Persona 4 Golden: Yu and Yukiko's Full and Happy Life 18

It was more like forty minutes had passed until her daughter finally waddled into the room with her husband following closely behind her. “My, look who decided to show up! I hope with that little extra time you two managed to get it all out of your system!” Yukina teased. Yukiko averted her eyes toward her maternal swell and rubbed it nervously, “I don’t know what you think we were doing mother, but you know how it is. With the baby and all it just takes me a little while longer to get dressed and move around.”

“Right. And I’m sure your husband had nothing to do with it.” Yukina thought to herself while giving her son-in-law a quick glance that made him stand up just a tiny bit straighter. Yukina decided not to press the issue. Whether or not it was true, her daughter’s excuse was an adequate one and all that mattered was they were here now. “Come in, come in, sit down.” Yukina said with the same unusual elation as earlier. She must have spent the time waiting for their arrival by moving some furniture around, because parked perfectly in front of the television set was a sofa that had previously been sitting in the corner. Yu hoped that the woman didn’t put too much strain on herself and told her that he would have done it for her if she asked but she assured him that she wasn’t completely helpless.

Yu helped lower his wife and son onto the couch while Yukina put the videotape in. The couple gave each other a playful smile upon hearing the old couch creak as her widened rear spread out to fill as much of the center space as it could. Yukiko wiggled her hips and bounced a few times before her smile grew into a more mischievous one. “These cushions feel a lot more comfortable then the last time me and mother watched something,” she said while tilting her head in faux puzzlement. Playing along, Yu took his seat next to her. “That is strange. It doesn’t feel all that different from any other couch I’ve sat in.”

Yukiko giggled as she watched her husband scratch his chin, acting like he was deep in thought, all the while not noticing his other hand stealthily moving toward her.

Yu snapped his fingers. “I think I got it! You don’t think it has something to do with this do you?” Like a lunging snake, Yu quickly strike at his wife’s expansive behind, grabbing a handful of plump ass cheek. Yukiko raised her hands off her belly and mewed at the sudden surprise, shifting her big butt around and grinding against Yu’s hand, driving it further into the couch. Even the two of them found themselves surprised sometimes at how quickly they were able to recover from their previous “sessions” together and go back to being all over each other. It had only been fifteen minutes since they finished! “It looks like you brought two cushions of your own,” he whispered. Stifling another mew, Yukiko nodded. Her plump round booty had evolved into a fat seat-filling rump that always ensured that she and her son always had the best seat in the house, wherever she went.

Yu quickly retracted his hand once Yukina had gotten the VCR working and practically skipped over to the couch. Yukina gave each of the now red-faced lovers a look oozing with suspicion as she sat down but having not seen what they had been up to she kept quiet. “Remember, no funny stuff while we watch the movie,” she reminded them.

While the previews before the movie were going on, Yukina tried to find a comfortable position on the couch. Yukiko had to open up her legs somewhat to allow some space for her pudgy baby belly to sit comfortably, which would have been fine by itself, but the addition of an extra person on the couch certainly made it seem all the more crowded. Yukina quickly covered her mouth with her hand as if she had said her thought out loud. “Two extra people,” she corrected herself. How could she forget about her cute little grandson?

Even when he was little more than a speck in her daughter’s tummy, Yukiko had always included him as if he were standing in the room with them, but now with the due date coming closer and closer, some of her daughter’s behavior had rubbed off on her and Yukina had begun to do so as well.

Without realizing it, Yukina placed her hand on her daughter’s burgeoning stomach. Feeling the sudden third hand on her belly, Yukiko turned to her mother before quickly smiling and pushing her belly out more for her. “You feel that? It’s your grandma. Say hello.” Yukiko softly murmured her baby boy. Ignoring how much her fingers were able to sink into the big pale marshmallow her daughter called her belly, Yukina felt the soft kick of life growing inside her daughter and answered back with a hello of her own. The two beaming women looked back at each other, and Yukina gave her daughter’s swelling middle one last loving pat before taking her hand back.
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Yukiko felt all warm and fuzzy inside from their little moment, but that soon changed to worry after she thought of something. “Yu, you don’t think this movie will be too intense for him do you? I don’t want him hearing anything that might upset him.” Yu held back a laugh. It was a somewhat ridiculous question, but Yu couldn’t help but find his wife’s overprotectiveness cute in a way. “I wouldn’t worry to much about it. It’s almost his bed time anyway. But if you’re still worried…”

Yu reached over Yukiko as best he could and placed a hand on each side of her belly. “I’ll cover his ears.” Yukiko started to snicker which grew even louder when Yu started to tickle her for good measure, but they had to stop when they heard Yukina loudly clear her throat, clearly directed at them.

Watching the rest of the previews before the movie. Yu couldn’t help but notice the film quality. The graininess of it reminded him of those first few days of a new broadcast on the midnight channel when you couldn’t really tell who was being shown on the screen and the audio was like it was recorded underwater. Of course, it was an old Italian VHS from the 70’s, and the two women on the couch next to him seemed to be used to it. They had probably watched even older tapes together. But he hadn’t that much experience with VHS. His father being like he was and with appearances being everything in his line of work, their family was always with what was “new” and “trendy.” Driving the newest cars, having the newest cell phone. That meant when he was growing up his VCR was quickly replaced with a DVD player, back when they cost an arm and leg and were far too expensive for most people. For a time, he was the only one he knew who had one. The audio and visual quality was top notch, but the actual selection of DVD’s at the time left a lot to be desired.

Feeling a tap on his cheek, Yu turned to see his wife offering him a bowl of popcorn, her having already taken a handful of the buttery snack and was munching away. “This is one of the few times mother allows food in here,” she happily explained between her grazing. Yu picked out a few pieces and popped them in his mouth. The bowl was fairly large, big enough for the two of them, but he knew most of it was going to end up with his wife, and honestly it was an outcome he much preferred. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Yukina holding her own smaller container, but what really caught his attention was the odd color of it. “Carmel corn?” He asked. “I didn’t really take you for someone with that much of a sweet tooth.”

“It’s my favorite.” She replied almost with a sense of nostalgia. “Oooh! Yummy!” Yukiko shouted gleefully, but as she reached for some of the gooey caramel coated confectionary, her mother was quick to slap her hand away. “Oh no, not a chance little missy!” Yukiko pouted and leaned up against her hubby, complaining to him that mother was “being mean.”

Yu tried to say something, but he was immediately shushed not only by his mother-in-law but by his wife who had already gotten over the rejection. The movie was starting. Yukina reached over her shoulder and flicked off the light switch, plunging the room into darkness save for the glow of the television screen. It’s funny how something so simple as flipping off the light switch can change things. While feeling nothing before, Yu now felt a little anxiousness and uneasy. Peering over his shoulder to makes sure nothing was there, he wrapped his arm around his wife. The brave face he had put on was already starting to crack and they haven’t even gotten to the title screen yet!

The actual beginning of the film was nothing spectacular. It started with an aerial shot of what looked like an old European mansion sitting in the middle of the countryside while somber music played. It transitioned to a shot of the building from the front gates and as it slowly zoomed in the title “Affano” appeared on the screen in plain white letters. The camera moved throughout the building, showing it’s vast rooms and some pictures hanging on the wall. From the looks of it, the old building was now being used as a dance academy. The music grew more ominous when it showed a newspaper sitting on the table with a headline about a missing girl. The girl in the paper seemingly matching one of the girls shown in a class photo they saw in the previous shot. Yu noticed the Amagi matriarch shuffle around in her seat a little as that part played. She didn’t seem scared though, just…uncomfortable.

The camera moved down a stretching hallway then into a backroom, behind a bookcase and into another secret room then came to a stop at one last door which was cracked open slightly. Beyond the door was a set of stone stairs descending into darkness, almost like the passageway led to a cavern or cave hidden under the house. It was hard to make out because the only light source was a candle at the top of the stairs. Suddenly they heard a bloodcurdling scream echoing from off in the distance that made Yu’s heart skip a beat. The door slammed shut, and the glow of the candle bleeding out from under the door soon went out before it hard cut to the movie’s protagonist.

“Ohhhh! That scream was a good one!” Yukiko snickered to her mother. “It was okay, but it still hasn’t beat that scream the boyfriend made in that cheesy movie “The Face of the Void.” Remember that one?”

“The one where he slipped on ice and the evil spirit ran over his face with the snowblower!”

The two Amagi’s said it almost in unison before bursting out laughing. Yu put on a fake smile, not really finding the humor in what was surely a gruesome affair.

The main character was an aspiring dancer, come to the academy to fill the spot left by the missing girl, but as she soon learns there had been many other girls who attended the school who had gone missing. With no evidence to suspect foul play and no bodies ever found, it was suspected they had all run away for various reasons. Eloping with boys from nearby towns, running away because the couldn’t meet the headmaster’s high standards, things of that nature. Yu tried to appear the calm and collected hubby his wife thought him to be as things started to get going and Yukiko and her mother had unknowingly helped him out on that front. They had seen so many horror movies, knew all the beats and clichés, that they basically knew what was going to happen long before it actually did. So, whenever the two women got quiet, or when they would giggle amongst themselves, or when they leaned in towards the screen intently, that told Yu to steel himself because something surprising was probably about to happen.

But, those many years with her scaredy cat husband made Yukina quiet keen on when someone was trying to hold something in, and she knew Yu was a a little more on edge then he let on. So, she elected to have some fun. During a scene where the protagonist was chased throughout the house by another crazed, possessed looking student, she made her move. Like a cat, she stealthily moved her arm behind her daughter, and lightly brushed the back of her husband’s neck, much like she would do to her husband. Yu didn’t scream or yelp or anything like that. But, he did quickly whip his head around and check over his shoulders with a fearful look.

It wasn’t a grand, popcorn throwing, performance like her husband, but considering how composed and in control of his emotions her son-in-law usually was he might as well had been hanging from the ceiling in fright and Yukina enjoyed it immensely.

At the end of the movie it was revealed that the headmaster was part of a coven of witches and that were using the ancient ritual site under the house for various spells and sacrifices. One of them being a ritual so the headmaster, the leader of the witches and source of their power, could transfer her spirit to a new body, and it was the main protagonist’s body she wanted. With the help of a vengeful ghost of one of the recently slain girls, the main protagonist was able to blind the headmaster and set the mansion on fire before escaping. With the screaming head witch perishing when the upper floors collapsed on top of her, the rest of the coven was left without a source power source and they soon their flesh started to fall off and melt in a nauseating display.

Yukina turned the lights back on as the credit’s played giving Yu a sense of relief. This also allowed Yu to see that there was nothing but un-popped popcorn kernels left in the bowl he was holding, and gave his wife’s belly a jiggly pat on its side which caused her to coo in happiness again. “That was fun! Shame about the ending though…” Yu could only smile and shake his head. Yukiko was about the only person he knew who thought the main character surviving was the “bad ending,” besides her mother of course. With these types of movies it wasn’t really even that the monster or killer lost, he could tell they very much enjoyed the witches demise, it was just the fact that SOMEONE got away. Like the movie wasted a chance at having another "hilarious" scene.

“What did you think about it mother?” Yukiko asked.

“I think we should thank your father and grandfather for giving us such a lovely evening,” her mother happily replied.

“Remember when that one possessed girl leaped at her through the doorway only to get hit in the face with the lamp?”

“That was a riot! What about when the witches raised the bodies of all the other dead girls. Remember that one zombie with the broken neck like she had fallen down the stairs? How it hobbled around when she walked?”

“-snrk- Yeah! I actually wasn’t expecting the make-up to be that good!”

The two women sat around for another twenty or so minutes listing off their favorite parts. “What about you hubby? What did you like?” Yukiko took him by the arm and looked up at him with eager eyes. Yu scratched the back of his head. “Oh…uh…the setting looked nice? I thought the garden they had outside looked like it was well kept and the small village nearby kind of reminded me of Inaba.” His enthusiastic wife’s face dropped while his mother-in-law gave him an equally less than amused look. “That’s what you liked about it? How boring!” Yu didn’t know what to say. This was probably the first time in a long while he had disappointed his wife! “Uhhhhh...the ghost of her best friend looked pretty creepy...” he tried to recover.

The movie had been everything Yukina wanted it to be and maybe even more. But, their was one scene that did bother her, something that rarely happened if ever when it came to “scary” movies. It was a scene where the main character was heckled by woman looking for her daughter who had gone to the academy and who we later learn was one of the girl’s slain. It bothered her because of how unnatural the acting was. Having lived it herself and knowing what it was like to have someone you love disappear, she didn’t find the actor convincing in the slightest.

She still had so many unanswered questions, so many strange feelings about the whole ordeal. She knew she wasn’t being told the whole truth and she knew it would keep bothering her until she got some sort of closure. That's why she'd called them in here in the first place. That’s why when her daughter and her son-in-law were about to leave and their guards were down, she stopped them.

“Excuse me, before you two go. I wanted to talk to you about something.” The two didn’t think anything of it, “What is it mother?” Yukiko yawned, having started to feel tired. It was almost midnight and they had had such an eventful day. Yukina stood up from the couch and stood in front of the two lovers, wanting to get a good look at their faces to get their reactions when she did what she was about to do. “I wanted you to tell me what really happened last spring. When you went missing.”

Yukiko brought her hand to her face in shock at the sudden question before averting her gaze. Even the usually calm Yu’s eyes popped for a moment or two before recovering. It was because of their reactions that Yukina now knew definitively that all her doubts and suspicions were not unfounded. She knew the look she was getting from the two very well. It was the same look Yukiko gave her the time her and Chie were roughhousing in the halls and ended up putting a hole in the wall, or the time when she caught Yukiko going to her father for a snack even though she had already told her no. I t was the look of being caught red-handed. It was the look of guilt.

“We went over this mother, I don’t remember…” Yukiko finally stammered out. Yukina placed a hand on her hip, not having any of it, “Come now, Yukiko. You should know by now you can’t keep secrets from me. I’m your mother after all. Besides, you’re a terrible liar.” Yu had to give her that. Yukiko was almost incapable of being dishonest and any time she tried she was as transparent as glass. Even Teddie could pull off a persuasive lie every once in a while. Honestly, it was a miracle she was only calling them out on their lies now.

At first, she didn’t really care what he daughter told her upon her return. She was just so overcome with relief and joy to have her back and to see she was safe. It wasn’t until later she had really started to examine what had happened and started to question Yukiko’s story. She would prod Yukiko occasionally, ask her if she had remembered anything, and every time Yukiko became less and less convincing in her denial. Especially as her strange group of friends including a nationally renowned idol and detective joined her friend group after also disappearing briefly, Mitsuru's sudden strange arrival was the straw that broke the camel's back when it came to her daughter's innocence in all of this.

