Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

1) Whisper of Freedom

The spring sun sat high in the sky, watching down on the citizens of Odaiba with a fond smile in preparation of the day to come. Fresh yet delicate breezes blew in between large metallic buildings, and people buzzed about on the streets as they went about their daily routines. The air held a sense of freedom that everyone seemed to understand but nobody spoke of. It was a whisper in every sense of the word, bringing cheerful grins to the faces of those with the skills to understood it. 

For Taichi Yagami, it meant the final day of spring break before the new term began at his school. He stood out on the balcony of his apartment, his brown hair an unbrushed mess atop his head. Taichi took in a slow breath, embracing the last traces of winter chill before they were swallowed away by the soft breeze around him. He opened his eyes a moment later, still leaning against the railing of the balcony as he looked down on the city below. 

Spring had come and gone in the blink of an eye as far as Taichi was concerned. One day, he had been enjoying the start of his freedom from the pressures of an academic routine, and the next, it felt like everything had slipped away through his fingers like the finest grains of sand to ever grace the surface of the earth. Days spent at soccer practice had bled away before he knew it, and he would be back to the regular grind again before he knew it. He yearned to embrace the final day of his freedom from schedules and pressure, but he knew that he couldn't simply stand around and enjoy his time on the balcony for the whole day. 

The balcony door slid open, and Taichi turned at the sound to see his sister joining him outside of the Yagami family's apartment. Hikari's hair was neatly combed as usual, pinned away from her face by a pair of pink barrettes that made her brownish red eyes seem to glow in the sun's radiance. As usual, she was far more put together than Taichi could ever hope to be, and anyone would have been able to see the difference between the two siblings at simply a first glance. 

"You should get going if you don't want to be late for your last soccer practice of the break," Hikari told him as she flashed a smile in her brother's direction. The wind began to play with her short chestnut hair, and Hikari let out a small sigh to herself. "At least the weather is nice."

Taichi pulled himself to his full height before he stretched his arms above his head and releasing a heavy breath of his own. "You can say that again," he told her with a snort. A few days prior, the sky hadn't offered quite as many spring blessings, and the day had been filled with dreary rain. Taichi had complained about the mud of the soccer field as soon as he got home, and Hikari, being his sister, simply had to tease him about it. Taichi and Hikari's dynamic simply came with the territory, and Taichi wouldn't have had it any other way. 

He made his way towards the balcony door, and he slid it open before stepping into the house. Taichi shot a quick glance in the direction of the clock mounted against the wall, and he winced when he realized how much he had allowed the time to get away from him. Normally, he was on top of things like this, but it appeared that the last valuable pieces of spring had stolen his attention before he realized what was happening. 

"See you later!" Hikari called as Taichi dashed towards the door and slipped into his shoes. Taichi threw out a hand to seize the straps on his soccer bag before he slung it over his shoulders, and the contents of the bag began to jostle with the swift motion. Hikari let out a laugh when Taichi gave her a brief wave before running out of their apartment, always one to recognize her brother's charms. He was most certainly having an off day, and she could tell. 

Taichi's dash towards the stairwell included scanning a hand haphazardly through his hair to try and find order among the chaos of tangles. He cringed when he caught on a particularly nasty knot, cursing the fact that the elevator had been out for the past two days due to maintenance. It certainly would have given him a chance to work out his hair without needing to multitask as he dashed in the direction of his school. Taichi was inwardly thankful for the fact that he had remembered to eat breakfast before he was caught up in melancholy reminiscence and the reminder of responsibility that lingered over his shoulders at all times.