I had the afternoon off, so I popped out a new chapter. The humor just keeps flying. Beware a girl that is scorned. Just saying'. ;)

Chapter Three

Ayumi Yoshida was on the warpath. From the way Minami kept looking at her, Ayumi knew she'd overheard something good, if only she could figure out what it all meant.

On the bright side, Haibara and Minami had been spending less time together, so Ayumi decided to reinforce her stature.

"Yoshida-san!" Haibara exclaimed when Ayumi appeared on the doorstep of Agasa's house. "What are you doing here?" she asked, not seeing any of the other kids flanking her.

"Just visiting," she said happily, inviting herself inside. She took no notice of Haibara's protestations as she invited herself in and plopped herself down on the couch. "What do you want to do?" she asked, her feet waving in the air a foot above the floor.

Haibara was not enjoying the company. She'd been working on the APTX cure, but had been forced to open the front door because Agasa was out. "Yoshida-san, I can't play right now," she said as gently as she could. "Maybe you could come back later."

"Yeah, I know," said Ayumi, the smile slipping off her face. Her head tilted downwards until her bangs obscured her eyes. "You're always busy with stuff. You only trust Minami-chan to even see what you're doing, or help out. I never said I wanted to play; I said I wanted to hang out. There's a difference."

Haibara sighed and, hoping she wasn't doing something foolish, asked, "Would you like to help me out with my research, Yoshida-san?"

"Oh, thank you Ai-chan!" Ayumi exclaimed happily. Haibara, rolling her eyes, led the way to her basement lab, which Ayumi had never actually been inside before. "Does Agasa-hakase give you experiments to do, or do you do them yourself?" Ayumi asked, taking Conan/Minami's usual chair by the door.

"It varies," Haibara shrugged, shutting the door and going back to her work. She fully expected the little girl to be a big talker, and was not disappointed.

"What are you doing, Ai-chan?" asked Ayumi curiously. "What's in the pill?"

"Poison," said Haibara, "so don't touch."

"What's in the glass jar, then?"

"Hydrochloric acid; it burns your skin."

"Why does that chart showing Conan-kun's heartbeat suddenly change to Minami-chan's?"

Haibara spun around in alarm, wondering just what the little girl was talking about. Ayumi was pointing to a file cabinet in a corner. Haibara went over to check it, but found nothing.

"What's an apoptoxin?" asked Ayumi suddenly, making Haibara lose her temper.

"Out!" she snapped, pointing to the door. "I can't concentrate unless you're QUIET!"

Ayumi shut up at once, and didn't say another word, so Haibara just went back to work without kicking her out. Ayumi spent the time thinking more about Minami.

'Ai-chan got really jumpy when I mentioned that chart,' thought Ayumi. She'd just made it up, but it had done its job. She knew the topic was sensitive. Best of all, she had seen what Haibara had been working on by standing on the chair. She had no idea what Apoptoxin 4869 was, but she knew it was probably important. The pill she'd asked about was also probably full of the stuff.

Ayumi eventually got bored and slipped out the door, where Haibara was very glad to see her go.

XXX

Mitsuhiko and Genta were playing video games at the arcade when Ayumi rushed in, bursting with news.

"What's going on, Ayumi-chan?" asked Mitsuhiko.

"Did you find a new restaurant?" asked Genta hopefully.

"It's Minami-chan!" Ayumi burst out. "I think she's actually Conan-kun!"

"What are you saying, Ayumi-chan?" they both laughed.

"Hey, I'm serious here!" Ayumi exclaimed, making them both crack up louder. "GUYS!" she said loudly, shutting them both up.

"What proof do you have?" asked Mitsuhiko, taking on a business-like tone and taking out his notebook.

"Well, I don't have any proof," said Ayumi, "but I can't do this alone. I need your help. Of course, we have to keep it a secret. Especially Ai-chan. I think she's in on it."

"Haibara is?" asked Genta.

"That can't be!" said Mitsuhiko. "Haibara-san wouldn't keep secrets from us!"