The two lovers gave each other a nervous look. Neither could see a way out of the situation, and they were unsure of how to proceed. Yu tapped his finger against his thigh as her tried to formulate another lie, but he stopped once Yukina stepped toward him at took his hand. “Please. Tell me the truth. I need to know.”

Looking at the pleading woman, Yu knew they couldn’t keep lying. Not just because of the difficulty of having to keep that lie going but because he sympathized with his mother-in-law. They were family after all, and families shouldn’t keep secrets from each other. Of course, the truth in this instance would not be the easiest pill to swallow, but at least he had Yukiko to back him up. One look to his wife and she seemed to understand what he wanted to do.

“Believe us, we didn’t mean to hurt you or anything. Quite the opposite actually.” Yukina breathed a sigh of relief. Now she was getting somewhere! Yu told her it be best for her to sit down and if she “kept an open mind.” Yukina scurried back to the couch and took a seat, calmly placing her hand on her lap before motion the two to proceed with their explanation.

Yu decided to dive right in, “Let me start off by saying that Yukiko’s disappearance was no accident. It was probably as you feared most, she had been targeted and kidnapped by the same serial killer that killed Ms. Yamano and Saki Konishi.” Technically it had been Namatame that had kidnapped Yukiko in a misguided attempt to save her, but Yu saw no reason to bring that up. It had been Adachi that gave him the idea in the first place and used Namatame like a puppet, so he really didn’t see that much difference then if Adachi had done the actual deed himself.

A shiver went down Yukina’s spine as all those feelings she had during that period of time came back. Of course, after that high school girl was killed, she had feared the worst when Yukiko went missing. She dreaded turning on the TV every day, expecting to see a police report of how another high school girl had been found dead and that it would turn out to be her baby girl.

But, when Chie turned up at the Inn with her missing daughter in tow, not even a scratch on her, she assumed her disappearance couldn’t have been because of the murderer and started to think things like maybe she had run away willingly because she was unhappy with her. But now she is learning her daughter really was in grave danger! She remembered that slimeball detective walking around during the investigation of Ms. Yamano’s murder. To think she actually answered a few of his questions and she didn’t suspect a thing! Did he decide to kidnap Yukiko while he was there? By letting him into their home, did she unwittingly help make Yukiko his next target? All these thoughts raced in her head as she started to sweat.

Before things got too out of hand, Yukina felt a something heavy plop down on the couch next to her and a slender hand place itself on her shoulder. “Mother, please calm down. I’m fine remember? Everything is fine now.” Yukina instantly threw her arms around her daughter and gave her a hug almost as big as the one the day she had returned. “Yes, of course, it’s all in the past now.” Yukina said, wiping away a lone tear. Yukina gave her daughter another softer hug before pushing her away. “But I don’t understand. How did you get away? Why didn’t you say anything to the police when they questioned you? Why would you lie?”

Yukiko nervously pawed at her belly, “Well, we didn’t think anyone would believe us…”

“Wouldn’t believe…us?” Yukina turned to Yu for some clarification. He scratched the back of his head, “Well when me, Chie, and Yosuke found her, she wasn’t exactly in Inaba…or Japan…or even earth really…”

Yukina had no idea what he was talking about. “Could you two please start making some sense?” Yukiko decided to stop beating around the bush, “While I actually don’t remember actual being kidnapped, I found out later that I had been thrown inside a TV…”

Yukina brushed some hair covering her ears aside, making sure she heard that correctly. “Inside…the TV?” Yu was quick to cut in, “Not actually inside the TV. TV’s only act as a sort of portal to where she was. It’s almost like a different dimension. But only certain people, like the killer and us, can use it like that.”

Yukina shook her head and laughed. “Are you listening to yourself? What are you talking about? You know, I don’t really appreciate being tugged around like this. And here I thought you were going to actually tell me the truth…” But as Yukina looked to her son-in- law, all she saw was a completely stone, serious face. Her daughter’s face was also as unmoving. Not even a single eyebrow twitch to suggest she was trying to deceive. This made Yukina think, she had heard something like this before. When the young detective got caught, she had heard that during his interrogation he told a similar story of “putting people in TVs” that lead to some other world inhabited by crazy monsters. Of course, it being still being an ongoing investigation, the police didn’t divulge this information to the public. But, in a small town like Inaba, all it took was one of the officers who had dealt with him talking to a few of his buddies about it after having a little to much to drink, and just like that, the whole town knew. Like everyone else, she had thought the young detective was either crazy or mocking the police with such an insane sounding story. But, now she is being told that everything he had said was the truth…

The final straw was when Yu approached the TV and turned it on. With no tape in the VCR all that showed up on screen was deafening static. He gave her a quick glance to make sure she was paying attention, and using a single finger, pressed it against the TV screen.

To her shock, the screen seemed to distort and ripple, like it was made of liquid, and like as if it were a liquid, her son-in-law’s finger went right through! Her daughter comforted her reeling mother as she tried to process what she had just seen and It wasn’t that long after before Yukina straightened her posture, put her hands back on her lap, and asked the two to go into more detail about this “other world.”

So, they told her about how they had gone into the TV world, fought the monsters there, and rescued Yukiko. Yukina listened quietly, only asking an occasional question. They explained how they knew the police wouldn’t be able to catch the killer, so it was up to them to do something about it. How they ended up rescuing the Kanji, Rise, and Naoto as well. Yukina had always thought it was a strange coincidence that Yukiko’s new group of friends had mostly consisted of people who had gone missing like her, but it all made sense to her now. They even explained to her that the mysterious fog that had plagued Inaba was the other world “leaking out” into theirs.

“I knew there was something off about that fog. I always hated going outside in it.” she stated with a nod. “Well, we think it’s all taken care of so I wouldn’t worry about it anymore.” With the abridged story of their exploits over. Yukina placed a hand on her daughter’s knee. “It looks like you had a very eventful year.” Yukiko’s face lit up, “So you believe us?”

“I’ll admit, it was pretty unbelievable at times, but it’s hard to find fault with any of it after your husband’s little demonstration.” She had listened intently as Yu and Yukiko took turns explaining things to her. The sections they had each told her had flowed together far to well to have been some joint fabrication thought up on the fly.

But even if it wasn’t for all that, for her son-in-law being able tp stick an appendage in through a solid TV screen, she still would have ended up believing them. It was just a feeling she had. Call it mother’s intuition.

“I suppose that Ms. Kirijo coming to town wasn’t a coincidence either then?”

Yu nodded, “Yeah, she knows all about that stuff.”

“Well, of course. Someone as rich and influential would have to know these things, wouldn’t they?”

“She came last time because we were able to help her out with some things and she decided to throw us a little party as a way of saying thank you.”

Yukiko balled her hands into fists, “She has a whole group that deals with these sorts of things and Yu told her that they can count on us whenever they need it. We’re like secret agents! Oh Yu, I just remembered! We even have the outfits for it!”

“Secret agents?”

Yu knew exactly the outfit she was talking about, and it was hard not to fantasize about her cramming her bigger motherly butt into it, but he could feel Mrs. Amagi glaring at him, “Don’t worry! It’s not like we are going to be called away from the Inn to go on a mission or anything. We agreed to help Ms. Kirijo by keeping our eyes and ears open to any goings on and potentially providing her with information if she needs it. So, it’s more like we’re...secret consultants.”

Yukiko puffed out her cheeks, “Aww, that doesn’t sound as exciting…”

It was way past midnight at this point and Yukina told the two that she was going to go grab herself some tea and then go to bed and process all she had heard. “Umm…are you going to tell father about any of this?” Yukina let out short “HA!” before waving her daughter off. “You must be joking. He would never sleep again if he knew any of that stuff. And you know your father is incapable of keeping a secret like that. Your grandmother would have him taken away for talking crazy! Plus, can you imagine how protective he'd be of you? 'Where are you going? you better not be trying to save the world again young lady, you'll make your father worried' eeeheehee”

“You sure your going to be okay mother?” Yukiko asked.

“I’m fine. It’s just having your whole world view shattered like that is a little jarring. A good night’s sleep will do me some good.” Yukina caressed her daughter’s cheek. “To think my daughter and her friends did so much to help this town. I’m really proud of you.”

“Mother!” Yukiko said slightly flustered. Yukina didn’t let go, “I’m sorry, I just never knew you were so strong…” On a dime, Yukina’s warm smiled turned into a mischievous one and she pinched her daughter’s chubbier cheek while poking at her flabby bicep. “Or at least you used to be!”

“-snrk- Mother! Stop! -snrk- That tickles! You’ll wake the baby!” the jiggly mama pleaded.

Getting her one last tease out of the way for the night, the Amagi matriarch turned to her son-in-law and after taking the deepest bow he had even seen the woman make, she thanked him for saving her daughter’s life. Always the modest one, Yu accepted but reminded her that it wasn’t just him that helped saved her to which she replied that she would be sure to thank Chie the next time she came to work.

After getting her tea and coming back to her room, Yukina found herself staring at the dark screen of the TV. She couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of her much fatter daughter trying to fit through such a small space now. It was all so surreal! Hesitantly, she raised her hand up to the screen and touched it, but unlike with Yu, her hand hit a very solid screen with a loud “thunk.” It was just as well. It’s not like she could go running around in some “TV world” fighting monsters like her daughter given her responsibilities and physical health, but she would have to ask her daughter to describe some of these “Shadows” to her sometime when they were alone. With a name like that, some of them were sure to be very spooky looking! It was kind of funny. She also found herself remembering a movie she had seen about a ghost girl coming out of a TV screen, and with what she had learned tonight, it amused her to think that such a thing may not be as farfetched as it seemed…

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The next day was a little awkward for the couple. Yukina seemed to still be processing all she had learned and her interactions with her daughter and son-in-law came off as “stiff,” like she didn’t know quiet what to say to them. How could she? After all, she had learned last night that her daughter and her husband were basically the town’s superheroes! But, by the afternoon things were more or less how they had been before. Of course, Yukina couldn’t stop herself from making occasional comments like if they had “seen anything good on TV lately” or to be carful on their way to school because it was “pretty foggy this morning” as it often was in the mountains. It was all in good fun, but unknown to her mother Yukiko had had a few laughs of her own. There had been a few times where she had caught her mother bat at the TV screen in the lobby as she walked past, or upon leaving a room she would quickly re-enter as if to “catch” the TV in the act of doing something strange. It was cute in a way, like how a kid might do to his toys to see if they came to life once they left the room.

Also, whenever Yukina was alone in a room with Yukiko or Yu and they weren’t working, she liked to ask them questions. They weren’t about anything major and they didn’t usually deal with the types of things that were better left a secret. Her questions mostly dealt with what the TV world was like and what types of creatures lived there. After a long day of working, preparing for the wedding, and dealing with her mother when it came to the previous two, being able to hear about strange bathhouses and secret laboratories inhabited by phantoms, stone golems, and even giant robots like you would see in the types of cartoons children watched was something for her to look forward to.

Soon the days remaining until the wedding dropped down to five. One would think that after having already signed the paperwork, the fact that they had already been living together for some time now, and that they were already expecting a child, a marriage ceremony at this point would have just been a formality for the two lovers, but the closer it got, the more excited and cheerier Yukiko became. Even Yu found that falling asleep at night was proving more difficult as his mind turned to what would be the best day of his life so far. And, although it was farther off, every day closer to their wedding was also a day closer to the birth of their son…

That morning started off like how Yukiko hoped everyday would. The slumbering Yukiko grimaced as the light breeze blowing through the trees outside their window allowed the sunlight in and upon hearing the sweet sound of a pair songbirds singing outside, her eyes fluttered open. The weary mama groaned and stretched out her arms before making a pleasant discovery. She could feel by the indentations of the mattress that there was some else in her bed. Trying her best to reach behind her, her hand brushing across what felt like a hard and chiseled chest confirmed it for her.

She smiled lazily. Nothing pleased her more than to be able to wake up with her husband still snoozing next to her. Sometimes it was unavoidable that he would have to wake up before her, whether it was to get started on the day’s work or if he was to make breakfast for everyone that morning but that just made moments like this all the sweeter.

Yukiko grunted as she rocked back and forth to roll over. With so much “ground” to cover given her expansive child bearing hips and her equally as wide rear end, and with her fat and fertile belly acting more like one of those iron balls they strap to prisoners’ ankles keeping her pinned, it took a lot of effort to make the full rotation from one side to the other, but after a few attempts she flopped to face her hubby. Equally as hard because of how much her baby belly pushed out was trying to nuzzle up against her hubby, but she managed as best she could, and her hubby’s rough yet gentle hand coming to caress her stomach more than made up for the fact that she couldn’t bury her face into his chest as deeply as she wanted to.

The perfect scene, her and her hubby laying together while facing each other, the new life they made together between them basking in the warm of his two loving parents, made Yukiko not want to get out of bed. But, before she could fall back asleep, she felt something tickling her forehead. At first, she thought it was her Yu’s silvery hair lightly brushing up against her, but she had more than enough experience with her hubby to know what that felt like and this felt a whole lot “fuzzier” than that. With blurred vison she looked up to see what it was, and when her eyes finally focused on her hubby’s face, she was met with a face looking down at her that wasn’t Yu’s!

Well, it was his face, but most of it was hidden from view. His cool heart piercing eyes were hidden behind a pair of thick swirly glasses, his small sharp nose was hidden behind a big and bulbous plastic one, and his upper lip was hiding behind a thick black and bushy mustache.

“Good morning, did you sleep well?” He asked, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Yu had come across the glasses when he and Yukiko were going through some of their things while looking for one of Yukiko’s battle fans to show her mother.

He had slipped them in his pocket before she noticed and waited for the best time to take them out again until he decided, “What better way to start the day than with a laugh?”

Yukiko didn’t react at first. It was like her brain couldn’t process something so funny all at once and had to reboot. But after readjusting the glasses on his face, Yukiko suddenly sprung to life.

“-snrk- AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Like a bowl of jello in an earthquake, his wife’s body quivered and shook in response of her severe laughing fit. Light ripples spread through the pale pudgy surface of her gravid stomach and her chubby cheeks jiggled as she tried to catch her breath between her deep belly laughs, but it was her breasts that put on the biggest show. Her hefty milk producing mammaries wobbled and bounce wildly in ever direction, slapping against her stomach shelf and each other with meaty sounding “smacks.” With that in addition to how hard she was laughing, Yu was starting to worry she might end up cracking a rib! He had forgotten just how amusing these glasses were to his Yuki.

