Five Buns Full: Chapter 4 (Patreon)

“Well?” Yotsuba asked. “How do I look?”

“You are currently wearing a yellow tube top and orange shorts,” Hikaru replied.

“I know that!” she pouted, turning to her mirror. She bobbed from side to side, the loose top shaking freely and a tiny sliver of pale skin showing beneath. “But how does it… look?”

“Would you like fashion advice?” the machine asked.

“Duhh…” she put her hands on her hips, flexing her small stomach.

As Hikaru quickly downloaded several fashion advice blogs, on the other side of the city was another girl, standing in a very similar pose. She too had her hands on her hips, although Itsuki Nakano was completely incapable of flexing her belly.

Itsuki was in a room that wasn’t her own, recently aired out for the fresh summer atmosphere. A large, king sized bed was covered with messy blue bedding and an assortment of pillows.

The floor quaked, emitting a low thud highlighted by a heavy slap and heavier gasps. The reverberation came again, toppling a large hourglass and dangerously shaking an immense flat screen television.

“C-come on, Mama,” Itsuki muttered to herself. “You can…” with a heaver groan, the fat woman hopped once more, tugging on her black pants with all of her might. She sucked in her mattress-sized gut, able to hold it for all of a moment while her unseen sausage fingers tried to force the button through.

Itsuki had about the same muscle content as a tube full of custard, although her forest of red hair made her look twice as round. Naturally wavy, her hair reached all the way down to her quivering knees, with flowing red bangs and one bundled strand swirling up from her scalp like the world’s fattest ahoge.

She could hold her breath for only a second before her belly exploded back outward, pushing both of her hands, and her waistband, apart.

A deep pout mirrored that of her quintuplet sister. Yotsuba had a clearly defined bone structure, while Itsuki had flushed pale skin and out-of-breath wheezes.

“C-come on, May!” she ordered herself. “You can… nngh!” She sucked in again, taking several wobbling steps back as she forced the clasp of her pants to meet. 

Finally, as if the pants had begun to take pity on the girl and wanted to save her from becoming drenched in sweat, the button was jammed into its hole, and Itsuki’s belly was allowed to sag back down to her thighs.

“Ooooh,” she griped, feeling the waistband pinch into her overweight middle. She tried to stick her thumbs in-between, but there was too much cherry red blubber in the way of her hands. Instead she panted, lifting her fat arms up behind her head, and looked herself over in the wide dresser-mirror.

Itsuki Nakano didn’t fit in her own mirrors. They would give her the general idea, but her round tummy and fatter hips stretched past either end of the frame. Here, every jiggle of her body was graciously revealed, her bright blue eyes looking exhausted, yet pleased.

Her gut looked like a mushroom over an even thicker black stem, flubbing over the top of her waistband and bifurcating her at the navel. The tops of her breasts wiggled and bobbed with each gasping breath, and her pink panties poked out from between the golden teeth of her zipper.

She had to be careful not to get herself caught, pushing her belly upward and in before zipping herself shut.

She needed new pants… again…

These ones were supposed to be stretchy! Or, at least, they used to feel like they were… now they felt tight. Hardly any room for her to squeeze into! They should have lasted her… well, not forever, but longer at least. Now they’d have to be thrown into the donation bin, along with her other ill-fitting XXXXL clothing.

She didn’t mind, not really. Itsuki had gotten used to outgrowing her wardrobes, and a part of her knew this was coming anyways. It had taken years for the extra four hundred pounds to press onto her body. A lot of time to become familiar with tight straps and popped buttons.

Her shoulders looked nice, soft and pale above her dark colored clothes. She’d packed her boobs into a nice, very, very expensive bra, one that offered a girl of her size some much needed support.

To Itsuki, being five hundred pounds was sort of like her need to wear glasses. Just a fact of life, something that was perfectly natural to the trundling teacher. Although, there were a few ideas that had formed in her head that might seem a bit… silly.

This increasingly transformative month had put her in an exceptional mood. Likely due to having eaten enough to gain an additional seventeen pounds, but her heightened appetite was only a part of why the fat woman wore a happy fat grin.

A pale arm hung out from beneath the blue sheets, the fingers lightly grasping and letting go. “Is the earthquake over?” a voice asked from beneath the blanket.

Itsuki smiled.

She was meant to be like this.

