Sick Obsession

Disclaimer: This is the manga I wanted for years and years, since I was Chiyo's age. I don't, obviously own this. All rights go to Kiyohiko Azuma

Chapter 1: Secret Revealed

Tomo never noticed the signs. But, she never minded small details. Yomi started eating less spicy foods-or she ate them at start of lunch. Yomi disappeared halfway through lunch, and when she returned, she picked at the small portion left in her bento.

Even Osaka noticed before Tomo did.

"Yomi?" Chiyo-chan called.

"She's not here," Osaka replied, "She's-"

"She's with the father," Sakaki announced sagely from her seat by the window.

"What!" Tomo leaped from her seat, chopsticks filled with omelet still in hand. "That's ridiculous!" Tomo smiled mischievously, "I bet she's with a guy..."

"Now, that's ridiculous," a voice deadpanned behind Tomo.

"Oh, Yomi," Tomo said, facing the taller girl. That's when Tomo first realized something was off. Yomi scowled, like normal and muttered that Tomo was a moron-also normal. But Tomo noticed the red splotches on Yomi's full cheeks, the paleness and fatigue that seemed to coil itself tightly around Yomi. As Yomi spoke, Tomo noticed the rasp in her voice.

"Hey, are you sick?" Tomo asked.

"No."

Everyone glanced at Yomi. Sakaki raised an eyebrow, before returning her gaze out the window.

"I still think Yomi has a boyfriend!" Tomo finally announced. She crossed her arms, certain.

"I don't think Miss Yomi has a boyfriend," Chiyo concluded, shaking her head.

Then Tomo noticed that Yomi never actually finished her bento. "You hungry?" she asked, elbowing Yomi in the ribs, wiggling her eyebrows.

"I'm fine," Yomi replied. She shoved her glasses up her nose harshly.

"You haven't been eating right for a while now," Kaori chimed in. She looked at Sakaki with a glint in her eyes. Sakaki's gaze lingered for a few seconds over Yomi's closed and tightly sealed bento.

"You haven't," she said.

"Right," chimed Chiyo, "You need to eat a balanced bento. You hardly touched your rice."

"Yomi's just afraid of getting f-a-a-a-t!" Tomo stood abruptly, and started twirling in a mock lover's dance. "She's in l-o-o-o-v-v-v-e!"

"Idiot!"

It wasn't until later, that evening during an abnormally long commercial break, that Tomo finally started to piece together Yomi's secret. After screeching for a minute straight and getting lectured by her father-who ended up agreeing and joined in with her at screeching at the the television (thus getting a lecture from her mother)-she hugged her bag of seaweed flavored chips close to her. She popped a few into her mouth and chewed loudly as she thought.

It could be a guy. Yeah, maybe it was a guy. But, Yomi immediately denied that. BUT, if wasn't technically against school rules to date, however it was strongly discouraged... SO, if it was secret... Maybe Yomi was with him now!

Tomo had to figure it out. Even before the commercial ended, she'd flung on her coat, and hopped out her window, landing perfectly on the outdoor sandals she kept there just in case. She resisted announcing her victory to the sleeping neighborhood; she opted for throwing her arms into the air madly and flashing a peace sign. Then she broke into a run.

She had to catch Yomi and her beau... Maybe he was her sugar Daddy? Tomo's head filled with more and more escalating romance stories as she jogged the ten minutes to Yomi's house.

Tomo crept through Yomi's yard. Even through her closed window and a few meters distance, Tomo could hear Yomi's favorite radio station announcing "Little Tearful Diet Girl's" newest letter. Tomo put a hand to her mouth, giggling silently. She continued her stealthy journey to Yomi's window. She stood for a moment at the closed window; she opened it in one silent motion.

Then the pieces of Tomo's "Yomi Puzzle" rearranged themselves. She heard the gagging as she flung herself on Yomi's bed, kicking her sandals to the wet grass below. Tomo looked around, realizing Yomi was not in her room. So, she was sick, Tomo thought. Her heart dropped a bit. "Damn."

The retching stopped, and Tomo stilled. she felt like she was intruding on something private-although how much privacy did Yomi expect when she was making awful noises like that, Tomo reasoned. Still, she remained silent. The gagging continued. Tomo made her way out of Yomi's room, and down the short hall to where she remembered the bathroom was.

"Ah hah!" Tomo cried, throwing open the bathroom door. Yomi turned, one hand rested on the rim of the toilet, the other in her mouth. A bit of vomit dribbled down her fore fingers, along the back of her hand. Yomi's eyes widened.

Tomo just stared. She wasn't sure if it was Yomi's position or her lack of glasses that jarred her so much. Yomi removed her hand from her mouth, flinging it over the toilet bowl, a few specks of vomit fell alongside the rest.

"I felt sick. I was helping along the process." Tomo silently grabbed a handful of toilet roll, and handed it to Yomi. Yomi wiped off her fingers and face. Tomo noticed how shaky Yomi was as she stood up. Yomi clenched the sink; her knuckles turned white.

"You felt sick?" Tomo asked. She hadn't, except to hand Yomi the toilet roll, moved from her spot at the door. She still held one hand out awkwardly.

Yomi washed her hands in the sink. Yeah," she mumbled to her soapy hands, "I think I caught a bug."

"Do you do that often?" Tomo asked. "When you're sick. Do you help the process?"

Yomi plucked her glasses off the counter, and pushed them up the rim of her nose. They glittered in the harsh fluorescent lighting.

Yomi didn't reply, just started walking quickly to her bedroom. Tomo followed. Yomi stopped short, and Tomo crashed into her. "Hey! What gives?" Tomo squawked.

Yomi turned around, her face sharp and cold. Tomo noticed the fear in her normally passive eyes. "You can't go in."

Tomo laughed, "But my shoes are..."

"I don't care," Yomi snapped. Tomo stepped back a pace. Yomi continued to her room. Tomo ran fast, and barged through Yomi's door.

"Tomo!" Yomi cried out. This time, Tomo examined Yomi's room more thoroughly. How had she not noticed all the chocolate and sweets wrappers littering Yomi's floor? They crunched as she ventured deeper into the room. Tomo spied a personal calendar on the edge of Yomi's desk. She picked it up, reading the decreasing numbers. 155, 150, 148, 144, 141... Tomo looked over at Yomi. The puzzle pieces shattered, forming a whole new picture.

Yomi stood at her door, covering her eyes with a hand-as if to block out Tomo. Tomo continued to read. She noticed the neatly scrawled kanji that wrote out the words: fat, failure, no food over and over.

"Is this your new diet?" Tomo whispered. She took a step forward; a candy wrapper crunched. Enraged, she tossed the small calendar to the side, hoping the pages would tear beyond recognition.

"Is it?" she asked again. Another step forward. Crunch.

Yomi dropped her hand, letting it rest on the door knob. She sank to her knees into the pile of wrappers. Tomo raced to her side, her eyes narrowed. "Is. This. Your. New. Diet? Little Tearful Diet Girl-chan?"

"Yes," Yomi mumbled.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. It just popped ito my mine how possible it could be in CANON for Yomi to be dealing with an eating disorder. Ah angst.

Also, I proofread this multiple times, but I am having issues with my "n" key, so I apologize if I missed any errors.