OG Moto

Moto by Foxfire

Part 1

Moto groaned and ripped her simple plastic alarm clock’s plug out of the wall disgustedly, its incessant chirping ceasing as the flow of energy through the cord was severed.


Throwing off her green comforter, she allowed the cool morning air to drift over her body and shivered in her minimalist pajamas, cotton shorts and a tank top. Groggily she brought herself to a sitting position, her slender legs hanging off the side of her bed, her feet half resting, half posed on her room’s chilled hard wood floor.


She stared into space for a moment and yawned, stretching her arms and back, her thin but somewhat toned frame accented by her svelte white top. Her room was quaint; cream colored thin walls and a sliding wood framed paper door separating her area from the rest of the house.


Her bed sat in the far corner, her desk in another corner next to her telescope and closet, the walls decorated with a scant amount of posters and a few select drawings. She looked out her bedside window; it seemed the sun was just about to come up as her eyes wandered through the eerie twilight rays of an invisible star, the lilac azure shades of light giving the forest a surreal ambiance.


Their house was a little off the main road, a good 300 feet back into the forest at the bottom of the valley and barely visible to passing traffic, car or pedestrian, the mail box being the only surefire giveaway that anyone even lived down the seemingly forgotten and overgrown gravel path. The forest was thick, and up the sides of the valley ran a copious amount of old trails she loved to climb in her free time, the top of the valley’s ridge offering an amazing view of Tsuyoku, the largest city in the area. The view from her window revealed an expanse of deep and pure wilderness that she’d explored ever since she was small, parting with it was unthinkable.


She stepped into the shower, still shivering, and let the warm water thaw her body, she could feel her muscles loosening as she stretched, and washed her long black


hair, the straight black strands falling just below her shoulders.


She dried herself off in the chilly air and dressed, her school uniform fitting snugly around her trim waist and upper body. She adjusted her green neckerchief around her white collared shirt, and patted her evergreen skirt so it looked acceptable, to her at least. She stood in front of a full body mirror positioned against a wall in her closet and posed a few times, laughing as she made a face to herself. She picked up her book bag, slinging the thick strap over her shoulder clumsily, and walked into the kitchen at a slow trot, as if over encumbered by the bag’s added weight.


“Morning.” she said to her mom in a dull tone, who didn’t bother to glance up from her morning’s paper.


“Morning.” her mother replied, equally dismal.


She ate breakfast in relative silence, and said goodbye to her disinterested mother. Moto slipped on her brown leather loafers and stepped into the brisk morning air. She noted that her father must have gone to work already, his car was missing from their gravel driveway. She followed the overgrown trail out of the forest and turned right onto the main road, walking along side silently.


The forest to her right had yet to awaken, still fairly quiet, her view through the trees clogged by dense foliage. To her left were rice fields extending through the middle of the valley, ceasing only at the edge a much smaller forested area reaching skywards up the other side of the depression. The walk was peaceful as it usually was. The brisk wind cut right through her thin clothing and bit her skin with an odd sensation of rough tenderness, but wasn’t bothering her by the time she finally came about to her destination.


The train station was a far cry from anything that could be even remotely defined as modern. It was a regularly whitewashed wooden building at the end of the line that housed only an attendant that you purchased tickets from; a silvery, large windowed train sat idling in place at the station platform. Moto was about the only familiar to the old station attendant aside from a fresh crop of elementary students, friends of


hers who lived down the road from her house, they came by later in the morning. She walked up onto the wooden platform, her brown leather loafers clunking along as she approached the wooden building’s ticket window.


“Here for a ticket Moto?” the attendant said with a smile, an ancient, but nonetheless jolly old man, “you can have this one on me, they don’t think anyone rides the train from here anymore anyway.”


“Thank you mister Kuribayashi! I owe ya one!” Moto thanked the man genuinely, hurrying onto the train.


“Have a good day!” Kuribayashi called back to her, she waved in reply.


She sat down next to a window on the far side of the cabin, a clean, but weathered interior providing her a modest amount of comfort with plush seats and no armrests to restrict her should she try to lie down. Add to that fact that she was the only rider this morning, and it made the train an eerie sanctuary of sorts.


It was odd, the train was electric and ran by electrified cables elevated above the tracks, a normally city based commodity, and it was way out near her peaceful town. There had been a proposal to extend it all the way to into downtown Utashinai, but the city never followed through, so the train idled for hours at a time at the old station, gathering dust and losing its novelty little by precious little every passing day. The train lurched forward, and she let her cheek rest on the window glass, watching the rice fields pass by as the train left the rural peace of the countryside and descended down into Tsuyoku.


Fields turned to houses; houses into suburbs and apartments, the train plunged headlong at a meandering pace into a tunnel below the city, the sunrise she had stared at out the window gone from view and replaced by darkness. Moto tried her best to stay awake, the rhythm of the train clacking down the tracks lulling her mind into a restful state, she managed to stay conscious.


The train finally arrived at her station only a block from her school. She drudgingly


picked up her book bag and made her way off the train and up an escalator out of the station, the sunlight penetrating down through the open air passage to the surface. She stepped off the escalator, and started walking towards her school.


It was a three story tall concrete complex with a glass sky bridge joining it to the other half of the campus, the boy’s half. Both buildings were unimpressive works of typical 1980s architecture, with outdated air conditioners and easy rooftop access. She often found herself sitting on the rooftop every lunch period alone, sipping out of her thermos and munching down a small bit of food every now and then as she observed the radiant energy of the city below her.


The atrium, or what was called the atrium, was nothing more than a giant breezeway cut halfway into the length of the building with a statue in it of some god or goddess, she didn’t know, nor care who it was. All she came here for was grades. In her mind friends and a social life were a luxury she didn’t need. She had a few friends scattered throughout her classes, but her shyness and quiet personality generally hampered her ability to make new ones.


Entering the school through the breezeway, she walked into the stairwell, trudging up a few flights of steps to the second floor. Her locker was located next to the library, seemingly the heart of the school, where everyone who was anyone hung out. She always did her best to get in and out as fast as possible. She grabbed her books, climbed up a nearby stairwell on her way to class. As a sophomore in her school, officially known as Tsuyoku Preparatory School, she was acquainted with the routine already. Even though it was only her second week back, she was following the schedule like every other zombie in the building. Finally, lunch time came.


She stopped by her locker to drop off her books and grab her lunch, then split to the roof, climbing the lowly lit stairwell as she had grown accustomed to while lugging along her thermos and lunch box. Reaching the door, she pulled on the handle, but to her chagrin it wouldn’t budge. She pulled again, and again, but it was stuck. Flustered, she flipped a bit of her black hair in disgust. She suddenly realized the door was locked.


She calmed her nerves, breathing in and out a few times to quell her anxiety, the library must still be open, she could just go there, she didn’t need to eat, just needed the quiet time. She walked back down the stairs to the direction she’d came, walking past her locker at a brisk pace only to find that the library was closed as well; she exhaled angrily, a blush over her face. Her nervous expression crystallized as she came to the realization that she would be forced to find a seat in the cafeteria.


She held her lunchbox close to her waist, mortified as she walked through the rows of six seat tables, looking vainly for a promising spot, not wanting to ask if any was actually open to sit at. Full, full, full she noted until she reached one in the corner, with one spot open. It was now or never.


She tapped the girl next to the spot at the table, and the entire group turned to look at the newcomer.


“Yeah?” the summoned girl asked. She was a long haired girl with a determined, confident look on her face, a pair of thick rimmed thin lens glasses glinting in the softly lit lunchroom, resting comfortably on her nose. They gave the girl an uncanny look of intelligence.


“Um, is it okay if I sit here today?” Moto asked quietly.


The girl shrugged, “I don’t see why not.”


Moto slid into the empty spot carefully, making an effort not to touch the girl. She was tall, with long straight black hair.


“What’s your name?” the girl asked, casting a half glance in Moto’s direction.


“Uh, Moto…” she replied sheepishly.


The girl smirked, “Sakuya.”


“Nice to meet you.” said Moto with an awkward smile.




The girl across from her turned to Moto; she was shorter than the girl next to her, with short black hair that gave her a half tough, half adorable look, “I’m Sayuri.” The girl said with a sly smirk.


“Moto.” she repeated with the same awkward smile.


“What bus do you ride Moto?” asked Sakuya.


“Um,” she hesitated “I ride the train to school from Utashinai.”


“I thought I recognized you.” Sayuri smiled, “I’m the Utashinai shrine maiden.”


Moto couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, she’d seen Sayuri before at the shrine many times, but never did make the connection meeting the girl in person, “You probably saw me there, I go there a lot, I think I remember you.”


“So you live near it?” continued Sayuri.


“Yeah, I live on the same road, a mile or two from Utashinai train station.” Moto replied half heartedly, forcing a nervous smile.


“That’s cool.” Sayuri replied with a smile, Sakuya matched her smile.


Moto didn’t talk any more during the lunch period. She sat at the girls’ table listening to the conversation half heartedly, eating her lunch to keep herself distracted, and when the bell rung, she bolted to her locker. She diligently went to class for the last half of the day, hurriedly stopped by her locked again, and then swiftly made way to the train station.