He winced in pain when his now red-faced wife leaned in and started to pound on his chest with repeated strikes in her bout of hysterics. It surprised him how much strength those flabby arms of hers still contained! After a few more hard strikes, Yukiko’s body bobbing started to get less and less pronounced and her laughing started to peter out. Wiping tears from her eyes, Yukiko took a deep breath and for a second it seemed like the ordeal was over. However, surprising Yu yet again with her speed, she snatched glasses right off his face and placed them on her own, and like turning on a faucet, the laughs came pouring back out.

The laughter didn’t end until the plush mama almost fell right out of bed from laughing to hard, and threatened to take her husband with her when he grabbed her. Getting the last few giggles out, Yukiko handed the glasses back to Yu, “Hubby! We should wear these during our wedding photos! Wouldn’t that be a riot?”

Yu couldn’t tell if she was serious or not. “I don’t think your parents would like that very much…but I don’t see the harm in taking one like that.” Yu seized his wife’s marshmallow middle with both hands and gave it a couple of jiggles, “Maybe we could even get Teddie to make an extra big pair for you to put on your belly so our son can join in. Yukiko slapped her husbands’ hands away, “-snrk- AHAHAHAHA STOP! THAT TICKLES! AHAHAHAHA! Too much laughing! It’s really starting to hurt now!”

As Yukiko caught her breath yet again, Yu’s eyes focused on his wife bountiful chest. “Looks like I did go a little to far,” he chuckled while pointing at the small dribble stains around her nipples. Yukiko lifted her breasts up and blinked a few times before looking back at her husband. “Oops” was all she said with a tiny shrug, as if to say, “Oh well!” Yukiko spoke to her stomach in her soft baby voice, “Looks like dada got mama to excited. Didn’t he?” Noticing a tiny bit of movement under the sheets her husband was covering himself with, Yukiko could see that someone else had gotten a tiny bit excited as well.

With a sly smiled, Yukiko dropped her heavy chest and stretched out on the bed, laying on her side, giving Yu an idea of just how wide a mama she was. With the tip of her thumb, she pulled down the neck of her nightgown, giving her hubby a full view of her plunging cleavage. “Liking what you’re seeing?” Dumbstruck and trying to contain his arousal, Yu quickly nodded in response.

Yukiko gave her broadening child rearing hips a teasing waggle before placing a hand on top of them with a hard, meaty smack that made Yu immediately snap up straight to attention. “This giving you any ideas?” She asked giving him a wink and playfully sticking out her tongue.

“You know…it is almost breakfast time. And you do remember what today is right?” Yu stuttered out. “Oh, that’s right! Rise and Naoto are coming back today! We can’t be late for that!” The excitement of her friends coming home and the investigation team reuniting for the first time in what felt like forever was enough to make Yukiko forget what was going on for the time being. Yukiko again looked to her stomach and repeated the declaration for her son, only this time adding that “Auntie Rise and Auntie Naoto” were coming. “But it’s so strange! The wedding is still five days away. With how busy those two are, you think they would have come closer to the date, right?”
“Maybe Rise wanted to spend some time with her grandmother? And I’m sure Naoto would like some time to hang out with Kanji.” Beads of sweat began to form on Yu’s forehead when his wife started squinting at him. She felt like he was trying to hide something, but she quickly dropped it. She knew her hubby and he wouldn’t try and keep something from her unless there was a good reason.

“Well come on! Let’s go!” the young mother said while pumping her fist.

“Hold your horses,” Yu laughed, “their train isn’t due until 3 o’clock, besides, breakfast first.” Yukiko pouted, “Okay, but remember! Not too much!” One would think that the tubby mama reminding her husband not to serve her too much to eat meant that something was wrong with her, and normally, they would be right. But Yukiko had a good reason. With the wedding fast approaching and with her outfit already selected for it, she had to start thinking about actually being able to fit into it.

While the thought of her soft womanly curves pouring out of her dress amused her greatly for her husband’s potential reaction to it, the thought of everyone else’s reaction to such a sight was less than thrilling. So, until the wedding, she was just trying her best to maintain her current weight. It wasn't going that great.

With a smile, Yukiko told her baby boy that it was time to go see grandma and grandpa, but when she tried to stand, she felt a pair of strong hands grab onto her sides. With her husband’s fingers gripping into her fattened hips, Yukiko let out a low moan as she was pulled back into bed. Thrown on he back, she peaked over her mountainous breast to see her hubby kneeling over her, “You know, it being almost breakfast time just means we have to be quick about this…” Yukiko barely got out a giggle before the two locked lips and Yu made his entry, the expectant mother mewing in pleasure from how much of a “beast” her hubby could be.

Yukiko was counting down the seconds until it was time to start heading to the train station. They ended up leaving a little early in order to give Yukiko the time she needed to get there without having to walk faster than her motherly waddle but also so they could take a stroll through the park together. Yu told Sachiko that this would be Yukiko’s exercise for the day and that he would make sure she’d work hard, but neglected to tell her they would be stopping for ice cream on the way. When they finally did arrive at the train platform, they found that they were the last ones there.

“Took you long enough,” Yosuke joked as the two approached.

“Yo.” Kanji greeted.

Chie was quick to pair off with the huffing and puffing Yukiko and help lead her to a nearby bench.

“Thank you…Chie…stairs and…mamas don’t mix!”

Chie would have made a comment that her mother never had a problem with stairs, but she knew it would have gone through one ear and out the other with her friend and kept quiet.

While the two women talked amongst themselves, about work and Chie’s academic progress, Yu conversed with the other boys. “Have you guys been waiting long?” He asked. Yosuke shook his head, “Nah, me and Teddie got here about five minutes before you guys did.” Crossing his arms Teddie huffed, “I thought for sure we would be late! I was afraid maybe Yosuke had forgotten that Rise-chan and Nao-chan were coming today or that maybe he just didn’t care enough…”

“Hey! Making sure you finished your shift does not mean I don’t care! Maybe if you didn’t try and sneak off you would have finished your stocking assignment earlier. What are we even fighting about? We’re here aren’t we?”

“What about you Kanji?”

Kanji opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, Yosuke cut him off, grinning ear to ear. “Kanji was here before us. You know he wouldn’t risk not being here for Naoto’s arrival. You know, I think I remember some customers talking about seeing a scary looking guy near the train station this morning…”

Kanji scowled, “Hey! I was helping my old lady out all day. I only got here a few minutes before you did.” Yosuke chuckled and put up his hands, backing up before he opened his big mouth again and gave Kanji more of a reason to hit him. As they talked, Yu couldn’t help but noticed Kanji glancing down the train tracks every so often. “You nervous?”

“Huh?”

“Are you nervous about seeing Naoto again? You haven’t seen her for a while, right?”
Kanji seemed a little confused, “I mean, it wasn’t that long ago. She was just here a few we-“ Kanji’s eyes suddenly went wide at what he was about to divulge and clamped up tight, drawing Yu’s attention. “I-uh-I mean, yeah, I guess I am a little nervous…”

Kanji could tell by the look that Yu gave him that he was busted, but Yu just gave him a pat on the shoulder. If Naoto had come to Inaba to see Kanji a few times without him or the others knowing, he wasn’t about to out them, especially with the potential misunderstandings that it could lead to, mostly from his own wife.
“Well, I hope things continue to go well for you two.” Kanji scratched his cheek embarrassingly, “Uh...thanks senpai…”

They continued to talk amongst themselves, mainly about the coming wedding. Yosuke was just about to check his phone for the time, when he heard the sound of the railroad crossing signal down the road, signaling an oncoming train. The blaring of a train horn further confirmed it. With the help Chie, Yukiko rose off the bench to her feet and scrambled over to the rest of the group to welcome their friends.

When the train came to screeching halt at the station, the doors hadn’t even opened halfway before a familiar peppy red-head idol squeezed her way out, as if she were already waiting at the doors before the train had fully pulled up to the platform. The moment she spied her group of friends waiting for her, Rise abandoned her bags and rushed toward them, her designer sunglasses almost flying off her head.

“HEEEEEEEYYY! YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE HOW MUCH I MISSED YOU GUYS!”

The first thing she did upon reaching the group was to throw her arms around the two people closest to her, Chie and Yukiko, and bring them in for a big hug. “Hey! I missed you too but your putting me in a headlock here!” Chie said, patting the idol on the back to get her to loosen her grip, but instead Rise just tightened up more, “I’m sorry! I’m just so happy! It’s been a long time!”

With her tighter grip, it was then Rise realized just how much softer the back of a certain raven-haired inn heiress felt. Not one for personal space when it came to her female friends, Rise took a step back and placed both her hands on the fluffy mama’s fatter belly. “Yukiko, what have you been eating? You’re so huge now!” Rise gasped and covered her mouth for what most women would consider a “rude” comment, but she quickly remembered just who she was talking to. “Yup!” Yukiko said with a sense of pride while slapping her hands against her belly’s billowing sides, showing off just how much more jiggly it was. “We have both been doing some growing! Daddy over there has been spoiling us by feeding us whatever we want.” Rise gave a sly, knowing grin to her senpai, remember Yu’s special taste in his women “Oh, I’m sure he has…”

Rise turned back to her expecting friend, this time bending down to get closer her belly and the child within. “Hello there,” she said in a gentle voice, waving as she did so.

“You remember me, don’t you? It’s your aunt Rise. Have you been behaving for your mama?” Yukiko smiled. That went without saying. Her son hadn’t even been born yet and she still felt that she had the most well-behaved boy in the world. He was calm, never making a fuss or keeping her from sleeping at night, and he always seemed to know when to make is presence know and give a little loving kick when his mama needed it.

Rise moved on the greet her other friends. She gave her senapi a hug, though not as strong a one as she gave Yukiko and Chie. She gave Yosuke a hug as well, though it felt kind of awkward for the both of them. She kept her guard up for Teddie, but surprisingly, even though she could feel himself struggling to hold himself back, he didn’t actually try anything funny with her. Kanji didn’t get a hug at all, instead she gave the delinquent a jab on the shoulder which was more than good enough for him. “I know you missed me Kanji! You must be so lonely! Are you still scaring off everyone else in our grade?” Rise teased smugly.

“Are you kidding? With you gone I don’t have to listen to any of your boring ass stories or your fashion tips to “improve my image.”” Kanji gave Rise a genuine smile, “But I suppose they did help pass the time, so yeah, I guess I did miss you a little.” Rise gave Kanji another hit on the arm. Watching this unfold, Yukiko whispered to her husband, “See. I don’t understand it. They’re perfect for each other.” Yu shook his head and laughed to himself, his wife would not let her failed matchmaking belief go. But that did bring something to his attention, where was Kanji’s actual girlfriend?

Standing amongst Rise’s discarded luggage with her own bag clutched to her chest, was the very red faced bluenette. Rise cupped her hands, “Come on Naoto! Stop dragging your feet, everyone is waiting!” Avoiding eye contact, Naoto tentatively walked toward her friends. Naoto could be very shy in certain situations, but it didn’t make much sense for her to be this shy around her friends no matter how long it had been since they last saw her. However, Rise seemed to know something the others didn’t. Bouncing up and down on her toes in excitement, Rise pointed at the girl. “Okay Naoto! Drop the bag, show everyone your new sexy look!”

Naoto clutched the bag tighter, “Do you really have to say it like that?” her voice sounding much higher and feminine from being upset. Yu noticed that Kanji’s face was getting redder, like he had caught on to what Rise was talking about. Slowly, Naoto dropped her bag to her her side, leaving the rest of the investigation team in shock. Naoto was…unbound!

“Woah,” was all the boys could collectively say. To the girls Naoto’s chest size was nothing new, but to the boys, the only time they ever would have gotten a chance to see it was during the unfortunate hot springs incident, and they were to busy trying not to get pelted in the face by washing pails to notice. If it weren’t for Yukiko’s pregnancy, Naoto would no doubt have been the queen when it came to chest size, her small stature only serving to make them look even bigger. With her prominent breasts now out on full display, no one would ever mistake her for a boy again.

“Looking good Naoto!” Chie shouted to try and give the embarrassed girl some confidence.

“Have they gotten even bigger?” Yukiko pondered as she inspected the girl, causing Naoto to wrap her arms around her chest to cover them. She knew this was a bad idea!

“It almost seems criminal that you would cover them up like that,” said Yosuke under his breath.

His face almost as flushed as Naoto’s, Kanji stepped up to his girlfriend. “I th-th-think you look great. It’s really…uuhhhh…“you,” you know?” he stammered out. Naoto only looked confused by Kanji’s words. “Well, I mean, I uhh…” Out of nowhere, Yu appeared by Kanji’s side to back him up. “What I think Kanji is trying to say is that he thinks it’s great you’re starting to feel more comfortable with yourself and that it is a big step that you would do something like this.” Yu smiled, “I agree of course, it’s a good look for you.” Relaxing a bit, Naoto slowly brought her hands back down to her sides.

“I wouldn’t really call this comfortable but thank you both for your sentiments.” She knew it would be awkward like this, and it did feel a little strange to feel her breasts straining against her detective jacket. Not to mention the feeling of having them hang out while she walked around.

Their freer movement made her feel like she had a pair of water balloons strapped to her chest and although she knew they weren’t that big or that unrestrained by her new bra that they would bounce around that much, it was still a big difference when compared to having them taped down. But after a while these feelings would fade, and it wasn’t like it was all bad. Not having to bind herself saved a lot of time in the morning, wrapping herself too tightly could put some stress on her lungs and she found herself being able to breathe a little easier now, and although she wouldn’t admit to it out loud, it did feel a little nice to be more “appealing” to her boyfriend…

Getting over his initial shock, Yosuke threw in his two cents. “Yeah, what they said. I mean if you want to change up your look there are worst ways to do it. Remember the “new and improved Kanji?” Thanks for talking some sense into him about that by the way.”

“Hey man! Why you got to bring that up!”

“Ooo! What! What! What happened when I was gone? Tell me!” Rise demanded.

“Oh man, you should have seen it. Kanji stopped doing the whole “tough guy” look for a while. He started combing his hair, stopped dying it, had a complete wardrobe change, and he even started wearing glasses!”

