"Wow this seems more like a fancy hotel than an apartment."
"Sure, dad. You've outdone yourself once again."
It was late evening in Japan, and my father and I had just stepped into our brand new apartment located in the Odaiba district. I shuffled across our new living room, which was already decorated with brand new furniture, purchased with my father's raise. It was obvious the moving men had beat us here. I cringed slightly as I headed for my room, wondering how much rearranging I would have to do after school tomorrow.
As I entered my room, I was pleasantly surprised to see the majority of my furniture had been placed in tolerable areas. I noted that perhaps I would move my desk a bit farther away from the sliding glass door so when winter came I wouldn't freeze trying to do homework. I tossed my backpack onto my bed, causing the drawstring to come lose and spill all the contents onto the floor. A "tsk" escaped my lips as I knelt down to pick up everything: Three books, a notepad, iPod, Gameboy SP, and my digivice. Even after three, almost four, years I couldn't bring myself to go anywhere without it.
I heard my dad's footsteps as he joined me in my rom. "See, Lexi, I told you those moving men where good. They put everything exactly where we wanted it," he said, smiling. His eyes then shifted to the digivice in my hand. His smile dropped a bit and I could see him reliving my explanation of the digital world as I had held Tsukaimon in my small arms. It wasn't long after that Tsukaimon returned to the digital world, a place I haven't seen in three years. Sure, I helped those Japanese kids in the battle with Diaboromon, but I'd only seen a glimpse of my digital best friend through the screen at that point.
"You still have that old thing?" my dad chuckled as best he could. Eight months before my adventures in the digital world, my mother had passed away in a car accident. Even though time passed differently in the digital world, I had been with a group of other American digidestined, and our fight had probably saved the entire western hemisphere, that hadn't changed my father's fears. After that he'd kept me on lockdown in our house for half a year. Luckily, his nerves had eased these past years; it had to considering he was almost always away on business trips or staying late at the office.
I nodded, acknowledging his insult toward a device that was quite possibly my most precious possession. "Tsukaimon is my best friend, dad. Even if I haven't seen him in awhile,"
Despite his misgivings, my dad nodded and patted my shoulder. "I know, dear," he replied, offering a sincere smile. I hugged my dad, knowing his intentions were for the better. "Hey, why don't you go for a quick walk? Get your bearings for the area before tomorrow. I'll be doing boring grown-up things for the rest of the night anyway," he offered, knowing how much I enjoyed the fresh air.
"Sounds like a plan. I saw a soccer field and some tennis courts on the ride here. Maybe they have some volleyball nets hanging around too," I grinned, my hands already itching to play.
"Okay, just don't be back too late. You do have to go to school tomorrow," my dad replied, a fresh smile appearing on his face.
I groaned in reply before making my way towards the door.