She rode the train home alone, relishing the soothing rhythm of the train clacking along, again lulling her near sleep. The city began to lose form, concrete gradually becoming grass and leaves, until rice fields once again appeared out her window. She was comforted every day by the scenery; it reminded her that she was returning


home again, away from hustle and bustle of big Tsuyoku and back to her home, her reality.


She acknowledged privately her love for the isolation she was a part of. Her computer only had dial up internet, and there was only one television in her house that sat dormant in the living room where her and her parents occasionally would gather to watch movies together. She walked past the forest, now lively and loud with insects and birds as the afternoon took hold, and turned to walk down her driveway, opening the door to her house and walking inside, noting that dad still wasn’t home.


“Hey, I’m home.” she called as she closed the door.


“Welcome home honey.” called her mom in reply, probably from her office.


She dropped her book bag on the floor, and kicked off her shoes, walking quietly into her room. She sat on her bed and shook her hair back to life, unbuttoning her white shirt and sliding her skirt down her sleek legs. She threw them into a corner, and donned a pair of khaki shorts and a pink t-shirt, slipping on a new pair of short socks as well. She didn’t feel like checking her email, it would take too long and would probably have only spam to read, so why bother.


Too dark to stargaze, nothing on the radio, disgusting daytime TV; she came to the conclusion, as she usually did, that a reading a book was the only way to go. Grabbing a novel, she slipped on a pair of tennis shoes and stepped back outside. The air was warm against her skin, significantly more so than she remembered on the walk home, perfect conditions none the less. She walked across the gravel driveway, carefully attempting not to kick up dirt, and snuggled into a hammock strung between two of the larger trees around her house. She settled in, and let the text take her away.


She lost track of time as she flipped through page after page, but she eventually bored of her book. She laid it in her hammock to rest, and stretched out as she stood on the forest floor. Moto gazed at her surroundings, admiring the pure greens and


the deep browns all about her, and decided she should hike up to the stream.


It was a bit of a walk through the trees, but it was worth it. As she came about to the crystal watered river, she took position on a rocky outcropping on its near shore, the riverbed totally covered by the clear and cool rushing water. The stream ran along the entire valley, just up it a little ways was Utashinai shrine, another place she loved dearly.


She sat for a while along its banks, the river itself sunken below the level of the ground around it, thinking. It was all she knew how to do without anyone else around. Even the posse of elementary students that used to play with her during the summer had yet to materialize after school resumed, even on the weekend.


She started back to her hammock, and heard a voice calling her name, “Moto, you around?”


She assumed it was her mother, so she took her time, but then realized it wasn’t her mother, the voice was softer, younger. Moto walked back to her house at a trot, and looked to her visitor. She wore a beautiful kimono, white and red, her hair was short and cutely cut. Moto realized it was Sayuri, the shrine maiden.


“There you are!” Sayuri said with a smile, noting Moto walking towards her.


Moto was befuddled by the girl’s appearance seemingly out of nowhere,


“Hey!” she replied, half confused, half excited. “Sorry, I was taking a walk.”


Sayuri smiled, “No, it’s okay, I came by to see if you wanted to go down the road to get a snack in town.”


Moto was blindsided, her, asked to go out for food?


“Uh,” she hesitated at first, “Yeah! That’d be cool, let me get some money!”


She dashed to her room and grabbed a few bills from a jar of her earnings, what she collected from birthdays, odd jobs; it was enough to last her for quite a while, not bothering to ask her mom for permission, she knew she wouldn’t care in the slightest.


“Ready?” Sayuri smirked as Moto jogged back outside to meet her.


“Yeah!” replied Moto enthusiastically.


“Sakuya’s going to meet us there; her and I usually meet up in town after I serve at the shrine for a while, that cool with you?”


“That’s fine, how did you find my house?” queried Moto quizzically.


Sayuri tapped her head a few times with her index finger, “I have my ways.” she laughed.


Moto wasn’t accustomed to walking into town, only to the shrine, but almost never past it. It was interesting to her, Sayuri babbling on about the new school year, and Moto just listened, offering a comparison every now and then, but more often she simply remained anonymous. She didn’t mind.


Utashinai was a quaint little city, if it was even that. The downtown area was simply a main street with shops, restaurants, and a small theater being its landmark attraction along with its elegant small town charm. There were a few people shopping here and there, and sparse car traffic along the road. They went into a family owned sweet shop together, where Sakuya sat bored at one of the tables inside, slumped lazily onto the table top.


“Hey, Sakuya, I brought a friend!” Sayuri called into the shop as if she were waking her up.


“Hey, Moto, cool!” Sakuya said with a smile, rubbing her eyes.


“Hey…” said Moto sheepishly as she waved to Sakuya.


“Let’s get some bubble tea, sound good?” Sayuri queried to both girls.


“Yeah!” Moto replied happily. So this was what it was like to have friends.


The three sipped their bubble tea at the table, the shop was homey, a counter positioned along the wall with a simple chalkboard menu, typical of a family owned place like this. She couldn’t say she knew the owner well, but she knew her parents did, always calling him Fuse whenever he came over for dinner.


Moto was quiet, but spoke when spoken to, still trying to grasp the art of conversation to an extent. They talked about school, the new school year, some drama on the sports team. It intrigued her, though she knew nothing about it. The conversation turned to Moto.


“You look cuter without your uniform on.” said Sayuri with a smirk as she sampled some of Moto’s sleeve with her thumb and index finger.


“I love your shoes!” complimented Sakuya.


“Thank you!” replied Moto enthusiastically, trying to mask her obvious shyness.


“How long have you lived around here?” asked Sayuri, directed at Moto.


Moto shrugged and looked off somewhere, her arms in her lap covering her purse, “I’ve lived here my whole life.”


“Really?” queried Sakuya, “I’d never seen you before today.”


She adjusted her glasses as if trying to get a better view of Moto.


Moto shrugged again and replied softly, “I was never very talkative, I’d be surprised if anyone knew who I was.”




“Now now” began Sakuya, “don’t pity yourself Moto, come sit at our lunch table tomorrow, okay? Speaking of, where were you before sitting with us?”


Moto hesitated slightly, “Uh, I didn’t have a table, so I went to the roof…”


Sayuri giggled unintentionally, “That’s so lonely! Look, you sit with us now Moto, got it?” she stuck her hand out for a high five.


Moto smiled, “Cool!” She high fived Sayuri, and all three laughed.


Sayuri was getting a ride with Sakuya, so Moto bid them farewell, pretending that she had homework to do as an excuse to leave early, but wishing she had the courage to talk some more with them both. She needed to rest from socializing it seemed. Still, she was overjoyed, she’d been invited back to sit with them again! After long years of lone wolfing it at school, fate seemed to have conspired to repay her for her lack of friends.


The sun was nearly gone, and the forest’s volume decreased. The woods were going to sleep. She passed the road to the shrine, and reached her driveway. By the time she reached her house, blackness was settling over the valley lit only by a brilliant full moon and some residual lights polluting the sky from Tsuyoku, miles away.


Her house glowed through the darkness. Dad was finally home. She walked inside and kicked off her shoes, greeted with a quaint dinner of leftovers, then retired to her room after hugging her dad good night. Moto threw off her shirt and shorts, donning a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top as she had the night before. She reset her alarm, and curled up in her comforter. She flicked off the lights.


Her alarm clock blared to life earlier than she expected it to. She smothered the obnoxious device with her fingers, fumbling for the snooze button in a desperate attempt to end the deafening beeping emanating from it; finally she succeeded, and just for good measure, she ripped it out of the wall.


Moto took her shower and dressed again, paying careful attention to her hair and face, washing it several times with a wet towel. She ate breakfast quickly as she checked the time, noticing she was a few minutes late, and said her goodbyes, bolting out the door and power walking to the train station, trying to take in as much of the morning calm as she could before entering the train. The valley was clogged with low hanging fog, brushing the top of her hair occasionally and obscuring the hills on both sides of her, the gray veil mystifying a normally familiar place.


She climbed up onto the platform and bowed to Mr. Kuribayashi as she bought her ticket, “Have a good day!” he called to her as she ran onto the train. She smiled and waved to the nice man, and sat down next to her usual window. The train ride was as usual a blur. She tried to stay awake as best she could, occasionally closing her eyes and waking up minutes after she closed them.


The gray sky obscured her view of Tsuyoku, and soon after she entered the city it began to rain. She sighed, wanting to get to lunch as fast as possible without the hassle of classes and schedules, and though she was nervous about sitting at their table, she couldn’t wait till the hour arrived. She sighed, knowing she’d forgot to pack an umbrella, and exited the train, dashing up and out and into the drizzle, speedily making her way to her school.


She entered the concrete sarcophagus of a structure on her usual course and patted herself somewhat dry upon getting into the atrium. She dodged the crowds and cliques gathering in the halls around her locker and deposited her book bag, grabbed her folders and supplies, and started off to class once more; she was hoping to speed up her classes somehow, anything to get to lunch faster.


Sitting through two boring periods, she kicked her feet and tapped her pencil on her desk to the annoyance of teachers and students alike, but before she could notice the growing discontent within her classroom the bell would ring. Finally, lunch time was upon her.


