(60) Day 4 Inn Wrap-up (54.2 m < 54.3 m)
Heading over to the other side of the inn
wasn’t difficult at all to Yae. The large inn would’ve taken me ages to travel
by foot, but because Yae was now three times the size of the building, she
circled around the complex the same way just like she was going around a
house’s backyard.
“Careful now. We don’t want you bumping your
head.” “It’s already too late for that, Senpai.”
“Okay, on the count of three, we take it off,
okay?” “One. Two. Three!”
“Isuzu students, please follow Saeki-san to
the left! Sakuragawa girls, please follow Fushimi-san to the right! Kogei
students please follow me this way!”
We still took our time though. The sight
before our eyes was just too strange. The health committee girls were doing
their best to escort the other students out of the now relatively smaller
building while carefully taking down its walls. It looked like they were taking
down intricately decorated cardboard instead of actual building walls. It was
like the end of a cultural festival – all of the amazing sights and displays we
had seen the day before were being taken down.
“It looks like we’re not going to be staying
here tonight,” Yae remarked, taking slow steps so I wouldn’t fall out of her
hands. “Touya, is it me or do the walls look even more fragile than yesterday?
I know I’m even bigger now but it looks like they’re going to break when those
girls are carrying them.”
“Senpai said something about Ranko-san weakening
the strengthening effect,” I relayed what I had heard to my childhood friend.
“That’s strange though. I never saw anything that looked like a DL field
generator when we walked around. And it doesn’t look like there’s any on the
roof either. Maybe it’s something else.”
Yae pondered what it could be. “We didn’t
really go around too much yesterday, but I don’t think I saw anything either.
Maybe it’s in the walls… or maybe they have one big one that’s just Magnified.”
“I wonder if that would even work.” I
considered the idea of DL field generators being hidden inside the giant walls
as well, but Yae’s second idea… would a field generator work the same way if
Magnified? The science behind Alteration technology was something I had very
little knowledge of.
“Sadly, the answer is no.”
“Kyah!”
“Uwomfff!”
To my surprise, Yae’s reaction time had gone
sharply up. Her two hands clamped together reflexively in an attempt to guard
me. My body was then quickly jerked up as Yae then pressed her hands against
her chest, shoving me against her bosom. The person who had surprised us didn’t
have any ill intentions, thankfully. In fact, she was a person who could answer
our question.
“Despite us refining things for years now, we
still haven’t worked out all of the kinks with the technology yet. Still, we’ve
made good progress, haven’t we?”
“Huh? Y-Yurika-san?” Yae got a good look at
the woman’s face before she released her protective pressure on me. I found
myself clinging to the yukata fabric for a second before falling onto her palms
again. “M-Ma’am?”
We were looking around for Morino because she
was supposed to be near Ranko-san, but the other government employee we had met
the night before, Yurika-san, had suddenly appeared behind us – Magnified.
“Good to see you kids again, Yae-kun,
Touya-kun,” the woman spoke to us somewhat casually. Despite us only meeting
one day ago, she had been getting more and more casual with us. It caught me
off guard, but, when I was able to get a look at her, I found myself more
surprised by her choice of clothes rather than her sudden Magnification or her
way of speaking.
The previous day, I had seen Yurika-san in a lab
coat over a dress shirt and pants, so I had associated her with a formal and scientific
appearance, but this morning, she was wearing boots, shorts, tights, and gloves.
More distinctly, though, over her tie and dress shirt, in which she had rolled
the sleeves up, she had a vest strapped on her that made me think of military
tactical gear. She still had somewhat formal clothes, but she looked more ready
for a combat than lab work. What she’d have to fight when over 50 meters tall
was beyond what I could imagine though.
“N-Nice to meet you again, Ma’am,” I stuttered.
Even Yae stood up straight because of Yurika-san’s ‘commander-like’ uniform.
“Hah…” A sigh escaped the government worker
that reminded me of what her actual personality was like. “No need to call me
that. I’m just wearing this to help Ran out today. Hey Ran, the two of them are
here now.”
Of course the reason why Yurika-san would be
dressing up was Ranko-san. The woman in question was nowhere to be seen,
though. Was Yurika-san talking to her through her headset?
“Yeah. Yeah. I can see,” another voice
answered out of nowhere. It was nowhere near as loud as the Magnified
Yurika-san’s voice was to me, though. In fact, it sounded muffled.
Looking around, I realized that, among the
strapped and belts on the Yurika-san’s vest, there was a knife holster-like
item that had something on it that was far thicker than a knife. A flash light?
No. A grenade? No. A sleek white container with a blue cage-like frame was
clipped onto Yurika-san’s vest. It resembled a shark cage but with any gaps in
the cage filled in by some transparent material. At its relative size, it might
as well have been a shark cage because it could certainly hold people in it.
Well, as it turned out, that was precisely
what it was used for.
