A Friendship Sown [Solo]

Mana's Saturday has been pretty uneventful so far.

Recalling what had happened last light, she remembered hearing his brother sneaking out of the house with Kyo at some point of the night, but she was just too sleepy to check exactly at what time he had left and even then, he didn't seem to have been out for more than a couple of hours. Then, the next day when they were having breakfast, he told her about these three new people he had met, and how insecure he just felt about the whole thing of traveling by himself today, especially knowing that he was the oldest of their ragtag group and that the two other people that made it were rather... singular, and what was without even mentioning their digimon, but he couldn't really complain about that. Kyo, his 'mon was just a really particular case. She just didn't know if the digimon that was chosen to be your partner just had to be in stark contrast with your personality or if it was just Yuu's luck. But if she really came and thought of it, they were a rather good match. Yuu always needed a little bit cheeriness in his life, and Kyo had plenty to spare.

Her train of thought was interrupted with the voice of her P.E. teacher. It was weird, she usually didn't enter the locker rooms when practice was over, and she was the only left there. What would her teacher want?

"Tsumura-san? Are you still here?" she called from the entrance of the room.

Mana finished stuffing her used sports clothes into her locker, strapped her backpack in her back and began to walk towards the teacher, nodding as she approached.

"What's the matter, sensei?" she asked carefully, afraid that she may be in trouble someway. It just seemed weird that her professor wanted to talk to her. Maybe her performance on today's practice wasn't as good?

"Don't worry" the professor calmed her when she heard the girl's uptight tone. "I was actually going to ask you a favor" she began "Look, I have elementary school's volleyball class at Monday and I wondered if you could help me out with some forms and basic techniques. I would do it myself, but I sprained my wrist a yesterday. What do you say?"

Mana's expression completely lighted up at those words. "Of course, sensei! I'd love to help you out with those children. You can totally count with me!"

"That's the spirit. Okay, I'll be waiting for you on the elementary school fields after practice. See you there" And saying that, the teacher exited the locker room.

So it was actually good news! She'll help kids while teaching them the sport she loves, it just couldn't be better! As she exited the school grounds and started walking her way home, she heard a sprouting noise near the school's entrance. She approached that place, noticing a small oval object as she approached there. Could it be? She felt a strange mixture of curiosity, happiness and anxiousness as she approached, almost screaming with joy when she confirmed that the oval object that somewhat resembled a giant sunflower seed was an egg, an egg meant for her. Quickly recalling the gist of what she had learnt from Yuu, she sat down with the egg on her lap and began rubbing it with utmost gentleness. She just couldn't believe it, she was going to have a digimon too! The egg surface started trembling slightly, hairline cracks were beginning to show and were growing at an alarmingly fast rate to boot. Soon enough, egg's shell shattered in a violent fashion, releasing a flashing white light that blinded her for a good five seconds. When she could see again, three things had replaced the egg that was previously cradled in her hands, a strange pink-and-white device, something resembling a portable computer and most importantly, an small seedlike being that regarded her as a teacher regarded a student. Mana just smiled at her widely and hugged her as tightly as young digimon's gelatinous body allowed her to.

"So you're my partner, little one" she said with cheeriness as she continued hugging the small seed, releasing it only when she started to protest. Mana remembered the two strange devices that she had dropped in her fervor to hug the cute digimon, and put them on her backpack as they both saw each other again. She just didn't knew why her expression was that serious, but she had all the time in the world to figure it out.

"I don't know your species name, lil' one, so I'll just call you..." she seemed thoughtful for a second before smiling again "Ayaka! Because you'll be the prettiest flower, I'm just sure of it... So, Ayaka, do you think we are going to be good friends?"

The digimon continued to silently regard her for a few seconds and then made a polite bow that to the girl seemed like some kind of kneeling due how small her body was. She made a puzzled expression at the formality, but then remembered a certain very important stuff she had forgotten.

"Darn! I don't have any food with me! How I'm supposed to feed you?" The little seed just tilted her head at the display before denying with her head.

"What, you don't want food?" and now she nodded. Okay, this little girl was contradicting some of the few things she knew about digimon. Weren't they supposed to be relentless eating machines until they evolved or something like that? Wait... maybe then...

"How do you feed yourself, then?" Now, the digimon just stared at the sky, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, I see. That's pretty good news, actually!" So she was like a real plant, after all "Because most of the time I barely remember to eat myself, I'd go crazy if I had to remember to feed someone else too!"

The girl then scooped the digimon and tucked her on her backpack's left pocket.

"Well, let's get going home then, Ayaka! You're going to meet my brother. He has a partner too, and maybe you can even become friends!"

As she finished saying that, the girl finally left the school's grounds, venturing into the street outside with a smile on her lips and happiness on her steps.

Who could tell that uneventful could turn to really eventful that fast.