'This is all my fault.' She thought, backing away from the girl. If she didn't waste time by talking to Rentaro she could've gotten him out before the girls arrived. But instead, her poor decision making and consideration threatened the life of one of her friends, once again. As she tried to think of a way out of this mess, Rentaro was also doing some contemplating of his own.
'I'm such an idiot. I should've just played it safe. This is all my fault…' He facepalmed regretting all the actions that lead up to this. He wanted to help, but what could he do? At his size, there wasn't anything he could do to help her out… Or at least, that's what he thought.
Through the nervous trembling of her palms and the rapid beating of her heart, Rentaro decided to change his way of thinking. Instead of thinking of his size as a drawback, he decided to use it to his advantage. That's when he had an epiphany. If he could climb up the sleeve of Megumi's tracksuit, she would no longer have to worry about hiding him in her hands. And thanks to the small opening between her wrists he could get there in no time at all. It was a perfect idea, even if it did kinda violate her privacy.
“Pardon the intrusion…” He whispered climbing out of her hands and into her sleeve. Clinging onto her soft, perfect skin Rentaro silently hoped that this wouldn’t turn into some cliche unaware body exploration scene, however much to his dismay, Megumi was too busy with the situation at hand to notice that Rentaro had escaped into her tracksuit.
“Huh?! What are you talking about?! I’m not hiding anything!!” She averted her gaze trying to casually exit the locker room. Her complete and utter lack of self-awareness and inability to handle herself under pressure was causing the girl to suspect Megumi more and more. It wasn’t Megumi’s fault, she's always been like this. After living most of her life as a kind and lovable ditz surrounded by people who’d always be there to back her up, she wasn’t necessarily accustomed to handling stressful situations on her lonesome. But, this was more than a simple ‘stressful situation’, Rentaro’s life was on the line, and she couldn’t afford to mess up and with so little planning Megumi quite literally couldn’t get a word out without stuttering or sounding suspicious.
"Is that so… well, I guess everyone has something they want to keep hidden." The blonde girl said mainly as a way of avoiding the piqued interest of her classmates as they went to see what the commotion was about. She was already dressed in her gym uniform so she had no reason to stay, but as she walked towards the exit she needed to do one more thing.
"I think there's a bug on your hand." She said slowly approaching her from behind. Without a moment to react, Megumi felt a sharp sting on both sides of her hands. "SMACK!!" A loud slapping sound echoed throughout the locker room, she finally realized what had just happened. The girl had forcefully slapped both Megumi's hands at the same time, causing them to collide with each other. The impact leaving a slight redness on the tops of her hands. Rentaro had made the right decision because if he was still in her hands, there was no doubt that he'd be crushed flat between her palms. However, Rentaro may have been safe but Megumi didn't know that. For all she knew, Rentaro was still in there. The thought that she was responsible for his death reverberated and echoed constantly throughout her head as she shakingly went to look at her palms. Slowly bringing them to her face, she was terrified of what she was about to see. A gruesome image was forming in her head. The splattered and crushed remains of her newest friend as his blood slowly dripped down the face of her palm of her hand and the splattered organs and limbs creating a horrific, indescribable pile of disgusting gore. Just the thought alone was enough to make her sick and as she slowly opened her eyes she was amazed to see that absolutely nothing was there.
“Thank goodness…” Megumi took a sigh of relief. The stress of being exposed was lifted and Megumi was back to her usual optimistic self. With a new smile on her face, she felt weightless and ready to take on the world. However, with everything finally cleared up there was still one question that was left unanswered. If Rentaro wasn’t dead, where was he? This seething question was enough to completely nullify any relief she felt at that moment, and she started to frantically search the locker room. As she searched she thought about that blonde girl from before. She recognized her from somewhere but, she didn't know where. That's when it hit her. When she was investigating the identity of the bully who lost her wallet during lunch she could vaguely recall seeing both her and the bully hanging around that red-haired girl from before. If that meant what Megumi thought it meant then she might have made a big mistake delivering the wallet to the bully's shoe locker under Rentaro's name, but that's a matter for another chapter.
