If I remember correctly this is the chapter I liked the most because it took a lot of thinking to write.

XXX

A sixteen year old girl named Natalie Brooks was going out with her friends the day before she had five tests to do-her parents didn't know and she lied to them telling them she was going to the library to study with her friends.

Natalie knew there was nothing wrong with her even when people asked " who" do you think you are. She was just a girl not made of glass. She tried, she worked hard, but sometimes she wanted to have the dangerous fun that could get her grounded forever.

Car, stolen. Drivers license, fake. Makeup and clothes, all purple. She was ready to have a fun time tonight. She wasn't planning on taking any money with her because she believed her friends were going to pay for anything she wanted.

The next morning, Conan couldn't help but be off in a disarray as he stared off into the sky.

"I'm just like you. We are two people of the same boat."

Those were the last words Conan had heard from Yoru before the latter left with his father. And just like them, he and the rest of his friends had finished up their business at the botanical garden.

'Yoru Kurihara...'

Conan remembered him as the new kid in his class. However not once had he interacted with the kid... until now. The air around him did seem a bit different from the rest, but he just assumed the guy was antisocial seeing as how he hardly spoke with anyone in their class.

'The same boat, huh..." Conan thought as he drove deeper into his thoughts until...

"Yoko! Yoko!" Kogoro Mouri, Ran's father and a lousy detective, started chanting out Yoko's name as he watched a shampoo commercial starring the idol.

Conan both laughed and sighed seeing the old man watching that shampoo commercial; there was a time this behaviour would be expected, but he was watching it on the hours he should be working.

For an even bigger laugh Conan imagined what Ran's father did the last time he saw this shampoo commercial. He talked to that idol like she was in front of him, and he was boosting about his great detective skills and how he solved cases...before he was hit by Conan's tranquilizer gun of course.

"Conan-kun, it's almost time for the limited time sale at the supermarket. We better go right now if we want some delicious stew for dinner tonight." Ran informs the child detective as she gets her bag.

"Yes." Conan responded.

Anything beat hanging out with this idol obsessed detective.

XXXXXXXX

On their way to the supermarket for dinner, Conan and Ran were having some small talk between themselves about various of things like what to make for dinner or how embarrassing Ran's father can be.

"Look at that!" Ran notices a poster up on a bakery about some new menu items. "I remember the cakes here are really amazing. The cream puffs too were very rich in taste."

At that moment, Ran's stomach starts growling in hunger. Ran immediately blushes having let out such an embarrassing sound.

"Make one cream puff wouldn't hurt..."

"Ran ne-chan, you just went to a cake buffet last week with your friends. You're going to get fat if you eat anymore." Conan pointed out.

"..." Ran slightly pauses at Conan's words. Thinking about it something like that did happen. "Just one wouldn't hurt."

Neither way, Ran still brought some slices of cake and a few cream puffs from the bakery. While eating a cream puff in her hands and the box of cakes and cream puffs in the other, Ran and Conan who was also munching on a cream puff Ran gave him were heading back to the supermarket until they heard some interesting news from the televisions in the window display about a recent case that occurred.

" Today we have sad news of a young boy named Todd Fianschel. Todd was a promising young student with an I.Q. that rivaled many geniuses throughout the country. Young Todd was brilliant in his knowledge of science and having a brain that could do things no other geniuses ever imagined the brain could think. Unfortunately, Todd was murdered when he was in an internship to the most prestige job in the world of technology and science."

While Conan and Ran's eyes were caught on the television display, someone's shoulder had bumped into Ran, but the person didn't stop and just continued to run past them at great speed.

"What was that?" Ran wondered why that person was in such a hurry. Did they need to use the restroom or something? Speaking of which... "Oh no, we need to hurry or the sale is going to end!"

Ran checked her phone to see the time. She had been so preoccupied with the bakery and the news that she had forgotten that they were in a hurry as well.

Ran dashes to the market with Conan in hopes of getting tonight's dinner.

XXXXXXXXX

Returning back home from the market, Ran was able to make it to the sale and get all the ingredients she needed. Moreover, she got some raffle tickets in the market along with her purchases. The prizes were quite appealing too. Grand prize was a 3 day 2 night trip to an onsen plus a giant panda plushie as a bonus. First prize was a laptop. Second prize was a Sherlock Holmes book. Third prize was a gift card.

"Oh, look Conan. They're having a raffle. Luckily, we have a lot of tickets from the market. Is there anything you want? That panda plushie is cute. I'm hoping to get that."

"The second prize." Conan answered.

