Inside the restaurant, she was greeted by the same bubbly waitress. "Welcome back! Are you feeling hungry this time?" Hikari gently patted her stomach and gave in. "I suppose I could go for something to eat. What's on the menu?" She asked as she gave a friendly smile.

She would give as nice of a first impression as she could. As she took a seat at an empty table, she smirked in amusement. She didn't know why she was worrying over a first impression. In about twenty-four hours everyone would know why she was really here anyways. She really couldn't stand places like this…

It had been nearly thirty minutes and Hikari was getting agitated. Just how long did it take an empty restaurant to make a simple plate of spaghetti? Then again, it was a dinky little restaurant. What more did she expect? In the city, she was used to everything blowing past her. It was a culture shock to be in such a relaxed, slow-paced environment.

Perhaps she was more irritated than she should have been, but her hormones had reign of her for now. When the waitress came back out, her expression caused Hikari to stiffen. She was rigid, obviously nervous, but at the same time determined.

"Here's your spaghetti. Let me know how you like it." Maya insisted, practically hovering as Hikari took her first bite. She stilled. What could have gone so wrong with cooking spaghetti? She inwardly cringed, struggling to swallow back the bite she had. It was as if the noodles were undercooked, and the meat was overcooked.

A look of concern etched across Maya's face when Hikari began to fidget. "D-Does it taste okay?!" She clutched onto her apron tightly, her knuckles whitening. "It's fine." Hikari quickly insisted, trying not to humiliate the poor girl. Maya beamed at her comment, then rushed off excitedly to leave her to finish her meal.

Hikari twirled her fork around in her food, but had no intention of eating anymore of it. She could already feel her stomach revolting against her decision of eating the spaghetti. Instead, she begrudgingly paid for her poor quality meal and headed to what she presumed to be the 'inn' part of the building. A nicely dressed man named Jake booked her for the weekend and handed her a room key.

"It's the best room we have. I'm sure you'll like it." He said with a lopsided grin, gesturing towards a hallway.

After thanking the man, Hikari headed back to her assigned room. Small, poorly decorated, and boring, but at least it was clean. Just the sight of the bed in the corner soothed her. Seemingly all at once she felt the weight of the day bearing down on her, and she couldn't help but to remove her shoes and tuck under the blankets. With a yawn, she allowed herself to take a nap to recuperate.

Her peace didn't last more than an hour at most. She woke to terrible stomach cramps, and the feeling of bile rising in the back of her throat. She threw herself to the tiny bathroom in her room, upchucking the contents of her stomach. Her hands shook, covered in a cold, clammy sweat. She groaned as her stomach continued to roll, not even giving her a moment's rest. She rested her cheek on the cold floor, hoping it would bring her comfort.

As her eyes closed, she wondered if maybe this was all just a terrible nightmare. Mother had always warned her about pretty eyes when drinking alcohol, and look at her now. She was curled up on the floor of a cramped bathroom, hurling up what felt like her stomach itself, and four months pregnant with a child that was never supposed to happen.

A whimper escaped her as she brought a hand over her eyes, tears beginning to spill in her misery. What was she doing with herself? Her job took up most of her life, and that was the way she liked it. She had always been a hard worker. Why was it that she just had to go to the bar that night?

She laid there for a good while, sniveling. She felt so immature. She couldn't be like this anymore, not when she was supposed to be a mother. Hikari sat up, pushing away all of the worries and concerns that bogged down her mind. She needed to focus on what was best for her health right now. Her health and the baby's health, she mentally corrected. As she rubbed her eyes clear of tears, she gathered her thoughts.

Usually, her bouts of nausea would end after puking the first time. She had thrown up three times already and still felt no relief. Surely she couldn't have gotten food poisoning? She managed to make her way back out of the bathroom to retrieve her cellphone, but was sent scurrying back to gag up nothing but stomach bile. She was certain there was something wrong now.

In a normal situation, she would have gone to her medicine cabinet to take some anti-nausea pills. However, she didn't bring any of those things with her for her trip to the island. The only solution she could think of was… "Hello?" She croaked, fighting back hormone induced tears that still threatened to spill.

"Hikari? Is that you? What's wrong?" Chase's voice was quick to respond from the other end of the phone. His voice caused her words to hitch in her throat. It was as if his voice alone encouraged her to break down her guard and cry out all her stress. "I'm sorry. I don't want to bother you-but… I'm sick. I-I think I ate something bad and I just keep throwing up. I didn't know what else to do, so I called you. I'm just scared for the baby." Her voice quivered as she spoke, and she had to swallow back the bile rising in her throat again.

"Did you eat at the restaurant? Shit, of course. I forgot to warn you. I'll be there in a few minutes." She barely managed to say thank you before he hung up, already on his way to the inn.

Fingers mashed into a phone furiously, dialing a certain bubbly little waitress. Chase fumed as he rushed over to Harmonica Town, knowing he would need to get medicine from Jin before he went to Hikari. When he heard the phone click as Maya picked up, he didn't give her a chance to speak. "You fucking idiot!" He spat, hearing her sharp intake of breath at his words.

