After drying off, Edith had a brief moment of panic. I do not have a pool, so why would her bikini bottom be wet?

She ended up getting dressed, and Clara put her bottom in the dryer, with some towels.

"I guess you have more towels than textiles?", says Edith

"We sure do. But different sizes and uses too", says Clara, smiling.

Edith felt weird, so I proposed some animal crossing to change her mind.

Mindy sat in front of the couch again, and again, Edith and I sat on it.

She created her character and her town. I don't recall if the Wii to Wii U migration erased the save game or if she was forced to manually start over to get her own town. I know, it's weird that I don't when I present such vivid details about conversations and events, but the reason is simple. If I make a mistake in the sequence of events, you won't notice, and chances are that it won't even matter in the story. But if I make a mistake about this, I will get remarks about how the migration works and honestly, I didn't do it. My parents did. I did see videos of the transfer afterward, but didn't pay attention to if the save games were still there. I didn't care when I watched the videos, and I certainly didn't care when I was 12, on that evening.

All I had in my mind was the happiness of the moment. I had opened up on naturism to Edith. I attended a birthday party. I had made my friend happy with a gift which I didn't pick, but on which my parents had my back. I was nude, with my best friend, and was getting closer to a new friend who seemed troubled, but honest.

This time, it's Mindy who was running the tutorial, and I was looking at her work, realizing that even if it's the same tutorial, we are not doing it the same way. I had to plant flowers, so I planted them all around the store and came back for my assignment. Mindy went back to her house, and chose, carefully, where to place them.

It's a question of priorities, but I get the feeling that the game doesn't care that much. All I know is that I got peaches, and she got cherries. Just by trading with each other, we would have two of the fruits, including one for 500 bells.

They also spent more time with the animal characters than I did. She also laughed a lot more at their bad jokes, but I did fish more.

We were concentrating when I heard my mother.

"Hi girls, had fun?", she says.

We all looked up and saw her still dressed. She was only picking us up.

"Already?", asked Mindy

"We have to respect Edith's curfew, you know?"

"Will you come back?" says Mindy, to me

"Sure, if you want me to", I tell her

"I don't know, honestly? I want to build my city, and I would like to see you too"

"We'll have a sleepover tomorrow", I say, but immediately, I regret it. Edith can't have sleepovers, so I look at her, a little sad, but she puts her hand on my shoulder.

"Don't be sad for me. I am not jealous, I am instead happy to have your friendships", she says.

"Me too", I say, "But I need to get dressed so you don't miss your mom"

She nods while I go pick up my clothes, which Clara folded and put aside for me. I thank her, and get dressed in front of her and my mom, as Clara thanks us again for the Wii.

"We wanted to buy the Wii U for a while, but didn't feel like it was worth it enough", she says

"I tried Mario Kart, it was fun"

"Steven and Julie are monsters at that. I barely keep up, but I can hold my own against the computer"

"We should play next weekend, just the four of us", Clara proposes.

"I'd love that! We might have our trailer ready by then", says my mother,

Mindy hugs both Edith and I, and thank us for the company. Edith thanks Clara again for the meal, and takes out $10 from her mother to help pay for it.

"Edith", says Clara, putting her hand on Edith's shoulder. "I am going to take it, but not for the reason you think. I will put it in a little container in my bedroom, along with another $10. Each time your mother gives you money for a meal at my house, I will put it with it, and double it. One day, Edith, you will be in trouble. I just know it. It might be next year, in five. I don't know when. But it will happen. I promise you that, unless your parents change. If that occurs, find your way here. I'll give you other safe locations over time, I promise you that, but they will all land you here. You will find a bed, a bath to wash yourself, and food and a first aid kit. You will find two adults willing to keep you safe until the next day. Furthermore, you might get fresh clothes, I can't promise it, we might have nothing that fits you, but we will try. The next day, when you leave, it will be with a lunch box, and all the money in that jar. I might be almost nothing, but it might be a lifesaver. We will call anyone you want, including the police or social services, and if you are already 18, we will let you stay a few days. That is a promise for as long as we stay here, even if you get in a fight with my daughter."

"And if it doesn't work out with them, come to our house", adds my mother, putting her hand on the other shoulder.

"I told you I would find you a few other safe places. Now, you have two", says Clara

"But why? What do I have that is so important? I am nobody"

But Clara tells her. "You are my daughter's friend, our daughters' friend", she says, looking at my mother.

"And you have a lot of potential, and not the parents needed for you to reach it", adds my mom.

"I have no idea what to tell you", says Edith

"You say thank you, and promise that if things get too dark, and you don't find a way out, you'll come to see one of us. It's that simple"

But all she can do is nod.

When we are about to leave, Mindy hugs by mother, and thanks her for the gift, and the talk to Edith, and then, her mother, for "being her"

As we left Mindy's house, I found Edith crying.