"I should have guessed. You're a big Sherlock Holmes fan as much as Shinichi." Ran felt silly for asking. "Alright, I'll get that for you!"

'No way...' Conan internally said to himself. It was hard as it was to get one prize let alone two and one of them was the grand prize no less.

"Winner!" The man at the stand rung his bell signalling a prize winner as a small golden ball laid on the tray.

'No way!' Seriously, she actually got the grand prize.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"No way! Grand prize!" Kogoro Mouri exclaimed in surprise as soon as his daughter showed him the prize she won.

Conan could empathize with Kogoro's feelings as held onto the Sherlock Holmes book Ran gave him.

he was right about how he liked Sherlock Holmes and how Shinichi liked Sherlock Holmes just as much as he did-he couldn't tell her he and Shinichi were the exact same. He didn't know what to make of Ran having the grand prize though.

Conan only wanted to focus on his Sherlock Holmes book. The second prize was a very good Sherlock Holmes book that kept him both interested and excited about what might happen. It even had some lines that were becoming his new favorite to talk about.

It was a mystery how things always worked out for her, but hey now they have a trip to the onsen.

" I guess we better get packing!" Mouri exclaimed.

After taking off her jacket so that she begin packing her luggage, Ran noticed a strange flash drive in her pocket.

'Strange, I don't recall buying this.' Ran wasn't sure how this flash drive got into her pocket. It was probably her's and she just left it there. "Oh no, I've got to start dinner!"

Ran had almost forgotten to make dinner.

Tonight, they were having beef stew.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Driving up the road through the car Kogoro rented, the three of them couldn't contain their excitement. At least, one of them anyway.

"Girls..." Kogoro drooled over as he drove. "Nude girls... Onsen... Mixed bathing..."

"Dad, this is why mom left." Ran deadpanned over her embarrassing womanizing father. "Can't you act normal for once. And we don't even know if it has mixed baths."

"Who cares at least I'll be away from that nagging, old bat for three whole days!"

However Kogoro spoke too soon. Because when they first arrived at the entrance of the onsen, the first person they meet is none other than the so called 'nagging, old bat' Eri Kisaki wearing an onsen yukata.

Seeing his wife here could only mean one thing.

"Don't tell me..."

Kogoro send a suspicious glance over to Ran who was just as surprised to see her mother there.

"What a coincidence, Mom! You're here too! This must be fate telling you two something." Ran slightly nudges her father forward. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know about fate, but I'm here for work unlike a certain carefree detective." Eri eyes her husband. "Apparently, the owner here has been facing a lot of harassment from a company trying to buy the land. So I was hired to settle the dispute."

" Are you going to be inside or outside?" Kogoro asked with tears running down his face.

" I'm going to keep an eye on you." Eri said still eyeing her husband.

It was going to drive Kogoro nuts if he had to be watched from his wife for the entire trip. He was a very sad grown man and this time it wasn't from being a clueless detective. His wife would not leave him alone just yet. It was decided while he was spacing out that they would go to a restaurant.

" But I already ate!" Kogoro complained.

" You shouldn't have. Knowing you it was probably deep friend food with lots of melted cheese on it and rice balls, not to mention alcohol. Me, you, and Ran will have the coolest and most refreshing drinks while you can drink nothing. We will also be having a platter of something I find very delicious."

Kogoro didn't trust his wife to like something he would want to eat. All he could think about when he was back with his wife was finding a way to escape from her.

Knowing his wife, he smartly chose to stay silent before something went wrong and he would end up in the hospital with a broken leg or something. He went over the ways to leave her without an accident. Hm, he could...call the client and make them end up talking for days? That would give him time to escape. No, she had a sharp eye. How about...

"Oh, Ran! You're here! Maybe you could take your father somewhere else while I discuss some matters with my client?" Kisaki Eri fondly explained to her. Kogoro lit up on the inside. He couldn't believe that this was actually happening! Such good luck! Maybe the same luck would come when he had a horse race... Just like Ran got the grand prize.

"But..." Ran sighed.

As her mother told, Ran took her father and Conan to their room after getting the keys. This wasn't much of a vacation at this point. She didn't think she'd run into her mother here of all places. This was the perfect opportunity to get them back together and start living as a family of three or four with Conan.

If only, both of her parents weren't so stubborn and something could be done to change her mother's opinion of dad. Though...

"Onsen. Mixed bathing." Her father began sprouting out like an idiot which he was.

That was a long run.

"The hostess was a babe. But that lady at the front desk wasn't so bad either."

