and Mitsuhiko both yell out that it was great. After asking her brother if she could get her friends juice, Megumi starts to run off stage when Tamanosuke asks her to bring Chikaishi back with her. When Megumi gets to Chikaishi’s door, she knocks and calls out for him, but he doesn’t respond. Thinking that he’s asleep, Megumi opens the door and enters the room and sees him on the ground unmoving. Her screams grab the attention of Conan, the Detective Boys, and her brother, as well as the cast, who all rush to her aid. When they arrive at the room, Megumi crawls over to her brother, crying that Chikaishi is dead.
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Conan observes the body and notices that the victim was struck on the back of the head. A shattered vase lying next to the body leads Conan to wonder if it is the murderer’s weapon. After sending someone to call the police, Tamanosuke begins to shake, a reaction that Conan notices and considers strange. The ringleader pulls himself together and rushes to the laptop where he notices that the disk is missing. As Tamanosuke frantically searches, Conan and the cast all look on shock. When Megumi asks her brother what’s wrong, he suddenly calms down and tells her that he’s fine, but when Muraki asks if something is gone after noticing how messed up the room is, Tamanosuke tells him that nothing is gone. Conan, who saw the disk earlier, wonders why the ringleader is hiding the fact that the disk was missing.
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Later, the police arrive at the theatre. Ran and Kogoro quickly run past the check-point holding off the crowd and enter the building. Meanwhile, Inspector Megure begins to question the troupe. When asked for confirmation from the ringleader that the victim in question was the troupe’s writer, Tetsuo Chikaishi, age 35, Tamanosuke nods in assurance, just as Ran and Kogoro arrive at the stage. Ran runs over to Conan and scolds him for leaving without telling her anything, to which the young detective apologizes. Kogoro then runs over to Inspector Megure and is asked what exactly happened. The famous detective explains that the victim was estimated to have died an hour prior and was most likely murdered by somebody within the troupe. Giving a sigh of agreement, the inspector then asks Tamanosuke where exactly everyone had been within the past hour. While the ringleader hesitates to respond, Megumi runs to his defense, clinging onto his arm as she tells the police that everyone had been on stage rehearsing the performance. Thinking to himself, Conan agrees with Megumi, adding that because he was sitting in the audience, he could see each and every movement on the stage. Continuing on, Conan notes that as it was only a practice run, all members of the troupe would remain backstage if they were not in a particular scene, meaning that the only time people were out of sight was when they were changing.
Megure’s continued investigation leads him to question Muraki, who had been alone in the basement during the play just before his grand entrance on stage as Edo Boy. Muraki confirms this, but also adds that another member of the troupe was watching the entire show backstage, providing him with an alibi. Conan speculates to himself that whoever the killer was, they stole the disk and managed to hide it before returning to the stage. Realizing that nobody had mentioned the disk yet to Megure, Conan blurts out that the inspector needed to find it and then tests the reaction of Tamanosuke by asking the ringleader to confirm this, which results in another shaking fit. As Conan continues to think about the case more, he begins to wonder if someone else hid the disk in place of the killer. Either way, the young detective is positive that the culprit is one of the troupe members.
Part 2
The Detective Boys and Megumi are watching a news report from the troupe’s hotel room on Chikaishi’s death, with the reporter stationed right outside the building. When the reporter mentions the ringleader, Tamanosuke, was currently being questioned at the station, Megumi turns off the television out of frustration. Coincidently, Yuri excitedly opens the door to the room with the children to give Megumi good news: Tamanosuke had returned. As Megumi runs out to greet her brother, Tamanosuke walks down the hallway with support from Tajima, least he fall to the ground again. When Yuri asks the ringleader how he’s feeling, Tamanosuke says he is fine, much to the shock of Tajima, who then asks how he could be fine after going the night without any sleep. The innkeeper tells Tamanosuke he can sleep well tonight, with his wife adding on that the troupe should treat the inn as they would their own home. Tamanosuke, feeling guilty after receiving such warm hospitality, apologizes for being a burden, to which the owner shrugs off, stating that he and his wife are old friends of the previous ringleader. Meanwhile, as the Detective Boys listen in from the stairs, Conan wears a continued glare on his face.