“What’re you lookin’ for?” Furyu asked, confused and genuinely worried as to how panicked Megumi seemed. Megumi wanted to tell Furyu the truth, but she didn’t know her that well and after that little debacle in the hallway, there’s no telling how mad she’d be knowing that she went out of her way to save some closet pervert, who’s so shameless that he’d risk his own life to sneak a peek at some girls (Or at least, that's how it would look to anyone who didn’t know the context[But, it's not like the context makes the transgression any less perverted]).
“Oh, it’s nothing.” She laughed it off, continuing her search. But, as much as she’d like to search every inch of the locker room floor the fact of the matter was, there was no time because of the little known fact that gym class wasn’t entirely composed of a shameless locker room scene.
‘But, the life of a friend is more important than some class!’ Megumi thought to herself waiting for all the girls to exit the locker room. Meanwhile, as that was going on, Rentaro had finally stopped to rest on the collar of Megumi’s inside shirt collar, after a long climb. Sensing that it was safe to come out, he climbed onto her collar and began to make his way out of her tracksuit. But as Rentaro’s luck would have it, things were about to take a turn for the worse.
“Rentaro!!” She yelled out, suddenly crouching down to get a better look at the floor. This simple action was more than enough to cause Rentaro to completely lose his balance and fall straight into Megumi’s shirt, and as he rolled down the steep hill that was her chest he came to an abrupt stop. His arms and legs were stuck, and without even opening his eyes Rentaro knew exactly what had caught him. As expected, Rentaro’s uncanny streak of bad luck had struck once again as he found himself in an all too familiar situation.
Rentaro has always had a knack for getting himself into a very particular kind of trouble. Ever since he started attending school Rentaro was constantly getting himself into very compromising and perverted situations. Whether it was tripping down a flight of stairs, or going through an unlocked door there’d always be a girl to fall onto or a half-naked girl in the middle of changing. This cycle wasn’t exclusive to micro-schools either. One time at the start of his freshman year Rentaro, who had somehow managed to mistakenly fall off his desk, fell face-first into the open cleavage of one of his classmates. And ‘lucky’ for him she didn’t notice and he eventually fell out an hour or two later. This ‘streak of bad luck’ was both a blessing and a curse, as it’s saved his life a multitude of times, much like in the above example, if a girl hadn’t always been there Rentaro’s life would probably ended years before meeting Megumi, however as you could assume, this ‘bad luck’ lead to a boatload of misunderstandings, slaps in the face, and a variety of women crushing on or wanting to crush him. This bad luck occurred so often that it eventually lead to Rentaro completely losing all the lust he had for boobs. And by far one of the worst things about this bad luck was, guys would constantly compliment him on how lucky he was when in reality Rentaro was going through literal, actual hell trying to be as careful as possible around tripping hazards, and unlocked doors.
But how is he so popular with the girls if he’s constantly in perverted situations? I hear you ask. Well, it’s a bit hard to explain. Rentaro isn’t particularly handsome or cute, and aside from his above-average grades, there isn’t much that made him stand out from the crowd. However, three things always seemed to capture the heart of any girl who’d happen to cross his path; his innocent smile, his pure and naive heart, and his uncanny ability to unintentionally be extremely charismatic whenever the situation called for it. Combine all those traits with his complete and utter lack of romantic experience and you have a boy who’s charm could steal the hearts of the most stubborn of women.
“What’d I expect…” He sighed trying to wiggle free from the massive canyon that was Megumi’s cleavage but to no avail. The tightness of her bra plus the sheer size of those mountains made it almost impossible to escape. He was stuck in there tight and without the help of a third-party or Megumi herself, there was no way he was getting unstuck anytime soon, which meant that there was a high chance he'd be spending the entirety of gym class pressed between her boobs. The sad thing was, he couldn't even enjoy himself. Any guy would kill to be in his position and the thought genuinely perplexed him. If he was trapped inside a girl's shoe for the entirety of gym class he'd understand why someone would be jealous, but as things stood now being beset on all sides by two fleshy melons was more boring than it was erotic.
“How did things get this way...?” He asked himself, thinking back on the events that lead to this predicament. If one word could describe him in his current position, that word would be ‘pathetic’. Trapped in the cleavage of someone he barely knew, after being peer pressured into being a sacrificial lamb so he could satisfy the sexual urges of his horny friends. At this point, he was no different than some kind of lowly worm. “Worm…” He muttered aloud, as an idea began to form in his head.