"I told you not to cook without Yolanda! How many times do you have to make someone sick before you learn?!" He demanded. "Wh-what do you mean? Is that woman sick? Is it my fault?" Maya asked in a panic. He could hear her voice thicken as if she were about to cry. He didn't want to deal with her right now.

"Clean up your god damn mess, Maya. Get stomach medicine from Jin yourself, and tell him it's for Hikari. Be back at the inn within ten minutes or so help me…" He didn't bother finishing his sentence before he ended the call.

About fifteen minutes after her call, Hikari heard a knock at her room door. As she lifted her head from the cold floor, she heard him speak. "Hikari, it's Chase." She pulled herself to her feet, making her way to the door. She was greeted by a sympathetic face, a bottle of medicine, and a glass of water. "Hey… You mind if I come in for a moment?" Chase made his way in when she gave him a nod.

He set down the medicine bottle on the nightstand after taking out a pill. "I completely forgot to warn you about Maya. She has a record for making people sick with her cooking. My boss Yolanda won't fire her no matter how many times it happens. She thinks she can actually teach her to be a good cook."

When Chase turned around, Hikari had begun to double over, her hand laid on her stomach. "Here, take this. See if you can keep it down." He quickly came to her side, walking her over to the bed to sit before handing her the pill and glass of water. She swallowed it down with a grimace, pressing her hand over her mouth as she already felt a churn in her stomach.

She forced it back down, letting out a heavy breath she didn't realize she had been holding. "Thank you…" She whispered, looking up to him.

The bed shifted as Chase sat next to her, his hand hesitating over her back, then dropping back down to his side. "How about I stay here till you feel better? You look pretty rough." She gave him a pained smile, but her amusement showed in her eyes.

"I don't think I want you to stay now since you called me ugly." Chase grinned back at her, chuckling. "That's too bad. I could have helped you hold your hair back while you puke. Seems like you haven't been doing a good enough job on your own."

Hikari's eyes widened, and she as she reached to check her hair, Chase snickered. "I'm kidding. Your hair is fine. A little sweaty, but fine." He murmured, giving her a teasing smile. Hikari let out a sigh, but couldn't help but smile back. Her eyes closed as her stomach cramped up on her once more. She adjusted herself to lean back on the pillow on her bed, hoping to give herself some relief.

"This is humiliating, you know." She whispered. "I wanted to be professional about this whole ordeal. I wanted to prove to myself and everyone that I could be strong enough to handle this. But… here I am, having to ask for help yet again." She laughed bitterly to herself, her face screwing together in anguish.

Chase frowned, hunching forwards to set his elbows on his knees. He was awful at consoling people. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be spilling my stresses out to you." Hikari said, seeing his unease. She rubbed her stomach as if to soothe her pains. "You should always be able to have someone to rely on. Especially when… you're pregnant." Chase looked up at her sheepishly, offering that as the best comfort he could give.

Hikari stared at him. He shifted, and she grinned. "What?" He demanded, making a fit of giggles escape her. "You're terrible at this." She tried to control the giggles that kept escaping her. They made her stomach ache, but she couldn't help but laugh at his flustered expression.

"Yeah, well… I don't usually deal with situations like this." Chase huffed, looking to a wall, the floor, just anywhere away from her amused smirk. "Thank you, Chase. For staying to make sure I'm okay, and for not running away when I showed up today." He glanced back at her, momentarily dazed by the sweet smile she was giving him.

For a moment, he realized that she was just as beautiful as he remembered. If only he had met her under normal circumstances, maybe he could have done things properly. "You're welcome…" He spoke in a softer voice, his eyes flickering away before he embarrassed himself.

Once Hikari's stomach stopped its rampage, Chase stood in preparation to leave. "If you need me, you can call again. Otherwise, I've gotta head over to my evening job at the local bar." Hikari shuffled behind him as he walked to the door. He opened it, then looked back at her. "If you're hungry later, the bar will be the only place open. I can cook for you if you come."

She grimaced at the mention of food, and he smirked. "Try not to puke again. See you later, Hikari." He did it on purpose, saying her name in that lower tone of voice. He was probably just trying to lighten the mood between them, she thought. He left her standing by the door, fighting a silly grin that threatened to spread.

If only she had met him under different circumstances.

It really was astounding how her pregnant body worked. Who knew that after puking half of the day she could be starving again in a matter of a few hours? She was intimidated by the thought of eating again, but she wasn't going to allow herself to starve, no matter how ridiculous it was that she was already hungry. She was grateful, however, that she didn't have freakish cravings like some women.

There was one week when she just could not eat enough chicken. She didn't remember exactly how many bags of chicken nuggets, breasts, and thighs she ate, but she definitely remembered puking it up after every single meal. It was cruel, really, to unbearably crave something so seemingly delicious just to have it taste god awful on the way back out.

Tonight was one of those nights, but she refused to eat chicken for fear of upchucking again that day. She didn't feel like putting herself through that misery again. She laid on her side for a time, trying to keep her thoughts off of food for as long as she could. She couldn't fight it. It was nearly nine o'clock and she was putting on her shoes to head for the local bar.