The high-pitched screams of despair that no one could ever hear sounded like shrieks in a small warehouse full of cleaning supplies with the remarkable smell of detergent in the air.

“Somebody please! Help me!”

With no one to help him, Nakahara Masashi saw his world turned upside down (literally) as a tremendous force far beyond what his burly constitution would allow him to control exerted complete dominance over his body, leaving him suspended headfirst at a considerable height above the floor.

“You can’t escape from me, you little bug!”

The lavender eyes of a gigantic girl pierced Masashi’s sensitive existence, leaving him defenseless.

“I-I’ll do anything! But please... don’t hurt me!”

“Anything...?”

“Did I made a bad choice of words?” he thought when he heard the innuendo being uttered in a macabre way.

“I swear it!”

“So... how about kidnapping you again? Will your parents be mad?”

“… I thought you would ask for something like that to be honest.”

“And then? What do you say?”

“Yukiko… you know it’s impossible for me to refuse that proposal, it’s too tempting…”

That was what happened the day before this story began...

The first rays of sunlight entered through the recently opened windows, the dust particles in the environment became visible when the previous darkness of the room was dissolved.

“Maasaaashii~ wake up now!”

“Five more minutes…”

“You’ve said that during fifteen minutes! If I give you another chance it is sure that we will be late!”

“Your breasts are a very comfortable place to sleep… it’s like being crushed between two giant beds with your body heat like… heating at a cold night…”

“I’m not your personal kotatsu!”

“Okay…” With a yawn, I stretched my arms out as hard as I could to wake up my muscles. “Can you help me?”

My name is Nakahara Masashi and I am a second year student from Hanichi high school, I am 16 years old and my eyes are blue next to my blonde hair, maybe I was a prince in my past life. The most important thing should be to mention that I belong to the part of the tiny population of this world being only half inch high.

“Whatever... if I let you do things yourself it will take forever and as you may have noticed, we don’t have so much time.”

The beauty with pink hair and ponytails acting as my mother is Yukiko Miyashiro, the beautiful girl I fell in love with. Glasses accompany her beautiful lavender eyes, long and fluffy legs, a slightly pale skin tone and a bust… quite decent for being the same age as me. She, however… is a bit special.

Pulling me from side to side, my massive 1.71 meters tall girlfriend was in full control of my movements throughout her room.

“Ready? Hmm? Hmmmm?”

“Waaaaaaait!”

I guess in the end it’s my fault for staying up late.

***

When we left her room, her family was waiting for us in the living room.

Miyashiro Seiichi, her little brother a year younger than her with hazel hair and dark green eyes, he is a little smaller than me.

Miyashiro Izanami, her mother with hair the same color as Seiichi tied by a ponytail and blue eyes, 1.78 meters enough to overshadow my existence by being even bigger than the girl I’m dating... and that’s saying a lot. I promised myself that I would never do something to make this woman angry.

Last is Miyashiro Orochi, a young adult who is the father of my girlfriend (and in a funny way, he is much less intimidating than her mother). Black hair and brown eyes with his centimeter of height being a little taller than mine.

Her younger brother and father were at the table eating while Miyashiro-san only saw them with a smile and a cup of coffee in her hand.

“Wow, you finally woke up… were you busy this morning~?” The implications behind those words were obvious, even more so when she let out a conscious laugh.

“I-is not what you thi-” when I tried to excuse myself, I was interrupted by the hasty voice of the girl leading me.

“Ready Seiichi!?”

“Onee-chan!” Nodding, the little boy looked up at her from the table.

“Very good! Come here!” Yukiko reached out the hand in which she was taking me to rest on the table where her father and brother were.

Taking his bag at his feet, Seiichi ran over to Yukiko’s hand and climbed onto the palm accompanying me now.

“Good morning Masashi-senpai!”

“Good morning Seiichi-kun.”