"Are you ok?", I ask

"No. I never felt so much love for me"

"Stick with us, Edith. I mean, Mindy, me and our parents. Naturist or not, topless or not, and we will be there for you"

That was the carrot way of making sure a friend doesn't betray you.

We made it to my house, with plenty of time for Edith and I to discover the Wii U. Ok, we had to make my little brother give us the controller because he was hogging it. Wait, you didn't know I had a little brother? That's what my mother calls my dad when he plays video games with more intensity than I do.

We got the black Wii U with came with Nintendoland and four times the memory.

Edith, my father and I played with Nintendoland until Edith's mother arrived, only this time, she didn't even bother to get out of her car. She ran her car horn, Edith apologized for her, and hugged me and my mother before running to the car.

No one missed that she didn't hug my father.

"I'll call Mindy, see if I go there tonight"

"Wait", says my father. "Before you leave, we bought two other games, one for you, and one for me."

"You bought a game for you, dad?", I said, laughing.

"I couldn't stop him", said my mother.

He produced a copy of animal crossing and ZombiU

"Wait, we have animal crossing now?"

"Mom saw you play with the girls, and how much fun you seemed to be having.", says my dad

I hugged both of them, and called Mindy.

I didn't even bother to tell her anything else, just, "I have animal crossing too!"

She was just as excited, explaining that she had successfully, with her father's help, connected to the internet.

We ended up deciding to visit each other, but in our cities. We would see each other the next day anyway.

I ran to the Wii U and discovered that my city was still there. Wait, so the files do transfer. Funny who my memory is associative. I couldn't remember earlier, and now, it's clear in my mind.

It's only when my mother sat next to me, nude, that I realized I hadn't undressed, but I didn't care. I needed to initiate the city connection, and to fill my pockets with peaches for her.

Mindy called me back, she had her code, so I entered it in the gate, and after a few technical issues, managed to enter her village!

I had the axe, but she didn't, so I helped her by chopping a few trees and planting peaches, while filling my pockets with cherries.

Soon, we would be loaded with cash!

We talked on the phone, but could chat in the game. I explored her village with her, and I found a fossil. We donated it to her museum, and soon enough, didn't know what to do.

So, I went back to my village, and she joined me. After more trouble, I planted a bunch of cherry trees, and we went along to search around.

Mindy had a call on the other line. She texted me in the game to give her the village number again.

I did, in the game, and a minute later, Edith's character made it into my village, before Mindy returned on the phone.

She ended up giving me 3 apples, oranges, pears and cherries. She also dropped a copy of each of the tools, allowing now to catch bugs in addition to fishing.

"Can I mark your town?", she says

"Huh?"

"Let me do it"

Edith began laying tiles on the ground. She had 4 colors, and made big squares, alternating between the colors.

I had hung up, but Mindy called me back. "Wow, Edith knows so much about the game!", she says

"What is she doing for the love of God?", ok fine, maybe I didn't say exactly that, but I was puzzled.

"She marks the blocks boundaries. You need a certain number of trees and of flowers, per zone, but trees don't grow on every cell. It's complicated, but knowing the boundaries helps a lot."

"I see. It helps with what, exactly?"

"Increasing your town's score, which helps to get more animal neighbors and better luck in the game or something"

Honestly, Animal Crossing City Folk was complicated, but not that much. It's not like there was an AI, but somehow, many kids, including the three of us, believed in this.

It didn't take long for Mindy and I to catch the pattern and help her with it. It took, the three of us, about 45 minutes, and then, we did Mindy's town.

Finally, we went to Edith's town and noticed the lack of boundaries.

"Of course, my town is stable", she said over her head.

We were shocked at the size of her house! She even has a basement, and so many things in it. In fact, many of her collections matched, and she had weird things making odd sounds.

Her museum was also filled with completed and partial dinosaurs, fish and insects, but also plenty of paintings!

"There are paintings?"

"Eventually", she says.

We played in her town some more, picking more of her fruits. Her original one was oranges, so she only has 3 trees left.

Her main store was also on 2 floors, with so many things on sale.

This gave me a preview of the game.

We switched to Mario Kart and played online, but the connection wasn't great and soon enough, we all went to bed. Well, Edith didn't have a curfew for sleep, but I was tired, and would have a big day tomorrow.

I undressed, did my sleep routine and my parents wished me a good night, but when I went to the bathroom 20 minutes later, I caught my parents, in the living room, in front of the Wii U. My father was playing ZombiU and my mother was watching, her head on his shoulder. They paid no attention to me, as my father was beating a zombie with a weird sort of flat baseball. Today, I know it's a cricket bat, since it occurs in London, but then I didn't. I ended up playing, with my father assisting me, but that's another story. I was older.

Characters

Episodes