NaotoWG

	Naoto kicked up her feet and rested them onto her desk. It was very much like her, but she was a changed person. As little as a few months ago, she would have seen relaxing like this a waste of time. But she learned from her friends that being such a workaholic left her empty, trying to impress the wrong people. So with the Inaba murder cases solved and her personal pile of paperwork perfectly done, she had the evening to herself.
	With her legs up, she grabbed the remote to her TV and turned to an old detective noir movie. She took a brief look at the snowflakes gently falling outside her window in the cold, late February air, and let out a contented sigh.
	As time passed, Naoto’s attention drifted from the movie she had already seen a dozen times over to the small picture frame sitting on her desk. The mere sight of it immediately brought a slight blush to her cheeks. It was a picture she had spent with her… leader on Christmas Eve. In it, she stood dressed in a normal school girl’s outfit, rather than the usual male outfit she was used to. The evening had not been unpleasant. Quite the opposite, it had been magical and solidified feelings she had been harboring for some time.
	At the same time. Many of those feelings were still embarrassing and confusing. She understood what she felt, but she didn’t understand the why. How had she ended up this way? She was not particularly feminine and yet had been the first girl on the team to end up in a relationship. What did he seen in her?
	“I need to stop thinking like that,” she said to herself. “He’s told me how he feels. He likes me for who I am. I don’t need to change.”
	But she knew better than most that such doubts did not have to be logical, especially when you were trained to second-guess yourself. So she turned the photo so that it faced away and pulled her blue cap over her reddening face and tried to focus on the movie’s dialogue.
	At some point, she must have drifted off to sleep, because when she woke up, the lights in the house had all gone off except for her TV. She rubbed her eyes and checked her watch. 11:58 p.m. Well, it was too late to do anything else, so she turned the large TV off and began to undress for bed. But as she started to undo her belt, she heard a familiar click and saw a brief flash of light come from the TV. Had she stepped on the remote? No, it was still sitting on her desk where she had left it.
	“Shi… ro… ga… ne...”
	A strange voice came from the TV. It was drowned out in static, but it was still somehow familiar. A sinking feeling grew in her gut as she turned her attention to the screen
	“Naoto… Shiro… gane… I found you...” the voice continued.
	The screen began to clear, revealing a face Naoto had not expected to see. Her own. Or at least, one of her faces. It was her shadow, but something was wrong. The outfit was the same, an old, oversized labcoat but her movements were strange and unnatural. The furious scowl on its face made its visage all the more disturbing.
	“It can’t be...” Naoto whispered. “You can’t be here. I accepted you. There’s just...”
	Naoto stopped her train of thought cold. The case was over, but thinking back, there was still so much they didn’t know. There was no point thinking about it by herself, so she reached for her cellphone and started to make a call.
	“You… stole… him...” Shadow Naoto continued. It swayed back and forth almost like a zombie, dragging out its words. The image of the secret lab behind it remained unchanged from Naoto’s memory, as much as she’d prefer to forget that place. “You stole… our love… Miss perfect...”
	The phone in Naoto’s hand began to ring. After a few moments, Yu Narukami picked up on the other end. He gave a loud yawn, which was not unexpected given the time.
	“Naoto, it’s unusual to hear from you this late. What’s going on?”
	Naoto took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts, and said, “Are you near a TV? The Midnight Channel is still on, and my shadow is there. It shouldn’t be possible, but it’s there.”
	There was a brief moment as Yu took that all in. “Naoto, are you sure? I’m standing in front of a TV right now and I don’t see anything at all.”
	“You don’t see anything? Yu, are you sure?” asked Naoto.
	Shadow Naoto roared in anger. “Yu?! Where is my Yu?! You stole him!”
	Naoto took a step back in shock. “Wait, you can hear me? Yu, I don’t know how, but it seems like the Midnight Channel is…”
	At that moment, metallic arms emerged through the television and wrapped themselves around Naoto’s waist and chest, binding her tightly. In one swift motion, before she could even register what was happening, Naoto was dragged into the television, dropping her phone in the process, leaving Yu on the other end confused and worried. And then the world simply vanished.

	When Naoto came to, she was face to face with herself. A distorted part of herself, anyway. She was flat on her back on the operating table that marked the very bottom of the secret lab that had been the birthplace of her Persona. She never wanted to come back here under the best of circumstances, and staring into the furious eyes of what appeared to be a warped version of yourself was definitely not the best of circumstances. But now that they were face to face, it was easy to see there was something wrong with the shadow. Its movements and behavior did not even attempt to mimic a real person, swaying unnaturally and bending in impossible manners.
