The next class started by the time I had rested up. After I recovered, I elected to continue our exploration despite Nakano-kun’s protests. Though Eguchi was equally as concerned about me, he agreed, mainly because he didn’t want to stay under Shima for too long.

“You probably saw it earlier, but Airi is really bad with mice and bugs. Since we’re around that size, if she looks down, she might have that freak out again,” he explained while scratching underneath his nose. “Besides… I’d rather not have to look up her skirt even if I can’t help it. I’d prefer it if you guys didn’t look either for her sake.”

A gentleman and a nice guy - that’s who Eguchi was. He wasn’t popular just because of his handsome face.

With that decided, we continued to the next row, though we should have considered our options before heading straight to the next girl’s desk.

I had to admit the view from below all of the girls was probably a sight many a boy going through puberty wanted to see at least once. Here it was magnified intensely. Long legs stretching up to the ceiling of the desk and a pair of typically hidden underwear exposed as clearly as a billboard only because we were small enough to view it as such from our perspective were admittedly more than just distracting. Still, the knowledge that we could get caught at any moment was what sent our safety senses blaring. Sure, the girls could simply dismiss us due to our insignificant size, but they could just as well stomp down on us or brush us away with a single movement of their feet.

“Geh! You perverts!”

With Tokiwa, the latter was more likely. The chance of getting stepped on on purpose was just as likely.

Tokiwa was one of the girls who were vocal about peeping the day before and still wasn’t used to the idea of us boys being able to peek up her skirt. I understood Tokiwa did have an attractive body as she was noticeably well-developed in many areas. She normally tried to conceal her many assets out of embarrassment, wanting to look prim and proper with her long, straight black hair. She couldn’t take being looked at and had outright stated all boys had lustful eyes before.

That was why she was so much more alert about our presence than the other girls.

Stomp!

“Hey, what are you doing? Get out of here,” we heard Tokiwa’s whisper loud and clear from above. She was looking between her legs, squinting to see us on the floor, stomping her legs and scraping it across the floor to try and sweep us out into the aisle. With what little of her face I could see past her breasts, I saw she was red from both embarrassment and anger. “Stop peeping from down there!”

“Tokiwa, is something a matter over there?”

“It’s the boys, Sensei. They keep peeping up my skirt.”

“They’re just wandering around. Ignore it.”

We didn’t want to stay longer than we had to stay and decided to not walk past the danger zone that was between Tokiwa’s stomping feet. We ventured into the aisle and ran diagonally to the next seat. Whose was it? Takahashi’s.

“Zzz…… Zzzz……”

“Sleeping as always. How does she score so high on exams?” I muttered, hearing Takahashi’s snores. I stood in front of her blue and white indoor slipper and placed my hand on the toe of her shoe. We were definitely under 8 cm tall now, but I could still hop up and take a seat on Takahashi’s slipper if I wanted to. “Now, should I see what’s up top.”

We were safe compared to with Tokiwa so I was more than a little relieved to see Takahashi’s feet flat on the floor. I tilted my head. My line of sight went up the length of Takahashi’s white knee-socks and up her pale, legs until they met her knees where they bent while she sat. I frowned. I had gotten to one of my destinations, but there was no way I was getting to the top of Takahashi’s desk. I considered climbing Takahashi’s legs but knew that would be both reckless and impossible. I was just an ordinary high school student. I couldn’t scale a building let alone a girl’s leg the size of one. Even if I could, she and Yae would both be nightmares to deal with if I got caught as well. 

“Well, I give up already,” I announced.

“So soon? Well, I can’t say I expected anything out of this anyways,” Eguchi chuckled. “I would have had to tell Asano-chan if you did anything.”

“Well, truth be told, I’m a little curious about what Sasakura-sensei gave Takahashi, but I’ll probably find out later,” I told Eguchi and sat down on the sleeping girl’s shoe. I was relaxed enough around Takahashi to be willing to lie down on it. “This should be a good place to rest.”

“Resting? Are you sure you should be there?” Nakano asked, concerned.

