Struggling Diet Warriors Chapter 5: Wailing winds (Revamped!) (Patreon)

Ami Kawashima had finally won.

For the first time in over a year, she was the victor. A roaring blaze had filled out her stomach, warm, heavy air circling around her heart.

Who did these dumbasses think that she was? Some sort of drooling cow, who lost all sense and priority when someone even mentions the word ‘burger?’

It’s frikin fast food beef. Not even something quality, like a… a juicy… thick… lightly toasted, cut of steak. Gently seared, cooked only rare... with some spicy garnish, ooooh, that sounded good. Then there was pork. Gosh, what she wouldn’t do for a pot roast right now. Thank God they started offering bacon toppings here.

Or… Ami considered, looking down at her tummy with her lilac eyes, maybe it was a curse rather than a blessing. It was these darn bacon burgers kept her waddling back through the door.

Ugh. Waddling. Ami waddlednow.

Another large bite silenced the struggling sensibilities in Ami’s head. Lettuce crunched between her teeth, toasted tomato coming apart with the well-salted beef and delectable bun, quickly following it with a deep sip from her drink.

What was she worrying herself for? A couple of pounds?

Please. It wasn’t thatbad. Especially not when she was surrounded by these stupid gluttons. Watching them throw themselves into their meals was as lovely as the warmth that was finally reforming inside Ami’s belly.

Ami was like a princess attending a feast attended by a pack of animals. On her right, Maya was forcing herself to finish off a third burger, as if only three should give her some sort of struggle, while Minori on her left devoured another apple-packed pie in only two bites, mumbling to herself so low and so quickly that she sounded like she might be praying.

Then there was Taiga, and Nanako too, who acted as if the louder they ate, the more they could stomach. Nanako growled, a half-full basket of fries in one hand and a half-eaten burger in the other, switching between them almost too quick to swallow, scattering ketchup and mustard over her shirt, while Taiga… Geez, where did all of it go?

Probably into her stupid, fat ego. She tiled back in her seat, using both hands to slop down an entire chocolate fudge sundae, her teeny knees banging the table as she energetically kicked her little feet.

It’d been so easy. These girls, this pack of fatass brats, had tried to show her up. They’d tried to tease her, thinking they could just keep ordering and ordering to show her up.

Ami just needed to remind them where they sat on the food chain. All the way at the bottom.

They couldn’t afford food, like Ami could. They couldn’t afford to eat without caring, like Ami could. If they ate like this normally, they’d be too big for their buttons, too fat for their zippers. Ami may be chubby, but these girls were fat.

She watched Taiga attacking her burger with reckless abandon, how Nanako seemed desperate to clear what little she could off of her plate.

Give it time, she thought to herself. You’ve a great metabolism. You’ve a good spirit. You’ll bounce back from this little hiccup, and then you can go back to being a model. You’ll get to run your own project show, wearing a cute sailor’s outfit and a tight mini skirt. Maybe you’ll be able to offer a job to Taiga. If anyone could enjoy a miniature whale.

God, she wished she had a camera. Then she’d show the palm-sized bitch what a fat girl really looked like, with her mouth covered in sticky ice cream. See how she liked people taking pictures of her.

What a slob.

Ami felt her eyes dilate and blinked against the sudden fresh intake of light. She’d spaced out. Lost her sense of focus at the thought of tormenting Taiga in return for her own teasing.

Ami realized her hand holding her… third? Fourth burger?

Does it really matter? Just eat it. You can always get more.

The taste of the grease-soaked bun gave way for deliciously heavy meat.

Fourth, fifth. Ami knew she was being bad. Hell, she had four large sodas, all with different bubbly goodness. She was going way overboard, the drinks weren’t even diet, but she just didn’t care. Not right now, not with four other girls making pigs of themselves, viciously attacking their plates.

Still… her eyes glanced forward before dipping back to her burger, knowing that not everything was perfect.

His stare had begun to unsettle her.

As Taiga flung the plastic cap of a fresh sundae on her growing pile of scraps, as Nanako ripped into a mayo-soaked burger and a fat glob exploded onto her cheek, Ryuuji Takasu sat between them, slowly and calmly taking another small bite of his simple chicken sandwich.

Takasu had a… different look. He almost always looked uninterested in class, constantly giving the impression that he didn’t want to be there, and wasn’t looking to make friends. His sanpaku eyes made him look older, with small pupils and visible sclera. It gave off the impression of severity, delinquency, and made him look a little frightening.

Ami looked at him and he looked at her.

He didn’t look scary. Not to Ami.

“Here, have mine. I’m not feeling hungry anyways.”

The fire flickered.

Ami blinked, feeling herself taken slightly aback. She felt a brief drop in her stomach, felt her eyes cast downwards. What in the world was she even doing, right now? Ryuuji said he’d make dinner tonight, and here she was, just losing herself to another fucking fast-food frenzy.

Her analytical mind hopped in. It was the other girls’ fault! All she was going to get was one burger, and they were trying to taunt her by ordering even more! Well, she was sure showing them… As for Ryuuji, he said he was going to make noodles, right? If she had just another… Ami began counting her wrappers.

