HOME | DD

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

"Come on come on come on!! Move or lose it people, we've got a cat-bus to catch!"

A very frantic Morgana yapped at his fellow phantom thieves as the air-conditioned pyramid fell apart in their wake. As per usual, the "palace" of their target's cognition was losing its form, as the Boss had been defeated and the treasure had been stolen. The thieves were making a scramble towards the exit in order to avoid the same fate as the environment around them.

"*pant* *wheeeze* H-hold up you guys!" Futaba sputtered, trailing well behind the rest of the group; this had been the furthest she had ever run in her life, and it showed. Being a Hikikomori and and NEET took a serious toll on her stamina. At this rate, she was going to plunge into the realm of non-existence along with the rest of the pyramid's ancient history.

"Don't worry guys, I've got her!" ever vigilant, Makoto took a step forward to shift her momentum and bounded back up the steps to save her friend. Quick thinking and athletic, she didn't waste a second attempting to run it back.

However, in her desperation a slight miscalculation had been made, and her foot fell right through a crack in the ailing structure.

"EH WHoA-AH!"

CRACK

----------------------------

"So let me get this straight,"

Takemi Tae said, groggily fingering through a clipboard of medical documents, " this one fractured her ankle in a crack in the street while walking home." She pointed her pen at the bedraggled mess of Makoto and Futaba, sat haphazardly on her medical examination table. Makoto had a fresh cast and boot on; Futaba was out cold. "And that one had an anemic attack while helping her out, and that's why there's two injured young girls here in my office at this ungodly hour." Tae postulated, clearly not amused to be treating patients in her pajamas.

"That would seem to be the case, yes." Akira mused, nervously twiddling with the stray curls hanging above his glasses.

"Don't mess with me, guinea pig. You and your little gang can do whatever you want, but try not to get anyone hurt in the process, alright? This is a clinic, not an emergency room."

"Yes ma'am!"

"*sigh* you there." Takemi turned her chair to face Makoto. " No physical strain on that foot of yours for 6-8 weeks. Keep it elevated, and alternate between hot and cold patches twice a day to up the recovery speed. I want you back in for a check up as soon as you can walk on two feet again, ya hear?"

"Yes ma'am..." Makoto uttered in a soft mewl, somewhere between embarrassed and upset.

"And tell your friend to fix that diet and get some exercise. She's rather underdeveloped for a girl her age."

With that, Akira lent Makoto his shoulder and started the long walk home to drop the comatose Futaba back off at her room.

-----------------------------

"... Mnnnmmm...mmm... MAKOTO!!" Futaba shot up with a start, picking up exactly where she had left off, except somehow back in her room.

Judging by the way Akira was fast asleep at the foot of her bed, he must have carried her home sometime after they left her palace.

"Meaning that I caused trouble for him AND Makoto." she deduced. "Ugh... this blows. I could've handle business my self if my stamina wasn't so low." she lamented. If only there was some way to raise her stamina. Like some sort of stat or xp grind. Wait a minute. Stats?

"That's it!" struck with a moments inspiration, Futaba hopped out of bed and into her chair, hands flying to the keyboard without a moment's hesitation. "I'll work out! Nutrition, regimen, frequency... sleep (she would have to work on that one); its all just raising my stats! As of right now, I'm in the negatives. So if I reach the national average, I'll be at a zero... therefore, the goal is a positive!"

Futaba figured that by bettering herself, she wouldn't need to rely on her friends too much—and in turn, they could rely on her more often.

"Alright! Starting tomorrow, Futaba Sakura is in training!" she yelled, throwing a celebratory fist in the air. However, now she was too sleep.

-------------------------------

Although still quite mad at herself, the Student Council President was adjusting well to her current situation.

Less than a week into her rehabilitation, Makoto was already out of things to do at home. Diligent student that she was, her homework had been finished before they even raided Futaba's pyramid. She found herself lazing around the house more often than not. Well, not really around. She was basically in one of two places at any given time: on her bed, in front of a laptop; or in the living room, in front of the TV.

There was little else to do than self study, watch anime, sleep and snack. Lots, and lots of snacks. In everything she did, food was involved. She made sure to keep a bag of chips or nori handy in her spots so she wouldn't have to get up to make lunch—"no physical strain," after all. She had been slacking on ice rotation as well, since that required her get up and prepare it herself; Sae had work during the day, so she was around to bring home Big Bang Burger or something for Dinner. She had been usually kind and patient with Makoto lately. Not that Makoto minded.

