Work Text:
Iori liked to think she had grown in many ways since she had left the simulation.
She had grown used to her new everyday life; when they all exited the pods there had been so much to do and so little time to do it that everyone had to grow up fast so that their budding society didn’t crumble before it even started.
It had taken months' worth of sleepless nights and near-fights before the infrastructure was finally stable enough that they could afford to relax, and even longer for them all to settle into their preferred roles.
She had grown to appreciate those around her, even strangers like Tamao-San or Miura-Kun, people she never got to meet back in the city. It turns out that when everyone in existence shrinks to just 15 people; you better believe every one of those 15 become very important to you, and with time, Iori found that those strangers were now friends, even family!
She had even grown used to the strange, fantastical technology she now found herself surrounded by! Thanks to the many long days Ei had let her sit with him while he worked in the labs, what once was a maze of menus and strange symbols was now like another language to her!
Iori found herself navigating computers with remarkable ease, almost as if she had been using them her entire life! In fact, she was even considering asking Gouto if she could help more often in the labs to learn more about these fantastical machines from the future (and not just because Ei was there too, shut up Usami!)
So yeah, Iori liked to think she had grown up a lot since she left the simulation two years ago!
But if there was one way Iori didn’t think she would grow… (one way she hoped she wouldn’t…)
-
‘’Cmon, just fit already!’’ Iori screamed to herself, as she struggled in vain to clasp the bra behind her back if not for two very large bulges stopping her.
Iori had woken up inside her cabin, ready to face the day! She rose, had a shower, and brushed her teeth, but as she dressed in her work clothes for the day, she found a degree of… tightness that she wasn’t used to.
For some reason, her usual C-cup bra, (which she remembered fitting just fine!) now simply couldn’t reach over the swell of her chest! No matter how much she panted and struggled, she just couldn’t make the clasps reach!
‘’Arrrghh, why is this happening?! Did it… shrink in the wash or something?’’ she muttered to herself as she turned to look in the mirror mounted on the wall beside her.
‘It’s not like there could be any other explanation’, she thought to herself as she glanced over her body in the mirror.
…Right?!
Iori’s musings were interrupted by a sharp knock at the door of her cabin. Anxiety seized her mind as she glanced at the door; who could that possibly be? It wasn’t Ei, was it?! There’s no way Iori could let him see her like this! well… n-not that it would be a bad thing! S-she just hadn’t had any time to prepare mentally and-
‘’Fuyusaka-San, are you there? Your shift started 30 minutes ago, Gouto-kun sent me to check up on you.’’ Ryoko’s voice called from the other side of the door.
Indecisiveness filled Iori. Ryoko was a girl she had found herself growing surprisingly close with over the last two years. Maybe it was because of how they both shared a deep connection with EI, albeit in different ways or maybe it was due to how Ryoko seemed to genuinely listen to her whenever she excitedly chatted about this new flower she had discovered whilst exploring or that new computer function she leaned today and how it could help the colony!
Either way, something between the two girls had ‘’clicked’’ and Iori was now happy to call Ryoko a close friend! (even if Ryoko still refused to say it herself.)
Still, could she really let Ryoko see her in this state? She WAS probably one of the only other colonists who wouldn’t make a big deal about it…
…
‘’J-just a second, I’ll open the door!’’ she called out.
Groaning to herself, Iori haphazardly threw the (stupid) bra on her bed and quickly pulled a nearby shirt she’d left out over her head before she finally moved to the door. Unlocking it, she gently turned the handle and meekly peered round the edge of the door.
Ryoko stared back at her with indifference clear on her face, arms crossed over her chest. She was dressed in one of the orange jumpsuits that had been mass-produced for them all when they woke up (thank God they weren’t all naked for TOO long, she thinks her face would’ve melted off her body if she had to look at Ei like that any longer!) which meant she was probably working in the machinery room today.
‘’Hey. You good?’’ Ryoko asked, casually shifting her weight from one foot to the other. ‘’You’re usually late, but not THIS late.’’
‘’oh- er, sorry! I didn’t notice the time, I was- err…’’ Iori hesitated and leaned out a little to make sure no one else was in the hallway that joined all their rooms together. ‘’Are you okay?’’ Ryoko asked, briefly revealing that hidden kindness Iori knew was in Ryoko underneath the layers of indifference she always projects.
