OK, to start off with, this is Part Three of a series. I highly recommend you read parts 1 and 2 first. To get there, go back a page, access my profile and scroll down until you see a list of my stories. Part 1 is The Second New Life and Part 2 is The New Alias. Come back here after reading those so you won't be horribly lost.

Here I am with the long awaited Adventures of Minami Edogawa Part Three! For those who had given up hope, you had no reason to fear; I did get around to it eventually, just not as soon as I would've liked. I enjoyed reading all your ideas last time, and I've come up with a framework for future installments. If all goes well, the Adventures of Minami Edogawa will have five parts, after which I'll switch gears and write five parts of The Adventures of Sakura Kudo (spoiler alert! xD). Part Three features on Ayumi, Part Four will feature on Kid, and Part Five will feature Vermouth, with some good BO stuff along with it. Won't give details for fear of spoiling, but I figure I owed you all something good for such a long absence.

Now, this chapter is short. I know. I get tired of people commenting and saying that my chapters are too short. This chapter is an intro, and has all this intro stuff about the series, so the chapter itself is shorter than average. This is not a permanent trend. My new policy is to publish chapters with a 1,500 word minimum word limit, apart from obvious exceptions like this where I put a whole bunch of stuff at the top and/or bottom. But you're tired of hearing me ramble, right? Well, enjoy the story!

Chapter One

Ayumi felt threatened. She knew something was different. The obvious difference was Minami Edogawa. Her existence seemed…weird. When Ayumi talked to her, it was like talking to Conan all over again. She remembered distinctly what had tipped her off.

The five of them had been playing games at Agasa's when Haibara had made a comment, typical of her, which prompted a very odd response.

"Edogawa-kun," said Haibara, "I heard they're selling a new treasury edition of the main Holmes novels."

"Really?" asked Minami excitedly, losing her concentration. She and Haibara were deep in a virtual duel, and Minami, surprisingly, had been winning. Maybe it was from taking out so many criminals that she had so much practice.

"Yep; I saw the ad while I was looking through the magazines. It'll be out in about a week. You seriously didn't know?"

"Of course not, Haibara!" said Minami happily, subconsciously reverting to 'Conan' speak. The three kids watched the conversation silently. Ayumi's eyes narrowed.

'Defeated!' the game announced as Haibara emptied Minami's health bar. Furious, Minami turned to Haibara.

"That was dirty!" she said, all traces of happiness gone.

"What was?" asked Haibara innocently. "The point of the game is to defeat the opponent using any moves programmed into the game."

"You know what I mean," said Minami quietly, brushing her hair behind her ear and putting the controller down. "You tried to distract me with a fake Holmes advert."

"Did I?" asked Haibara, pulling a magazine off a pile and showing her a news article about it.

"Oh, you were serious?" Minami said happily, scanning the article. "I know just where I'll put these, too," she said to herself, totally forgetting about the rest of the kids.

"I want a turn!" said Genta loudly, dragging Minami, still focused on the article, off the rug and picking up the controller.

That had been the start. Maybe Ayumi had just missed it before, but now she thought about it, Minami seemed to know too much about her, her friends, her school, and people she knew. She resolved to find out if she was just thinking too hard or it there really was something going on.

XXX

The next day she saw Minami, which was at school, Ayumi decided to ask the question. She'd spent half an hour the night before coming up with just how to phrase it so Minami wouldn't get suspicious.

"Uh, Minami-chan?" Ayumi began, approaching her while Minami was busy tying back her hair.

"What, Ayumi-chan?" she asked, slightly annoyed because the hairband didn't want to go in.

"Do you need some help?" asked Ayumi, suddenly spotting an impromptu way of rephrasing the question.

Minami tried again, but it got hung on her disheveled hair. "Fine, I guess," she conceded, and Ayumi took it.

Ayumi had had plenty of practice putting in hairbands; she wore one every day. Spotting the problem, she slowly began extricating the hair from the band. "So, how are you finding Japan?" asked Ayumi, feigning the curiosity of a little girl.

"The people are a lot friendlier here, considering," said Minami, wincing as some of her hair got pulled.

"What about all the murders we come across, then?" asked Ayumi sharply, making Minami cringe.

"I honestly don't know. Tokyo supposedly has some of the lowest big-city crime rates in the world. Now I'm starting to think something bribed the reporters so Japan can attract more tourists."

"You were a detective in America, right? What crime sticks out in your mind more than the others?"

"That's a tough one. Maybe the time my detective group stopped a group of Mexican burglars. They stole $50,000 from a casino in Las Vegas to smuggle across the border, but their boss took the money and hid out in Los Angeles. His goons found him, but he'd already hidden the money, so they took his map and tried to find it themselves. I caught a snippet of their conversation and deduced the money's location, and the cops nailed them."

That was a big coincidence. It was practically an Americanized version of the time they'd found all those gold coins at the fish symbol on the treasure map. "Nice," said Ayumi, finishing up with the hair. "Now, that should do it. It's almost like you're not used to this, Minami-chan!"

"It wasn't my fault Ran-neesan used up all the conditioner!" said Minami irritably, but Ayumi was no longer listening.

'If…if she's Conan-kun, that would be the weirdest thing EVER! I don't know what I would do if that were true. But it can't be true, can it?'

"Is something the matter, Ayumi-chan?" asked Minami suddenly, making her jump.

"It's just that I miss Conan-kun a lot," said Ayumi sadly, shrugging her bizarre thoughts aside.

She didn't notice Minami's downcast eyes.

Now, if anybody noticed a change in my writing style, then you've got sharp eyes. I've been writing a book for the past year or so, and that took up a lot of my time. However, now I'm in college and have more free time, I have more time to write and to update. So expect updates around 3-4 times a week or so. It might change if I have exams or something, but that's what I'm aiming for. Which means I'll have to make the story longer to make it interesting.

Next up, Ayumi's suspicions deepen, Haibara slips up, and more fun stuff. And let me know if you guys are still enjoying the series or not! Later. :D