Well, folks, here it is! The awaited 2nd chapter! I apologize in advance for the shortness of it, but it simply felt right to end the chapter there. In contrast, the next chappie will be a lot longer, so don't worry.

As always, be kind in your reviews and I thank everyone who reviewed so far! Also, spelling errors may be kept for personal entertainment!

Chapter 2

Friday, 27th August 2011

Teitan Elementary School

Afternoon

School had been a dreadful bore, but that had been expected. After all, Conan had passed Elementary School ten years ago and since he was really intelligent it hadn't even been hard then. Now it was just mind-numbing. Having to act almost all day like a seven-year-old; it wore him out. Sometimes it was easier, but today had been tiring. Half his mind had been puzzling over those murders and the culprit behind them, while the other half concentrated on acting like a kid. By the time the bell finally rung, something had to give, since he was getting a headache. Choosing that; since school was now over, he needn't be putting up the kiddie-act so heavily any more, he opted for further thinking about the case. Frowning he walked with the rest of the Shounen Tantei (barring Haibara, who was out with a bad cold) towards the school gate, his mind turning over the names of the victims, the facts concerning their deaths and everything else.

That was, until he realized that the chatter that usually was around him from the three kids had ceased and they now walked silently next to him. Shaking his head to temporarily banish the thoughts about the case, he looked up, only to be met with three sets of identical expressions. Thoughtfulness had engulfed his friends as they walked slowly along, but only Mitsuhiko looked straight at him.

"Say, Conan-kun, you're thinking about something, aren't you?" the thin boy asked though his expression alone stated that he already knew that fact. Mitsuhiko was merely too polite and tactful to barge into his thoughts and usually refrained from doing so. Of all the Shounen Tantei, Mitsuhiko was obviously the one who had the most knowledge crammed into his brain. Whether that knowledge was useful or not was left up to debate, but it was easier to talk to the freckled kid.

"Kind of. I read about a murder in the paper this morning." Conan affirmed, glad for the chance to waffle about the case, without anyone to stop him.

"I read about it too, you mean Hanako-chan, don't you?" Ayumi asked from his left side, her face creased with sadness. That was unusual. Sure, they were always sad when someone died, but not to this extend. Lightning-quick his brain made the connection between those two things; Hanako's murder and Ayumi's sad face.

"You knew her, didn't you?" he asked gently.

"Yes, my mother knows her mother. I met her a couple of times. She was a very nice girl." the young female answered sadly, her gaze dropping to the ground as she stopped walking, while the boys looked at her.

"I didn't know you knew her. Sorry, Ayumi-chan." Genta said, and in a show of uncharacteristic concern put his huge hand on Ayumi's small shoulder. In response the little girl smiled a bit sadly up at their big friend and shook her head.

"Thanks, Genta-kun. But I have really only met her sometimes. Not very often."

"What was she like?" Conan asked quietly, not wanting to upset the girl (partly because then he'd be pounded by Genta and Mitsuhiko together), but also wanting to gather more data, now that he knew one of his friends had actually known one of the victims.

"I don't know her that well, but she seemed like a nice girl. She liked dogs, the park, Kamen Yaiba. She was always very polite and did what her mother told her. When she was at our place, she was always careful with my toys, she said she didn't want to break something. And when her mother called that it was time to go home, she always went at once. My mother said that she was a good girl, since she always did what she was told." Ayumi answered, her small hand cupping her chin, pretty much the same way Conan did all the time.

Seems like they're copying me, hm?

"But then, why did the killer take her? Since everyone knew there was a bad person around, her mother wouldn't have allowed her to go outside by herself, right?" Genta asked, voicing the exact same thing that had been going through Conan's mind. Funny, how they seemed to catch on to the suggestive points of a case so easily. On the other hand, perhaps it was simply concern for their female friend that made them more eager to investigate. That had them exerting all the brainpower they sported. And though he was far more intelligent (simply because he WAS actually ten years older than them), those kids were smart in their own right. Though Genta usually didn't contribute anything useful, but when he did, it was all the more impressive.

"Ayumi-chan, Hanako-chan wouldn't have gone with a stranger, would she?" Mitsuhiko asked their female friend, who immediately shook her head.

"No way! Hanako-chan knew that one shouldn't go with strangers, her mother had told her often! Besides, my mother told my father that Hanako-chan disappeared in the park, where she was with her parents. She wasn't alone."

"Since she wouldn't have gone willingly, its safe to assume she was kidnapped while her parents were looking somewhere else. But it still would have been a risky thing, I mean, it was possible that someone would see the guy who took Hanako. And why go to the trouble of kidnapping Hanako when she was obviously close to her parents?" Conan wondered. Something in this case was odd.