‘Well- er, yes, you see...’’ she trailed off and sighed. ‘’I… can’t get my bra to fit’’ Seeing Ryoko’s right eyebrow rise to meet her hairline, Iori quickly clarified ‘’I-I don’t know why. I think it must of… shrunk in the wash or something, y-y’know?’’ She chuckled nervously, a smile plastered across her face.
‘’Don’t you have any other bras?’’ Ryoko inquired, her eyebrows knitting together.
‘’They’re all in the wash if you can believe it, this one was meant to last me until tomorrow! What are the chances, right?’’ Iori chuckled once more.
For a very long moment, Ryoko just stared at the smile forced onto Iori’s face, before breathing a very deep sigh and asking, ‘’Can I come in, and see?’’
‘’Oh! Er…’’ Surprised, Iori glanced down at herself and then back at Ryoko, whose face still hadn’t changed from the mildly bored expression she always wore. ‘‘S-sure, I… think that should be ok…’’ Iori held the door open for Ryoko, who passed through it without another glance at her.
Ryoko immediately made for the chair next to Iori’s desk and sat down, propping her legs onto the table (a habit Gouto had reprimanded her multiple times for) Iori closed the door behind her and followed, a feeling of awkwardness flooding through her.
‘’So, er… do you want something to drink Ryoko-San or…’’ Iori asked as the urge to be a good host momentarily took over her.
‘’I won’t be here for long, just need to prove something,’’ she replied, her eyes studying the lines that made up Iori’s ceiling. She looked down at Iori ‘’Well, try and put it on then. No point being in your skivvies for any longer than you have to’’ Ryoko lazily said. ‘’R-right!’’ Iori responded, making her way back to her bed and quickly pulling off the loose shirt she had carelessly thrown on earlier and decidedly ignoring the jiggle said action sent across her chest.
She picked up the bra again and studied it, it was a lovely sky-blue colour that she had picked out from one of the articles Okino had given her when the girls had finally gotten the chance to choose their own, personalized undergarments to be made from the fabricator last Christmas. It was durable and comfortable enough that Iori had no problems wearing it since she got it (until now)
She put her arms through the straps and shifted her breasts into place before reaching behind her to connect the straps, ‘’Ugh, s-see? The clasps just won’t come together… ‘’ she grunted in frustration, ‘’I must’ve made a mistake with the settings on the machine in the last laundry cycle or somethi-’’
‘’Okay, first off.’’ Ryoko said, cutting Iori off, ‘’Your bra hasn’t shrunken in the wash. The laundry machine we use automatically detects what type of clothes are within it to specifically avoid that happening, it is from the 2100s after all, not the 1980s’’.
Iori’s brow’s furrowed, ‘’B-but- ‘’ ‘’Second of all.’’ Ryoko said, cutting Iori off again, ‘’The undergarments we made in the fabricator are also constructed with materials and designs from over two hundred years after your home year. While they certainly aren’t perfect, the chances of that brassiere you're trying to put on shrinking in a washing machine are astronomically low’’ Ryoko dropped her legs from the table and placed them on the floor with a small *bang*.
‘’So!’’ Ryoko spoke sharply, narrowing her eyes at Iori, who was now looking down at the floor with a deep frown on her face ‘’Are you ready to admit the actual reason your bra doesn’t fit so we can both get back to work, or are you going to keep clinging to excuses?’’
A long moment passed as Iori avoided meeting Ryoko’s gaze, eyes squinting in frustration and the bra clenched in her hands. Before she sighed a very long, deep sigh and finally spoke the truth she had been avoiding all morning.
‘’My breasts have grown…’’ She threw the bra across the room in frustration, where it collided against the wall with a small, sad sound, and glared down at her chest. It was hard to tell from just looking (for now, argh, shut up brain!), but her chest did protrude slightly further than usual and there was a noticeable extra jiggle on her torso when she turned too fast that hadn’t been there a few weeks ago.
‘’Why do you make it sound like such a bad thing?’’ Ryoko asked, casually tapping one foot against the other and cocking her head.
‘’Because it is!!!’’ Iori shouted, flopping down onto her head bed, trying very hard to ignore the significant bounce that came with it, ‘’I’ve had a normal chest size my entire teenage life, and I’m happy with that!’’ she said, throwing her hands up towards the ceiling to empathise her point.
‘’They never got in the way, or, caused any back pain, or… a-any of that stuff!’’ Iori’s arms flopped back down onto the bed, making the mattress (and something else to her annoyance) shake.
