Mitsuru Takes A Break(Persona 3 WG)

Mitsuru Kirijo was not only the student council president, not only the highest scoring student in all of Gekkoukan High, not only the daughter of the Kirijo Group's leader and the heiress to its great and powerful fortune, but she was also in general just a young woman who stuck to a very strict guideline of rules and principles for her everyday life. If she did not abide by these rules, she would never have gotten anywhere as far as she had up to this point in her life. These rules were that work came first, studying came first, obligations came first, learning came first, and playing...well, playing was something that only people who didn't know how to properly utilize their time would use as an excuse for not working hard enough. When she was young, Mitsuru had been raised to have a strong sense of duty, as well as to have a high pride of herself as a member of the Kirijo family. Mitsuru did not wish to let anyone down. Not her family, not her friends, not herself. Mitsuru couldn't have possibly handled being the leader of SEES atop every other responsibility of hers if she had not possessed such seemingly-unbreakable mental fortitude.

And yet, that was only what people really thought about Mitsuru Kirijo who saw her from an outsider's perspective. No, most of it WAS true about Mitsuru, but at the very end of the day, she was still just a human being. A young woman who deserved happiness, health and comfort just as anyone else did. Yet she worked too hard, to a dangerous degree. If she never was allowed to 'enjoy herself', then she could end up with some very unfortunate personality disorders or serious health issues in her later years. Mitsuru didn't consider those things because the present, the 'here' and the 'now', were what had to be dealt with first and foremost. Mitsuru didn't want to think there was anything wrong with her, but a tiny part of her subconscious...a part so tiny that she didn't notice it herself...was looking for some sort of release. To finally take a break. If she didn't get a break, then she herself might 'break'.

Mitsuru Kirijo climbed the stairs of the dorm to reach her bedroom one particular night. However, she had only just turned the corner when she happened to overhear a noise. It took just a glance to notice that a light was coming out of Fuuka's room. Very quietly, the redhead drew closer. She could hear voices. It was Junpei and Minato, along with Fuuka herself. Three people in a single bedroom...it didn't bode well, in Mitsuru's opinion. She pressed herself near the door and looked in. Junpei and Minato were sitting on the floor in front of a television. They were both holding some kind of gray controller in their hands. Fuuka was lying on her bed, her head propped up by a pillow. She literally had a bag of chips sitting open on her flat chest. Whatever it was that Minato and Junpei were playing on the television, they were clearly getting worked up about it. Junpei kept nudging Minato and Minato would nudge him right back. They laughed about it, but in Mitsuru's eyes it was horseplay, and horseplay was not something that could be permitted. In fact, it bothered her how they were acting so lazy and playful in the first place. They needed to get a good night's rest because the new school week started tomorrow. Not to mention Minato and Junpei were only barely passing with their exams as of late. This sort of bad behavior...if she were to walk away now and simply pretend like she did not see it, it would be a failure on her part as the leader of SEES. Minato might have been at the head of the group during their Tartarus explorations, but he didn't have the same level of authority over the rest of the group like she did. Mitsuru's own temple throbbed at the prospect of them goofing off for even a single extra second.

Mitsuru threw the door wide open to announce herself. "Care to tell me what is the meaning of all of this?"

"Eh? Eh? Eh?" Junpei was not even able to say anything at all when he saw Mitsuru bursting into the room. Minato dropped the controller without a word, his face clearly expressing that he felt like 'the fun was over here'. Fuuka was frantic as she sat herself up and brushed away the crumbs on her chest which had begun to accumulate. Mitsuru shook her head at the three of them. Of course, there was no way that she could be pleased with what she was seeing. She was about ready to dig into the three of them, but then she noticed that they were playing some kind of fighting game. It looked like something she might have seen once, on an off-chance, when she had been invited to a classmate's home for the first and last time as a child. She had never played the game before. Mitsuru stared for a half-second longer before she snapped herself back to attention.

"If you three are going to choose to spend your free time goofing off rather than working on your school studies then I would have to say I am highly disappointed."

Mitsuru stepped forward. Junpei, Minato and Fuuka didn't even have the courage to try to speak up against her at that moment. The redhead reached down and grabbed one of the bags of food that they had lying on the floor. She held it up high enough for all of them to see, this bag of sour cream and onion-flavored potato chips. "You could be eating something much better for your overall diet, and yet you choose to eat something like THIS?"

"It's, uh, it's just the one time, you know? It's not like we eat this sort of stuff all day." Junpei shook his head.

"I would hope not! And Fuuka...about you..." Mitsuru took a moment to shake her head in disdain. Fuuka squealed over the thought of being chastised.

"You're not even trying. You need to be sitting in a position that's better for your body. I know you don't have to travel through Tartarus like the rest of us, but it would still do you some good to keep yourself in a fit state as well."

Fuuka mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?" Mitsuru snapped.

"I said...I'm sorry..." Fuuka looked like she was literally about to start crying. It made Mitsuru feel a little bad for being so rough, but at the same time, she was convinced that this was the only true way to get her point across. She couldn't accept having lazy, unhealthy people in her presence. It was simply a habit of hers to want to straighten them out. Junpei and Minato weren't too clearly pleased with Mitsuru either. None of them seemed very appreciative of her help right now. It made the redhead feel rather...embarrassed, frankly. It made her feel like she was behaving like a real bad guy. Mitsuru didn't want that. She was looking OUT for her friends, not trying to make them feel bad about themselves. Why couldn't they understand it and see it in the same way that she saw it?

Suddenly, Minato stood up. He was not the kind of guy who spoke very often. He seemed more comfortable staying quiet and only bothering to open his mouth when it was necessary. He put his hands in his pockets, but not before flipping some of his wild hair out of his face, and he looked Mitsuru directly in the eye as he prepared to address her head-on.

"Mitsuru, maybe you should try and take a break yourself once in a while. I think it would do you some good. You don't have to be so stressed and serious all of the time."

Those words, coming from the other leader of SEES, the transfer student who was typically so reserved, those words managed to shake Mitsuru Kirijo to her very core, and for the first time she found herself actually considering such a suggestion. She never would have been willing to hear it from anyone else...yet Minato...he was strangely convincing in a way she couldn't quite understand. Mitsuru started to think about what 'relaxing' would really mean for someone like her. She never let the concept of relaxing get in the way of her duties before. Mitsuru didn't want her underclassmen to hate her, though. If Junpei, Fuuka and even Minato were so displeased with her trying to reprimand them, then maybe she did need to try and understand things from their own point of view too. Though that wouldn't settle so easily with her, given how that contradicted with the life-view she'd grown up with since she was so young.

"Maybe..."

Mitsuru stopped short in front of her bedroom door. She had already bid the other three goodnight and offered a faint apology for her behavior. Mitsuru had her hand wrapped around the doorknob. She was ready to open it and go inside, where she would spend her last hour studying before taking to bed. Yet she suddenly had an entirely different, somewhat radical, idea popping into her head.

"Maybe I do deserve a break."