Was she really only eating her third burger? But it’d felt like… Well, that was great! She could finish this one, then have another just to rub it in Maya’s stuffed face. It wouldn’t be all that much to have a plate of noodles on top, would it? She had eaten more than five burgers before.

Ami reaffirmed this to herself, watching Nanako ravage what had to be her sixth burger, her other hand rushing to unwrap the next.

She felt her confidence come back into her as she unwrapped another sandwich and bit into it. If that twig could eat that much, then Ami could definitely clear her plate when they got to Ryuuji’s home.

The young woman had never felt so good about her belly being a little too large. It seemed she’d have to accept the weight that she’d gained, but if every day turns out as good as today, those pounds could stay.

A true home cooked meal. Not takeout, not frozen. Noodles, with spicy sauce, made by someone she… well… Ami sipped at her drink, her eyes turning up to Ryuuji, and she felt the light touch of a blush enter her cheeks.

“Unnooogh… C-c-cheat… day…”

Sipping on her drink, Ami turned to Minori, who was the first person in minutes to make a noise that wasn’t vicious eating. The redhead looked as if she were packed with steam, her face the color of a bright cherry as she mumbled, lifting another pie to her lips with a trembling hand.

“Cheat… day… let your taste buds drift…” Minori opened, making a noise somewhere in-between mumbled speech and regretful gluttony as another pie was shoved into her mouth. She didn’t even bite down, pushing what seemed to be the last of one of her multiples stacks of hot pies until it bulged against her cheek. She closed her lips over the other end, groaned through the crust and packed filling, and leaned back in her seat. The movement created a terribly familiar sound, dropping Ami’s eyes down Minori’s tummy as steam began leaking from the redhead’s lips and her ears.

Her stomach was much, much larger than it should be. Clasped inside of her red tracksuit, Minori looked almost as if she had a gut! There was a curve to her, which was terribly clear because that curve had ripped either side of her zipper apart! The white fabric of her shirt was slowly lifting as Minori took heavy, gasping breathes, inch by inch revealing a wobbling belly button.

Ami nearly jumped as Minori’s hand slammed down onto the table. With her eyes shut, Minori’s hand searched for another pie, somehow still intent to fill the girl beyond her physical limits.

But there were no more pies. Empty packaging, dismissed as Minori shuffled through the field of her hunger, her chest lifting as she gasped, “C-cheat day…”

“Are you okay?” Ami asked. “Do you want something to…”

She stopped, watching as Minori brought something up to her mouth. Not one of her remaining pies but rather, with a sharp look at her own plate, Ami saw that Minori had stolen one of her burgers.

“Cheat… daaaaaugghhh…” Minori moaned, closing her lips over the burger and taking an immense bite. She never pulled it away from her mouth, squeezing her eyes while one hand audibly thunked onto her swollen belly. Ami saw that she was sweating, before very slowly, very lightly, Ami began to giggle.

“Here, have some soda,” Ami offered one of her drinks.

Minori’s eyes opened for only a second before her entire body seemed to tense towards her center. Her arms tucked inwards, thighs squeezed together, and a trembling wobble came up from her stomach before Minori opened her mouth, her tongue lapping out and the girl panting. “T-too much…” she looked at her hand, as if only now noticing that what she was holding wasn’t an apple pie. “B-burger?” she asked.

Ami grinned, covered her mouth, and then shook the soda at Minori again. “Come on, sister. You need a drink. It’ll help you digest.”

Leaning back in her seat, her busted zipper pulling further and further apart, Minori somehow had the gall to mumble, “S-soda’s bad… for you…”

Ami snorted, then held the cold drink over Minori’s exposed navel, placing the paper to the lip of her belly button and forcing her to grab it with a tummy-quivering yelp.

The mood must have been getting to her, because Ami found herself genuinely smiling as Minori looked up to her. Without even thinking she said softly, “Hey, I’ve been there too, you know. The carbonation helps.” Then with a wink she added, “Plus, it just tastes good.”

Minori’s dull eyes seemed to gain a little life, naively turning from Ami to the drink and nodding to herself. She moved slowly, wrapping her lips around the stem, before her cheeks pulled in and soda filled her mouth.

Ami found herself fascinated just by watching Minori’s neck bulge as she drank deeply, her face scrunching in pain as the bubbly soda impacted her center. Her whole body squeezed inwards towards her center, legs and arms tightening as she drank more soda. The exposed zipper snapped another tooth, Minori’s belly now so tight that the poor girl’s skin was turning pink from the stretch, before finally the bottom snapped open and Minori collapsed with a groan so low that it almost sounded aroused, slopping back in her seat and letting the soda cup fall.

Ami made to grab it before realizing that the thing was empty. She looked inside, eyes wide, before looking back at Minori as the girl let out a soft, “Hic…”

It was enough to put a smirk back onto Ami’s face. There wasn’t anything malicious in it, rather it was entirely empathetic. She found herself undoing the zipper of her own uniform, rolling it over the tightness in her own tummy before letting her pale chub roll over her thighs. It felt good to finally release herself from the tightness of her zipper. She’d have shrugged out of the sweater entirely, sat wider so her thighs didn’t feel so fat and pinched, but contrary to Kushieda’s bloated stupor, Ami knew the true threat still remained.