Ryoko huffed and propped her feet up again, ‘’well, you can’t say you didn’t see this coming.’’
Iori quickly leaned up into a sitting position and stared intently at Ryoko ‘’what do you mean?’’
Ryoko smiled sarcastically, emphasizing the bags under her eyes (Iori had told her she needed to sleep more, but she never listened!) ‘’Oh c’mon, everyone knows Morimura was a future version of you.’’
Iori blinked, ‘’so?’’
‘’So…’’ the tone of Ryoko’s voice changed from her usual disinterested tone to something more teasing and Iori immediately realised she had made a mistake. Ryoko’s infamous silver, mocking tongue had just arisen from behind her usual sarcastic demeanour, and Iori already knew she wouldn’t like what came out of Ryoko’s mouth next.
‘’Do you remember what she used to look like? She usually wore that big, white lab coat but it had no chance of covering those things.’’ A blush came over Iori’s cheeks, but Ryoko wasn’t satisfied yet ‘’Did you ever see how they moved when she was breathing? Like two bowling balls going up and down, demanding the attention of anyone in front of them.’’ The colour decorating Iori’s cheeks spread to her nose, and Ryoko’s smile turned into a smirk.
‘’And then there was the way they bounced when she moved, like they were trying to escape from her shirt! Not that that shirt covered up much mind you, in fact, I seem to remember it straining on her, struggling to contain what lay beneath it~’’ Iori's legs had now curled up to her chest and she buried her face in them, a slowing growing whine emitting from behind them.
‘She had to support them with her arms too, didn’t she?’’ Ryoko said, very much enjoying Iori’s embarrassment, ‘’They were just so heavy to carry around, she probably couldn’t help it~ even if it did make it look like she was constantly showing them off to everyone around her… remind me, were they visible from behi- ‘’
‘’STTTOOOPPPP!!!’’ Iori squealed as she leapt from the bed and began nervously pacing, hands covering her tomato-red face ‘’Please, just stop! You made your point, okay?! You know I can’t handle that kind of talk!’’
‘’Sorry.’’ Ryoko said, not sounding sorry in the slightest, ‘’but you DO get what I’m saying, yeah?’’ Iori sat down on the edge of the bed and glared at Ryoko with her head in her hands, unintentionally puffing out her cheeks in a way that ruined any kind of threatening aura she might’ve had. ‘’I get it, I should’ve known that I would… ‘g-grow’ as she ‘grew’ a long time ago, I just…’’ Iori glanced away, still puffing her cheeks ‘’…didn’t want to think about it, I guess.’’
‘’Why is this such a big deal to you anyway?’’ Ryoko inquired, resting her head against her hand on the desk ‘’you know I was just exaggerating to mess with you, yeah? there’s nothing wrong with having a ‘’larger’’ figure, most girls our age would do anything for a few extra inches.’’
‘’What are you talking about?’’ Iori questioned, doubt present on her face as she dropped her hands to her sides ‘’Girls our age would do anything to LOSE a few inches! even just a few extra pounds! And boys…’’ Iori trailed off as her mouth split into a grimace, the shadow of very painful memories settling over her eyes.
‘’What?’’ Ryoko said, confusion evident on her face ‘’What are you talking about?’’ she turned her whole body to face Iori for the first time since she had walked into her room ‘’Go on, finish your sentence, boys…?’’
‘’Boys…’’ Iori murmured, her hands digging into her sides ‘’…don’t like girls who are… bigger.’’
A long silence filled the room as Ryoko stared at Iori, stupefied.
‘’Well, that’s stupid, where’d you get that idea?’’
‘‘Huh?!’’ Iori looked up, Ryoko was studying her with an intense look in her eyes, a rare seriousness overtaking her. ‘’W-well, I mean-‘’ Iori stuttered, not sure why Ryoko was making such a big deal out of this ‘’That’s just what everyone thinks, right?’’
Ryoko continued to stare at Iori for a moment longer, before understanding finally came over her and her face settled into an angry scowl.
Instantly Iori was on alert, an angry Ryoko was a scary one and usually resulted in something getting shot (until Gouto confiscated all the colony’s weapons and made it so you had to have his approval before you could use one, now an angry Ryoko usually meant that something would be broken instead) Iori waved her hands in the air, desperately trying to work out what she had said wrong as Ryoko stood up, her chair hitting the floorboards with another *Bang*.