The thought never seemed to reach her mind before until now, and yet the temptation of it...it was much stronger than she could have given it credit for. When Mitsuru stepped into her room, the first thing she did was walk towards her desk stacked with textbooks, because that was what she always did. These textbooks contained crucial information about her studies, as well as tests that were about to come and she needed to prepare for. If she did not pass these tests, then she would be unable to graduate in the manner that she intended: with full marks. However, she did not sit down and begin to read like she had initially planned. Instead, she turned away from the desk and moved to her bed. She was already the highest-ranked student in the entire third year class. Studying now or studying later, it likely would not affect her score very much if at all, were she to think about things in a logical manner. A break...a break...she was told that she should try and help herself to a break. Mitsuru nibbled anxiously on her bottom lip, her mind racing. What was she going to do? How would she take a break? What really constituted as a 'break' in the first place?

"Maybe I can watch something for fun?"

Mitsuru had never been much of a watcher. She didn't really look at the television except for things like news or the weather. She knew that Yukari, Junpei, Fuuka and even young Ken liked to keep up with the latest popular soap operas and anime shows. Mitsuru supposed that she could try one of them for herself. She was still convinced that she much preferred the concept of reading over watching, but when she pulled out her laptop, she had no idea what she was possibly in for. The redhead went to the first 'popular show' she came across after doing some searching. It was a show that Yukari had mentioned to her once before, she was sure of it. Mitsuru didn't know if she would like some sort of forced dramatic romance between a human and a werewolf. Apparently, judging by the images for the show, a vampire and a wizard were going to get involved too. Intriguing, Mitsuru had to admit. She wouldn't mind giving it a try...although her break would be fairly short, just for tonight, so she hoped that the show wouldn't be TOO interesting or else she would feel frustrated about being unable to finish the whole thing.

However, Mitsuru ended up doing a lot more than simply watch a few episodes of the show before going to sleep. When she started the show, she found herself hooked almost immediately. The characters, the writing, the drama, the special effects, it was all rather mind-blowing. Certainly nothing quite as real-looking as the horrible Shadows that manifested within the corridors of Tartarus, but still, she could almost count every individual hair present on the werewolf boy's face when he first transformed. He was pretty attractive, too. All of the men were. The main character, some dumb girl named Lara who came from the countryside and had to live in the city for the first time in her life, she was actually more endearing than Mitsuru anticipated. She feared she would grow tired of her lack of common sense or her misunderstanding about modern terminology, but she had such a plucky, cheery attitude that the redhead couldn't help but silently cheer her on in her pursuit of romance. Mitsuru was enthralled by it all. Mitsuru momentarily found herself wondering why she had never watched such a show in the first place. Then, she remembered how she was NORMALLY supposed to behave. Stuff like this, these shows that were fun to observe but ultimately added nothing to one's quality of life, were indulgences that she was meant to avoid. Only just tonight would she have her fun, Mitsuru continued to reason with herself. By tomorrow, she would be back to studying hard for the sake of her future.

Mitsuru only meant to watch two episodes, to wet her teeth a little and understand the basic concept of the plot. However, by the time the second episode's credits rolled around, Mitsuru was already pining for more. She didn't want it to end. She had to see what would happen next to these characters. Another temptation began to arose, along with just staying up late. She needed some snacks to keep her energy levels up. Food was a good way to restore 'fuel', as Akihiko once dumbly put it. Mitsuru decided to follow through with his advice. She tip-toed quietly down the staircase to make her way into the kitchen. Earlier that night she had admonished Fuuka for eating potato chips, cookies and other such fatty treats. Yet here Mitsuru was now, holding a bag of pretzel sticks and a forgotten box of strawberry pocky in her hands. She hoped that no one would walk out on her and see her for this shameful act. Though Mitsuru didn't think too much about the 'shame' otherwise. She had a show to get back to and indulge herself in, after all.

"Just this one time...one little break...that's all it is..."

Mitsuru ended up staying awake throughout the night. She didn't only watch three episodes, or four, or even five, but instead she managed to get through the entire first season of the show in a single night. She ate all of the pretzel sticks, the pocky, even some animal crackers she found randomly sitting on top of her clothing cabinet. Mitsuru had indulged for the first time in many years for the sake of her 'break'...and she was unable to recall a time in her life when she had enjoyed herself more. Mitsuru tried to catch some shut-eye, but she didn't have enough time before having to wake up and prepare for the school day. By all accounts, Mitsuru, with her personality, should have felt mortified that she let her break get so bad. But she didn't feel bad. Instead, she came up with the excuse that her 'break' should still be going on today too because, after all, she only started it last night. She was going to finish the second season of the show when she returned to her bedroom that evening, the redhead already planned out.

Things only spiraled further and further out of control from here on out for Mitsuru Kirijo. What she went through that night was an experience like no other. One could even go so far as to refer to as an 'awakening' of sorts. She had never taken a break before, so it was a wonderful time for her to get to try it for the first time, and yet because she was so inexperienced, it had affected her more than it rightfully should have. She never moved into it gradually like 'talented slackers' such as Junpei had. When Mitsuru did something, she had a bad tendency to take it all the way, even when it wasn't necessary. She had tasted the sweet, succulent nectar of being lazy, and now she couldn't resist wanting it again, and again, and AGAIN. She was pretty much hopeless from the get-go, and it never occurred to her that she was overdoing it. She was a genius, so she was always able to convince herself that she wasn't doing anything wrong or that she 'deserved it'. So, for the next few days, though she never told anyone else in SEES about it, Mitsuru would stay up past midnight watching her shows and eating hidden snacks. It was the beginning of what one might reasonably call, 'the end' for Mitsuru Kirijo.

She ate a great deal, and what she ate was nothing healthy, and she was spending more and more time sitting around on her bottom rather than doing anything potentially strenuous. She still helped the other members of SEES when they were traversing the corridors of Tartarus, but she tended to rely more on her Persona than ever before. She wasn't quite 'in the mood' to run up to enemies and swing her rapier around in their faces. She didn't have the energy. The redhead's mind tended to wander more to whatever was the next show in her queue rather than focusing on the fights ahead. It was very odd behavior coming from someone usually so composed and collected like Mitsuru. Her friends noticed it, Akihiko, Minato and Yukari especially, but none of them ever said anything. They assumed it was only a momentary thing at worst. Surely the Mitsuru they knew and trusted in so much would be able to pull herself together when the time came. It was basically a non-issue to them. How could any of them possibly go to Mitsuru and tell her that she was overdoing it with her break? That would be like slapping the treat out of a puppy's mouth after giving it to them for being so good. No one wanted to hurt her feelings...or be on the receiving end of her 'execution' punishment.

"I apologize. I think I may be feeling under the weather..." Mitsuru paused for a second to burp into her fist and brush some crumbs off of her blouse. "If you do not mind me...I may need to retire for the evening early on...please, good luck with the rest of your exploration of Tartarus..."

"Are you sure, Mitsuru? Do you want me to walk you back, if you're ill?"

"N-No, Akihiko, I'm alright...you need to stay here with your underclassmen...URP...excuse me..."

Akihiko looked at Minato and Junpei, who both shrugged in response. They couldn't stop Mitsuru from leaving either. They all assumed that she went back to the dorms to catch up on her rest, since she had apparently been staying up very late every night. The reason why? Most likely because she was studying so hard for her entrance exams. Not a single one of them considered anything close to the truth: Mitsuru was binge-watching shows every night, and even now, she was watching more stuff by bailing out early from Tartarus exploration.

