"I'm terribly sorry mister and miss Seabrook, but the tests came back positive. Mister Seabrook is infected with the SDV. I suggest you start getting things in order. At the rate you're going, I expect you have between 2 to 4 weeks until you've fully... reduced."

The doctor said it so matter-of-factly. To him, it was just another name to add to the list of people infected while having the unlucky gene variant. To Lio and his sister Rachel, it was an end of nearly 2 decades of fear that this day would come. The 33 year-old brunette reached her hand towards her little brother's wrist, her caring instincts knowing exactly when he needed her most. For a decade, it had been just the two of them, with limited friends to gain support from. But they always had each other, ever since Lio was born. Rachel adored her baby brother, and she would do anything to protect him. But the one thing she couldn't protect him from was the one thing both knew would eventually happen: getting the SDV and shrinking down to a mere speck.

Two days ago, Lio woke up in the morning and felt his clothes were just a little too loose. Given the world they lived in, the siblings immediately measured his height.... Lio would never forget the look on his 185cm tall sister's face as she told him he was no longer 170cm tall, but 168.5cm. It was a look of dread, but also a look of love. A look that told one clear message: "I'm your big sis. I'm never abandoning you. We'll adapt, like we did after mom and dad passed away." Both of them knew at that point that he was infected, but they needed official confirmation to get the appropriate paperwork done. Rachel had been infected when she was a mere 8 years old. Circulation and resurgences of the SDV was more prevalent back then.. Speaking of which, the meaning of SDV depended on your genes. For the unlucky 10%, it was the Size Decrease Virus. For the remaining 90%, it was the Sense Develop Virus. It was incredibly unfair... but that's just how the world worked. And with Rachel's senses being heightened to a near superhuman level, the pair stood a chance of keeping interaction possible.

Once they were out of the doctor's office, the Seabrook siblings simply stood in front of each other and stared in silence. Lio was already down to 165cm. Uncharacteristically, he was the first to speak: "Well, I guess your title of big sister is about to become even more literal than it already was. From 15 centimetres shorter to 20 in 2 days... In a week I'll be needing you more than ever to reach the top she-"

His joke was interrupted by his sister hugging him tightly. Her tall but slender frame easily encompassing him, long arms reaching across his back to hold him. With their size difference, Lio found his eyes getting close and personal with Rachel's collarbone. He supposed it was a good thing he hadn't shrank too much already..... having the embarrassment of his face being buried in his elder sister's chest was the last thing he needed.

"Shut up you dingus. No need for masks, I know you're scared, I always know." Rachel cooed as she hugged her cheek to the top of her brother's head. "I'm gonna make sure that your last few weeks at standard sizes will be some of the best you can imagine. Work's lenient, they'll allow vacation days to deal with a sick family member."

It was a nice thing to hear. The subject of shrinking hadn't been total taboo in the 10 years Rachel had been taking care of her brother. But it was clear that she didn't want him to think about it too much. She wanted him to live his life as carefree as possible, knowing it would take a miracle to keep him uninfected forever. In her mind, it was her job to worry about such things, even if he was an adult at this point. It helped that she had always been considerably taller ther him. She'd watched him grow... now she'd watch him dwindle.

"Thanks sis, but could you let go? You're way stronger in your arms than you look, and you're gonna need to learn not giving me such strong squeezes anymore." Lio said as she looked up at his sister's chin.

"Oh, of course. Sorry bro. But you're gonna become comparatively more durable as you get smaller... So I think I'll be fine if I'm careful." Rachel said as she let go of her brother and took a step backward.

"Is that my future? Being the coddle-toy of my overbearing big sister?" Lio joked as he looked smugly at Rachel. In his mind, he couldn't help but think that wasn't the worst imaginable fate..... if Rachel hadn't been his literal sister.

Rachel had always been quite the stunner. Lio had been unaware of it for a while. But after people at school pointed it out, he couldn't help but notice it. Her distinctive trait was her height, an impressive 185cm, quite tall for a woman. She also looked younger than she was. Most 33 year-olds would slowly begin showing their age, but Rachel casually looked like she was still 26. She was slender, not extremely curvy but physically fit. It almost looked like she was built to be 12cm shorter but fully upscaled to fit her height properly. For as long as he could remember, she had wavy-curly brown hair that came to her mid-back. Her eyes were a piercing green, capable of looking into your soul if she wished. She had a small beauty mark below the edge of her left nostril. Her skin was clear, smooth, and almost always lightly tanned. Currently, his big sis was wearing some jeans short shorts, a white tank top and a white checkered shirt that she left unbuttoned in the summer heat of a seaside town. Needless to say, despite it being his sister, Lio couldn't help but wonder what she'd look like from his destined height of 0.85mm.

"Oh come on, that's not fair! Yes, I will coddle you, you're my baby brother. But it's not like I'm keeping you around as an object or a pet. I'm keeping you around because we're family, and we look out for each other. I'm not gonna suddenly flip my personality and become cruel, that's ridiculous." Then, the smallest smirk formed on Rachel's lips, showing a devious side that she always had, but only showed when she felt like it. "Your chores might change though. You won't really do much in the household anymore, so you're gonna have to keep me extra happy by performing new chores."

Lio's eyes widened at this, and his sister just cheekily grinned and winked, walking past him towards her car, patting him on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go grab some lunch. Then you can finally go tell Ava what happened. She's worried, you know. And if you don't meet up with her soon, she's just gonna show up at our front door and demand an explanation."

Lio gulped as he followed his sister to the car, wondering how his best friend was gonna react to the news his "time" had finally come.

Something told him she was gonna have mixed feelings... Both excited and saddened....