People who abducted children normally waited until the kids were alone or unsupervised when they took them. But this guy had purposely taken Hanako even though there were probably easier targets around. So why had he gone after Hanako? Since the girl knew that she shouldn't go with strangers and was known to never disobey her parents, wouldn't she have stuck close to them, if she were told to?

"The question is, how did the culprit get Hanako away and why did he choose on her in the first place?" He continued on, head firmly locked in the mystery presented to him. He could feel the welcome grinding of his mental processes, each thing he had learned so far about this killing spree was stored in his mind and he tried to connect everything together. Sadly, even though he had been given an interesting fact, he had no idea how this one connected with the other facts about the case. He simply didn't have enough to reason accurately.

"In any case, has Mouri-san any opinion on this?" Mitsuhiko pulled him out of his thoughts again, which; considering he had no data, was probably a good thing. Holmes himself had said so: Theorizing without data is like racing an engine; it racks itself to pieces.

"No, not as far as I know. He hasn't told me anything yet and I was 'conveniently' absent when he talked with Megure-keibu. I snuck in, and got a little bit of information, but he hasn't put up any theory yet." he answered absently, remembering the fact that 'conveniently absent' meant he had been thrown out of the room. Literally. In such cases being small was simply annoying. Surely no one could have removed him from the talk if he had been in his own body, not trapped as a pint-sized imitation of himself.

Hindsight is twenty-twenty, Kudo...

Conan made a conscious effort to not think about his current predicament, since it would only cause him to brood and be miserable the rest of the day. It always happened when he thought of his situation, therefore he had learned to head around that particular cliff, in a manner of speaking.

Think about the case, Kudo... Its more important now...

True that. It was imperative to figure out how this killer chose on his victims, perhaps then they could prevent other potential kidnappings. Frowning Conan reached for his notebook, absently noting how his friends closed in around him to take a peek at the clues he had gotten so far. Not that it really was that much.

"I still have to get all the names together and important details that weren't discussed while I listened in. I guess Oji-san has them in his desk somewhere or maybe Megue-keibu left a file or something. All I have so far is what I read in the newspaper this morning and some small details about the other cases." he told them, briefly looking up to be met with the now familiar frowns of thought on their young faces.

"Right now there isn't that much to go on. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be able to get somewhere, but for now I barely got anything." Conan continued, very irked about the fact he barely had any data to operate with.

"Well, in that case, perhaps we should be talking about this tomorrow then? Perhaps then we'd be able to find something out." Mitsuhiko stated, his eyes practically gleaming with the prospect of a new case. However, that had Conan's protective urges kick into life quite forcefully. He remembered that speck of concern he had spotted that morning in Kogoro's gaze. At the same time he knew that he couldn't leave his friends out of the loop, however much he wanted just that. But if he told them to keep out of it, they would only start to investigate on their own and that could lead to disaster, as it so often had in the past. He needed to keep an eye on them, that was the only way to make sure that at least these three kids were protected in some way.

"The most important thing is that none of us go anywhere alone. This guy picks children off the streets and a couple of days later there's only a body to be discovered. Oji-san is worried and told me to give you the message to stick together. I suppose I'll be able to get some info on the case, but I have to be careful. If Oji-san or Ran-neechan find out, I'll get the mother of all noogies from Oji-san. So you have to promise me that you'll stick together or at least don't go anywhere on your own, okay?"

He gave all of them the sternest of gazes, knowing the effect it had. And it worked again, all of them looked straight back and nodded. At least now they were warned, since he couldn't really remove them from the investigation now unless he really wanted to invite trouble. He knew that if something happened to those kids, he'd never be able to forgive himself. Therefore he had to keep a sharp eye out for those kids. They decided to meet the following day (since it was Saturday after all and they normally hung out on the weekends, so no suspicions there) when he had gathered some real information, before Ran showed up to take him home. Genta, Ayumi and Mitsuhiko promised to stick together for the rest of the day and so they parted ways.

However, there was a nagging feeling turning Conan's stomach, as if he was overlooking something vital or was close to finding some really important clue.

I hope its the latter...

To all those who will be angry at me because I have put Haibara down with a cold, I will say this: Its not of a personal dislike to her charcater that I haven't put her in this fiction, but a very simple writing issue. I simply cannot put her character to paper convincingly. And believe me, I have tried!

Well, now that that's done with, stay tuned for the next chapter. I'll probably upload it next weekend, I still have to proof-read it and iron out a few kinks with it^^

Enjoy!