The sapphire beauty dusted an invisible bit of dust off her tight tee, feeling three pairs of eyes slowly rotating to her body as her un-restricted breasts rolling over the weight of her belly. She was very aware how obvious her lack of a bra was, and just how scathing an irritated kitten could be.

Savage femineity rolled off of the table, rising further and further as the most voracious eaters began to temper their hunger. Ami had spent enough time sitting at lunch tables with other models. Their eyes roamed her body, but nobody spoke, instinctually waiting for her to notice their stares.

Instead, Ami checked her nails. Without looking, the beauty could see the light marks of grease near Maya’s collar, the half-eaten food that was piling up on her tray. Then she saw the swollen curve of Nanako’s middle, exposed white flesh as the sweater rolled up over a soft curve of belly. A perfect target, neatly presented by multiple burger wrappers, two empty fry containers, and a collapsed box of chicken tenders and honey mustard.

Ami felt her tummy lightly roll, taste buds imagining the spicy condiment. Definitely full, yet still pining for flavor. Rather than allowing herself to truly relax, Ami turned up her grin, darkened her eyes, and smiled at Nanako as she released her preemptive strike.

“Wow, Nanako!” she urged, “You sure can eat! I feel a little bad, I definitely wasn’t giving you enough credit.”

Nanako had been about to say something, her glaring eyes suddenly going wide as Ami caught her off guard. They fluttered, not comprehending before she stammered, “W-what do you mean?”

“Well, no offense,” Ami’s hand wrapped around her stomach, “but I always thought you were a bit of a light-weight.”

Nanako looked as if her brain was fizzling, trying very hard to understand how being a ‘light-weight’ could possibly be an insult. As if swelling hot air, Nanako’s belly and chest puffed upwards and out, filled with a hateful breath, before attacking her food tray with renewed gusto.

Purple hair snapped from side to side as the girl began to double fist a pair of burgers, alternating between each bite. There was a very light *pop* from somewhere on her outfit, but she didn’t seem to notice.

Ami certainly did. So had Maya, given width of the girl’s eyes, as large and as brown as fat burger bunds. She was panicking, her packed torso trying and failing to find room for her lungs, taking shallow but heavy breaths as she looked from Nanako to her own plate, then finally to Ami before making a soft startled “Eep!” as Ami leaned closer.

“You’re not done already, are you Maya?” Ami asked.

Maya said nothing. Her eyes were narrowing, skin going white, as if haunted by the taste of her own scathing ambition. It made Ami smile bigger, which then caused Maya to turn back to Nanako as another light *pop* emanated from the purple-haired girl’s pants.

Ami smiled to herself, sure that her thighs had just split down the seams. She was fuming now, her face gone red as her lips wrapped over an entire quarter of her burger, forcing it in while glaring daggers at Maya, as if daring her to give out.

Maya reached forward and finally replied. “N-not just yet,” she said, with her voice shaking. “I’m not giving up that easily.”

Ami grinned. “That’s great!” she said, her mind twisting quickly. “I wanted to ask if you’d like to have some of my burger?”

Maya went rigid as Ami’s hand thunked down upon the table, pulling close another of her still-wrapped burgers. It felt big, definitely one of the bacon burgers, but Ami only felt slightly put out as she enjoyed Maya’s eyes watching her unwrap it. Sure enough, the sandwich was a perfect looking triple bacon burger, heavy with meat. A trickly of grease and gooey mayo began to drizzle out as Ami tightened her grip.

Ami paused, almost reconsidering, but she remembered them hanging on her shoulders as they spouted off demands. Wanting for more. Let them eat the meal they’d ordered.

“Here!” Ami beamed, holding it out in one hand. “You’ve got to try this!”

The orange-haired girl looked like a soldier with shell shock, staring at the burger from a thousand yards away. Her expression was flat, her face completely white.

Ami smirked. ‘That’s right,’ whispered the snake in her smile. It was more satisfying than anything she’d eaten in months, and she felt as if she were sitting in the dressing room, staring down Hina Kiyomizu in her stupid sailor outfit.‘You know just how outclassed you are, don’t you? Thought you could play me just because I’m the fat piglet, right? Well, go ahead? Take a mouthful. Eat the meal you ordered, bitch.’

“Well?!” came a shout from across the table.

Ami glanced to Nanako, jaw slamming as she chewed with her mouth open.

“Are you gonna commit, or not?” she snarled to Maya.

Maya looked like she’d been struck. She looked from Nanako, back to the burger, and then finally to Ami.

Ami’s grin was easy, amiable, and, by how Maya’s expression dipped, must have looked absolutely infuriating. The orange-haired girl’s face suddenly flared with color, red as a tomato while her neck snapped forwards like a viper and took a face full of the burger. She jerked backwards, tearing bits of vegetable and sauces with her, decorating her chin with shining grease and a slather of mayonnaise. She didn’t wipe it off, instead throwing herself back at the burger and tearing out another mouthful before, without any hesitation, her hands latched around it, tearing it from Ami and savaging the sandwich.

Ami could feel the tension between Maya and Nanako, her finger touched on a pulsating vein. Their friendship was under as much stress as their filling stomachs, a couple skinny bitches pushing themselves until they were fit to burst.