With my head resting atop my classmate’s shoe, I opened my eyes and looked up. I had to say, Takahashi’s indoor-type nature brought a little plumpness to her legs. I would have liked to poke fun at her having noticed this, but I knew she’d easily retaliate against me at my current size.

I stood up after I realized I was keeping Eguchi and Nakano waiting, but as fate would have it, that was a poor decision.

Rumble!

“Zzzz... Grk!”

“Gwah!” I suddenly found myself falling backwards.Takahashi had jerked her foot ever so slightly. While it wasn’t much to her, it was powerful enough to knock me off my feet. My body flipped as it tilted back. The next thing I saw was darkness.

“Mffgh!” I struggled to breathe the moment the stench of sweaty cotton and feet assaulted me. I had fallen head first into Takahashi’s shoe. My legs were freely sticking out to kick, but it did not do me any favors as I struggled to pull myself out.

“Wah! Touya-kun! We’re coming.” I heard Eguchi’s slightly muffled face. I was getting dizzy from having my blood rush to my head due to being upside down. The smell of Takahashi’s indoor slipper and sock did not help either. It was distinctly feminine, but the salty sweat and the musty, thick odor and cotton balls coating my face made it overwhelming.

I was thankful when Eguchi and Nakano pulled me out by my legs. They had climbed onto Takahashi’s foot to pull me out. After getting back down onto the floor, they gave me time to catch my breath and remove all of the grime from my face.

“Yup. Saw that coming,” Nakano remarked at my predicament.

“That Takahashi, I’ll get her back for this,” I swore, earning my friend’s laughter at my expense. It was my fault, I knew that, but I still had to say it. That was just our dynamic.  It was also probably the universe getting back at me for thinking she’d gotten fatter.

I was at least thankful that it didn’t seem like Takahashi woke up. Despite my struggles and the two of them scrambling to get me free, she was still asleep. I would’ve been surprised that she was able to sleep through all of the fuss, but this was the sleepy Takahashi and we were fairly small now. I wondered if she could even feel my movements.

We decided to properly take a break under my own seat before we once again left to explore. Though we were in school, time seemed to pass by differently because we weren’t taking part in the lesson. It seemed slow, but that was useful for us because our pace was much slower at our size. What the girls could cover in a single step took us thirty.

We continued past my desk and over to Hozuki’s, where I ‘subtly’ shouted at her for treating me chair as a footrest when I wasn’t using it. She couldn’t hear me, unfortunately, so we continued exploring. We went all the way to the back of the room passing different tables along the way.

Shizuku Yukimura’s chair was where Eguchi was very careful around. She was an odd girl and one of his admirers. You never knew what she was thinking, and she was so quiet, it was often like she wasn’t there. 

She was also fond of not wearing socks, or shoes for that matter. She kicked off her indoor slippers while in class long before we approached.

“...Mm…? ...Eguchi-kun...?” she mumbled when she spotted us wander by. She had one leg crossed over the other, but started to hover her barefoot above us when she noticed us. We could see her scrunch her toes, letting dirt that had clung to her bare foot flake off of it and fall over us.

“Gak. Gross.”

“She knew it was you? Wow. Yukimura’s got good eyesight,” I remarked cautiously.

“No. She can’t see us. She’s just being hopeful,” Eguchi knew. He seemed wary of Yukimura’s foot. I was as well, but he was more knowledgeable than I was about her personality. “I think we’d be better off moving soon.”

“Is something wrong with Yukimura? She’s a bit weird, but she’s a nice girl isn’t she? You’ve got a bare-legged beauty right above you right now,” I tried tempting Eguchi. “I thought you were fair with all your girls?”

“They’re not my girls. They’re all just interested in me,” Eguchi stated. “Shizuku’s definitely cute, but she’s also got a bit of a wild streak, though.”

“I can see that,” I nodded. The bottom of Yukimura’s foot bounced up and down above us. She seemed to be using it to trace our path. It never left its position above our heads.

“That’s not what I me- Look out!”

Slam!

