Deep in the bowels of Hinata City Public High school, at a table situated far away from anyone remotely popular, during a time which could simply be described as "Lunch", three extremely skinny girls that puberty had all but missed sulked over a communal meal that was probably the best thing anyone had ever tasted in the history of the world. Or at least, that's what it sounded like considering the nearly orgasmic noises the two smallest ones were making.

"Is it really that good?" asked the tallest girl. She had shoulder length hair so black it was almost blue and a figure that could only be described as "possibly getting there someday".

"Shinobu – it's great," said one of her dining partners, a smaller brunette who despite being the oldest, looked three years younger and had a complexion that was slightly reminiscent of greasy fast-food wrappers and chips.

"I actually think I just came," she added. Her voice was entirely serious.

"What's coming? Is it delicious?" asked the girl to the left, a slightly taller brown skinned foreigner with rosy cheeks and a body that, despite the fact she was nearly 16 years old, could barely put a middle schooler to shame.

"Oh knock it off with that shit, it's getting old" said greasy-chan. The other girl, almost-boobs-chan agreed with her.

"Really, Su-chan" she said to the girl who was evidently Su-chan and didn't need a nickname, "That joke was pretty funny back when we didn't know you had a 200 IQ."

Su just shrugged. It was a tough crowd and getting tougher every day. She contemplated that it was unfortunate that her companions couldn't see the genius in her physical comedy or sublime attempts at satire. Oh well, it was to be expected, they were Japanese after all.

"I really wish you guys hadn't seen that. It was a lot more fun playing 'wacky gaijin' than 'midget genius'. Despite what people may think, being smart is still the biggest social stigma of all," complained the diminutive blonde girl as she finished off the last remnants of her lunch.

"It's tits," said greasy-chan, "Seriously, how many times do I have to tell you this? It's all tits. Popularity is tits. Friendship is tits. Boyfriends are absolutely tits. Getting good grades… those can be tits too if you know what you're doing. If my vast amount of eroge research has taught me anything, it's that cup-size rules the world."

"Tomoko-chan!" gasped almost-boobs-chan. The faux outrage was heavy in her voice, but secretly she was in agreement with her hygienically challenged friend, if only because she had witnessed this first hand and on a daily basis for going on over two years now.

"Oh whatever Shinobu-chan," griped Tomoko, the girl formerly known as greasy-chan.

"Aren't you always complaining about how your 'senpai' is constantly following around tsundere-boobs-chan, or airhead-boobs-chan, or lesbian-boobs-chan, or the dreaded mega-boobs-sama, or… do I need to go on?" she snarked as she downed another mouthful of food.

The girl formerly known as almost-boobs-chan looked down at her almost-boobs and sighed. As much as Shinobu wanted to counter Tomoko's argument, she couldn't fault the older girl in her assessment of "assets" and their intrinsic social value, at least in regards to the esteem that the majority of the male gender put in them. It was a sad truth, but despite the fact that she was nearly 16, she hadn't really developed as much as she had hoped. Shinobu knew that she'd give almost anything to have a rack large enough to attract the attention of even a junior high student, but what she really wanted was a sexy figure that would turn the head of her senpai – the man had been living with her (and sadly, with 4 other girls) for the last couple of years and during that time had managed to properly feel up nearly everyone with a double-x chromosome within a mile radius except of course, for her (and she hoped, Su – but she wasn't sure on that count).

"Keitaro-senpai doesn't really chase them. It's more like…" Shinobu was cut off by a smirking Su.

"More like he falls on them, mangles them, massages them, fondles them…"

Tomoko perked up and started to join in, her voice taking on an almost sing-song quality, "gropes 'em, squeezes 'em, rubs 'em, tweaks 'em!"

Shinobu covered her ears and lowered her head, the lamentations in her soul wailing against her psyche. Why did every lunch period have to turn into a discussion of either boys, lack of boys, breasts, lack of breasts, or how the universal equation for dating seemed to be lack of breasts equated into lack of boys. It just simply wasn't fair.

"Augh!" she screamed, "Stop it you two!" she slammed her palms down on the table.

"Whoa… did you see that Su-chan?" asked Tomoko with fake awe in her voice, "I think… I saw a slight jiggle! Well done Shinobu-chan! Well done!"

Without pause, the two smaller girls broke out in tiny sarcastic little claps. Shinobu took one long look at her "friends" and decided that even though there was still ten minutes of precious lunch time left, she had reached her limit of asinine stupidity.

"Why am I constantly surrounded by children?" she griped to herself as she turned heel to leave.

Sadly, she knew it was because no one else saw her as anything but a child herself.

LH-LH-LH

"So, let me get this right, you're inviting me to your own surprise birthday party?" asked Tomoko as she strolled along side Shinobu.