	Naoto attempted to sit up and confront the thing standing several feet before her, but she found she was still bound. Metallic cuffs held her arms and legs down to the table, spread eagle. She was nimble, but she could never hope to struggle out of these cuffs. Instead, she would have to negotiate.
	“What do you want?” she asked. “And who are you?”
	Shadow Naoto tilted its head sideways and stared. “I… am you.” It stopped for a moment, as if lost in thought. “I am revenge… against you. But I am you. I...” it trailed off.
	“You are not me,” said Naoto with confidence bordering on anger. “You are not me at all. Who are you really? Enough games.”
	In that moment, the air around Shadow Naoto changed. The strange movement stopped and the eyes gained a feeling of intelligence. “You don’t believe I am your shadow, your true self?”
	Naoto shook her head and summoned Yamato Sumeragi, the military-styled Persona hovering above her at the ready. “I accepted my shadow. It became my Persona, who is always with me. The two of you cannot exist at the same time. So I can only assume you have taken this form to get to me for some reason. Though I can’t put together a motive. I doubt you’re related to the case we just tied up.”
	The fake shadow began to smile and let out a condescending chuckle. “Very perceptive. You certainly live up to your reputation. It’s true. I am not your shadow. My interest in you is purely for my own amusement.”  The fake shadow held a hand to its chin, rubbing the overly long labcoat against its cheeks. “I suppose you can call me Loki.”
	“The Norse god of mischief?”
	Loki bowed, removing his hat in the process. “The one and only. But there’s actually more to this story.”
	Loki snapped his fingers and the operating table rotated, putting Naoto onto her feet, but leaving her shackled. A row of monitors lowered from the ceiling and turned themselves on. Naoto immediately recognized the sight of Yasogami High School. Down the hall she recognized herself and Yu having a talk, but the screen focused on a dark-haired girl Naoto vaguely recognized as someone from her class. The girl was clearly spying on the two of them.
	“How dare she… He was going to be mine!” said the girl, biting her thumb. “If only she didn’t look so great, then Yu would be mine...”
	The video changed again. This time it was set at the shrine in town. Naoto recognized it as the day that Yu confessed his love for her. She even watched herself run off in embarrassment. But once again the video focused on a girl from her class. She was hiding in the bushes, listening in.
	“I was going to confess… Damn that Detective Prince, she has everything… Damn her and damn her nice body...”
	Loki leaned against the monitor and smiled. “You see, this world we’re in collects shadows. Most of them are minor thoughts, repressed desires, that sort of thing. Not tied to any particular person or thing. But I noticed something special. You’ve made quite a few people jealous, you know. They think you have it all. Perfect grades, a perfect figure, and now, the perfect boyfriend.”
	Naoto’s cheeks became red as a tomato as Loki continued. “Th-that’s not...”
	Loki interrupted, “So that’s when I had a fun little idea. You were a Persona user, so you can visit this magical little world where desires and thoughts can shape reality. And here are all these shadows, made from the vengeful desires of those jealous of you. So, why not have a little fun with that? I use a little power, bring those minor shadows together, give them the form of your former shadow and all its little mad science knowledge?”
	Naoto’s heart sunk. This was bad. She didn’t know what was going to happen, but there was little use trying to negotiate with someone whose only motive was to have fun and watch the results. She knew this from recent experience. She’d either have to wait for a rescue or to take action now. She chose the latter.
	“Yamato Sumeragi!” she cried. “Hamaon! Agidyne!” A surge of blinding light overtook Loki, followed by a pillar of flame, and in those moments Yamato Sumeragi slashed her sword at Naoto’s cuffs, freeing her. She made a mad dash for the door, not even looking back. But before she even made it halfway there, more robotic arms ensnared her and dragged her back to the table. Back to square one.
	“Well, that wasn’t nice, said Loki in an annoyed tone. “But it’s also totally pointless. See, I’ve used a bit of my power to establish something of a bond with you. We are connected. You couldn’t hurt me, but certain… actions you take my reflect back onto you. But don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you.” He waved his hand once. “Makajam!” A brief flash of light covered Naoto and in an instant, her Persona was gone, sealed away. “I’m just hear to grant a few wishes. We’re going to see how your boyfriend there still likes you without that figure of yours.”