She was meant to sit back, to enjoy life as it came. She loved her job teaching at the middle school, loved her passionate rear view blog. She liked staying in, liked reading her books and watching television, or maybe going out to the movies. She loved taking long baths, loved sleeping in late. But most of all, Itsuki loved eating.

Sure, this month had also demonstrated her growing issue with small cars, or how sometimes she had to struggle her hips through a few tiny doors. But it had been such an experience, such a wonderful week on top of a wonderful month, that Itsuki hardly thought about how her waddling was chafing her thighs or how hard she might struggle to stand for more than ten minutes. 

Itsuki was happy. And she was getting happier by the meal.

“It’s over for now,” she intoned cheekily, “but I can make it start back up anytime…” She lifted herself up onto her toes and let all of her weight smack down on her heels. A dull thud echoed from the second-story floor. 

The bedsheets chuckled.

She turned back to the mirror and looked herself over again, taking another puff through plump lips before taking two golden star clips and putting them to either side of her bangs. She fluffed her hair outward, letting the pink glow of sunlight circle either side of her bottom, giving her the silhouette of a fat foodie queen.

Guiltily, her blue eyes glanced at a polaroid picture set into the corner of her mirror, as well as those exact words written beneath. She looked away before getting caught up, refocusing her mind on her task.

She’d managed to get dressed, which was already a good thing. Managed to put on pants rather than needing slip into her backup dress, so that was even better. She reached out and took the small keyring in her pudgy fist, circling it around her left ring finger. 

Now she just needed to waddle downstairs, squeeze her fat booty into that teeny Subaru, and head over to the restaurant. Easy.

“Are you gonna come back?” the voice asked, the hand lifting the blanket to scratch its bare chest.

“Maybe,” she put her hands on her hips and rocked back and forth. “That depends, what’s in it for me?”

“I’ve got more chocolate fudge syrup in my pantry. Unless that was what you drank for your mid-morning snack.”

She saw the figure stretching out in the mirror, and a subtle thought back to last night had her biting her lip before wiggling back and forth with a furious blush. 

No, no! Focus, May! Stop thinking about licking hot choco- 

Ahhhh! Food with family food with family food with family.

“A-alright, heading out!” she called back in a high-pitched voice.

The hand waved sleepily. “Tell your twin I said heya.”

Itsuki paused at the door, turning back with a scowl. “I told you! We’re quintuplets!”

“Photoshopped,” came the sleepy reply. “There’s a one in fifty mill-”

“Oh would you shut up about the odds! Miku and I have three other sisters!”

“Photoshopped memory.”

“Oh, whatever! And get out of bed, it’s like two in the afternoon!”

Twisting to the side, the voice yawned again. “Yes, Mama May…”

Itsuki turned as red as her hair. “H-hey! Only I can call me that!!”

“Yes, Mama May.”

“Ughh!” she growled before slamming the door. She took several heated steps away before, putting her hands to her pockets, she realized she forgot her phone on the dresser. She stomped back to the door and made it as far as putting her hand on her door before the overwhelming embarrassment washed over her tiny willpower and she turned around.

Itsuki hurried as fast as five hundred big blushing pounds could move, skipping down the wooden stairs with an avalanche of blubbery jiggles before reaching the front door. She tried to poke her feet into her flats, but they wouldn’t fit right over her tubby extremities, and she needed to sink onto her generous bottom to pull them on, one at a time, more than slightly aware that she nearly filled out the entire stairwell.

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Itsuki winced, feeling her belly smother the tiny car’s wheel. She had to push her seat back as far as it’d let her, and even then she’d accidentally triggered the car’s horn twice just because she’d hit a pothole and her tummy jiggled against it.

Her chubby face checked the review mirror for the eightieth time, driving in the leftmost lane and ten miles per hour below the speed limit.

She’d never admit how uncomfortable driving made her. Especially a car that wasn’t her own. It felt so… responsible. Not that that was the issue, Itsuki was more than fine with being responsible for herself.

It was all of the other people on the road that bothered her. Itsuki had enough weight settled upon her fat shoulders, and even that was sometimes stressful thank you very much.

She spilled over the wheel, pressed into the center console, could hardly close the door over her thunder thighs. Her ass had enough fat to act like a booster seat, bringing her head so close to the ceiling that her hair was curling down into her face.

Two gray inches of nylon, a seatbelt so little on a girl so fat that she might as well wear nothing at all. The top strap cut into her shoulder, forced so far up that it pressed into her neck before getting lost between the flabby mounds of her breasts, while the waist strap was pulled as far as it could, and she still felt like she were being sliced in two.

