Hyota Nagase, 25 years old, is a professional wrestler by occupation.
His strength is outstanding, and he is a highly popular athlete who has been gaining popularity recently.
The other party, however, is the deceased in this case.
As Senichi has a bad premonition in his heart, the ringing of the phone echoes like the tolling of a funeral bell.
Sure enough, the location reported in the alarm call is Tohto Sumo Stadium, which was just promoted in the recent variety show.
However, tonight's challenger athlete is gone, so naturally, the championship defense match has to be forcibly suspended.
"The deceased seems to have been stabbed with a knife..."
Senichi squatted next to the corpse and examined the wounds on the victim. "The deceased was stabbed three times in total, distributed on the back, chest, and abdomen... the most fatal wound should be the last one to the chest..."
"Eh? Senichi-kun, how do you know that the killer stabbed the chest last?" Inspector Megure asks in surprise.
"Oh, Inspector Megure, when you were outside contacting the person in charge earlier, the staff gave me the camera."
Senichi explains, "Nichiuri TV and Teito Pro Wrestlers collaborated, giving them exclusive broadcasting rights, and filming the reactions of the athletes in the dressing room was part of the shoot.
Originally, it was to capture the appearance of Nagase before the championship defense match, so a hidden camera was secretly set up in his dressing room.
But unexpectedly, it accidentally captured the scene of the murder."
"If it captured the perpetrator committing the crime, it's basically equivalent to solving the case." Inspector Megure said as Senichi brought out the camera and played the video of the previous crime.
But the perpetrator in the act, as seen in the video, is a man wearing a Wolf Face's mask.
This Wolf Face's mask is the symbol mask of the current heavyweight champion and the most popular masked wrestler. So far, no one has seen the real face of the man under the mask.
Originally, in today's championship defense match, if the deceased could win against the Wolf Face, the audience would be able to see his true face.
"In other words, this 'Wolf Face' chose to kill his formidable opponent before the match to protect his mask and championship.
However, he didn't expect that the television station would set up a hidden camera here for the purpose of shooting the program..." Inspector Megure speculated as he watched the video.
"Well, that's not necessarily true!" Suddenly, a cute child's voice sounds behind Inspector Megure, "Apart from the deceased, it seems that everyone else in the Teito Pro Wrestlers group knows about this planned activity!
And as long as the body type is similar, anyone can become the 'Wolf Face' by putting on that wolf face mask!
In other words..."
"The culprit is either the real 'Wolf Face' or a wrestler with a similar physique who intentionally framed the 'Wolf Face.'"
Before Conan could finish this comparison, Senichi preemptively spoke and took Conan's lines.
Conan, on the side, stared silently at Senichi, who had stolen his lines, but was soon met with a warning look from Senichi, causing Conan's momentarily floating attitude to instantly calm down.
Seeing Conan settle down, Senichi smiled and continued to explain to Inspector Megure, "So our workload is not as big as imagined. Firstly, this room is off-limits to the audience. Additionally, none of the staff members have such a robust physique, meaning only fellow wrestlers could have done it.
Furthermore, the weapon, gloves, and coat used by the culprit during the crime were all found in the restroom and sent for forensic analysis."
"So, all we need to do is call over wrestlers with a physique similar to the 'Wolf Face' " Inspector Megure said and looked at the captain of the Teito Pro Wrestlers Group beside him.
"Mr. Kiba, you heard what was just said. Please gather all the wrestlers with a physique similar to the 'Wolf Face.'"
"By the way, Conan, if you're here, it means Detective Mouri is also here, right?"
Although Senichi had a questioning tone, his expression was incredibly confident. And as his words fell, the triumphant voice of Kogoro Mouri at the entrance rang out.
"Detective Senichi, you guessed it right. I brought this little guy, Conan, with me. It seems like the case is calling for the presence of the great detective!"
"Indeed, it's you, the grim reaper..." Inspector Megure looked at Kogoro Mouri, at the entrance and commented.
"Yes, the grim reaper indeed..." Senichi nodded in agreement.
"After all, every time there's a case, Detective Mouri is present..." Takagi chuckled, but his words undeniably showed agreement with the viewpoints of Senichi and the others.
"It's not like that!!" Kogoro Mouri retorted directly after being teased by them.
"It's the destiny of a great detective. The case is calling for my arrival!"
Official teasing was most lethal. Under the meaningful gazes of the others, Kogoro Mouri cleared his throat a couple of times and seemingly brought the conversation back on track. "Anyway, please allow me, Kogoro Mouri, to contribute my strength. Let me have a look at the videotape that recorded the crime!"
Despite the banter, with Conan as the man behind him, Kogoro Mouri's performance gained the trust of Inspector Megure. So, they placed the camera on the table and played the video once again.
Of course, Senichi also watched the video again. After all, he had only taken a quick look before, and some details needed further observation and confirmation.
The video fast-forwarded to the moment when Hyota Nagase met the culprit not long after it started.
"Huh? What are you here for?"
In the video, Hyota Nagase looked at the man with the wolf mask entering the room and responded with a hint of mockery, "I didn't say anything to you before the match. If you're asking me to intentionally lose to you, then forget it."
At this moment, the video visibly shook, seemingly indicating that the culprit had touched the bag containing the hidden camera.
"I've told you before; today, I will use all my strength against you."
Hyota Nagase shrugged and then turned around without any guard. He was seemingly planning to go around the table to the wardrobe on the side to get some clothes.
Meanwhile, in the video, the knife that the "Wolf Face" had concealed behind his back had been completely captured by the camera. As Hyota Nagase turned around, the culprit rushed directly towards him and stabbed him in the back.
Realizing the attack, Hyota Nagase immediately turned around to resist. However, with insufficient strength due to the injury, he was pressed against the wall by the culprit and received another stab to the abdomen.
By this point, Hyota Nagase had completely lost the ability to resist. He struggled to say something but was silenced by the culprit, who covered his mouth with a gloved left hand.
Hyota Nagase reached out to grab the culprit's mask and attempted to pull it off, but ultimately died after the final stab to the chest.