The bonfire blazed with vindictive blue light. Ami took a breath, relishing this feeling. It was heady, indulgent, and almost erotic. She felt her hand skating across her belly, the other raising to her plump lips to deliver the final puncture, and was struck in the head by a flying sundae.

Ami reeled back with a shout, sliding bodily onto Maya’s shoulder and shielding the side of her face. Her hand sank into the freezing cold, coming away sticky with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge. She turned on the offender.

Ryuuji had beaten her to the shout. “Taiga?! What the hell?!” he demanded.

Ami locked eyes with the little devil, the absolute bitch, and felt her chest heaving as a snarl crept up her throat.

Taiga replied, moving to stand from her chair, “I figured if since we’re sharing, the piglet should have the rest of my sundae.”

Ami raised a hand, smearing ice cream and fudge down the side of her face, wiping it free. “You little brat,” she felt herself trying to snarl. “You… you… You’ll pay for…”

Something was wrong with her voice. Something was wrong with her eyes. She should be threatening, but she couldn’t-

“Oh, I already did,” Taiga said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m the only one here who paid for myself.” The motion snatched Ami’s sight, looking up and down Taiga’s body.

The palmtop tiger was entirely unaffected by her food. Her stomach was just like the rest of the girl, completely flat.

Taiga pointed at Maya, giving her a snide glare. “The rest of you idiots are paying with your pride.”

Ami felt her rage spiking further, but again someone beat her to it.

“Excuse me?” Nanako snipped.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Maya demanded.

Almost as if it were someone else thinking, Ami Kawashima could clearly see their scorn had been turned, spun around onto Taiga’s abrasive conduct. A part of felt the opportunity, demanded that Ami abuse it to her advantage.

And it was completely lost as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I-I offered to pay for… everyone,” her voice broke, surprising the detached part of herself.

That part grew quieter as Ami’s stomach heaved, feeling as if she was about to be sick as she saw the fudge dribbling down her hair, and the truth suddenly came straight from her chest when a glob of ice cream dribbled down on her flame.

“I just wanted everyone to get whatever they wanted…”

Ami stopped thinking. She stopped listening, stopped talking, and stopped smiling.

Her hand lifted through her chocolate-soaked hair, holding where the cup had hit her temple. The slop was falling onto her shirt, ice-cream soaking through and exposing her further, but she didn’t care. She knew she should get up, maybe just get to the bathroom, but Ami couldn’t find the will to even be angry.

“H-hey,” she heard Ryuuji’s voice, but even that seemed muted now.

‘God, look at you…’ the snake gaped at herself. ‘Look at what you’ve done to yourself.’

Ryuuji said something else, but Ami was trying to hold herself back from breaking down as she looked at her chocolate-stained belly smothering her stupid fat thighs.

“What?!” Taiga roared. “Apologize for what?! Were you even watching her?!”

She was going to cry. She was going to sit her and sob in front of these hellcats, these bitches, these-

“Ami?” came a gentle voice.

A hand placed upon her shoulder turned her to look into Maya’s dark and comforting eyes. Nanako was digging through a paper bag and passed some napkins to Maya, who took them before holding Ami’s face, reaching up towards her hair.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Maya went on, lightly dabbing her cheek. “It’s just ice cream. Nothin’ a shower won’t fix, right?”

Ami’s voice caught. The flames she once felt now dwindling further, dabbing down past even the smolder that had become her normal. The tears were piling up. She had to blink and wipe them away.

Maya reached forwards, pressing the napkins to her sore temple. “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll clean you up,” she said.

Ami tried to get up the energy to cuss at the girl. To tell her off, for daring to speak to her like she was some sort of child. But she just couldn’t. The fire inside could barely hold on.

“I AM NOT APOLOGIZING!!” Taiga roared, and Ami felt herself wincing away.

There was the sound of a clattering tray, and Ryuuji’s voice followed. “Where are you going?!” he called.

Ami just kept her eyes closed and tried to right her breathing while Maya gently wiped her face. “Hey, we really appreciate you doing this for us. Right, Nanako?”

“Yeah!” Nanako said. “It’s, like, we don’t often get a free meal. It’s kinda nice, even if it is just fast food… Gosh, we ordered a lot too…”

Ami could feel Maya hesitate and opened her eyes to see Maya giving Nanako a pout. She turned back and saw Ami’s gaze. “What she means,” Maya stressed, “is normally we have to pay for our own food, or we have to make stuff. You know how much a pain in the butt that can be?”

Ami nodded her head. “I-I hate cooking,” she said honestly. “I eat out… like… every night.”

Maya grinned. “Well hey, I hate it too. Maybe we should meet up more, have dinner together?” she proposed.

“Yeah!” Nanako chimed in, “Dinner’s always better when it’s with friends.”

Ami felt herself nodding. “Y-yeah. It is.”

Maya patted Ami on the back of her neck. “You’ve still got a little fudge in your hair,” she said. “Yeah… you should take a shower when you get back, okay?”

Nanako chuckled. “I think we all need one…” she paused, poking at a stain on her tight uniform. “Oho, man…” she grunted heavily, putting her hand on her belly and awkwardly shuffling on her seat. “I didn’t realize how much I ate… bligh,” she stuck out her tongue and sat heavily back into her seat.

