When there is nothing around you to reference the progress you are making, it becomes difficult to determine distance or time. I considered it an effect of isolation. How many minutes passed? How far had we gotten? I couldn’t tell. What was our ordinary trip to school couldn’t be that long of a walk, but I had no idea how many times I had been thrown about and slammed repeatedly by Yae’s breasts while she walked. Being stuck inside the orb on her necklace, I had nothing I can do but hold my bags and constantly get tossed around. Even whenever she stopped at a crosswalk or just paused for a moment, Yae didn’t talk to me because she knew I couldn’t easily hear her now that I had fallen in her cleavage.

I was thankful when Yae finally took me out. I was lifted back out into the light and dangled in front of Yae’s face when she arrived at school. It was a strange sight I was greeted to when my eyes adjusted to the light again. Well, what light I had available to me. Yae was once again blocking the light with her body, but this really made a picturesque image. I couldn’t focus my eyes on anything except her. The other students, the other locks, everything else was too far away from me to clearly see, but Yae was so close, her enormous face was the only thing in focus as she took off the necklace and held it in front of her. The light from the school entrance far in the distance made a halo around her figure. It was enchanting… practically angelic. I always considered Yae a cute beauty, but this sight really made me want to pray to the gods in gratitude for giving me the blessing of seeing it.

“Phone… Phone…,” I stumbled through my pockets to pull out my phone and take a photo of the sight. I had finally been able to charge it the night before thanks to the Portable Hotel Room, so I could use it again to take photos I wanted to take. It was hard to keep the camera steady when the entire necklace was swaying left to right. Yae wasn’t even moving her hand, but I was still swinging around like a pendulum.

When I succeeded in taking a quality snapshot, Yae spoke to me. “Okay, Touya. We’re supposed to wait for someone to come this morning. Did you enjoy the trip?”

“Enjoy? Well, being surrounded by your chest made me curious about how it’d feel directly,” I told her my feelings while pocketing my phone. I made her smile and blush with those words. “Though I’m fine with not actually trying it too. It was suffocating enough having this thing surrounded on all sides. And your sweat is scary.”

“I didn’t think I was sweating,” Yae told me. “I guess that’s this size for you though, Touya. You can notice things I definitely wouldn’t.”

“No kidding. I found my shoes in your shoe yesterday after all, remember?” I recalled the experience practically 24 hours earlier.

“Yeah,” Yae sheepishly smiled, knowing it had been her fault. “Speaking of which, where did you put them this time?”

“I took them with me. I’d lose them if I didn’t.”

“That was probably a good idea,” Yae smiled. “You probably don’t want any situation like yesterday, right?”

“Please no,” I begged. 

“Fufu~!” Yae giggled at my immediate request. I suddenly found myself lowered down to the floor at tremendous speeds. My body slammed onto the top panel of the transport necklace as Yae bent down. I immediately realized what she was doing. My surroundings of the expansive school entrance disappeared and were replaced by black walls and darkness. When the necklace hit the bottom, gravity took me again and I fell. “Are you sure, Touya? You took so long climbing my foot yesterday. Didn’t you like it?”

“Really funny, Yae,” I didn’t enjoy the fact that she was teasing me. Because this was the last day, she was getting her shots in while she could. She had lowered the necklace so that the container I was in was actually inside her loafer which she had taken off. I had experience being in a shoe the day before, but now that I was only 1.12 cm tall, it had grown into a tremendous cave. This being Yae’s loafer instead of her indoor slipper, though, it was a midnight blue all around. I was still in the light in the opening at the heel, but I could see where the light ended and the shadows began further away. It was dark on the other end of Yae’s shoe; I could barely make out the toe of the shoe, but I could see the deep indentations caused by Yae’s toes constantly wearing down on the insole.

I at least felt safe because I was in the properly constructed, filtrated, and air conditioned container. I was careful not to hit the switch on the top panel of the necklace to open the sealed entrance. It probably wouldn’t be dangerous, but I definitely did not want to imagine the smell of Yae’s loafer after the long walk to school. I had already gotten a whiff of her foot sweat the day before, but now at my current height, I was sure it’d be much more profound. And by profound, I meant incapacitating. A muggy fog was visible lingering around Yae’s freshly worn shoe. Her heat hot body had generated while walking made the environment around me swampy and oppressive.

Beep.

“Huh?” I looked up after hearing a sudden electronic buzzer. The panel where the transport container was attached was a part of the necklace and had a variety of buttons and the hi-tech filtration and air conditioning. I had inadvertently hit something when I had slammed into it. It wasn’t something that opened the door or operated the ventilation however.

It was the emergency supply button apparently. A part of the panel opened up and an item popped out. I caught it and saw that it was a gas mask. There was even a simple instructional guide picture guide on how to put it on. I supposed it made sense to have this in case something went wrong with the container, but I groaned at the implication of its appearance.

“Is something wrong, Touya?” Yae asked.

“Um… A gas mask just popped out of nowhere. Did you know this thing had one?” I answered.

“A gas mask? No. That’s news to me… Wait, you aren’t thinking of going out, are you?”

I had absolutely no desire to do that. Even if she paid me or blackmailed me, Yae was not going to get me to go out willingly. I was grateful that even she was balking at the idea.

Unfortunately, Yae wasn’t able to remove me from the loafer in time before we had a sudden interruption.

Pomf!

“Good morning~, Yae-chan~!”

“Eep! Senpai?”

A sudden hug from behind caused Yae to yip and drop me. I fell on my rear when the necklace fell and the chain dropped into the shoe.

“Oof… Yae, who was that?... Oh...” I drifted off upon looking up. My first sight was the vertical walls of the shoe, rising up all around me. They were easily three to four times my height and unscalable due to the inward curve of the leather, meaning I wouldn’t be able to get out unless Yae took the necklace out. 

Now as to why Yae could’t take it out, I could hardly see outside the shoe in the first place to see. I could see two different colored pillars twisted together. One was black, which I recognized as Yae’s thigh high, while the other was white with an usual blue wave pattern at the top. It took a moment to process the enormous trees I was staring at as people, but I realized who it was just from the stocking alone.

