SailorStar9: With Chapter 68 uploaded, this is Chapter 69 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?

Pairings: Established!Furuya Rei (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami

Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.

Chapter 69: The Heartfelt Strap, Part Two

At the beach...

"There are so many people." Ayumi gawked at the crowd.

"It's not even clam hunting season." even Mitsuhiko was surprised.

"Well, I can't say I'm really surprised." Fumio noted. "It was worse when Grandfather and I came."

"And we have to find them among all these people?" Genta whined.

"If only we knew that kid's name..." Fumio sighed.

"I've got it." Amuro ended his call to Kazumi. "His name is Yoshida Yuto. My friend happened to be on that train. I had him breathe on the window and check what the boy wrote."

"Uncle Kazumi isn't going to be very happy, tou-san." Fumio reminded.

"Yoshida Yuto from Tokyo, you friends have arrived." using the loudspeaker from his voice-changing bow-tie, Conan mimicked the announcer's voice. "Please come to the beach house immediately. Once again, Yoshida Yuto from Tokyo, you friends have arrived. Please come to the beach house immediately."

"Hold on, Conan." Mitsuhiko started. "How do you know the boy's from Tokyo?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Fumio replied. "That train gets very crowded at Shinjuku Station near the Toto Stadium, the Tokyo Spirits' home stadium. In other words, the Station where we got on; but the father-and-son weren't sitting, which would mean they either got on when we did or after that. They could only be from Tokyo."

"Excuse me." Mr. Yoshida voiced, approaching the group with Yuto in tow. "Yoshida Yuto is my son. Are you looking for someone else by the same name?"

It's them! The Detective Boys beamed.

"Ojii-san, you picked up a soccer player strap on the train, right?" Conan asked.

"Yeah, I thought it was my son's." Mr. Yoshida replied. "But it was of a different player."

"That's my friend's." Ayumi piped in.

"Your son's strap was at Chiyari Station." Mitsuhiko supplied.

"I'm glad you came." My Yoshida dug into his pants' pocket and pulled out the phone strap. "Here."

"What?" the Detective Boys blinked when a hand suddenly snatched the strap away.

"No way!" Ayumi gasped when the unnamed man took off with the phone strap.

"Oh no, you don't!" Fumio was already on the move, giving chase with Conan close behind.

"Wait, why?" Conan looked around, realizing the man had already blended into the crowd. "It's just a phone strap."

"Come to think of it, I recognize that man." Amuro stated. "He was standing near the Chiyari Station lost and found when we went there, and I think he was sitting behind Ayumi at the family restaurant we just visited."

"Then, maybe he's been following us this whole time so he could swipe it." Mitsuhiko suggested.

"Yeah, but what's the reason?" Fumio reminded.

"It's just a Higo phone strap." Conan agreed.

"It's not just a strap!" Ayumi snapped.

"It was really important to Haibara." Genta added.

"There's only one strap like it in the whole word." Mitsuhiko agreed.

Actually... Fumio mused.

That doesn't answer the question. Conan agreed.

"Maybe..." Mr. Yoshida spoke up. "It's because of what was inside the strap. Yuto, there was something inside it, right?"

"Yeah." Yuto nodded. "It was hard when I squeezed it."

"There was something hard inside?" Conan echoed.

"That something must be a flash drive with top secret data on it." Mitsuhiko surmised.

Oi, oi, oi... Fumio sweatdropped.

"Yeah, right." Conan shared Fumio's skepticism. "We bought it at the stadium store."

"Actually, the straps were sold out and Haibara asked the clerk to sell her the display product." Mitsuhiko corrected.

"Then, that's not an impossible scenario." Amuro added. "One person picks up the display product and puts something inside it while pretending to look at it. Once that product sells out, another person asks to purchase the display product. It's a way to secretly make a deal. But your friend bought the display product first. While following her in order to get it back, your friend dropped the strap while the train shook. He took advantage of the opportunity to pick up the strap, but it was the wrong one. When he went to the Station's lost and found to turn in the strap, you kids appeared. Since it seemed like you'd find the trap he wanted for himself, he resumed following you and waited for an opportunity to steal it."

