“So I just have to put this on, right?” Deku asked as he handled the strange belt that Mei Hatsume had given him.

“That's right!” Mei said. “This baby of mine will allow you to withstand thousands of tons of weight without being crushed!”“Okay, well, it's on now. Should I be feeling any more resistant? Because I feel the same as always.”

“That's because it's not activated yet. I have the controller right here. Now, are you ready to test this out?”“Uh, sure, I guess.”

“Good! Then here goes! Test number one of the Hatsume Shrinking Belt!” Mei said as she began turning a dial on the controller.

“Shrinking belt!? Mei, I thought you said this was supposed to improve my resistance!” Deku yelled, growing smaller and smaller as Mei kept turning the dial. He reached for his belt and tried to take it off, but no matter how hard he pulled on it, the clasp wouldn't budge. “It's stuck!?” he yelled.

“Don't worry about that; it'll come off again once you're at your normal size! I'll grow you back just as soon as I'm done running some experiments on you,” Mei said as she stopped turning the dial, leaving Deku at meager two inches tall. She walked to where he stood, placing her feet to either side of him. The device had worked even better than expected. She'd only turned the dial halfway to its lowest setting and he was still shorter than her ankles!

“Mei, please! I don't want to be a part of this experiment anymore,” Deku squeaked.

“Sorry, but I can't hear you. Now, stay still down there; I need to test the belt's durability!” Mei said, raising her foot above the tiny Deku.

Deku was absolutely terrified at seeing her foot above him. He really was just a bug next to her, he realized, and she could crush him as easily as one. “Please let this belt work,” he prayed as her foot started coming down on him. He felt her sole press against his face, pushing him down as it descended, finally flattening him against the floor. The weight was incredible, more than anything he'd ever felt, yet despite it all, he was still alive.

“Subject survived the first test,” Mei said into her microphone. “Now increasing pressure.” Until then she'd only been resting a fraction of her weight on the foot that held Deku down. Now she shifted her weight, letting more and more of it rest on that foot until she was standing on Deku with all of her weight.

Even with what was, to him, over a thousand tons bearing down on him, Deku was still alive. He was hopelessly pinned down, unable to move an inch, and felt numb all over, but still alive and unharmed. He was greatly relieved when Mei finally took her foot off of him, leaving him on the ground to recover from the experiment. “Second test complete. Subject unharmed by my full weight. Now awaiting assistant for the application of the acid test.”“Acid test?” Deku said. Just then he heard a familiar voice calling from the workshop entrance.

“Mei? You in there? Helloooo~”

“Ah, right on time,” Mei said. “Hang on a second, I'll be right over!” The inventor grabbed Deku and pulled out a piece of string, using it to tie him up, then left him lying on the floor before going to open the door. “Ashido, come in!” she said.

Deku turned his head and saw Mina Ashido, the pink-skinned girl wearing her normal student uniform. “Mina! Over here! It's me, Deku!” he yelled at her, trying to get her help, but his voice couldn't reach her ears.

“So, you said you wanted my help with testing something,?” Mina said to Mei. “What is it you need me to do?”“Oh, it's very simple,” Mei said. “All you need to do is take off your shoes, go stand over there, and apply some acid to the floor.”“Oh, that's all? Sounds easy!” She took off her boots, then walked to where Mei had indicated, coming to a stop when she stood right above Deku, her bare feet resting to either side of him. “So this is the spot?”“That's right! Oh, and, one more thing. See that object between your feet? After you let out your acid, rub that thing back and forth on it.”“You got it!” Mina said, totally unaware that the tiny object between her feet was Deku, shrunken down and fearing for his life. He struggled against the string binding him, but couldn't manage to escape it. He tried using his quirk to break out, but he couldn't manage to activate it—the belt was stopping it, somehow. All he could do was hope that the belt would also protect him from Mina's acid, otherwise he was done for.

Standing over him, Mina began secreting acid from the soles of her skin, the greyish substance pooling on the floor, slowly inching its way towards Deku. The tiny hero-in-training shut his eyes and prepared for the worst, but instead of a burning pain, he only felt a warm, viscous substance on his skin, totally harmless to him. Even his clothes and the string that bound him were left intact.

“Okay, that will do. And now the other thing,” Mei said.

Deku opened his eyes and saw Mina's huge pink foot raised above him. “Mina, wait!” he yelled, only to be silenced as her big toe fell on him, his voice being muffled against her skin. Then she pushed him back and forth over the acid, rolling him around under her sole. She wasn't pressing down as hard as Mei had, but it was still painful for Deku, and with his face constantly shoved in the acid, he barely had any chance to breathe.