She darted through the halls, grabbing her small lunch box from her locker, and went to the lunch room down a flight of stairs. There were already a few girls there from


the day before. It looked like Sakuya and Sayuri had dropped off their things and entered the lunch line, so she sat down.


“Hey, you’re Moto right?” asked a cutesy, short haired girl she recognized from the other day.


“Yes.” Moto replied rather softly, looking off at something in the lunchroom.


“Sayuri told me you were going to sit here from now on, my name is Karin, nice to meet you!” she extended a hand across the table to Moto, who shook it nervously.


“Nice to meet you too!” Moto responded, trying her hand at sincerity with her new group of friends.


Karin dug around her lunch pail, “Hey, do you like pudding cups?”


“Yeah! They’re great!” Moto replied, barely managing to contain her enthusiasm. Her parents didn’t buy her junk food, though she couldn’t say she cared.


“Here, I’ve got two and don’t want em. I’m trying to stay fit for the volleyball team.” Karin smiled, pushing two chocolate filled cups towards Moto, who smiled, and took them without complaint.


“I’m Youka!” said a bright eyed girl sitting next to Karin, her hair long, but controlled with a pony tail that disappeared behind her shoulders.


Moto smiled, “Pleased to meet you!”


“Sorry we were kinda cold to you yesterday, here, I’ll make up for it!” Youka pulled a chocolate bar and soda bottle out of her bag, Moto smiled a little wider.


“I’m with Karin on the volleyball team too, but my mom keeps packing junk in my lunch, even though I tell her I only want a sandwich and water bottle.” The girls laughed together.




Sakuya and Sayuri were still missing, presumably getting their lunches still, but as she looked off to spot them another girl sat down next to her. Her hair style was not dissimilar from Moto’s, but the major difference was that her hair was a shade of brilliant red, with an interesting pair of hair clips that kept her bangs in check, unlike Moto’s.


“Moto?” she asked as she sat down rather clumsily, her lunch tray coming dangerously close to spilling all over Moto, who hadn’t a clue.


“Yeah!” Moto replied, happy that someone had remembered her name off the bat.


“I’m Azumi!” replied the girl enthusiastically with a smile.


“Nice to meet you.” Moto smiled warmly to the girl, who smiled back.


Azumi cut into her croquette, halving it down the middle, and pushed the rest of her meal aside.


Moto couldn’t help but inquire, “You’re only eating half of your croquette?”


Azumi giggled, “I’m never hungry, but since you asked!” She pushed her tray over to Moto. “Eat up!”


Moto, feeling the eyes at the table watching her every move, accepted the tray, though she didn’t really want it. She smiled, “Thanks!”


Confronted with such an ample amount of food, she surmised she should eat it all to make sure no one thought they wasted it on her, especially when she was new at their table, so she got to work, popping the top on the soda and opening the candy bar to start.


Sayuri and Sakuya sat down next to her, and the table of six was filled finally. She felt lucky that she didn’t have to eat their food too, as they had no excuse to present her.




As the table chattered she tried to listen to the dialogue; Moto worked hard to stuff down the last morsels of her lunch, and the lunches she was given, and finally by lunch’s end she had crammed all the junk food, her lunch, and most of Azumi’s lunch jarringly into her stomach. She was stuffed, and her stomach felt terrible, but her friends paid her no heed.


“We’ll see you tomorrow Moto!” called Karin and Youka, disappearing into a crowd of students.


“Thank you for not letting my lunch go to waste Moto!” called Azumi, who waved goodbye as she too vanished.


Moto felt sick, but she had seemingly made a good impression on her new group. Sayuri and Sakuya smiled to her.


“Hey, Moto, if we hang out after I’m done at the shrine, do you wanna go eat with us again?” asked Sayuri quizzically.


Moto’s face lit up, “I’d love to!”


“Cool, I’ll drop by if we do, okay?”


“Okay!” Moto waved and her friends waved back. They disappeared into the crowd.


It was only then that she noticed the pile of trash she had accumulated around her spot. Embarrassed, she threw the pile away discreetly, and with a quiet groan walked carefully to her next class in a futile attempt not to augment her suffering. After an hour the pain had subsided, and she relaxed as she entered her final class, totally zoned out and blissfully pleased that she had been invited out again. She must have made a good impression on her friends.

The train ride home was soothing to her. Though she could converse well and enjoy herself around her friends, she felt overloaded by all that she had taken in through


the day. After the rest of the train’s passengers vacated she stretched out and closed her eyes, listening to the rhythm and waiting for the ride home to end.


The train slowed, and she opened her eyes. The sky had cleared, only scattered clouds remained in the light blue ocean above her. She smiled as she left the train, the sunlight drenching her body, and walked off the wet platform onto to the moist and gleaming asphalt road, though she could tell it had already begun to dry. No hiking for her today at this rate none the less.


She said hello to her mom, again in her office, and kicked off her shoes, walking quickly to her room to get out of her obnoxious school clothes. She threw on a gray skirt, and a green and white v-neck that fit comfortably on her slight build. She wondered how she would pass the time, the trails were muddy and her hammock soaked by the rain, so she decided to read facing her window so she could spot her friends if they came along. Time passed and she grew uneasy, wondering if or when they’d show up.


The sun began to set, and as she began to wonder if they weren’t coming she spotted Sayuri walking down the gravel driveway in her red and white Kimono, Sakuya by her side. Moto quickly dog eared a page of her novel and threw it down on her bed, grabbed a few dollars from her stash, and slipped on her tennis shoes, she opened the door and closed it behind her rapidly, trying desperately not to let the excitement get to her.


“Hey!” Moto called out, jogging to a halt in front of her friends.


“Wait long?” queried Sayuri with a smile.


“Not at all!” Moto replied reassuringly.


“Ready to go?” asked Sakuya, turning half away.


“Yeah.” said Moto with a smirk.


The group progressed at a steady trot down the road.


“This place is great Moto; they’ve got some killer vanilla ice cream. What do you like?”


“I like anything really, it doesn’t matter.” Moto admitted with an underlying sense of pride.


“You’re just like me!” exclaimed Sayuri with a laugh.


“What’s the place called?” asked an inquisitive Moto.


“Cool Treats, the place downtown.” replied Sayuri.


“Ooh.” Moto replied.


“You’ve got such cute clothes Moto, you have good fashion sense.” Sakuya complimented her, and looked to her own apparel, a simple pair of khaki shorts and a t-shirt. Sayuri looked amazing as usual in her Kimono and sandals.


Sayuri took a handful of Moto’s skirt, “So nice!”


Moto blushed, “You guys look cute too; I like your shirt Sakuya.”


“Really?” Sakuya asked as she looked at it again for a second, trying to find the reasoning behind the compliment, and smiled, “Thanks!”


“Your Kimono is adorable Sayuri.” Moto added with a smile.


Sayuri smiled softly and blushed a bit, but said nothing in reply.


They chatted about the volleyball team while they walked to the ice cream place, about Karin and Youko being the star players on it. Moto had no idea she was sitting with some of the school’s higher ups, she just thought it was a normal crowd, but


two volleyball stars at her table? They reached the Utashinai’s main street, the rural little town square harboring the ice cream parlor just out of sight. They turned left at the theater and found it.


Sayuri took the initiative, “I’ll order!” she said before disappearing inside. Moments later Sayuri reappeared outside, holding two small cones of ice cream in one hand, and a large sundae in the other. Moto crossed her fingers.


“Here ya go!” she handed the other cone to Sakuya, who smiled and thanked her, and held out the sundae.


“Moto?” she presented it with a smile.


Moto was stunned by the display and appalled by the thought of what would happen if she rejected the sundae. She smiled, half frightened, but half inspired by her friend’s willingness to buy such an expensive thing for her, and took the sundae.


“Looks amazing!” she said truthfully, and it was. Five scoops of vanilla ice cream, a chopped up banana, and a cherry all smothered in fudge and drizzled with nuts, she told herself that she’d finish it all, even if she had had a rounded dinner and a stuffing lunch. Her friends quickly disposed of their small cones, their mango ice cream soon gone. They turned their attention to Moto, who was struggling after the third scoop of her sundae was depleted.


“You can do it Moto!” said Sayuri encouragingly, slipping into a seat next to Moto. Moto, whose face was red, exhaled as if blowing some air out of her stomach.


“I’m trying…” Moto admitted, looking longingly at the sundae to Sakuya’s amusement, who watched the spectacle like a hawk through her thin glasses.


“You’re still up for it?” Sakuya asked.


“Yeah… I want to finish.” Moto lied; she was in no condition to finish the sundae.


“Then here,” Sayuri began, seizing the spoon from Moto’s unresisting fingers, “let me help you.”


Sayuri was delicate, Moto could admit, but why would Sayuri help her? She had said she wanted to finish it, were they teasing her? No, they were just doing what they thought she wanted.


After a few more minutes of reluctant swallows and encouraging from both her friends, she heard the promising voice of Sayuri tell her, “One more scoop!”


Sayuri spooned the last of it in, and Sakuya cheered and clapped. “Moto that was awesome, I can’t believe it!”


