Tai quickly gulped down his orange juice and crammed one last chopstick-
full of rice down his throat before he called out with a full mouth,
"Ja okaasan, I weavi' fo' Yama'o's!" and skidded down the corridor in his socks to his room, where he bumped into Kari carrying an armful of sheets.
"Aaah! Where'd my bed sheets go?" he asked as he grabbed his backpack off the bunk bed post.
"Mom said since you're spending the day with Yamato, I can invite a friend to sleep over. I'm changing the sheets just incase you peed in the bed again," Kari said putting them in the wash.
"Hey!" her older brother shouted. Mrs. Yagami appeared at the end of the hall with outstretched arms.
"Have fun at Yamato's today, Taichi," she cheerfully sang out as she quickly hugged her son goodbye.
"'K Mom! I'll probably spend the night!" he called as he hopped out the door trying to put his shoe on. Mrs. Yagami smiled and began clearing the breakfast dishes.
.
"Yamato, Taichi will be here very soon, and you still haven't swept the floor or washed the pile of dirty dishes in the sink left over from last night," Mrs. Ishida said.
"Sorry Mom, I was--cleaning my room and lost track of time," apologized Matt.
"Please do it now. This is the ninth time I've asked this morning, and if I have to ask again, Taichi's not sleeping over--I'll be doing a room inspection," she announced as she handed Matt a pink frilly apron.
T.K. hurriedly jumped off the couch and ran past his mother to his room so he could squeeze in some extra cleaning time. Matt reluctantly put the apron on, looked at the crunched up cereal scattered all over the kitchen floor from breakfast and the sink piled high with dishes, and sighed. Well, there was nothing else he could do but clean it up if he didn't want to be grounded. And anyways, he had better get used to doing little things like this now that his parents were back together. A faint smile appeared on his face, and he straightened his shoulders as he asked himself the age-old question-
Where did the dust-pan go?
.
Armed with a laundry basket under one arm, and disinfectant spray in the other, Mrs. Ishida cautiously opened the door to her teenage son's sleeping quarters, as if afraid a giant pile of dirty laundry would topple over her. Her nose was greeted by a sour smelling odor as she bravely endeavored into the dark, unknown, territory. Upon reaching the window, she rolled up the blinds and raised the glass for a breath of fresh air and to clear out the smell. Then she turned around and made a noise of surprise.
Matt's bedcovers were rumpled, and last nights clothing lay in a heap on the floor. The closet doors were wide open and dirty socks decorated the gaping mouths of drawers. Her boy's bedroom was in much better condition than the state it was in last week, she thought happily. Soon nearly all the undesirable habits he had picked up after living eight years with primarily Mr. Ishida, would be a long gone, bad dream, like their separation.
She tossed soiled garments into the hamper and pushed the drawers back in order, deciding however, that Matt would have to make his bed himself.
With the room looking fairly habitable, Mrs. Ishida's next mission was to find where the moldy glass of milk was hidden.
.
Meanwhile, Matt was still searching for the dustpan and was about to give up in despair, when the doorbell rang. Matt froze for a moment before grabbing all the dishes in the sink and cramming them inside a cupboard. Next he snatched the broom and furiously swept the crumbs into a pile. Searching for a place to dispose of it, he spied the welcome mat in front of the door and peeled it back so he could hastily brush the large pile of crumbs under it. He replaced the mat and opened the door, revealing a beaming Tai.
"Hey Yamato! Ready for a fun day? I brought my 'board so we can skate at the park,"
"Sounds good to me," his best friend said. T.K. joined them at the door just as Mrs. Ishida called, "Yamato, please make your bed before you leave,"
"Becoming quite the housewife, ne? Cute outfit--looks great on you," Tai grinned as he pointed to Matt's frilly apron. Matt scowled for a moment before running to his room to finish his chore.