The two girls with the addition of Su were all walking generally in the same direction home and despite their earlier teasing in the lunchroom they all shared a bond that was stronger than mere "a-cup angst".

"Yes, but only because senpai doesn't know you. I'm sure if he did, he'd invite you on his own, he's very sweet that way…" Shinobu's voice trailed. Her hand rose to her cheek and a healthy blush quickly ensued as she began to day dream about her beloved senpai.

"How do you know he's going to throw you a surprise party if it's a surprise?" asked a still confused Tomoko.

Su piped up and slapped the other girl on the back. "Because it's Keitaro! He always does the same stuff every year. Heck, I bet he's looking at cartoon cake designs on the internet right now."

Shinobu muttered at this, "I really wish he wouldn't… it's starting to get embarrassing."

"What? Cartoon cakes? Like Doraemon?" asked Tomoko, only to be greeted with a resounding silence.

"Haha, oh shit – Doraemon. Wow. Sorry," she snickered.

Shinobu sighed loudly as the trio rounded the bend towards the train station.

"Senpai just doesn't see me as an adult. I don't think any of the people living there do really and who can blame him?" Shinobu looked down at her own unflattering figure.

Tomoko snorted, "Tough break kid, but I got a plan for myself."

She smiled widely and thumped her own emaciated chest.

"I read it in a doujin I bought at Comiket last year. The plot was garbage but the idea was sound…"

Despite herself, Shinobu found herself listening more intently to Tomoko than she would have cared to.

"Basically it's this – I do compensated dating until I save up enough yen and then I get a series of breast implant surgeries until my chest is bigger than my head. Maybe some lip injections too, eye-line surgery… hmm. Come to think of it, my nose is kind of crap too and my ears… Wow, those jug handles definitely need to be pinned."

Suddenly, bleak realization hit Tomoko like a ton of bricks.

"Shit. I'm pretty fucked up aren't I?" she asked, only to be greeted with silence and knowing looks.

The older girl just growled and looked at her feet.

"Don't judge me. It's not my fault I'm not pretty," she complained.

"Oh Tomo-chan, if only that was your only problem," thought both Su and Shinobu as the group finally arrived at the train station.

Shinobu reached out and gently patted the other girl on the shoulder.

"See you tomorrow Tomo-chan," she said sadly.

The three girls waved goodbye and separated, with Su and Shinobu looking for their own train that was heading towards the Hinata-sou.

"Do you think Tomo is right?" asked Su as she idly fooled with her cellphone.

Shinobu considered this for a moment. There was no denying that it didn't hurt to be pretty, and while some girls were more challenged in this area than others, the biggest problem that Shinobu had was twofold – she just looked like a baby and she acted like one too. At least she was mature enough to understand this.

"Partly," she said as she boarded the train with Su.

"It wouldn't hurt to have a more adult figure, but really… I think confidence is just as important, isn't it?"

Su put away her phone and grinned. "Well, I've got that in spades! I should go steal Keitaro away from Naru and elope to Molmol!"

Shinobu rolled her eyes. She could never tell when Su was kidding or not when it came to some of her more outrageous statements.

"Don't worry Shinobu! We can do a three way marriage back home; I'll even let you have him more often than me because you're my best friend!"

"Su!" gasped Shinobu, "You really need to stop saying stuff like that or people are going to think you're weird!"

As the two girls found their seats for the train ride home, Su couldn't help but wonder why Shinobu was so hung up on being worried if people thought she was weird or not. Objectively, it wasn't like the timid girl was exactly popular to begin with, so you would think with less to lose she'd be willing to risk more for some gain.

"Maybe she really just needs some more confidence?"

Koalla Su looked over at her long-time friend, wondering what, if anything she could do for her.

"And really, like Tomo said, some tits wouldn't hurt either."

Su leaned back in her seat and stared at the ceiling of the train, lost deep in thought. Surely, it wasn't something that concerned her personally, after all – she knew that she was going to grow up to be a beautiful woman and that fact alone, the fact of knowing, pretty much meant she never worried.

Eying her friend again, but this time with a more critical gaze, she wondered exactly what kind of woman Shinobu would grow up to be.

"How much DNA would I need in order to find out?"

A small grin broke out on her face as her left arm innocently began to circle around the back of Shinobu's head.

"Ouch!" complained the other girl as she felt a twinge at the back of her scalp.

"What was that for Su?" she complained.

Su smile her characteristically haphazard smile and simply said the truth, "FOR SCIENCE!"

LH-LH-LH

Authors Note:

I have no idea what this story is going to turn into. It's just a plot bunny that got away from me that I thought I'd hack away at whenever I get bored. For now, the rating will be 'T' since it's mostly just filled with juvenile innuendo, but that rating might go up in later chapters depending on where this goes.

Cheers, and feel free to drop me ideas about what "might" happen in this fiction.

QC