Popping up out of the top of the container, a
familiar face waved out at me. Clad in a lab coat, Ranko-san greeted us
energetically. “Hey, kids! Hope you had a good rest last night!”
“Ranko-san?!” Yae and I were surprised.
“Oh, that’s a good reaction,” grinned the
woman. “Do you like this? It’s our Co-Size Harness. I can hang out in here
while Yurika does all of the heavy lifting.”
“…” Yurika-san said nothing, but to our
surprise, she brought up one finger. With it, she started poking Ranko-san back
into the container.
“Hm? Mgff! Hey, Yurika!”
“I don’t like being Magnified, but if I can
shut you up with just the tip of my finger, I’ll do it,” Yurika-san still had
an annoyed expression on her face, but she seemed to be satisfied forcing her
partner back down. “If there’s one thing about having to keep you under watch
that I like, it’s the fact that you have a Magnification ban.”
Ranko-san was shoved completely back into the
container. I could still see her through the transparent material of the cage.
She wasn’t actually angry. In fact, she was laughing as she pressed some button
on a panel inside.
“Heh. I don’t mind the ban. It’s pretty warm
here right next to your tits, Yurika.”
“Eh?” “R-Ranko-san?” Yae and I were stunned
when Ranko-san’s voice came out of the device as though she was on a megaphone.
“Ran, you idiot…” an embarrassed Yurika-san
gripped the cage on the Co-Size Harness and tried to smother it. It received no
damage and only served to make the woman inside laugh more.
“Haha~! Well, before Yurika figures out a way
to strangle me, let’s get to business, shall we? Morino-san, can you help
Yae-chan get dressed?”
“Morino?”
Following the government employee’s orders,
the occult club/health committee member arrived with a pile of clothes in her
hand. Curiously, she had the same vest on that Yurika-san was wearing. There
was nobody inside her Co-Size Harness, though. “Morning, Yae-san. Touya-san.
Did you two sleep well?”
“No.” “Not at all.” Yae and I were
straightforward in shaking our heads.
“Yup, same here,” she laughed weakly. “I lost
a card game with Kasumi-chan so I had patrol last night. Had to deal with some
girl from crazy Kogei girl wandering around past midnight.”
“Hgrk!” I forced my mouth closed to refrain
from spilling any details.
“A Kogei girl?” Yae repeated. She didn’t look
at Morino when she asked that question. She glanced down at me, thinking I had
choked. I shivered, fully aware who that likely was. Sumire must’ve gotten
spotted heading back.
“She was way too energetic even though it was after
midnight,” our classmate shook her head. “You’d have thought the sleeping pills
would’ve knocked her out.”
“Well, the Kogei girls have been very crazy
from what I’ve seen,” Yae giggled at Morino’s look of exasperation. I was bit
more relieved when Yae stopped turning her gaze to me and relaxed even more
when Ranko-san gave orders while strapped onto Yurika-san’s chest.
“Yae-chan, can you put Touya-kun down by those
trucks there? Morino-san will take you to a place you can change.”
“Trucks?” Yae glanced around at her feet. It
took her a while to find the ten white blocks down below. “O-Oh. I didn’t even
realize those were cars.”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t realize either earlier,”
Morino nodded. “It’s kind of scary how our shoes are bigger than them now.”
“Oh, they are. This is super surreal.”
Morino was right. When Yae lowered me down to
where around a dozen trucks had been parked, I saw that her loafers were
actually longer than the full length of the bigger trucks. It was certainly
intimidating to be staring up at her long legs from below and even worse when Yae
raised her foot slightly just to compare. Seeing the bottom of her slipper made
me concerned of getting stepped on.
“Well, let’s get changed, Yae-san. We can’t
have you going around in that yukata all day.”
At the very least, Morino was one of the saner
Magnified girls. She grabbed Yae and started to take her away, leaving me with
Yurika-san who removed the cage from the Co-Size Harness and lowered it to the
ground.
“Oh wow. This thing’s bigger than a water
tower,” I realized there were ladders around the transparent cage because it
was over two meters tall. I could see Ranko-san climb up a ladder inside to
open the hatch and get out.
Plop!
“Gffh?” Ranko-san’s first order of business
was to throw something at me.
“There you go, Touya-kun: Your set of clothes
for today. It’s just a spare uniform I asked my sister for, but you can change
in one of the trucks that they took my equipment out of.”
“Equipment?” I took the pair of pants that had
been covering my face off. I didn’t mind changing, but I was curious as to why
so many trucks were around. I didn’t have much time to look around more though
as a shadow descended over both of us. “Uwoah!”
Wham!
Tired of standing, Yurika-san sat down on the
dirt and gravel. Her sheer weight actually dipped into the earth, shoving
things either down or to the side.
“Hahaha~! And you said my ass was fat, Yurika.”
