'Great, just perfect,' Conan sighed. 'It's finally summer vacation and it's pouring down rain.' "Why me?" he moaned.
Rachel entered the house. "Hey, Conan, guess what?" she asked, shaking out her umbrella. "A new family's moved into the house right next door, and get this! They've got a seven year-old! Now you'll have someone to play with this summer! Isn't that great?"
'Joy,' he grimaced, 'can this day get any worse?' "Really? Gee, that's great, Rachel!"
"I knew you'd be excited! That's why I went ahead and scheduled a playdate with them. They've invited us over for dinner this evening. Isn't that nice of them?"
"Yay! A new friend!" Conan cheered, thinking to himself, 'I just had to ask, didn't I?'
Rachel knocked on the door of the house next to their apartment complex. "Now Conan, I now that you're excited, but please try to be polite. This family is new to the neighborhood, so we want to make them feel welcome. Understand?"
"Don't worry, I'll be on my best behavior!" he insisted. "I promise!"
The door opened, and a little girl about Amy's height appeared at the door. Her brunette hair fell down neatly a little past her shoulders, and she was wearing a miniature version of Rachel's high school uniform.
"Hi," the girl greeted. "Are you the Moore family?"
"Yes, I'm Rachel Moore, and this little guy over here is-"
"Conan Edogawa," Conan finished. "And you are..."
"Rita," the little girl told them. "Rita Narume. It's great to meet you Miss Rachel; Conan. Come on inside, I'll go get my aunt." The two stepped inside. The house was large and spaceous.
"Why your aunt?" Conan asked, curious.
"My parents are both attorneys," Rita informed casually, as if the question had come up many times before, "so they don't really have time to take care of me. That's why Aunt Emily takes care of me while they're away. I think you'll like her; she's a really nice person. Excuse me, please, I'll go get her now."
"She is so sweet!" Rachel cooed, then leaned down and said to Conan, "Maybe you'll get yourself a girlfriend."
Conan laughed hesitantly. 'Yeah, and maybe Richard Moore is a respectable politician...'
A tall, blonde woman appeared into the view. "Rachel Moore," the lady said. Her tone was calm, and very friendly and open, "thank you for helping Rita and myself feel such a warm welcome to the neighborhood." She lowered herself down to Conan's eye level. "And Rita is very excited to meet someone her own ageshe can play with."
'I beg to differ,' he said silently. "Ms. Nyame, can we eat now? I'm starving."
"Oh, don't worry now, Conan," Emily chuckled, "we're having a barbeque, but the food's not ready just yet. Rachel, would you care to assist me?" Before Conan could protest, they were gone.
"Uh..." Conan's voice wavered unsurely. He was stuck with a little first graderfor the wholesummer. As if the Junior Detective League wasn't bad enough...
"Listen, Conan," Rita said, sounding like she wanted to be in this position as much as the little detective did, "I don't know who you think you are, but I'll go ahead and tell you that things aren't going to work out. I'm much too advanced for you."
"Excuse me?" As if she could say that; he was the one who was in high school. "We're both seven. Just because your parents are attorneys doesn't mean-"
Rita gave Conan a long, hard glare. "I'm going to go help your sister set up dinner," she said sourly.
"She's not my sister!" he yelled, then followed the girl into the backyard.
Conan, you were so quiet during dinner," Rachel commented when they'd returned home. "Is something bothering you? Are you feeling sick? You might've caught a cold after all the rain-"
"No, I'm fine, Rachel," Conan insisted. 'It's that Rita Nyame that's the problem. She holds herself like a... a...'
"That's it!" Conan exclaimed in a low whisper, 'but how am I going to prove that?' He glanced over at Rachel. "Rachel, can I have a party for my friends tomorrow?"
"What for?" Rachel responded, an amused look planted on her face. "Sure you can. Don't invite too many kids though- Dad probably doesn't want a dozen first graders running around the house all night."
"Yay! Thank you so much, Rachel!"
"Conan, I thought you said that we were having a Junior Detective League meeting," George pouted. "What are we doing doing nothing? I'm bo-ored."
"Don't worry, I promise we're going to have a meeting." He pointed out of the window. "See that house to the right? There's a new family that just moved there. And there's this girl our age that's going to move in."
"Oh, I get it!" Amy giggled. "You like her, and you want her to join the Junior Detective League!" The others nodded in agreement like they'd just made a Sherlock Holmes-worthy deduction.
"No!" Conan groaned. "You've got it all wrong! I-" The door bell rang. "Oh... I'll get it..." 'This is ridiculous.' He dragged himself to the door and was greeted by a large jar of candy.
"Hey, Conan!" Rita greeted. "I brought everyone candy for the sleepover!" She set the oversized container down for everyone to see. "There's Yaiba man gummies, gumballs, pop rock candy, candy corn, chocolate candy bars, lollipops, and some soft drinks for each of us!" The Junior Detective League cheered so loud that Rita laughed.
"So, who are your friends, Conan?" Rita questioned, peered at everyone.
"Mitch!"
"George!"
"And I'm Amy! We're the Junior Detective League!" The child gave her new friend a big hug. "We're going to give you a test to see if you have what it takes to join!"
"A test?" Rita asked with a curious grin.
"Yes," Conan interrupted, serious. "It's very difficult. In fact, we're all going to take the test at the same time."
AN: Yes, this is a (sort of) new series of mine, based on the series Case Closed. I wrote a few chapters worth of it a while back, found it recently, made some minor alternations to it, and finally decided to post it to see what people think of it. I'd have written more, but like I said, I don't have that much written down yet. Maybe if a few people seem like they'd like to read what I've got I'll start writing more, or maybe I'll get an asperation all on my own. You never know.
Welp, that's Chapter 1! Until Chapter 2! (not sure when that'll be out)