This was, by far, the worst part of being overweight… well, not really overweight. Itsuki knew she wasn’t overweight, she was obese. And if there were a label beyond that, she’d probably be that too. Being squished like this always reminded her of the first scale she’d broken, snapping the plastic cleanly in two.

She’d never understand how people could prefer this to public transportation. At least there were usually two bus seats for her butt to fill. And the subway was okay, as long as she didn’t need to switch cars. The double doors were a lot more forgiving than the teeny singles…

She wondered if pigs felt like this when being transported. Then, with a sigh that was so deep she triggered another loud honk, Itsuki considered that she was probably fatter than any pig could be.

Her mind was wandering now, spinning through old tales of barn yard animals. She could vividly picture each of them meandering out in the field.

She was too big for a pig. Not big enough to be a cow, at least her boobs weren’t that huge. Her stamina was, well, nonexistent, so that ruled out horses. She was fluffy and soft, but sheep were dumb creatures that just… sat around and… ate… all day.

Okay, well she didn’t like sheep, so those didn’t count!

Then, in the farm of her mind, a soft looking bunny hopped out of its hole. She was oddly colored, wearing huge ribbons on either side of her head. 

Itsuki remembered Nino’s pet name. Little rabbit.

She thought back to the night before. The wonderful night that ended up like this. Maybe… well, even if she wasn’t little, maybe she could be a little rabbit as well.

She huffed like a puff full of cream, only just remembering to not push out with her tummy. Desperate for some amount of background noise, Itsuki reached forward and tapped a small platform with large cursive H that had been installed on the dashboard.

A short ping of red lights slowly circled the H before they became a deep blue, and the platform activated. 

As if stepping in from off screen, a hologram mounted the platform. The depiction was of a young woman, her body, hair and outfit a soft green color that mixed with the dashboard’s lighting. Her long wavy hair was topped by a simple ribbon. Far more muted than her normal appearance, Hikari bowed from atop of her station.

“Hello, Miss Itsuki. Tsukuyomi informed me you would be utilizing the vehicle today. How may I assist you?”

“Oh,” Itsuki glanced at the hologram, feeling an uncomfortable distrust. She kept her eyes focused on the road. “I thought you’d just be voice activated. Isn’t that kind of dangerous?”

“Tsukuyomi has activated the avatar display. Would you like to turn it off?”

She thought for a moment. 

“I guess it’s fine,” she decided. “But you look so much smaller like this.”

The assistant bowed. “My company is working on a light display that will one day allow projection of myself or my siblings into the passenger seat.”

Itsuki frowned. That sounded kind of… creepy. Even just her small avatar had a certain level of presence to it, like a real person was there with her rather than just a program.

Still, she shrugged it off. “Hikari, how far is it to Sumo Sushi?”

The virtual assistant paused, folding her hands in front of her. “It is about ten miles until you arrive at the Downtown Hachinomori Marketplace. Would you like me to pull up directions?”

“No, that’s okay.” Itsuki’s thoughts now shifted to a far more comfortable place, a place wrapped in meats and rice and plenty of soy sauce. “Hey, Hikari? What are their specials today?”

“Today’s special is the Hana Fire Sushi Deluxe.”

With instant recognition, Itsuki’s mouth began to water.

“It is a platter of 9 pieces. 3 Garlic Hokki Clam, 3 Garlic Shrimp, and 3 Garlic Crab Sticks. Sumo Sushi is also well known for its major buffet. Would you like to know more?”

“Yes.”

The lights on her station pulsed before Hikari stepped to one side. The Sumo Sushi logo came to life behind her, though still in a muted computer coloring. “Sumo Sushi is a popular restaurant, located in central Hachinomori near the open-air market.” 

The logo disappeared, with another taking its. One that was intimately familiar.

“According to Mama May, of the accredited food review blog titled Foodie Reviews- 

Itsuki’s face lit up like the red glow of rising sun, unable not to look at the website graphic that the girl displayed. “YOU CAN READ THAT?!”

The assistant continued without interruption, summoning a small piece of paper that she appeared to read from. “- the restaurant has earned five out of five stars. May cites the relaxed atmosphere of the buffet, good treatment from the staff, and exceptional portion sizes. May also writes-”

“Stop! Stop stop,” Itsuki cried out, the horn honking several times as she wiggled in her seat.

