Unfortunately, Yae was not going to get her wish. Class for us boys now that we had dropped down to less than 10 cm tall was going to be more atypical than I had expected. While I had expected Yae to enter class 2-D and place me on my table, we were met at the door by the school nurse and a sleepy Takahashi who were blocking the entrance.
“Sasakura-sensei, what are you doing out here?”
“Oh, there you are, Asano. And good. You’ve got Kirishima-kun in your hands. Perfect. The exception came before everyone else. Takahashi, you’re up,” Sensei was expecting us. She ordered Takahashi to bring the ruler and the sleepy girl placed it on Yae’s palm, instructing me to stand against it. Rather than give me a chance to do it myself, Takahashi used her hands to pick me up off my feet and pressed me against the wooden ruler.
“... 86 mm… 8.6 cm for now, Sensei,” Takahashi rubbed her tired eyes and told the nurse after getting the exact measurement.
“That sounds about right. The reduction rate should be slower now, though I’m sure for these boys, even a millimeter is going to make a difference in scale to them. Okazaki, put down Kirishima-kun for 8.6 cm.”
“8.6 cm? For Kirishima-s... Senpai? Kirishima-Senpai? I got it! Senpai came? Hold on!”
Yae held me close to her chest and pulled away from Okazaki as my 145 cm kouhai leaned in close with a beaming smile on her face. I nearly broke into a cold sweat as the girl’s meteoric face rapidly came at me, stopping a literal centimeter away from my body.
“Kyaa! You’re so small and cute!” her shrill voice was even more deafening at close range and coming from her titanic body. I had to cover my ears. “I’m so glad I volunteered to help this morning. Senpai, how do I look from your size?”
Yae was worried for me. “O-Okazaki-chan, what are you doing?”
“I was looking forward to this all week. Asano-Senpai, can I please take a look at Senpai? I want to see just how big I am to him.”
I would prefer it if she didn’t. Okazaki was more excited than a kid in a candy store. She had already tried intimidating me before with a wall slam, but that was when I was still one-third of my normal height. Now, I was much smaller. My underclassman was twenty times larger than normal. If Yae wasn’t holding me close, I was certain she’d snatch me up.
“Kukuku~! Senpai, what’s the matter? Are you getting scared looking up to your gigantic, cute kouhai?” Okazaki boasted, attempting to emphasize her height by stepping closer to Yae and me. “Maybe I’ll be the one to teach you a few things n- Gak!”
“You’re thirstier than I thought. Maybe I should change who’s helping me tomorrow if you’re going to keep acting like this,” Sasakura-Sensei sighed. To my relief, she yanked my energetic kouhai with her grabby hands away before she could do anything. “Sorry, Kirishima-kun. I’ll deal with this girl. She seems to be a bit too enthusiastic about being taller than others.”
“I’d appreciate that,” I shouted, though I think nobody heard me through Okazaki’s struggles.
While Sensei scolded Okazaki, Takahashi filled us in on the details with a yawn.
“Sheesh, everyone is just so energetic in the morning. You owe me for making me do all this work, Kirishima-kun,” she frowned, having gotten the sand out of her eyes. She looked down on me in Yae’s palm with a half-lidded gaze. “Sheesh, you’re tiny. I guess that means the other boys will be your size too when they get here. Well, let’s make sure you understand the rules then, Mr. Opted-Out-to-Play-with-His-Not-Yet-Girlfriend.”
I didn’t appreciate Takahashi’s nickname for me, but listened nonetheless. It seemed that although we were somewhat late, the boys still hadn’t been brought over from the Reduction Dorms. Since I was part of the health committee, Takahashi opted to give me just a brief summary.
The rules Takahashi spoke of were instructions from the Reduction program. She gave advice on how to stay safe. At such a small height, we boys were now in a lot more danger than we were the day before. I understood already that an unnoticeable breeze could send me flying so what Takahashi said wasn’t anything new at the start. Then came the instructions for how classes would go for the day. That was where I was most surprised. I hadn’t been told this in advance by Sasakura-Sensei.
“Asano, put him down there. Okay, that’s good.”
“Is this really safe, Aoi-chan?”
“Not at all, but there are countermeasures.”
Yae had put me down on the floor when she entered the classroom as instructed. Additionally, Aoi-chan had made her add a pink outsole to her indoor shoes - apparently to reduce injuries in case they happened. I looked forward at Yae’s and Takahashi’s truck sized shoes and then looked up and up and up.
“W-Wow…”
This was my first time really being on the floor since getting so small. I hadn’t had a good view that morning because Yae had put me on her desk immediately after she pulled me out of her sleeping bag. Yae looked impossibly huge, even more so than the previous night. Her legs clad in her black thighs just went on and on. I hadn’t seen her at full height when I was in her shoe, but now I was able to wander around literally at her feet. She had to be over 30 m tall. I had to bend my neck back as much as I could to get a glimpse of her face, and even then, it was so distant, my eyes had to refocus just to get a clear view of her.
Is this what a mouse’s eye view was? The ceiling, walls, and whiteboard were all out of focus, and I couldn’t see the tops of any of the chairs or desks. Everything just stretched higher and higher into the sky.
Stomp!
“Uwaaah!” I screamed from the explosive force of a pink indoor shoe landed behind me. The wind pressure alone blew me away.
“Kukuku~! Senpai! You need to be careful. You’re up against a bunch of giants right now,” the culprit, Okazaki teased, having been done being scolded. “Rawr! It’s Nao-jira!”
“Okazaki-chan!” Yae shouted, angry, but she didn’t move from where she stood because Takahashi used her hand to pull her back.
“No. That’s the right example,” Takahashi told her before turning her gaze down to me as I tried to pick myself up again after the impact. “This is how class is going to be going today.”
“Eh? What?”
To simulate how Reduction worked in various office jobs, classes today were apparently going to be very different. While we were still expected to learn the same material as the girls, we’d be doing so on the floor for the entire day. With the Safety Soles added, Takahashi said we’d be fine even if we were accidentally stepped on. I felt like I was being thrown into a lion’s den with how dangerous it sounded.
“Does this really happen in companies now? I know Okaa-san mentioned it before but this still sounds ridiculous, surreal even.”
“That’s what I’ve been told at least, though they’re normally bigger, I think. Who knows?”
“Oh, I know. I looked it up the other day! Here, it’s on my phone.”
“Is it, Okazaki-chan? Eh? Seriously, how is any of this legal?”
“Yawn… It’s commonplace now apparently.”
“Asano, I get how you feel, but this is part of the program,” Sensei tried to calm my worried childhood friend.
“Whoever thought of this is amazing. I can’t wait for tomorrow, Sensei.”
“Okazaki-chan… what do you mean by tomorrow?”
“Don’t worry about it, Asano. I think Kirishima-kun will be safe… Maybe...”
Despite being part of the topic of conversation, I was being ignored entirely by the titanic women. As they talked, they didn’t even look in my direction. I could tell that this was the introduction to how all of us boys were going to be going through all day.