Maori Kogoro began to understand everything

"This is youth. It reminds me of the judo competitions I participated in when I was young..."

"I remember you were eliminated in the preliminary round because you were nervous," Huibara said, protecting the snacks in her arms. "Could the famous detective have such a past?"

"Everyone has a youthful past," Maori's eyelids twitched, "So-called competitions are too utilitarian."

"After all, isn't it because he was eliminated in the preliminary round?"

Huiyuan said calmly.

"..."

Maori raised his chin silently, and suddenly found that Hattori had gone somewhere in the stadium, and only other people were eating lunch boxes in the rest area of ​​​​the players of Kaifang High School.

"Strange, aren't there going to be semi-finals later?"

……

Next to the swimming pool of the Langhua Sports Center, the door of a locker room was open and the water was flowing in the bathing area.

Hattori stood at the side with several college students, watching the body of Tsuchimi being washed away by the rushing water with a slightly nervous gaze.

Sitting against the wall in the mist, with a sharp Japanese sword in front of him...

"There's no saving him, he's dead..." Hattori turned off the faucet and examined the body solemnly.

The body that several college students had originally found in the warehouse of the annex was brought to the locker room next to the swimming pool. However, students from the Kendo Club of another school were sitting at the entrance of the annex eating lunch. If they carried a bloody man out, they would have been discovered immediately...

Hattori walked out of the locker room while thinking, and happened to meet Kazuha who came in hurriedly.

"Heiji! What are you doing?!" Kazuha grabbed Hattori and said, "Why did you come here without eating? Really, you ran away when I wasn't paying attention. The semi-finals are about to start!"

"It's so noisy," Hattori pointed at the locker room, "What do you mean by running away? There's a murder here! Someone was killed in the locker room!"

"Murder?" He Ye was stunned and suddenly thought of Mao Li who was still eating in the audience seats.

Is there really a god of death in this world? Excuse me...

"Yeah," Hattori frowned unhappily, "Because there are still some things I don't understand, so I can't take care of the game at all now..."

He Ye came back to his senses: "Then why don't you ask Uncle Maori, isn't he right here?"

Hattori was stunned for a moment, then said happily: "That's true, I almost forgot about the uncle, if I discuss it with him..."

He Ye nodded and smiled: "So you don't have to worry about it at all, he will definitely help you solve it in no time, just concentrate on the game, and leave the murder case to him!"

Hattori frowned and warned Kazuha gloomily, "Listen to me carefully. You are not allowed to tell him about what happened here! Do you hear me?"

……

"A-choo!" In the audience seats, Maori wiped his nose for no apparent reason.

"Strange, why did I start sneezing again? Is it because Conan and Dr. Agasa are coming? Maybe there will be another murder, really..."

On a Shinkansen bound for Osaka, Conan answered the call from Huibara with half his eyelids closed: "Yes, we are already on the train, but we may not arrive until after 2 o'clock. I guess we won't be able to see the semi-finals. I wonder if Hattori can advance to the finals..."

"It's hard to say. The semi-finals are about to begin, and there's no sign of that guy." Haibara looked down and saw Kazuha seemingly cheering the contestants, but Hattori was still not there.

"Conan, who are you talking to on the phone?"

Ayumi's voice suddenly rang out from the other side, "Ah, there are rice grains from the bento on your face again..."

Xiao Ai held the phone with amusement, and soon heard a busy tone.

……

In the rest area for the players, He Ye glanced carefully at the audience and whispered to the members, "Anyway, this is it. We can't make this public yet..."

"What about Hattori? Could it be..."

"Yes, he said he is not in the mood to care about the competition now, and that it is more important to solve the murder case first." He Ye drooped his eyelids helplessly.

"How does this work?"

"The semi-finals are about to begin!"

The members wailed. Hattori was the most powerful general participating in the competition and their hope of winning the championship. Moreover, without Hattori, there was no suitable candidate to replace him...

He Ye looked at the first-year member who was sweating next to him, and raised his fist with fighting spirit: "There is no other way. In this case, we have to ignore him and fight for victory on our own! I must put a damper on the enthusiasm of that crazy reasoner!!"

The members wiped their sweat and said, "But, we are the ones playing in the game..."

"Then you guys should cheer me on!"

……

Gymnasium swimming pool changing rooms.

After receiving the news, Officer Otaki of the Osaka Prefectural Police Station arrived at the scene to handle the case. This flat-headed uncle was a subordinate of Kazuha's father, Superintendent Toyama, and he had a good relationship with Hattori and had a very gentle personality.

"The deceased's body was covered with wounds from being slashed by a Japanese sword... The body was soaked in hot water, probably to confuse the estimated time of death..."

Officer Otaki approached the body to check the condition. He looked like he had traveled back to ancient times with his Japanese sword. This kind of case is really rare...

"Is he your classmate?" Otaki turned around and asked several college students.

"Yes, yes, we are college classmates..."

"We waited for a long time at the venue but he didn't show up, so we looked for him everywhere, but..."

Several college students, like other schools participating in the kendo team competition, were equipped with five people.

The vanguard saw that the historian was the deceased.

The man at the secondary front, Gu Feng, has a rough appearance, a big nose and a big mouth and looks very ferocious.

The core player, Doguchi Kiyuki, is just a little fat guy wearing glasses. He helped to mediate when the teammates had a quarrel before.

The deputy general, Shun Otegawa, is a young man with a long face and a side parting.

The final general, Hakamada Masamichi, was a tall, short-haired man with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He was a very dignified leader among the few people.

"In short," Otaki picked up the Japanese sword, "If we find out who the owner of this murder weapon is, we can immediately know who the murderer is..."

Chapter 123: You can lose the game, but you must solve the case!