"Come inside and have a seat Taichi, Yamato will be done soon," T.K. offered
"Don't mind if I do," Tai said as he stepped upon the threshold. Crunch. Crackle. Snap. An odd expression crossed Tai's face as he commented, "Nice floor mat you've got here, Takeru. What's under it? Dead cockroaches or somthin'?" Out of curiosity, he knelt down and began to pull back the rug, but Matt soon retuned, and Tai stood back up, ready to leave.
"'later Mom!" Matt shouted as he yanked off the apron and headed out the door with Tai and his younger brother.
"Ato Yamato! If you boys get hungry, just come home for lunch. I might go downtown this evening, and your father will be working late tonight--and Takeru--hold Yamato's hand when you cross the street!" his mother instructed. T.K. sighed as he shook his head, and ran to catch up with his older brother.
.
"Hikari, have you decided who you want to invite over?" Mrs. Yagami asked her daughter. Kari shook her head.
"Not yet," she replied.
"Well when you're ready, call me and let me know. I'm going down to the newsstand to buy a paper. I'll be back soon!" her mother said.
Kari bounded onto the sofa as she began flipping through her address book.
Who should come over tonight? She wondered, coming across Yolie's number.
Perfect!
Kari punched in the numbers on the phone and waited for someone to pick up on the other line.
"Moshi, moshi?" a feminine voice asked.
"Hi, this is Hikari-is Miyako there?"
"Uh, lemme check...." Her sister said as she put Kari on hold. She soon returned saying, "Sorry. She's out shopping with... Mimi, I think. They're not expected back 'til later this evening."
"Oh," Kari said. "Well thanks." And she hung up the phone.
Mimi's in town? Oh yeah she sent me an e-mail. I guess I forgot, because it's not like she'd stop by to say hi to Tai or anything.
Kari called up a few more girls from her class, but they either already had plans, or no one picked up the phone at all.
She got bored so she went to the room she and Tai shared, and decided to rummage through his stuff. Same ole', same ole' Kari thought as she searched his backpack for a juicy secret. Then she went to their tiny cramped closet and ran her hand along the dusty top wire shelf where their old toys were. Aha! Her hand felt a piece of paper-but it was stuck under something. Kari scrunched up her face, and with one great effort, yanked the paper free. Just then, the object rolled off the shelf and hit Kari with a WHUMP!, causing the paper to slip from her hand and slide unnoticed beneath the beds.
"Ouch!" she said as she rubbed her head. She stooped down to pick up the thing, which was indeed a dusty old soccer ball. Kari blew off the dust and turned the ball around in her hands until her eyes fell upon some writing. In Sora's neat script, there were the words, 'Sora and Tai soccer champions forever!' then the date was under it. Oh yeah, this was the ball that won that soccer championship a few years back. she recalled.
"Hey! I'll invite Sora!" Kari shouted as she dropped the ball and ran to the phone.
What was her number again? Oh that's right. Her number is on automatic dialing...I wonder why! she snickered.
Kari pressed a button and once more waited for someone to answer.
.
It was a warm day, and Sora had been busy working in her flower garden all afternoon.
Whew, I could really use a break, she thought as she wiped the sweat off her brow. Just then the phone rang.
"Ah, perfect timing!" she said as she ran into the house to answer it. Quickly glancing at the caller I.D., she saw it was the Yagami's number, and her heart skipped a beat.
"Moshi, moshi?"
"Hi Sora, it's me--Hikari,"
"Hikari?" Sora was a little surprised. "Hey what's up?"
"I wanted to know if you could sleep over at my house tonight--don't worry, Taichi'll be over at Yamato's," this was interesting. Kari asking Sora to spend the night? Sora thought about it for a moment.
"Sure, I'd love to!" she enthusiastically replied. "I just have to ask Mama real quick," she soon obtained permission from her mother to go, and so everything was arranged for that evening.
"Great!" Kari said. "See you at six!"
.
Later that evening Sora stood outside of the Yagami's door, secretly hoping Tai hadn't left for Matt's house yet. She took a deep breath and slowly opened it. She came here often, so there was no need to knock. Her foot was barely in the house when Kari came running to see her.
