"Freshman Fifty"
by Limequat

Kana was a freshman in Hiroshima University, the most prestigious school in Japan. She had been on a strict diet at her home in the country, and she possibly stayed on it because there were no addictive fast food joints to tempt her. But now she was in the middle of Hiroshima, where she was surrounded by delightfully cheap, cholesterol-loaded restaurants. She couldn’t resist.

“I’ll have two double-pound burgers and two orders of Jumbo fries. Heavy on the mayonnaise, please.”
The guy at the counter looked at her for a moment then said, “Okay.”
She waited awhile until he handed her her tray. Kana walked over to her table, resting her slender body on the chair. She dipped one French fry in the ketchup, then another. Then another and another and anotherandanother…. Kana always had a weakness for fast food. She picked up one of her hamburgers. The mayonnaise dribbled out between the buns and the grease of the patty did the same. She ate the whole disgusting thing in one bite. The second one had even more mayonnaise, though she didn’t know why. It was practically forming a pool at the base.
She finished that one off, too, but she was still hungry. She went up to the counter again, feeling a bit heavier. “’Scuse me? I’d like a mega-size chocolate milkshake, please.”
He gave it to her right then and there, as if he had been preparing for this.
She walked over to her table again. She guzzled and guzzled the gallon-size container until the shake was all gone. Maybe I could have a little something more, she thought to herself. She looked up at the menu sign. I could have a salad. Or maybe some chili or a baked potato. “Hmm…” She couldn’t choose, so she got all three. She doused the salad in dressing and plopped on the potato a dollop of sour cream larger than the potato itself. But what could she do to spice up the chili? She walked over to the counter with all the condiments and filled up the rest of the cup with ketchup. But that wasn’t enough. She loaded it up with sugar from her table. NOW it was enough. She gobbled up everything.
When she was done, she paid for her food and waddled out the door.

“Hi, Kana!” said her roommate, Hanahime. “Umm… Kana, is that you?”
“Sure it’s me! Who else could it be?!”
“Oh, nothing. Just… nothing.”

The next day, Kana went to the Oodo Kantori Buhee (Old Country Buffet). She liked buffets, but not as much as fast food places. She just wanted something different.
Normally she would’ve gone to the salad bar, but for some reason she decided not to.
First she loaded her plate with chicken legs, steak and salmon. Her second plate was piled high with pizza of all sorts.
Corn muffins and garlic bread.
Roast beef and mashed potatoes.
Hot dogs, French fries and burgers.
Rice and corn on the cob.
And she washed it all down with glass upon glass of root beer.
She sat for a few minutes, digesting.
Then she moved on to desserts.
She tried the different kinds of ice cream and cake. She consumed five bowls of chocolate pudding. This went on for about half an hour until, at last, she was full.
She waddled, with some difficulty, back to her dorm after paying.

“Hi, Hanahime!” Her friend looked up from her book. She stared.
“Umm, kana, do you think you might be putting on weight?”
“Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous! What would make you think that?!!?”
“You just seem a little… Heavier.”
Frantically, Kana waddled into the bathroom and stood on the scale. It flashed “287.6”.

She put herself on a diet, which she only cheated on occasionally. She achieved a somewhat steady weight of 121 pounds and, actually, people told her she looked much healthier.