“Yanase-senpai’s who we were waiting for, huh?”

“Hehehe~! Did I scare you, Yae-chan~? You were so focused on your shoes, I couldn’t help myself~!”

“Senpai… Why are you the one here?”

“Why to help you and Touya-kun of course~! Nacchan and I finally finished all the behind the scenes work yesterday, so we can join you now~! I’m so glad I caught you~!”

It was definitely her. Yanase-senpai was an upperclassman who Yae and I both knew from middle school. She was also on the health committee with me, typically working with Kamiya-senpai… whenever she wasn’t working as the student council secretary. Despite her ditzy appearance and laid-back demeanor, Senpai was a very diligent, genius third year student. We didn’t see her as often as we used to because she was so busy now.

She was also, however, playful to a fault.

“Kyah! Senpai, what are you...”

“Oh my~! Yae-chan, you’re still ticklish there as always~! You never change~!”

What was going on? Probably one of Yanase-senpai’s skinship sessions with Yae. Judging by the twisting legs I could somewhat see from where I was inside the shoe, Senpai was coming on strong. And judging from the sounds, she was really giving Yae an aggressive session.

“S-Stop, S-senpai, please. People are going to see!”

“There isn’t anyone here yet~! Well, except Touya-kun, but that’s fine too~!”

“T-Touya, don’t look!”

I couldn’t look. Thanks to how close I was to the heel of Yae’s shoe, I couldn’t see much past the building high wall of her loafer. Did I want to see it? If I had to be honest, I absolutely did. I was a healthy high school boy after all. Yanase-senpai understood Yae’s cuteness almost as much as I did, and she herself was a beauty in her own right. To see two girls fooling around with some skinship was something no man would refuse.

“But do I dare?” I mumbled to myself, looking out of the orb. The smell of Yae’s shoe was probably going to be overwhelming. Was I interested enough to brave going out into the rancid cave that was a frequently used loafer? I had already had enough of the stench of feet since the night before.

“Yae-chan, heal me~! I’ve been working hard all week for this Reduction Program~! I’m so tired~!”

“K-Kyah! W-wait, not there! Senpai, please let go! It’s coming out!”

Coming out? Really, what was going on out there? Yanase-senpai wasn’t going too far was she?

My ‘curiosity’ won out over my sense of self-preservation. At the very least, finding the emergency gas mask was a gift from the gods. I put it on and pressed the button to open the sealed entrance.

“Well, here goes,” I told myself as the door opened.

Whoosh!

“Gak… Gah…!” It had been an issue of thermodynamics. The hot air around Yae’s shoe rushed in to displace the cool air conditioned air inside. Despite having the gas mask, I choked. It was like a sandstorm blew by. My body was assaulted with a gust of rancid air, lint, and dirt. It was sharp. Too sharp. Even the gas mask wasn’t enough to prevent it from entering. I probably would have been knocked out without it because it pierced even my dulled senses. I considered that a curse, instead of a blessing, however.

Yae’s loafer had accumulated all of her sweat, sock lint, and odor for every day she had worn them in school, and this most recent morning’s walk was yet another addition. I had thought the salty and sour odor was foul when I was bigger, but it was even more intense now. Combined with the thick smell of leather, I choked. Even the slightest trace of humidity made the air thick to me. I imagined I was pushing my way through a toxic haze. Instead of remnants of the scent entering my nose, it was like I was being directly assaulted by Yae’s foot. The only time that happened before was when Yae stepped on me during the punishment game, but this didn’t have the relief of the fact that it was post-bath and it lacked the scented lotion that tried to cover it up. 

I made a terrible decision to be tempted by the conversation I had heard. My eyes were tearing up and my nose was dripping inside the mask. Was it defective or was the smell just that strong? I could taste the sweat soaked leather as the odor pierced through my nose and down my throat.

Cough. Cough.

“If I’m going to suffer like this, I might as well go all the way,” I resolved myself to not turn back to the necklace and walked further away from the orb so I could look up at Yae and Yanase-senpai fooling around.

“Ah, Touya-kun went out~,” I suddenly heard.

Turning around, I saw I had been too slow. I was greeted by the sight of Yanase-senpai’s white panties because she had stopped messing with Yae and approached the loafers on the floor while I was walking out.

“Eh? Really? Touya, I thought you wouldn’t go out in a million years,” behind Senpai, I could see Yae trying to fix her disheveled uniform.

“Maybe he just really likes your feet, Yae-chan~!” Senpai laughed.

I wanted to salvage my reputation if I could. “... Cough… Yae, please let her know that’s… Cough…  definitely not the case...The smell’s… cough… going through... cough cough… the mask...”

“... Touya says that wasn’t why,” I heard Yae forward my message to Senpai. She sounded a little hurt from my words. Did she actually want me to enjoy where I currently was? I hoped not.

“Well, I guess that means Touya-kun just wanted to see me playing with you, Yae-chan~!” Yanase-senpai deduced my actual reason for coming out in an instant.

“Touya... you pervert...” I heard Yae mumble. My reputation could only go down.

Senpai seemed to be enjoying Yae’s and my little back and forth. She looked down at me inside the shoe and gave me a wave.

“To even think of leaving the safety of the pendant, fufu~n~!” she told me. “Touya-kun, you sure are brave~!”

Brave? More like reckless. I had been thinking more with my lower half than my own brain earlier. I felt ashamed of myself, but I stayed silent as Senpai continued to look down at me.

“Y’know~, I’m so glad Nacchan gave me this job~!” smiled Yanase-senpai. “I never thought I’d see Touya-kun trapped in Yae-chan’s loafer~!”

“It’s way too surreal when you say it out loud, Senpai…,” Yae stated what I was also thinking. “Touya, you should get back into the pendant. It's dangerous out there.”

I understood that more than Yae did. While Yae was worried about her putting on the shoe and stepping on me, the toxic air around me was my bigger priority. I wanted to get back inside the necklace as well now that I no longer had a reason to come out.