Several months of this reckless debauchery came and went. Gorging on treats, watching shows, even playing a game or two that she downloaded onto her computer. In the end, Mitsuru ended up gaining some weight to her figure. Not a great deal, but enough where it was starting to show. She was big enough that anyone, who dared to say it aloud, would consider her as 'chubby'. Although her long black skirt concealed the plumpness of her hips from view, the white blouse she wore was rather clingy to her rounded love-handles. There was a pot-belly in development too. Mitsuru continued to attend the student council meetings, as she WAS the president, but frankly, she had come to really detest these meetings. They were held only ever so often, but they still were what kept her from leaving school at the end of the day. Hanging around in this place meant she couldn't go back to her shows. She really wanted to finish one of the new animated series that a friend she made online suggested to her. Mitsuru kept thinking about it all throughout the meeting. The discussions held between her council members went in one ear and out the other. Mitsuru yawned into her hand. She would have preferred the chance to simply lie back and turn her brain off, like she did while watching her shows. She brought a hand down under the table and gently caressed her stomach. She didn't think a thing about it. A powerful sort of self-enacted mental block prevented her from even giving her weight gain a moment's notice. For all she believed, she was as thin and fit as she'd ever been.

"I believe..." Mitsuru slowly stood up, which caused her belly to temporarily push itself out. The council members stared at it, but only briefly, as they swiftly snapped their heads up to attention to look at Mitsuru's FACE as she addressed them. "I must state that this meeting needs to come to a close early today."

"What? Are you really sure, Mitsuru? I mean, we're still trying to discuss what we're going to do for the school festival-"

"I think we've spent enough time on that. You all...er, you can tell me what you think would be best later, and I'll figure it out for you. As I have done in the past."

"Uh...well...if you're really so sure..."

Mitsuru Kirijo couldn't stand a single second more of their blathering. Really, all she wanted to do right now was go home, curl up with a blanket on bed, and finish the twelfth season of that vampire romance show. It was surprising that such a thing could run for as long as it did, but the writers were certified geniuses, so they managed to keep coming up with new plot-lines to allow the show to go on and on and on. Mitsuru was genuinely glad for it. She would be so sad if she had to watch the final episode of these wonderful characters so soon. Their romances could basically go on forever, as far as the obsessed redhead was concerned. Mitsuru kept thinking about such things as she wandered out of the student council room, leaving the three bewildered council members behind her. She didn't walk very far before coming across Minato Arisato, who was just leaving the restroom.

"Oh, hello, Arisato. How are you doing? Are you doing well with your after-school clubs as of late?"

Minato nodded his head. He reached into his backpack and removed a small, hand-wrapped package. He held it out for the redhead to take. "Here. You can have these. I've been helping Fuuka improve with her baking lately. I think you would like them, Mitsuru."

"Hmm...cookies..." Mitsuru found herself licking her lips as she stared at the box, her fingers twitching with the desire to snatch it away for herself. The Mitsuru of the past would not have behaved like this. She would have been appreciative that her friends wanted to give her a gift, she would have taken it, and she would never have opened it at all. Cookies were simply not something she considered worth putting into one's body...but the 'new' Mitsuru, the one who was constantly living on a break, was giddy as all-get-out. She didn't want to have to give up the snacks she was going to eat back at the dorm, so maybe she could eat these cookies alongside them. Mitsuru took the box and clutched it to her bulging chest. She could almost smell them through the wrapping. It made her drool. Minato smirked at her.

"How have you been doing? You seem really cheery lately. Did something good happen?"

"Oh, my break has been going very well, thank you," Mitsuru replied. not really having heard the way Minato actually asked the question. "Why do I seem so 'cheery' you ask? I have been experiencing bouts of entertainment the likes I had never been able to before, now that I have 'free time'. It's quite interesting. I can see why Junpei and Yukari are such big fans of television."

"That's great to hear," Minato glanced down at Mitsuru's stomach. He could see that a small pot-belly was starting to form. It seemed so impossible, though, that his mind refused to accept it as an actual thing he was seeing with his own eyes. He didn't say a word about it.

"You want to know something funny? It was a joke in the show I was watching last night...you see, there's this comedic relief character named Yamata, and he accidentally walks in on the main character, her name is Shera, while she's changing, and he says...o-oh, I don't know if I can even tell it right...but thinking about it, it's making me...heh...heh...ha ha ha ha - SNRRT - ha ha ha ha!"

Mitsuru didn't seem to notice that she had just snorted in the middle of her own laughter. Minato smiled back at her. It was kind of cute, seeing a woman like her, usually so serious, making a sound like that. He found it more endearing than he found it a sign of anything to be concerned about. Mitsuru thanked Minato again for the cookies and walked past him. Minato let his eyes trail after her. She was definitely looking chubbier these days. It had been a while since she took that one break day. At least, as far as Minato could remember. He'd forgotten it mostly. It seemed like that single suggestion of his for Mitsuru to relax had stuck with the student council president far longer than anyone could have reasonably expected.

'Still, it IS Mitsuru.' Minato thought to himself as he pulled his headphones over his ears. 'She's the most responsible one of us all. If anyone can pull themselves together after this, it's her. There's nothing to worry about.'

Mitsuru didn't end up pulling herself together like Minato or the others expected. Instead, Mitsuru fell deeper and deeper into the very pit she herself dug. She gained more weight, faster than before, and it kept piling on and on. She was packing on pounds with every new day. Her nerdiness was becoming more readily apparent too. Staring at her computer screen all of the time for lengthy periods had caused her eyes to ache, which forced her to obtain a pair of glasses. They sat quite well on her face and was actually a rather stand-out 'charm point' about her, in Junpei's personal opinion. Yet the rest of Mitsuru Kirijo wasn't quite so charming. Her breasts started to sag a little, her stomach hung over her waist like the big sack of skin that it was, and her buttocks were getting so wide that she was having trouble sitting in normal chairs. Her body was getting pudgier, with rolls, bumps, creases and folds of all sorts sprouting up. Her health deteriorated somewhat, and she got out of breath faster, plus her nostrils in general had a harder time getting a decent air flow than they used to. Her school uniform clung to her in places it never used to before. Underneath her breasts, around her forearms, and across her back was where it was most uncomfortable. A second chin had started to rear its ugly, bulging head whenever she opened her mouth wide enough. Mitsuru kept wearing her glasses on a frequent basis too, needing them whenever she went outside because of how 'bright' it was. She never wore them just for staring at the computer, like they had been designed for. Her obsessions became more pronounced too. She didn't allow anyone inside of her bedroom, but if she ever did allow a guest for some reason they would see that she had acquired a great deal of collectible figurines and trinkets based on her favorite shows. Mitsuru made a great deal of effort to obtain these. She put more effort into it than she did with her own school work, which had begun to show a steady decline grade-wise. Everyone in SEES was well aware of how badly Mitsuru let herself go, but instead of talking her out of it, they simply went along with it and tried their best to work with it.

By this point, Mitsuru weighed nearly 200 pounds, and due to how fast she gained and how most of it came out of empty calories, it really DID show.

