After two months of absolutely nothing, here's chapter two. I've been pretty bummed out lately because I suck at math, so after getting a D in Pre-Cal and a D in Chem 1, I've been frantically trying to keep my scholarships, to no avail. Now I have to transfer back to my local university where I don't have to pay for a room. So yeah. :P

But you don't care about my rambling, do you? ;)

I've had the majority of this chapter planned in my head for while, but I only just got up the willpower to finish it off. I think you'll enjoy it, if only for the comic relief. (haha)

Now to address several questions brought up in the comments:

1. All pairings in the story are canon for now. I don't know yet if that will change.

2. In a world where Ran is actually smart, she probably knows enough about Conan's gadgets that she expect him to pull crazy stunts. If she does confront him, it's off-screen.

Chapter Two

"It came!" Takagi exclaimed as Kogoro slumped onto a nearby bench.

"It's Sleeping Kogoro!" the three kids shouted at once, instantly shushing each other to hear what Kogoro had to say. No one noticed Haibara putting the lid down on her watch.

"Sorry, but what that kid said made me realize just how stupid we've all become, Megure-keibu-dono," said Kogoro.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Megure, getting angry.

"Just that the trick is much simpler that we're making it," said Kogoro.

"You're acting weird, Mouri-san," said Takagi, laughing a bit.

"Who knew that the famous Sleeping Kogoro had a habit of talking like a teenage girl?" a suspect remarked sarcastically, which made the other two suspects giggle. All three were college-aged women of average weight who had been in the park jogging early that morning when the body had been found. They also had personal history with the victim, who had been a jerk and had also dated each of them at different times in the past two years.

"Well, you three certainly act like teenage girls. How old are you, nineteen?"

"Thanks, but I'm twenty-one," another girl snapped. The girls started conversing amongst themselves, ignoring Kogoro completely.

"HEY!" Megure shouted, making all three girls flinch. "This is a murder investigation, so this is no time for gossiping!" He nodded at Kogoro, who promptly continued speaking.

"See, I say you three act like teenage girls because the evidence exists that all three of you conspired to kill this man!"

The girls looked at him in disbelief. "Oi oi, how can all three be the culprit?" asked Megure. "We've already confirmed that the time of death was 2 AM and two of these young women have alibis for that time."

"Takagi-keiji! How was the body initially discovered?" Kogoro asked sharply.

Takagi jumped before responding, "The three girls were jogging together and saw his wallet sticking out from under this bush. When they looked behind the bush, they saw him dead from cyanide poisoning."

"What time was that?"

"The body was found at eight this morning."

"Now that's pretty peculiar, considering that sunrise is at 5:30 this time of year and this is a busy park. How come no early morning joggers found the corpse? If they saw a wallet lying in plain sight, most people would've either stolen the wallet or given it to the police. That leads me to one conclusion: the wallet was planted there after the joggers passed by but before the girls arrived. While this could have been done by any of the three suspects, the problem is that there isn't anywhere for them to put the wallet. They don't have any pockets and they're all too thin to have hidden the wallet under their clothes. Therefore I can only assume that the culprit carried in their hands. However, the other two suspects would have noticed this, and since they haven't said anything, they're probably in on it. The wallet was planted when they pretended to discover the body."

"That's all well and good, but where's the proof?" asked the third girl, taking out her makeup and applying some to her face.

"Yeah, how do you know people jog through here in the morning?" asked the second, rolling her eyes.

The first finished, "Even if someone did jog through here, they probably didn't see the wallet, which is pretty likely; the rising sun casts long shadows."