Sayuri smiled and shook Moto’s shoulders, who smiled through her discomfort. “Moto, you rock, how’d you do that?!”


Moto was totally stuffed by her indulgence, and she regretted it physically, but the praise from her friends made the entire experience worth it. She exhaled again, and leaned back, looking up at the now darkened sky. Her friends asked if she wanted a ride, but Moto declined, not wanting to be a burden.


Sakuya smirked and Sayuri high fived her, “We’ll see you tomorrow Moto!”


Sakuya and Sayuri turned and waved, “Bye Moto!” said Sakuya.


Her friends disappeared from sight around a corner, and she sat up, rubbing her churning tummy. She stood up, gained her balance while wincing from the pain, and began her walk home.


She loved walking at night. It was so peaceful. The forest was dulled, the darkness silencing what the day awoke. There were no cars, and the ground had dried enough so that she could walk on the grass without worrying about slipping, so she took a detour despite her condition, and walked down the path to Utashinai shrine.


She’d gone here by moonlight many times before during the summer, when she couldn’t sleep or wanted time to think. The shrine served as her respite from her house when even she couldn’t bear to be there. The past summer her parents continually fought, so she would disappear to the shrine more often than her parents bothered to notice. Pale moonlight illuminated the shrine in an eerie soft and subtle white glow, the pagoda like building rising up above the heights of the trees only slightly.


She walked to the stream side of the shrine, and sat next to her favorite statue, the one of the river spirit she would pretend to talk to on nights like this. Her lust for nostalgia satisfied, she bid a fond farewell to the river spirit, and walked along the bank of the stream, the spirit guiding her home with his shimmering clear waters.


Moto had long since forgotten about the pain she had endured on the walk home. She reached the rocky outcropping that served as a beacon, letting her know she’d arrived near home; she left the banks of the river and turned into the forest. Walking through the moist dirt and occasionally losing herself in the bushes, she finally reached her house. Her parents must already be asleep, she thought, noting the lack of lights on in the house and the car in the driveway. She snuck inside and kicked off her shoes quietly, silently making her way through the darkened house into her moonlit room. She didn’t bother to undress, more concerned with resting her over encumbered stomach and weary legs, and snuggled into bed, ignoring the alarm clock lying dormant on the floor.


The routine seemed to continue through the week, though to Moto it seemed like it was a necessary evil. She ate the junk food from Karin and Youka’s lunches, her own lunch, occasionally Sayuri or Sakuya didn’t want a brownie, and topped it off with the other 5/6ths of Azumi’s lunch, daily, combined with breakfast, dinner, and after school excursions with her friends. To her astonishment, she seemed to be getting more and more used to the large lunch each day she ate it. The table didn’t seem to notice her fictional appetite, so why should she worry?


Friday afternoon came. Moto was again invited out, though she knew not where to. She was more concerned with enjoying her free time, and had changed into shorts


and a shirt, snuggling into her hammock with her book as she had grown accustomed to doing every day. The sun filtered through the trees and warmed her skin where it impacted; it had been consistently beautiful since that night at the ice cream parlor, she attributed the beautiful weather to her late night visit to the shrine. She let her book slip as she closed her eyes, a warm breeze carrying her mind away and letting her body rest.


“Mooooto, Moto!”


Moto blinked once or twice before opening her eyes all the way. The sun had set, and the sky was a deep shade of blue. Sayuri hovered over her with a smile. She wasn’t in her Kimono this time, she was dressed normally in a cute yellow spaghetti strap top and skirt, an adorable pair of boots serving as her shoes.


“Wake up sleepy head!” Sayuri exclaimed as she leaned over Moto.


“Yeah, we’re gonna go see a movie.” Sakuya said in her typically calm voice, she was dressed far more averagely than the adorable Sayuri in her typical shorts and shirt.


Moto yawned and sat up, stretching her arms she asked, “What are we gonna see?”


“It’s an action movie!” answered Sayuri, punching the air as if she were fighting an invisible opponent.


“Sounds good!” Moto smiled and rubbed her eyes, not bothering to inform her parents of her departure yet again.


They walked again to downtown Utashinai and chattered all the way, the forest quietly providing a natural backdrop to their voices. Moto looked herself over to see if she was decent. Her hair was silky, her green shirt was clean, and her shorts looked nice, at least they did to her. By the time they arrived at the theater, the sky had turned pitch black, brilliant stars shining through the shroud of night.


“Three for The Devil’s Expectations please.” Sakuya commanded dictatorially to the


clerk, who obliged, replying with a dollar amount Moto couldn’t make out.


“Ooh, let’s get popcorn! I’ve heard the movie’s kinda long.” suggested Sayuri, again battling her invisible opponent in a dance of death, Moto giggled.


“I could go for that.” said Sakuya with a smile, leading the pack as they walked to the snack bar.


Sakuya placed a tall order, two big buckets of buttery popcorn. “You said it was long, right Sayuri?”


“Yeah!” she replied enthusiastically.


Moto followed close behind her friends and sat comfortably next to Sayuri. Utashinai’s theater was a small, but well kept little place. They were in the middle row in the dead center of the theater, the perfect spot, and were totally alone, essentially with the entire place to themselves.


The movie seemed to start quickly, the popcorn positioned on the floor between her friends. In all respects the movie was dull to Moto, sure it was loud and fast, and Sayuri got a kick out of it more than anyone, but she watched it longing for something more complex, she essentially lost interest.


“Hey!” whispered Sayuri into Moto’s ear. She pushed a full bucket of popcorn over, and half a bucket of another, “We’re done with it, this movie’s too intense!”


Sayuri zoned back into the movie. Moto was left with roughly two tubs of popcorn, typical, she thought. Her instinct took over. She shoved a handful into her mouth reluctantly, assuming that she was to waste none of it. At least it was respite from the movie. She half paid attention as the movie dragged on, explosions and gunfire occasionally dragging her attention from her popcorn and back to the screen, but for the majority of her stay, the buttery salty kernels took her attention for their own. Finally the credits rolled.


“That was the best ending ever!” Sayuri proclaimed, shooting up from her seat energetically.


“Cool movie.” commented Sakuya.


“Mm, yeah, it was pretty good huh.” Moto commented accordingly.


As Sakuya looked over, she noticed. Both tubs of popcorn were empty, and if Moto was uncomfortable with her consumption she was hiding it uncannily well. She nudged Sayuri and nodded towards the popcorn tubs, and they looked at each other quizzically. Sayuri smirked as the lights came back on in the theater; she turned to Moto, who looked back with a soft smile.


“Hey, Moto, come over to my house for lunch tomorrow with Sakuya.”


Moto smiled, “Really?”


“Sure! Let’s have lunch together. I’ll pick you up at 11.”


Sakuya shot an interested look at Sayuri. What was she thinking? They walked outside together, and asked if Moto needed to be walked home, to which she declined. Sayuri and Sakuya bid her farewell.


Sayuri pinned Sakuya to a wall, “She’s a machine!” she exclaimed, “how can she eat like that, constantly?!”


“Hey, look, I think she’s cool, maybe she doesn’t eat much usually, or has a high metabolism or something.” Sakuya shrugged, “Either way she’s our friend, let’s treat her like one, why are you talking behind her back?”


Sayuri backed down a bit, “I like her a lot too, but I mean wow! Just having her there and seeing what she can do is amazing, what she can put away, I’m gonna make a big lunch for us tomorrow, and we’ll only have a bit. I guarantee she’ll eat the rest.”


“Fine, as long as you don’t tease her or anything about it, she’s our friend Sayuri.” said Sakuya after a long contemplative pause, showing an unusual level of concern.


Sayuri smiled slyly, “I know, and she’ll stay our friend for a long time, but I have to see it again.”


Moto felt sick, but not as she had after the last few outings with her friends. Only mildly stuffed, the butter served as the catalyst for her stomach ache this time. She decided to go straight home, walking along the road as she’d grown accustomed to, and turned onto her driveway.


She walked down the moonlit drive again, and entered her darkened house, unaware of the time but too tired and sick to care. She threw off her shoes at the door and waddled to bed, collapsing and falling asleep, the moonlight filtering through her blinds ever so slightly.





Part 2

In the morning Moto awoke, groggier than usual. She took her shower, and did her hair, eventually she livened up and grew excited over going to lunch. She threw on a white polo shirt, a tighter fit than she remembered, and a navy blue skirt that descended to her mid thighs. She relaxed for as long as she could, then a white minivan pulled up in her driveway, Sayuri no doubt. Moto ran out to meet her friend, relishing the short exposure in the outside air, after saying goodbye to her parents hastily, and got in the car.


“Moto!” she heard happily as the car door swung open. Sayuri practically leapt out to hug her.


“Hey Sayuri!” replied Moto equaling Sayuri’s enthusiasm and hugged back, climbing onto the car as it sped off.


They talked all the way to her house, which was only ten minutes away, nestled in the suburbs of Tsuyoku.


“Where’s Sakuya?” Moto couldn’t help but ask.


“Oh, Sakuya couldn’t come along, so I’ve got some extra, but we’ll take it anyway.” she reassured.


“Is Sakuya alright?” queried Moto.