Mitsuru noticed her cell phone ringing, and she only took her eyes off of her computer briefly to check that it was a call from the vice-president of the student council. The redhead swore under her breath, grumbling a few curse words as her fingers, growing chubbier as of late, speedily tapped away at the keyboard. She didn't have time to waste with the student council. She'd been checking all of the news sites and forums and official web pages since early morning in a fit of desperation. She needed to figure out when and where they would be selling the latest figurine. It was of Lara, the main character of that vampire and werewolf romance drama she loved so much, and it was her dressed in the magical girl attire she obtained in the most recent season's Magica Lara arc. The redhead REFUSED to be one of those who would fail to obtain this rare collector's item. She typed out a fast message to the vice-president to leave her be, and then she resumed with her work on the computer. She was making plans and she did not intend to change them for anything. The redhead intended to camp out if need be so she would be one of the first in line early tomorrow morning.

"Ugh...this is becoming rather cumbersome...why can they not simply make it easier for everyone to buy what they wish? Do they really think they need to pull a stunt like this to increase demand? Everyone already wants one!" Mitsuru grumbled. She tugged incessantly at her shirt. It was all so very uncomfortable. Everything she wore seemed to dig into her lately, and she had not considered that she may actually have to go out and purchase larger clothes for herself. Such a line of thinking did not dare cross her path, as Mitsuru was still deep, deep, DEEP in her own denial about how bad she'd gotten. Her weight gain, her new obsessions, her lack of care towards her studies...those things did not exist as far as she was aware. She would never accept them. Mitsuru shifted in her seat, the wheeled chair creaking in agony underneath her generously over-sized bottom. She wouldn't let a little clothing malfunction get in the way of her 'work'.

However, that was not to be for our poor widening nerd. Akihiko knocked on the door of her room. Mitsuru didn't answer it. However, she had forgotten, in her haste to get her snacks back into her room, to lock the doorknob, and thus Akihiko was easily able to peek inside. Mitsuru scrambled to get to her feet to stop him, but her bulky body kept knocking into everything around her. She nearly burst out screaming when her tummy accidentally bumped into and knocked over a figurine still mint condition inside its box.

"W-What is it, Akihiko? I'm - MMPH - very busy with something right now, I'll have you know!"

"Mitsuru, we're going to go into Tartarus tonight. You do remember we discussed that, don't you?"

Mitsuru's jaw dropped, making her double-chin pour out over her faint neck-roll. She hadn't remembered about that at all. Those plans of hers that she had for tonight, completely ruined. She couldn't quite believe that she had let such an important matter slip through her memory. Granted, she had been so focused on getting through the latest show, thinking up all these sorts of theories and 'headcanons', she must not have been paying very good attention. No, this couldn't be possible. Mitsuru didn't try to lock herself up in her room, but she was not thrilled about having to go to Tartarus right now and she made sure that everyone else knew about it too. She grumbled and groaned the whole way along as she followed Akihiko outside to join the others. She was already out of breath after walking out of the dorm's front door and she remained as such the whole way to Tartarus. No one said anything about Mitsuru as she yammered on. She mentioned quite a few things that they didn't understand, but those were mostly references from her shows that she had been putting into her everyday dialect.

"This is really a big pain in the...the rear-end..." Mitsuru shook her head.

"We're not going that far, Mitsuru. This is another recon mission."

"Still, this is all rather troublesome. I have important things that I need to take care of, I'll have you know!"

What those important things were, Mitsuru didn't try to specify, but she didn't want to because even she knew, though in denial as much as she may be, that she was not going to be able to get away telling her teammates she wanted to go and buy figurines instead of fight alongside them. Mitsuru tried her best to hold her tongue during the exploration itself. She got severely out of breath every time they marched up another set of stairs. She had her rapier in hand, but she wasn't using it to try and fight off any enemies. She was not actually all that interested in fighting in general. She stayed far behind the rest of the group, keeping Fuuka as unwitting company. She looked the green-haired girl up and down. Obviously she was far more slender than the older woman. However, in Mitsuru's mind, she was the one who was still in better shape. Offering a cheeky grin at the younger woman, she reached over and gently offered a pat on her shoulder.

"You look very well, Yamagishi. It seems you have done well with your exercise. You look very fit."

Fuuka gulped. She took only a half-second glance at Mitsuru's wobbling pot-belly before turning her head away. "Y-Yes...thank you...Mitsuru..."

A little further along into the depths of Tartarus and Mitsuru could no longer take it. Her outfit was becoming unbearable. In the very midst of her yawning, one of the buttons on her blouse popped off, leaving open a tiny gap to expose a bubble of soft and succulent fat. Mitsuru gasped. Bending over to get a better look, another two buttons took to the skies before plummeting abruptly onto the floor. Mitsuru couldn't handle another second. She quickly bid the others farewell, using her clothing malfunction as the perfect excuse to get out of the tower. No one, not even Akihiko, was going to try to push her to stay if her outfit was falling apart at the seams. Of course, it was all Mitsuru's fault it was happening in the first place, her and her gluttony. Mitsuru waddled the rest of the way back to the dorm on her own. She didn't think once about how she was leaving her teammates, her friends, to face the dangers of Tartarus alone. As soon as she made it back to her room, sweaty and wheezing, Mitsuru's bra gave up the ghost and she felt the straps rip apart underneath her uniform. Mitsuru exhaled from her mouth a great sigh, the kind that made her belly pooch out as far as it could. Honestly, she was relieved. Wandering through Tartarus, fighting Shadows, summoning her Persona...it was all such a pain, and she never realized it until now. The redhead threw off her ruined school clothes and put on some stretchy sweatpants and a sweatshirt to cover her body instead. She didn't want to go back into Tartarus again. From now on, Mitsuru concluded, it would be better for her if she avoided such strenuous activities. Putting in so much effort and yet yielding no rewards...that did not seem worthwhile to her. Wearing clothes that were tight and uncomfortable like those was also not an option she would be willing to accept anymore. By all accounts, she had every right to not want to do anything uncomfortable ever again. Mitsuru planted her wobbly butt-cheeks back into her chair, pulled open her laptop, and began typing away once more, as if the whole Tartarus issue had never happened. Yes, this was what she liked for her 'break'. This was what she wanted to do. This...would be...her life now.

Mitsuru leaned back in her chair and lazily scratched her belly. It felt good getting to sit like this after all of that agonizing walking. She reached over and grabbed a large 2 liter bottle of coke off of her desk. She tilted it far back as she guzzled every last drop that she could get. Soon enough, all the liquid that remained inside of the bottle was gone. Mitsuru licked her lips, catching the few remaining sugary droplets, as she pulled the bottle away. The belch she unleashed was one powerful enough to send ripples all across her jiggly form. It was a belch that would stun anyone into silence upon hearing. This was what was coming out of the mouth of the prestigious heiress Mitsuru Kirijo?

'BWOOOOOORRRRUUUURP! Ah...that...that actually felt a little good..."

