“Excuse me! Hey! Excuse me!”

“...”

“Hello! Down here! Hey!”

The reason why I had been a Class L for a full year was not because I lacked the effort. It was incredibly difficult for anybody to make enough money to be allowed to go up a Class. This was not simply because of how low paying the jobs we could take were but it was also because this was a competition. It was a fight to make sure you were the one who earned the most profit.

“Excuse me! Hello?! Can I get some help?”

“...”

“Maybe I should get closer. Heeeey! Over here!”

In the shoe shine station, we may have split our profits, but that was also at the expense of Adam who had gotten inadvertently injured by the coin when it fell. This was a society that was quick to abandon the weak and unlucky if it meant getting ahead. I, too, had experienced the same as Adam had before and had spent long periods of time needing to recover.

“Hey! Over here! Down here!”

“Hm? Did you need something?”

“You heard me? Yes! Excuse me, I need some help!”

I did not want this to happen to Liz. While I knew it was better for her to get used to being a Class L so that she could survive, I wanted to help her get out of this life. I hadn’t even bothered doing this for myself, but when it came to her, something in my mind wouldn't allow me to just let her go through everything I had gone through. For Liz, I was going to do whatever I could to help her get back up on her feet. I wanted to get her Class back.

“Here. Put this message on Box 021.”

“Sure… A message? Wow. How rare for someone in the facility to get a message.”

That was why I barged into her apartment box that morning after a long week of working behind the scenes.

“Liz!”

“Hwah?! M-Matty?! You’re lucky I’m dressed this time,” Liz put her hands on her hips. She had gotten a bit more accustomed to her time as a Class L now, so she wasn’t feeling as depressed as she was before. Actually, with how often I’ve barged in, she was probably feeling annoyed now instead because of my intrusion. “Isn’t it too early to go to the shoe shining station?”

“Dressed? Hm… Yeah. This will do,” I scanned the woman’s body from head to toe to rate her clothing choice. I gave her a quick thumbs up but then used that same thumb to point out the door. “Come with me. We’re doing a different job today. And if you play your cards right, you’ll have a much easier time at this size.”

Although she was unsure of what I was saying, Liz trusted me. She willingly followed me out of the facility. Of course, she was definitely confused when, instead of walking to the bus stop right outside of the facility building, we kept to the wall and kept walking to the opposite side of the building.

“Hey, Matty, just where are we going? It’s dangerous to be outside like this, isn’t it?” There was plenty of time during our long trek for Liz to ask me questions.

“We’re meeting someone,” I told her. “It took me ages to get the attention of that C Class facility worker, but they were actually able to do something for me. I didn’t think it was possible, but the person I had them call said they’d send someone over… That welfare worker though… she could’ve given me the message without crushing the roof of my box…”

My explanation was still extremely vague, so Liz kept asking me questions. “Meeting someone? You tried to get someone to come here? For what? Why?”

“You can ask me yourself,” a voice from above spoke up as a shadow suddenly fell over us as we walked.

“Hm?” Turning around, I saw a pair of black pumps almost as big as I was tall. Someone bigger than us had come.

“Wah!” Liz screamed, frightened to suddenly have a giant figure loom over her. “Wait… H-Huh?”

It seemed that Liz realized that the ‘giant’ she was looking at was not as big as she had thought. While the normal sized women at the bus stop were around 400 feet tall in comparison to our inch high selves, this woman was closer to 70 feet tall. She was still huge to us, but not monumentally gigantic.

This 70’ tall strawberry blonde woman in a pencil skirt was, in reality, only 12 inches tall.

“My bad. Did I scare you? You were taking so long to come to the meeting destination, I figured you were still on your way,” the doll sized woman got on her knees to get a closer look at us. As with anybody who was looking down at an insect sized Class L, she had no reservations about showing us the black lace panties under her skirt. “I’m Elena. I take it you are the Matthew and Elizabeth I was told wanted to work for our company?”

“We do?” Liz was confused before I took the reins of the conversation.