"Oi, oi, Mouri-kun," said Megure, looking at Kogoro. "You'd better have proof…"

"Oh, I do have proof," said Kogoro, getting everyone's attention. "It's the wallet. It's true that a black wallet could easily have been hidden in shadow. It's also likely that even if the wallet had been planted by one or all of the three, that person would have worn gloves. I suggest searching them immediately for the gloves and checking for fingerprints on the inside tips of them. Of course, they could have disposed of the gloves in a garbage can, so those should be checked as well…"

As Kogoro was talking, the three suspects suddenly split up and bolted into the crowd that had gathered. There was instant uproar. The police ran into the crowd as well, pushing and shoving bystanders out of the way. There was a loud bang as some nearby high schoolers set off some fireworks, throwing the crowd into even more of a panic. The combination of panicked gawkers, determined police, and annoying reporters made the entire situation unbearable. The three kids hid under Kogoro's bench to escape being trampled, with Haibara quickly joining them.

The noise woke up Kogoro Mouri from his sleep. When he realized what had happened, he sat bolt upright and instantly began scanning the park for a certain bespectacled kid. Haibara her job done, took the glasses off that Conan had been communicating with her through. Then he realized that the kids were under the bench, and he started yelling at them, only adding to the noise.

XXX

"I am NOT doing that again," said Haibara once a little while later, once the women had been caught and carted away. After ditching the kids, she had met up with Conan at a fountain a ways away.

"You did a fine job," said Conan, taking his glasses back from Haibara and putting them back on. "Granted, I never expected the girls to run, but they didn't get far. They'll probably even get some bonus time for starting a riot, too. Be glad I was relaying instructions to you through the glasses, Haibara," he added, grinning.

"You think I'm incompetent?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Just that you're inexperienced," he said, taking the hint and backing down. "That was the first time in a while, though, that all the suspects were involved in murdering the guy. Usually one suspect plants evidence to incriminate another, or disguises the murder as a suicide."

"I'm out of here," said Haibara, turning away from Conan and walking away. Conan looked around and saw, to his horror, Ran converging on him. It would look too suspicious to run, so he braced for her arrival.

"I heard Dad solved a case again," Ran began, looking innocently down at Conan. Conan had seen that look many times on her face during her karate matches, so he tensed, preparing to flee.

"That's good," said Conan warily, eyeing her.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened earlier. According to Dad, you weren't even around when he solved the case this time. How about we put all this behind us? I'll make curry tonight!"

"Sounds good!" said Conan, taking her outstretched hand and walking away with her. It was only when Ran began humming that he was able to begin to relax.

XXX

Kogoro sat at the bar, a mug of beer standing in front of him. Uncharacteristically for him, however, he hadn't touched it. He was too busy thinking to even notice how beautiful the bartender was or that she was attempting to flirt with him.

The subject on Kogoro's mind was Conan. Normally he would've dropped something like this long ago, but something didn't sit right with him, something he couldn't really explain. It was like he was on the verge of discovering a hidden secret about himself that the kid had the key to. He'd been aware for a while that the kid was odd and that he always got in his way at crime scenes. He also knew that he had also started having memory loss around the time Conan had come to stay with him and Ran.

Thinking about it, Kogoro knew there was only one thing he could do to put his mind to rest. He loathed the idea, but it was the only course of action he could take without letting Conan or Ran potentially find out about it. "Excuse me, may I have my coat?" he asked the bartender, who was happy to oblige.

He sighed, wondering if he was making a wise choice or not, before dialing the number in his phone.

"Gunma Police, how may I help you?" a voice said from the other end, sounding a bit too annoying for Kogoro's taste.

"It's Mouri," said Kogoro, bracing himself.

"Oh, Mouri-san!" said Yamamura, brightening at once. "What's the problem? Is it a case?" His voice suddenly turned shifty.

"Something like that. I need some assistance about someone I'm investigating."

"Anything for you, Mouri-san!" said Yamamura happily. "Who is it?"

"It's Conan."

And so the most unlikely alliance was formed. Yamamura is a character that I haven't really touched on much in my fiction, so I thought I'd show him the sunlight for once, even though he's super annoying and I'll probably write him out before long.

I'm planning to have this run to at least five chapters, likely more. If anybody wants to submit story ideas, feel free to tell me in the comments or PM me and I'll see what I can do. I still don't know if I should make the ending return to the status quo or have Ran and/or Kogoro find out for certain. So send me your ideas and looks forward to the next part!