Eguchi pulled me and Nakano out of the way just in time before an eraser as big as we were fell off of Yukimura’s desk. It nearly landed on it. We were safe from the first impact and were able to see the eraser bounce towards us.

“Wow. That was close,” Nakano breathed a sigh of relief.

I would have said the same thing, but there was no time for that. Because Yukimura had dropped her eraser, she was intent on picking it up. She wasn’t the type to get out of her seat to grab it unfortunately.

Yukimura’s foot came down at breakneck speeds towards her eraser. She didn’t see it at first so her heel slammed down onto the floor. The sheer force of her barefoot slamming down onto the ground sent a shockwave of dust and wind out. It was strong enough to send us rolling away from the eraser. 

“Hm…? So it was...”

“Oh, this is bad,” I heard Eguchi before he started moving. I completely agreed with him when I looked up.

Yukimura dexterously grabbed the eraser between her toes with one of her feet. Considering it was as big as us but heavier than us, I realized she could do the same to us as well. Eguchi had already come to that line of thought before me though. I didn’t think about it until I saw her other that foot was also moving above us and was headed in our direction. 

“Yup. We’re getting out of here,” I concluded was the safest decision the moment the shadow of Yukimura’s right foot descended over me and Nakano on the path to Eguchi.

Slam!

“Gwah!” “Grk!” “Oof!”

Our light bodies were sent flying yet again when Yukimura’s foot hit the floor. We were thankful this time, however, as the force of the impact knocked us away from her table.

“Tch.”

“Something wrong, Shizuku?”

“...  I saw Eguchi-kun come by...,” she frowned. “... I wanted to take him home...”

Hearing those words as I picked myself up, I understood Yukimura a little more now. Despite her quiet demeanor, she was incredibly forward with Eguchi, being unafraid of physical contact and knowing no boundaries. Did she not realize trying to stomp down without the Safety Soles was dangerous for us? I didn’t think it’d kill us thanks to how Reduction worked, but we’d definitely be hurt. Eguchi had his fair share of trouble with his popularity, and nearly getting picked up between her toes and taken home was now another concern he had.

Thankfully for us, we were able to escape Yukimura’s sights when she was distracted by the bell ending the class long enough for us to move out of her line of sight by scurrying away. 

We were a little thankful our forms were difficult to make out from their heights.

After another long rest, we continued our travels.

Honda seemed just as observant of the ground when we were wandering about. We poked fun at Nakano because it looked as though she was looking for him considering how often she was glancing at his empty chair.

“I’m telling you guys. Honda-san’s nice, but there’s no way she’d like someone like me.”

“Who knows. Maybe the Reduction’s gotten her attention. I know Yae’s been acting differently because of it,” I shrugged and told him about how Yae had grown more daring since the week started. Eguchi added his own similar experiences. 

“You should be careful then, Touya-kun. Unlike me, you’re staying over with me, aren’t you? She might do something.”

“Let’s hope Honda does something too then. How about it, Nakano?” I gave the guy a jab.

“It won’t happen!”

Unfortunately, Nakano was correct that nothing was going to happen. Though she saw us, Honda merely looked back at the front of the room again, getting back to class. She didn’t recognize Honda or any of us for that matter.

“Ouch. Ignored,” I teased.

“It’s okay. There’s always next time,” Eguchi reassured.

“It’s not like that!”

It made sense that we’d be ignored. We were lucky enough that Honda was even paying attention to the floor. I was sure if the girls were used to Reduction, they’d not be concerned about us at all. That was what was supposed to be happening all day, but because this was everyone’s first time, the girls couldn’t help but be curious. Our teachers were doing their best to try and pull their attention away from us as was their job. If they had the chance to later, I was sure they’d come and pick us up.

I certainly wouldn’t mind if it was Yae. And last but not least in our adventure, at least for me, we came to her.

When we were a seat away from Yae’s chair, she was diligently taking notes but occasionally glancing around to see if she could spot us. She also peaked between her legs to check if anybody had wandered under her desk. She seemed disheartened when she noticed nobody was there.

