Now for the meat of the story! This chapter starts off where they'll be going for the summer. Enjoy it!

Chapter Five

Shinichi took out a schedule of what Ran would be doing that summer. He told the group, "My plan was to go to the summer camp Ran-neechan's going to. I've already made the reservations for me, so I'll have to call and get the four of you in, too."

"Edogawa-kun, we'll need new names," said Shiho dully.

"Then how about…" said Shinichi, thinking, "Ayumi-chan can be 'Esaka Mayumi', Mitsuhiko can be 'Yagi Mikihiko', and Genta can be 'Ohsawa Kenta'. They're the names of three kids I met in Osaka a while ago, and they look just like you three."

Ayumi, now Mayumi, spoke up, "But what about Ai-chan?"

"I like Miyano Shiho," said Shiho suddenly.

"All right then, Shiho-chan!" exclaimed Mayumi happily.

"I like it!" exclaimed Mitsuhiko/Mikihiko loudly. "It suits you!"

Shinichi cut in, "And my name is of course Kudo Shinichi. We'd better practice using the fake names so we can fool everybody."

Mayumi spoke up, "Alright then, Shinichi-kun!"

"Oi, Miyano!" said Genta/Kenta suddenly. "How come your name doesn't sound like your real name?"

"I picked my name myself, while your names were all picked by someone else."

"Besides," said Shinichi, "Miyano always gets what she wants, including last say on her name!"

Everyone laughed except Shiho, who glared evenly at Shinichi, who pretended not to notice. Then Shinichi said, "I'd better make those reservations, then."

He stepped out again, and came back a minute later. "They said that they had some kids drop out, so there are four empty spots. We can all get in easily!"

Kenta asked, "But Con…Shinichi, what kind of camp is it? What stuff do they have?"

"Well, it's a typical summer camp for teenagers. It's privately owned by Sonoko's family, and they invited Ran and me to come, along with a whole bunch of other guys from around Tokyo."

"Shinichi-kun, don't you mean 'Sonoko-neechan' and 'Ran-neechan'?" asked Mitsuhiko suddenly.

Shinichi realized he'd slipped up and said, "Mikihiko, I'm just getting into the part. We'll all have to get used to calling each other by our fake names, and we'll have to get used to not using 'neechan' when addressing people, since we look we're their age."

Mayumi listened to all this, but she noticed the ease that Shinichi said 'Ran'. She started to feel jealous, but she knew Conan was actually 7, and nothing would (or could) come of it. So she asked, "Shinichi-kun, when do we leave, then?"

"We need to leave in a few minutes, since orientation is at noon, and it's out in the woods. It'll be like an extended camping trip!"

Agasa came in and said, "I've finished loading all your stuff into the car, so we can leave whenever."

"LET'S GO!" exclaimed Mayumi, Mikihiko, and Kenta loudly, pumping their fists in the air. They ran out to the car and started calling dibs on seats.

The other three soon joined them. Kenta got shotgun, as he was the biggest, and the other four crammed themselves into the backseat. Agasa got in, started up the car, and off they went.

Hakase soon dropped them off at the entrance, and the five of them unloaded their luggage and went through the gate. Shinichi led the way to the admin building, which was built in traditional Western log cabin style.

Inside, there wasn't any line, as they were a little early, and it was a straight shot to the counter. As luck would have it, Sonoko was manning the register, and when she saw Shinichi, her eyes grew wide.

"Kudo-kun!" she screeched. "You actually came? Just wait until Ran finds out about this!"

"Ah, Sonoko," said Shinichi, "Would you mind not telling Ran for the time being? It'll be more of a surprise that way."

Sonoko stopped dialing her phone, and she put it away and said, "Yeah, it would! It'd be so romantic!" She looked up dreamily, and Shinichi rolled his eyes in irritation.

"Sonoko, can we just sign in, please?"

"We?" asked Sonoko confusedly. She looked past him and saw the other four, all of whom, except Shiho, were looking like they'd better excuse themselves. "All right, then, Kudo-kun. Just sign in here." She held out a pad of paper, and Shinichi signed his name, as well as Mayumi, Mikihiko, and Kenta's names, as they didn't really know such difficult kanji yet. Shiho signed hers herself.

Sonoko then said, "You three guys will be in Cabin One, and you two girls will be in Cabin Two. You're some of the first ones here, so you'll have free reign of where you want to put your stuff."

"Thanks, Sonoko," said Shinichi. The five of them went back outside, retrieved their stuff, and went to put it away in their respective cabins. The two girls had a ton more stuff, so the three guys helped them with it first, before moving their own.

Mayumi went inside the cabin after the guys left and looked around in wonder. "This place is so cool!" And indeed it was. There were bunk beds all around the walls, and there was a common area in the middle with chairs, sofas, and a shelf of books. No TV since they were in the woods, unfortunately, but Mayumi was charmed anyways. She ran over to a bunk and put her stuff on the top. Shiho claimed the one on the bottom, in order to keep an eye on Mayumi.

When all their stuff was put away, they went outside to explore. They met up with the other three outside the mess hall, and they went off together to check things out. Shinichi had had the sense to pick up a map in the main office, so they gave themselves a tour of the facilities. The arts and crafts cabin was well-stocked with supplies, the ecology lodge was full of creatures native to that part of Japan, and the waterfront area had a swimming area, a canoe shack, and more. Shinichi was pleased at the large athlete's field in the middle, as it had two soccer goals and a chest full of equipment for various sports. Everything was shaping up to be just fine.

I told you the story would start off here! Next chapter, Ran and Shinichi finally meet up! What will Ayumi/Mayumi think? Guess in your review (and please do so!).

Note: The three names come from OVA 3, so I'm just borrowing them here. I made the summer camp in Western style because those are the types of camps I know the most about.

Also, I've completely planned out the whole story. It'll have sixteen chapters or so, plus an epilogue. So expect more frequent updating!