Beneath it, her taunted tummy rumbled, still thinking of the lovingly wrapped spicy garlic rolls. There was something else in there now, a phantom feeling that twisted around her hunger. 

“T-that can’t be the most popular article!” Itsuki denied.

Hikari dipped to the side, still holding her paper like a high schooler doing a book report. “Mama May’s Foodie Reviews is the featured article for this establishment. Foodie Reviews is a popular food review blog-”

“I know what it is!!” Mama May shouted. “It’s that you can access that that surprises me…”

The assistant paused before speaking up. “Tsukuyomi has selected Mama May’s Foodie Reviews to be the default source of all restaurant inquiries. Would you like to adjust this setting?”

It took some time for Itsuki to find her voice. “N-no,” she swallowed. “Umm… does, erm.” She shut her eyes and groaned, blushing deeply into her hand. “What does ‘Mama May’ say is their best dish?”

Somewhere, in an open field, another little rabbit poked her head out of the burrow. She was much fluffier than the first, with a curly cowlick that lifted up from her head. The first bunny traipsed around excitedly, her ribbons bouncing up and down as her sister joined her outside of the hole.

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

By the time she reached the restaurant, Itsuki was pretty sure she could eat most of the buffet. It was only a short walk from the parking area to the marketplace, but the brilliant flavors of the open-air market would have set her to hunger… even if she hadn’t already done it to herself.

Listening to Tsukuyo’s assistant reading back her in-depth review of smoked salmon, the deep-fried chicken, even the lovingly prepared barbeque eel, all of it together could have made even a fit girl drool. 

But Itsuki wasn’t fit. She was a fat foodie princess, her wavering belly filling with every scent that she could catch in her lungs. She was practically floating, guided almost entirely by scent, as she passed under the red white and blue sign and entered the buffet.

The door closed behind her and the trickling stream of spices became a comforting sauna, eliciting a tremendous purr from her belly and a wanting sigh from her lips.

“Oho!” laughed a nearby voice. An older woman came out from around the stewardess station, her laughs perfectly in tune with the waving hand of a black lucky cat. “Ohoho! I’d recognize that rumble anywhere,” the woman shook her finger. “Itsuki! How are you today?”

“Good evening, Mrs. Moon,” Itsuki bowed. “I’m well. How are things here?”

Mrs. Moon chuckled. “My granddaughter is learning how to greet customers. Three times now she has asked me if it’s rude to call a young lady ma’am,” she shook her head before smirking and eyeing Itsuki from bottom to top. “She also became quite confused just a few moments ago…”

“Oh?”

“She seemed to think that the food critique, May, had come to our restaurant to publish another review. She had a bit of a panic attack, sprinting away from the customers’ table to try and warn the sushi chefs. Nearly gave herself a concussion when she ran into the ‘out’ door instead of using the ‘in’.”

“O-oh?” Itsuki grimaced. “I wonder why she thought that…”

“My thoughts exactly. After all, the young Miss May has a way of making the restaurant know it is her. A certain…” she glanced down to Itsuki’s tummy, “imposing presence.”

Itsuki blushed, running her hand through her forest of red hair. “That’s true,” she replied with an undeniable laugh. “But you don’t need to worry. Not here on business today.”

“I thought not. Your sisters are already serving themselves. Although why one is dressed like you…” Mrs. Moon drew closer, lifting her hand to whisper. “Is she trying to follow in your footsteps?”

“Eh? No, no no,” Itsuki shook her head. “Miku and I just had a little idea. Since it’s been so long since we’d seen the others.”

“Ahh… big shoes to fill.”

Mama May crossed her doughy arms over her wide middle, giving a knowing but unamused smirk. “But if you’d like to turn it into a business trip…” she left the rest of the threat unsaid.

“Ahh, no thank you. Not today, yes not today. And of course, you and your family shall receive your free meals. Shall I guide you to your table?”

Itsuki looked around the desk. A round opening led into the main floor of the restaurant, with the nearby buffet tables grabbing most of her attention. Three red headed girls were standing near the end of the service, with two of them standing a little… too close…

She could recognize Miku simply by her size. The girl had recently made a very big deal about passing two hundred and fifty pounds, although apparently it hadn’t been enough to up-size her dress clothes. Her long dress-skirt was tight around her tummy, making her red sweater give her a generous muffin top. The growing shelf of her butt was visible when she locked her arms behind her back, making her resemble a plump peach.