“She’s looking for you, Touya-kun,” Eguchi told me. “Should we head to hers next? You did say you wanted to see her.”

I knew. Yae wasn’t the type to be able to ignore me even if she was told to. She had probably been trying to keep an eye on me while I travelled around the floor, but she probably lost me part way through whenever she had to pay attention to the class. I hoped she hadn’t seen me get stepped on by Yamaguchi or nearly stomped on by Yukimura. She probably didn’t as she certainly would have caused an uproar if she had.

It made me a little happy to know she couldn’t ignore me. Though I was more taken by the fact that this was a rare occasion where I could look at her without her noticing me. The lack of focus in her gaze as it darted around, the way she flicked her pencil eraser across her lip as she worriedly searched the floor, the rubbing of her thighs against one another as she squirmed nervously - I saw it all. Considering how large she was in comparison to me, there was no way I couldn’t see her movements.

“Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside seeing Touya-kun get lost in his own world, doesn’t it?”

“Asano-san and Kirishima-kun are just one step away from dating after all. It’s all but official according to the couple themselves.”

“They sure have a strange relationship. Touya-kun is definitely head over heels for her, though.”

Ignoring the peanut gallery comments from the other two, my thoughts drifted along with my eyes. What caught my eye in the end were Yae’s indoor shoes. She leaned back and kept the heels of her shoes on the floor while raising up the rest. We could see the underside of her shoes precariously ready to slam back down onto the floor at a moment’s notice. We had lost just a bit of our height in the short time that had passed in class, but we were still small enough to be considered bugs at her feet. My experience with Yamaguchi already demonstrated that.

Recalling being inside of Yae’s shoe earlier also sent chills up my spine.

“Let’s not go there yet,” I changed my mind while hiding behind a bookbag. “I don’t see her disappointed face that often.”

“You bully.”

“Consider it pay back for this morning.” Was I developing a fear of feet? No, I didn’t think I was. I was fine with Yukimura… at least until she nearly stomped down on us. I was just being cautious.

“This morning? What did you two get up to?”

I spoke too much, but Eguchi and Nakano let it slide. And so our exploration continued. We were just using the entire school day just walking from classmate to classmate. It was like being at a theme park and going to various attractions. We got our exercise in and passed the time chatting and walking about along the floor.

However, that was not going to happen.

“Oh, that’s right. Girls, Sasakura-sensei will be here to keep an eye on you during lunch. You’re not supposed to take the boys off the floor for today, okay?” Yasuda-sensei informed them before leaving.

“Eh?” a number of the girls were surprised and disappointed.

“What? But I wanted to eat lunch with Touya,” I heard Yae complain.

This was a part of the Reduction Week program. Since the program wanted us to fully experience being under their notice at their feet for the day, the girls couldn’t be allowed to pay extra attention to us. Though they certainly had been during class and the passing periods, Sasakura-Sensei was going to be around during lunch due to the program’s policy.

This meant our lunch time at our reduced height was going to be without the girls… well, ignoring the fact that they were directly above us.

“No fair...” I watched Yae stand back up to her full towering height as she was forced to step away. The rest of us boys on the ground wondered what was going to happen next.

“So… how are we going to eat? Nobody told us about this when we were together last night,” Eguchi asked.

“Don’t tell me we’re going to have to hunt for scraps.”

No. We wouldn’t. I didn’t know everything, but Sensei had at least informed me about how meals would be handled for lunch. Sasakura-Sensei came into the room with what was to be provided to all of us boys. Joining her were two other health committee members. They helped her place plates around different parts of the room. Our lunch was being provided for us but we’d have to get to it. 

“Can you boys even climb up? Should I help you up?” one of the girls asked as she placed the plates down. Since the plates weren’t flat, they still had some height to him which was more noticeable on our scale. As we had still been shrinking during the day, even the 3 cm gap between the plate’s rim and the floor was around waist high to us.

We all chose the plate closest to us and headed on over. We had to climb up to get onto them. I didn’t know what kind of food it would be until I pulled myself onto the plate.

“Whoa. This is a surprise,” I put my hand to my chin.