‘’I, er-! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to imply anything about you or s-something like that, you have a beautiful figure, really! T-There’s nothing wrong with your weight at all! Really!’’ Iori scrambled to say as Ryoko paced in front of her, hands clenched at her sides.
‘’I’m not angry at you Iori.’’ Ryoko spat out between gritted teeth
‘’Oh… your-, you’re not?’’ Iori asked uncertainty in her eyes. ‘’I’m not! I’m angry at-!’’ Ryoko turned her back to Iori and stopped.
She let out a very long, very tired, sigh.
‘’I’m angry at humanity.’’ She muttered.
‘’What?’’
Ryoko turned and leaned against the wall next to her, her eyes staring straight into Iori’s. ‘’Okay, I’m going to say something really important now, and you are going to listen, is that understood Iori-San?’’
Shocked by Ryoko’s sudden seriousness and the use of her first name, all Iori could do was nod.
‘’Okay. First, where you’re from. The 1980s I mean.’’ Iori nodded again ‘’You know that place is pretty …outdated, yeah? Especially Japan in the 1980s?’’ Ryoko questioned.
Finding her voice, Iori spoke ‘’y-yeah, trust me, I’m aware.’’ She looked down at her hands, fidgeting in her lap ‘’Usami-Chan has told me all about ‘’the internet’’ and ‘’mobile phones’’ and that’s not even getting into the stuff we have here on the colony- ‘’ ‘’No.’’ Ryoko said, crossing her arms. ‘‘That’s not what I meant.’’
Iori looked back up at Ryoko again, curiosity obvious in her eyes. ‘’Well, what did you mean?’’
‘’I mean… society. What the public believes is important, is ‘’right’’ or ‘’proper’’’ Ryoko snorted, as if repulsed by the sheer idea of strangers telling her what she could or couldn’t look like. ‘’The idea that …women can only be beautiful if they are ‘’thin’’, is complete horseshit, and if anyone ever told you otherwise, told you what to do with YOUR’E body-!’’ Ryoko paused to take a breath ‘’then they’re horseshit too.’’
Iori stared gobsmacked at Ryoko for several moments, ‘’B-but that’s… just how it is! At school, if you didn’t fit in- ‘’ ‘’I’m sorry, is school here?’’ Ryoko interrupted.
‘’huh?’’ Iori unwittingly said.
Ryoko gestured to the window on the far side of the room ‘’Is there a school out there, classmates who whisper behind your back about how fat you look, parents who criticize you for eating too much, strangers who stare at you in the street when you carry food around- is any of that here?!’’ she said, glaring down at Iori.
‘’Well… no…’’
‘’Exactly! No.’’ Ryoko repeated, crouching down so her eyes were right next to Iori’s. ‘’There’s no one here to tell us whether we look ‘beautiful’’ or ‘’ugly’’, or to criticize us for what we eat, it’s just the fifteen of us and do you honestly believe any of us…’’ Ryoko pointed at the door behind her ‘’…care if you’re boobs are too large or if your butt is too big, or anything like that?’’
‘’…No, none of you would…’’
‘’Correct, we wouldn’t. So why should you care about it?’’ Ryoko said, still refusing to break eye contact with Iori, who was now grabbing her head and running her hands through her hair as she whispered ‘‘I just… what if ‘I’ don’t think I look good or I stop worrying and accidentally eat too much and…’’
‘‘And that brings me to my second point…’’ Ryoko said as she sat on the bed next to Iori, their shoulders touching. ‘’Do you think Ms. Morimura looks ugly?’’
W-Well, no I don’t… she’s gorgeous and…’’ ‘’…And she’s you.’’ Ryoko finished for her ‘’You’re not like others, you know what you’ll look like in the future, and if you ask me…’’ Ryoko glanced away, uncomfortable with sharing her more private thoughts ‘’…you get a pretty good deal.’’
‘’But you said- ‘’ Iori began ‘’I know what I said earlier, and I told you I was teasing you, and I’m sorry for that… I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Plus, none of that stuff I said about Ms. Morimura was necessarily bad…’’ She could only just see it from where she was sitting, but Iori could swear Ryoko was slightly blushing!
She opened her mouth to question her, but Ryoko spoke before she could. ‘’And regarding the other thing you said… your friend, the one from back in the sim, what was her name?’’