Ranko-san laughed as she adjusted her glasses.
I wasn’t sure if making Yurika-san angry was a
good idea on Ranko-san’s part. There were enough vehicles to make a truck yard,
but compared to the giant woman, they looked like had a bunch of toys in front
of her. Even the biggest truck wasn’t as long as the thinnest part of her legs.
In fact, because Yurika-san was bending her legs, she was actually also created
an underpass they could go under.
“Geh, you idiot,” Yurika-san was also
surprised by the butt print she had made in the ground. We’d have another hot
spring if it ended up being filled it with water. “Did you weaken the field
generator by that much already?”
“I set it to gradually weaken over the course
of the morning,” Ranko-san jumped down and ran over to one of the trucks.
Following her to the other side, I saw numerous different devices set up on a
tarp on the ground attached to a generator. Ranko-san didn’t hesitate to change
some of the dials on the machines when she approached. “Guess the rate was too
quick if you ended up creating a Butt Bath.”
This was the equipment Ranko-san was talking
about. They looked like the machines that were connected to a Magnification
Platform. They were a lot more stream-lined than the ones our school had been
given though. Complicated numbers and words were flashing on the display
screens as the government employee typed on one of the three keyboards. As I
peeked at the monitors, I could only understand a few terms like ‘Field
Strength’ and ‘Magnification Scale’.
“Are you curious, Touya-kun?” smirked
Ranko-san.
“Well, sci-fi is a man’s romance after all,” I
couldn’t deny how interested I was. “Is this all for the inn? Actually, since
the girls are all over the place now, I guess you have to make sure the
environment’s safe from them.”
“Oh my,” Ranko-san blinked. She whistled,
impressed. “You sure are sharp, Touya-kun. You’re right. The day’s about to
begin, so we have to make sure to put away this inn and get everyone ready for
the day’s itinerary.”
“Put away?” I was aware of the itinerary, but
I wasn’t sure what Ranko-san meant about putting away the inn.
“Heh. Let me show you,” Ranko-san’s eyes were
sparkling after she heard my question. Stepping to the right most machine, the
woman pressed a few buttons. On one of its screens, I recognized it as a map of
the area; only, it had numerous colored dots speckled around it. “Alright. It
looks like your committee girls work fast. The walls were put back properly,
and the tracker’s showing me no life signs so everybody’s been evacuated. I
guess we’re good to go.”
“Trackers? Ranko-san, you can track us?” I
realized the implications of the map in an instant.
“Don’t start being surprised yet, Touya-kun.
Why don’t you get a load of this too?”
Ranko-san opened the glass lid sealing up a
big red button on the machine’s console and pressed it.
Vrrrrrr!
In an instant, before my eyes, the gigantic
inn that all of the Magnified girls and I had been inside the night before
vanished.
“Huh?!” “What just happened?” “The inn!?”
I could hear the exclamations of shock from
the girls around the area. It was obvious that they would be surprised by the
sudden disappearance of the place they had been staying the night.
That wasn’t the surprising part though. Even
I, who was normal size, couldn’t see the inn anymore. All there was remaining
was the empty plain created by the inn’s disappearance. “Teleportation? Didn’t
the Magnification just get undone?”
The Magnification did get undone, but not in
the way I expected. Because walking would take too longer for her, Ranko-san
had Yurika-san lift her up and bring her too the center. It wasn’t too far distance
for the Magnified woman at all – Yurika didn’t even have to move from her seat.
When Ranko-san came back, I saw something was
in her hands, or rather, just in her palm. The inn didn’t just get its
Magnification undone. It had been Reduced as well. If anyone had been inside,
they would’ve been no bigger than a millimeter tall.
“Oh, I love hearing everyone’s surprise so
early in the morning,” the woman laughed as she pocketed the miniscule inn into
her lab coat’s breast pocket. The entire building we had once slept was kept
tucked away against her chest. “Come on, Touya-kun. It’s time for us to start
the program for today.”
(61) Day 4 Magnification Occupations (54.3 m
< 54.4 m)
The program for Day 4 of Magnification Week
was something that had been decided from the start by the government. Unlike
Reduction Week’s adjustable curriculum, Magnification Week had a set plan
because our trip had to be regulated by the government.
“Aah… Aah… Is this thing on?”
Although the Department of Alteration was lacking
in staff on the island, Sakuragawa’s health committee was filling in the gaps. In
the expansive grass field a quarter of a kilometer away from where they inn had
been, roughly 50+ Magnified students from three separate schools had been
instructed to stand for assembly just like whenever we had to do whenever our
principal gave speeches to the school. My school’s Magnified health committee members
as well as government employees were stationed in a square around the area to
keep an eye on everyone.
“Oh good, it is. Gooood moooorning everyone~!”
Ranko-san’s voice came out of both Yurika-san’s holster and a set of Magnified
speakers. “I hope you had a good night’s rest! The morning probably could’ve
left a lot to be desired, but that’s just how it is!”