“Oh. It’s just like last night,” Nakano stated, not hesitating to go ahead of me. I was surprised at his quick acceptance.

“C’mon, Touya-kun. We’re going to miss out. Ryou’s group is here too and you know how much they eat.” Eguchi advised.

“Last night? I guess I missed this when I was eating bits of the Asano family’s dinner.”

“Oh? Tell me how that was later.”

Each plate around the room was a literal shrunken buffet of food. I had expected to have to eat cut up shreds of food or crumbs, but the government program wasn’t that harsh. They went all out in making food to our size so that we could eat it. There were even reduced tables and chairs. There was nobody running the buffet style spread of dishes but it was a normal-sized experience I hadn’t had for a few days. It was very welcome.

I joined in with the other boys to eat. At this plate, there were 8 of us - Us three, Ryou and his pals, and Fujimoto. We shared our experiences while we ate. I would have eaten more but, as I was less used to the dining experience than the others, I couldn’t help but get distracted.

Up above, the girls were curiously looking down on us while they ate. We were close to Yukimura’s desk and she wanted to lie down on the floor to see us, but Sasakura-sensei stopped her. Still, she sat at her desk and ate while looking down at us from up above. A few other girls pushed the seats nearby to do the same thing, Yae included. She was pouting over not being able to share her lunch with me as Ayame-san made extra. She got flustered when Takahashi told her she’d get fat eating my share. I doubted my portion would have been much considering my current size.

Still, I was alert to the girls as they watched us like we were classroom pets. We were surrounded on all sides and crumbs from Yukimura’s melon bread were falling like hail… or rather, large rocks. 

“What are they eating? It’s hard to tell.”

“It looks like a lot of good food, though. I’m jealous.”

“I don’t think it was a good idea to put them on a plate. They look bite-sized too...”

“Hey, don’t say that!”

“Eguchi-kun’s the one of the left, right?”

“Um… Yukimura-san, you’re making a mess. Can you move away? Also, your shoes...”

“Oops. I forgot…”

Being watched while eating was bothersome enough but being watched from above by giant girls was a bit unsettling.

“Not used ta’ it, Kiri?” Ryou called me while we ate. “You were wit’ Asano ta’ whole day, so I thought you’d be more used ta’ this than us.”

“I’m more worried about stray crumbs. And Yae’s an exception. I’m not used to other people.”

“And I’m not used ta’ havin’ Yukimura’s barefoot right in my line of sight,” Ryou shrugged. “We didn’t have these girls lookin’ up at us yesterday either.”

“You guys need to tell me more about yesterday. I want to hear. But if anything, Eguchi, you’re pretty blase about this. Your four girls are all here, y’know?”

“I know, but they can’t really hear us right now, right? I’m actually enjoying this technical freedom from them. It’s nice to hangout with the guys once in a while.”

“Ah, that’s right, it must be hard ta’ get away from ‘em. Must be rough, Mr. Popular,” Ryou laughed.

In any case, I had a question I wanted to ask. “ So you guys got to eat like this yesterday?”

“Well, we were bigger yesterday, but yes,” Fujimoto nodded. “It’s a bit awkward being on the plate, though.”

We fit on it with room to spare. We shuddered to compare ourselves to bite-sized snacks.

“There’s only one more day, so I wonder what that’ll be like,” Nakano mumbled.

“Probably as crazy as today,” Eguchi smiled his usually pretty boy smile. “Touya-kun, you’ll be with Asano-chan again today right? Let’s make a deal. If we tell you about the dorm, you’ve got to tell us all about your hot time with Asano-chan.”

“That hardly sounds fair. My private life is my private life,” I told him, though I was bound to share with him anyways. It was a fault of mine for being so honest.

Ping! Pong! Ping! Pong!

The bell sounding the end of lunch eventually came. Sasakura-Sensei told the other girls to step aside while she and Takahashi got the plates. Takahashi didn’t really want to work, but the other health committee members had already gone back to class since they did their job earlier.

We were still on our plate when Takahashi’s foot stepped over us. For an instant, we were given the view from being directly beneath her before she turned around and bent down, her shadow completely covering our plate.