“You said it,” Maya laughed, patting her own tummy. “My uniform’s gonna need a deep wash tonight.”

“F-fourteen,” gasped a voice on their other side.

Ami turned around to see Minori wearing little more an over-stuffed gut and a vacant stare over her overweight wheeze. Her face was soaked with sweat and hot apple pie juice. Her shirt had rolled up past her wobbling pink belly, vanishing into bunched up beneath her breasts. The destroyed tracksuit clung to her body, sticky with heat and sweat while her tongue lulled out past her lips, scraping up the juice on her lips while her hand clamped down onto her fifteenth pie.

“O-oh my God…” Nanako stared.

“Kushieda?” Maya asked.

Ryuuji returned to the table, coming around to near Maya’s side and capturing Ami’s attention. “She ran off,” he said, his dark eyes hooded in frustration. “I’m really sorry about that. Are you okay?” he asked her.

Ami felt a small spark. A tiny kindle, just a little bit higher. “Y-yeah… thanks,” she said.

“She’s not gonna eat that, is she?” Nanako whispered in horror.

“Good,” Ryuuji said, letting out a sigh. His brow pinched in frustration. “I can’t believe her sometimes…”

“Oh my God, she is.”

Ami pushed a hand through her sticky hair, smoothing it back behind her left ear. “Yeah… she seems like a real…” she struggled to find a word, perking her lips.

“No way…”

“She doesn’t mean it,” Ryuuji said softly. Ami looked back up to him. He returned her gaze, and she felt the fire rise a little more. “It’s… it’s complicated. She’s complicated. But I know she’ll apologize.”

The fire heating her core, Ami felt her body returning to her. “Well,” she sat back, crossing her arms over her fat breasts, “she should,” she pouted.

Ryuuji patted a hand on Ami’s shoulder. She felt herself leaning into it, then looking down at her body. She could see her the pink color of her breasts through her white undershirt and was sure her own belly was showing now that the tight clothes were less constrictive.

“Oh my God…” whispered Maya.

Ryuuji’s hand came free, turning to the pair. “What are you two…” he asked, before cutting out. Finally, he joined. “Oh my God.”

Ami spun to see Minori smushing the totality of the apple pie into her mouth. It folded in on itself, steam pouring from the girl like a suffocating engine. Finally, her choppers closed, but she looked to scarcely chew it at all before swallowing. Her throat swelled to the size of a fist with the pie slowly slopping down before dropping onto the garbage pile of sweet food she’d taken into her tummy. The waistband of her sweatpants was pinching into throbbing gut, which now seemed desperate to reach for the table. The angry-pink strain was white in some places, dribbling sweat seeming to be forming stretching white marks near that rose from her hips and reached for her navel, but Minori’s eyes finally seemed to come back to her while she rolled her neck once, emitting several loud cracks before the girl sank in her seat until her gut caught the table and her hair hung over the back of her seat.

“M-minori!” Ryuuji called. “Are you okay?!”

He hurried to her side, getting onto his knee. His hands stopped an inch from her belly, hesitating while he looked back and forth rapidly between her gut and her face. Minori groaned sickeningly before sitting up straight. Ami watched the girl’s chest swell and had the internal siren to wince away before the redhead unleashed an embellished belch.

She slumped backwards, hands finding her waistband and tugging it down beneath her throbbing stomach. “Oooooh,” she moaned again. “F-fifteen.”

“You ate them all?!” he asked. “Minori! That’s like… Three thousand calories!”

Minori drunkenly swung her head to regard him, then swiveling to Ami and raising her finger. “A… a true diet warrior… Ooooh,” she grumbled, pressing into her tummy, which gurgled in anguish. “A true diet warrior knows…” she continued, “when to admit defeat.”

Ami stared at her before, very slowly and from the bottom of her round and fat belly, Ami began to laugh. It came out from the very core of her being, spreading out into the restaurant in embellished joy. She felt tears come to her eyes again and found the other two had joined her in gut-busting laughter, each girl cradling their full stomach. Ami tampered out, leaving a hand atop of her belly while reaching over to Minori.

“You said it, sister,” she said, dipping her finger into Minori’s gut, causing the redhead to release another groan.

It was at this very moment, when Ami finally felt the embers return to a blaze, that the flash of a camera struck her as if it were a bolt of lightning.

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In a single instant, the flash faded from Ryuuji’s eyes. In a single instant, he turned to see the same guy from before, the one with the camera. And in another instant, he saw Ami turn to absolute mush.

“Ami!” screamed the camera guy, moving around the partition. “I finally found you! Is this where you hang… out…?” There was another flash from the man’s camera, and Ryuuji saw Ami’s body freeze, her face contorted in terror.

There was a sudden clatter at the table as she suddenly stood, flinging her chair backwards and causing her stomach to flop outwards onto the table. “Hey!” she said, and it came out nearly as a screech. “I was looking for you!”

Ryuuji looked over his shoulder, saw the guy gaping at Ami’s stomach. Numbly, his camera flashed again.

Nanako spoke up. “Ami, who the hell is this guy?”

“Hey,” Maya said, “he’s not, like, taking our picture, is he?”