Unfortunately, Senpai was not going to let me.

“Oof!”

I was pinned down before I could start moving by Senpai’s finger. She held me still, pushing me into the heel of Yae’s shoe. There was no way I could fight a skyscraper that completely covered me and was many times my weight, so I tried to relax my muscles to not strain them further while she pushed.

“Sorry, Touya-kun~, but I did come here for a reason~!” Senpai giggled.

What kind of reason was it? Yae had said we were waiting for someone in the morning, so if Yanase-senpai had come to help as part of the health committee, that meant it had to do with the program.

“Ah!”

To my dismay, my sanctuary, the necklace, was lifted into the sky and out of my reach. Senpai shut its entrance and clenched her fist, sealing it away and leaving me without my belongings or an escape from Yae’s shoe. She did this while still looking down at me with her usual, flowery smile.

“Sorry~, you can’t rely on this to protect you today~,” she told me before standing back up and turning to Yae. She handed the necklace to Yae. “Touya-kun, I’m here to teach you to not worry too much~.”

To not worry?

“What do you mean by that, Senpai?” Yae asked. “Is it about the Safety Soles? Is there something like that for today?

“Ah, well, we will be giving you the soles later~! But you don’t really need them Yae-chan~! That’s why I said not to worry~,” Senpai answered. 

“What?” Yae and I asked simultaneously.

“Fufu~n~. Yae-chan, since Touya-kun didn’t get the same lecture as the boys last night, we’ll have to teach you quickly~! I have the best method~,” Senpai smiled, apparently having gotten a good idea - or rather, a fun idea in her eyes. I didn’t like being unable to see anybody when Senpai pulled Yae away to apparently whisper something into her ear. She didn’t have to step that far away because the range of my vision was still low due to the towering walls of Yae’s slipper.

“E-Eh?! Senpai, is that allowed?”

“Ehehe~! Nacchan said I needed to teach you two quick~! The physical method is best~!” 

“I feel like you just want to mess with us.”

“Well~ there’s that too~! It’s all part of the program, Yae-chan~!”

I did not like the sound of the conversation I was hearing. Despite my dislike of the fetid air around me, I had half a mind to go deeper into Yae’s shoe to find a safer location when Yanase-senpai approached the shoe and filled my field of view again.

“Touya-kun~ Touya-kun~!” she called me happily. “Since you were playing with Yae-chan last night, did you have some fun with her~?”

Senpai asked. It was clear she was trying to tease me. I was grateful that I couldn’t talk to her to give her the reaction she wanted. I was also used to Senpai a lot more than Yae so I was unmoved by her words.

Yae, on the other hand, fell for it hook-line-and-sinker. “S-Senpai, that’s a little...”

“Ah, so you did~!”

“Yae, you can be really gullible at times,” I used the microphone to tell her.

“I-I’m working on that, Touya!” she retorted.

“Fufu~n~. I can guess what Touya-kun said~. It’s always so fun talking to you two~,” Senpai giggled. “Well, at least this makes things easier~!”

Easier? How would that make things easier?

I wanted to ask that question or get Yae to ask,but my answer arrived immediately when a shadow fell over me. A primal fear took over me when I looked up and saw the cause of the shadow that blocked out all of the light that was entering the shoe.

A black sock - Yae’s stocking clad foot.

Being a member of the health committee, I understood there was no way I’d be in serious danger from something Yanase-senpai was allowed to do, and being so trusting of Yae, I believed there’d be no way she’d do something bad. But being the size of a bug, I understood the difference between myself and the giants above me, and being inside a shoe, I understood that feet went into the gigantic cavern I was standing in.

I also understood that I was prime material for toying with now that I was close to 1 cm tall. That was why despite how much I assured myself it’d be alright in the end, every cell in my body seized up. Fear overcame me and my legs lost their strength. I fell back on my butt staring up at the sight of Yae’s thigh-high foot above me, scrunching her toes, her largest being larger than I was tall. I had climbed Yae’s feet the night before, but they were now four times bigger, growing from a multi-story complex to a skyscraper. That skyscraper was now hovering right over me.

“Y-Yae… don’t tell me… Hey, I can’t die from this... can I?”

“Senpai, are you really sure this is safe for Touya?”

“It’ll only be for less than a minute~! I guarantee you~!” Yanase-senpai answered before turning her attention to me. “Touya-kun, we want you to understand that this will be fine~!  Also, please don’t complain~. You signed the contract, remember~?”

This was a consequence of being an exception. There was no way this was within the Reduction Program manual. There was no way any of the girls would be doing this to strangers without risking getting in trouble. But I wasn’t a stranger. I was another member of the health committee club and, having signed the exemption form in the first place, I allowed the health committee members to do what they needed to make sure I received an equivalent experience to the other boys. I guessed the boys had a long term lecture the night before, but since we didn’t have time for a full lesson, Yanase-senpai opted for making me learn through my body.

While there were definitely better ways, this was certainly one of the cases where my being smaller attracted the girls’ more catty natures. It might have also had to do with my relationships with the other girls in the club. Yanase-senpai knew me and Yae for a while, so this was actually par for the course for her.

Still, wanting to make Yae step on me felt like high level bullying. I could see while Yae kept her foot raised above her loafer that Yanase-senpai’s eyes were sparkling with excitement.

“Okay, Yae-chan~! Forty seconds should be enough~! Go!”

“Sorry, Touya.”

I didn’t run. I couldn’t because I had fallen. And even if I did, this was Yae’s shoe, something made to fit Yae’s feet. Even if I ran, I’d still be overtaken by her socked foot as it entered. There was no way to get ready but to grit my teeth and close my eyes as Yae stuck her foot into the slipper to put it on.

“Mmph!”

“This is so surreal… This is even worse than yesterday.”

“Yesterday~? Yae-chan, did you two get up to something lewd last night~?”

“I-It wasn’t lewd!”

“Mmph! Mmmphff!”