“Oh, I got the jackpot.”

To my surprise, Takahashi recognized me immediately.

“Hey, Kirishima-kun and co, you guys need to get off. I’ve got to get the stuff,” she said, her hand already on the plate. Since she knew where I was, she grabbed it right near where I was standing. I was knocked off balance by the sudden appearance of her fingers that were longer than we were tall. Everyone scattered to the edge of the plate to climb down while I picked myself up. “C’mon, Kirishima-kun. Are you going to move or am I going to have to do it for you?”

To make her point, Takahashi pursed her lips and blew. A gust of wind nearly knocked me off balance again if I hadn’t braced myself. I knew when to get out of dodge. I walked around Takahashi’s giant finger was about to climb down, but Takahashi’s free hand suddenly came down and blocked my path.

“Wah!” I found my 7 cm body squeezed between Takahashi’s thumb and forefinger. With her thumb pressed against my face, I could feel my body rise up and up as she stood up. 

“Well, that was easy. I could get used to this feeling.”

I couldn’t see with Takahashi holding me in between her fingers, but I could tell I was being held in front of her face. I didn’t think I wanted to look down. How high up was I? If Takahashi let go, how far of a drop would it be? She could just as easily tilt her head back and move me over her mouth too. To think this was just her normal height… That Takahashi. I had yet another reason to get her back when I was normal sized again.

“Aaaa~!” Takahashi jokingly opened her mouth wide. It wasn’t a joke to me. No, it was terrifying, like being held over a shark pit. A cavernous hole with teeth and a pink, serpentine tongue seemed to be beckoning me from below. I could feel Takahashi’s hot, moist breath rise up. I choked on the intense smell. I wanted to hold on to dear life on Takahashi’s fingers but she was the one holding me.

“This isn’t funny, Takahashi!” I shouted.

“Kukuku~! Think of this as revenge for earlier,” Takahashi pulled me just slightly away from her mouth to talk, but still close enough for me to feel the warmth of her breath when she whispered.

My body froze at her words. So she had been awake earlier. She knew I had fallen into her shoe. Was she holding it against me? Or was she attempting to blackmail me?

“Wow. That face. You’re a real riot, Kirishima-kun,” smirked Takahashi. “I wonder what I should do with this information...”

Blackmail. It was definitely blackmail.

Luckily for me, my savior came just in time. “Aoi-chan, don’t pick on Touya!”

Yae was ready to convince Takahashi to let me go.I could tell she hadn’t heard our conversation fully, and Takahashi didn’t seem to want to reveal it either. She gave in to not arouse Yae’s suspicion.

“Right. Sorry. Shouldn’t mess with your boyfriend.”

“H-He’s not my boyfriend yet.”

Saved by Yae. Takahashi relented and returned me back to the floor. She gave me a knowing look, however, telling me she wasn’t done with me yet. I sighed and hoped she’d save it for after I got back to normal size. I also noticed the disappointment in Yae’s expression when Takahashi didn’t hand me over to her, but with Sasakura-sensei still around, she couldn’t do that. Yae wanted to immediately come down, scoop me up, and care for me, but Sasakura-Sensei shouted at her to not, much to her disappointment.

Once she was done, Takahashi wandered off to Sasakura-sensei to deliver the miniature buffet. Yae wanted to stay and talk to me, but Sasakura-sensei scolded her yet again.

“You sure are popular, Touya-kun,” Eguchi laughed. 

“You of all people shouldn’t say that,” I didn’t want to hear the guy with plenty of admirers telling me that. Yae was all I needed. Takahashi was just a playful friend and Okazaki was Okazaki.

“Well, we still have the rest of the day, so should we work off this meal?” Eguchi was in the mood to continue our day’s adventure.

Continuing would have been nice, but with the end of lunch, the adventure would have to end. We’d still be working off the meal though. We knew what class was next and we wouldn’t be staying in the same room if that was the case. So as our exploration for the day came to a close, we psyched ourselves up for what was to come.