"Sora! You're here! I was afraid you wouldn't be able to make it like the others," she said as she took her friend's duffle bag.
"The others?"
"Yeah, I called up a lot of my friends but they were unable to come for various reasons," the young girl said.
"Oh."
Mrs. Yagami poked her head around the kitchen wall and gladly received Sora as she dried a dish. Mr. Yagami turned down the news for a moment and waved hello from his couch. The teen girl immeadiatly felt at ease and welcomed. The last time Sora had slept over at the Yagami's was when she was quite little--six or seven maybe. Her mother had gone on a two day buisness trip to clear up an order in the flower shipments. The girl enjoyed her stay immensely, as she and Tai pretended that she was their adopted sister.
"So whaddya want to do first, Sora?" Kari asked her guest.
"Hmm, well maybe since it's still light, we can play soccer or some tennis on the grassy part behind the apartment.
"Good idea," Kari said. So for an hour or so, they practiced their punts and serves before dinner. As they headed up the flights of stairs, Kari groaned.
"Oh no! I bet mom made dinner again! Maybe we can go out for pizza instead...." But the girls were in for a pleasant surprise. Mr. Yagami had an apron on and was cooking something delicious while his wife reclined in his easy chair and watched some T.V.
"Isn't he sweet? He said I've been on my feet all day and could use some help around the house! So he volunteered to make dinner tonight!"
"Thanks Dad, you're the best!" Kari said.
Mr. Yagami chuckled as a sweat drop formed on his head.
The two chatted in their room a while before dinner, then watched a movie, experimented with their hair and played Truth or Dare. Sora and Kari had never had this much fun together before or been so close. Age didn't matter. They both felt they could tell each other anything-well almost anything.
"Sora--Truth or Dare?"
"Truth,"
"Is it true you have a crush on my brother?" Sora blushed and was about to say no, when a knocking on the bedroom door spared her reply.
Mrs. Yagami peeked in as she said, "Girls, I think it's time to get ready for bed,"
Sora quickly grabbed her bag and related to Kari a sudden urge to take a shower.
Sora felt fresh and clean when she emerged from the bathroom, and slipped into a ribbed undershirt and comfy cloud bottoms. She then combed her wet hair and braided it in pigtails, straightened the bathroom, and went back to Kari's room, where her friend was waiting to take a shower next.
After Kari had left to do just that, Sora hunted through her duffel until she found the clips Tai had given her for her birthday. Leaning against the post she snapped the first one into her hair, but as she did the second one, it slipped from her fingers and spun underneath the bed. The girl kneeled to rescue her lost hairpin, and reached under the bed, and feeling around for it.
With a cry of victory, she retrieved it; and something else. It was a piece of paper. She didn't think much of the wrinkled thing at first, but by chance she turned it over and noticed a childish print scrawled on the back with chocolate finger marks and eraser smudges. Curious, Sora browsed the composition, and this is what she read;
My Best Friend
By: Taichi Yagami
My best frnd is sora. We lik to play Socker.
I am the bezt socker Plaier and Sora is the goodest aftr me.
Sora is a nise grl one tim we had a socker gam and The bal hit my f ase rel hard.
coch put me on the bench and tAro played fr me.
my nose wus bleding.
Sora gav me her choklit candy it wus gOde i feelt betr.
We lik eggs. sora liks sunY sid up wons i do to but i lik mine
wit soisos it is good.
we lik cande.
i lik to play wit sora she is my best firnd.
when we ge t big sra woll be my best freind.
Remembering the second grade assignment and the soccer game, Sora at first didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She knew Tai was no Shakespeare, but that was the dearest thing anyone in the whole world could have ever written.
"Stupid Tai," she affectionately whispered as she read it again.
Kari soon came back, and the two girls got ready for bed.
"Where do I sleep?" Sora asked.
"On the bottom bunk--it's Taichi's, but don't worry. I changed the sheets so you wouldn't get bugs."
Sora giggled and said, "You used to have the bottom bunk when you were little,"
"Yeah, but Taichi fell out of bed too many times so they gave me the top bunk instead." They both laughed and then turned out the lights.