That night, Tamanosuke sneaks out of the inn alone, only to be followed by his worried little sister. As she continues to follow him, Megumi sees her brother enter the theatre building, where just hours earlier the murder had taken place. As she wonders out loud why Tamanosuke would be going to the theatre at such a late hour, Conan asks her the very same question. Startling Megumi, she begins to speak louder, prompting Conan to tell her to be quiet. After a brief conversation, the chairman’s sister asks Conan why he’s at the theatre himself. Claiming that he’s worried about her brother as well, Conan asks her if she can just leave the cases to himself. Megumi, visibly upset by the mere suggestion of going home, accuses Conan of trying to ditch her, which Conan tries to laugh off. In a final ditch effort, he tells her that children shouldn’t be outside so late at night, causing Megumi to point out that he’s not much older than she is.
Just as Conan and Megumi enter the theatre building through the same door Tamanosuke had previously gone through, somebody knocks someone out with a crowbar out of sight of the two kids. At the sound of the body and crowbar falling to the ground, Conan and Megumi rush onto the stage. When the shine from Conan’s flashlight illuminates the body lying on the ground, the two children stop out of shock. The body lying on the ground, with blood dripping from the top of his head, is none other than Tamanosuke.
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As Megumi rushes to her brother’s side, Conan assumes that the criminal can’t have gotten far. Conan, rushing across the stage to find the culprit, tells Megumi to go and call an ambulance, just as he suddenly loses his balance in front of the stage hole. Falling, Conan grasps to the side of the hole, with part of his body dangling down into the dark crevice. Managing to pull himself back up, Megumi rushes over to aid him, but is reassured by Conan stating that he’s alright. However, just then, he looks down the hole and notices a body lying at the bottom of the stage basement. Conan calls out to the body of Itoe Ogiwara, but to no avail; with a puddle of blood already surrounding her head, it’s too late.
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After calling the police and an ambulance, Tamanosuke is put onto a stretcher and carried into the ambulance. Conan narrates that the ringleader and been attacked in the back of the head and fallen unconscious. As Megumi enters the ambulance to be by her brother’s side and the vehicle drives off to the hospital, Conan continues on to state that Itoe had fallen to her death. Walking past, Detective Takagi and Inspecter Megure, both looking on as a member of the CSI photographs the crime scene, Conan notices a note on the ground. Curious, the young detective takes a look, reading, “Itoe, I know your true face! Meet me on the stage at midnight.” As Conan ponders the meaning of the letter, Takagi alerts Megure to another note, this time being clutched by the deceased Itoe. Realizing that the two notes are identical, Conan shows Megure the letter he found. As the police inspecter wonders aloud what the two notes mean, Kogoro enters the crime scene and is shocked to see Conan. While Megure explains to Kogoro that Conan had been the first to witness the body, the young detective suddenly notices small splints of wood surrounding the victim’s body. Attempting to investigate further, Conan is grabbed by Kogoro who scolds him for being up so late at night.