‘’Wha- ‘’ Iori was frozen for a moment before she spoke ‘’d-do you mean Miwa-Chan?’’ Ryoko turned and looked at her again ‘’Yeah, her. She was a bit on the chubbier side, wasn’t she?’’
‘’Well… slightly, I guess,’’ Iori said, somewhat put off by the mention of her old friend.
‘’Was she ugly?’’ Ryoko asked
‘’NO!’’ Iori immediately exclaimed, her hands balling into fists
‘’Miwa-Chan is beautiful! No matter what anyone says or what size she is!’’
Ryoko didn’t respond, she just looked at Iori with her eyebrow raised and a smug expression on her face.
-
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-
-
‘’Oh…’’ Iori said as the realization hit her. ‘’If Miwa-Chan is beautiful no matter what size she is, why can’t I be?’’
‘’There we go.’’ Ryoko sighed as she stood up from the bed, walking back to stand in front of the door ‘’Took you long enough. Now, I’m going to go to my room and get one of my sports bras; it’s stretchy and should cover you just fine, okay?’’
‘’Okay.’’ Iori said, eyes transfixed on Ryoko’s back.
Ryoko pulled her PDA out of her pocket, sighed when she saw the time, and stuffed it back in. ‘’After that, I’ll head over to fabrication and send in a request for some bras slightly larger than the one you have there, and a few more slightly bigger than that as well.’’
Ryoko slyly glanced back at Iori, ‘’Just in case.’’ She said with a small smile as Iori blushed once more.
‘’Is there anything else before I go, Fuyusaka-San?’’
Iori thought for a moment about everything they had discussed so far and all she realized from it, there was one more doubt plaguing her mind about her body, one thing she couldn’t ignore, no matter how much she tried to.
Well, this already was the deepest conversation she’d ever had with Ryoko, might as well go all the way…
‘’There is one thing, Ryoko-San- well, two things really…’’Iori answered, uncertainty clear on her face. Ryoko sighed once again (she really needed to stop doing that, it was quickly becoming a habit) and nodded, ‘’Go ahead, what is it?’’
‘’I get what you’re saying about how I shouldn’t worry about what others think of me, and as long as I’m happy with my body, that’s all that matters, but… what about Ei-Kun? He’s the man that I love! I-If he didn’t like the way I look, I… I don’t know what I would do…’’ Iori trailed off, quickly wiping her arm across her eyes to stop any tears that might try to emerge.
Ryoko turned to look at Iori again, leaned against the door, and took a moment to think about what the best thing was to say before finally responding:
‘’I can’t speak for Ei-Kun, and I really don’t want to anyway so I’m not going to do that.’’ Ryoko crossed her arms ‘’I will tell you that by the 2060s a figure like Morimura’s or even your friend… Mika-Chan- ‘’ ‘’Miwa-Chan’’ Iori corrected ‘’Whatever.’’ Ryoko dismissed. ‘’In the 2060s, Women with figures like them are considered just as ‘’in’’ or ‘’sexy’’ as thin women.’’
‘’Really?’’ Iori asked, eyes widening in wonder.
‘’Really, so…’’ Ryoko grimaced ‘’Loath as I am to even consider such a thing, there’s always a possibility that Ei-Kun would like you just as much now as he would if you were a little… bigger.’’ Ryoko finished, repulsed at the thought of even considering what her surrogate brother might be ‘’into’’.
Iori looked down at her chest with a new sense of marvel, ‘’Really?’’ she whispered as she watched it rise and fall with her breath.
‘’Look, if you want to know more, go talk to him and not me, okay? Just the thought of it makes me want to go and shoot something…’’ Ryoko muttered, purposefully avoiding looking at Iori.
She let out one last, long sigh.
‘’Anyway, you said two things were bothering you, what was the second?’’
‘’Oh! Er- well…’’ Iori said as she blushed and briefly looked away before her gaze went back to Ryoko with a sudden intensity.
‘’Earlier… did you say my butt was big?’’
A heavy blush overtook Ryoko’s face as she turned and yanked the door open. ‘’For God’s sake, put a shirt on Fuyusaka, you do realize you were half naked for that entire conversation?’’ Ryoko spoke and then she left with Iori’s flustered squeaks in her ears.
’Her chest isn’t the only thing she’s inheriting from Morimura’ Ryoko thought to herself as she made her way back to her cabin.
But not before she broke into Gouto’s weapon cache, she really needed to shoot something and Iori could wait an extra ten minutes.