Episode 836: The Unfriendly Girls Band (Part 1)
Scenario: Conan, Sonoko, Ran, and two friends decide to go to a recording studio to record some songs. They meet the members of a girl's band, who are arguing about their upcoming performance. The drummer is later found strangled in the studio. Three of her band members are suspected of killing her, but when the police cannot find the string used to kill her, the investigation encounters some trouble.
After watching a Girls Band movie, Sonoko goes to the Poirot Cafe to try to convince Ran and Masumi to create a band with her. With Sonoko on drums, Ran on keyboard, Masumi on bass and Azusa on guitar, she expects them to be able to perform at the Beika festival at the end of the year. However when asked to perform by several men in the cafe, she fails miserably, only to be saved by Rei who plays really well. Rei is then invited to join in place of Azusa and they all head to a sound studio to record. Throughout several conversations, Masumi mentions that she was taught how to play the bass by a friend of her oldest brother. Rei accidentally let slip that he knew that the friend was a guy, despite the fact that he and Masumi were not supposed to have met until today.
Their conversation is interrupted by a group of people sitting close by. Someka Kibune was yelling at her fellow band mates about them being out of practice despite them having a show coming up in a week, which is a memorial show in honor of Akane Shuto. Hagie Yamaji decides to go into the studio room to nap for 10 minutes as a break before they continue to practice. During this time, Rei asks who do the vocals and they come to the conclusion that none of them can sing. Masumi asks if Ran could call Shinichi because "he can play the guitar as well, right?", but Ran points out that he is tone deaf but can play the violin. Its then that they hear a scream and run down to find Hagie sitting at her drum set, dead from strangulation, surrounded by her band mates. They go to the security office to watch the camera footage and discover that the screen was blocked out by another member's cellphone on a selfie stick.
The police arrive and Megure inquires who set up the selfie stick. Tadako Fuekawa had set up the stick, but only on instructions from the others. The set up was taking too long so Hagie had ordered them to leave it where it was. Takagi points out that one side of the room is mirrored and that the curtain over it was pulled. However the band mates point out that the curtain was also Hagie's doing. They decide to review the security tapes again while getting the alibis of the suspects. All three suspects had entered the room. Tadako was first, she entered the room to get her sewing kit to fix Someka's jacket. To do so, she sat on a stool right at the edge where the cellphone covered the footage. She tried to wake Hagie by calling out to her, but she got no response. Next was Someka, who was trying to restring her guitar. She then walked off camera to tune her guitar next to the Hagie in order to wake her up to resume practice, but was unsuccessful. The final person to enter the room was Rumi, She moved the keyboards away from where Hagie was sleeping and played the keyboards to change the notes. Even though she sang, Hagie never woke up. All three of the suspects were searched and the weapon is no where to be found.
While they are going to resume their rehearsal, the other members tried to wake Hagie up, but she doesn't respond, as she was strangled to death.
Masumi sees a guitar case and a memory is sparked. She remembers seeing her brother, Shuichi Akai, on a train platform 4 years ago with a friend. They were both carrying guitar cases. She had followed them until Shuichi noticed. He then left to buy her a ticket and send her home. During that time, the friend pulled out his guitar and taught Masumi a few notes. She notes that even though he was carrying a soft case, it remained standing after the guitar was removed. Conan thinks to himself that it may have had a sniper rifle inside. A third person had walked up to them with a hat down over his face and refereed to the friend as "Scotch". When Masumi says that Rei looks like the person who was wearing the hat, he dodges the question.