Unlike the night before where Yae had accidentally stepped on me on the bed for a brief moment, I was now 4 times smaller. Yae’s socked foot completely overtook me when it had entered and the ball of her foot had slammed into me. I was dragged along with it from the heel and ended up deeper inside Yae’s shoe as a result. My body felt like it was being flattened from how heavy the weight of Yae’s foot was while she stood. Yae was buffering her weight by leaning back on her heel so as to not fully press down on me, but it was still intense because her shoe was already a tight fit alone for her foot.

At the moment, I was nothing more than a pebble in Yae’s shoe. I clutched the sock fibers helplessly as I could not move any part of my body. I couldn’t even turn my head as it was pressed down so tightly by her foot. The gas mask had fallen off so I was getting a mouthful of Yae’s sock. The thick, rough fibers felt like fuzzy cattails. I wanted to vomit from the salty taste of the sweat stained sock but my mouth was already clogged up.

I felt nauseous. My nose was pierced by the sour, thick odor of wet fabric and foot sweat pouring from Yae’s sock, and while I wanted to not breathe it in, I had to because there was no way I was getting air otherwise. Even the temperature seemed to rise because of how confined and tight it was.

It was suffocating. Even more so than just being in the smelly loafer, earlier with Yae’s foot inside of it, it was suffering. Even so, I was alive. How was I still alive? There was so little air and so much strength was pushing down on me that my bones would have been broken and turned to paste. How great was the Reduction process that I was surviving this with nary an injury? That was what Senpai wanted me to learn with my body - that despite the hundreds of tons of force pushing down on me, I would survive it. But was I enjoying that realization? No.

After the forty seconds were finally over, Yae was finally allowed to free me. I found myself glued to her sock as she took her foot out of her loafer. Was it the stickiness of the sweat or the fact that I had been pressed against her sock for so long? I didn’t know why, but I found myself in a precarious location - hanging dozens of meters above the ground as Yae kept her foot above the floor.

“So Yae-chan, how did it feel~?” I heard Senpai’s voice.

Before Yae answered, she forced me to endure multiple g’s of acceleration as she grabbed her ankle and then pulled her foot up so that she could see my body clinging to her sock.

“It was hard to actually feel him,” she answered. “Touya, are you okay?”

“If I develop a foot fetish in the future, please smack me,” I replied. My body was actually perfectly fine, but I was mentally exhausted from the experience.

“Sounds like you are,” Yae lightly chuckled as she pinched me off her foot. I ground my teeth as my body was accelerated high up to her face. “I’m sorry, Touya. I have to listen to all of the health committee members so I couldn’t just say no to Yanase-senpai.”

I understood. Yae didn’t need to apologize. If there was anyone who had to, it would be Yanase-senpai, but the giant upperclassman seemed to be too amused to be apologetic.

“How cute~!” she smiled. “Haah~ I’ve been so busy lately that I missed playing with you two~! ”

Yae and I would have appreciated keeping her even busier after this experience, but Senpai was at least satisfied so she was not going to be doing much else. She had also completed her job for the day. I thought these words as Yae brought out the necklace for me again. I was actually glad to crawl back in where it was safer and where my belongings were.

“Thank you for being so cooperative, Touya-kun, Yae-chan~,” Senpai bowed to us. “I hope this showed just how durable you are now that you’re this small~.”

I was durable. Very durable in fact. It was excruciating and humiliating to be smothered by Yae’s foot inside her shoe, but I had not only survived but came out with any bruises or broken bones. I even survived the incredibly low oxygen environment and the burning heat.

“It looks like you get it~,” Senpai smiled as she squinted her eyes to see what I was doing. “See~? Wasn’t this faster than an hour long slideshow~? Well, now that that’s done, I hope you two are prepared for today~.”

“Prepared? It can’t be as weird as this, can it?” Yae was reluctant to ask.

“Ah, about that~,” Senpai actually seemed reluctant to answer but knew she had to. “As an apology for Touya-kun, I’ll give you a friendly warning, okay~?”

A warning. That did not sound good.

“You see~! Nacchan and I were stuck figuring out how to organize the last day~. And the other girls complained we were giving all the good parts to Takahashi-san and Nao-chan~!” Senpai explained. “The other girls wanted to have fun too~ But we couldn’t just let them do this to all of the boys~!

I immediately understood where Yanase-senpai was going with her explanation. I grimaced. 

“So Touya-kun, since you’re our committee member, we said it’d be fine to do stuff to your class if you take the brunt of it~! We came up with a fun plan so please do your best to play with everybody today~!”

My hand met my forehead at terminal velocity. Why? Of course, the answer was definitely ‘because it will be fun’ if I could ask it. The foot crushing this morning was just an introduction of what was to come. While the Reduction Program aimed to be as professional as possible, the fact that high school students ended up helping Sensei organize it meant there would still be some hectic events like this. 

I sighed and accepted it. There was nothing I could do, especially at my current state. Today really was going to be a crazy day.

(40) Day 5 Morning Inspection (1.12 cm > 1.10 cm)

All of the insanity didn’t start immediately at least. Yanase-senpai left us to go complete some student council work so Yae was safe to bring me to the classroom while inside her pendant again. For that, I was grateful. I never wanted to be attacked by a foot ever again. I wondered if I was starting to develop a trauma for feet after all that had happened? At the very least, this had to be some sort of Pavlovian training to get me to scrunch my nose every time a foot was mentioned.

Yae spent the entirety of our trip to the classroom apologizing. Though I was the one who had been stepped on by her, I didn’t blame her. When it came down to it, Yanase-senpai was one of the bigger wildcards in the committee like Okazaki. I accepted that and just let it side. The other members were at least somewhat normal so even if she said that they wanted to join in on the activities today, I doubted it’d be anything extreme.

“We’re here, Touya,” she told me when she unhooked the chain of the necklace and let me and the chain lie flat on her open palm.

I was hesitant to get out of the necklace, so I didn’t, but I was thankful to see that Yae hadn’t grown much since the walk from the shoe lockers to the classroom. The shrinking had been slowing down now that I was in the final stages. However, when everything was nearly 180 times as large as I was, a few extra meters wasn’t too extreme of a difference. 