Kanji tried to defend himself, “Look I admit, it was a case of bad judgement on my part but…”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Rise interrupted. “That sound hilarious! I can’t believe I missed it! You’re saying Naoto convinced him to change back?” Rise gave Naoto a smirk. “I didn’t know Naoto had a thing for rough and dangerous looking guys.”

“That’s not it at all! It’s just what I was used to!” Naoto pleaded.

“What do you mean dangerous!” Kanji screamed.

“Here I took a picture.” Yukiko said, chuckling while offering her phone to the idol. Kanji scrambled to try and snatch the phone away, “No wait! Their ain’t no point in showing her that! It’s all in the past now. Hey! Give me that! You better delete that picture!”

It was a testament to how strong Kanji was when faced with the onslaught of laughs he got from the two girls once Rise was shown the picture. Their laughed seemed to get even louder the more it went on, like the two were bouncing off each other. “Uh, Yuki? Can you tone it down a little,” Yu said while patting his wife on the back. With all the laughing she was doing today he was starting to worry she would go into premature labor! “Stop laughing you two! You’re being childish!” Naoto reprimanded. She seemed even more upset than Kanji did.

After the giggling stopped, Rise apologized to Kanji. It took a moment to cook his head, but afterwards he said it was fine. He knew she didn’t mean anything malicious by it and if he were to be honest, if it was someone else, he probably would have thought it was funny too. “Seriously though, you need to delete those pictures, and that goes for everyone else who has any floating around too,” Kanji barked.

Rise had just arrived in Inaba, and she was already feeling wonderful. It was just like old times, like she had never left. There was however one thing that was bugging her and that was a certain blonde haired blue eyed boy’s bizarre behavior. “Hey Teddie! What gives? Are you sick or something? First you didn’t even try and cop a feel when I hugged you earlier and then Naoto appears with giant boobs unleashed and you don’t say a word!” Teddie laughed hauntingly, “What’s the matter Rise-chan? Don’t tell me you’re finally coming onto the old Teddie charm!”

Teddie pompously turned his nose up, “Well I’m sorry but you missed your chance! There is only one person on this bear’s mind now and that’s Kashi-baby!”

Yosuke groaned immediately upon hearing Teddie’s nickname for his new squeeze. “Kashi-baby?” Rise questioned. “Our fearless leader here decided it would be such a swell idea to hook up Teddie and Kashiwagi with a date.” Yosuke knew he made a vow to try to complain less and to be less whiny, but he thought that something like this was a special circumstance. “Kashiwagi? Your old teacher from that beauty pageant last year?” Rise said in surprise. Teddie nodded conceitedly, “Hm. Hm. Hm. That’s right. We really hit it off and now we are this towns hottest new couple, so sorry, but your feminine wiles just don’t do it for me anymore. I require a more mature and developed woman.” Rise scowled at what she took as a backhanded insult.

“Yeah, I really didn’t know what to think at first, but after thinking about it, it was hard not to feel good for the guy. And besides, it’s no skin off my back. Although, what does that say about Kashiwagi that the only date she could get in years was with some monster from another dimension…” Kanji pondered. Teddie took offense to that, “Hey! The only monster this bear is is a monster of love…” Teddie turned to Yosuke and pucked his lips, making fake kissing noises. “Knock it off will you!” Yosuke shouted while grabbing the former shadow by the face and pushing him off.

Equally as shook by the news as Rise, Naoto tried to think through it logically. “Normally I’d bring up the age difference between the two of you and the ethics of a teacher dating a student. But you don’t go to school so you aren’t a student, and given the way the TV world works, we can’t really say how old Teddie actually is, so I can’t exactly see a problem with it.”

Naoto pulled her hat down slightly, “And as long as it keeps him off my back…”

“Oh! Don’t encourage him!” Yosuke continued to complain. Teddie jumped to his feet, “Yeah Naoto’s right! There have been times when I thought that I was a little old to be participating in some of your shenanigans.” Yosuke slapped his forehead, “says the guy who makes me buy him topsicles all the time because he “forgot his wallet in his costume.””

Throwing her hair back and arching her back, Rise took a pose she had done for a recent magazine shoot and pouted. “Really Teddie? Since your taken now you’re saying this doesn’t do it for you?”

Teddie clenched his jaw. “Y-y-y-up! Like I said before, this Romeo only has eyes for his Juliet, and that’s Kashi-baby…” His actions not really following his words, Teddie visibly winced when Rise went on to another pose, “Awwwww! I don’t know what your trying to do but it won’t work!” Teddie was practically clawing at his face by the third pose. “Oh man! This is so hard!” he groaned to himself. Continuing to tease the boy, Rise walked over to Naoto and placed her hands on the girl’s shoulders.

“Hey, what are you…”

Rise suddenly stated shaking the confused bluenette, causing her breasts to bounce around wildly.

“Rise! Stop! STOOOOOOOP IIIITTTTT!!!!” Naoto whined. “Knock that off!” Kanji yelled, coming to his girlfriend’s defense and trying to hide his own enjoyment from the display. Rise released her grip on the girl and Naoto scampered off, hiding behind her boyfriend for protection. Even for someone like Yukiko who thought the pairing of Naoto and Kanji came out of nowhere, she had to admit that the two of them like that was a cute image.

Teddie ruffled up his hair before slamming his foot down. “That’s nothing. My Kashi-baby’s boobies are way more bouncy! And bigger too! Even Yukiko’s sweet sweet melons can’t compare.”

Both husband and wife gave Teddie a nasty look, not only for his lecherous comment, but because both took what he had said as some sort of challenge.

Rise pouted for real this time after her teasing ploy to make Teddie crack failed. “I can’t believe it. Even Teddie has a girlfriend now? And with Kanji and Naoto dating and Yu and Yukiko getting married it seems everyone has got someone now besides me.”

Yosuke slicked his hair back, “You know Rise, I’m still available. I think we could show these guys a thing or two about being a couple.” Rise looked less than thrilled. “Yosuke, don’t joke like that.” Normally, Yosuke would have gotten defensive and said something about why the thought of dating him sounded like a joke to her, but that was exactly what his suggestion was, a joke. Last year, he would have jumped at the chance to go out on a date with Risette, but now he didn’t feel the same way. The idea felt to strange to him. Maybe it was because they were friends now or maybe something else had changed, but he just didn’t see her that way anymore. “Aw! What would everyone else think if they heard me talking like this! Who ever heard of someone friend zoning themselves, let alone with a famous idol!” He thought to himself. “Tough luck Yosuke. Rejected yet again, though I’m sure your used to that by now. I can give you some dating tips if you like.” Teddie said, in a superior sounding tone. “Stop looking down on me you stupid bear or I’ll have you cleaning the bathrooms the rest of the week!”

With the train having long left for it’s next destination, it was about time they all got off the train platform. Rushing back to her discarded pile of luggage, Rise started to pick up her bags. Naoto went to retrieve her belongings as well, but before she could Kanji had already slung her duffel bag over his shoulder and grabbed her suitcase, and without even asking too! Part of her wanted to say she could get her own bags, but she stopped herself before she did. She knew he was only trying to be good to her and she would be lying if she didn’t admit that having her boyfriend do that for her didn’t make her feel nice. Besides, she figured Yu does things for Yukiko all the time and look how happy…and…soft…she…

Naoto shook her head rapidly.

“Kanji, on second thought, let me carry the bag at least! It…has some…sensitive equipment inside!” she pleaded.

“Geez Rise! Do you always pack this heavy?” Yosuke said in amazement at the various bags and suitcases Rise had brought along with her. “An idol always has to look her best. You never know when someone is watching!” She reasoned. “Now are you going to help me or not?” Yosuke shrugged, “I’m just saying it seems a little overboard is all.”

Yosuke bent down to help Rise upright her giant rolling suitcase which had fallen over. “Guh!” He grunted as they lifted it. It felt like Rise had decided to bring along an entire rock collection! About halfway through the lift, Rise suddenly let go.

“GAH!” Yosuke shouted as the sudden increase in weight he had to handle by himself threw him off balance. “I finally just realized!” Rise said, bringing her hand to her face in a gasp. She puffed out her cheeks, causing her to more resemble the chubbier Yukiko, and turned to Yu who was helping Teddie with another bag. “I knew it felt like someone was missing! Where is Nanako?! You didn’t even bother to bring her along to come welcome us?”

This also got Naoto’s attention. The whole group had certainly grow attached to Yu’s little cousin considering everything that had happened.

“That’s right.” Yu said bluntly. “Why not!” Both of them shouted in unison. Yu took a step back because of the way both women were staring at him. Even Naoto looked like she wanted to wring his neck. “I didn’t tell her you were coming today because I thought she would like it more if we all went over there as a surprise.” Rise’s face instantly lit up and with renewed vigor and seemed to easily lift the suitcase Yosuke was struggling with. Everyone agreed that a surprise did sound a lot more fun. “Let’s go there right now then!” She proclaimed cheerfully, ready to lead the charge.

Yosuke called after her, “Wait! Can’t we drop off your stuff first!?”

Safe to say, Nanako hit the ceiling when, not only did her Big bro come to visit her, but the entire investigation team as well, and she was very happy to see Rise and Naoto again. The gang had stopped at the convenience store on the way over and picked up some ice cream to eat together, it not being quiet the right time for watermelon yet. Nanako showed everyone around the garden her and Yu started and her dad helped to maintain as well as how school was going and what her and her friends had been up to. Rise and Naoto in turn wowed the girl with stories about all the hard work they had been doing as an idol trying to get back into the business and as a detective respectively. As always, the young Nanako was as cute as a button, but the girls did look at Yukiko with a little envy with how much attention she got from the young girl as her new “Big Sis.” But they couldn’t feel too bad about it. After all a baby was an exciting thing and her and Yu were getting married in a few days. Nanako’s was just as excited about the wedding as any of them and they all vowed to have a good time at the wedding together.

After their visit, the investigation team all went their separate ways. Rise had to go check in with her grandmother and unpack. Chie had some homework she wanted to finish up before her evening workout. The tomboy’s new devotion for her studies served as a shock to her idol and detective friend. Kanji ended up walking his girlfriend to her grandfather’s while Yosuke and Teddie told Yu that they had “some stuff to take care of,” but intentionally left it vague as to what they were actually up to.

Yu still had his own secrets as well, because on arriving back to the Inn, he went straight to the kitchen. Yukiko found this strange, today wasn’t normally a day he cooked dinner for the family, and she didn’t remember her mother saying they would be having a larger than usual dinner service for the guests. But when she tried to pry further, she was quickly bussed out of the kitchen. With her hubby predisposed with some sort of secret mission and not wanting her grandmother to catch her wandering the halls lest she make her do something too physical for a blossoming mama like her, she went back to her and Yu’s room. There she took the chance to get off her feet, sat on the couch, and turned on the TV. There was nothing too interesting on, and soon she dozed off.

She was awoken by a knock on her door. Rubbing her eyes glancing at the clock she noticed she had been sleeping for a while and assumed it was someone coming to fetch her for dinner. But instead, it was a maid who told her that her mother wanted to see her in the lobby and that her “guests” had arrived.

Although Yukiko hated to have to keep whoever her guests were waiting, it was still a slow waddle to the lobby. When she finally arrived, she found Rise, Naoto, and Chie waiting for her. “Geez Yukiko, do you got lead in your shoes?” Rise joked. “Have you been sleeping dear?” Yukina asked. Yukiko was still a little groggy, her leisurely stroll not being enough to fully shake the last bit of sleepiness out of the large mama. “No!” She lied, quickly rubbing her eyes again. “What are you all doing here?” Yukiko gasped, “did something happen!?”

Chie frowned. “What? No. What would make you think that?” Rise hopped off the lobby couch and pointed at her puzzled friend. “We are here for you! With you getting married and all we thought it might be fun to have one last party before you tie the knot. Just us girls. Think of it as a last celebration as a young maiden before becoming tied down.”

“A party? You mean like one of those bachelorette parties I heard about? Isn’t that more of a western thing?” Rise nodded, “I guess you can say that, yeah.” Yukiko looked reluctant, “Should we really have a party like that? I’ve heard some very about some very debaucherous things about those types of parties. Like lots of drinking alcohol and other things…” Chie laughed in disbelief, “What kind of party do you think we have planned? We aren’t old enough to drink and even if we were, there was no way we would have you do it. Also, if anyone would be debaucherous it be you! You’re the only one here who has had…” Chie’s teasing grinded to a halt, partly because of Yukiko’s mother standing right there and another part from her own embarrassment of bringing something up like that.

Naoto stood up from her own seat, “I admit, I thought Rise’s idea was a little strange as well, but she was adamant in her resolve. At first, we she thought about taking you out to the city someplace, but we all agreed that given your…special condition…it would be better to just have it here.” Chie pumped her fist, “Yeah, nothing too crazy. Just a relaxing evening, just us four, like that night after the school festival. And I know how much you like to relax!” Chie laughed awkwardly and gave her friend’s stomach a small pat. “It would be five of us,” Yukiko quickly corrected, pointing to her belly. “Oh right…sorry…uh…you in there…” Chie apologized.

The still puzzled Yukiko looked at her mother. “I also found your friend’s idea a bit strange, but I also thought it was nice that they would want to do something special for you. Everything has already been set up, your room, your dinner service, a private bath time. Your friend here has spent some of their hard-earned money to make it happen, so I think you owe it to them to have a good time, don’t you?”

“I agree,” Yu stated, appearing from seemingly out of nowhere. He bowed, “I took it upon myself to make your dinner tonight as well as a wide array of treats and desserts I’m sure you will enjoy.” Yukiko put her hand on her cheek, “So that is why you have been slaving away in the kitchen since we got back. Just for us? Oh hubby!” Yukiko gave Yu a peck on the cheek. “Yes! This night just got even better” Chie proclaimed happily. She turned to the two other party throwers “You guys are in for it now. Yu’s cooking has only got even better since you guys last had it.” Yukiko joined her best friend in her praise. “Chie’s right! I mean, I didn’t get to be like this all by myself,” she said while rubbing the side of one of her fattened hips. Yu’s cheeks grew a little flushed from Chie’s and his wife’s glowing review, “I try.”

Yukiko still wasn’t really sure about the reason for the celebration. After all, with her and Yu living together, sharing the same bed, supporting one another, and not to mention being on the verge of welcoming their baby boy into the world, she was more married woman than unsullied maiden already. And the Rise’s phrasing of “before being tied down” irked her as well. It made it sound like being married to the man of her dreams was something awful! But she understood the spirit of what this party was all about, and she wasn’t about to turn down all of her hubby’s delicious hard work…

“Take us to our room sir.” Yukiko demanded to her hubby in a way to suggest they didn’t know each before bursting out into a few giggles. “Of course, right this way ladies,” he gestured, playing along. “Once I get you settled in your room, I’ll go fetch your supper for the evening from our kitchen.”