.
"Ja okaasan, I weavi' fo' Yama'o's!" and skidded down the corridor in his socks to his room, where he bumped into Kari carrying an armful of sheets.
"Aaah! Where'd my bed sheets go?" he asked as he grabbed his backpack off the bunk bed post.
"Mom said since you're spending the day with Yamato, I can invite a friend to sleep over. I'm changing the sheets just incase you peed in the bed again," Kari said putting them in the wash.
"Hey!" her older brother shouted. Mrs. Yagami appeared at the end of the hall with outstretched arms.
"Have fun at Yamato's today, Taichi," she cheerfully sang out as she quickly hugged her son goodbye.
"'K Mom! I'll probably spend the night!" he called as he hopped out the door trying to put his shoe on. Mrs. Yagami smiled and began clearing the breakfast dishes.
.
"Yamato, Taichi will be here very soon, and you still haven't swept the floor or washed the pile of dirty dishes in the sink left over from last night," Mrs. Ishida said.
"Sorry Mom, I was--cleaning my room and lost track of time," apologized Matt.
"Please do it now. This is the ninth time I've asked this morning, and if I have to ask again, Taichi's not sleeping over--I'll be doing a room inspection," she announced as she handed Matt a pink frilly apron.
T.K. hurriedly jumped off the couch and ran past his mother to his room so he could squeeze in some extra cleaning time. Matt reluctantly put the apron on, looked at the crunched up cereal scattered all over the kitchen floor from breakfast and the sink piled high with dishes, and sighed. Well, there was nothing else he could do but clean it up if he didn't want to be grounded. And anyways, he had better get used to doing little things like this now that his parents were back together. A faint smile appeared on his face, and he straightened his shoulders as he asked himself the age-old question-
Where did the dust-pan go?
.
Armed with a laundry basket under one arm, and disinfectant spray in the other, Mrs. Ishida cautiously opened the door to her teenage son's sleeping quarters, as if afraid a giant pile of dirty laundry would topple over her. Her nose was greeted by a sour smelling odor as she bravely endeavored into the dark, unknown, territory. Upon reaching the window, she rolled up the blinds and raised the glass for a breath of fresh air and to clear out the smell. Then she turned around and made a noise of surprise.
Matt's bedcovers were rumpled, and last nights clothing lay in a heap on the floor. The closet doors were wide open and dirty socks decorated the gaping mouths of drawers. Her boy's bedroom was in much better condition than the state it was in last week, she thought happily. Soon nearly all the undesirable habits he had picked up after living eight years with primarily Mr. Ishida, would be a long gone, bad dream, like their separation.
She tossed soiled garments into the hamper and pushed the drawers back in order, deciding however, that Matt would have to make his bed himself.
With the room looking fairly habitable, Mrs. Ishida's next mission was to find where the moldy glass of milk was hidden.
.
Meanwhile, Matt was still searching for the dustpan and was about to give up in despair, when the doorbell rang. Matt froze for a moment before grabbing all the dishes in the sink and cramming them inside a cupboard. Next he snatched the broom and furiously swept the crumbs into a pile. Searching for a place to dispose of it, he spied the welcome mat in front of the door and peeled it back so he could hastily brush the large pile of crumbs under it. He replaced the mat and opened the door, revealing a beaming Tai.
"Hey Yamato! Ready for a fun day? I brought my 'board so we can skate at the park,"
"Sounds good to me," his best friend said. T.K. joined them at the door just as Mrs. Ishida called, "Yamato, please make your bed before you leave,"
"Becoming quite the housewife, ne? Cute outfit--looks great on you," Tai grinned as he pointed to Matt's frilly apron. Matt scowled for a moment before running to his room to finish his chore.
"Come inside and have a seat Taichi, Yamato will be done soon," T.K. offered
"Don't mind if I do," Tai said as he stepped upon the threshold. Crunch. Crackle. Snap. An odd expression crossed Tai's face as he commented, "Nice floor mat you've got here, Takeru. What's under it? Dead cockroaches or somthin'?" Out of curiosity, he knelt down and began to pull back the rug, but Matt soon retuned, and Tai stood back up, ready to leave.