Indeed, that had been good, and Mitsuru was getting a real 'taste' for the good life. She wanted to keep having every day be a good day. That was why she started to get even lazier. She became unmotivated in everything except indulging in her own aspects of hedonism. Mitsuru stopped bothering with her Persona or the Shadows. Whenever the group headed off to Tartarus, she would come up with an elaborate excuse to get away with staying home. Eventually the excuses became unnecessary and her friends simply stopped asking her altogether. It was probably better this way, they reasoned. Now there was no chance that Mitsuru could possibly get hurt. They wanted her to stay safe and comfy, so that was exactly what the redhead did. She stayed safe, she stayed comfy...and she became all the fatter and lazier because of that.

So lazy, in fact, that Mitsuru started skipping school entirely. Just like with venturing out into Tartarus, having to go to school every day was starting to become troublesome for the growing girl. Sure, it was a lot less effort to go to class, write down notes and study for tests than it was to fight off Shadows to save one's very life, but Mitsuru saw both of them as an equal pain in the ass. She didn't like having to get up so early, or having to take a shower and change into that ill-fitting uniform, or having to take the train from the dorms all the way to the school, and then do the reverse after just a few hours of putting up with teachers. Mitsuru didn't bother filling out some lengthy note for the principal or devise a proper excuse for why she couldn't go to Gekkoukan High anymore. She simply chose not to go. Instead she stayed in her room, fiddling with her computer, watching her shows, ordering her figurines online, and doing whatever else she could do that was both relaxing and non-taxing.

Mitsuru loved every second of it. She would guzzle soda like there was no tomorrow. Fatty, greasy snacks became the fill-in for her breakfast, lunch and dinner. She would lie in bed for hours on end, only getting up to use the bathroom, and then she would resume lying there until she had to go to sleep, which would mean she typically stayed sedentary in a single spot for nearly 24 hours without pause. Her fatness became more overbearing than before. Her belly spilled across her entire lap, a big, white mound of fleshy dough. Her skin started to lose some of its sheen and became a little paler overall due to her lack of proper sunlight. Her voice became a little deeper, a bit more nasally and dopey. Her arms grew weaker as the mounds of fat hanging off of them expanded to all new sizes. Moving her arms wasn't something she did very often anyway. Mitsuru's fingers were probably in better shape at this point, given how they were rapidly typing away all of the time. Her buttocks lost almost all of its definition; nothing but chunky, wobbly, dimpled flesh as far as the eye could see. Stretchy sweats were the only option for an out-of-shape fatty like herself now. Sweatshirts, sweatpants, and no bra or panties to be found. Of course, her current attire was actually starting to become too small for her piggish figure, but Mitsuru didn't give it a lot of thought. She din't intend to spend her money on clothing unless it was absolutely necessary. Her finances were better used for things like games, figurines and Blu-Ray sets. Speaking of which, her latest package had arrived and Akihiko was the first one to bring it to her. She didn't even have to waste time waddling her way out of the bedroom and down those creaking stairs to get it. That was definitely a pleasant surprise for her.

"Here you go, Mitsuru, oh, and Fuuka asked me to bring you this too." Akihiko said, holding out both the box and a large bag of snacks to go with it.

"Oh my! Thanks a lot, Akihiko. That's..." Mitsuru took a pause to quickly burp into her chubby fist. "That's very kind of you."

"Hopefully you won't eat it all at once!" Akihiko chuckled wryly, though whether he actually meant it or not was unknown to the woman.

Mitsuru was grateful that her friends seemed to be so accepting of her taking this lengthy 'break' of hers. Though Mitsuru didn't think of it much as a break anymore these days, she still would refer to it as such immediately whenever someone questioned why she was still lounging around in sweats for so long. The redhead tore open the bag and began to greedily dig around inside, shoveling the snacks into her mouth with gusto. She was so damn hungry. She was always damn hungry, if one had to be honest. Mitsuru's hunger never seemed to go away, no matter how much she filled her maw. In fact, there had been one day where she mustered up the energy and drive to actually go out into town. She did it so that she could buy some new drama CDs and merchandise that were on sale. After that, Mitsuru stopped at the Wild Duck Burger to eat lunch. She figured that she should only get one burger at most...but then she convinced herself that, since she was on a break, it was okay if she 'indulged' herself. Which meant, when she 'indulged' herself, it was certainly acceptable to order three whole meals, ones with extra large fries and two burgers in each bag, for her and her alone to devour. She sat there on the creaking stool and shoveled burger after burger into her mouth. Crumbs spilled all over her stretched white tee, which depicted the face of a character too distended to recognize. Her teeth tore through the burger's bun like it was butter. Her cheeks wobbled up and down, up and down, as her chewing motions destroyed everything in her mouth and reduced them to precious, precious calories. Mitsuru's slovenly behavior drew in quite the crowd, and most of them were rather disgusted by it ultimately. The redhead couldn't have cared less. By the time she finished, her belly felt fit to bursting, and she was rather satisfied with her purchase. She cradled her gut like it was a child the whole way out the door.

That was Mitsuru's life now, and while it was certainly the stuff of rumors for months at Gekkoukan, everything came to a head the day that the final exam results were posted. Mitsuru had no choice but to attend school for the first time in a long while to see them. The crowd started to part automatically as soon as they saw the redhead approach.

"Do you see that? Is that...is that really Mitsuru Kirijo?"

"No way, it can't be! That bloated thing?"

"She looks so...so...oh my God, she looks like she could keel over at any moment! Did a whale crawl out of the ocean and dress itself up like Mitsuru or something? Ha ha ha!"

"Listen to her voice too! Ugh! what in the world happened to her? Did she go and swallow an inhaler or something?"

"It's probably all that fat she's got around her neck and face...as well as around everywhere else!"

There were quiet murmurs, and some of them not so quiet, but everything that Mitsuru could have easily picked up instead went straight over her head.

She didn't give a single care at all what anyone thought about her. Especially not these faceless unknowns at the school she barely attended anymore. Mitsuru made it all the more obvious how little she cared by how she was dressed too. Instead of trying to force her flab into the appropriate school uniform, Mitsuru came wearing a pair of sweatpants that clung to her hips and a sweatshirt too small to cover her body properly. Her gut was literally spilling out from underneath it. A girl actually shrieked when she saw that exposed bubble of Mitsuru's pudge slowly sway back and forth. Mitsuru's breath came out of her mouth in shallow gasps. Her fat face was bright and shiny with sweat. Many of the students struggled to comprehend that this was the same woman who once led the student council and had been the top-rated student in the entire school.

"Mitsuru, I didn't expect to see you here today," Akihiko said to her as he approached.

Mitsuru grunted. She reached into her giant breasts and removed a candy bar along with a can of coke. "Mmph."

"Are you going to stay for the rest of the day, or...?"

"I'm just here to see the exam results. I don't have any other choice." Mitsuru popped open the can and she downed most of it in a single gulp.

Mitsuru made her way over to see the results posted on the wall. There was silence among the entire student body. If there was anyone that they wished to know the results of more so than their own, it was Mitsuru Kirijo's. There was a morbid curiosity to find out how truly far she had fallen. Mitsuru squinted through her spectacles as she observed the many names and numbers on the poster. She eventually arrived on her own name. Mitsuru's eyes widened somewhat. However, before she could say anything herself, it was a random girl beside her that got the chance to make the announcement first.

"N-No way...it can't be...M-Mitsuru Kirijo...she...she scored even lower than JUNPEI IORI?"

