EDIT 9/27/2015: For those of you wondering why you're receiving an alert for this story after so many years of it being done, it's because I'm updating the content in it. There's more info on this in Ch. 1. I posted Ch. 1 and 2 simultaneously, but I'll be uploading the rest one by one. I'm reuploading the rest because I combined some chapters so the chapter count is actually different now.

Now for Conan to start up his plan...

Chapter Two

After school, Conan was looking to put his plan into action. He had decided to use Ayumi as the friend to 'date' for several reasons. The first and most obvious reason was that she was Haibara's best friend and was the most likely to provoke a reaction from her. The second reason was that Ayumi and Ran were pretty similar emotionally, so he wouldn't be jumping into unknown waters by 'dating' her.

"Conan-kun! Ai-chan!" shouted Ayumi as he and Haibara left the school that day, "Do you want to come with us to the park? We're going to play soccer!" She was practically jumping up and down in excitement.

"Sure I'll go!" said Conan calmly. "Are you coming Haibara?"

"I'll pass" said Haibara flatly. "I've got work to do at Hakase's."

Ayumi's face fell so Conan whispered to Haibara, "Oh, why don't you come? It's a nice day and we could really use you."

"While I appreciate the sentiment, I haven't been feeling well lately, so I thought I'd go home and lie down."

This was a problem. If Haibara bailed out of going, Conan wouldn't be able to put his plan into action. Thinking quickly, he said, "Well, wouldn't playing outside do something similar? Some exercise will do you good, Haibara."

Seeing he wasn't going to give up, Haibara gave in. "Fine, I'll go," she told Ayumi, who instantly looked happy. Mitsuhiko looked pretty happy as well.

With that they headed toward Beika Park. When they got to the field, Conan split them up into two teams. "OK, so it'll be me and Ayumi-chan vs. Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Haibara."

"How come you and Ayumi are by yourselves again?" Genta complained.

"Why does it matter?" Conan asked back, acting irritated.

"Well, it's just that we were supposed to switch them up this time," said Mitsuhiko.

Conan, of course, knew this, but he had purposely ignored it as part of his plan.

"It's OK, guys!" said Ayumi, not noticing the hostility. "We'll switch up next time!"

Haibara sighed in annoyance before dragging the guys off to their end of the field.

Nobody was fool enough to question Haibara, so the game began with no more arguments. Despite it being two on three, it was still uneven because Conan was so much better at soccer than anyone else. However, it took longer than normal for them to win because he was purposely trying to get Ayumi involved more than he normally would. Usually he'd just hog the ball and only passed it occasionally, but today he was passing it about twice as much as normal.

This caused some problems, though. Ayumi wasn't used to having the ball that much, so she kept panicking and trying to pass it back to Conan. That led to the ball getting intercepted and Conan having to steal it back. By the time the game ended, it was getting late and everyone was exhausted.

"Good game, Ayumi-chan," said Conan, striking up a conversation with the girl as everyone split up to go home.

"Really? I kept screwing up and letting Ai-chan get the ball, but you really think I did well?"

"Of course. You have good technique, so all you really need to do is practice more. And be confident when you're playing. Don't be scared when you get passed the ball and just focus on getting it towards the goal."

"I know. That's what I try to do, but I keep getting distracted." She glanced pointedly at him before continuing, "Besides, you're better than me, so why do you keep giving me the ball when you don't need to?"

'Because I'm trying to get a rise of Haibara!' Conan thought. "Well, you won't get better at the game if you don't practice," he told her.

"Oh, if you say so," said Ayumi, although she sounded a bit confused. By this point, they had reached her apartment building, so Conan decided to put the next stage of his plan into action.

"I tell you what, Ayumi-chan; I'll meet you here first thing in the morning and give you some more tips. How about it?"

Ayumi looked at him, stunned. "You'd do that?" she asked in surprise. He nodded in response, prompting her to say, "Then I'll see you tomorrow, Conan-kun!" before running inside. After leaving Ayumi at her apartment, Conan went home, feeling slightly happier than normal and sporting a barely concealed grin. His plan was off to a good start.

I guess it was pretty obvious he'd use Ayumi. After all, she's Haibara's best friend. I know it's short, but I'm leading into the actual story, and it seemed a good idea to finish the chapter here.

The entire story will likely be around ten chapters, so it won't take too long to get to the good stuff. Thanks for the comments and keep supporting me!