The next morning, at the Mouri Detective Agency, Sonoko demands an explanation from Kogoro after he claims that Tamanosuke is the prime suspect. With her bouquet of flowers in hand, Sonoko chides the great detective for suspecting somebody that is in the hospital with serious injuries. Kogoro admits that he doesn’t understand either, but goes on to state that Tamanosuke’s fingerprints were found on the weapon, which leads Conan to ask if any other fingerprints were found. The great detective answers that while other troupe member’s prints were found, none of the other fingerprints matched the deceased Itoe Itoe Ogiwara’s. After laying out the previous evidence, Kogoro theorizes that Itoe had gone to attack Tamanosuke, who in self-defense knocked the careless troupe treasurer into the basement. Sonoko quickly jumps to the defense of the ringleader, stating that he would never want to kill someone. As she and Ran begin to leave for the hospital to deliver the flowers, Kogoro claims that Tamanosuke is currently rejecting all visitors, as he is an important suspect. Despite his warning, Ran and Sonoko decide to at least deliver the flowers to Megumi, who should be at her brother’s side. Kogoro tells them to be quick because Tamanosuke is currently still in a coma, which Conan reacts to the mention of. Sonoko argues that the thought counts, however, sticking her tongue out as she closes the door behind her.
Deep in thought, Conan suddenly asks Kogoro why Tamanosuke was considered an important suspect if he himself was knocked out in the back of the head. To explain Conan’s question, Kogoro states that doctors did not find many external injuries and currently believe that the coma could have been induced by mental fatigue. Conan finally understands the logic, thinking to himself that Tamanosuke could have been overwhelmed by how he would escape after doing something wrong. Kogoro then brings up the topic of the two notes found at the crime scene, announcing to the Detective Boys that both notes were confirmed to be written by Tamanosuke. Going even further, he explains that every single member of the troupe and been given a piece of paper by the ringleader with the same exact message. Conan questions why Tamanosuke was looking into Itoe’s past, to which Kogoro has no answer. He does, however, note that Itoe had embezzled large sums of money from the troupe’s treasury. As Conan questions whether Tamanosuke would have really needed to kill her for that, Kogoro tells the child to bring him a beer. With the mood now ruined, Conan reminds him that it isn’t dark yet, which Kogoro simply laughs off. After bringing him the beer and a snack, Conan asks whether or not Chikaishi’s disk had been found. Annoyed by the question when trying to enjoy his beer, Kogoro tells Conan that the disk had been found in the trashcan of Tamanosuke’s room with all of the data having been erased. Finally fed up with all the questions, Kogoro tells the children to head outside and play, but later regrets it when he wants another beer and no one is around to get it.
At the theatre stage, the Detective Boys begin to investigate the source of the wood splints surrounding Itoe when her body was discovered. With no luck around the stage hole, Conan rushes to where the wood is stored. Mitsuhiko hypothesizes Itoe was killed elsewhere and then dumped into the basement afterwards. As Mitsuhiko explains his theory aloud, Conan discovers a wood matching the exact color of the splints in the basement. While Conan notices that the wood was a three-prong split, Genta begins to pull it out from where it had been hidden. After the wood is pulled out completely, Conan notices not only that it was broken in two rather forcibly, but that several blood stains are located near the breaking point. After putting the two halves together, Conan notices that the wood is larger than the stage hole. Genta claims that the wood was used for a trap, to which Conan agrees. The young detective explains that the three-prong board is 0.3 cm thick and was split a few times in between in order to quickly put the two halves together again, allowing a person to unknowingly walk on top of the board without the aid of lights to see and fall to their death. Mitsuhiko then adds that the killer quickly hid the two pieces of wood out of sight. When Ayumi concludes that Tamanosuke then knocked himself out, Conan disagrees with her, stating that he and Megumi had been following the young ringleader as soon as he left the inn, meaning that he wouldn’t have had time to set up the trap. Conan thinks to himself momentarily, only to quickly realize something urgent and start running off stage, telling the Detective Boys that they have to hurry. When Genta asks why, Conan explains that Tamanosuke is in danger because the killer is someone else.