The murmurs evolved straight into shouts, and some people were literally having conniptions over the very THOUGHT that someone of Mitsuru Kirijo's level could allow themselves to sink so low. Junpei tilted his hat over his head, feeling mighty embarrassed over being thought of as 'the dumbest in class'. Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly at all anymore, was how Mitsuru reacted to the news that she had essentially failed a collection of major exams. She looked around at all of the gawking faces aimed at her...and she shrugged. Almost as if it were really no big deal at all. She didn't have the time to be fretting over all of this annoying and stressful schoolwork. She wanted to keep enjoying herself while she was on a break. People didn't work on homework during break, now did they? Mitsuru used to, but she'd long since learned that was a major mistake on her part. She was prepared to say something, if that was what would please the rabble, but again she was cut short by another. This time, it was Yukari who spoke up, and she did so in her upperclassman's defense.

"Okay, everyone, how about we break it up here and move along? Seriously, a few flunked tests and you guys act like it's the end of the world. Geez. There's more important things to do here than make a scene over a bunch of numbers..."

Yukari wasn't specifically making any references to Mitsuru, but everyone knew that she was the one whom Yukari was most likely talking about. The crowd eventually dispersed, although one girl took the effort to actually waltz straight up to Mitsuru and laugh into her face. She was someone who had despised the redhead for a long, long time, all because she was jealous of her. Or rather, who Mitsuru USED to be. Yukari chased her off by taking a swing at her head.

"Are you alright, Mitsuru?" Yukari asked her.

Mitsuru gave her stomach a considerable rub. "I'm rather hungry. I think I'll be leaving."

"D-Do you want me to walk you back? I don't want you to get hurt." Yukari seemed quite concerned. "We can...we can go to Wild Duck Burger..."

The archer girl wanted to try and ensure that her friend wasn't heartbroken over her failing grades. What she didn't realize was that Mitsuru wasn't even upset in the first place. However, since she was being offered food, Mitsuru saw no reason to turn away Yukari's sympathy. The two of them walked/waddled to Wild Duck Burger and they had a good time. Mitsuru decided she would not bother herself with school anymore. She could not possibly learn anything else there that would be beneficial for her in the future. She had the smarts and the wealth to achieve any goal if she put her mind to it, or so she convinced herself to believe. Besides, classes were constantly cutting into her break time. That was unacceptable.

Mitsuru Kirijo had more time than she ever needed now that she had chosen to stop attending school. In fact, she had so much free time that she started to get into ideas and concepts she never would have considered before. That included, of all things, cosplay. For her, it was 'plus-sized cosplay', but in her mind it was just regular 'cosplay'. Mitsuru was truly becoming a big, fat nerd, and she was doing everything necessary to represent the epitome of it. Her friends didn't try to stop her at all. They basically encouraged her. They cared about her THAT much. Even when Mitsuru gained enough weight that she hit the 300 pound mark.

"Minato, I need you to - SNRRT - do something for me. Ah, excuse me." Mitsuru sometimes snorted due to how often she was out of breath these days.

"What is it, Mitsuru?"

"I need you to accompany me to a certain event going on in the middle of the city. I will be going dressed in...particular attire...and I require you to be there to help support me as my escort. Also, you'll be there just in case I need someone to acquire snacks for me to help keep my energy levels up."

"I had not known anything like that was going on. What is it, exactly?" Minato was definitely curious. Though whatever it was, he had already come to the conclusion that he would help Mitsuru with it regardless.

"It's a movie. An animated movie. One that I have been waiting a very long time to see. The premiere is tonight. I have to be there, Minato. I HAVE to be there. I've already stated it on my blog that I will be."

Minato nodded his head. He could understand that. Mitsuru didn't want to end up looking like a fool or a liar to her online friends. Mitsuru began waddling past him, prompting him to follow her down the corridor and towards the stairs. Mitsuru wheezed a little more. Her stomach was so huge; it was undulating as fast as could be whenever she either inhaled or exhaled. Her gut had grown into one massive, singular mound. It was not yet huge enough to start splitting itself into rolls, but Mitsuru was undeniably obese at her current weight of 302 pounds. Minato stared at Mitsuru's retreating back. Every individual fold of back-fat was clearly visible and pushing out from inside of her sweatshirt. Mitsuru brought her fat hand towards her face and wiped some sweat off of her lower-most chin. She didn't think of the prevailing heat she suffered from to be the result of her own obesity. She chose to attribute it to 'summer temperatures', even though it was almost fall by now.

Mitsuru glanced down the staircase. She was wary about the others hearing her. Though she was hardly embarrassed about her behavior as a nerd, Mitsuru wasn't so sure if she was ready for everyone she knew to be aware of her recent cosplay activities. Minato was someone she trusted greatly. That was a shared consensus among all of the members of SEES, actually.

"This movie premiere also involves a cosplay event. That means I am going to dress up as a character from a show I've seen. You don't have to necessarily dress up as a character featured in the movie itself. I'm going as a different character entirely. I intend to be the victor of this event no matter what. The winner receives a very rare collectible clear file folder that features an image based on the movie. There are only a handful of those in the entire world! I need to have it for my collection!" Mitsuru exclaimed, her lips flapping fast with spittle flying and a few snorts as well. She ended it by breathing heavily and burping too. She had to squint to see past her own cheeks these days. Minato really shouldn't have been enabling her anymore, but he didn't think he could bring himself to stop. He didn't want to upset her.

"That sounds like a good idea. Whenever you're ready to go, let me know, Mitsuru."

Mitsuru returned to her room to get dressed. Minato waited for her downstairs. After a period of time, she reappeared, and the outfit that Mitsuru chose to wear was completely concealed by an extra-extra-extra large bathrobe. She had her hair done up in a ponytail with a cute 'cartoon skull' hair-clip. Mitsuru said nothing about her cosplay at all. Instead, she told Minato that she was ready and that they should get going. The trek to the theater was going to be a long one. The only reason for that, of course, was because Mitsuru's waddle failed to match even the slowest of strides.

The two of them arrived at the theater without any issue, although Mitsuru required snacks more than one time. Minato was surprised to see how many people had shown up for the movie, as well as how many of them had made the effort to get dressed up. He didn't recognize even half of the characters on display here. Mitsuru seemed confident about her chances in spite of the number of competitors. She undid her bathrobe and tossed it aside. Minato did a double-take when he saw what Mitsuru had been hiding under her robe. Nothing. She was hiding nothing under it except for a black bikini with a fire design and hip-hugging short-shorts. Mitsuru smirked through her jowls. She had been working on this 'Yoko Littner' cosplay for a while now. In her mind, she got the character's look down perfectly. Yet the actual Yoko Littner was a rather slender young woman and not a 300-plus-pound behemoth. Mitsuru laughed haughtily as she marched into the crowd of baffled and bewildered nerds around her. One of them reached out for her. Mitsuru casually slapped his hand away.

"Uh-uh! No touching the merchandise without special permission...or unless you're Kamina."

"I'm Kamina!" called someone.