"You are wrong, Officer Otaki."

As Officer Otaki finished his words, Hattori appeared at the door and interrupted, "That sword is the real sword that the kendo teacher used to demonstrate in this kendo competition. I have already asked him just now, and the teacher said that the sword disappeared before noon and has not been found since."

"Heiji?" Otaki asked in surprise, "Why are you here?"

"Of course I'm here to compete."

"Come to think of it, today is indeed the Kinki Kendo Tournament between high school and university...but shouldn't you be at the competition venue?"

……

"boom!"

Stadium competition venue.

"Great!" Kazuha clenched his fists excitedly, "Even without Heiji, we can still win! If we keep going like this, the champion..."

"Boom!"

Okita in the next arena suddenly stabbed his opponent in the face. The opponent's mask was blown away by the huge force as his bamboo sword flew into the air. The player fell heavily on the wooden floor of the arena with his legs and feet off the ground. He lost a tooth and was killed.

One strike wins.

"Kyoto Izumi-shin High School wins!!"

The venue was instantly filled with noise, and everyone was amazed by Okita's powerful momentum. He won in an instant and appeared in the semi-finals. The girls who were close to him had their eyes turned into heart shapes.

"So handsome!"

Okita exhaled lightly with a gesture, took off his mask and wiped the sweat off his face.

He Ye swallowed and suddenly felt a little unconfident when he looked at the contestants from his school.

"No, I definitely can't beat him at this level..."

"what?"

"I'll go find Heiji!" Kazuha said anxiously, "There's no other way. We'll lose without Heiji..."

"Do you know where Hattori is?" Maori stared at Kazuha as he ran away.

Just after He Ye left, Mao Li saw a high school student who seemed to have come from the annex, and quickly grabbed him to ask him.

"Is there something going on around here?"

"I'm not sure, but it seems like some policemen went to the swimming pool locker room just now..." the high school student said dully, scratching the back of his head.

"Police?" The face of Hattori Heiji appeared in Maori's mind. "Did you see a black guy?"

"Yes, besides him, there were three strange college students running around, asking to borrow cell phones and bring the police over..."

……

Swimming pool changing rooms.

Mao Li squatted at the crime scene to inspect it, then picked up the murder knife and looked at it.

He found Officer Otaki who was in charge of the case, but he didn't see Hattori and Kazuha, so he asked Officer Otaki, "Has the body been moved?"

"Yes, it was moved here from the sports warehouse in the annex."

Regarding the famous detective and special consultant of the Metropolitan Police Department, Officer Otaki explained in detail, "The first people to find the body in the warehouse were Kotegawa, Mentani, and Doguchi, who were in the university kendo club with him... After the three of them found the body, they immediately left the warehouse and went to call an ambulance, the police, and to notify the captain Hakamada at the venue. When they returned to the warehouse, the body had suddenly disappeared..."

"In the locker room?"

"Well, I heard that someone called the service desk and asked someone to notify them to come here."

"What exactly is going on?" Mao Li asked thoughtfully, "Could it be that one of the three of them pretended to leave and then returned to the warehouse to move the body?"

"That shouldn't be possible," Otaki said with a smile. "At that time, only Kotegawa, who went to call the ambulance, borrowed a cell phone from a student at the door. Then, because the student asked about his injuries, he went back to the warehouse to check the situation. After returning the phone, he went directly to the police station..."

Maori's expression changed slightly:

"In fact, I also heard from a student who happened to be eating lunch at the door. He said that after the three of them left, a strange man wearing protective gear walked out of the annex with a protective gear bag on his back... Didn't that Kotegawa notice anything?"

Otaki was stunned for a moment: "No, maybe he was in the toilet at the time, or hiding in the warehouse... But in this case, this weirdo is very likely the murderer who moved the body. Detective Maori, where is the student who witnessed it?"

"He should be here soon."

Maori frowned.

According to the current clues, was the person who moved the body someone other than the three people who first discovered the body? If there was no accomplice, then the other person was the murderer of Tarimi, but...

"Officer Otaki, when the body was found, how did they decide who would call the police and who would call the ambulance?"

"Well, it seems that Kotegawa first said to call an ambulance, then asked Mentani to report the case to the police station in front of the gymnasium, and finally Doguchi said that he would go to inform that Hakamada... There shouldn't be any problem, right?"

"There are a few suspicious points."

Maori looked back at the body that was covered with a cloth and carried away by the police, his eyes slightly fixed.

"The criminal moved the body after it was discovered and even called someone to come over. Maybe the murderer didn't want the warehouse to be searched, as there should be clues there that cannot be found... Was pouring hot water on the body really intended to confuse the time of death?"

"Officer Otaki!" Hattori suddenly rushed into the locker room, "Where are those people?"

"They've already left," Otaki said happily. "Heiji, you're just in time. Detective Mori just mentioned that there might be clues in that warehouse..."

"Eh?" Hattori stared at Mori behind Otaki, "Uncle, why are you here?"

"Why can't I be here?" Maori said speechlessly, "I was wondering why someone didn't go to the kendo competition. I asked and found out that there was a case... He Ye is still looking for you, go back to the competition as soon as possible."

"Please, how can I compete now?"

Hattori's brows were knotted.

I can lose the kendo competition, but I can’t lose this case…

"I really don't understand you," Maori looked at Hattori strangely and continued to say to Officer Otaki, "Officer, call back those college students first, especially the one named Kotegawa..."

Hattori was stunned for a moment: "Uncle, have you already... figured it out?"

Maori asked in confusion, "What's the problem?"

"No, no, haha." Hattori laughed guiltily and pointed outside, "In fact, I already know where the criminal will go..."

……