What was more of breath-taking and worrisome was the number of people looking at me, however.

“Asano-senpai? Kyaa~! That means Senpai is here first again.”

“Ah. I’m glad you’re here. And you’re using the equipment for Kirishima like I asked. Good.”

“As always, Asano’s early. How do you do it? Urgh… I can’t wait for this week to be over...”

Okazaki, Sasakura-sensei, and Takahashi began to crowd Yae, and therefore me since I was being held in the center of all four of them. To be surrounded on all four sides by four women over 300 m tall, I certainly didn’t want to crawl out of the transport orb. I didn’t want another repeat of what happened with Yanase-senpai. The orb was safest. Even if Senpai had assured me I’d be fine even if I were stepped on, it was safest.

Unfortunately, this morning routine was going to be the same as the previous day. Sensei needed to get my height measurement and things had to be explained to me.

“Come on, kiddo. Get out of there. I need to get all of the equipment back from Asano,” Sensei ordered me to come out and get onto Yae’s palm. I could see that Yae handed her the paper bag with the Reduction equipment.

“Sensei, does that include the belt and everything Touya’s wearing too? I think he still has the microphone from the hotel room too” Yae asked.

“He still has them on? Then I suppose if he still has the belt, he can still wear it. It’ll make measuring him easier. I do need everything else though. That goes for your headset too, Asano.”

“Eh? But then I won’t be able to hear Touya.”

“Exactly.”

So I was going to be losing my ability to speak to Yae or anyone normal sized. I supposed Sensei had only given me the Reduction equipment because I was staying over at Yae’s place. Now that we were at school, I was going to have to follow the program like everyone else. It was convenient while it lasted in any case.

“Hehe~. You hear that, Senpai? You can leave everything but your belt,” Okazaki leaned forward to tell me but was pulled back by Sensei so she wouldn’t get too close. I didn’t appreciate being treated like a child, but I supposed they hadn’t directly spoken to me, so they wanted to make sure I was aware.

Making sure to leave behind the Reduction Equipment I had used yesterday, I grabbed the rest of my things and stumbled out onto the plain of Yae’s hand. I could see fingers thicker and taller than trees rise upwards as Yae curled them to prevent me from falling while Sensei took the necklace back. I felt naked now that I could longer talk to Yae properly.

“Good. Takahashi, can you confirm his height? Asano, I’d like to see if your phone’s reading is correct as well.”

“Okay.” “Yes, Sensei.” The two girls stated as Takahashi’s fingers descended upon me. I held my belongings tight as the girl’s thumb and index finger pressed against me, trapping my entire body between the giant digits.

“Oof!” The strength of Takahashi’s fingers were incredible. The pressure wasn’t as heavy as Yae’s foot had been, but it was still enough to knock the wind out of me.

Takahashi brought me over to the table the health committee had set up by the room. At one of the stations set up on the table, Takahashi pressed me against a towering ruler. She then took out a magnifying glass to get a closer look at me. I froze up when I saw Takahashi’s magnified eye focusing its gaze on me.

“Wow. Around 1 cm.”

“Use the caliper,” Sensei advised, wanting a more exact value. Takahashi frowned and pushed me down with her finger.

“Oof.”

Lining up the caliper to my body lying on the table, Takahashi squinted, trying to get an accurate measurement. “1.10 cm.”

“Ok. Good. We’ve got the same thing here. Okazaki, write that down. I’m giving you ten seconds, so don’t fool around or I’m swapping you with Saeki later today.”

“Y-Yes! I got it.”

So this was it. I was down to 1.10 cm. I had really come a long way since I was 180 cm. If I were 1.8, everything would be 100 times by size but this was smaller. Once I hit 0.9 cm, I’d be 200 times smaller than my original height. Being next to the caliper and ruler really put things into perspective, especially the ruler. The notches on the ruler were longer than I was tall, and the transparent plastic tower was building sized to me. It goes without saying that Takahashi who was standing in front of me was even more titanic.

“Looking at you like this, it’s hard to believe you’re Kirishima-kun,” Takahashi remarked and kneeled down so she could rest her head atop the table while continuing to look at me through the magnifying glass with a smug grin and half-lidded eyes. “I mean, if I get a close look then you are, but considering you’re this small, you must’ve had a fun time with Asano last night.”

She had no idea.

“Oh, I saw that face you just made. I guess you did something special,” she chuckled. “I’ll be sure to pry that out of both of you later.”

Yae would most likely tell her despite any attempts to hide it. I, at least, had the benefit of being even more inaudible than a bug. Unfortunately, that didn’t keep me away from Takahashi’s teasing.

Thud!

“Wah!” I stumbled back the moment Takahashi brought her index finger down right next to me. The pillar of a finger wasn’t aimed at me, but it was so close, the heavy impact alone knocked me over. This wasn’t the only finger she used either. She used two fingers to mimic a walking person and playfully circled me. I stayed motionless, as annoyed as I was intimidated.

“Well, this is going to be a fun day,” Takahashi smirked, knowing what was in store for me. “It may have been a lot of trouble getting up early, but I guess filling in for you has been entertaining, Kirishima-kun.”

I was so going to get her back when I turned back to normal. She enjoyed riling me up far too much. 

“Takahashi, don’t tell me I have to lecture you too,” Sensei warned.

“Yeah, no fair. I wanted to mess with Senpai too!” Okazaki added.

Not wanting to exert much effort retorting, the lethargic girl ignored Okazaki and withdrew her hand, standing back up. She scratched the back of her head with one hand and then yawned. 

“Waaah… Mnn…,” Takahashi scratched underneath her eye. “So Sensei, do you want me to give the explanation or are you going to do it?”

Glancing to the side, Sasakura-sensei sighed. “We can leave the explanation for later. Looks like Kamiya’s here with the boys.”

Kamiya?

Upon hearing those words, my neck snapped in the direction the school nurse had been facing. The name Kamiya only meant one person.

“Sasakura-sensei, I have brought everyone over along with the rest of the materials just like you requested,” an elegant voice spoke up calmly and respectfully. “Nao-chan, I believe this means that it is your turn now. May I ask for your help setting things up?”