"Did you know she does science experiments in Hakase's basement all by herself?" asked Ayumi.

"Well…"

"Did you know she makes poison?" she pressed.

"I move we make this into an investigation," said Mitsuhiko firmly. "Based on Ayumi-chan's testimony, we have to prove one way or the other that Minami-chan is who she claims to be."

"YEAH!" they all said, pumping their fists in the air.

"Now to formulate a plan…" said Mitsuhiko. "Let's go to the park so we can think."

XXX

The next day, Minami got an early awakening by three eager kids.

"What are you all doing here so early?" asked Minami irritably, hastily putting on a bathrobe.

"We had some trouble with our homework, so we thought we'd ask you for help," said Mitsuhiko. "Right guys?"

"RIGHT!"

"Fine, just let me get dressed," said Minami, heading back into Ran's room. Since she'd turned into a girl, Minami had moved into Ran's room despite the awkwardness to avoid any weird questions. The kids sat around the center table in the living room, discussing their next plan of action.

"You all remember what to do, right?" Mitsuhiko asked. "Ayumi-chan? Genta-kun?"

"I'm supposed to compare her handwriting to Conan-kun's!" said Ayumi.

"I'm going to ask her favorite foods," said Genta.

Then Minami came back in, dressed just like any other little girl about to head off for school. Joining them at the table, she asked, "So what's the problem?"

"I just can't seem to write these kanji correctly!" said Mitsuhiko, showing her his attempt (which he had faked since he knew perfectly well how to write it).

"All right," said Minami, taking a blank piece of paper and demonstrating. "First you make two strokes for the body, then you start working on the top. That's all there is to it."

"Me next!" said Genta, shoving Mitsuhiko aside. Ayumi was standing behind them, holding a paper she knew Conan had written. She was stunned to find that while the writing style was the same, there were slight differences in the writing, like a daintier touch had been added to Minami's.

"What's your favorite type of curry?" asked Genta suddenly.

"Uh, plain, I guess?" Minami replied, finishing with the demonstration. "Now, I've got to get my things, so wait outside for me, will you?"

"Sure!" they said at once, and Minami couldn't help but smile at their childish antics.

On the way to school, they met up with Haibara, and the group split up, just like always, with the three real kids in the front and the two fake ones behind.

"I'd be wary," said Haibara.

"What?" asked Minami.

Haibara nodded at Ayumi. "She suspects. She came by alone yesterday and started poking around the lab."

"She knows too much," Minami agreed. She had my glasses the day we had the fight, and the bug was in my pocket. She let on to me that she'd overheard some of it, but we can't be sure what."

"Do you remember what we said?" Haibara asked in an undertone.

"Nothing too damaging, I don't think. If we had, she would've already put two and two together. Plus, she talked to Ran afterwards, and who knows what ideas they were discussing before I walked in."

"Well, we'll have to be careful. Those kids are more cunning than either of us would like to admit, not to mention they're annoyingly persistent about stuff. You want to try the phone trick?"

"Might as well," said Minami. "After school, we'll go to Hakase's. You'll excuse yourself and call my phone with Conan's old bowtie using Conan's voice. You've impersonated me before."

"We don't really have a choice, do we?" she said. "Just don't expect me to disguise as you again."

"I wasn't planning on it," Minami grinned.

"Speaking of impersonation, I think Hakase's been working on the voice-changing technology. I see him tinkering with something all the time, but he won't tell me. He has the bowtie disassembled to see the inner workings."

"Wait, if the bowtie is out of commission, then how will you do the voice disguise?"

"He's working with the white one. The red one is perfectly fine. Although if need be I could put the old mask over the phone receiver."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," said Minami gloomily. She didn't want to lie to her friends any more than she wanted to lie to Ran. But until the Organization was destroyed, the secrecy was mandatory, whether she liked it or not.

It's about time I do something about the 'mystery' aspect, right? Well, how about something other than a murder next chapter? Some crime that is fun to read and yet still ties into the story. Good luck guessing what it is. :D