Kushieda raised a hand. “F-fifteeeeeeeeen,” she mumbled, before her arm flopped onto her belly.

The camera flashed again.

Ami’s voice shook. “C-can we, like, talk?” she asked the guy.

He blinked. “U-uhh…” he looked again to her stomach, which shook as she came around the side. “Y-yeah… okay.”

Ami’s arm struck out, bumping the guy into motion. Ryuuji made to get up from his seat, but Ami’s hand flashed out and bapped him on the head. “No!” she shouted, ordering him down with a chocolate-stained finger.

Ryuuji looked back up at her and saw the struggle in her eyes.

“Just… just stay here, okay?” she asked. “Not you.”

He looked from her, back to the others. Minori looked as if she was about to pass out. “Yeah… okay,” he said.

He sat back in his seat, eyeing the guy as Ami walked him away. He felt his senses prickle up when she led him around the corner towards the bathrooms. “Hey, Ryuuji,” Maya bade. He turned to her, and she was nervously looking after Ami. “Who was that guy?” she asked.

Ryuuji shook his head. “I dunno… He was just… I think Ami used to know him or something.”

“Maybe he was, like, her manager,” Nanako said.

“No way,” Maya hissed. “That guy looked like some sorta slimeball creeper.”

“That’s what I said, like a manager,” Nanako chimed.

There was a clattering noise from around the corner, and Ryuuji quickly found his feet. “I SAID I’M DONE!” came Ami’s shriek. “I QUIT, WHY DON’T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!”

Ryuuji rushed around the corner just in time to see the swaying door to the women’s bathroom. The guy, who Ryuuji now noticed was completely soaked through his underclothes, snapped another picture of the swaying door. Thunder boomed from outside, and Ryuuji was suddenly aware of the pelting rain slamming into the windows. He looked round, saw Nanako and Maya peering at him from their seats.

He turned on the guy, who stood silently outside of the bathroom door. “What the hell did you say to her?” he asked.

The guy barely glanced at him, his sour expression turning back to the door. “Screw off,” he muttered.

Ryuuji moved forward. That caught the guy’s attention, bringing him off from the wall. He stood a full head shorter than Ryuuji, though he looked a few years older. “I asked what you said to her,” Ryuuji demanded.

“And I told you,” the shorter man paused, stepping forward, “to fuck off.”

“Ryuuji,” came Ami’s voice.

Both men looked over to her. She stood at the entrance to the bathroom, her jacket zipped up to her chin. She’d done her best to quickly wipe the ice cream and fudge out of her hair, and while little could be done about her outfit, Ami’s face seemed completely healed.

It wasn’t. Ryuuji could still see it clearly. He’d seen the cracks once and now, no matter how well Ami held herself, Ryuuji could see the outline of the mask.

“I told you to stay back,” she said, looking irritated.

Ryuuji wasn’t ready for that. “I-I heard you shout,” he looked back to the others.

“That was… that was a momentary weakness,” Ami said.

The guy chuffed. “You’re a drama queen. You said so in your interview two years ago, in Glamorous Girl’s September edition.”

Ami blinked, taking in a deep breath. “I did, didn’t I?” she asked, forcing a smile.

“Yup,” the guy needlessly replied, absently smiling. “Would you just…” he paused, “just hear me out? Maybe I can help with your...” he gestured.

“My what?” Ami asked.

“Your, uhh, your weight thing,” he said.

“My ‘weight thing’?” Ami asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah,” he said. “I mean, look at you. What you’ve done to yourself. You’re disgusting.”

Ryuuji felt the knuckles in his hand cracking, giving an auditory noise to the crack that suddenly appeared in Ami’s mask.

The girl swallowed, trying desperately to hold onto her composure. “I’m… I am merely taking some time to myself and… considering my career,” she forced.

“Ami, hey,” Ryuuji said softly, moving to step between them.

“SHUT UP, RYUUJI!” Ami hollered. Her whole body shook, with rapid cracks appearing in her mask as her cheeks blushed a brilliant red.

Ryuuji took a step back, feeling as if he’d been knocked in the stomach. He saw the man looking over at him again, snarking a shot of laughter, and a clap of thunder sounded from outside.

He was about to move forward when a hand suddenly appeared at Ryuuji’s side, tugging him two steps backwards. He turned to see Taiga standing there, soaked down to the bone. In her other hand, she carried a plastic bag full of herbs from the shop. Confusion overtook him before Ryuuji had to remind himself that’s why they had come to the market in the first place. But he hadn’t been able to afford…

“Lets go, Ryuuji,” Taiga said, tugging his hand, though he remained locked in place.

He looked at Ami, tried to see into her eyes.

The last shards of the mask protected her thoughts from view. Her head was bent, looking down to the ground. Or maybe down at her body.

Ryuuji went with Taiga, following her to the table. The other girls had bunched together in uncomfortable silence, Maya and Nanako looking awkwardly at him while Minori appeared as if flatly asleep in her seat.

Wordlessly, Taiga gave Ryuuji the bag. With her other, she poked Minori in the belly.

Minori loosened a rumbling belch, followed by a series of groans while her eyes fluttered open. “Ooooh, noooo,” she moaned. “Five more pies. I don’t wanna go workout tonight.”