	Naoto opened her mouth to protest, but before a single word could be uttered, something metallic covered her mouth and held it open. It was some sort of tube, and Naoto’s eyes traced it back to a series of large vats in the corner of the room. Before she could figure out what was going on, she felt the rush of liquid rushing down the tube. In a moment, her mouth was full of a strange, sweet slurry and she was forced to swallow. She couldn’t place the taste, but it almost resembled some kind of protein shake, like the ones she naively used to take thinking it may give her a bit more height.
	“Do you like it?” asked Loki. “It’s my own special recipe using this lab. A special elixer with special… properties. Let’s just call it Ambrosia.”
	At the center of her body, Naoto could feel a surge of pressure. As if her stomach was trying to escape in every direction. It started in her belly but it flowed in every direction. Her chest, her arms, her hips and her legs all felt like they were growing heavy. But most oddly of all, it didn’t hurt. In an odd way it was somewhat pleasurable.
	Loki leaned over and put his elbow on Naoto’s shoulder. “Ah, and that would be several effects kicking in. The first is a way to speed up certain metabolic processes, and the second is a pain-inhibitor with certain… addictive properties.” Loki turned his gaze to a monitor which showed footage of the upper levels of the lab. “Ah, and the other guest of honor has arrived.” Loki pointed to a monitor that showed the rest of the Investigation Team charging into the depths of the lab. The speed at which they sprinted and the dispatched the shadows in their path showed their determination. But they were still a long way off.
	Naoto was glad to see her friends, but the Ambrosia being forced down her throat was getting to her.  She felt like she was losing her ability to concentrate. The feeding tube kept at a rhythmic pace, giving her only a moment to breathe before sending more of the delicious glop down into her stomach, which began to bulge. She was full, but a part of her wanted more. Minutes passed as she could only think about drinking more, feeling the bulge in her stomach grow more and more until it was pressed against her shirt. However, the most pressure wasn’t in her stomach, but her chest. Like her stomach, her chest was growing at an incredible speed, but it was met with the bandages she had wrapped around herself. As the minutes went on, the pressure built and built. The growing flesh straining more and more against the cotton fabric. Something had to give.
	Naoto groaned. The pain of her breasts pushing into her sarashi was growing, overcoming the trance-like state the Ambrosia had put her in. Focusing on the pain, she could feel her senses, her concentration coming back.
	RRRRRRRRRRRRRIP.
	The sound of the bandages giving out as they lost The Battle of the Twin Bulges echoed throughout the lab. Naoto’s chest exploded outward, as if a pair of bowling balls had magically materialized in her custom-fitted shirt, bouncing endlessly.
	And then the Ambrosia stopped. The tube was pulled out, and Naoto coughed and sputtered as she attempted to catch her breath. The cuffs holding her to the table opened up and she collapsed onto the floor. She tried to stand, but everything was so heavy. All she could do was rock back and forth until she was seated, which was an arduous task. She took a moment to look at herself and reeled back in shock. She was big. Really big. Almost every part of her body had grown. Even her arms and legs had visibly grown thick. Her ass had swelled out to the point it now fully filled her custom-tailored slacks, which usually sat loose, giving her a lot of cushion on what should have been a hard metal floor.
	But the most amazing thing was definitely her midsection. Her breasts were never small to begin with, as much as she tried to hide them in embarrassment, but they had more than doubled in size. Sitting like this, it blocked off all of her view of her midsection, or at least, it should have if not for one thing. Her stomach was now bulging so far out she could barely get both arms around it. It was a massive sphere of fat sitting in her lap, pressing down on her now thunderous thighs. And the only reason it was still covered was because of the durable stitching of her expensive coat. But even that was pushed to its limits. Diamonds of flesh marked the middle of her dress shirt, with buttons strained to their limit. The only part of her that wasn’t huge was her face, which had gained only the slightest trace of fat.
	Confusion and embarrassment raced through Naoto’s mind. What’s more, she nearly doubled back in shock when she looked Loki and saw that his form now mirrored hers. He still wore the labcoat, but he was just as gargantuan as she was.
	She looked at him with desperation. “Why…?”
	Loki grinned. “Why am I doing this, why do I look the same or why or why did I stop? Well, as I said, I’m doing this because it’s fun. Quite a few human girls wanted to see you taken down a peg, and I felt like granting their wish. Why do I look the same? This isn’t my true form, but the body I inhabit, made of those shadows of jealousy, has a special bond to you. What you do to it, it does to you and vice versa. Why I stopped? Because we’re getting to the best part and I’d like your little lover there to be here to witness it. And here he comes now.”