“Yes, that’s us,” I shouted up at the 12” tall woman. “I’m sorry for making you go out of your way for us Class L’s.”

“Now, don’t say that,” Elena frowned. “Lusilee welcomes employees of all Classes. We’re more than willing to come pick up anybody who isn’t physically able to make the journey to our company. Please don’t put yourself down over your Class.”

I was impressed by how welcoming Elena was and how friendly she was speaking to us 1” tall Class L’s from her height.

“Well, we’re still sorry for making you wait. The trip wasn’t long for you, was it?”

“Not at all. I don’t think you’re aware because I know it’s too dangerous to venture far from the facility at your size, but the Lusilee Company building is next door,” giggled the strawberry blonde company employee. “At my size, it’s a bit of a workout, but it’s not too bad.”

“That’s good to hear. I didn’t want to cause any more trouble when you’re already going out of your way both hiring us and picking us up.”

“Ah… Well, about that,” Elena turned her attention to Liz who was still staring up at the woman with a dumbfounded look. “Elizabeth was it? That’s the name I was given. You wanted to take this job too, right? It doesn’t look like you were told anything.”

“That’s because she wasn’t,” I responded for Liz’s sake. “Sorry. She only recently became a Class L, so she only saw the jobs the facility listed were available. I was the one who saw the ad at the bus stop and thought that this would be better for her.”

“Oh? You sure are a nice guy,” Elena whistled, apparently impressed at how much I had done for Liz’s sake. “A go-getter like you would pass the interview phase if we had one.”

“There isn’t one?” Liz was surprised.

“There isn’t a need for one for Class I’s and below,” Elena answered. “I was told to staff my department with whoever was small enough to fit and had some openings. Not many folks your size actually think they can apply for the job so I’ve been waiting for a while for someone to come. You two were hired the moment you contacted the company.”

That was a relief. So we were both hired. It would’ve been rough if only one of us got to go. I didn’t want to throw Liz into this on her own or leave her behind at the facility..

“Um!” Liz finally calmed down enough to speak up. She shouted upwards nervously. “Miss Elena, can you explain what we’re being hired for? I’m not sure what kind of job we could do.”

At that question, Elena smiled. “Are you nervous about it? Well, that makes sense since Class L’s don’t really have many job opportunities. But don’t worry. The Lusilee Company lets even a Class H girl like me work like a normal person. You’ll be treated fairly, and there will even be things closer to your size for you to work.”

“Is that so? Wait, the Lusilee Company? Really? THAT Lusilee Company?”

Instead of answering, Elena lowered her hand down onto the ground. She was clearly signaling for us to climb onto it so she could pick us up.

“You’ll see what I mean when we get there. Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle. Hop on.”

Since I was the one who made the call, I climbed the doll-sized woman’s hand first, trying to be careful not to mess with her pink nails as I sat down in the middle of her palm. When she saw me doing it, Liz relented and joined me. She was unsteady and uncertain, but she got on.

“Matty, what the heck did you do? I thought you Class L’s couldn’t get any jobs.”

“I tried my luck. I couldn’t believe it either, but this could be a major break for us, Liz. Let’s give it a shot.”

There wasn’t that much room considering a 12” woman’s palms were definitely smaller than a normal person’s. Liz had to hold onto me tightly because she was afraid of falling off before Elena’s other hand hovered above us, giving us a slightly protective ceiling.

“Let me show you to the company, you two. I’m sure that you two will be happy there.”

With that, the doll sized employee took us away from the facility. As concerning as it was to let someone we didn’t know take us away from the safety of the welfare building, I wasn’t afraid. Even Liz wasn’t. That was because of the name of the company that was hiring us.

It was the Lusilee Company - one of this society’s most renowned businesses internationally. For companies to be willing to let Class L’s take a job, there had to be a catch, but that wasn’t the case with Lusilee. This was a company whose reputation assured us that, even if there was a catch, we were still likely to be in for a pleasant stay.