Her brother is very nice, despite the difference in age (and size) there have never been serious arguments between them... although I doubt that a boy of a single centimeter in height would want to enter a crossroads with his older sister more than 170 centimeters tall when she could easily obliterate him; jokes aside, their relationship is very good. I have rarely seen them argue and whenever they do it is due to fortuitous nonsense that after a couple of hours they forget.

Together we left my girlfriend’s apartment and headed to school.

This year Seiichi came to study with us, I can remember that on several occasions Yukiko tried at all costs to prevent him from choosing this place but after much insistence, everyone in the family agreed after seeing the excellent grades of the boy.

But why would they want to stop Seiichi from coming to this school?

Well... in simple and plain words, this place is a graveyard of tinies like us

Where people don’t care to watch their steps or verify where they are about to sit; obviously there are many people who care about us but then there appear those who murder tinies for apparent fun... because they believe that we are stupid animals or that we don’t think... or at least I want to believe that this is the reason why they kill us. If those people spend their time torturing and massacring us because they enjoy being able to kill someone without consequences… then that would worry me more; because then that school would be a breeding ground for potential psychopaths and serial killers.

In other words, my girlfriend’s little brother is in danger being here… no, even I live in constant danger of being killed. At first it is a feeling that you think you will not be able to get used to, even in my second year as a student there I have not gotten used to it at all.

***

“Seiichi… are you sure this is your classroom?”

“Yukiko-nee... whenever you bring me you ask me the same thing, do you have amnesia?”

“Come on Seiichi-kun, your sister only cares about the reputation of the school, that’s why she worries so much.”

Yukiko had an embarrassed look on her face as she looked at her little brother next to her indoor shoes; it’s kind of hilarious to see an embarrassed expression from someone so colossal directed at someone as insignificant as us.

“I’m sorry...”

“Don’t worry onee-chan... Thanks for worrying about me!”

The boy ran and tried to hug the shoe of Yukiko which was quite a cute sight, due to this a smile from ear to ear was drawn in the face of my girlfriend.

“See you later!”

“Fine!”

Seiichi ran to his classroom, leaving Yukiko and me at the entrance.

“And remember Seiichi!” She looked at him and raised her voice. “D-don’t do anything silly! If something bad happens, call me quick!”

With that act some of the students in the room turned to see us, making her feel a bit embarrassed. Seiichi turned halfway to see her with a crooked smile and nodded, continuing on his way. That was something that definitely only a mother would do.

“I’ll take you to your classroom now...”

I nodded seeing her smiling and beautiful face focusing her gaze on my small figure. She started walking, making the world around us move at giant steps from my perspective.

“How is your class? Do you think someone normal sized has their eye on you? That they want to do something bad to you? Remember… if someone wants to intimidate you, don’t object! Never try to escape, you must remain calm, you could never beat someone normal sized even if you ran with all of your might; we already tried. You just have to wait for them to leave you alone and come with me, promise me that you will never keep silent if someone threatens you... right?!”

After she finished spitting all that out like a hysteric, Yukiko must have been short of breath so she breathed heavily for a moment. The glare on her glasses from the hallway lighting made her look like a complete nerd explaining the most effective way to defeat the hidden boss of a JRPG.

“First… calm down, okay?” Taking seat on the soft palm of her hand I showed her my best smile.

To tell the truth, I don’t know what her brother’s attitude is regarding this whole situation, this school is like a seedy neighborhood for us tinies and he is no exception… one wrong step (literally) and you could end like a red stain at the sole of someone careless enough, not to mention the people who seek to murder us with all deliberate intent.

Therefore I don’t think that there is a micro in this place without at least a little fear, even though I do my best not to express my concern in front of Yukiko and make this more difficult for her, most of the time I am terrified that a giant body omits my existence and I end flattened against the ground like an insect... or worse, that one of those aforementioned tinies killers fixes its attention on me. Some time ago however I decided to stop living my life in fear, the best thing would be to go through that and if one day I must die, so be it.

What really worries me is my girlfriend... I don’t know if Yukiko could bear my death or that of her younger brother, if I’m not there to comfort her... I don’t even want to imagine what might happen. If that ever happens, I hope that at least Seiichi is there to comfort her.