How embarrassing. And this was her father no less. Ran sweat drops at the sight of her embarrassing father. Hopefully, she'll at least get the both of them to get lunch and dinner together.

Even Conan couldn't help but sweat drop too. He knew how much she wanted to get her parents together again. The only problem was the husband in question. He can't exactly blame Eri for leaving either. Most women would have already cut off all ties and divorced by now.

XXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile inside another room, a group of IT workers were enjoying their time at the onsen especially one. Daichi Takano, an IT researcher, was drunk off of the sake.

"Geez, there he goes and gets drunk on his own." A female intern, Ruri Blythe, chided.

"Leave him be..." A male coworker, Nicholas Fay, defended his friend. "Especially after happened..."

The mood immediately turns dark at his words.

None of them wanted to remember it. That horrid memory and him.

Ran wanted to say something that could change her mothers mind. Before any of the sides could react, Kogoro was found by a group of investors and taken for a drink. It was amazing how fast the investors got her father to go for a drink.

That left Ran and her mother. She opened her mouth to say something persuading, but she was swept away by her clients.

It looked like Ran would be spending her vacation alone, but there was someone who wanted to spend time with her. He was small but he wasn't Conan. He was the boy who believed he was a better detective than Conan and he was the same age as him. It was Yoru the boy who solved mysteries.

Yoru knew deep inside he was no match for Conan, but he didn't want to seem weak. He also remembered Ran that day she went to Elementary school to pick Conan up. That made jealousy sprout in every vein. However, being jealous all the time was unprofessional of Yoru.

That made him try harder to get Ran's attention to him, because Yoru knew Conan was off on a case that he had 'stumbled' on. He had heard that he wouldn't be back for a few days.

" Is it your head or heart that feels scarred?" Yoru asked.

"Um...heart," She replied, looking into the distance shamefully.

" It's impossible to heal a scarred brain but do you know how you heal a scarred heart?" Yoru looked at the ocean with his finger pointed at the water. " Good work winning the vacation. Why don't you go for a swim."

"Uh, but, I didn't really bring a swimming suit..."

" I'm pretty sure they sell swimsuits in a shop around here."

"Okay, I'm sure it won't harm anybody..."

Yoru pointed to the clothes shop where he wanted Ran to buy her bathing suit.

Ran smiled. "Arigato, Yoru, for being here when nobody else is."

Yoru just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I'll get that bathing suit," Ran spoke.

Yoru decided to play in the sand while Ran went to buy a swimsuit. It wasn't long before Ran came running back with a pink bag containing her newly bought suit.

Yoru wondered why she would need to carry the bathing suit in a pink bag. Ran, catching the direction of his eyes, explained,

"I don't want anybody to know I'm also carrying souvenirs for a special friend of mine in here." Her eyes seemed to go unfocused after 'a special friend of mine'.

" Tell that special friend to thank you even more for going through all your trouble just for him."

She gently laughed. "That wasn't any trouble. Besides, I would go through a tornado to help him."

Yoru hadn't been this confused since he decided to create his own beliefs and made one up that was completely ridiculous.

"You mean...he's your boyfriend? No, he saved you from a fire. Ah, I got it! He's your father!" Yoru pointed a finger at the sky.

Ran just laughed and walked away.

"Huh? I was sure I got that right," Yoru muttered

To him he was right and Ran was just being strange. Yoru shrugged and said that he would meet Ran at the beach. He couldn't think of anything better to do than spend time with a teenage girl.

"See you," Ran called after him.

Ran was all alone again. She looked longingly at the island far out in the bay waters, where Conan worked on the case. The case she knew he could finish without worrying her. It was funny how sometimes Conan seemed to be the smartest, even out of the adults. Shinichi was the same, too.

She wondered sometimes why they were so much the same. They had same face, same smile, same favorites, and the thirst for mysteries. They could be long lost brothers or half-brothers. Possibly...even the same person.

But other kids told Ran they saw Yoru and Conan talking to one another, even another time they saw them arguing. That demolished her thoughts of them, and decided it was time that Conan get to know Yoru better.

XXXXXXXXXX

Onsen...Onsen...Ran's mind seemed only capable of repeating those few rods. Mixed baths...Onsen...
MIXED BATHS.

That was it!

All Ran had to do was usher both her parents to the same onsen, and they'd be back together! For once, Ran actually had to thank her dad's rumblings.

"Ran-neechan, you seemed to have figured something out," Conan, who was sporting a broken wrist from the case, noticed.

"Hai," She smiled and winked. Conan smiled back.