“She was just too tired to tag along, but it’s okay.” replied Sayuri in a reassuring tone.


Sayuri’s house was a modest little place, a two story townhouse with a small front and back yard. Moto tailed her friend inside, enamored by the new surroundings and impressed by the cleanliness of the house in itself.


“Come on, I made some pizza for us!” Sayuri smiled and led Moto to the table, where


two big pizzas awaited her. “We have some extra cause Sakuya didn’t show, but I’m sure we can down it huh?


Moto laughed and agreed with Sayuri, grabbed a plate and slid three slices on to it, while Sayuri slinked away with two.


“Here!” called Sayuri, mentioning for Moto to take a spot on the couch next to her, to which Moto obliged. “Once again Moto, your outfit is adorable.”


Moto smiled, “Thank you! You’re always cute too, especially today!”


Sayuri had dressed cuter than usual, in a red spaghetti strap top and short khaki shorts.


Sayuri smirked, “Thanks for noticing!”


Moto bit into a piece of pizza, and Sayuri knew it had begun. Sayuri quickly disposed of her two pieces, feigning fullness, and left the task up to Moto to eat as much as she could. Moto had an idea this would happen, but not on this scale. She knew she was stuck, but she gathered her courage and resolved to eat her friend’s pizza. She had no intention of hurting Sayuri’s feelings, especially when Sakuya had ditched her to sleep.
Sayuri put on a movie, but they mostly talked to each other on the couch as Moto ate, and ate. To make the process simpler, Sayuri simply relocated the pizzas to the coffee table in front of the couch. Miraculously, Moto had managed to down eight slices on her own compared to Sayuri’s measly two, now only six more remained.


“How many more can you get?” asked Sayuri tactfully, “I’m just going to trash what we don’t eat.”


Moto felt her stomach quiver, “I think I can finish it off.” Again Moto tried to play the role of daredevil.


Sayuri laughed, “You rock Moto, here, let me help you.”




Moto, reluctant, nodded affirmative and squeezed Sayuri a smile.


Sayuri slid over to Moto smoothly, and grabbed a piece of pizza from the pizza box, “Open wide!” she called as she folded the piece in two and inserted it into Moto’s mouth for her to chew.


Moto was confused by her friend’s motives, were they trying to make her sick? No, she told herself, they just thought she liked that, and hell, she thought, maybe she did and just didn’t know it.


Moto slurped down the first slice and Sayuri got another, “Number two, ready?”


Moto blinked at the piece once, thinking about whether she should eat it or not, and finally said, “Yeah.”


As three, four, and five passed down her throat, it was almost like she could feel the space left in her stomach decreasing ever so quickly, the pockets of empty space filling with cheese and bread. Six and seven went slower than before, half her reluctance, but half her sheer fullness.


“Number eight, you can do it!” Sayuri called reassuringly, “C’mon Moto, this isn’t so tough, you can do it, one more!”


Moto looked at the piece hard, and nodded.


A smile swept over Sayuri’s face as she gave her the last piece, and after a couple seconds, it was gone, and Moto had finished 14 pieces of pizza. “Amazing!” she said to Moto, who smiled back at her through her pain. “Moto you’re the best; that was awesome! Here, lay down, I’ll get you a blanket if you wanna rest!”


“Thank… you…” Moto replied cloudily as she lay out on her friend’s couch.


Sayuri brought a large fluffy pink comforter for Moto, and sat next to her as she


curled up in it, and fell asleep. Sayuri, intrigued, lifted the blanket to look at her friend’s stomach, which bulged outwards pushing her polo shirt ever so slightly up her waistline.


Sayuri murmured to herself, “Maybe she really does enjoy this… I admit, it was kind of entertaining.” She looked back to Moto, whose round reddened face exhaled as she slept peacefully. Sayuri smirked.


Sayuri’s parents drove Moto home after Sayuri told them Moto was tired, which she was. Sayuri waved an energetic goodbye out the car window to Moto, who waved just as energetically back. It was odd, Moto thought, that after only an hour or two of sleeping she felt a lot better, good enough to lie in her hammock, good enough even to eat something… She paused at the thought, wanting to explore it, but decided not to. She said hello to her parents, wandered into her room, and slept.
She awoke Sunday morning, late. Her parents were probably running errands, so she had free range over the house until they got home, which worked to her advantage no matter the motive. Seconds after getting up, her stomach growled. At first she couldn’t believe it. I’m hungry? How am I still hungry? She again decided to ignore the question, and listened to her stomach’s cries for food. She searched the kitchen for something edible, and finally found what she was looking for, sausage and eggs. Starved, she threw three eggs and a chopped up sausage onto a skillet, and prepared a hearty meal large enough to satisfy a wrestler. She slid it onto a plate, and ate it while standing at the counter. Finished, but unsatisfied, she threw on another three eggs and a sausage before she felt remotely content.
It seemed to be her new found talent, stuffing food into her frail self, not that she realized. She poured herself a large glass of chocolate milk, and went to her room to change out of her clothes from Sayuri’s excursion. She undid her skirt, and threw off her top, but before she went to grab a new pair of clothes, she glanced in the mirror, and saw something that mystified her. It was her stomach, bulging outwards a few centimeters off her frail frame. Turning all the way to look at herself, she noticed that her panties were cutting into her hips, creating a small pair of rolls on her sides. She looked again, quizzically, as if she were inspecting another girl’s body, and realized that it was her body.
Somehow, she didn’t freak out.


She looked again, and poked her belly to see if she was indeed correct, which she was, and sat on her bed for a minute, contemplating her options, unable to ignore her love handles protruding out of her sides. Was this the result of her eating all her friend’s food? It couldn’t be, but that seemed to be the only explanation. She remembered the 14 pieces of pizza and shivered. On the floor she noticed something. A piece of paper sticking out of her pocket of the skirt she wore to Sayuri’s house. She picked it up and read it.


“Moto, here’s my and Sakuya’s numbers, if you ever wanna talk, call!”


Moto smiled, flattered by her friend’s gesture. Maybe she should call her to ask about her weight… If Sayuri was her friend she’d understand, right? After all, she fed her the rest of the pizza… Moto hesitated, but picked up her house phone and called Sayuri’s house. Her mom picked up, and she asked about her friend, finding out that Sayuri was at the shrine today. She finished dressing and walked outside into another bright clear day.
She left her driveway and turned left, walking to the Utashinai shrine, half embarrassed that her shirt and shorts felt tight to her body. She approached the pagoda, and saw her friend in her brilliant red and white kimono, sweeping the cobblestone path in front of her clear of leaves and branches.


“Hey, Sayuri!” she called out, not wanting to jog towards her for fear of exposing her flab to her friend.


“Hey!” Sayuri smiled widely, “What’re you doing here?”


“I wanted some advice, I kinda noticed that…”


“That what?”


“I’m kinda…”


Moto gave up trying to voice her concerns with words; she grabbed her friend’s hand and placed it on her own hip. Sayuri was bewildered for a second, but soon


understood.


“So you put on a little weight, so what?”


Moto was shocked, “It’s not a big deal?”


Sayuri smiled, “No! Don’t worry about it Moto, look, Sakuya and I were pretty impressed with how much you can pack away anyway, if you like eating that way, do it! What’s a little weight Moto, you look cute!”


Moto blushed, “Really?”


“Really. Now, I’m gonna be done here in a few minutes, wanna wait for me by the road and we can go get some ice cream with Sakuya?”


Moto smiled widely, “I’d like that.”


“So would we.” Sayuri smiled back.


When Moto got home she was stuffed to the gills yet again. She’d taken Sakuya’s dare and eaten eight scoops of Mango ice cream, but didn’t feel any remorse over it. Her shirt was stained with some of the remnants of it, so she threw it off and laid down on her bed. What a relief that they don’t care, hell, they thought it was cool! Now that I found something I like to do with them, I can really have fun… She looked to her swollen belly. She could tell it had grown, not that she seemed to mind. She looked out her window, and watched the night for a while, observing the swaying trees and wondering about what was going to happen tomorrow, what conversations she would have, how much she would eat. Now that she knew that her friends didn’t mind, she didn’t have to mind either.
The next day she ate lunch at the table, and a little extra. She brought more of her own food than usual to complement the offerings the girls at her table presented her, figuring that because she was no longer stuffed totally to the brim she was losing her edge. Managing to cram it all down within the lunch period was another accomplishment, while conversing with her friends. She’d got into a good light with


Karin and Youka, the athletes, and Azumi was always kind to her, and if other people were happy with her, she was happy.
They went out again after school, it was becoming routine, but this time Azumi tagged along on Sakuya’s invitation. It was nice to have another girl there to talk to, especially one as nice as Azumi, who complemented her pretty standard clothing, consisting a black t-shirt and khaki shorts, as if they were runway quality items. She’d never seen Azumi outside school, but her dress perfectly reflected her personality in a pink skirt and yellow top, complementing her red hair and green hair clips. Moto didn’t realize how beautiful Azumi actually was.


“Hey, Moto, want to show Azumi your talent?” suggested casually dressed Sakuya as they walked down the street.


“You have a talent?” asked Azumi, clueless, “What is it?”