Meanwhile, in a police cruiser, Megure is in the middle of a phone conversation with Kogoro, the former claiming to understand what had been previously mentioned (unknown to the viewer). As Takagi continues to drive the vehicle, Megure finishes the phone call by stating that he will arrange what Kogoro had requested. Unbeknownst to Megure, the person on the other end of the phone was Conan using his voice-changing tie. When the call ends, Conan begins to run down a street when his Detective Boys badge starts to ring. Answering the call, Conan hears Ayumi’s voice. She, along with Genta and Mitsuhiko, is stationed in the hallway just outside of the troupe member’s bedrooms. Ayumi reports that all members had been accounted for. Going into detail, she first states that Mr. Tajima, with the room closest to the stairs, is watching television and resting. Continuing on, Ayumi reports that Yuri is in the next room, doing her laundry. Lastly, Muraki, currently staying in the deceased Chikaishi’s room, is cleaning the room. With her report finished, Conan tells Ayumi that the three of them can go home and ends the call. The Detective Boys, however, have no intention of going home.
As Conan reaches Beika Central Hospital, where Tamanosuke is being treated, someone begins to walk down the hallway in the direction of the ringleader’s room. The police officer on guard duty looks up from his paper and, believing him to be a doctor, allows the person in the room. After shutting the door, the fake doctor slowly walks to Tamanosuke’s beside, with both arms out and ready to strangle the currently comatose ringleader.
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Just as he reaches the bed, however, a loud voice tells the fake doctor to stop. Suddenly, the police, including a fake Tamaonsuke used as a decoy, several officers hidden inside the room, and Megure suddenly entering from the hallway, attempt to surround the culprit. Before the police can apprehend the culprit, however, the fake doctor breaks though the glass window and jumps. Megure, thinking the culprit had committed suicide, is shocked to see him throw a rope around a pipe from the building while in midair and successfully use it to jump down the wall. Conan, hiding in the bushes, completely shocked by the development, kicks his soccer balls at the culprit just as he lands on the ground. Instead of dodging or getting hit by the ball, the culprit jumps over it and escapes into town. While attempting to chase the fake doctor, Conan discovers after watching the culprit’s moves that he is Edo Boy, meaning that the thief really was someone in the troupe after all. Connecting the dots, Conan realizes that Tamanosuke had chosen the play in order to flush the thief out. In addition, Chikaishi had known the thief was in the troupe long before the ringleader had, meaning that the scriptwriter must have been blackmailing whichever troupe member was Edo Boy. Due to the blackmailing and evidence Chikaishi had built up, the thief killed him and deleted the data on the disk. After the murder, Tamanosuke felt like he was to blame, so the ringleader sent out the letters to everyone in the troupe.
After the attempt to capture the culprit at the hospital failed, Megure, Takagi, and Kogoro went back to the inn the next morning to meet with the troupe members. Knocking on the door closest to the stairs first, Megure asked Tajima if he had gone anywhere during the night. A shocked Tajima shakes his head, telling the inspector that he hadn’t left. The Detective Boys, still in stakeout mode, confirm that Tajima had not left his room. The three children explain that they had been there all night long. An upset Kogoro deduces that Conan must have done the same, to which the young detective denies as he enters the building and walks up the stairs. Conan thinks to himself that the three of them inadvertently provided everyone in the troupe with an alibi. After realizing who Edo Boy is, Conan wonders what to do without any solid evidence. When the three Detective Boys are then escorted back home via police cruiser, Genta and Mitsuhiko get excited to ride with the police while Ayumi admits she is jealous that Conan got to stay at the investigation. Mitsuhiko explains that Conan only got to stay because his guardian, Kogoro, is staying as well. Meanwhile, Kogoro, who is served drinks by the innkeeper’s wife, tries to get her to relax and drink with him. Humored, the woman tells him that she can’t drink on the job. All the while, Megure attempts to interrogate the troupe members in an adjacent room but can’t concentrate with all the noise from Kogoro. As Conan thinks to himself that Kogoro doesn’t have the time to drink at the moment, he reacts to his own mention of the word time. Thinking back to when Chikaishi was killed, Conan realizes that only two people would have had the time to murder the scriptwriter. Putting into consideration that the culprit had enough strength to knock out Tamanosuke, Conan finally solves the case.
