Notes: I thought it would be fun to write a little pre-Tri fic about Jyou and his (so far) mystery girlfriend. Each chapter will be relatively short-only a few paragraphs-and will correspond to a particular season. ...You'll catch on. Please feel free to point out any inaccuracies in my writing of the Japanese school system (which are hopefully not too horrendous), if you see any.

Thanks and enjoy!

Spring

The medical bag under his desk proved to be a good conversation starter. Or, at least, that was what she had brought up one spring morning between classes.

"Is that a doctor's bag?" she asked curiously, leaning slightly over her desk to have a look.

Startled, Jyou looked up from his desk and at the girl next to him. Her name was Konishi Estelle; he remembered hearing that she had moved from America several years before.

They had been sitting by each other in school for the past few weeks but had not exchanged more than a word. This wasn't too surprising to Jyou, as he was usually more interested in getting good grades then making friends.

He blinked as she looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to answer her question.

"Oh. Yes. I carry it with me in case of emergencies," he finally replied.

Estelle smiled a bit. "So you're like a doctor."

"Well," Jyou said modestly, "that's what I'm hoping to become."

He turned back to the books on his desk, a bit flustered at her interest. Certainly she was just being polite.

"You're Kido Jyou, right?"

He glanced back over at her, and nodded.

"I'm Konishi Estelle. Nice to meet you."

In the weeks to follow, Estelle talked to Jyou nearly every day between classes. Sometimes she would sit on her desk (Jyou wondered if she knew that was against the rules) and tell him about growing up in America, and how she had moved when she was thirteen. She liked life in Japan, she said, but making friends was sometimes hard. Jyou understood.

She had a laid-back but unusually candid way of speaking, one that was polite but didn't let manners get in the way of expressing her opinion. She asked Jyou about being a doctor and listened to what he said, even when he got to explaining the strange creatures called Digimon.

"I've heard about them before," Estelle confirmed on the topic one drizzly day. "I think I may've even seen a few small ones in person. It's just amazing to think that they actually exist."

"I didn't believe it the first time I saw them," Jyou chuckled, remembering. "Maybe someday you can meet Gomamon."

Estelle smiled. "I'd like that."