Summary
It's the first day of school after winter break. While making their way to class, Yuri becomes the topic among her friends when they bring up how much they ate over their time off. She humbly claims that it isn't a big deal, and how she's likely to gain weight easily- it just so happens that she also pays extensive attention to her physique.
Although, being given a lot of attention due to being so pretty isn't necessarily a bad thing...
They join their classmates in the room when Yuri is invited to look at the pictures they took recently. While the admiration from her classmates continue growing, Yuri happens to notice the handsome classmate she has feelings for nearby. He is teased by his friend, implying he likes her as well as her friends recall hearing that he has a thing for skinny girls and are sure they would make a great couple. Yuri thinks this over before deciding that if he was to make a confession to her, she would be okay with this. She goes on to flash him a warm smile.
It's then a really pretty and thin girl walks into the room. Nobody can recognize her as she sits down at Atsuko Oota's seat. Someone points this out to her, but she shocks the entire class upon revealing that she is Atsuko. Flabbergasted, they look at an old picture of her before wondering what happened, and right away she is bombarded with questions from everyone. Yuri remains to herself, wondering what the big deal is considering how they used to pick on her. But after Atsuko reveals that she was even scouted as a model, she is displeased and watches as not only her friends abandon her to go and speak with Atsuko, but Shun and his friends are discussing her too.
That evening Yuri remains in a foul mood and barely touches dinner before taking a warm bath. She comes to the decision to make herself sick to buy some time away from school and she begins drinking unpleasant health drinks, taking weight pills, and weight lifting until she is sure she can drop off a few extra pounds and reclaim attention again.
After finding out she's dropped 4kg she decides to return to school. But to her alarm, Atsuko is only 39kg; and her sudden drop has only brought her down to 43.2kg. She can't imagine how this is even possible considering they are the same height and Atsuko doesn't seem to be doing anything to keep the weight off like she has been. She isn't given much time to think it over though, when Atsuko suddenly approaches her to say how concerned she had been over her. She's glad knowing she is alright, and she's been dying to speak to her.
She starts by bringing up that she had been wondering how to become thin like Yuri- but Yuri misunderstands this as a sign of arrogance and storms off in anger rather than continue talking to her. She bumps right into Shun, who asks if she is alright as he helps steady her. He remarks on her thin appearance and how sickly she looks, going on to warn her not to overdo it and saying that if she needs someone to talk to she could always come to him. Yuri still feels as though she's lost to Atsuko, despite the compliments she gains from a few various students; but she feels relieved knowing that he's worried about her. She thanks him while wondering if maybe she was wrong about him and heads off, unaware of Atsuko observing them.
During P.E. class Yuri's friends notice that she looks sickly and wonder if she's alright. Realizing it as well, she mentally chastises herself for not being more careful when it came to not eating anything. She attempts to calm down and focus when suddenly, Atsuko collapses. The teacher checks on her before asking Shun to take her to the nurses office, and he agrees, picking her up. As he heads off Yuri overhears everyone gush over how cute they look together, enraging Yuri as she accuses him of being a big liar before noticing Atsuko flash her a smile.
The second class ends, Yuri grabs her cosmetics bag and storms into the girls bathroom with her concerned friends. Horrified, they watch as Yuri feverishly chops off several locks of hair, then cuts every single nail with her clippers down to bloodied nubs. Having a complete meltdown, she asks why Atsuko is doing this to her; despite putting in effort and being the same height, it's not enough! Atsuko doesn't do anything!
Grabbing her scissors again, Yuri thrusts them through her stomach to the alarm of her friends. Their screaming alerts a teacher, who rushes inside just as Yuri loses consciousness.
Later, Yuri awakens to see she is in the nurses office. As she recalls what led to this, she is shocked to find Atsuko staring at her from the other bed. She angrily turns her back to her until Atsuko remarks on how happy she is knowing she's alright and that her injury is shallow enough not to leave any scarring. She goes on to provoke Yuri into responding by pointing out how alike they are; with Yuri quickly denying anything of the sort. She doesn't want to be grouped with girls like her.
Atsuko continues to talk however, and Yuri notices that her nails are also cut down. Atsuko then says that Yuri is fine the way she is... but seeing how much she would like to be thinner, she offers to show her the secret. Yuri can't pass this up and curiously watches as Atsuko removes her shirt. Going down the middle of her chest is a large stitched up cut.
Atsuko explains that in the past she wanted desperately to become skinny. Over break, she found the way to achieve it- because she couldn't dispose of what was on the outside, she removed the inside...
As she points out that this is why she got sickly earlier, Yuri thinks about what happened throughout the day before noticing the card Atsuko is holding out to her for the surgeon who did this work. She claims they are very good and Yuri only hesitates for a moment before taking it.
If she can stay beautiful, she would do anything!
Eventually Yuri returns to school and thinks back to what she said days prior. By now she doesn't have to put in the effort to be beautiful; she's become a model and maintains her looks. She has also began to date Shun, and she remains popular among classmates and friends. Her friends ask her what her secret is after noticing she somehow managed to slim down further, and as she answers "it's a secret" Atsuko is shown to observe her and the stitching, barely visible from the top of her shirt.
Tropes:
- All of the Other Reindeer: Atsuko was implied to have been this in the past, due to her being overweight. She kept to herself and had an interest in fashion, so she was made fun of.
- Berserk Button: Atsuko was one for Yuri up until the end of the chapter.
- Attractiveness Discrimination: Yuri certainly thinks this is true, and she says that at both the start and end of the chapter.
- Diet Episode
- Formerly Fat: Atsuko.
- I Just Want to Be Beautiful: Yuri was always pretty and well-liked, but after competition showed up she was driven to desperate measures.
- This was also Atsuko's reasons for having the surgery.
- Irony: Ever hear the phrase Beauty is on the inside?
- Self-Harm: After finally snapping Yuri ran into the girls restroom with her personal grooming items. It started off innocently enough with just cutting a section of hair off, but it turned horrifying when she cut her nails down far enough to make them bleed, then stabbed herself in the stomach with her scissors.