“Coming, Kamiya-senpai.” Okazaki ran off to assist/do her job. I was safe from one giant woman, but a new one had entered the fray. With my underclassman taking some materials from the cart that had been brought to the classroom and setting them up in the classroom, Kamiya-senpai was free to walk past Takahashi and approach me.

“Good morning, Kirishima-kun,” Kamiya-senpai leaned over and centered her gaze on my 1.10 cm tall form atop the table. “It looks like I finally get to be on duty with handling you today.”

Kamiya-senpai was the health committee's de facto head. Though I was a member who helped Sasakura-sensei a lot, the most responsible member of the committee was the prim and proper Kamiya-senpai. If Sasakura-sensei needed something done like a school announcement or the organization of an event, she could rely on Senpai to do it quickly and efficiently. In fact, asides from me, the successful organization of the Reduction Week program at school had been mostly thanks to Kamiya-senpai. She was also the other of the two upperclassmen who wrote the messages to me inside the Portable Hotel Room.

As it turned out, she had to pull double duty since I had been shrunken so I hadn’t seen her all week. Takahashi couldn’t do every single one of my duties with less than a week of experience after all. From what Yanase-senpai had said earlier, the two of them had been busy all week and were only now free from all of the behind the scenes work.

I watched as Kamiya-senpai huffed and glowered at me. They lady-like grace probably thought her pout was cute, but it was unnerving to see someone over 300 m tall even fake being angry. “Mmuu… You sure are lucky getting some time off, Kirishima-kun. I believe you should be thanking me for picking up the slack while you were gone.”

She wasn’t treating me any different despite my size. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, I didn’t know. I actually would have thanked her if I could have, but with my microphone gone, she wouldn’t hear it. Thankfully, Kamiya-senpai was a lot more professional than Yanase-senpai. She let me off easy for being unable to thank her.

“Well, you actually are still helping Sensei by being the first boy in our committee to shrink so I suppose I can let it slide,” Senpai retreated away from the table and then turned to Yae. She bowed in greeting. “Oh my, you must be that ‘Yae’ Kirishima-kun talks about so often. He brags to Emi-chan so often, that I ended up hearing plenty about you. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Kamiya from the Health Committee.”

“N-Nice to meet you, Kamiya-senpai,” Yae returned the bow, surprised at Senpai’s poise and manners. “...Emi-chan?”

That was Yanase-senpai’s first name. Though Yae and I were close enough to Yanase-senpai to know it, it felt strange hearing the name come out of Kamiya-senpai’s mouth. Then again, Yanase-senpai called her Nacchan so the two were clearly close.

“Fufu~!” I heard a breath escape from Senpai. I had a bad feeling. Since I was rather honest to a fault, Senpai knew a lot about my and Yae’s relationship despite never meeting her. “I can see why Kirishima-kun was so gung-ho about the paperwork for the dormitory exemption now. You really are as cute as he said.”

“C-Cute?” Yae was flustered to hear one of my compliments from someone else. Senpai came within centimeters of Yae’s face and grabbed both of her hands to tell her those words.

“Do you mind if I call you ‘Yae-chan’? I apologize if it sounds forward, but after hearing so much about you from Kirishima-kun, I have always wanted to meet you.”

“Meet me? Why wo-... What did Touya say about me?” 

“Senpai, please don’t tell her anything,” I begged, though she couldn’t hear. The answer, in any case, was everything, but Yae didn’t need to know that.

Thankfully, Senpai didn’t answer. I was grateful that Senpai was very straight-laced. She avoided answering by laying on the skinship by pulling Yae closer for a moment longer, holding her hands tightly and unnerving her enough to withdraw her question. After that, she got back back to business and turned to my substitute.  “Oh, right. Takahashi-san, have you given Kirishima-kun an explanation for how the schedule for today will go yet?”

“No. Not yet,” Takahashi shook her head. “Did you want to do that?”

“We can do it together. Truth be told, Kirishima-kun is an exception so he has to receive a separate explanation for some portions anyways,” Kamiya-senpai said before turning around to Sasakura-sensei. “Sensei, I believe Morino-san, Akagi-san, and Saeki-san should be on the way so that they can measure the boys. May I assist Takahashi-san with Kirishima-kun?”

“Sure thing,” nodded our school nurse. “By the way, he has the Tracer Belt on, so you should keep that in mind for later today, okay?”

“Oh my, the belt? Very well then. That actually makes things easier,” Kamiya-senpai nodded. I wondered what it was that was happening later today, but I supposed I would find out soon enough.

Senpai had Yae pick me up and had her follow Takahashi into the classroom. What I saw was the ordinary classroom but it seemed as though Okazaki was doing something all around the classroom. She was too far to clearly make out what she was placing under the tables but it definitely had to do with the program.

“So where do I put Touya today?” Yae’s voice asked from above me. I looked up to see only the underside of her chest from my view down in her hands. The same went for Takahashi who was right next to her.

“For now you can put him on the ground. He should probably get a full view of the classroom,” Takahashi casually replied.

“Eh? Is that really okay?” Yae was concerned.

“Fufu~n!” I could hear Kamiya-senpai’s amusement over Yae’s worry. “It seems as if you have yet to put him on the floor today, Yae-san. If he has not gotten a proper view of his new height yet, you really should give him a chance to take in his latest perspective.”

“Well, he did end up in my shoe though...”

“Ah… Emi-chan… She suggested THAT this morning, did she?” Senpai seemed apologetic. “Well, it is to be expected of her. In any case, the floor is very different from a cramped shoe, so please do place him there.”

“You’re putting Senpai on the floor? Oh, let me join too,” I heard Okazaki say. She immediately barged into the group just as Yae started to kneel down. I braced myself as she lowered me faster than any safe elevator. I had to cling onto her tree sized fingers to stop myself from flying off.

Upon putting me onto the floor, Yae stood back up. Senpai was right. The floor was definitely different than being inside a shoe. I could actually step back and crane my neck up to see everything. I thought to crane my neck up to follow her rise into the sky, but the first thing to take my attention was right in front of me. 