"'later Mom!" Matt shouted as he yanked off the apron and headed out the door with Tai and his younger brother.
"Ato Yamato! If you boys get hungry, just come home for lunch. I might go downtown this evening, and your father will be working late tonight--and Takeru--hold Yamato's hand when you cross the street!" his mother instructed. T.K. sighed as he shook his head, and ran to catch up with his older brother.
.
"Hikari, have you decided who you want to invite over?" Mrs. Yagami asked her daughter. Kari shook her head.
"Not yet," she replied.
"Well when you're ready, call me and let me know. I'm going down to the newsstand to buy a paper. I'll be back soon!" her mother said.
Kari bounded onto the sofa as she began flipping through her address book.
Who should come over tonight? She wondered, coming across Yolie's number.
Perfect!
Kari punched in the numbers on the phone and waited for someone to pick up on the other line.
"Moshi, moshi?" a feminine voice asked.
"Hi, this is Hikari-is Miyako there?"
"Uh, lemme check...." Her sister said as she put Kari on hold. She soon returned saying, "Sorry. She's out shopping with... Mimi, I think. They're not expected back 'til later this evening."
"Oh," Kari said. "Well thanks." And she hung up the phone.
Mimi's in town? Oh yeah she sent me an e-mail. I guess I forgot, because it's not like she'd stop by to say hi to Tai or anything.
Kari called up a few more girls from her class, but they either already had plans, or no one picked up the phone at all.
She got bored so she went to the room she and Tai shared, and decided to rummage through his stuff. Same ole', same ole' Kari thought as she searched his backpack for a juicy secret. Then she went to their tiny cramped closet and ran her hand along the dusty top wire shelf where their old toys were. Aha! Her hand felt a piece of paper-but it was stuck under something. Kari scrunched up her face, and with one great effort, yanked the paper free. Just then, the object rolled off the shelf and hit Kari with a WHUMP!, causing the paper to slip from her hand and slide unnoticed beneath the beds.
"Ouch!" she said as she rubbed her head. She stooped down to pick up the thing, which was indeed a dusty old soccer ball. Kari blew off the dust and turned the ball around in her hands until her eyes fell upon some writing. In Sora's neat script, there were the words, 'Sora and Tai soccer champions forever!' then the date was under it. Oh yeah, this was the ball that won that soccer championship a few years back. she recalled.
"Hey! I'll invite Sora!" Kari shouted as she dropped the ball and ran to the phone.
What was her number again? Oh that's right. Her number is on automatic dialing...I wonder why! she snickered.
Kari pressed a button and once more waited for someone to answer.
.
It was a warm day, and Sora had been busy working in her flower garden all afternoon.
Whew, I could really use a break, she thought as she wiped the sweat off her brow. Just then the phone rang.
"Ah, perfect timing!" she said as she ran into the house to answer it. Quickly glancing at the caller I.D., she saw it was the Yagami's number, and her heart skipped a beat.
"Moshi, moshi?"
"Hi Sora, it's me--Hikari,"
"Hikari?" Sora was a little surprised. "Hey what's up?"
"I wanted to know if you could sleep over at my house tonight--don't worry, Taichi'll be over at Yamato's," this was interesting. Kari asking Sora to spend the night? Sora thought about it for a moment.
"Sure, I'd love to!" she enthusiastically replied. "I just have to ask Mama real quick," she soon obtained permission from her mother to go, and so everything was arranged for that evening.
"Great!" Kari said. "See you at six!"
.
Later that evening Sora stood outside of the Yagami's door, secretly hoping Tai hadn't left for Matt's house yet. She took a deep breath and slowly opened it. She came here often, so there was no need to knock. Her foot was barely in the house when Kari came running to see her.
"Sora! You're here! I was afraid you wouldn't be able to make it like the others," she said as she took her friend's duffle bag.