“No you won’t.” Yukina chimed in. The normally unshakable Yu stumbled as all the wind was taken out of his sails. “Huh? Why?” he asked, confused. As if on cue, a group of boys could be heard having a loud conversation as they approached outside.

“I’m telling you Kanji, you got to keep the ball rolling! Just tell her she is looking a little hot and uncomfortable in that stuffy shirt of hers and that she would feel much better she undid a button or two. My Kashi-baby always leaves her top-“

“And I’m telling you to keep your mouth shut!”

“You both need to keep quiet. Do you guys not have an indoor voice? People will hear you!”

“Yosuke, Yosuke, Yosuke. We are clearly outside so…”

Yosuke flung the door open, but when the three boys peeked inside, they found Yu, the girls, and Yukiko’s mother all staring at them. “Uh…hey you guys…what’s up?” Yukina grinned and turned back to her son-in-law, “You have other obligations for tonight.”

Not really sure why their other friends were there, Yosuke decided to ignore it for a moment and instead thanked Mrs. Amagi, “Looks like you already got him ready. Alright then, come on man, times wasting.” Before Yu could even respond and ask what he was talking about, Rise stomped her foot in a huff, “What are you guys doing here? Did you find out about this party?” Rise turned to Naoto, “You didn’t tell Kanji did you?” Naoto placed a hand on her chest. She was almost offended! “Why are you looking at me? Are you implying that I can’t keep a secret?” Rise apologized and said she didn’t mean it like that before glaring back at the boys, “Look I don’t know how you found out about this, but you should have also found out that it is girls only! No boys allowed!” This time it was Yukiko’s turn to get offended, clearing her throat and pointing at her stomach, causing Rise to apologize again.

Yosuke shook his head, “Woah, woah, woah! Hold up. Why are you guys all here?” Rise scowled, “Were throwing a bachelorette party for Yukiko of course!” Yosuke groaned, “What? You got to be kidding me! You had that idea too?” Rise’s facial expression softened. “What do you mean?” Yosuke rubbed his forehead in aggravation, “We came here to throw Yu a bachelor party! Dang it, and I thought I was being so clever when I thought of it.”

Rise was still a little skeptical, “So, you’re not here to crash our party?”

Teddie grinned and stepped in front of Yosuke, “Well, that wasn't the plan but if you ladies are having a party, maybe we should. I’m sure we could all share the hot spring together.” A hard elbow to the side by Kanji quickly wiped the pervy smile off Teddie’s face, “You idiot, don’t you remember what happened last time? I swear I still have some tenderness in my side. Besides, what about the whole “having eyes only for Kashiwagi” thing?”

“Kanji! What a dirty mind you have! Trying to find an excuse to peek on the girls. I was strictly speaking from an efficiency standpoint!” Kanji grabbed Teddie by the collar, “To hell you were! Don’t try and turns this around on me!” Teddie face lit up, “Wait! If we do stay maybe I can have Kashi-baby meet us here!” The usually outgoing bear grew a tad bashful as images of his curvaceous mature girlfriend filled his head. Her full-figured silhouette appearing through the haze of the hot and steamy spa room and lowering herself into the relaxing waters of the spring. Her giving him a sultry look before tossing her towel aside. Her arm pressed tight against her slick breasts, struggling to contain them. Her raising one of her long slender legs out of the water and beckoning him over with her toes before telling him to “come and get her…”

“No way! Don’t you dare call her!” Chie yelled as she joined Kanji in grabbing Teddie. “And you’re not using the spring with us!” Naoto added, covering her chest like she was already draped in only her towel. “Relax! We aren’t going to ruin your party and we aren’t staying here! We have plans elsewhere. I mean, it doesn’t make much sense to throw a bachelor party at an inn he already lives at, right?”

Even if he didn’t mean it, Rise took it as a jab at their own party plans. “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean? All have you know our party is going to blow yours out of the water no matter where you go!”

“It’s not supposed to be a competition guys…” Kanji commented as the two started to fight over who had the idea for a party first and which one was going to be the better one. Yukina chortled before smiling at her daughter and her husband, “Your friends sure are a lively bunch.”

Having had enough, Yosuke gritted his teeth. “Come on Yu! Let’s go! You don’t want to stick around here do you?”

“Well I…” Yu started to point down the hall that led to the kitchen. He had thought the rest of his night would be spent making sure the girl’s party went well. He had a whole waiter routine thought out and everything. And what if they ran out of snacks in the middle of it? He couldn’t leave them to starve! But suddenly, he felt his soft warm plushness of his wife pressed up against him and her plump pink lips on his. The impromptu make out session was enough of a distraction to get Rise and Yosuke to stop their little spat and the others to look away in embarrassment. Even Yukina thought her daughter kicking up one of her legs behind her was a bit much. “Have fun at your party,” Yukiko beamed once they parted. Yu knew instantly that there would be no arguing. What sounded to some as a wish for him to have a good time with his friends was almost like a command to him. Without saying a word, Yu nodded. “Alright Yosuke. Guys. Let’s get to it.”

“Alright!” Yosuke cheered. Wrapping his arm around Yu’s neck he led the silver-haired boy toward the door. “Don’t worry Yukiko, Ms. Amagi, we’ll bring him back in one piece. Trust me Yu, you’re going to love this…”

With the boys gone and with them the threat of being disturbed. Rise and the others got back into their own party mode. “Woo hoo! Come on girls. We can’t let them have all the fun,” the peppy idol declared. As the girls filed out of the lobby toward their room for the night and after being able to get a better look at Naoto as she walked by, Yukina did a double take.

The detective girl seemed to possess two bigger “assets” that she swore weren’t there the last time she had stayed here, and to her, that could mean only a few possibilities. “Yukiko, please tell me you haven’t started some sort of trend,” the Amagi matriarch said with concern, whispering so the others couldn’t hear. Yukiko only stared at her mother blankly and it took her mother asking having to ask her outright before the clueless Yukiko caught on.

“Naoto pregnant? Oh no! At least I don’t think so.” Yukiko knew her pregnancy was out of the ordinary and that most girls her age, like Naoto, were nowhere near ready for something as demanding as having a child, but that didn’t stop her from thinking for one moment what having someone she knew experiencing the same joy she was right alongside her would be like. “Could you imagine though…”

Once they had gotten to their room the girls all took their seats around the dinner table and awaited the arrival of their food. It was clear which spot at the table was intended for the bride to be. In addition to the sitting mat that all the girls got, her side have various extra pillows to make the heavy momma as comfortable as possible. However, Yukiko thought it was a tad unnecessary considering her own overstuffed “cushion” that she carried around behind her. Besides one pillow she positioned under her belly, her big butt was the only padding she needed and with the meal she was about to partake in, it was only going to get even more plush and soft, so she distributed the rest among her friends.

They chatted amongst themselves, debating what sort of party the boys had planned for Yu. Most of their suggestions were lackluster ones. A party at Aiya’s, karaoke, a movie, sitting down by the river doing nothing. Chie suggested they would probably just end up milling around the June’s food court. “Hahaha! Whatever it is, I don’t have any faith in Yosuke and Teddie’s planning abilities at all.” Yukiko laughed along with the others, but part of her still wanted hoped that Yosuke and the other would pull through for her hubby. If anyone deserved to have a good time tonight it was him.

“Hey! Have any of you talked to Marie lately?” Rise asked. I wanted to invite her to hang with us, but I didn’t know how to get ahold of her, and I couldn’t find her while walking around town either!”

Yukiko raised her hand like she was speaking out in a classroom, “Oh! She is a weather forecaster now! We see her all the time on TV, she uses the name Mariko Kusumi. She’s great! I don’t think I can remember the last time she made a wrong prediction…” Chie shrugged, “Other than that, I don’t know where she goes most the time. I swear when I was in the bookstore once I saw her walk by, but when I ran outside to say hi, she completely disappeared into thin air!”

“Wow, that is strange. What were you doing in the bookstore?” Rise teased. “That’s not the point!” Chie snapped back. “I was looking at what kind of study aides they had!” Yukiko happily rubbed her expansive middle, “My hubby always seems to know how to find her though. The last time he spoke to her she told him that she had been busy because of all the damage that Sho guy caused, but she gave him her word that she would definitely be at the wedding.” Yukiko smile grew bigger, “She also forecasted bright and sunny skies all day!”

“I guess being a goddess’s is hard work…” Rise said. The four reflected on that for a moment. It was still hard to believe that the pale punky looking girl who wrote poetry that they had befriended was basically the town’s guardian deity. “You know…” Naoto pondered, “what you said before about Marie’s new job, given her power over Inaba and the surrounding area, is she really predicting the weather? Or is she deciding it?”

That made Chie, Naoto, and Rise wonder just what the extent of her powers were. “-snrk- Oh man! That’s awful!” Yukiko snickered, trying to keep herself from going into another giggle fit. “I never thought about it like that. -snrk- If she controls the weather then -snrk- she’s basically cheating isn’t she!?” The rest of the girls had a good chuckle as well, but Naoto’s observation also took a load off Yukiko’s mind. With Marie’s help, the weather was on less thing she needed to worry about on her and her hubby’s special day.

“But, you know, that made me think of something. Ai isn’t here either. Did you not invite her? Oh, I hope she won’t feel left out if she finds out…” Naoto and Rise looked confused, “Ai?” If dinner had been served, Chie would have slammed down her glass in disgust, “Oh yeah. You haven’t heard, Yukiko is all buddy buddy with Ebihara now. If you ask me it’s a good thing she isn’t here! We want to have a GOOD time don’t we?” Yukiko looked troubled, “I don’t see why you two can’t get along. Kanji, Teddie, and Yosuke have come to accept her more or less. Yukiko chuckled, “Yosuke certainly seems to like the extra back up whenever you two start going at it! Can’t you just let the past be the past?” Chie turned up her nose not unlike the haughty Ai would have if it were her, “No. I hate that selfish brat.”

The words had barely left her mouth before Chie felt her blood run cold. Yukiko was staring daggers at her from across the table. It was the kind of look a mother would give to a child who had said a naughty word or who was being rude. “I mean, hate might be too strong a word,” Chie relented. “But she does rub me the wrong way!” Yukiko narrowed her eyes at Chie, like she was thinking to herself whether she would accept that Chie's talk, before looking away.

Naoto rubbed her chin, “I haven’t had any interactions with Ebihara myself, so I only know her from rumors. Most boys talk highly of her, though it only seems to center around her looks and affluence. But as I recall, the girls didn’t have many good things to say, whether that be from jealousy or something else.”

“I don’t really remember talking to her directly either. But I do remember that entourage of hers giving me some nasty looks in the halls. But, I just ignored them,” Rise added.

“That’s why she started having lunch with us. She got fed up with those “fake friends” of hers and kicked them to the curb! Really, she is just one of the sweetest girls. And she can be surprisingly shy too!” Chie gritted her teeth, “She’ll go back to that group of harpies any day now I bet.”

“Hey, it looks like Chie might be one of those jealous girls Naoto talked about!” Rise joked. “What? What are you…” Yukiko concerningly placed her hand on top of hers. “Is that it Chie? Are you worried about how me being friends with Ai effect our friendship?” Chie pulled her hand away, somewhat shocked Yukiko was taking what Rise was saying seriously, “What? Don’t be ridiculous! I…” But Chie soon found herself being brought into the suffocating embrace of the doughy mama. “Oh Chie! You never have to worry about something like that! You will always be my best friend!” Try as she might, Chie couldn’t break free, her struggles only seeming to cause Yukiko to grip her tighter and sink deeper into her plump flesh.

The others chocked up Yukiko’s outburst as her raging hormones getting the best of her and they all promised that next time they did something like this they wouldn’t forget to include Ai. But they didn’t have too much time to dwell on it, because at that moment, their food had arrived. “Oh goody!” Yukiko clapped before quickly adjusting her utensils, making sure they were in the perfect position for when it was time to dig in. Rise and Chie were just as excited to finally eat, and even Naoto looked relieved to see the food was finally here. One by one, maids rolled in cart after cart. Naoto and Rise’s eyes went wide as more and more trays were set on the table. Even Chie, who had Yu’s cooking before, was surprised by how much was being set out.

“Looks like Yu really outdid himself this time,” Chie laughed nervously.

“Are we really supposed to eat all this?” Naoto gawked.

But while the other girls were overwhelmed with the feast Yu had prepared for the party, Yukiko eagerly licked her lips as her belly rubbing became faster.

“I uh…” one of the maids uttered as she fumbled with an index card. “A chef always..uh…puts his heart and soul into his work…all in the pursuit of one thing…um…pleasing his patrons. I-I-I hope this veritable banquet, with its fresh vegetables, succulent meats, and sugary sweet treats is enough to knock you off your f-f-feet! Because women like yourselves only deserve th-the best!” Rise, Chie, and Naoto felt for the poor young maid. It was clear to everyone that the index cards she was reading from was something that Yu had prepared and that if he hadn’t been whisked away, he would have been the one reading from them.

The maid did a quick nod to the others who all lifted the tops off the serving trays in unison. “Woaahhh…” the girls all gasped, stupefied by the delicious spread presented in front of them. “Just ta-ta-take what you want and eat what you can.” The maid did an awkward bow. “Bon appetit,” she said, not quiet pronouncing it correctly, before helping the other maids pour the girls their drinks. As the maids shuffled out of the room Yukiko grabbed their young presenter by the sleeve. “Good job Himeko, you were great!” She whispered, giving her a cheerful thumbs up.

All the awkwardness the maid had to endure was suddenly worth it after receiving the young heiress’s praise, and she was able to leave with a smile on her face. With the maids having left, saying they would be back to check on them later, Yukiko joined the rest of her friends in admiring what laid before them. The various smells wafting through the air all combined into one intoxicating aroma that had the girl’s mouths watering. Even Naoto, who wasn’t that big an eater, looked like she was having trouble deciding just what to eat. But as the three were inching to dig in, Chie noticed that Yukiko hadn’t even touched her chopsticks. Chie knew she was hungry, and not in the snacking sort of way she was usually in whenever they sat down together to study. But instead of being at the ready like the rest of them, she kept both her hands firmly on her belly, waiting patiently.