“Come on, Minorin,” Taiga grunted. She leaned down, lifting Minori’s arm around her neck. “Let’s go, you know I can’t carry you.”

“Tryyyy,” Minori complained, rising unsteadily from her seat. “You don’t…” she murmured, placing a hand over her mouth. She continued, “You don’t know until you try.”

“Yeah, no thanks,” Taiga said. She looked to Ryuuji. “Hey, a little help? Jeez.”

Ryuuji moved to Minori’s other side. He ducked his head near her stomach, heard it squelching miserably and throbbed outward beneath her shirt, before raising her arm around his shoulders. “Come on, Kushieda, I’ve got you,” he said.

She leaned on him, pressing her tummy into his side. “My knight, tell me you’re here to carry me home.”

“Absolutely not,” Taiga broke in. “I was promised noodles.”

“Nooo,” Minori whimpered, “you’re kidnapping the princess to feed her even more. A dark, dangerous, knight.”

Despite himself, Ryuuji managed a small chuckle. He stood straight and a brief moment later realized Taiga was looking up at him. Her eyes were calm, assertive, and comforting. “You got her?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good.” Taiga stepped out from Minori, sending all of her support lopsided onto him.

Ryuuji gasped and Minori groaned in anguish as they tried to find their footing, spinning around twice before ending up near the restaurant’s side entrance. Ryuuji latched onto the short panel wall, pulling Minori tight onto him. The girl was heavier than she looked, and right now she looked pretty heavy.

He looked back into the restaurant. Taiga was standing nearby the bathrooms. He couldn’t see her face, but he could feel her expression in her voice.

“If you ever speak to him like that again,” she said just loud enough to be heard, “I will rip your head off. No matter what Kitamura says about you.” She said it simply, honestly, and Ryuuji believed every word she said.

He hoped Ami did too.

Then, Taiga turned on the man. “Give me the camera,” she hissed, holding out her hand.

“What? No way, little girl,” the guy snarled. “You can g-”

Taiga’s foot found his crotch with a deafening impact. A pair of staff, who must have heard the altercation and were leaning out over the counter, made deep groans while the man sunk to his knees with a half-startled squelch. The redhead who had taken their order, looked back to Ryuuji before pulling a few fries from a nearby bag, nodding towards the door.

Taiga returned, now holding the camera. “Come on,” she said to Ryuuji. Ryuuji looked back to the guy whose face had gone purple, veins bulging while he cupped his groin.

Ami peered around the corner, looking at them. Looking at him, and he looked at her.

It was then that he saw past the mask, into the deep wallowing of despair. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. She saw it, but he didn’t know what to say. He just shook his head.

Ami looked down. At the ground, not at her body.

“I said come on! Move it, mutt!” Taiga yowled. She held the door, which opened into darkness and to the pouring rain. Ryuuji hefted Minori onto his shoulder and passed by Taiga, who had slid the camera round her neck.

“You’re going to get it wet,” he told her.

“Like I give a damn,” she cussed, and then tucked it into her jacket anyway. Ryuuji rolled his eyes, and they left the restaurant, making for home.

******************************************************************************

Ami sighed, closing the door behind her as she walked inside. She unwrapped her jacket from her body, let it drop onto the floor of her apartment. It joined numerous other articles of clothing that were piled on the floor.

She noted that some of them were beginning to smell. She kicked them with her foot, flinging them further into the front room. Empty takeout boxes soda bottles littered the table that her dirty clothing now piled under.

Ami itched at her chest, pulling upward at her white undershirt. She’d gotten soaking wet, her breasts felt sloppy and a little sore. She knocked off her shoes and made her way to the kitchen.

With a glance at the clock, the sapphire piglet knew she might make the end of the hotline show. Maybe Kiyomizu would have broken a heel and plummeted off stage into the band, maiming her by a freak tuba accident. Ami could hope.

The young fatass stopped by her kitchen to scoop a pint of cookie dough ice cream from her freezer and made her way down into her basement.

Ami’s television was ginormous, nearly the size of her wall. It was the latest tech, 4K definition along with a full surround sound system. He father had bought it for the house, lending her the place all to herself for only ¥10,000 a month out of her savings.

Papa Kushieda was busy managing his real estate firm in Tokyo while she attended school, and while the house normally felt empty, Ami tried to believe she’d grown to appreciate the silence.

It wasn’t working.

Ami flopped down on the tv rooms couch, looked around, cussed, then got up to look for the remote.

A brief search revealed the device beneath an empty pizza box, allowing Ami to finally sit back and begin clicking through the television channels. Show after show flicked by with nothing registering as Ami numbly coasted to the program she knew she was going to dread watching but turned on anyway.

The channel flipped over to a bright studio set, cheerful music, an excited voice, and Ami slouched backwards onto her couch. She lifted her feet onto the coffee table, knocking loose several empty candy and ice cream sandwich wrappers, and dug her spoon into the warming container of ice cream.

“We’re almost at our first stretch goal,” the hostess clapped her hands. Hina Kiyomizu twirled into view, her adorable sailor suit making her black hair look luscious and vibrant.

Ami spooned the first scoop of ice cream into her mouth.

“Here, have mine. I’m not feeling hungry anyways.”