“You should see how much Moto can pack away! She’s a real eater.” Sayuri answered, who had got into a habit of dressing cuter than she had before.


“Come to think of it, you do eat a bit more than I do during lunch…” Azumi thought out loud.


They stopped at a fast food restaurant, and Sayuri took the initiative, “I’ll order!” she said, bolting inside.


Moto could only wonder what Sayuri had in store for her now.


She reemerged from the burger restaurant with four bags.


“Moto, can you really eat all that?” petitioned Azumi with a befuddled look on her face.


“She can, wanna find a seat Moto?”


Moto nodded, and pointed, “Over there?”




Sakuya looked in the direction she pointed, to an outdoor table, “Looks good.”


The group sat down, and an entranced Azumi watched as Moto began to stuff down burgers. She had no idea how many Sayuri got her, but after the first bag she was ready for more.


“Amazing! I could never eat that much!” exclaimed Azumi breathlessly.
Moto moved on to the second bag, then the third, she realized she was running out of steam, but she wasn’t about to give up.


Azumi hovered over her, “You can do it Moto! Eat it! You know you can, now just do it!”


Sayuri and Sakuya looked at each other with petrified expressions, speechless at Azumi’s involvement with the spectacle.


Moto was on her last burger, she took one bite, then forced it down, and burped.


“That was amazing!” Azumi shook Moto’s shoulders and babbled on about how amazing Moto was. Moto grinned through the spectacle.


They gave Moto a rest, and decided it was time to split up and go home. Azumi had to walk the same direction as Moto, so they decided to walk together. Moto’s stomach was blatantly noticeable by now. It showed through her skin tight top, protruding from her waist line by roughly an inch. Her slight love handles jiggled as she walked uncomfortably towards home.


“Moto you’re the greatest, you ate at least 15 burgers all by yourself!” Azumi complimented, “I can’t even finish my croquette…”


Moto smiled through her discomfort, “It’s not a bad thing Azumi, if anything was bad, it was my eating 15 burgers.” She laughed, feeling comfortable with a girl like Azumi, who seemed as sheepish as herself.




“Do you go out every day and do that?” Azumi asked quizzically, intrigued.


Moto thought for a second, “Pretty much, yeah, I think it’s fun, cause every day I feel like I can push myself a little harder and eat more than the last day.”


Azumi smiled, “You look good even though you can do that!”


Moto blushed, it was the second time she was told she looked good, “We should hang out more, Azumi, do you want to come with us tomorrow?”


Azumi nodded quickly, “Yeah! You guys are so fun!”


They came to the point in their walk where they had to part ways.


“I’ll see you tomorrow, Azumi!” Moto said with a smile.


“I can’t wait!” Azumi replied as she started off to the train station, humming a tune.


With Azumi tagging along after school Moto achieved a new level of ambition. Sayuri and Sakuya encouraged her, but not like the energetic and overly emotional Azumi, who acted almost as if she was Moto’s unofficial eating coach at times. Sakuya would snicker at this, and Sayuri’s expression was similar as she tried to hide her amusement. Moto went through another week, and by the weekend even the surplus of food she had begun to pack into her lunch was not enough to fill her, she wondered if she was slacking off her eating habits, and decided to add more to her lunch every day, grabbing whatever looked good out of her refrigerator, her gain was pronounced by Friday.
Her love handles had blossomed outward with the influx of new carbohydrates into her diet, and seemed to balloon out from her sides indolently, pushing up her button up school shirt and popping out over her skirt, giving her a small spare tire that she tried unsuccessfully to cover. Her belly had acquired a permanent layer of rounded plumpness on her abdomen, with roughly an inch of flab added to her tight frame so that when she jogged the region bounced slightly. Moto however was no longer


afraid of this, this was progress, she thought. Her new voluptuousness would move to her breasts soon enough, she surmised, and would give her a boost there, so what was the harm? She was never one to keep up appearances anyway. Unbeknownst to her was that her butt, too, had expanded. Formerly tight and solid, it jiggled ever so slightly as she walked, and had to be overcome every day when she put on a pair of shorts or tight skirt.
She relaxed at home on Saturday, munching on snacks whose wrappers accumulated in her room as she read quietly, a small rain storm making her hammock retreat inhospitable for a short time. Her parents prepared dinner, but only thirty minutes after the meal she felt compelled to raid the cupboards for goodies, which she slyly relocated to her room. Munching on chocolate chips and a couple boxes of doughnuts she was whittling away at, she felt relaxed though constantly full. As night fell she put down her book and stared out her window into the expansive moonlit forest, but before she allowed herself to sleep Moto went back to scour her kitchen for something more. Finally, contented with a huge glass of chocolate milk and a gob of cookie dough, she drifted off to sleep.
Sunday she felt like staying home too and apparently so did her friends, who left her be for the whole weekend. Moto woke up early, presenting her mom with a grocery list, hinting that she should get going. Moto, her stomach cleared of its contents, felt that it was time to waste the day snacking again. Her Mom got back and unloaded the car into the kitchen, then drove off to do more errands during the day. Moto used the emptiness of the house to sneak all of what she really wanted into her room.
Her request was staggering, though her mom appeared calm enough about it. Four packs of eight Twinkies, four packs of two Ho-ho’s, five bags of chocolate chips disguised as ingredients in a baking project for school, two bottles of chocolate syrup, two gallons of milk which she left in the fridge, a host of candies, lunchmeat for sandwiches, and finally a pair of twelve packs of cola. Relatively pleased with her food, she lay down on her bed, put a DVD into her computer, and popped open a can of soda. In the hour, which she considered sluggish at best as she was hardly filled, she only managed three sodas and a bag of chocolate chips, but as the credits rolled on the movie she had been half watching, she heard something from outside.


“Moto! Hey, Moto!”




She didn’t know who it was, but knew she was in trouble, with her room such a mess and still in her tight fitting pajamas, she was risking major embarrassment. She swept all the empty wrappers she could under her bed, but had no time to change before her door opened.


“Hey Moto.” greeted Sakuya, tall and confident in the doorway, though noticeably somewhat nervous, “I didn’t know if you were home so I let myself in, is that okay?”


Moto was too concerned with herself to be worried about her friend’s curiosity. She certainly looked and felt fatter than she had on Friday, her love handles and belly button totally exposed by her lack of a shirt, resting indolently on her pudgy hips as she sat, her flannel pants tight to her legs


“Nah, it’s cool that you came by, I was really bored!” she was honest, although she acknowledged through her tone that Sakuya came at an awkward time, “Sit down!”


Sakuya smiled as she looked about Moto’s room, noting the soda, chocolate chips and other snacks scattered about in bags and boxes on Moto’s bed. “What’s up?”


“I was just watching a movie.” Moto replied nonchalantly. She felt her eyes wander towards a can of soda, and an unopened bag of chocolate chips. “You don’t mind if I eat do you?”


“Hey, it’s what you do.” Replied Sakuya with a smile, “But if you want to eat fast it doesn’t look like you’re doing it the right way.”


Moto was befuddled, what was Sakuya trying to say? “What do you mean Sakuya?”


“Well, if you’re trying to get this stuff down fast…” Sakuya grabbed a chair in the corner of Moto’s room and dragged it to her bed. Next she gathered up the snacks and soda, and placed them all easily accessible on her chair. “This makes things a bit easier huh?” she commented, seemingly proud of her ingenuity.


Moto smiled, “How’d you know I was trying to finish this stuff?”


Sakuya smiled, “Just a hunch, Moto.”


Moto smiled and bent over to grab a soda, her belly fat rolling over itself as she leaned, Sakuya noticed immediately and smirked, observing not only that, but Moto’s flabby butt and large love handles.


“Moto, you’re filling out.” Sakuya commented with a smirk, and squeezed one of her friend’s exposed love handles.


Moto gasped at Sakuya’s reference, “Oh, uh, yeah I guess!” she replied in an obviously embarrassed tone, a deep blush spreading over her face.


“It makes you look cuter, you were already cute, but pudgy is a good look for you, Sayuri and I talked about it yesterday over the phone.”


Moto blushed even more at the compliment, and looked down at herself, the impulse to eat getting stronger. “Thanks, you think so?”


“Yep, I even asked Azumi, we all think you’d look good bigger, you seem to have the face for it. Plus, you eat so much we thought it’d be easier for you to put on a bit than any of us.”


Moto smiled to her friend, “Yeah… how… how big do you think I’d look good at?”


“Well, as Sayuri put it, we’d joked that you’d probably look good even when you could break a bed, but I don’t know weights well, there aren’t any bigger girls in our school. Sky’s the limit I guess.”


It was those words that would seal Moto’s resolve for the rest of the year.


“R-really?” Moto clamored for some hint of reason in what Sakuya had suggested so nonchalantly. Moto imagined herself as a spherical gob of flab for a split second.




“Yeah, really.” Replied Sakuya with a wink, “You’re really cute now, but with a Buddha belly and plushy exterior you’d be adorable!”


Moto was startled at her friend’s radical suggestion, but didn’t want to think about it, too hungry now.


“Uh, Sakuya?”


Sakuya turned to Moto, “Yeah?”