“You guys go on. Enjoy,” she said with a smile once she caught her best friend looking at her. Chie recognized the tone in her friend’s voice. It was the same tone she used when she was talking to a customer. Still playing the polite inn hostess, she was waiting for all of them to make their plates before she made her own. “Yukiko, I know were at your place and all, but you shouldn’t treat us like your guests. This is your party after all!”

Yukiko’s smile grew bigger, “Oh! But this is the first time in a while that Naoto and Rise get to try Yu’s cooking. I just wanted to see their first reactions to all the progress he has made! And I wanted to make sure you all got everything you wanted…” A sudden audible cry from her belly for sustenance made Yukiko clam up real quick.

“Chie is right. This is something for you! If anything, we should have you get first dibs!” Rise set down her chopsticks, followed by Naoto and Chie setting down theirs. Yukiko wanted to say something, but she knew her protests would have fallen on deaf ears.

It was true that she hadn’t eaten since she took her nap, so she was feeling a bit peckish. And, as if he knew it was time for dinner, her baby boy seemed to be getting much livelier with the constant flutterings and kicks. If he was as hungry as she was, who was she to make him wait any longer?

Picking up her chopsticks, the large momma began to gingerly prepare herself a bowl of rice from the large pile the maids had set out. Yukiko was being a little slow and meticulous about it, but her friends didn’t mind. However, as the pile of rice on the tray got smaller and the one in Yukiko’s bowl got bigger, the two girls who weren’t used to the young woman’s increased appetite gave each other a small glance, as if to make sure the other was seeing what they were seeing. Satisfied that she had gotten enough rice, Yukiko grabbed her plate and looked across the table at all the choices she had.

Any one of the girls would have felt at least a little self-conscious if they had the others watching them prepare their dinner selection especially if they were taking as much as Yukiko was. But Yukiko paid no mind in the slightest. The days of being stingy with her portions because of what others might say if the saw her eating "too much", not to mention the worry of what it would do to her waistline, was in the past. She didn’t even have a waistline anymore, it being more like a “waistcurve.” All she cared about was making sure her and her baby boy got what they both needed and the fact that the more fat she packed on made her that much more sexier in her hubby’s eyes was an added bonus.

The old Yukiko would have rounded up some vegetables next and made herself a modest salad or taken a few pieces of fried tofu, but like how her body had changed so had her tastes and her eyes immediately settle on a particularly fat and juicy looking piece of grilled beef.

Chie tried to hide her disappointment when Yukiko scooped up the same piece of beef she was eyeing but it started to get harder and harder as time when on. Chie was starting to worry she might not get any! Just like with the rice, Yukiko seemed to keep piling more and more on her plate until she had a whole mountain of various types of meats. Rise and Naoto never new Yukiko to be so carnivorous and again chocked up the odd change in behavior to the pregnancy, but Chie knew that Yukiko’s change in tastes had gone on for too long to just be simple pregnancy induced cravings. With Yu’s wonderful cooking and not having to concern herself with things like fat content anymore, Yukiko had been turned on to the wonders of meat! So much so that even when they ran into each other in town Yukiko usually had a steak skewer in hand, something she never would have bought beforehand. Chie was glad Yukiko was seeing things "her way" now, but it did cause problems in instances like these where their appetite for the tender stuff clashed.

Yukiko continued to pick and choose, stopping every once in a while to “ask” what her son thought of a particular dish. Finally, after fixing herself up a simple bowl of kake udon, she sat back down in her seat, ready to eat. Rise and Naoto couldn’t believe their eyes. They knew their friend was eating for two but there seemed to be enough food sitting in front of her to feed double that! And yet, not only was there was still enough of everything for them to share amongst the three of them, their was enough for them all to go back for seconds! The only explanation seemed to be that Yu had gone a little overboard to make sure his wife's party had everything it needed, but Rise also couldn't shake the thought that maybe Yu made so much in hopes there would be leftovers for Yukiko to eat later...

With Yukiko having made her selection, the others were free to make theirs. Chie of course, piled up on meat, specifically her favorite, beef. Their may have been better sources of the protein she needed for her diet among the various dishes Yu had prepared for them, but for her, nothing could beat the taste of steak. Rise, being swept up in Chie’s and Yukiko’s enthusiasm, prepared her own little smorgasbord consisting mainly of fish, tofu, and some soba in contrast to Yukiko’s udon. And of course, no meal would be complete without some super spicy curry! Naoto’s dinner selection actually ended up resembling Yukiko’s own, minus the portion size. It was a well-balanced meal, consisting of miso soup, rice, steamed vegetables, and some lamb for protein, all painstakingly put together to have exactly the right proportional amount for each dish.

Chie wasted no time digging in, lifting her bowl close to her face to scarf down her side dish of rice as fast as possible before moving onto her main course. She had to move fast before the feeling of fullness had a chance to catch up with her and while Yukiko didn’t display quite the voracity her best friend did, and still displayed the table manners becoming of an heiress, she didn’t waste any time when it came to her own meal.

"Oh my goodness!" Rise said out loud after taking her first bite of her tofu. "I recognize it as coming from my grandmother's shop, but I never had it prepared like this before!" Naoto took up a spoonful of her soup and upon placing it in her mouth, had the same reaction. “Extraordinary…”

“Told you guys it was good.” Chie said between mouthfuls. “Good!?” Rise shouted after taking a test bite of her salmon fillet only to be met with another jaw dropping burst of flavor. “This is like the best I’ve ever tasted!”

Naoto dabbed her mouth with her napkin, “It is quite good. I know of some places in the city where people have been cooking for most of their lives and they don’t even come close to this. Senpai really did this all by himself?”

Yukiko popped another pinch of rice into her mouth, “Well, he does still gets some help here and there from our chefs because he is still learning, but he does try to do most of it himself. I can usually tell the difference between what our chef’s prepares and what he does.” Yukiko next picked up a sliver of chicken and placed it on her tongue. She began nodding her head as she chewed, a smile creeping on her face. It was definitely her wonderful hubby’s. She could just imagine him applying individual grains of pepper with tweezers to insure everything was seasoned perfectly. That was just the type of person he was. “Believe me, I’ve had lots of experience tasting his cooking,” she finished, giving her maternal swell one large swooping rub for emphasis.

After having their first taste, both Rise and Naoto picked up the pace of their intake a little, with Rise even grabbing her own bowl of miso soup after seeing how much Naoto enjoyed hers. Still, Chie had them all beat when it came to speed having already polished off her bowl of rice and two steaks by the time the others had finished one of their side dishes. “Chie slow down, you’ll choke!” Naoto scolded. On cue, after biting off more than she could chew, the meat-eating martial artist sat up and began beating her chest to help force down her last mouthful.

Yukiko chuckled watching her best friend slam down her ice water to further help clear her pipes. Sometimes it was hard for her not to eat her hubby’s cooking like Chie was.

But, as with everything she did now that she was basically a mama, it was best to take things slow. Her hubby put in so much time, energy, and love into his cooking, it wouldn’t be right for her to not take the time to enjoy every single bite.

While she wasn’t eating like she was trying to break a speed record like Chie, or even keeping up with her idol and detective friends, what Yukiko had was constancy. Her mouth was in constant, chewing motion. While the other girls would have pauses in their dining, to catch their breath in the case of Chie, or to start telling a story or to make a small comment, the time between one mouthful to the next was kept at a minimum for the grazing mama. By the time she was swallowing her fifth piece of fatty tuna, the sixth would already be pushing past her lips. It really showed there was some truth to the proverb “slow and steady wins the race.” As her friends started to slow down, Yukiko was still going strong and soon passed even Chie’s plate count. And yet, she kept on going.

It was after she slurped up the last of her thick and buttery udon noodles that Yukiko felt a familiar tingle working its way up her spine. Her body shuttering, Yukiko let out a low, quiet moan as her fattened breasts released some of its milky payload. But instead of overreacting like she would have done when her lactating first started, Yukiko took in a deep breath and continued to eat. Rocking back and forth in her chair, her leaking udders wobbling faintly atop her dinner-filled baby belly, Yukiko crammed another piece of beef in her mouth and cooed. Her dribbling would stop on its own eventually.
When it did stop, Yukiko did a quick inspection. While she could feel some dampness around her nipples and on her tummy shelf right below them, it wasn’t actually that much, probably because of her earlier discharges from her husband’s morning comedy routine.

Lifting them, she saw that there was almost no bleed through wither. Even if there was, she wouldn’t have really minded. Again, it was just her body getting rid of some of her old supply to make room for the rush of new nurturing milk she would be producing thanks to her meal. Without any evidence to show and with her friends too engrossed in their own meals to have noticed her bovine behavior, Yukiko dropped her breasts with a meaty smack and licked her lips at some particularly savory looking tempura…

“Oooooohhhhhhh… I think I’m going to be sick.” Chie groaned, slamming her head on the table, unable to finish the last bit of steak on her plate. “I warned you. Eating that much that fast was reckless!” Naoto continued to chided. Chie slowly turned her head to the other side and looked up at the pile of dishes blocking her view. “Yukiko how can you eat so much and still be standing…” Chie wailed. Snapped out of her post meal bliss, Yukiko looked down at Chie with concern. “Chie, are you alright? Do you need to lie down?” Chie only groaned in response. Yukiko’s eyes wandering to her other friends, “And what about you guys! It looks like you hardly ate a thing.”

Rise giggled, “Are you kidding me? I probably haven’t eaten this much since middle school! Not all of us are eating for two you know!” Naoto rubbed her own stomach, “Yes, dinner was more than adequate. In fact, I feel I may have eaten a little too much.” Despite not eating as much as Yukiko or Chie, for an idol and someone of Naoto’s size, the pile of dishes they had were nothing to scoff at either. Chie groaned yet again, “Don’t you dare say anything about overeating…” Rise clapped her hands, “Besides! I had to save room for dessert!” This time Naoto joined in on Chie’s groan, but while Chie was groaning at the thought of being served more food, Naoto was groaning because she didn’t know if she had the willpower to say no.

She kept it a secret because of how childish it made her sound, but she did have something of a sweet tooth.

Yukiko got just as excited about having something sweet and covered in chocolate as Rise did, “Oh! Yu makes the best dessert! One of his creme puffs and I just can’t stop! I think he told me once he likes the experimentation and creativity that comes with other dishes, but he finds desserts the most “fun” to make.”
The maids soon returned and gathered up the group’s dirty dishes and any leftovers. When one of the maids walked past her with Chie’s plate, Yukiko daintily plucked the last bit of steak from it as to not “be wasteful,” when no one was looking. Himeko again stood before the group, “Umm… we have some delightful choices for dessert for you all. But if you wanted to, our hot springs are also ready for you. It’s your choice for what you want to do first.”

Chie head shot up from the table immediately. “Spring first!” The warm relaxing waters of the Amagi hot springs was just what she needed right now. Plus, her new diet really didn’t allow for much sugar in the first place. “I need to swim some laps to work off some of this meat!” Yukiko gave Chie a tap on her shoulder while giving Himeko a quick glance, “Chie! You know our springs aren’t a swimming pool.” By the look on her face and by precedent, Chie knew that Yukiko wouldn’t actually stop her, and that she was just saving face in front of the maid. “A bath does sound nice,” Naoto said, also reasoning that a dip in the spring would help soothe her own feelings of fullness. “Yeah, that sounds good to me. The time spent will also help to free up some more room in my stomach for more dessert.” Yukiko liked Rise’s way of thinking. “It looks like we will be using our spring time first,” she said cheerfully.

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“Ahhh….” Rise sighed as she lowered herself into the relaxing spring water. She would be lying if she said, in addition to the wedding and seeing her friends, she wasn’t looking forward to a dip in the Amagi hot springs. She had been hard at work trying to make her comeback in show business, and that meant getting up bright and early for grueling dance rehearsals, long photo shoots, voice straining vocal training, and of course, tiring aerobics class to make sure she was kept in a shape befitting an idol. A small reprieve like this was few and far between.

“Naoto, you really have to stop being so modest! It’s just us girls here,” Rise told the bluenette who was just getting in herself. Even though she was still covered by the towel wrapped neatly around her body, the young detective had her arms pressed tightly across her sizeable chest, which ironically, made her look even more risqué, the compression of her ample breasts causing them to bulge up over her towel and making her bust line look even fuller. “I know, I know, it’s just, with what happened last time…”

Rise floated in closer, “Oh Naoto, Yukiko’s mom said that this is our own private bath time so no one else will be coming in. And besides, the boys are off doing their own thing and I don’t think that includes spying on us.” What must have been a tree branch hitting against the spring’s outer fence made Naoto jump and she quickly turned her back while sinking further into the water, whimpering. But, when Rise turned to see what it was, all she got was a face full of water.

“CHIE! *cough* *cough* Watch it!”

“Sorry!” Chie said, stopping her current lap and rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. Yukiko may have said otherwise in front of her staff, but ever since they were little girls they had used the spring as their own personal swimming pool, doing things like racing each other from end to end or doing cannonballs when no one else was around.

In fact, it was in the spring where she helped Yukiko learn to float on her back and to do a swimming stroke that wasn’t the “doggy paddle.”. And while now that they were in high school the spring seemed a lot smaller than it did back then, it was still spacious enough that she could get a tiny workout in.

Noticing that their group was one, or as Yukiko would argue, two people short, Chie called toward the sliding doors. “Come on Yukiko! Get that big butt of yours moving!”

“I’m Coming!” Yukiko called back.

The other girls continued to talk amongst themselves until they heard the sound of the sliding door opening. “Phew!” Yukiko sighed, wiping a few beads of sweat from her forehead. As you would expect, the heat and steam given off by the natural spring made the surrounding air warm and humid, but being the well-insulated mama she was it made Yukiko feel like she was walking into an actual sauna. “Now we probably shouldn’t stay in here too long, so you just let mama know when you’ve had enough,” Yukiko said to her unborn baby nestled snuggly in her belly.

The others grew silent as they watched Yukiko’s full-figured silhouette emerge out of the steamy mist. With her skinny days seemingly behind her, the relatively small white towels the inn provided for their guests had no chance of coving up its gravid heiress. So, instead of even trying to get it to stretch across her expansive form, Yukiko just held the towel up against her chest and let the cotton fabric drape over her with her only concern really being to cover her front, and even then, the towel only reached down far enough to cover her lower half by mere inches. That meant her flabby arms, chunky thighs, and fattened sides stuck out and were completely exposed. It was one thing for her friends to witness their larger friend fully clothed with maybe occasional glimpse of belly flesh peeking out from under her shirt whenever she did something like raise her arms, but it was another thing entirely to see the pregnancy induced changes of her body completely unobscured. The other girls could subconsciously downplay Yukiko’s continued weight gain in their mind by thinking things like, “the jacket she’s wearing looks pretty thick,” or “she only looks that big because of how flowy her maternity dress is.” But now with her all hanging it out there, they couldn’t avoid how fat this pregnancy, and for those in the know, how much her husband, had made her.