"I'll put you on the 'maybe' list." Mitsuru responded, and she laughed even harder. Minato had not seen Mitsuru act this way before. It was certainly nice to see her enjoying herself so much. Mitsuru might have been morbidly obese, but she was the closest thing to a real set of tits most of these dorks had seen in ages. Thus, all the present eyes were glued to her like she were some sort of a Goddess descended from the heavens above. Mitsuru didn't think about how deep the short-shorts were digging into her backside. She didn't think about how her fat stomach was constantly knocking against her knees as she waddled along. She didn't think about how she must have looked like some kind of bloated, grotesque parody of the character she was trying to portray. She also DEFINITELY did not think about how she was going through so much trouble for the sake of impressing a bunch of hapless nerds and geeks. Within the confines of Mitsuru's extremely self-centered mind, she saw herself as thin and beautiful as she'd ever been. Not only that, but she had a firm belief in her capability to win the contest.

"There's an awful lot of people around here, Mitsuru. How likely do you think are your chances?" Minato asked her.

Mitsuru snatched the bag of pretzels he offered to her and she began greedily gulping them down, even licking her fat fingers to make sure she didn't miss out on a single piece of salt. "I believe I have every chance of winning here today. It should not be too difficult. I have...done well...MMPH...in researching the character properly...and making sure that I...OORPH...designed the outfit accurately..."

"You sure put a lot of effort into this for a folder." Minato had to admit.

"It is only the natural Kirijo way to put one's greatest effort into everything that they do...as long as it isn't too physically or mentally demanding, like that school work was."

Minato didn't try to argue with her about that. He stood aside as Mitsuru marched her great, heaving body up towards the stage where she would present herself. The movie wouldn't even begin for another hour and a half, but the cosplay contest was already well under way. Mitsuru didn't mind waiting from her position in the queue, but she didn't think it did anything else but prolong the inevitable. She even ordered Minato to bring her snacks several more times during said wait as well. Her stomach was constantly growling for more and more food. It may have had to do something with nerves, nerves that the redhead couldn't quite keep under control despite how assured she was in her victory overall. She ate until her stomach felt swollen and taut again. Not an uncommon sensation for the enormous woman these days. She cradled her gut between her fat hands while waddling up the short flight of stairs onto the stage. She tried to restrain a belch rising up in her throat, but it came out as a mild 'OORP' right before she was handed the mic. Mitsuru turned to face the crowd. The old Mitsuru would have long since given up on this entire charade and gone home. She wouldn't have ever considered debasing herself in front of these people in the first place. Yet here she was.

Mitsuru did a little twirl in her outfit to show it off. When she showed off how big her ass was, and how deep the shorts went inside, it earned her a substantial amount of applause. The man who claimed he was dressed as Kamina from earlier was begging Mitsuru for her number. Mitsuru momentarily paused to try and yank the short shorts out of her butt-crack, but it did no good. They simply went straight back inside. It was almost like there was some kind of suction pulling them in by force, or something to that effect.

"My name is Mitsuru Kirijo..." Mitsuru tried to keep panting to a minimum. "As you can plainly see, the character that I am currently cosplaying as at the moment is-"

Suddenly, there was a loud snap. Mitsuru let out a yelp, dropping the mic as she did. Those short-shorts of hers had finally decided that they weren't even going to bother trying anymore. They dropped to the ground, falling uselessly in two halves around her ankles. Mitsuru's stomach hung low enough to conceal anything personal, but she was still bare on her bottom half. The crowd immediately fell into chaos. Minato was stunned too. He tried to rush onto the stage with that robe from before. He wanted to help cover his friend and save whatever lingering remnants still remained of her dignity. Again, though, it was Mitsuru herself who seemed the least concerned. She had inadvertently exposed herself before numerous people at once...but she could hardly be bothered to muster up an extreme reaction to that fact. Her fatness was so great that it tore her short-shorts in two. That was also a fact. If there was anything Mitsuru could say 'upset her' about all of this, it was her cosplay outfit being ruined after her working so hard on it. She looked at the judge, who had been stricken dumb with shock.

"If my cosplay attire has been rendered obsolete due to a wardrobe malfunction, I suppose that means I am unable to continue participating, is that correct?"

"Uh...uh..." The judge was certainly not ready to handle something like this. He kept trying to keep his eyes focused on Mitsuru's fat face, though it was a struggle to do so.

Mitsuru huffed and shook her head. How disappointing. She didn't think she could even stay to watch the movie anymore, given that she was so frustrated about her failure. A Kirijo was expected to excel. Now here she was, totally lost, her 'perfect' cosplay ruined, and without any pants to cover her big ass. Minato tossed the robe around her to conceal her body, though some of the crowd started booing at him. Mitsuru was in such a sour mood that she would have thrown it off in defiance, were she a little more willing to behave in a tantrum. Instead, she accepted it without any thanks towards the cerulean-haired youth behind her. She did, however, allow him to lead her back home to the dorms. Mitsuru barely said anything at all for the remainder of the day. As soon as they entered the building, she marched straight upstairs into her bedroom. It left Minato feeling rather bad about the whole affair.

"Is Mitsuru okay? She seemed sort of...off. And what was with that bathrobe?" Yukari asked from one of the couches in the foyer.

Minato explained what happened, and Yukari slowly brought her palm up to make contact with her face. "Oh, geez. That doesn't sound good at all."

"I wonder if there's something we can do to make it up to her." Minato didn't allow the options of 'getting her exercise equipment' or 'helping her learn to spend more time outside' get in the way of what was probably the right answer in the end.

"Let's, um, buy her one of those figurines she really likes! You know, one of the ones with all of those extra bits and pieces! They're kind of expensive, but...but if we pool our money together, it should work!"

"That, or a game."

Minato and Yukari did whatever they could to improve their upperclassman's mood. It mostly involved further enabling her down the dark path of sloth and gluttony she'd been traveling on for some time now. They bought her both a figurine AND a new game, as well as some extra-large bags of her favorite snack foods too. Mitsuru took it all and then some. So wrapped up in how much she had failed was she, Mitsuru started gorging EVEN MORE to try and make up for it. Her weight continued to climb rapidly. She kept wearing stretchy clothes so that it was difficult for her to gauge how big she got. No semblance of exercise was practiced at all. Some days came and went without the others ever seeing her leave her bedroom. Mitsuru found that ordering take-out was an easy way to get larger meals into her stomach without the obnoxious effort that involved going outside. Every day there were deliveries at the door from places like Wild Duck Burger, Octopia, the beef bowl shop and even Wakatsu, the last of which brought actual fresh sushi. Mitsuru didn't really share any of it with her teammates. She kept it for herself and only herself.

"Mmmph...oorph...BUUURP...'

Mitsuru didn't eat in a very dignified manner, which might have been one of the reasons she devoured her meals in her quarters rather than in the dining room with everyone else. When she took a big bite out of a burger, she nearly swallowed the whole thing at once. She could eat fries by the handful, but they always disappeared so fast that way and that saddened her. Mitsuru desired big portions because that way she could keep eating a lot and eating fast but she wouldn't run out immediately. She tried her best not to be messy, though. It wasn't for the sake of manners. It was because she did not wish to get crumbs or splotches of sauce all over her very precious laptop or expensive merchandise. Mitsuru would eat everything in front of her as she became fuller and fuller. Her stomach was getting harder to sate with each passing day, but she did what she could. Once she felt like she couldn't consume another bite, Mitsuru would take a nap to try and help her stomach digest. Either that, or she'd lay back and watch a show until enough hours passed. She did these things in a calculated manner, but unintentionally they were all actions that would result in her turning into more of a fatty than anything else.