Life in the last few days had been calm, quiet and peaceful for her. No stress, no nothing. It hadn't yet occurred to her yet, but the sedentary lifestyle suited Makoto quite well. Stifling a yawn, she pulled out her phone to check the Phantom thieve's group chat. "I wonder what everybody is up to..."

----------------------------------

"Are you sure about this, Futaba?"

"The sure-est! Big sure!"

"Welp, whatever you say kiddo. I'll show the ropes. and the machines. and the weights." Ryuji puffed out his chest in pride, failing to conceal his excitement to be a mentor for once.

"First things first, you've got to warm up properly! Lets start with—"

"Yeah yeah, jogging a quick lap and then some light stretching." Futaba cut in without looking away from her treadmill's settings. "I already looked this stuff up and made my own routine—you're just here to make sure I'm doing it right. Support."

"Oh. Yeah." Ryuji sulked, this time failing to conceal his disappointment. He dipped out for a second to talk to Akira, who was busy with his own training. "You sure about this bro? I don't know if she can handle all this so soon."

"She'll be fine, you blonde monkey." Morgana popped his little head out of Akira's gym bag, always eager to take pot shots at the former track star. " Futaba is putting in the work to get something she wants. Its an admirable effort. Thats more then I can say for someone and their studies." he snickered.

"Wow, okay, that was uncalled for. Like, this doesn't even have anything to do with school right now. I'm just worried about my friend here. What if she passes out from exhaustion again?"

"She said it herself, that's what we're here for." Akira added frankly.

Ryuji looked at his best friend quizzically, then shrugged and let out a deep sigh. "If ya say so pal. At any rate, I've got her back."

"Allllllright! Let's do this!! I'm gonna get in shape, and then I'm gonna get in ultra shape! The Sakura Futaba training arc starts now!"

"whew... this is gonna be a long summer..." Ryuji moaned.

---------------------------------

-TWO WEEKS AFTER-

"Are you busy? It's been awhile, so why don't you come on over?" read the text that Akira had just received from Makoto.

She was right, it really had been awhile. Fourteen days since he had last seen her limp into her apartment late at night, Akira found himself astonished that he managed to ignore her for so long. It must have been that Futaba had been dragging him to the gym, on runs, to the store, and over the place for her new bodybuilding needs. Work outs, twice a day, five days a week. He hardly had anytime to work on his other social graces, let alone relationships. Feeling rather guilty for leaving her by her lonesome for such a stretch of time, he decided to accept her request.

*knock knock*

"Come in! It's open." came Makoto's muffled voice from deep inside the apartment.

Akira entered the threshold and removed his shoes, expecting to see the same Makoto as usual: Prim and proper. In his mind, the Student council president occupied this sort of "bookworm that could totally kick my ass" ideal. Strong, but beautiful. What awaited him was not what he expected.

Makoto was lying parallel to the TV, lengthwise across the couch with her foot propped up on a stack of pillows on the other side. She was wearing a loose fitting tank top and a pair of athletic shorts—ironic in her current position. empty bags and cans of snacks were strewn around her immediate landscape, with a fresh bag currently being shoveled into her maw as she spoke.

"You're just in time! I was hoping to catch the Phoenix Ranger Featherman R marathon, its running practically all day!" she said through her mouthful of chips. "come on, sit down sit down! I've already seen most of these but its your first time, so you've got to pay attention."

Makoto had a tendency to get wrapped up in new experiences. She was the same way with crime dramas and kung fu movies. Akira figured that the easy life was new to her too, and thats why she had been indulging so heavily.

Its affects on her body were not immediately visible without a discerning eye. However, Akira was a connoisseur of the female form; he could easily spot the difference.

It began with her face. From his position across the couch, Akira could see the slight build up of fat in her cheeks and neck. A little dollop of chub appeared under her chin when she shifted around to get comfortable—but otherwise it simply appeared rounder than usual. Lightly concealed by her tanktop, it seemed that her breasts were sagging more than usual; though that could have due to the fact that she was not wearing a bra, which was a whole other issue. No discernable changes could be verified. When Makoto sat up, and even when she laid down, the thinnest layer of pudge appeared to be clinging to her abdominal region. Her musculature was still visible, but something above it was clinging like a thick form fitting shirt—folding like one all the same. She was in some limbo between toned and plump. Everything about her just seemed...softer. Even the muscles on her arms and thighs appeared less defined, more round. Fourteen days without seeing Makoto, and Akira could hardly take his eyes off her the entire viewing session. He felt an obligation to inspect the damages; to see whats new. He didn't have a problem with this Makoto at all.

