"Nakamori. Is something bothering you?" the P.E. coach inquired, pulling the girl to the side and looking her over. "You're looking a little thin." She stated.

"No sensei, I'm fine." Aoko smiled, shaking her head and pulling away. "But, I'm feeling a little tired, mind if I take a break?" she inquired. The PE teacher looked her over again and then nodded.

"yeah, but do another lap first." Aoko nodded and headed for the track, her pony tail bouncing in the back as she hurried to complete her fitness gram. She got a couple of meters away before she started to feel strange. Aoko slowed to a stop and held her head, shaking off the strange dizzy feeling. It wasn't going away. 'Well' She thought to herself. 'It's one more lap, I can make that. Besides, it's good for me.' She encouraged herself, starting to run again.

'See?' she thought to herself. 'I can do this.' She get several more yards. Her ankle turned and she fell. Sprawling on the concrete.

"AOKO!" Hakuba happened to be passing on to his next lap when he saw the girl go down and bolted. "Are you alright?" He slipped an arm around her small shoulders to hoist her up a little.

"I-I'm okay." Aoko answered, twisting to stand back up. "I just-just got a little dizzy, that's all." Hakuba backed off so she could stand, looking the small girl over.

"A-are you sure?" He asked, hesitantly. "M-maybe you should sit down, get a bottle of water?" He offered. "Something to eat?" He slipped in casually. Aoko shook her head and froze.

"Eh? M-maybe a bottle of water, but I'm still full from breakfast."

"No you're not." A new voice cut in. "All you eat for breakfast is a pop tart. But you haven't even eaten that, have you?" Kaito demanded, walking over to them. "What have you eaten today?" Aoko blinked, looking from him to Saguru.

"Eh?"

"Don't you dare act surprised. What have you eaten?" The thief demanded. Aoko backed away a little.

"I-I ate a bowl of cherries before school." she answered honestly. "I have been eating." Hakuba grit his teeth.

"No Aoko, you're favoring one food. a bowl of cherries is not doing anything!" Kaito snapped. Aoko jerked and moved towards Hakuba. Saguru calmly pulled her into his arms.

"Kuroba-kun. Stop." He told the other boy. "It's not going to help anything." He ignored Kaito's glare. Aoko blinked and wrapped her arms around him resting her head on his shoulder.

"Why won't it help? If she knows we know then she won't be able to hide it from us."

"Exactly. It'll stress her out even more." He pet her hair. Aoko took several deep breaths, ignoring the conversation. She was fine, just looking out for her health. She'd show them.

"Stress her-?" Kaito bit his lip and looked away. "...I'm going home." He decided, walking off. Hakuba let out a sigh and pulled her to arms length.

"Aoko-kun. l hate seeing this happen to you. Even my patience it wearing thin. Please, try to eat." Aoko looked up at him and shoved him away.

"I am eating." She snapped, turning and running off. Saguru closed his eyes and shook his head. This was getting out of hand.

-

"Aoko." Nakamori entered the house, slamming the door behind him. Aoko looked up from watching TV to look at him. "You haven't been eating. Hakuba-kun told me. This has got to stop. I can't keep coming home from work to make you eat something." He stated.

"Eh? Hakuba-kun is lying, I had some cherries earlier."

"That's all though. Even Kaito-kun has noticed it now. You're not eating anything else. Aoko, you could -die- if you don't eat." Aoko stood up, backing toward her room.

"I-I'm sorry I-"

"I don't want another phone call telling me you haven't been eating, do you understand?"

"Y-Yes." She got out. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-I'll make sure it stops." The girl said. Nakamori let out a sigh of relief and went to hug his daughter.

"Okay, so, want to go out for dinner?" He offered. Aoko blinked.

"N-no, that's okay, I'll cook something." She smiled, moving to the kitchen.

"If you want to." Nakamori agreed, moving to his office. "Let me know when it's ready."

"Of course!" She answered, opening the pantry and hunting for something to cook.

A few hours later she was setting the chicken casserole on the table and taking a seat in front of her father, spooning out some for him and then hesitating to spoon some out for herself. She looked at him as she put the smallest amount she could on the plate. Nakamori put down his fork and watched her.

"Put more on your plate then that." He told her. Aoko reluctantly obeyed, giving herself a good helping of the dinner. She silently thanked the lord when her phone rang, excusing her from the meal.

"Oh hi Keiko-chan!" She greeted. "Go see a movie? Sounds like fun!" She hung up and turned to go to her room.

"Aoko." Ginzou stopped her. "Come back and eat your dinner first." Aoko turned to face him.

"It's alright, I'll just get something on the way-"

"Eat. Your dinner." His voice left no room for argument. Aoko stared at him a moment, she couldn't eat it. If she ate it she'd gain the weight she lost, and it was fattening.

"I don't want it!" She yelled, leaving through the front door before he could stop her. Aoko took a breath and stormed in the direction of Hakuba's house, muttering under her breath the whole way.

-

"Why did you tell everyone?" She demanded as Saguru opened the door. "You told everyone I wasn't eating. Why?"

"B-Because you aren't." He couldn't help but answer honestly. Aoko glared.

"You. No one noticed until you said something!" Hakuba blinked.

"What!? You did this on purpose."

"I wanted to lose weight and I thought by cutting out all the really fattening things, and narrowing it down to a couple-"

"You can't honestly expect me to believe that. I know you know better. Now tell me. Do you honestly think that's true?" Aoko blinked.

"W-Well I-" Now that she thought about it, it did sound stupid. "I only started because-I wanted-I" Hakuba blinked and pulled her into another hug.

"No one was paying attention to me. I wondered if, If-if I did something-they would notice." Aoko started. "I thought maybe.." She let out a sob. Hakuba closed his eyes and held her tighter.

"Shh, It's okay Aoko-kun, we can stop it. I promise. We'll just, Baaya made some soup, we can have some of that?" Soup? That didn't sound good at all. It sounded fattening. Something in her rebelled against her. She yelled at her her Dad about dinner. She couldn't eat. It'd be wrong. Besides, it was fattening.

But she was worrying everyone. She should just eat the bowl of soup. It wouldn't be that hard.

No. A stronger voice in her head stated. No. Think about all that progress you made, all that weight. You'll only gain it all back. Don't eat it. It's not his business what you eat and don't eat. You were doing so well. Aoko shook her head against him.

"Hakuba-kun..." Aoko started, trying to shake the voice out of her head. "I-I don't think I can eat."