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"This emits a specific frequency that destabilizes a Digimon's physical form," Suguru explained, pointing at a small metal piece.
"But then how does the Digimon get into the Digivice?"
Sugaru lit up with her question, "This part is a data scanner, it takes in a digimon's data after its form has destabilized."
Chika nodded in understanding, as he picked up a second piece that looked a lot like a camera lens.
Slowly but surely, the small electrical components were coalescing into a shiny new Digivice for her. It wouldn't be little more than a fancy clock without Piyomon. But whenever she was reunited with Piyomon, they'd be able to stand together as proper partners.
What was the point of her dad being the inventor of the Digivice if she didn't even get one of her own?
Her dad.
Chika's father was a treasured 4x6 picture.
The occasional junk mail addressed to someone who would never receive it.
Shirts too big to fit anyone in the house.
Books that would have long grown dusty if not for her mothers diligent care.
A box of old electronic equipment that no one knew what to do with.
The dog tags around her brothers neck and the ring on her moms finger.
Finding her mother sitting alone in the kitchen on nights when she couldn't sleep.
The ideal her brother aspired to, fists and all.
Like most kids Chika's dad was a cornerstone of her identity. The foundation from which she grew.
Her father was not having a father to scold her, or carry her or come to school events.
Her father was people's pitying words; how it must be so hard for her family without a father around.
Unlike most kids, her father was an absence.
An absence that her mother and brother treated with an almost reverence. An absence that made them cling tight to each other and to her.
But most of all he was the promise of the words "until your father returns" that Chika had long accepted would never be fulfilled.
Until it was.
Dad fit half-fit into the place Masaru left behind, but also into a hole in her family that she hadn't realized was there before, and also there was still a hole here, only it was shaped like Masaru this time and she could actually SEE the hole.
Nothing about Chika had actually changed, but her identity had shifted beneath her feet overnight.
"Do you want to try soldering this?" Suguru asked, before quickly looking towards Sayuri, sitting at the other end of the kitchen table reading.
"Can I?" Chika asked, matching his gaze towards her mom for permission.
Sayuri chuckled to herself.
"What?" Chika asked.
"Nothing," She said, smiling softly, "Just please don't ruin my table you two."
"I won't," Chika said.
"We won't, that's what the cover is for," Suguru agreed, "But let's practice before we start working on the circuits."
He started to dig through the box of equipment, pulling out an acceptably worn looking circuit board, and handed her the soldering iron, "Here, try joining this, and this,"
Chika held the soldering iron, and her father gently guided her unsteady hand as she soldered something together for the first time.
"Pretty good! Let's try that again!" Suguru praised her excitedly.
Chika couldn't help beaming in return.
"OK!"
Having her father here was new. A bit strange. But not wrong. Just a new piece of the puzzle that was her family, herself. Slowly assembling like the Digivice in her hands, a bridge between her and the family she couldn’t know.