"Hnnnngh! Well, I had a lot fun. We should do this again sometime. I ordered a bluray copy of Kunimitsu's Lovecraft Butler, so you should totally come by when it comes in."

Akira smiled waved goodbye, closing the door on this peaceful event with Makoto. It occurred to him that he had no idea what he just spent four hours watching.

-----------------------------
"Alright, take it nice and easy, slowly bending at the knee. Chest up, butt out, make sure to hold it for a sec while you're down. Then on the way up, exhale and straighten back up to the starting position."

Futaba was doing box squats. Ryuji, as a former track athlete, proved to be quite the valuable training partner. He sported enough knowledge of the gym's equipment to give her detailed descriptions and examples of just about every workout you could do in the small area. Today in particular was Futaba's first leg day. Nothing too heavy, since she was just starting out. The process was humblingly slow, but the results of her training could be seen already.

Since Futaba was already thin and petit, the frequency of her cardio workouts made her core appear toned. Her extremities were still undesirably thin to her; being toned was not her goal, afterall. However, everybody starts somewhere.

"Fuuuuuu~" she exhaled, rising back up to her starting position and placing the bar back on its rack. This training business was a total grind! Not to mention that it made her feel all sweaty and gross and sore and tired. Futaba basically went to sleep right after her workout because they took so much out of her. As Ryuji put it, "No pain, No gains!"

"Whew! Thanks a lot for today Ryuji. Hit me up when you're open for another sesh'." she still called them grinding sessions (xp farming as well; multiple occasions)

"Ah! You got it! Make sure to rest up for the weekend though, its important not to overwork yourself."

And she made sure to heed his advice. Cleaning up with a cold shower and grabbing some grilled chicken and brown rice to snack on, she plopped down on her coach and turned on some well-deserved Featherman R.

-------------------------------------
-ONE MONTH AFTER-

"Hey, Makoto."

"Yeah sis?"

"Are you... getting, um, tired of eating fast food for dinner all the time?'

Makoto thought about it for a second. "No, I don't mind. I get that you might be busy at work, and this is all you have time for on your way home. So this is fine, really."

"Oh. Okay, got it."

Sae Niijima was at an impass. Fast food for a major meal on a daily basis was definitely not healthy. She was obviously trying to get Makoto to consider other options before she developed a bad habit. But the way she had answered her question so sincerely... it was almost as if she didn't want the status quo to change, or worse—she didn't see anything wrong with it to begin with. Big Bang Burger day in and day out had no lasting effects on Sai. However, the same could not be said for Makoto.

The greasy, empty calories of her constant snacking and daily burger meals caused Makoto to build up a very loose type of fat. Since she was always wearing elastic athletic shorts, sae could see the cellulite building up on the back of her thighs, with hint of her backside cellulite-ridden as well (the shorts seemed to be getting a little small). The thin layer of fat on her abdomen gave way to a small pooching belly; her upper and lower abs no longer separated by any visible line,the countour of her stomach was now a soft tear drop shape. Sae could see it bunch into an accordion of roles when she sat down; and bunch around the edge of her wasitband when she stood. As it were, Makoto was seemingly ignorant to the amount of weight she had put on in a short month. Unbeknownst to her, she had gone from a fit 121 lbs to a plump 148 in a matter of weeks. Sae had to do something.

"Tell you what," she started, " Its not fair to you if I just pick up unhealthy food because I'm tired. You're still a growing girl, after all. So from now on, I'll be picking up ingredients and cooking whenever possible."

"mm? Sounds good to me. Whatever works."

It seemed complacent living was also softening up Makoto's personality.

----------------------------------------

Makoto recieved a PM from Futaba early the next morning:

>Heya Queenie! Recoverin well?

                Yes, the process has been going along smoothly, thank you.<
>cool cool.

>Joker wants to head into Mementos today. I've gotta fill a slot. Ya mind if I borrow your gear for a tad?

              Sure thing. I'll have it ready outside my door for you to pick up<

>a a a a big thank! Ill swing by for it later then ;3

                                                                              It's no problem<

And as she wriggled herself out of bed that morning, Makoto found difficulty with more than just her foot.