I have always considered my existence inconsequential for her although she does not consider so, it is true that I love her and she loves me very much but I’m fully aware of the fragile and fleeting nature of my life, humans have always been shown as weak and fragile beings in fiction when compared to monsters like youkai, aliens, gods or the like. Somehow in fiction we are always able to prevail in adversity given our ability to think, that human nature makes us selfish and terrifying.

It’s this same nature that freezes each of us when someone over 100 times our size casually walks over us. This is not fiction, this is reality... is there a way for us to win against creatures as big as that? Creatures that even being at a total disadvantage against divine monsters can survive and win? Is there really any way to oppose variants of our own species... infinitely many times stronger and more capable than ourselves?

“I-I’m sorry…” She looked seriously sorry.

“Did something happen? Today you are a little more overprotective than normal... not that it bothers me, seriously! It melts my heart to know that you care about me... but I feel you’re behaving a little strange today.”

“Do you think?”

“Does it have to do with the reason why you whispered my name at dawn while I was sleeping?”

The blush washed over her face the instant she heard that.

“W-what did I said!?”

This morning something woke me up from my comfortable bed made up of giant breasts; a little sob whispering my name.

“’Masashi’, then I noticed there were tears escaping from your closed eyes...”

“Then you know...”

The ambient around us became a bit depressing, the students came and went since classes had not started yet, each one moving at dizzying speeds from side to side of my little body giving me a feeling of insecurity that was drowned out by the body heat coming from Yukiko’s hand.

“Let’s say… I had a nightmare, that’s all. Not that I think that kind of things come true but… it was a bit of an unpleasant nightmare so I couldn’t help but be more careful today… that’s it, okay?”

So a nightmare, I guess it was correct to imagine that something like that had happened… it was a bit obvious after all.

“Don’t worry Yukiko, we’ll be fine, Seiichi and I are tough guys, I promise we won’t be killed so easily~”

Even if I had directed those words to the huge girl holding my life in her hands, I also wish some of them would come back to me, an irresponsible promise like that was all I could build a false sense of security on.

“Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

But I lied for her sake, because I love her so much... but above all to avoid making her suspicious about the overwhelming pressure that this institution makes me live every day. All for the sake of my selfish love.

In the middle of our talk, Yukiko arrived at my classroom and proceeded to leave me next to her feet, when I jumped from her hand she rose by meters and meters until she stood up completely which left me in front of a girl that could be considered a divinity from my current perspective looking under her skirt, something so common for us tinies that it had already lost practically all of its charm for me.

“I’m working on changing from my class to yours to stay with you… I’ll do my best to achieve it and I won’t take a no as answer, okay?”

“There is no way I can argue with you, besides, if that is what makes you the happiest… I will also be happy with your decision.”

No, that was definitely not what I would have wanted to say, “Please! Do it as soon as you can, being under your care in this hell would be priceless for me! I beg you!” That, however, would only turn her time away from me upside down, I must not do something so inconsiderate with her when this girl has done everything she can to ensure my safety.

Sometimes I wonder... why would someone like her be with someone like me? I mean, I’m not an ugly boy, in fact I consider myself handsome but... I think it would be better to be with someone with whom she can talk face to face, a boy who can protect her, who can hold her hand and guarantee her safety... a boy with the one that she could relate intimately more satisfactorily.

Is it out of compassion? Because of the way we met? I never had the courage to ask something as reckless as that, it’s impossible for me to be tactful enough to raise that question in a way that would not offend anyone...

***

I remember the day we met, it was a mixed size elementary school. Unlike Hanichi high school, this school had a good reputation regarding the safety of the tinies, it was rare to see a murder and normal size children were always very kind to us, probably in the entire history of that elementary there have been only one or two accidental and unavoidable murders in an environment with people of such different sizes.