“Could you open this?” Moto asked sheepishly, holding out a bag of chocolate chips.


“My pleasure.” replied Sakuya with a wink.


As the weeks went by Moto solidified her friendship with her new clique. She happily partook in her table’s extra food, and relished her after school excursions with her friends, everyone tagging along except the volleyball players, who were consistently busy. To her it all seemed a blur, the long memorable days of previous years long gone, replaced by a hectic and energetic new lifestyle. In all honestly, she didn’t know if she liked it or not. She recalled how she could remember how she felt on a certain day, and now she could only relive select moments in an entire week. It was a disturbing trend, and her parents had noticed it too.
As she packed on the pounds and spent more and more time away from her home, her parents took action. They laid down a rule that every Friday they would have dinner together, as a family. Moto hardly objected, not wanting to come off as rebellious or insolent to her parents whom she loved and respected. What startled her dad and mom was her new found eating habits, her appetite easily surpassing her dad’s and mom’s combined. Though they talked about it, her parents could find no solution to the issue, if they had the right to even call it an issue. They seemed so out of touch with Moto that they were surprised when she came home late, assuming she’d been home all day instead.
Moto yawned and stretched her arms, sitting up slowly. After only three months with her friends she’d ballooned outwards. She estimated she’d put on at least a


forty pounds, easily, and looked it. She had acquired a plump and indolent pot belly, hanging clumsily off her waistline, bobbing up and down, side to side as she walked. She’d earned the title bubble butt from the playful Azumi, noting Moto’s flabby ass more than anything else it seemed. Her legs had gained a decent amount of girth as well, her thighs quivering to the slightest touch. She’d bought new clothes at least five times, and seemed to need them again. She attempted to pull her skirt up around her belly, but it was an exercise in futility. She shrugged to herself, and pulled the skirt up under the small curtain that had formed, letting her stomach hang out freely. She squeezed into a cotton tank top, not expecting company, and slipped on some socks and a pair of old shoes, figuring that she’d shower when she got back. She opened the door and stepped out into the hot air. Summer was on its way. The sky was blue, the forest bathed in yellowish light. Cicadas buzzed to life on tree branches above, their mating calls an orchestra of natural beauty, though they were crude at best. She stood there, taking it all in, loving it for all it was, and brought herself back to earth. Where could she go? There was the river, but she’d been there a few days ago, a simple hike would work, but no, no. She deduced the only worthy activity was for her to climb to the crest of the valley to see Tsuyoku. She grabbed a bottle of water from the front porch of her house, apparently abandoned, and started her trek, the dry dusty soil pluming off the ground with her every footstep, her belly bobbing along contently.
The forest was loud today, deafening at times, but she loved it. It meant summer was nearing. She took a swig out of her bottle and continued through the trees, saying hello to the river as she crossed through it, taking a moment to bend over and splash herself. With her stomach, tank top, and hair long silky black hair fairly wet, she continued, trying meticulously not to kick up any more soil that could possibly muddy herself. She knew that once she got higher and grass started covering the ground she’d be in the clear. She reached the hillside; her predictions seemed accurate. A grassy slope swerved its way up the hill, trees lining the sides green and tall, shading the path from the hot sun. She took another swig from her water bottle, remembering to only have a little at a time to avoid getting a stitch, and started up the hill.
The climb seemed more strenuous than she remembered. She could easily tackle this climb before, it was cake, but now she felt tired, her limbs weary, it was probably just a bad night’s sleep. She carried on, saving the rest of her water for the hike back


up the hill. She could feel the air getting cooler, the ocean breeze flowing past her head ever so slightly as she progressed higher and higher. The tree cover grew sparse and she finally reached the clean grassy cap atop the hill. The view was as breathtaking as she’d remembered.
Tsuyoku stretched out below, the main city center where her school resided far off in the distance, the few multi story buildings making their mark on the rest of the horizon. It was impressive, and somewhat soothing, it reminded her of the distance between her calm existence and her hectic school life, the contrast was enormous, and she could tell somewhat to her dismay, that Tsuyoku was expanding. She sat down, and exhaled deeply, closing her eyes and laying back on the hillside, letting the breeze wash over her exposed stomach and quaintly covered thighs as if it were a wave breaking on a beach. She lay there, and curled up into a more comfortable position, eventually drifting off to sleep.
By the time she awoke Tsuyoku was ablaze with lights, the center of the artificial mass of energy radiating off into the distance, polluting the sky. The hills however blocked a good portion of the light, and left the valley a sanctuary, almost pitch black when looking away from the sprawling urban atrocity. She looked to the dark side of the night, and into the starlit sky, wondering for a second how long she’d been asleep, but not caring seconds after, realizing it was irrelevant. She stayed there for a long while, letting time pass her by as if it were nothing, the moon soon illuminating her and the valley in a ghostly white light that gave character to the trees and rocks below. She sat up, and sipped from her half empty water bottle. Soon enough she brushed the grass off herself, and quietly, gracefully started back down the hill. Maybe it was time to visit the river spirit.
She was like a wraith through the trees, silent, undetected, years of experience on these trails giving her knowledge of every rock, tree, and shortcut there ever was or could be. Her eyes had adjusted to the night and no longer saw color, only vibrant color, the forest now seemingly composed of only grayscale colors. The walk down the hill was significantly easier than the march up it, and she finished in half the time, reaching the bottom with water still left in her bottle. She used to fill her bottle up in the river until she got sick when she was ten. Her parents never again let her drink from it, though every time she saw the river spirit she would pray for his health, and take a small sip from his waters.
She got to the riverbank, and followed the moonlit waters to the shrine, where the


river spirit sat solemnly, peacefully. The wolf gazed downstream longingly, as if wanting to follow the current for himself. She sat next to it and put her hand on his stone back, petting him. She bent over and sipped a bit of water from the river. She looked to his face, the same concerned expression awash over him, and smiled softly. She prayed. For her friends, her parents, Mr. Kuribayashi and her elementary school friends she hadn’t seen since the summer. She finally said a prayer to the river spirit for his good health. She heard a rustle and looked up. Across the river she sensed something, watching her. A pair of brilliant yellow eyes seemed to shine through the darkness at her before more rustling sounded, and they disappeared. She stood up, wanting to ask who was there, but decided against it. She was left wondering who her mysterious guest was, but was not in the least bit scared or intimidated. She waited for a few seconds more before stuffing her empty water bottle in her pocket, and walking back home down the riverbank, her empty stomach growling ever so slightly for something to digest.
She walked through the muted forest and up to her house, the building darkened and shrouded in moon cast shadows, giving it almost a menacing demeanor as it sat quietly in the midst of the forest. She crept inside, kicking off her dirty shoes and tiptoeing in wearing her dirty socks. She went past the hall and into the kitchen, her grumbling stomach seemingly pleased with her choice. She opened the refrigerator and grabbed a gallon of milk, some chocolate syrup, and a carton of ice cream. Following it up she placed a large bowl and plastic cup next to them on the counter. She initially began to scoop out the ice cream, but with a shrug got a spoon and sat the carton on her lap, eating it up as she looked out a window into the forest. She spurted a few gobs of syrup into the carton and stirred it with her spoon, resuming her quest without a second thought. It was a small meal for her, in her opinion, but it was sufficient. She stuffed down the ice cream and tall glass of milk without a wince or groan, only her swollen tender stomach showing any sign of strain which popped out of her abdomen surprisingly far, and waddled to her room, not bothering to shower, as she figured it could wait until tomorrow morning. She gently nudged her stomach comfortably between her sheets, and drifted off to sleep.
A morning fog had swept into the valley overnight, the ground clouds practically resting on the grass like a natural blanket. It was a thick and soupy mess, gobbling up the conditions necessary for a beautiful morning greedily. Moto clopped along in her loafers, the forest eerily silent this morning except for the faint sound of a bird


chirping off somewhere down the valley, the rice paddies on her other side splished and splashed in the distance occasionally, a farmer she proposed, planting a new crop. She wiped some of the condensation from her forehead and soldiered on through the perturbing humidity. The train station solidified out of the insoluble mess polluting the morning, she walked up the steps onto the platform, her shoes clunking along as usual, to the ticket counter where old man Kuribayashi kept vigilant at his post.


“Here’s your ticket Moto.” He handed it to her daintily and she gladly took it upon her arrival at the window, feeling that she was the only company the old man had, “Also,” he continued, “I’m retiring, but my grandson is coming to work in my stead, he graduated last year, I’ll let him know how we do things in the mornings.”


Moto felt sad, she didn’t want to see the old man go to be replaced by some asshole grandson clamoring for a few extra bucks. “I’m sorry to hear that Mr. Kuribayashi…” she trailed off, not knowing how to voice her true emotions on the topic with any hint of clarity.


“Now now,” Kuribayashi said, “he’ll be just as nice as I try to be, so run along, I’ve got to give the conductor the go ahead! And don’t worry about tickets!”