“I’ve got it!” He started to ferociously wiggle back and forth as fast as possible hoping to get Megumi’s attention. Sure, it was incredibly pitiful but, Rentaro was so passed that at this point that he’d be willing to do anything to get out of this situation. This wiggling was starting to work as Megumi began to feel a slight itching sensation in her cleavage, but at the same time that wiggling was causing him to slip deeper and deeper into her deep cleavage. She connected the dots, and Megumi finally realized where Rentaro was. But she needed to get him out fast because her cleavage was slowly starting to suffocate him little by little as he sunk further into this vast trench.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She mumbled in disbelief as she started to undress once more. Seeing the bright ceiling lights flood his vision, Rentaro’s eyes were filled with hope. All the pessimistic thoughts faded away and an innocent smile fueled by pure joy started to appear on his face. And as he was fished out of her expanse, that joy faded away.
“I-I can explain!” He said staring at her blank smile. Unlike the first time, Rentaro could feel all the anger and frustration that was emanating from her being. Though, it wasn’t for the reason he thought.
“I don’t need an explanation!” She yelled tightly holding onto Rentaro.
“B-But-” He tried to explain but was cut off again.
“D-Don’t ever do anything like that ever again…” She said hiding her face. Upon closer inspection, Rentaro could see tears streaming down her face. After genuinely believing that he was dead, there was nothing on earth that could bring her more joy than seeing him alive and kicking once again.
“I’m sorry.” He said feeling extremely guilty for what Megumi must have gone through trying to protect him. “Please forgive me!” Rentaro prostrated himself on the palm of her hand expecting some kind of punishment.
“Don’t worry about it! I’m just glad you’re ok!” She smiled, wiping the tears from her face. “Now this time for sure, I’m going to get you out of here safe and sound!” She said walking out of the locker room, gently grasping Rentaro. Finally relieved of all the stress from this one class Megumi just couldn’t wait to meet Mai after school. Thinking about Mai’s will to make a change reminded Megumi of a burning question she wanted to ask Rentaro.
“Hey, have you ever considered joining the micro-representative council?” She asked wanting him to join for no particular reason. She just had a gut feeling about him but was entirely prepared for Rentaro to decline her invitation.
“I’ve never really thought about it before. I know Ogasaki-Senpai is trying her best but I can’t help but feel bad for her, ya know? She’s fighting a one-sided battle and very clearly losing. I’ve always wanted to help her out, but what’s someone as unremarkable and unlucky as me gonna do!” He said looking down, feeling a slight sense of guilt. “In any case, If you’re thinking about recruiting me I’ll gladly step up to the plate. Though there’s one thing I don’t understand.” He looked at her with a serious glance.
“And what would that be?” She asked walking toward the boy’s locker room.
“Why would a normal student like you be so interested in helping out micros?” Rentaro thought about how weird it seemed for her to just straight-up join the micro-rep council on her first day.
“Well, it’s kind of a long story so I’ll give you the short version. I came from Okisana Academy, which means I’m pretty much entirely accustomed to ‘true’ size equality. When I came here, I met Mai and learned about the truly atrocious things you guys have to go through daily. So after I became friends with her, Mai and I made a promise to each other. We promised to make a change together, and improve the lives of every micro at this school.” She said optimistically. It all made sense to Rentaro. Of course, someone from Okisana would want to help out micros.
“That’s nice of you, and thanks again for everything you’ve done for me today. I’ll try to stay out of trouble from now on.” He said before returning to base camp. As Megumi walked away from the boy’s locker room she could hear the relieved cheers of all the guys as they welcomed him back. They all seemed ecstatic to see that he returned safe and sound.
“Hey, Megumi! What took you so long?” Tsuyume asked waving at her as she rejoined all the girls.
“The zipper for my tracksuit snapped off so I was trying to fix it…” She laughed. Even if she felt kinda bad for lying to her, she didn’t want to put all those answers she prepared to go to waste. As the girls started to make idle chit-chat with Megumi, she couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching her. Dismissing that strange feeling she was finally back to her optimistic self and excited to make some new friends.