"The others?"
"Yeah, I called up a lot of my friends but they were unable to come for various reasons," the young girl said.
"Oh."
Mrs. Yagami poked her head around the kitchen wall and gladly received Sora as she dried a dish. Mr. Yagami turned down the news for a moment and waved hello from his couch. The teen girl immeadiatly felt at ease and welcomed. The last time Sora had slept over at the Yagami's was when she was quite little--six or seven maybe. Her mother had gone on a two day buisness trip to clear up an order in the flower shipments. The girl enjoyed her stay immensely, as she and Tai pretended that she was their adopted sister.
"So whaddya want to do first, Sora?" Kari asked her guest.
"Hmm, well maybe since it's still light, we can play soccer or some tennis on the grassy part behind the apartment.
"Good idea," Kari said. So for an hour or so, they practiced their punts and serves before dinner. As they headed up the flights of stairs, Kari groaned.
"Oh no! I bet mom made dinner again! Maybe we can go out for pizza instead...." But the girls were in for a pleasant surprise. Mr. Yagami had an apron on and was cooking something delicious while his wife reclined in his easy chair and watched some T.V.
"Isn't he sweet? He said I've been on my feet all day and could use some help around the house! So he volunteered to make dinner tonight!"
"Thanks Dad, you're the best!" Kari said.
Mr. Yagami chuckled as a sweat drop formed on his head.
The two chatted in their room a while before dinner, then watched a movie, experimented with their hair and played Truth or Dare. Sora and Kari had never had this much fun together before or been so close. Age didn't matter. They both felt they could tell each other anything-well almost anything.
"Sora--Truth or Dare?"
"Truth,"
"Is it true you have a crush on my brother?" Sora blushed and was about to say no, when a knocking on the bedroom door spared her reply.
Mrs. Yagami peeked in as she said, "Girls, I think it's time to get ready for bed,"
Sora quickly grabbed her bag and related to Kari a sudden urge to take a shower.
Sora felt fresh and clean when she emerged from the bathroom, and slipped into a ribbed undershirt and comfy cloud bottoms. She then combed her wet hair and braided it in pigtails, straightened the bathroom, and went back to Kari's room, where her friend was waiting to take a shower next.
After Kari had left to do just that, Sora hunted through her duffel until she found the clips Tai had given her for her birthday. Leaning against the post she snapped the first one into her hair, but as she did the second one, it slipped from her fingers and spun underneath the bed. The girl kneeled to rescue her lost hairpin, and reached under the bed, and feeling around for it.
With a cry of victory, she retrieved it; and something else. It was a piece of paper. She didn't think much of the wrinkled thing at first, but by chance she turned it over and noticed a childish print scrawled on the back with chocolate finger marks and eraser smudges. Curious, Sora browsed the composition, and this is what she read;
My Best Friend
By: Taichi Yagami
My best frnd is sora. We lik to play Socker.
I am the bezt socker Plaier and Sora is the goodest aftr me.
Sora is a nise grl one tim we had a socker gam and The bal hit my f ase rel hard.
coch put me on the bench and tAro played fr me.
my nose wus bleding.
Sora gav me her choklit candy it wus gOde i feelt betr.
We lik eggs. sora liks sunY sid up wons i do to but i lik mine
wit soisos it is good.
we lik cande.
i lik to play wit sora she is my best firnd.
when we ge t big sra woll be my best freind.
Remembering the second grade assignment and the soccer game, Sora at first didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She knew Tai was no Shakespeare, but that was the dearest thing anyone in the whole world could have ever written.
"Stupid Tai," she affectionately whispered as she read it again.
Kari soon came back, and the two girls got ready for bed.
"Where do I sleep?" Sora asked.
"On the bottom bunk--it's Taichi's, but don't worry. I changed the sheets so you wouldn't get bugs."
Sora giggled and said, "You used to have the bottom bunk when you were little,"
"Yeah, but Taichi fell out of bed too many times so they gave me the top bunk instead." They both laughed and then turned out the lights.
.