Inflating Promise

【PROFILE】
○ Name: Komari Sanada (Sanada Komari)
○ Physical stats: 154cm / 42kg / B78・W53・H80
○ Occupation: Unemployed (living as a wanderer after running away from home)
○ Personality: Cheerful and affectionate, but afraid of being abandoned
○ Hobbies: Collecting second-hand clothes / The art of friendly conversation

Today is a day for driving.
I’m taking a two-day trip with no particular destination in my newly purchased car.
Suddenly, I notice a girl standing by the side of the road.
It seems she’s hitchhiking.

When I stopped, the girl peered into my car.
In the bright morning sunlight, her crystal-clear blue eyes sparkled with curiosity.
The new car smell mingled with the girl’s sweet-sour scent as it wafted into the vehicle.
When I asked about her destination, she said it was 10 hours away.
“Thank you so much!”
she exclaimed with childlike enthusiasm.
I told her I could take her part of the way, and she eagerly hopped in. After a while…
“You’re so interesting, mister!!”
Before I knew it, the girl and I had become friends.
She was an excellent listener and quite pretty too.
When I asked about her, she said she had no parents and was living day-to-day, moving from place to place.
She’d been through more hardship than her appearance suggested.
I stopped at a roadside station for a break.
“Hey mister! If I said I’d do anything, how far would you take me? Oh, but nothing naughty, okay?”
A sudden proposal.
Ah, I know. I took out a recently released mini pump.
“What’s this?” she asked.
I explained its purpose.
I would gradually pump air into it, and I’d take her as far as she could endure.
“That sounds fun! I’m in for that game!!”
The girl readily agreed.
She ran to the restroom to insert the pump.
“I put it in! So it’s a promise, right?”
The girl returned to the car.
It took her quite a while just to insert the pump.
When I asked why, she explained she had used an enema to empty her stomach first.
She’s tough.
“Hehe, I’m definitely going to make it to my destination.”
The girl was breathing heavily with determination.
I opened the smartphone app and activated the pump on its lowest setting.
Beep
“Whoa!? It started? Mister, let’s get going quickly!!”
We left the roadside station behind.

One hour later…

“M-Mister, is this really on the lowest setting?”
The girl’s slender body had a small bulge just at her stomach.
Since I was driving, I couldn’t touch my smartphone.
I handed it to the girl to check.
“Ugh… it really is on low… ugh, I feel like it might leak… oh, this.”
Beep
“Hauu!?”
It seemed she had turned on the anti-leak function.
She apparently wanted to reach her destination no matter what discomfort she had to endure.
Well, I was just planning to drive around today anyway.
I had intended to take her regardless of how far she could endure the game…
but her reactions were amusing, so I decided to continue observing.
“burp… Eek! Sorry, that was gross!?”
she giggled nervously.
The girl let out a loud belch.
Since the pump was inserted from below, it might cause air to come out from her mouth.
This car was still new, and I didn’t want it to get soiled.
So I handed her another device.
“What’s this?”
It was a device that would expand in the stomach and prevent vomiting.
It was sold as a set with the air pump.
“Yeah, it would be troublesome if I threw up. I’ll swallow it.”
The girl swallowed the device.
Beep
“Guh!? I-Is this okay now?”
Now I could drive with peace of mind

Another hour later…
“Hahaha! Mister, you’re so much fun to be around!”
I was having a pleasant conversation with the girl.
She was not only a good listener but also quite entertaining to talk with.
“You and I get along so well!!”
Indeed.
I’d never met a girl I could talk to this easily.
“You’re thinking how nice it would be if this fun time could just continue forever, aren’t you!?”
Could this girl read my mind?
“It’s totally fine! I’ve still got tons of space in my tummy!”
She said that, but her stomach was quite swollen.
Perhaps because her body was so slender to begin with, it only looked swollen without much air actually being inside.
“Mister, I need to use the bathroom.”
I pulled over at the nearest convenience store.
“Sorry, just wait a moment.”
The girl jumped out of the car and rushed to the bathroom clutching her stomach.
Hmm, was her stomach hurting after all?
After a while, she staggered back to the car.
“Are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine… really fine… let’s go quickly.”
I left the convenience store behind.

Another hour passed…

“Haa… haa… haa…”
The girl was reclining in her seat, cradling her stomach with both hands.
She looked almost like a pregnant woman now.
She seemed to be trying to distract herself by gazing at the scenery outside.
“M-Mister… how much longer?”
The journey was still in its early stages. It would take about seven more hours.
“What, that long!? Uguu…”
Judging from her condition, she’d be lucky to last another hour.
I asked if she wanted to give up.
“N-No… I’m totally fine! Besides… I don’t want to sleep outdoors again…”
A dark shadow fell across the girl’s face.
Sleep outdoors?
Apparently her wandering lifestyle was far harsher than I had imagined.
What burdens had this small body been carrying?
Just thinking about it made my chest tighten.

▶ BellyBurst Shop