A fat tear dropped into Ami’s ice cream. She tried her best to forget where she was. Tried to forget that she wasn’t eating spicy noodles. Tried to forget that she wasn’t laughing at his unkempt appearance or even just sparing with that short little brat.

But she couldn’t, and she continued to stare ahead and watch the cute skinny woman dancing on stage in her sailor suit until she finished the tub of ice cream, which joined the rest of the garbage on her table before Ami nodded off into a restless sleep.

When she awoke, Ami had a rougher time than normal sitting up. She tried to remember what day it was, or what time it was, before deciding she just didn’t care. Her TV was showing a new program now, something about selling blenders.

She blinked at it a few times, mindlessly consuming the product for any value, before turning away from it and stumbling upstairs and towards her bathroom and shower.

When she reached the floor of her kitchen, Ami was surprised to see that her window was open. She went to it and glanced out.

Ami’s apartment was on the fifth floor of a residential building and saw the Hachinomori’s night skyline from beyond her window. Her eyes felt almost as heavy as her belly, making the girl blink heavily as she glowered out the window.

In a few hours, she’d have to get up and do it all over again. Go to Raiko’s for her donuts, lie about how the modeling agencies were begging her to come back. Go to school, pretend yesterday didn’t happen. Pretend that everything’s totally fine. Pretend that she’s not freaking out that her stalker would follow her to school or abduct her on the way home, especially now that he seemed to think she was going to join some sort of gym membership.

This was his fault in the first place.

She shook her head, looking down at her stomach. She was done. Finished with it all. She’d said so herself just earlier today.

Who the hell really wants to be a model, anyways?

Ami grumbled, slapping her tummy harshly. “What did I do to deserve you, huh?” she asked. The movement made her realize that her face was still sticky with ice cream, and she went to her sink to wash off her face.

The girl dunked her head under the faucet, letting the warm water spin through her hair before coaxing it over her chin. She rubbed at it tiredly, rising herself back to look out the window. She reached out, shut the window, and locked it.

When she turned around, Ami felt her heartbeat stop.

Sitting on her countertop, she suddenly saw the black and silver gadgetry of a camera placed on top of a white note. She looked back from the window to the camera, then scanned her eyes around the room.

“Hello?” she asked, feeling her heart rate quickening. She crept over to the camera as if it would come alive and snap at her. She lifted it, looking it over.

The camera was high class, brand new tech. It was missing its cover, but everything else reminded Ami of the gadgets she’d seen at her modeling shoots.

She spun it round in her hands, trying to piece it to earlier, and then looked at the note.

Piglet,

Kitamura gave me a key. Clean up your trashy apartment, it smells like something died in here. Also, you snore when you sleep. Probably because you’re so damn fat. I took a picture of you with your new camera, just so you can know what you look like to the rest of us.

If I punch you tomorrow, know you deserved it. He kept giving me sad puppy eyes all evening, and you better apologize tomorrow. I’m sick of being the only grownup around here.

- Your master

Ami read the note over again before going onto the camera. She flicked past the pictures from earlier today and found the most recent one.

Ami Kawashima, mouth wet with ice cream and belly sagging between her fat thighs, dozing between wrappers that decorated her couch with her teeny tee-shirt beneath her breasts. Overweight, out of shaped, the blue-haired piglet snored up at her, and Ami felt fire blaze inside her belly.

The woman went to the window, banging it open. “AISAKA, YOU LITTLE TWERP!!” she hollered into the night. “I SWEAR TO GOD, I’LL GET YOU BACK YOU LITTLE… RAAAGH!!!”

Her fat thumbs tapped all over the camera before she found the button to delete the image, her cheeks glowing deep in a furious red. In her anger, Ami nearly cleaned out the rest of the pictures, but was stopped at one.

Ami, Minori, Maya, Nanako, and Ryuuji sitting inside the McDonalds.

They were laughing.

Minori looked like a complete slob, covered in scraps and caught in mid-groan, while Ami’s belly rolled so far over the table that the girl’s bluster became a bright blush. Her weighty biceps looked pinched in the outfit, hands going to her mouth to cover her overweight laugh. Maya, meanwhile, had her eyes awkwardly squinted, tongue out in displeasure, and across from her was Nanako, apparently noticing her own tummy hanging out beneath her skirt. At Ami’s side was Ryuuji, laughing along with her at Minori’s expression.

Ami’s fingers found the next button, skipping that and deleting the rest on the memory cards flash file. Most were of poorly focused items or snaps of the center of the street, and all disappeared as she zipped them off. She looked down at the camera, turned it over once or twice.

Feeling a sense of guilt washing over her, Ami plodded to her fridge. She took a bottle of whipped cream and raised it to her mouth, trying her best to suffocate the guilt beneath the thick, heavy spray.

The blue-haired beauty gulped down mouthful after mouthful in the dark kitchen, feeling her doughy stomach rise to accommodate. The cream spilled into her, racing down her throat, but the guilt remained even after the can clattered down onto the floor.

Then, thinking better of it, Ami bent over to pick up the can so she could throw it away. A loud, increasingly familiar sound, tore through the air, and Ami groaned, sinking to the floor, knowing she’d just ripped her final pair of sweatpants.

Yet, the fire remained.