With her eating habits hitting new lows and her daily calorie intake hitting new highs, it was no surprise when Mitsuru finally hit 400 pounds before the end of the year. Her stomach was starting to split and her ass was wide enough to fill almost an entire couch on its own. The gigantic redhead was truly, truly steeped in her own hedonism, and the 'worst' part was how she was loving it all so much. It didn't matter to her if this was a break or not anymore. Life had never been more simple, more easy to handle. She could have been doing this forever for as much as she cared. Her happiness was now a happiness centered around food, television and video games. Mitsuru didn't feel bad about her choices at all.

"BUUUURP...ah..." Mitsuru burped mightily and without shame as she leaned far back into the creaking couch. Her stomach spread itself like a blanket made of thick wool over her lap. She was watching television downstairs, though she didn't do this entirely by her own choice. Last night, her fat ass had destroyed her bed, completely snapping the bed-frame in half. Now she had to wait until the deliverymen arrived with the new, reinforced bed-frame and mattress set she had ordered. Since it would take some time for that to happen, Mitsuru couldn't risk letting her schedule of binge-watching go interrupted. Thus she resettled herself in the dorm's living room for the next day and a half. The entire space was basically under her control; Mitsuru's massively overfed body conquered a whole couch while the coffee table was buried underneath piles of DVDs, Blu-Rays and several different video game consoles. There wasn't space available for anyone else except Mitsuru. Her friends were oddly fine with this. The young woman didn't question it.

Mitsuru licked her lips as she reached for the large bucket of cookie dough ice cream she had positioned on top of her belly's curve. Her stomach was literally large enough that it could be utilized like some sort of makeshift table. The cold container felt good on her pulpy, hot skin too. Yanking off the top, Mitsuru casually tossed it aside, thrust a large spoon into the center of the ice cream, and began to eat. At the same time, she cast her eyes towards the television. The show that was currently playing was a new one she had been getting into. It was sort of an odd sort, purposely using very choppy and awkward animation both to save on a budget and give the show an 'avant-garde' feel. Most of the episodes spent their run-time with characters talking and doing little else. When the action started, however, Mitsuru found it nearly impossible to look away. There was a strange and anxious tension that ran throughout the series, she could tell.

Mitsuru stopped shoveling ice cream down her throat for a moment. She scratched at her belly's underside, which had begun to itch. Even though she was still in the midst of her current meal, her mind began drifting along to what she should possibly eat for her next. There were just so many choices. Mitsuru licked her lips at the mere thought of it. With the anticipation for dinner driving her onward, Mitsuru began gulping down the ice cream much faster than before. No one could rightfully say that the heiress to the Kirijo fortune wasn't addicted to eating.

"You know what? I think we should do something about Mitsuru." Yukari said. The rest of SEES had been observing the large woman from the kitchen. They had already heard her belch several times, grunting and snorting a little in between, and she was most likely going to reach the bottom of that bucket of ice cream before too long. Minato, Akihiko, Junpei, Fuuka and Ken were there too. No one was really quite sure what to do.

"Do you think she could use some proper encouragement from us? Like, maybe we can try to take her out somewhere? It wouldn't be hard if we just offer dinner afterwards." suggested Fuuka, taping her finger to her chin in thought.

"Yeah, food is pretty much the best way to get her to do anything." Junpei agreed.

"I don't want to make her upset, though." Akihiko crossed his arms and hung his head in deep thought.

"Then maybe we should let her be?" Minato shrugged.

Again, no one was really able to come up with a proper plan of action on how to handle Mitsuru. The redhead was titanic, possessing both a belly that distended far enough to touch her knees and thighs that flared far enough to fill multiple seat cushions. She wasn't in much condition to walk outside for any lengthy period of time without getting tuckered out. She definitely wasn't going to be able to fight the Shadows in Tartarus anymore. Her evoker had been long since retired. Mitsuru could be good moral support or offer some nice ideas for strategies, but beyond that, she was unable to do much else. Mitsuru was probably the most useless member of SEES...but her friends didn't want to look at her that way. She was too important to all of them.

"As long as she's happy, I guess that's what matters the most, huh?" Yukari sighed and shook her head.

"Yeah, that's right."

"As long as she's...happy..."

Mitsuru laughed out loud after observing a humorous scene in her show. Her stomach shook and jiggled like wobbly rubber. Luckily the bucket of ice cream didn't fall off. As she ate more and more, Mitsuru could feel herself entering another pleasant stupor. The kind of stupor she longed for in these days of laziness and lackadaisical behavior. Her brain was 'shut off', and she had to care about nothing else except what she was eating and what she was watching. Not just addicted to food, but Mitsuru was addicted to this feeling as well. She didn't have to do ANYTHING anymore. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Truly a life worth living. A life of nothing but pleasures. Mitsuru Kirijo took the first break her life ever offered and she ended up like this: her thoughts filled with food, obscenely obese, uncaring to other's opinions, and constantly throwing her money away on mindless entertainment.

It might not have been so surprising it went this way, actually. Mitsuru took all of her responsibilities very seriously before. She was just taking her breaks seriously. Too seriously, maybe, but seriously nonetheless.

"Ah!" Mitsuru suddenly glanced at the time on her cellphone and let out a shriek. "I'm going to be late!"

"What's wrong, Mitsuru?" Akihiko asked upon entering the room.

"I'm going to be late, Akihiko! That's what's wrong! I'm going to be late to go and pick up my game from the store! Damn it! How could I be so - BUUURP - so careless?"

"Uh, don't worry, Mitsuru. We'll go and pick it up for you. You don't need to do anything."

"I-I need to go! I want to make sure I get the poster that goes along with the pre-order!"

Even though she was so heavy, Mitsuru was doing her best to lift herself to her feet. She tried several times, only to quickly run out of her extremely limited stamina. She grasped onto the arm of the chair and used it as a means of balancing herself. Akihiko grew greatly concerned for his friend. Even Yukari and Fuuka entered the room to watch over Mitsuru, to make sure that she didn't put herself at risk. Some of the crumbs on Mitsuru's shirt and chest spilled onto the floor. Her fat arms swung from side to side as the rotund redhead 'ran' for the door. Alas, she did not make it much farther than that. As soon as she attempted to step outside, she found herself becoming wedged. Her thighs couldn't pass through the door-frame without trapping themselves anymore. Mitsuru whimpered. She didn't want to miss picking up her game. She had been looking forward to it for months.

Akihiko and Yukari took Mitsuru's fleshy arms and carefully pulled her away from the door. "Like I said, we can get it for you, Mitsuru. Just sit down, relax, and take a break."

"But...But I...BUUURP...ooh..." Mitsuru was as fatigued as she was determined. However, the fatigue ultimately won out, as she did not try to get back up again after being ushered to her familiar spot on the couch. She started rubbing her belly in slow circles, her focus returning to the television set in front of her. Akihiko headed out to the local shops to pick up Mitsuru's game. Yukari gave the older woman a few snacks and let her be. That was how they handled Mitsuru Kirijo these days, and it seemed to work well enough.