With her plumped up frame completely unfettered, every inch of her fluffy mom bod shook and quivered with the slightest provocation. The wobbling of the giant pale orb that was her stomach as she lumbered towards the spring made it look like a big gooey marshmallow. Her blubber coated hips flared out for miles, their exaggerated sway caused by her careful and ponderous waddle making them that much more pronounced. So wide were they that if they were strangers meeting on the street, the girls might have thought Yukiko had already given birth once before! A thick pair of bouncy love handles bulged out over her hips, the thick tires of fat being something Yu surely took advantage of whenever they were intimate, and although they couldn’t see it, given the broadness of her lower half, they imagined her butt to be just as wide and jiggly as the rest of her.

Like the world’s daintiest hippo, Yukiko carefully stuck her toe in the water and swirled it around before getting in, one heavy leg at a time. Yukiko couldn’t help but giggle as she submerged herself into the spring. With how heavy she was, the sudden feeling of weightless she had was a strange one and having her flabbier parts ripple and move alongside the currents of the water tickled. One would think when your family owned a hot spring you would get to use it all the time, but the truth is with everything going on in her life, she hadn’t really the time, so this was all new to her. For a spit second, she thought about her and her hubby sneaking in together late at night together and what a “deep” underwater massage would feel like from him, but she had to quickly remembered she wasn’t alone and tried to hide her reddening face. To think she would think about sullying the Inn’s hot spring doing something like that!

Yukiko found an underwater ledge for her expansive rear to spread out on near her friends. Then, with he bottoms no longer needing the covering, she used her towel to fashion a sort of makeshift bra. That way if she got a little “too” relaxed and had another bout of lactation, the runoff wouldn’t’ get into the spring. With all that out of the way, Yukiko slumped up against the edge of the spring and let out a relived moan. Because of her somewhat reclined position, her belly rose just enough to break the water’s surface and it formed a little round island that she placed both her hands on.

The others floated around, not sure of what to say after seeing Yukiko in all her overabundant glory. She was such a far cry away from the svelte young woman she had been less than a year before. But, as most of them had learned, some boys, mainly ones with silver hair, liked that sort of thing and for Rise, she was coming along as well. For someone who dreamed of having their own big family someday, she had come to really appreciate Yukiko’s new “motherly” and “mature” look as well as admire her confidence when it came to her significant weight gain. And she was just so happy too!

“Are you guys enjoying yourselves?” Yukiko asked, breaking the silence. Quickly Smiling, Rise waded over to the seated mama. From the look on her face, Yukiko could tell instantly what she wanted and cleared some space for the idol to place her hand on her belly. Feeling a few rapid kicks from within, Rise’s face lit up, “Someone’s energetic! Are you excited to have three cute girls and your mama in the spring all to yourself? A lot of my fans would be really jealous of you!” Rise joked. “Just don’t do anything indecent when it comes to us ladies okay? You don’t want to be like Teddie!” Yukiko frowned a little and pulled her stomach away, “Don’t compare him to someone like Teddie! He is a perfectly well-behaved boy! He wouldn’t ever dream of doing anything of the sort! Besides he is far too young…” Rise laughed at Yukiko thinking she was serious, and that Yukiko seemed to imply by her comments that an unborn baby had the capability of doing something indecent.

Rise apologized and was again allowed to put her hand on the raven-haired girls stomach. “So, have you thought of a name yet?” she asked. Yukiko shook her head, “Not yet, But I’m pretty close. I think I’ve narrowed it down to about fifty names?” Rise recoiled in shock, “fifty!? How many names did you have in mind before?”

Yukiko brought her hand to her chin and tried to think hard about it before giving up. “I’m not sure. It couldn’t have been that much over a hundred. Maybe one seventy-five? I just kept adding and adding to my list I guess I just lost count.”

“Well you’re certainly giving this a lot of thought...”

Yukiko nodded. “I mean, it’s going to be his name for the rest of his life, so it needs to be perfect. I want it to meaningful but also unique. Oh, and it has to sound cool too!”

“Cool?” Rise repeated.

“Of course. Cool just like his father’s.” Yukiko’s smile grew bigger. “Some nights before we go to sleep, Yu throws his arm around me and just listens as I go through the list of names one by one, telling me what he thinks of each one while also giving a few ideas of his own. It’s how I’ve narrowed down my list this far.” Yukiko felt another kick, “Yes, you let us know what you think of a few of them as well. Even though you should be asleep at that point mister!”

Rise clutched her hands in front of her mouth. The whole thing sounded so romantic! But, hearing about this small glimpse into the two’s lives got her a tad curious of what other sorts of things happen in the Amagi household behind closed doors. “Sooo, what sorts of other things does Yu do?” Rise asked, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

“Huh?”

“I mean, we all know Yu as our friend and as our “fearless leader,” but you’ve had a chance to see him as none of us have before. I’m just interested to know more about what he is like is all.” Having overheard where the conversation was heading, Naoto and Chie both joined in the conversation. “Come on Yukiko, let’s hear the goods!” Chie prodded. Having been working at the Inn for a few weeks now and all the time spent studying with Yukiko, Chie could say she has gotten to know a little of what Yu was like in a more private setting, but she was always up to hear more.

“I don’t have any intention of invading either of your two’s privacy. But, Yu has always had certain “qualities” that made him different from the rest of us. Some more insight into his character may give us a better idea of what makes him such an effective leader and what attracts so many different kinds of people to him.”

“So, you like girl gossip too Naoto? I had no idea!” Rise said playfully. Naoto immediately got defensive “My inquiring is for entirely investigative purposes only!” Yukiko had to crank her head back as the other three leaned in closer to hear what she had to say. At first Yukiko was surprised at how eager her friends were to learn more about her hubby but that surprise quickly faded. After all, her hubby was absolutely amazing, so who wouldn’t want to hear everything about him? He just had that kind of effect on people. She would know, she was a victim to his charm as well.

Placing one hand on her chubby cheek while twisting from side to side, Yukiko started to lovingly list off everything she thought the others should know about her husband. “He’s so kind and considerate, always taking the time to greet the staff and our patrons no matter what he’s doing, he always does his work, never complains, he never gets angry or raises his voice, he is always willing to lend a helping hand even on his days off, he is compassionate, understanding, patient, loving…”

As Yukiko rambled on the enthusiasm on the other girl’s faces slowly faded. A lot of what Yukiko was telling them was stuff they basically already knew. They wanted something juicer! Fearing that if they let Yukiko continue they would be there all night, Rise cut her off. “Yeah, Yeah. We all know how great Yu is, but what does he do to relax? Have you noticed him doing anything weird?” Yukiko looked perplexed, “Weird?”

“Yeah! Like does he have any strange habits?” Chie clarified. Yukiko wasn’t really sure how to answer that. In her mind her husband never did anything out of the ordinary. He was always the dependable and wonderful man she had fallen head over heels for, but she eventually did think of something that she thought would satisfy her friends.

“Well he does have his models…”

“Models? He builds models? Like of fighter jets and junk?” Rise asked. “Yeah! Though he mainly builds robots, but he does have a cute little scooter he made too. He told me that he was given one by the owner of that hobby shop in the center of town. He put it together on a whim one night and found out he actually enjoyed it.”

Rise snickered, “That’s so weird! I wouldn’t have expected Yu to be into something that sounded so childish! I figured that would be something someone like Yosuke would be into.” Yukiko gave Rise her now signature look of displeasure, puffing out her cheeks and making her face look that much chubbier, “I think they’re pretty cool! And you should see the ones he does. They’re so well put together they look better than the ones they put on the box! Much better than anything Yosuke could build.” Chie shrugged, “Eh, I’m with Yukiko. I don’t think it’s so bad and some of them do look pretty good. Especially with them all displayed on that shelf he has. If I remember correctly, he also has some stuffed animals?”

Yukiko nodded in excitedly, “He got those out of one of those crane games. Whenever we take a trip to Okina he always insists on playing a few rounds.”

Chie looked amazed, “He won all those from one of those machines? I never can win anything from those things!” Naoto scratched her chin, “You know a lot of those games come down to luck. I hear they set those machine’s to only give out prizes every once in a while.”

Yukiko wagged her finger at the skeptical girl, “Luck has nothing to do with it. My hubby is just that good at it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him not walk away with the best prize.”

The smile Yukiko had slowly faded from her face, “I feel bad for him though. He hasn’t done any new models since the shop he got his old ones from closed for good.

“You should get him one then if that’s what he likes!” Rise said. “There are plenty of websites you can order that kind of stuff from.” Naoto added. “N-n-not that I know anything about that kind of stuff!” Rise gave Naoto a knowing grin. “So Naoto, what kinds of Featherman models do you have?”

“I-I don’t own anything of the sort!” Naoto denied, not falling for Rise’s trap.

“They have those!?” Yukiko said in pleasant surprise, now wondering what kind of models they had of Featherman Red or of the new Featherman Pink they had recently befriended. “But you know, Yu told me he might like to try some more scale models like his scooter. And he also said he might like to try that thing where you build a tiny ship inside a bottle?”

“A ship in a bottle? Now that makes him sound like an old man!” Rise chaffed.

Chie cut in, “Enough about that for now. I knew about most of this stuff anyway. I want to hear more things about Yu!” Rise agreed, “Yeah, this is good! Tell us more! Something really weird this time.” Yukiko was taken aback by her friend’s continued enthusiasm for all things Yu and tried her best to think of something. It was really hard though considering how perfect her hubby was, but then, she did remember something she caught her hubby doing that was very peculiar. At first she even wondered if she should say it. Even her hubby didn’t know that she had caught him in the act. But they were all friends here, and besides, he got to see everyone else’s secrets in the TV world without having to show his. He could stand to have the others know something embarrassing about him.

“Okay, well, for those of you who aren’t familiar with how busy a kitchen likes ours can be, with lots of different meals being prepared all day every day, sometimes things fall to the wayside and are forgotten about. One night I went into the kitchen looking for Yu after his shift should have ended and I found him rummaging around in the fridge. Since he didn’t notice me at first, I thought I’d give him a surprise hug, but before I could, he took something out of the fridge and set it on the counter. Something sinister!”

“What was it?” Chie said impatiently.

“It was a container of some old takoyaki we had made for dinner service a month ago. It must have gotten pushed to the back of the fridge. At first, I thought he must have been cleaning the fridge out, he’s so responsible like that, but that’s when it happened.,,”

“What!? What!?” Rise said, entranced

“He ate some of it!”

For all that build up, the payoff wasn’t that satisfying at first. “That’s it? He ate some spoiled food on accident?” Chie asked. Yukiko shook her head, “That’s the thing, it wasn’t an accident! It couldn’t have been. Not with the way it smelled. And it had some blue fuzzy stuff on it that couldn't have gone unnoticed. Also before he took his bite he did things like pacing around the kitchen, shaking his hands, and slapping his face, like he was trying to psyche himself up for it. You should have seen his face when he finally did take a bite though! It was so funny!”

“But…but why?” Chie asked, the story having gotten interesting again. “Maybe it’s a cooking thing?” Rise postulated. “Like he needs to sample all kinds of different flavors in order to improve and pick the right ones?” Really, she was just shooting in the dark. Rise had no idea why Yu would do something so bizarre like that. “I know! Maybe it’s some sort of crazy way to boost your immune system? Did he get sick afterwards?”

When Yukiko said she had never even seen Yu get sick, that only made Chie think that that was the reason for his behavior even more so. “You got to be pretty gutsy to do something like that. Maybe I should try it…”

“I really wouldn’t. What you said has no basis in scientific fact.” Naoto told Chie. It looked like the young detective was trying to keep herself from losing her dinner. “But that’s not all,” Yukiko continued, “I over heard some of the chefs saying that they had caught him eating some strange things late at night as well. Things like octopus paste, eel juice, a bottle of tabasco sauce, lumpy cottage cheese…”

Naoto covered her mouth, “Yukiko…please stop…I’m going to…”

After Naoto’s close call, Yukiko went on to tell them more about her hubby, how much time he spends in front of the mirror to make his hair look so immaculate, how he likes to watch documentaries on mundane things like the “history of the bicycle” or “photography” while taking notes for who knows what reason, or all the weird stuff he had purchased on a certain shopping channel run by someone Yukiko could only describe as “sleazy looking.”

“He is always looking to try new things. Once he sees something that catches his interest, he instantly thinks he can do it too. Things like ice skating, wood working, animal training, break dancing…” The girl’s knew Yu was talented. His exploits in the TV world non-withstanding, he could cook, he could ski, and as Chie had heard around town, he wasn’t too shabby of a fisherman either, but that last one seemed to be pushing it. “Hahaha, break dancing? Where did he pick that up? Is he any good?” they all laughed.

“We saw one of those street performers doing it in the city. He only attempted it once, He tried to do one of those head spins once we got home and nearly broke his neck!”

Like the motorcycle accident videos she liked to watch online, seeing a break-dancer hurt themselves would have been something that Yukiko found hysterical. However, she wasn’t at all amused when the one potentially getting hurt was her husband and her seriousness showed it. “I know I shouldn’t say this and as his wife I should be supportive of him…but for things like that…I kind of like it when he fails. As much as I like how perfect he is, that look he gets when things don’t go the way he plans is just too cute! And of course, as his wife, it lets me run over to comfort him and make it all better…”

Although she didn’t have a significant other to call her own at the moment, Rise knew where Yukiko was coming from. It wasn’t that she hoped he would fail at whatever new endeavor he was undertaking. It was just that if it did end up happening, it was nice to know that she could always be there for her husband and that she had the power to make all his troubles disappear. Though not exactly the same thing, it must have been like the feeling she had fighting during the whole Minazuki saga. That overwhelming sense of pride in being able to help out her friends and feeling useful to them. But, the slightly sultry tone Yukiko used when she said “comfort,” made Rise’s already red face from the heat even redder. There was something else she had been curious about and with all the secrets Yukiko was divulging, she figured now was as good a time as any to ask.

“So, Yukiko…if you don’t mind me asking…” Rise looked down at the water. If not for her unmistakable red hair, her avoidance of eye contact while nervously pushing her fingers together would have made you think it was Naoto asking the question instead of the usually more direct idol.