"Then once the deal is done..." Mitsuhiko gasped. "That strap will be thrown away."

"We'll have to split up to find that man." Conan went into leader mode.

"Tou-san, can we trouble you to watch the exits?" Fumio looked his father. "He wasn't dressed like someone who's clam-digging."

"But, there's still a lot of people." Genta pointed out.

"Don't worry." Conan assured. "Since we're small, we can slip through the crowd to look for him. In ant case, loudly describe the man's appearance so the people around you can hear you. Once you find him, don't do anything. Use your Detective Badge to notify me."

As the sun set, Conan was waiting in front of the changing rooms. "I've been waiting for you, ojii-san." he informed the man walking past.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

"Don't play dumb." Conan smiled. "You could immediately remove your hat and jacket, swap them out for something you bought here and stuff them into one of the bags sold at the store. But you can't change your pants without visiting the changing room. Am I wrong?" he blinked at the man's expression.

"Listen," the man defended. "I just came here to change into shorts so I could go digging for clams."

"But take a look." Fumio walked in, pointing to the setting sun. "It's already this late in the afternoon and everyone's getting ready to leave. Are you going to start now? Your cap has a price tag still attached."

"That proves you hastily put it on as soon as you bought it." Conan explained. "And besides, I can see the head of the strap poking out."

"You idiot." the man snorted. "It's hidden right..." he caught himself.

"So you are the man who stole the Higo strap from us." Conan grinned.

"Damn it!" the man turned tail and fled, once to be stopped by the rest of the Detective Boys as Conan activated his kick-enhancing shoes.

Fumio sweatdropped when the soccer ball hit its target, sending the man onto the sand and the phone strap falling out of his hands as a result.

Ayumi reached out to catch the strap when it bounced off from her hands.

Mitsuhiko reached to catch the strap, only to have it slip out of his hands.

Genta tried to catch it, only to miss and have it fall into the ocean.

"Oh no, you don't!" Fumio was already chasing after the strap, arm outstretched to catch the falling strap before it hit the water. "Save!" the blond boy declared, raising the rescued strap in the air. "I'm just glad kaa-san taught me how to swim when I was four." he noted, Conan pulling him from the water.

"An engagement ring?" the Detective Boys chorused when the man revealed the reason he was after the phone strap.

"That's it?" Fumio exclaimed.

"That's what you put in the phone strap?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"My girlfriend is a huge Higo fan." the man admitted. "I was going to surprise her tonight."

"It really was inside." Genta gawked when Fumio pulled the ring out.

"It looks expensive." Mitsuhiko gushed.

"Yeah, I splurged on it, so I was worried if it was actually still inside there." the man replied. "While checking it on the train, I dropped it when the train shook. I went to pick it up right away, but it was a different strap. I saw the father-and-son standing nearby pick it up. I thought I'd explain the situation when they got off and exchange straps, but Chiyari Station was full of people there to dig for clams. I lost sight of them, so I thought if I turned in their strap to the lost and found and waited there, they might show up. That's when these kids arrived. They seemed to be looking for the same strap for some reason, so I followed them."

"Then, you should've said so earlier." Genta chided.

"But that girl..." the man looked over at Ayumi. "I heard her say that, so..."

"In other words, three people dropped their straps when the train shook." Amuro summarized. "The father-and-son picked up his Higo strap, and he picked up the son's Sanada strap."

"Then, where's Ai-chan's strap?" Ayumi wondered.

"I found my Detective Badge, though." Genta stated.

"Genta, where did you find it?" Conan asked.

"In the parking lot of the family restaurant." Genta replied. "I put on my hood when it started to rain and it fell out."

"Genta, squat down for a bit." Fumio requested and peered into the jacket hood. "If it's not in here, then... could it be..."

"Haibara's strap is in the family restaurant parking lot." Conan came to the same conclusion.

"Found it." Conan beamed, spotting the phone strap underneath a parked car.

"But if we return it to her in the condition it's in..." Fumio sweatdropped at the sight of the battered strap. "Haibara would probably kill us, won't she?"

"Yeah..." Conan nodded slowly. "Probably."

"Do we have a needle and some thread around?" Fumio asked.

SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.