All Moto could do was smile and wave goodbye to Mr. Kuribayashi. She stepped lightly onto the train, and remained standing, looking out the window, watching the station drift into the fog as the train puttered away. She wondered if she would ever see the old man again.
The train began it’s descent into the city, though the fog hampered her usual view, substituting a giant grey amorphous blob for a morning sunrise. She turned away from the window, staring into the center of the train for a while, and pulled her knees up onto the seat next to her, resting her head on them and sighing. Everything around her was changing, or had already changed. She closed her eyes and let the darkness overtake her, the rhythmic clacking of the train tracks a lullaby to her lonely ears. She awoke, luckily, as she got to her station. She groggily lifted her book bag off the floor and jogged off the train before the doors slammed shut on her. She carried herself up the stairs out of the station, and reentered the sight inhibiting fog as she


walked to school.
She entered the tomb through the atrium, and clomped up the stairs, her pot belly bobbing along the way. Occasionally someone would snicker as they walked past, but she usually paid them no mind. She tossed her bag into her locker drowsily, removed her books and, numb from fatigue, and from the news that Mr. Kuribayashi was no longer working at the station, trudged off to class. She sat through her classes lazily, half awake at best, wanting to get to lunch and get out more than anything else. Finally the lunch bell rang. She hurriedly grabbed her lunch, taking up roughly half her book bag at least, and walked cutely off to class, her hands behind her back grasping the paper bag containing her food tightly.
She said hello to all her friends at the table. Azumi, Youka and Karin all greeted her warmly, talking about their weekends together. The first round came Moto’s way. Azumi willingly presented Moto with her lunch, smiling all the while. Karin emptied four pudding cups and a soda from her lunch, and Youka had seemingly smuggled a stash of candy with her, dumping out six chocolate bars to Moto’s pleasure. Moto herself packed along a sandwich, three pudding cups, a can of soda, and a pair of doughnuts. Her pile of food was immense in itself, forming a ring around her spot at the table; it was impressive in scope alone. With the arrival of Sayuri and Sakuya the scope was increased, as she acquired a chicken patty, two apple sauces, and a pair of brownies.
As the table conversed Moto was hard at work, enjoying the conversation while indulging herself. Occasionally other tables would stare in disbelief at her, their eyes following the food as it was devoured, but today she wasn’t garnering much attention. She strolled through the first course of food presented, and worked on her own food, as well as her later additions, finishing them off in stride. Her stomach popped out of her shirt, unable to be concealed by any means. Her friends complimented her again; she blushed and shrugged off their praise. She stood, the load in her belly aching as she stretched, but it didn’t faze her, she was used to it by now. Azumi poked Moto’s gut and the group giggled as a whole, then they said their farewells. Moto and Sayuri planned to meet up later in the day, as Sakuya had to stay home to do chores to their dismay.
On the train ride home she hoped blindly. She desperately wanted to see Mr. Kuribayashi one last time before he retired, so she hurried out of school after the final bell, neglecting to go to her locker or say any goodbyes, and made the first train


out of the station in record time. The ride home was anxious, she sat up, looking forward into the next car instead of out the window, knowing she had something to say but not knowing exactly what. She barely noted the passage of time as she formulated her speech, about her appreciating the old man’s everyday kindness to her and his unending patience should she forget money, to when he simply started giving her tickets for free. She thought she had a reasonably decent version of her speech compiled, and was confident when she stepped out of the train. But Mr. Kuribayashi had closed up shop for his last time. The ticket booth was empty. The calendars on the walls and the papers on his desk vanished from their places. She felt vacant, oddly hollow, faulting herself for the old man’s absence and her own inability to express her gratitude towards him. She sniffed, her eyes feeling suddenly wet, teary. She held her book bag in front of her as she stepped off the platform, and started to cry, falling back onto the platform’s wooden steps. The blanket of wet gray fog hung hauntingly over the valley.
Sayuri swept the cobblestone path with her broom disinterestedly, but with an underlying sense of duty and reverence in her motions. Back and forth, the dust and leaves were swept clear of the path. It was a ritual with purpose, illuminating the path for those who sought solace at the shrine’s peaceful sanctuary. It had been a strange day. Even the afternoon the fog clung low, obscuring the treetops and giving the shrine an eerily surreal demeanor, the simple dense concentrations of water vapor adding years of age to the buildings from afar. She swept clean the last of the path and looked up from her task, brushing her red and white kimono clean of whatever may have fallen on it from above. She noticed a figure approaching, she instantly recognized Moto by her chubby silhouette in the fog. She heard Moto breath in quickly, as if hiccupping multiple times. Moto was crying.


“Moto, Moto! Are you okay?” Sayuri dashed to her friend clumsily in her ungainly Kimono, dropping her broom carelessly and putting her arm around Moto’s shoulder, “What’s wrong?”


Moto seemed inconsolable, she couldn’t speak.


“Come here!” Sayuri hugged Moto who hugged her back, Moto’s corpulent frame burying Sayuri’s slim build. “Now, what happened, are you okay?”




“I didn’t even thank him…” Moto trailed off.


Sayuri sat her down next to the statue of the river spirit, the wolf seeming to look over Moto and Sayuri, guarding them. “Thank who?”


Moto sniffed and wiped her eyes, her cheeks flushed and eyes filled with tears. “The… the man at the train station left… and I didn’t even thank…” she trailed off again before breaking into a fit of sobbing.


Sayuri held Moto close, her friend resting her head on her shoulder, tears streaming onto her Kimono. She had never seen Moto like this, so emotive, expressive, she was used to the calm, controlled, average Moto, seeming to believe her incapable of remorse, guilt, sadness, or even joy.


Moto calmed down, but didn’t release Sayuri, who didn’t want her to. Sayuri held tight onto her friend. “It’s okay… It’s okay…”


“I didn’t say goodbye…” Moto repeated, closing her eyes and clenching her fist shut, gripping Sayuri’s kimono tightly.


“We can stay here as long as you want; we have Kiyoshi watching over us.”


Moto looked to the wolf, his gaze watching over them, “His name his Kiyoshi?”


“Yes, and he’s here for both of us…” Sayuri calmed Moto some more.


They sat together, silently, and listened to the river.


Moto guided Sayuri to the hilltop in her Kimono, the formerly dusty path now slightly easier to climb thanks to the fog’s moisture. The sun was about to set, darkness begin to fill the nooks and crevices of the valley before their very eyes. It was new to Sayuri, she’d only been on hikes a few times, and in her sandals and Kimono she was far from prepared. The climb was short to Sayuri at least, a five minute endurance


test up a somewhat muddy hillside. As they reached the grassy cap of the hill she knew why Moto led her up here. In the distance Sayuri saw the lights of Tsuyoku piercing through the layer of fog, an inverted god’s light that made her feel more contemplative, and calm. She sat next to Moto, who’d picked a spot on the near slope, looking into the valley.


“What happened Moto?” Sayuri asked quizzically.


Moto hesitated for a second, a long pause echoing in silence before she spoke. “I take the train to school, and the man I’ve known since I was little just retired, but, I didn’t even know how to say goodbye to him… I couldn’t tell him how I really felt, how grateful I was for his kindness, and I couldn’t bear to think of why…”


Sayuri was stunned, she still had no idea that this side of Moto even existed. “It’s okay… Look, people come and go in life, his role is over, and tomorrow, a new person’s role will begin to replace him. We need to accept this, and accept life, and live on; otherwise we get held back by guilt and what we think we should have done, instead of moving on into something wonderful and new.” Sayuri paused, staggering her dialogue, “It’s a beautiful view huh. And look, the fog is finally clearing.”


Moto looked up, and smiled for the first time since the train station. “Thank you Sayuri.”


Sayuri simply smiled back. She put her hands together in her Kimono, and looked out over the sunset. Moto and Sayuri sat there together for a while, but eventually split up at the bottom of the hill.


“See you, Moto.” Sayuri smiled tenderly, and turned towards the shrine.


“Sayuri…” Moto looked down, Sayuri stopped and looked back.


“Thank you, again. Thank you so much…” Moto sniffed.


“Hey. That’s why I’m here.” Sayuri smiled widely, “Peace!”




Sayuri walked down the bank, and disappeared around a bend in the river, out of Moto’s sight.


Moto went home feeling better, relieved, but expectant, wondering about the old man’s grandson with a unnerving sense of nervous apprehension. She shook it off, and opened the front door, wandered into her house, not hungry at all, and dazedly slumped onto her bed. She wasn’t tired, not at all, even after all that crying. She looked to the corner where her telescope sat, a sleeping bag adjacent to it protruding suggestively out of her closet, beckoning her. She grabbed them both, snagging a battery powered alarm clock from her closet at the same time. Moto changed out of her dirty clothes and took a long hot shower, then slipped into a pair of pajamas, a pink flannel outfit with loose bottoms and a quaint button up shirt that barely covered her, but still fit comfortably. She grabbed her equipment and started out the door, telling her parents, bewildered as always, what she was doing.
Moto walked outside in her bare feet, and pulled a ladder from the moist soil at the back of the house, setting it up so she could climb to the roof. She tossed her sleeping bag onto the roof and doggedly chased after it, telescope and alarm clock in hand. She set up her lair on the flat spot on the roof, set her alarm, and unrolled her sleeping bag, snuggling half inside it for warmth as the cool valley breeze rushed over the treetops. She peered into the telescope; the sky was crystal clear.