	Loki waved dramatically to the door, which flung open to reveal Yu. He walked in carrying his sword over his shoulder and his normally stoic face was brimming with anger. “You must be Loki.”
	Loki raised an eyebrow in interest. “You know that much already?”
	Yu drew summoned one of his Personas, Yoshitsune and adopted a fighting stance. “You’re not as powerful as you think. Rise already scanned you from the entrance.”
	Loki grinned. “Is that so? Well, then you must also know two things. You probably know that you can’t hurt me, as I’ve put up a spell that inflicts anything you do to me onto your not-so-little lover there. And secondly, you don’t seem to be with your friends now, so you must know I have them in my clutches.” Loki laughed, sending a torrent of blubber bouncing back and forth across his body, breasts and belly bouncing everywhere.
	Loki’s question clearly got to Yu, who grimaced.
	“Well, let me show you.” Loki raised a hand and reactivated the monitors. One showed the boys laid out in a pile unconscious. The others all had one girl each pinned to a wall. They had the same feeding tubes in them that Naoto had earlier, pumping them full of Ambrosia. They were visibly getting fatter and fatter, though they clearly had just begun.
	“Let them go!” Yu demanded.
	“Not until I’ve had my fill, or, more accurately, until she has,” Loki said and grabbed Naoto by the head and summoned another tube. “But tell you what. If you finish your treatment right here and now, I’ll let your other friends go.”
	Naoto tried to face away from Yu. She felt broken. She couldn’t bear it. She couldn’t look her boyfriend in the eye right now. He must have thought she was disgusting. And if she didn’t continue with this, he friends would suffer the same fate. It was over.
	“Naoto, don’t worry. I’m going to get you through this,” said Yu. “I have a plan. I would never leave you behind, no matter what happens.”
	That calming, soothing voice made Naoto look up. Yu was looking right at her, and she didn’t see an ounce of disgust in his eyes. He was looking at her the same way he always did, with kindness. She hesitated for just a moment.
	“You mean it? Even if I look like this?” Naoto asked, staring for a moment at the flab flowing all over her body.
	Yu nodded. “You’re still the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met, and that won’t change.”
	Naoto’s face reddened more than it ever had before, but she was totally convinced. She had been a fool. Yu had always told her she loved him for who she was, and she was wrong to have ever doubted that. She struggled to her feet, forcing herself to get used to the new weight. She turned to her foe and held out a flabby arm.
	“I’ll do it,” she said. “Let my friends go.”
	Loki handed a feeding tube to Naoto who willingly placed it in her mouth. In a moments time, the flow of Ambrosia began and Naoto accepted it. After several seconds, Loki snapped his fingers. “Very well, it seems I must keep my part of the bargain.” On the monitors, Rise, Chie and Yukiko were released and dropped to the floor. The girls stayed on their knees for a moment, catching their breath. “Though I never said anything about you, Mr. Boyfriend.” With a snap of his fingers, a battalion of robotic arms grabbed Yu by the arms and legs, binding him in place.
	Naoto was taken aback, but Yu looked at her with complete confidence and gave her a nod. Whatever his plan was, it was still good to go. That was all she needed to know.
	Naoto continued to drink of the chemical, and the effects were almost instant. The buttons on her shirt were immediatley pushed past their breaking point. Like a rapid-fire gun, they shot off her stomach almost embedding themselves in the wall. Naoto’s shirt flew open, with her decency only maintained by the remaining scraps of her shirt managing to stay on top of her chest even if they were no longer being held in place though that wasn’t guaranteed to stay if her breasts continued to expand almost as fast as her globular stomach. Her legs thickened until the mounds of flesh began to protrude between the seams of her pants. Eventually those too gave out and were torn to shreds. Her slacks fell to the floor in a pile of rags.
	Naoto stood bear in front of Yu except for a pair of increasingly tight white panties, digging hard into her thighs, a pair of black socks, her hat and the tattered shreds that were once her coat and shirt. After a few more moments, even her panties could no longer take the strain of her growing flesh and they fell to the floor. Her privates, however, remained entirely hidden simply because her massive stomach hung down nearly to her knees, blocking them from view. Naoto wasn’t sure if this was more or less embarrassing than having them exposed, but she was past the point of no return. The shreds of her shirt gave out as well, falling off and leaving her completely nude but for her hat and a pair of black socks, and even the socks were being stretched to their limit around her fat ankles.