“…what was it like when uh...you made him,” she finally finished, gesturing toward Yukiko’s half submerged swollen belly.

“AH!” Chie shouted, jumping up from her lazy floating position. “W-W-Why would you ask something like that?” The flustered athlete was joined by her equally sheepish detective friend, “Asking something like that is highly inappropriate!” But while the three girls looked like three tomatoes with the sanguine hue their faces all displayed, Yukiko was as calm as ever. After all, there was nothing shameful about what went on that night. It was when her and her hubby took their love to the next level, when their relationship reached it's very peak where it never came down from. After all, what could making a child be other than the ultimate display of affection between two lovers? She found Rise’s curiosity cute. Compared to her who was already blossoming, the rest of her friends were still flowers waiting for their time to bloom. It was natural for Rise to want to know what she was missing out on, and hopefully, what she should expect when she experienced it herself sometime in the future. And while Chie and Naoto tried to hide it, from their quick glances at her before turning away, she could tell they had more than just a slight interest in it as well.

Yukiko started out by giving them the background information of what was going on at the time. How it happened when Nanako and Dojima were in the hospital, how he was having a rough time of it even though he tried so hard to hide it, and how Yukiko wanted him to know that it was okay for him to rely on her. It was another eye-opening experience for the three girls. Never had they heard of Yu being so vulnerable before. They had been so wrapped up in Nanako’s condition and trying to solve the murder case, regrettably, the thought of how lonely Yu was in that empty house never even crossed their minds. Maybe it was because of how strong they all considered their leader to be they had developed a misconception of him being invincible, a superhero that could shrug off anything. Maybe they had put their leader on too high a pedestal, after all, he was only human. Something all of what they heard about him within the last hour could attest to. And yet, Yukiko had already knew that, even back then.

“Wait a minute! You admitted to him that the hot spring incident was our fault? We were supposed to keep that between us girls!” Rise interrupted. Yukiko turned her head away in guilt. “Well, I mean, a husband and wife shouldn’t keep any secrets between themselves, right?” Chie snapped back, “You weren’t married back then! In fact, the wedding isn’t for another few days so I could say you aren’t married now!”

“Oh, let’s not dwell on things like that, it was ages ago,” Yukiko deflect and then immediately tried to change the subject. “Anyway, I also told Yu about how I want us to be more…intimate…” Immediately the rowdy girls fell silent again. “He called me over one night, and we went to his room…” Yukiko hadn’t even gotten into any details, but just the implication of what happened that night was enough to raise the other girls body temperatures by a few more degrees.

“…and I don’t know…everything just seemed to fall into place. I mean, it just felt so right in that moment! Coming together with your partner like that is indescribable. It’s so tender and loving, but at the same time so raunchy and primal. It hurt a little at first, but after a while it felt so good, I could hardly think straight! Your whole body tingles, your toes curl up, and this…this…warm feeling washes over you, and in that moment you both are one in the same.” Yukiko chuckled, “And let me tell you, once my hubby gets in the mood, you can REALLY feel it when he…”

“AH!” Chie screamed out again. “I shouldn’t be hearing this!” Rise bite her lip. Even though she had asked she was beginning to have second thoughts too. Not just because of the lewdness of it, but because of how good Yukiko made it sound. It was a dangerous thing. If she did have a boyfriend at the moment, she might have given her some “ideas.”

Yukiko also thought it best to stop. Her recollections of that night and all the ones afterwards had gotten her too stirred up. Not something she should be doing with her and her hubby being apart for the night. After collecting herself, Yukiko continued, “While we were…um…lovemaking…Yu having too leave soon got brought up, he started talking about how he didn’t want to leave and that led to us talking about what our lives would be like together if he stayed and we ended up getting distracted, so when he “finished” without a condom, that was that. If I DID get pregnant there was no way Yu could leave, so it was almost like we let fate decide what happened next. But, as you are well aware, I did get pregnant, Yu didn’t have to leave, and now we are getting married!”

“Oh wow! You got pregnant on your first time? I thought you too must have been sneaking off together for a while before that happened! That’s so romantic in a way…”

“Rise! How could you think such things?” Yukiko blushed, not really hiding the fact that she kind of enjoyed Rise’s take on their relationship. Someone who wasn’t as amused by Yukiko’s tale was Naoto. She didn’t try and hide how skeptical she was of the whole situation, but that was just because of how concerned she was about two of her good friends becoming teenage parents.

“That’s how it happened? I can’t believe how reckless you two were!” she blurted out. Yukiko calmly looked at her and caressed her belly. “I’ll admit, it was a bit reckless, but everything worked out in the end didn’t it? And it’s as people say, you got to take chances in life to get the things you want.” Naoto couldn’t believe how nonchalant Yukiko could be about all this. “Things don’t always turn out as perfect as you think it will. And I wouldn’t even say you have it perfect. Do you know how much time and effort goes into raising a child? Not to mention going to school on top of that! And you’ve gained so much weight…” Before Naoto worked herself up too much, Yukiko raised her finger to silence her. “Naoto, I know what I’m in for. Their will be tough times ahead, days I’ll want to pull my hair out. Dealing with dirty diapers, making sure he’s feed, making sure he’s clothed, making sure he’s happy. Worrying about his safety. Not to mention I won’t have much time for myself. But any hardships I face will be worth it just to see my baby boy’s smiling face every day. He has only been in my life for a such relatively short amount of time and yet I can’t think of a life without him now.”

“But, but, what about all the crying? There will be nights you won’t get much sleep…” the shy blue-haired sleuth said, much quieter this time.

“Crying is just what babies do. And while a toddler may cry for attention or because their throwing a tantrum, a baby doesn’t cry for no reason. A baby cries because it needs something, and most of the time, what they need is their mama. How wonderful is that?” Yukiko gave her stomach a longing glance, imagining how it would feel lifting her son out of his crib and taking him in her arms every morning. “Besides, I won’t be alone. I have my hubby, I have my parents, my grandparents, and all of you, right?”

“Oh yes! You totally are can count on me to babysit!” Rise shouted. “When I’m not on tour of course...”

“Uhhh…I don’t know much about babies and junk, but you know I’ll help out as best I can,” Chie affirmed.

Yukiko gave Naoto a warm smile. Although she still had her misgivings, after what Yukiko had said she had to acquiesce. Like Yukiko had said earlier, what was done was done. She gave the young mother a hesitant thumbs up, “You can count on me…”

The girls continued to talk as they soaked in the rejuvenating spring waters. “Oh! Have you had enough of the heat dear?” Yukiko asked after she felt a sharp kick to her abdomen. “Do you always talk to him like that?” Rise asked. “Oh yes, all the time. And he listens too. And I’m sure you’ll all speak to your children like this as well,” Yukiko replied with a smile.

Rise smiled back, Yukiko’s words were comforting in a way. “Yeah, but that won’t be for a while though. I have my idol career after all. Yu helped me realize that there is still so much I still think I can do. That I want to do! I need focus on that for now. There will be plenty of time for me to start a family later, but you can really only be an idol for so long, you know? Plus, Naoto does have a point, we are a little young for that!”

Chie agreed, “Yeah! If I do end up having kids, it’s going to be after a few years of being the best cop around!” The spunky turned to Naoto, “and I’d love to get the chance to work on a case or two with you.” Naoto smirked, “Hopefully nothing that would require my services will happen around here. But if something like that did come to pass, it would be a refreshing break from the types of officers I usually deal with.”

“And when your tired and in need of some relaxation. You can always rest your weary bones right here,” Yukiko chimed in. The four looked toward the sky. Even with the lights of the inn polluting the air somewhat, from their isolated region in the mountains they were met with a beautiful light show of countless twinklingly stars. It was the type of experience you couldn’t get in a big city. Only in a small rural town like Inaba. Whether their aim was to become a famous idol, a well-respected detective, a decorated cop, or simply a loving mother and inn owner, all of them wished each other luck.

“Let’s all do our best.”

After their moment of seriousness, the four girls got out of the spring and headed back to their room, their conversation turned back to light banter. “You know, if anyone was going to have children next, it be you Naoto. You’re the only one of us who has a steady boyfriend,” Rise teased. “Please, it’s like we’ve all said, it’s much too early to be talking about that kind of stuff. Who knows how me and Kanji will work out.”

“Aha! But you aren’t denying that there could potentially be a future with you two eventually starting a family together!”

“I c-c-can’t say either way!”

“Ah! But you are forgetting that Chie does have Akihiko. Shame on you Chie! What would he think if he heard you saying earlier that you weren’t sure if you would have kids?”

“I told you. We aren’t like that! We just exchange tests from time to time. Mostly about our training regimes and junk!”

“Akihiko? You mean that muscly guy that was with Mitsuru and the others? You have his phone number? So I really am the only one who is single now!”

“Were you listening to me? We aren’t together…”

Once they arrived back in their room, the girls found their dessert already laid out and waiting for them. Taking the platters of sugary delights off the table, they instead set them on the floor and passed around the various pillows that the maids had laid out for Yukiko earlier. Sitting on their pillows, laid out in a circle around their snacks, all in their robes provided by the Inn really made their bachelor party seem like a girl’s sleepover. However, the Inn didn’t have robes big enough to cover up someone as front heavy as Yukiko, so she used her own nightgown, something she found wildly amusing.

“MMMM, oh my god!” Rise moaned after taking a bite of the strawberry bunt cake she jumped on at the first opportunity. “Chie You have to try this! It’s amazing!” The idol practically pushed the cake into the tomboy’s face, but she politely declined. “No thanks, I’m good. Strawberry isn’t really my thing.”

“Suit yourself. More for me then,” she rescinded before taking another bite. She could probably eat nothing but the rest of the cake laid out in front of her and she would be happy, but it was only the first thing she tried! There were far too many other delectable looking desserts left for her to just focus on one. “Rise, if you like the cake, you should try some of this fudge. It’s strawberry and chocolate mixed together,” Yukiko recommended. Yukiko leaned over as best she could and passed the small pink and coco brown swirled square to the idol. As much as Yukiko loved eating her hubby’s cooking, there was a certain joy in seeing others enjoy it as well, knowing that her husband could make so many people happy in turn made her happy. Rise inspected the small piece of fudge before popping it into her mouth. The fusion of rich chocolaty and sweet fruity flavor hit her like a truck, and she threw her head back and moaned yet again in response.

“Rise, should you really be eating this kind of stuff?” Naoto piped in. “Not to be rude. But you did eat a lot at dinner, and I was under the impression that idols have a strict diet routine they follow. Aren’t you afraid of what all this food might do?” Rise knew like with Yukiko; Naoto was just looking out for her. And she was right, an idol who eats like she was eating probably wouldn’t stay an idol for very long. Swallowing her mouthful of fudge she slapped her flat midsection and smiled. “Are you kidding me? I’m in the best shape of my life. If anything, my manger says I might be a little underweight. I’ve basically eaten nothing but salad and plain yogurt since I left, saving up all my cheat days for this week. There was no way I was going to deny myself anything here and at the wedding!”

Yukiko chuckled to herself. She remembered things like cheat days when she was still diet conscious. But being a mama, she couldn’t afford to have anything like that anymore. Her baby boy required her to adhere to her strict diet routine religiously. If her she was hungry, that usually meant her son was hungry as well, so she needs to eat until that hunger disappeared, no matter what. No days off allowed.

Naoto yelped when Rise took the time away from her well-earned pig out to grab at her sides. “What about you Naoto. You seem to be really enjoying that plate of eclairs. Didn’t you tell me once that detective work is nothing like the movies and it involves a lot of sitting around going over case files? Shouldn’t you be afraid of getting a little soft?” She teased. Naoto cheeks grew flushed, “D-d-don’t be ridiculous! I get in plenty of exercise…when I can.” she said the last part as softly as she could. “And I’m only eating these because they were put in front of me!” Naoto pushed the plate of eclairs, filled to bursting with Bavarian crème, away, but her gaze did wander back to it once or twice afterwards.

“You know Naoto, since you like those so much, I’m sure Yu could give Kanji some easy dessert recipes like it that he could try making for you sometime,” Yukiko offered.

“No, really, that won’t be necessary. Cooking isn’t really Kanji’s thing. And I'd hate to impose...”

Yukiko waved her off. “Nonsense. I’m sure Kanji would be very happy to cook something nice for his cute girlfriend. After all, my hubby is always happy to cook for me. No matter what it is or what time of day it is all I have to do is say the word and he is off to the kitchen. And not just desserts either…”

As Yukiko recounted all the things Yu had made for her at her request in just that one week, it gave the others and idea of just how spoiled the young inn heiress was by her husband. Not feeling as self-conscious about her eating after having listened to Yukiko, Naoto reached for a donut that she was pleasantly surprised to find out was jelly filled. “I think Yukiko has the right idea. Believe me, once I’ve had my fill of being an idol, I would have no problems being pampered like that by my husband, or even letting myself get a little chubby!”

Chie watched from the sidelines as her friends indulged their sweet tooths. She did have a small bowl of pudding as a treat, but other than that, she didn’t partake in the after-dinner feast.

It was a bit hypocritical of her to find criticism with how many sweets the other three girls were gobbling up considering she had just eaten enough meat to choke a dinosaur, but at least that she ate had lots of proteins and vitamins in it, not a lot of empty calories. And she did have her swim afterwards, not like the other girls who weren’t going to do much besides go to sleep after they finished. But she quickly brushed those thoughts aside. This was a party; she wasn’t going to tell anyone they couldn’t enjoy themselves the way they wanted.

“So what do you guys want to do now?” Chie asked. “I don’t know, it is pretty late. But I’m not tired at all.” Rise replied. Yukiko quickly raised her hand, “I know! Let’s watch a movie! We can take the rest of this and put it in front of the TV.” Rise nodded, “I’m down with that. What kind of movies do you have?” While Rise and Naoto hadn’t suspected a thing yet, Chie had felt uneasy since the moment she heard Yukiko say “movie.” Yukiko smiled, “Oh, my mother has a great collection…”

“YUKIKO! NO!” Chie shouted. By the fear on her face the others quickly realized what types of movies her mother’s collection must have consisted of. “Come on, it’s the perfect night for something like this,” Yukiko pleaded. “Besides, it is my party after all, so I think the decision lies with me doesn’t it?” The three girls looked at each other apprehensively, none of them being able to protest Yukiko’s point. “Don’t worry, I’ll pick a really good one…”