She blocked most of the view of the girl in front of her, but Itsuki could feel herself growing more and more excited as she recognized the implicit Nino-ness of the other girl’s stance. Even with just her hand on her hip, the way she tilted her head back as she talked, there was a power in that pose that Itsuki had sorely been missing.

Ichika’s pearl-red hair looked remarkably soft, her white skin highlighted by her tight black dress. She looked as if she’d just wandered out from Itsuki’s high school memories, the stunning actress in the role of a beauty queen. Which, really, only served to make Miku look fatter…

Itsuki glanced down at herself. 

She groaned. 

Might as well get it over with.

As she walked forward, something strange happened. Miku, whose stance had clearly been nervous, suddenly raced forward. Itsuki could finally see Nino’s face, see the surprise then the soft grin and the enrapturing hug. In her hand, she held a familiar red wig.

Itsuki smiled.

Miku bounced back, her arms going wide. “O-oh!” she called loudly. “Oh I’m sorry!”

Nino said something that Itsuki couldn’t hear, although it felt like someone was playing bongos in her chest. Had it really been so long? She looks so… different now. Almost exactly the same, but so much more relaxed. An easy sense of control, almost like…

Miku was talking again, lower this time. It took Itsuki a moment to hear her stutter, “But it wasn’t t-to hide myself. I-I thought it’d be, ummm… funny?”

Shadow passed over Ichika like a tsunami of darkness. She turned, wide blue eyes becoming the size of moons when she saw what loomed over her. Itsuki had never felt so fat. Though, to be fair, she’d never been this fat, as her size was increasing each and every day. But something about it was so inexplicably amusing that Itsuki could only just keep from laughing.

“B-because Itsuki and I…” Miku continued. “We… Umm…”

“Itsuki is what?” she asked cheerfully.

And there came the looks. Ichika’s eyes were trapped by the gravity of the quintuplet’s butterball belly, glazing over like they couldn’t comprehend what she was looking at. 

Nino turned, her own eyes lighting up like an explosion of fireworks. They searched her whole body, which took a short while, going up from her cankles to her soft double chin, then back down to the rolling hills of her hips. 

She felt herself shifting nervously under that stare. Even knowing it was coming, it was like she was being mentally undressed in the middle of the restaurant while Miku was the only one to really look her in the face.

The pressure was getting to her. She looked to the nearby stand and the wide fatty rolls of heavyweight sushi, and a plate that had been left on the stand. “O-oh, good!” she fumbled, trying to sound excited. “You guys have already started? I love this place!” She wobbled over to the table, completely aware that her sagging tummy was jiggling against her fat thighs. “I-is this one for me?” she attempted to joke.

Nino’s temperature was rising, her cheeks now glowing even brighter than her hair. She turned from Itsuki to Miku, looking for some sort of explanation but unable to ask.

“S-she’s my taste tester,” Miku mumbled.

“Huh? Ooo!” Itsuki’s tummy perked up, thinking of all the sweets she could fill herself with. She came to her soft sister’s side. “Do you have something new for me to try, Miku? I can share it with the students and get more feedback!”

A smile was crawling onto Miku’s face, like a private joke between the two fatty ladies. “You’ll just eat it all again…”

Itsuki laughed, feeling relieved for the drop in tension. She intoned a tune to her voice as she tapped Miku’s belly. “Maybe~” she sang, “But I’ll give your bake shop another review.”

Miku’s eyes narrowed, her lips pursing tight. “Bribery…”

“How about you, Nino?” Itsuki asked. “It’s been a little while since I visited the café. Want me to stop in, give the blog an update?”

It was one chubby poke too far, Nino rearing back on her heels before launching herself forward. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!?”

Itsuki was about to respond when Ichika seemed to finally find her voice. “Trust me, the view is worse from back here…”

Miku self-consciously reached back, putting her hands over her bottom. It was enough to make Itsuki remember just how much she enjoyed her soft body. She wouldn’t be bullied just for being a bit round!

“Very hilarious,” she frowned at Ichika. “I’ll have you know that- hey!”

Itsuki felt the sushi-filled plate snatched from her hand. Nino had seized it, now stomping away. Her belly growled like a jealous dragon, drawing a gasp from Ichika’s open mouth. Nobody ever took food from Mama May… but Itsuki felt herself looking at Nino’s bottom. 