“Uwoh! A..Ah… Uwah...”

My reaction came in three parts.

First, I was shocked to realize I turn around and see a massive indoor shoe the size of a school wing. I could no longer see the top of Yae’s indoor slipper because I was now only the same height as the thickness of the Safety Sole Yae had to put on her shoe. If I wanted to see anything behind her toe, I had to move like I would around a building.

Next, I lost my train of thought when I started to look up… and up… and up. I knew everything was massive, but I had only seen half of Yae’s true height while on tables or in her hands. Now that I was on the floor… Her legs clad with black thigh highs just went on and on for around 150 meters into the sky. Despite the color black’s ability to make things seem slim, Yae’s legs were thicker and mightier than a 1000 year old tree.

Lastly, I was rendered speechless trying to crane my neck to see Yae’s face. Someone over 300 m tall really was nothing to scoff at. It was impossible to see all of her at once, and my vision became unfocused after Yae’s chest. I could make out her expression but her face was so high up it was impossible to see the details clearly.

Yae was on a completely different level than me. If her feet alone were the size of high rise buildings, the rest of the body towered and loomed over everything on the floor such as myself. That went for the other girls too. Takahashi, Okazaki, and Kamiya-senpai were equally as gigantic. I wonder what I looked like to them while they looked down at me. 

“Kirishima-kun, please make sure you record your thoughts on this size for Sensei to use as a reference later,” Kamiya-senpai broke my out of my stupor. She was aware of my job while I was tiny.

Stomp!

“Grk...” I grit my teeth the moment Okazaki shifted her foot. Though she didn’t approach me, I could feel the impact across the floor.

“Wow, Senpai. You’re really bug-like now,” Okazaki grinned. “I bet if I slipped you into my shoe, you wouldn’t be able to get out. Nishishishi~!”

“Please don’t,” Yae frowned, having flashbacks to five minutes ago. I was as well, or was it PTSD in my case? Nonetheless, Yae defended me. “Touya isn’t anyone’s toy, Okazaki-chan...”

“I’m just kidding. I’m just thinking that if we’re not careful, we’ll lose track of Senpai,” remarked my underclassman. “He’ll get stepped on or worse.”

“That is not a problem at all, Nao-chan. Truth be told, at this size, all of the boys would be fine handling intense pressures even without the Safety Soles. The boys received a lecture on this yesterday night and Kirishima-kun here was also taught this earlier,” Kamiya-senpai informed Okazaki. My underclassman probably hadn’t paid attention enough to Senpai so she didn’t know about what Yanase-senpai had me and Yae do at the shoe lockers earlier.

“So this is just for assurance then,” Takahashi lifted her own foot up to inspect the safety sole. She was also unaware. Even so, I flinched when the shadow of her foot crossed over me in its path up dozens and dozens of meters into the sky. “I guess there are more dangers than just our feet for the guys after all.”

“Please don’t remind me,” Yae frowned, thinking about other situations that weren’t feet related that I had to endure. “Touya had so much trouble yesterday. Even my thighs we- Eep!”

Yae used her hands to physically cover her mouth. She ended up saying too much. I would have been thankful that she caught herself but the moment she did, she stumbled. Since I was directly between both of her feet, I was nearly slammed into by Yae’s left foot as it scuffed across the floor. Even without being hit however, I still flew from the burst of wind alone. I was light enough to be picked up by the slightest breeze. 

“Thighs, you say?” I heard Takahashi as she raised an eyebrow. “Do tell. What dirty things did the two of you get up to while at home?”

“Uwaaah. I’m so jealous,” Okazaki bit her lip. “I want to do stuff to tiny Senpai like that too.”

“Now, now, Nao-chan. I believe this is the privilege of a girlfriend,” giggled Kamiya-senpai. “Though I cannot say that I approve of using the program to get into some illicit antics while you two are still students...”

“N-Nothing happened! I-It wasn’t dirty at all! You can ask Touya! I swear!”

Stomp!

“Uwah!” Without giving me even a chance to react, Yae’s building-sized shoe rose and slammed down with the force of a meteorite. Being right next to the impact zone, I was blown away by Yae’s stomp two thirds of the way to Kamiya-senpai. Yae didn’t even hit me directly but I had been battered and beaten thanks to her embarrassment.

The feet were dangerous enough. Yae stomped her foot multiple times, and each time, my body bounced a meter (in my perspective) in the air. When I landed, I could still feel the earthquake. Just what was the goal of having me on the floor? Was this going to be the same as yesterday? If so, this would be troubling because even just slight movements from the girls now were tremendously destructive to me. Even my adventurous spirit was reluctant to explore when I couldn’t even compare to the toe of Yae’s slipper.

I could feel eyes boring a hole into my back as I laid on the floor. Standing up, I saw Kamiya-senpai had squatted down and placed her hands on her knees. She didn’t seem to mind that she was giving me a view of her panties, which were a surprising jet-black much like her own long hair.

“Calm down, Yae-chan. Kirishima-kun ended up all the way over here because you became so flustered,” Kamiya-senpai advised. “Takahashi-san, you should ease up on riling people up. You did not seem to behave this way with the others this week.”

“It’s just Asano and Kirishima, honestly. I don’t have many friends,” Takahashi shrugged with a yawn, not sad over what she had honestly stated but instead proud.

“I do not think that is something to be proud of,” Senpai frowned before turning to me. “Well, Kirishima-kun, I hope this gave you an idea of how small you are right now. This last day, you will slowly be getting to the minimum permitted size so everything around you will constantly be changing. In fact, you can probably tell that the Reduction is more pronounced despite the fact that you are not losing too much, correct?”

I could. It felt like my body was continuously sinking into the earth. Everything was getting higher and higher as I got smaller.

“So what does that have to do for the schedule for today then then?” asked Yae.

“Good question. Takahashi-san?”

Having the job of explaining pushed to her, Takahashi sighed. She looked down at me and then back up at Yae. “We’ll be splitting up the day into separate sessions. Since by certain periods, they’ll be certain sizes, the health committee will be having the boys do different things so they get a bunch of experiences.”

