How exactly do you welcome a new resident?

“So this is… my room?”

“Yup. Remy’s not going to be using it.”

When it came to our cousin Alice, a lot of things had to be considered.

“Don’t worry. Just treat it like your own place. I tried packing all of his junk in the corner over there. Sorry you can’t stay in the other room. Sam’s still paying for it even while abroad and doesn’t want anyone to use it.”

“...But ... Will Remy be… okay…?” she mumbled, twiddling her fingers while looking down at me.

A soft spoken girl was one way to describe the short-haired blonde who was hesitant to move into her new room, but me and my older sister Lori knew better than to just call her shy. A lot of steps had to be taken into account when we gave the ok for her moving into our apartment.

“I don’t need most of it right now, but make sure you don’t mess it up.”

“Sorry Remy… It’s my fault…”

“W-Whoa. Watch where you’re moving,” I backed up to avoid her flustered steps. “And don’t apologize. It’s not your fault at all.”

“B-But...”

“If you’re going to blame anyone, blame your mom and not yourself, Alice. Don’t worry about Remy.”

I agreed with Lori. As grateful as I was for her concern, she should’ve been more concerned for herself. Alice was just too sheltered of a girl thanks to her mother. The reason why she had transferred schools and the reason why she had to move to our city and home was all thanks to our Aunt Shelly. That aunt of ours… She had wanted Alice to go to the same all girl’s private school that had produced a genius like my sister. She also did not want Alice to get too close to any guys. That overbearing nature made Alice one of the biggest shrinking violets out there. 

Unfortunately, the real shrinker in the room was me. My current state was indicative of that. If Alice was going to be living with us, Aunt Shelly wanted me as out of sight and out of mind as possible. Though completely unreasonable and unfair, Lori and I agreed for Alice’s sake.

“It’s crazy that you’re worried about Remy when he’s this small. I mean, look at him.”

“H-Hey! Put me down! Didn’t you say you’d tell me first?”

“Get used to it, Remy. You’re in no position to argue here…”

“Damnit, Lori!”

I knew I had to get used to it, but it wasn’t going to be easy. Being picked up and held with one hand by my older sister Lori, I was only 3 inches tall.  This was what was considered ‘out of sight’ and ‘out of mind’ without kicking me out of my own home. To follow our Aunt’s request while welcoming Alice, I had been shrunken down. I had never been able to beat my older sister even at regular size, but at this scale, it was impossible to fight her. This wasn’t just me being unable to say no to her because she had blackmail on me. This was her physically overpowering me.

“Small…” Alice mumbled. “Sorry… Remy… Because of me...”

Alice’s bout of self-deprecation stopped Lori’s and my argument. Unfortunately for me, Lori dropped our argument literally by dropping me.

“Whoa!”

“Ah, no worries, Alice. Don’t cry. It’s fine. We’re serious. Remy agreed to this. Isn’t that right, Remy?”

Admittedly, I agreed under duress, but telling Alice that would make her even more of a wreck. I wanted to tell her to calm down, but before I could stand, Lori’s hand descended and picked me back up again.

“Seriously. It’s nothing we’re not used to. I force my experiments onto him all the time too just like Auntie.”

“It’s only while I’m at home too, so it’s not like its a big deal… Well, not from my perspective,” I threw in a joke to try and lighten the mood. Unfortunately for me, Lori didn’t appreciate it. Her finger immediately curled around my face and covered it to shut me up. “Mmphfm!”

“Remy’s been my guinea pig for ages, and he even volunteers nowadays. This is my first time seeing how crazy the tech Auntie’s been working on is, though. Well, you don’t have to treat him as a guy or as a person when he’s like this. I mean, he doesn’t even seem like one right now does he?”

“... That’s...”

Lori wouldn’t let me speak as she raised me in front of Alice’s house sized face. She looked at me with both concern and tears in her eyes. She still considered my current state her fault. I was a bit glad to know my cousin cared more for my well being than my sister. 

“You can even order him around if you want. Let out your stress on him like I do.”

“I’d rather you not. Let me enjoy my time at home in peace, why don’t you, Sis?” 

She was bad enough at regular size. I didn’t want to think about how badly I’d end up if she messed with me at 3 inches tall. I also didn’t like the idea of being offered to Alice as a stress toy. My humanity was really being questioned at my current size. I understood it was to help our cousin, but Lori had some questionable morals as to what she thought was reasonable to do and say. I could only hope those morals didn’t run in the family.

“Alice,” I tried to clarify. “I might not be regular sized thanks to Aunt Shelly and Lori, but just treat me like normal. We’re family. Since you’re living away from your folks now, you can count on the two of us if you need help.”

Alice seemed to accept those words and wiped her eyes.

“... T-Then… Thank you… I’ll try to make it up to you… Remy...” she nodded and calmed down. With those words, she entered the bedroom that was previously mine with her luggage. 

“Phew,” I sighed a breath of relief. “I’m glad she’s a good girl, unlike you, Mom, and Auntie.”

“I’m glad too, Little Brother,” my older sister agreed and placed me back onto the ground where I had to crane my neck just to see her face. Now that Alice was in her new room unpacking, things had calmed down just a little. “Seriously, I can’t believe Aunt Shelly… And I can’t believe you either for agreeing to all this. You actually could’ve said no and we wouldn’t have let her move in.”

“I’m surprised by myself too, but what can you do?” I shrugged. As reluctant as I was to be 3 inches tall, I really had decided to do so. We knew Alice. If she was going to be staying with us, we were going to make sure she would enjoy it.