While talking to my friends of different sizes, I was challenged to sneak into the purse of the withdrawn nerdy normal-sized girl in our classroom; Miyashiro Yukiko. Between the sword and the wall of the childish attitude of an elementary school boy and social pressure, I decided to accept the challenge that, with the help of a normal-sized boy, was a success.

What was not successful was being trapped there for a whole day when none of those idiots had the courage to go looking for me and I had no chance to escape. As much as I had tried to hide in her books, Yukiko was (and still is) a very diligent girl so she decided to finish her tasks on time as soon as she got home. Unfortunately for me, the book I hid in was thrown on her desk, she placed heavier ones on top, starting to crush the part of my body that was still inside the book, luckily she heard my screams in time and she got me out of there… it was uncomfortable having to explain to her how I got there because even though I was a brat, I was always honest.

Yukiko decided to take care of me then so that I would recover from my injuries, committing an accidental kidnapping, we were both severely scolded by our parents.

From that moment on, she and I began to have more tact, occasional talks, mutual friends…

And confess my feelings for her in second year of our middle school.

***

This and more events of our lives crossed my mind after another day of having survived in this hell. Having finished my classes, I said goodbye to my friends who are now only boys my size and decided to embark towards Seiichi’s classroom to look for him. Taking out my phone, I wrote a text message to Yukiko telling her that I would go by looking for her brother to which she replied

“It’s okay! Be careful!”

To my surprise she was understanding, I honestly imagined that she would say something like “Don’t even think about it! I’m on my way!” But perhaps it is because the bad impression the nightmare left on her has already dispersed.

Nowadays it is difficult for me to try to relate to normal-sized people, the restlessness that has thrived in my heart when studying here has made me lose the previous sympathy that I could feel in the past for people of my age with that colossal size, the only giants that I’m able to trust now are Miyashiro-san and Yukiko. I got away from a lot of people that I related to in elementary and middle school, obviously Yukiko had no idea about this.

When I arrived to my destination, I found Seiichi talking to an interesting number of people of mixed sizes, girls and boys of both sizes talking in a group that expelled an amalgam of warm colors to my cold and fearful heart. When I texted his cell phone, the group’s chatter stopped for a moment and their gazes focused on my minimal existence standing by the rear sliding door of the classroom.

Anxiety began to eat me up from within, seeing so many boys and girls with piercing gazes falling from the skies like celestial entities judging my shameful existence… it made me want to disappear.

“Masashi-senpai! Takanashi-chan, can you bring him with us for a moment?”

A black-haired girl from among the group nodded with a smile and approached, eliminating the tremendous distance between us with just a couple of steps, crouching down she gave me an inevitable brief glimpse of her underwear before covering herself with one hand and reaching out with the another one towards me, offering me her palm as a transport platform.

I froze for a moment, this feels so natural when Yukiko does it… but how many years has it been since someone else offered me to ride their hand? Probably since middle school.

“Is something wrong, Nakahara-senpai?”

When I heard the girl’s gentle voice pronounce the title “senpai” next to my last name, I almost felt as if my whole world had shaken until I was about to shake off tears from within. It was then that I understood crass errors about my perspective on this world, those errors lit up so that I was able to hit them like a mole poking its head through a hole.

Giant people aren’t bad, it’s giant bad people who make the most noise in my own world.

“O-oh, thanks…!”

After climbing onto her hand, I was transported to the table where a group of tinies was standing next to Seiichi talking to the other normal-sized people surrounding us.

So much attention at first felt exhausting but I remembered a feeling that I had buried deep in my heart a few years ago.

Hell in this world was in my head the whole time.

If I know how to play my pieces wisely… I will survive!

I will not die! I will put myself ahead of adversity and show the world all the color that so many have been missing!

Look at me Yukiko, I’m strong enough! I’ll go through the adversities… I’m sure I’ll!

I’ll never let you alone, my love!

This is the real beginning of my high school live at Hanichi!

***

To Miyashiro Yukiko: Can you give me my sweet limbs back? Oh... with which eyes I’ll see you now?