	She looked at her foe, who similarly had blown up to the point of being naked as well. It was like looking in a disturbing mirror. She couldn’t believe it. Even her face, which had previously avoided most of the expansion now clearly featured a double chin. But seeing that massive stomach and colossal breasts, it was unreal. She had to be 500, no, 600 pounds. How much longer could this go on before she just collapsed under her own weight? Or would she lose her mind first?
	“Senpai, I’m ready!” cried a voice through the air. “Sorry it took so long, but make him pay for what he did to Naoto… And my figure!”
	Naoto recognized that voice instantly. It was Rise!
	“Thanks, Rise. Go for it!” Yu cried.
	A surge of power went through the air. And the smile instantly vanished from Loki’s face. “What… did you do?!” he cried. “I’m… stuck! I’m bound to these shadows! And… the bond! It’s gone! This shouldn’t be possible!”
	Yu grinned, as the robotic arms holding him place went limp. “Our navigator is pretty good. She’s especially adept and dispelling things. Your connection to this place has been severed.”
	The feeding tube in Naoto’s mouth stopped flowing and she took it out and took a deep breath. Was it all over?
	Loki began to panic. “W-wait! Let’s not do anything hasty!”
	Yu ran up and punched him in the jaw, sending the would-be god to the floor with a horrible thud as all 600 pounds hit steel. “No, you listen to me.” He drew his sword and pointed it at the fat beast. “You’re going to undo everything you’ve done here. Now!”
	Loki’s face was filled with fear. “But in this state, all I could do is absorb it into--” Yu glared at him. “Eek! Right away! Right away!”
	Loki stretched out a massive arm and pointed it at Naoto. In that moment, she felt odd. Like a great pressure was being lifted off of her. Gravity seemed to get lighter. Naoto stared at her fallen foe and could see the same could not be said for him. His size was increasing rapidly. In less than a minute he jumped up several hundred pounds, while she went down the same amount. He began to resemble nothing but a giant ball of meat. But at some point, the feeling became too much and Naoto felt her consciousness slip away.

	The next day she awoke to find herself in a hospital bed, with Yu at her side. She was wearing a white hospital robe, as her clothes had been completely destroyed. She looked down to see that her situation had certainly improved, though not completely. Most of the weight was gone, but a significant pot belly remained. Her ass was still considerably wider and, most notably, her breasts had ended up so large she knew no amount of taping would ever hide them again. For that matter, no bra she could buy in store would be large enough. She was going to need some special trips to the tailor and soon.
	Yu explained that Loki had continued to absorb all the fat until he became so massive he couldn’t move or keep it up and passed out himself. Being stuck down there, completely immobile and unable to leave his form seemed like a fitting punishment for the trickster.
	One by one the Investigation Team came by to visit. Everyone was supportive, though Kanji couldn’t look her in the eyes. The girls were, understandably, upset. They all had gained a lot of weight too and even after all was said and done, they still had massive potbellies. Rise cried about what it would do to her career and Chie lamented all the extra training she would have to do and meals she would try, keyword being try as Yosuke pointed out, to abstain from. Yukiko oddly was more amused by it, frequently shaking her belly and laughing at the wave-like jiggles.
	They left until it was only Yu and Naoto. Naoto was the first to speak. “I’m sorry I doubted you. After a while, I thought you’d hate me if I was fat. I still had doubts as to why you said you loved me, and I doubted you.”
	Yu smiled. “But you still know I love you. And I love you for who you are. Although...” In a strange sight, Yu’s face was the one to redden. This was something Naoto rarely got to see. “If I can be completely honest… I don’t… dislike the new you, either. I mean, I still love you of course, and...” Yu stammered through his sentences, trying to find the right words, constantly back-tracking.
	He cleared his voice and tried again. “What I mean is, you being… larger it… I also kinda… like that, too...”
	Both of their faces reddened simultaneously. “Oh...” was all Naoto could muster.
	Yu used his courage and pressed on. “So, I was kinda wondering… do you suppose… you could try on that school uniform one more time? Maybe… we can go out together sometime like that?”
	Naoto’s mind shut down for a moment. There was a swirl of confusion, embarrassment and happiness jumping all around in her mind. But she came to a conclusion quickly.
	“That sounds wonderful,” she said. Her stomach growled and she covered her face in embarrassment. “And… uh… maybe we can do that sooner rather than later...”
	It was embarrassing, but she was going to show those envious girls that her boyfriend was hers and they were always going to be together. Through thick and very thicker.