“So, is that all or do you need something else from me?” Mina asked.

“Nope, that's it! You can leave now; I want to examine the effects on the test subject alone.”

Mina lifted her foot off of Deku, and went to put her shoes back on, leaving him gasping for air on the floor. After she left, Mei came over and used one of her inventions to clean up all the acid she'd left behind, including the one on Deku. “So, how was it?” she asked as she picked him up, undoing the knot on the string. “Was there any pain or burning?”“No, nothing like that; it just felt like some sort of goo. Um, do you think you could grow me back now?”“Not a chance! There's still more tests to run!” she said, then dictated the results into her voice recorder. “Next test is for physical performance. Now to wait for my next assistant.”Then there was a knock at the door and Deku heard Ochaco Uraraka's voice from the other side. “Mei? You needed my help with something?”“Ah, perfect timing!” Mei said, leaving Deku on the floor. She went and opened the door, leading Ochaco inside. The young student froze as she saw Deku. “Is that Deku?” she asked, not sure if she could believe her eyes.

“Sure is!”

“He's so small...”

“Yep! And it's all thanks to this baby right here!” Mei said, tapping on her controller. “He's been a real sport in helping me test out this new invention. Now it's time for you to help me out too! What I want you to do is simple: Take off your shoes, then chase him down and stomp after him for. As soon as you pin him under your foot, the test is over! And you, Midoriya, will try to avoid being stepped on!”“But wouldn't that crush him?”

“Not one bit! I already stepped on him and he's totally fine, as you can see! Besides,” she said, whispering into Ochaco's ear, “if you manage to step on him within ten minutes, I'll let you keep him like this for the rest of the day.”“R-really?” Ochaco said. “Okay, I'll do it.”

“Good!” Mei said, taking a seat and pulling out a camera to record them. “In that case, begin!”

Deku watched as Ochaco took off her shoes, unsure as to whether he should run or not. Surely she wasn't actually going to step on him, right?

After leaving her shoes aside, Ochaco stepped over to Deku, looking down at him past her bust. “Okay,” she said. “Well, here goes...” Deku didn't move a muscle as she raised her foot over him. It hung there for a couple seconds, her sole hovering over him, and then she brought it down onto him. As soon as her foot started descending, Deku jumped out of the way, getting out from under it just in time to avoid being stepped on. Then the chase was on.

Deku ran away from Ochaco while she chased after him, both of them getting more into their respective roles as time went on. Time after time, when it seemed she was about to step on him, he managed to jump nimbly out of the way, reacting in a split second. It seemed that the shrinking had improved both his reaction times and his speed, as he was going at least twice as fast as he normally did, relative to his size.

Ochaco soon started to catch on to this and started trying out various tricks. She stepped right in front of him to try to trip him up, only to have him vault over her foot. She tried to corner him but he darted out between her legs. Finally, after several minutes, she managed to catch him unawares by changing the trajectory of her foot mid-step, pinning him under her toes.

She didn't take her foot off him immediately, instead leaving it on while she caught her breath. Down under her toes, Deku, too, was catching his breath, until he realized that with every breath he was smelling the scent of Ochaco's foot. He grew flustered as he realized where he was: trapped under Ochaco's toes. It seemed pervy to think like this, it actually felt nice to be down there. Her skin was so soft and her toes so warm. He felt compelled to reach out and...

Before he could touch them, Ochaco moved her foot off of him. Crouching over him, she scooped him up into her hands. “Deku, are you alright?” she asked. “I didn't hurt you, did I?”“N-no, not at all! It was very soft down there. B-because of the belt, I mean! It makes me more durable, see?” Deku said.

“Well done, you two!” Mei said, getting up from her chair. “The belt performed better than expected here! Now, as promised, you're free to take Midoriya with you for the rest of the day.”“Wait, what?!” Deku said.

“Mei told me that I could keep you at this size for the rest of the day if I managed to catch you,” Ochaco explained. “But, if you don't want to be with me like this, I totally understand. I won't force you to come with me if you don't want to.”“No! I mean... I don't mind it at all! It's way better than spending all day being experimented on, at least.”“Alright you two, if you're going to leave then get a move on! I still have to review the footage and take some notes down,” Mei said.

Ochaco and Deku exchanged looks, then she slipped him into one of her shirt pockets, put on her shoes, and left. As she walked, she slipped a hand into her pocket, feeling around for Deku until she found him, then held him between her fingers, stroking his back with her thumb.

The shrunken student happily gave in to her strength, letting her manipulate him as she pleased. He was happy to have escaped from Mei's experiments, ; even if it was at this size, as long as he was with Ochaco he knew he could feel safe.