She was wearing a dark red cardigan over a deep blue skirt, which seemed… well, tight. Nino had never been the strongest of the girls, and it was clear that she was maintaining her nature of never working out. Itsuki and Miku weren’t the only ones who’d put on some weight. Her pale thighs were thick, her hips were curvy, which was like looking back at a time capsule. Miku had been that small. Heck, Itsuki had been that small.

And with how she was packing her plate, shoveling full rolls into her mouth even while still building a tower of fatty fish and delectable crab, Itsuki’s time capsule memories were marking a progression in size.

A young stewardess had come up to Miku, but Itsuki continued to watch Nino stalking through the buffet line and packing herself like a swelling creampuff.

“With garden shears!!” Nino’s fist scrunched a pair of rolls so tightly that the rice and vegetables were starting to drip out. She dropped them into her mouth and loudly grumbled through hungry chews.

“Geez, what’s her problem?” Itsuki muttered.

Miku cleared her throat. “She’s pregnant.”

She felt herself going wide-eyed before a giddiness in her tummy made her leap up and down. “Really?!” her arms wrapped around her chest. “We’re gonna be aunties?!?”

“No way!” Ichika beamed.

“O-oh… oh my,” the tiny stewardess blanched before racing away. “Umm, congratulations! If you need anything else, please ask!”

Nino’s rampage continued. She was shouting through a mouth full of tuna, “Ibiot! ‘Oroon! Shhtoopd wolf!!!” stomping with weight that Itsuki couldn’t match before throwing herself into a vacant seat at table. 

She clapped her hands. “THANKS FOR THE FOOD!” she screamed before she began shoveling food past her lips, not even waiting to finish one roll before moving on to the next.

God, she was making Itsuki even more hungry. But she was eating too quickly! The least she could do was taste her darn food!

Behind the girls, the door to the restaurant opened.

Yotsuba slowly entered, spotting a young girl in a service uniform hugging the side of the wall. She was clinging to the entrance, peeking around the side.

It was nearly enough to send Yotsuba home. She was convinced that today was just cursed. First the track, then she’d forgotten her phone back at home and had to turn around. Now she was late, and it sounded like there was some sort of fight going on inside the restaurant. 

She cautiously came up behind the small girl, peeking over her head. “What’s goin on?”

The girl screamed, launching herself against the wall. “O-oh! Y-you’re the, uhh.” She waggled her head, “S-sorry Ma’am- I mean! Uh!! Miss!”

She shut her eyes and winced away as if Youtsuba were about to hit her, defensively holding out a black menu booklet. 

“T-table 25! The round table with the others, please!”

Yotsuba looked around the empty lobby. Nobody else responded. 

“Uhh… t-thanks?” she mumbled, then stepped into the restaurant proper.

The restaurant was silent. Not in the way that a graveyard was silent, it was far too alive for that. No, a few patrons were peering over one another at something towards the far corner, and even the band had drifted off of their chords. It was silent in the manner of which a huge storm had just entered the area, and everyone was peeking to make sure that it wasn’t coming their way.

Yotsuba was then greeted with the generous views of two hefty, red headed women. They seemed to be standing closest to the eye of the storm… although maybe that was because they were too fat to be blown away. 

It always amazed Yotsuba to see a fat woman in Japan, much less a pair of them… with… red hair… but, Hikaru had said that Mama May girl rated this place highly for big portion sizes. Maybe… why did her tummy feel so funny?

“E-excuse me, sorry,” she tapped the palest girl on her marshmallow shoulder. She turned, her rolling belly sagging over black pants, but Yotsuba kept focused on her deep blue eyes. “The receptionist sent me over here? I think she might have made a mistake…” The feeling in her tummy intensified, twisting around in her guts. “I’m looking for my sisters.”

She moved on impulse, grinning widely and poking her cheeks with both fingers. It was a familiar tactic they’d used when they were kids, but that familiarity sparked something deep when the other girl turned and looked into Yotsuba’s false cheery smile. 

“Have you seen anyone that looks… like…” Yotsuba trailed off. 

She saw the brick red of Miku’s straightened hair, the bright cherry of Itsuki’s waves. The pearly red of Ichika turned up from behind them, standing over the bright magenta-tinted pigtails of Nino, wolfishly attacking a sushi-packed plate. And then there was Yotsuba, feeling like the bright color of rust.

“EHHHHHH?!”