“Yes,” nodded Kamiya-senpai. She only kept her attention on me instead of Yae. I stared at the index finger she raised up and brought towards me. She lined it up just right so that the tip of her finger blocked my view of her face. “There will be six sessions excluding a break and lunch time. You will be previewing some jobs that can be done while Reduced. Though Kirishima-kun, because you opted to have Yae-chan as your caretaker, she will be in charge of you if the sessions allow for it. Outside of that, we’re giving her permission to have you at her desk during the scheduled break, lunch, and in the last two sections of the day. Those would be the afternoon classes. Please prepare yourself for them.” 

So I’d be separated from the other guys whenever it wasn’t class time and then during our after noon classes. That was good to know. I was already curious about what sessions we would be attending, and I was made more interested when Takahashi pulled out a half sheet of paper that was definitely the schedule. I saw from below that Yae was reading it.

“Eh? Really?”

“Really,” Takahashi bluntly replied.

“Kukuku~! Asano-senpai, are you ready to join me later? This will be fun!” Okazaki laughed.

“Please save that for later, Nao-chan. You still need to finish your work, do you not? Sensei will get angry again if she sees you still have yet to finish,” Kamiya called my underclassman’s attention to the box of things she had yet to unpack.

“Aa… Right… You always remind me when I want to have fun, Senpai… Well, at least there’s only a few things left to do for now.”

Kamiya-senpai then stood back up to her full height after ordering Okazaki away. I could see her putting her finger to her lips. “Yae-chan, you should leave that as a surprise. Takahashi-san, I trust you will not be telling anybody either. Only we health committee members should know. Well, asides for Kirishima-kun.”

“After all the work you did setting things up? Even I’m not that cruel to spoil that,” chuckled Takahashi.

Just what was it they were hinting at? I wanted to know. I really did. But I was left stranded between Kamiya-senpai’s feet as she spoke to the others.

It was after another minute that I saw Okazaki return. To my surprise. She was drawing on the floor of the room with chalk.

“Eh? This is...” Yae and I synchronized.

“A walkway for the boys,” Kamiya-senpai finished the sentence. She took a soft step back so as to avoid scaring me and to get out of Okazaki’s way. I braced myself as Okazaki dashed by with a pillar sized stick of chalk. Her footsteps rumbled through my body as the white stick dragged across the floor past me and then turned around to do the same thing back. I was surrounded on both sides by lines of white chalk roughly 5 cm apart. “Kirishima-kun, before your first session, it will be a repeat of what you experienced already. We want you to get used to the Reduced walkways that some companies use. Please get used to that during homeroom. After that, the committee will be coming in.”

I understood and nodded reflexively. I saw that Okazaki was making the chalk pathways a lot like city intersections… though there was one scribble she really messed up at between what I believed was Nakano’s and Honda’s chairs. If we were just wandering the floors to start things off, that didn’t seem too different from yesterday.

Of course, nothing was ever simple. “Kirishima-kun, I will leave it to you to show the boys to ropes because you are our representative. Please make sure they follow the instructions of each session properly.”

She wanted me to be a leader? Though I actually had confidence in myself in being able to do so, I also thought we’d be following one of the girls’ instructions. It felt odd to admit that having to listen to their every order seemed natural now.

And it seemed it would stay that way so long as I was small. Kamiya-senpai pulled out her phone and then turned back down to me. “Well, though I say that, you may have heard from Emi-chan earlier. Please keep that belt on. That way, the health committee members will be able to distinguish you later. I apologize for the trouble, but you will be the example for each session. I trust you will be quick on the uptake even if we do not let you know ahead of time.”

Example. So THAT was what Yanase-senpai meant earier about giving the other members a chance to have some fun. They were letting them come in each session so they could do their job and also mess with me. I should’ve expected that. Rather than ‘lead’, they were going to be using the health committee representative (me) to set a precedent for the others. 

That being the case, that meant I’d definitely be at the mercy of whoever was in charge of explaining each session. Senpai was throwing a heavy job on me… well, rather than job, she was just warning me that they’d be using me in each session and to brace myself.

I sighed. There was no arguing against someone as mighty as our de facto committee head after all, especially when she was over 300 m tall. She wasn’t even going to hear me even if I refused or made a ruckus down by her feet.

Senpai was incredibly observant despite my bug-like stature. She bent down again to speak to me. She had gotten even closer to me when she bent down so my vision was again filled with the sight of her black panties that were as big as a circus tent. 

“It seems you accept. Well, I suppose it would be impossible for you to refuse after all,” she stifled her laughter with her mouth. “My apologies, Kirishima-kun. If you believe I am treating you harshly because you have shrunk down, I assure you I would treat you the same even if you were normal size.”

Whether or not that was a good thing, I wasn’t sure. Senpai was Senpai, though. She was fair and reasonable. I couldn’t say I hated that side of her. 

Now that her explanation was done, Senpai was prepared to leave. I didn’t have to duck as her foot rose dozens of meters above me, keeping me under the shadow of her soles for just an instant before she walked towards the door.

Before she left, however, she turned to Yae and then bowed. “Well then, we will meet later, Yae-chan. You should head to your seat and take a look at what Takahashi-san gave you thoroughly. Please do read the instructions on that paper carefully.”

“Yes. Thank you, Kamiya-senpai.”

With that, Senpai went out to help Sensei and the other health committee members who had arrived. I spotted two sophomore girls and Yanase-senpai. Takahashi was told to help too which she did reluctantly. I was left on the floor while Yae walked to her seat to sit down. She waved at me on the floor as she took her phone out because she was now allowed to use it to keep an eye on me. She then started reading the paper Takahashi gave her.

Looking at the entire room from a perspective of 1.10 cm tall, I frowned at how even more distant everything was since the day before. The other boys were slowly trickling in as the health committee member finished measuring them and instructed them. I was going to have to speak to them to figure things out soon.

“Well, for the start of the day, this isn’t too bad yet at least.”