It was certainly nerve-wracking to be standing
up front with Ranko-san, but the woman’s carefree attitude was successfully
calming my nerves now. The glass-like wall of the container I was in also gave
me a sense of separation from the outside. After all, the one who was actually
standing in front of the crowd was Yae.
“Today’s the start of Day 4. That means your
free roam day on this school trip is over! It’s time for you all to get a
proper understanding of how Magnification works and what it’s used for!”
However, I was a bit uncomfortable with how
much it swayed. Unlike Yurika-san whose Co-Size holster was more like a
military vest, Yae’s was closer to suspenders that she wore over her summer
uniform so there were fewer places to clip on. Also, because Yae’s chest size
was bigger than the older woman’s, it stuck out more. Her glass chamber pressed
against her chest, unnerving me in a different sense.
“… Are you okay in there, Touya?” Yae
whispered as Ranko-san continued her explanation.
I pressed a button on the panel inside the
container. I made sure this one was the button to speak into her headset rather
than out loud to everyone. “It’s a bit shaky. You’re a bit too bouncy, Yae.”
“T-Touya,” Yae blushed. “It can’t be helped.
They gave me a uniform that was a bit too small so it’s a little uncomfortable.”
I could see that the uniform was tight on her
for… obvious reasons. Yae had to wear the bodysuit underneath her summer
uniform that hugged her figure enough already. Adding the Co-Size Holster on
top must have been rough on her, especially under the heat of the sun.
In any case, the reason we were here up front
was to be one of Ranko-san’s examples.
“You girls and the boys over by Kiku-nee will
be together all day today. As you can see from where I am, we’ll be giving all
of you a Co-Size Holster when we let you change clothes. If you’re fond of
looking cool, we’ve got the JSDF military style. If you’re into something
simpler, the suspender-type vest Asano-san here is wearing is available too.”
Yae was being used as a fashion model. She
didn’t seem too embarrassed about it, but that might have been because she was
concerned about me. I couldn’t see through the glass when Yae grabbed onto it
and held it tightly. Even so, I could hear what was going on outside.
“That looks cool.” “Suspenders? Lame.” “Wait,
are we keeping the boys in them?”
There was a mix of reactions and questions
from the girls as Ranko-san continued giving a rundown on how the holster
container could be placed and operated. She was gushing about it. It took some
time before Yurika-san’s patients grew thin and she encouraged Ranko-san to go
to the main topic of her speech.
“Ran… The time.”
“Gwaah! Hey, don’t stick your finger in here!
I thought it was a snake for a second!” Ranko-san’s sudden shout and reaction
came through the speakers. Yurika-san was taking advantage of being bigger than
Ranko-san as much as she could. From how Ranko-san normally behaved, I thought
she couldn’t be taken off her pace, but the size difference was too much even
for her.
“…”
After a long pause, Ranko-san realized
everyone had heard and tried to recompose herself. “Ahem. Sorry. That’s right.
I should probably tell you what you are all doing today. Today’s itinerary will
be Magnification Occupations.”
Magnification Occupations. There it was. Much
like how Reduction Week gave us guys a chance to see a few Reduced jobs, the
main reason why we had been moved to an island for Magnification Week was for
this part of the itinerary. To learn about different jobs in how Magnification
could be used, the girls would be taking part in trying out these giant sized
occupations.
“We’ve got a variety of tasks for you girls to
all go through so we’ll have you group up and then rotate through each area on
the island throughout the day. At the same, the boys will be joining in while
inside the holster capsules. Construction, demolition, development, support,
since you’re all big girls, there’s plenty you can do, but don’t take things
lightly.”
That was the general plan. As Ranko-san
lectured everyone on the itinerary, I looked out to see groups being formed by
the health committee members. It seemed the girls weren’t going to get to
choose their groups so that the schools could be mixed together.
“Touya, are we going to be in one of those
groups too?” Yae asked me. She didn’t have to turn her head or anything because
I could hear her easily when literally attached to her.
Presing the button inside the container, I
answered. “We’ll be moving around apparently, so we won’t be staying in one
group. You’re still getting the full experience, though, Yae.”
“Oh, so we’ll be seeing a lot of people then.”
“Yeah,” I responded, letting go of the speaker
button. I kept my eyes focused outside. Because groups were being formed, I was
searching through the crowd for one person in particular. “Sumire…”
Yae had a better view of the area than me, but
she wasn’t actively searching the crowd, so she must not have noticed. I
spotted the girl hidden behind her friend, the delinquent, Reina. Kamiya-senpai
seemed to be doing her best to keep her away because the group Sumire was being
put in didn’t seem to have any Sakuragawa students. Seeing that, I hoped things
would be okay for me and Yae.
It certainly helped to have people working
behind the scenes.