In a world where the impossible hides in plain sight, graduate student Yuuma Kiritani takes a tutoring job to make ends meet—only to discover his new student, Shizuku Minase, harbors a terrifying secret. With a single touch, she can shrink anything... including people. Now Yuuma stands barely a fingertip tall in a living room transformed into a vast, perilous wilderness, at the mercy of a curious girl who sees him as nothing more than a fascinating experiment. Trapped in a cage of his own insign
Wednesday.
The sound of Shizuku's footsteps returning from school echoed across the living room floor. Yuuma had been waiting for that sound from the shadow of the tissue box. With a body no bigger than a fingertip, he felt the vibration of the floor through his entire being.
(Two weeks, huh.)
Fourteen days since he'd been shrunk. That first night, he'd tried to "observe" the situation. Organize it with logic, analyze the circumstances, search for a possibility of escape. By doing so, he'd turned his eyes away from his own helplessness.
But after fourteen days of observation, the conclusion he'd reached was far too simple.
(I'm alive, on the palm of her hand.)
Minase Shizuku. Seventeen years old. An utterly ordinary high school girl attending a prefectural school. The strange power she'd possessed since birth. The ability to shrink whatever she touched. The power that had reduced Yuuma to the size of a fingertip.
To restore a person shrunk by that power, it required the same concentration she'd used to shrink them, and contact with the target. But Shizuku had not succeeded even once.
"I can't keep my focus."
That's what she always said.
Yuuma sighed. Even his sigh, at this size, was nothing more than a faint stir of air.
(I might not be able to go back today either.)
That premonition was no longer despair—it was closer to resignation.
The sound of the front door opening.
Yuuma's body went rigid. Unconsciously, he pressed himself deeper into the shadow of the tissue box.
"I'm home!"
Shizuku's voice rang through the house. Bright, bouncing. It rattled Yuuma's eardrums without mercy.
But today, it wasn't only her voice.
"Pardon the intrusion."
Another voice. Low, composed, yet with something cold in its timbre.
Yuuma's heart pounded violently in his chest.
(Saya.)
(Kashiwagi Saya.)
(The best friend Shizuku talked about on the phone.)
(The one she planned to show me off to—as a "fun little thing.")
Two sets of footsteps walking down the hallway. They were getting closer to the living room.
Yuuma looked up at the living room entrance from the shadow of the tissue box.
The door opened.
"Saya, over here, over here! Hurry!"
Shizuku came bounding into the living room. Still in her uniform, she tossed her school bag onto the sofa. The ends of her black bob bounced outward. Her amber eyes darted around the room as if searching for something.
And behind her, another girl entered.
Bright brown hair, long, the ends loosely curled. Narrow, sharp eyes with long lashes. A small silver earring on her left ear. She stood a full head taller than Shizuku.
Kashiwagi Saya.
She surveyed the living room. Her gaze moved slowly across the space, as if appraising it.
"Huh. Shizuku's place is more normal than I expected."
Saya smiled with her mouth first. Her eyes weren't smiling at all.
The moment Yuuma saw that smile, instinct struck him.
(This one is more dangerous than Shizuku.)
He had no basis for it. But it wasn't logic—something deeper, more primal, was sounding an alarm through his body.
"So, so! Saya, there's something I really want to show you!"
Shizuku grabbed Saya's hand and led her to the table.
"What? You're this excited about something?"
Saya let herself be pulled without shaking off Shizuku's hand. Her eyes, as before, were observing the room.
"Okay, so—I have something I want to tell only you, Saya."
Shizuku lowered her voice. A mischievous grin spread across her face.
"Oh? What's with the serious tone?"
Saya peered into Shizuku's face.
Shizuku took a breath, then said it.
"The thing is—I have a power."
Saya's narrow eyes narrowed just slightly.
"...A power?"
"Yeah! I can shrink things I touch! Like this!"
Shizuku picked up an eraser from the table between her fingertips.
Then she closed her eyes and concentrated.
The next moment.
The eraser shrank before their eyes.
Smaller, smaller.
The eraser that had been palm-sized became fingertip-sized, then rice-grain-sized, and finally so small it was almost invisible.
"Wait... is that real?"
Saya's voice rose, just slightly, for the first time. Her eyes were fixed on Shizuku's fingertips.
"It's real! Amazing, right?"
Shizuku smiled proudly. A dimple appeared on her right cheek.
"I've been able to do this since I was little. I never told anyone, but I thought maybe I could tell you, Saya."
Saya stared at the shrunken eraser for a while.
Then, slowly, she raised her head.
"...Wow. That's seriously amazing."
Saya twisted her lips into a smile.
"Right?! I'll show you something even better!"
Shizuku reached her hand toward the shadow of the tissue box on the table.
Yuuma's body froze.
(She's coming.)
(Her fingers are coming.)
Yuuma tried to run. But his body wouldn't move. Over fourteen days, his body had been conditioned to flinch every time her fingers drew near.
Shizuku's white fingers pinched Yuuma's body and lifted him up.
"Look, Saya! This!"
Shizuku held Yuuma out in front of Saya's eyes.
Saya's narrow eyes stared fixedly at Yuuma.
"...What is this. A person?"
Saya blinked.
"Yeah! My tutor! His name is Yuuma-sensei!"
Shizuku said it innocently.
"The other day I accidentally shrank him and I still haven't been able to turn him back. Pretty amazing, right? He's a real human being!"
Saya stared at Yuuma for a while.
Then, slowly, she curled her lips into a crescent moon.
"...Shizuku, you're seriously unhinged."
Saya laughed low.
"Ehehe. Right?"
Shizuku smiled, looking bashful.
Saya gently took Yuuma from Shizuku's fingertips.
Yuuma's body touched Saya's fingers.
Cold.
Shizuku's fingers had been warm. But Saya's fingers were cold as ice.
"So tiny. His voice is tiny too."
Saya placed Yuuma on top of her fingernail.
Yuuma desperately tried to keep his balance on Saya's nail. The nail was smooth and hard. It tilted slightly beneath his feet.
"Stop it...!"
Yuuma shouted.
"Ahaha, he's saying something. I can't hear him at all, though."
Saya flicked Yuuma's body lightly with the tip of her nail.
Yuuma's body tumbled across the nail.
"Ahaha! He rolled! That's funny!"
Saya laughed. Her eyes weren't laughing.
"Right?! He's so funny, isn't he!"
Shizuku laughed along with her.
Yuuma desperately pushed himself upright on the nail.
(Help me.)
(Someone, help me.)
Yuuma screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Help me! Please! Stop it!"
Saya, still laughing, pressed her fingertip down on Yuuma, as if to crush him.
"You're saying 'help me,' but like—who even are you?"
Saya's fingertip pressed down on Yuuma's body slowly from above.
Yuuma desperately tried to push back against her finger with both hands.
(Heavy.)
(Too heavy.)
Saya's finger wouldn't budge against Yuuma's strength.
"Ahaha, he's flailing around. Like a bug."
Saya lifted her finger.
Yuuma coughed violently on the nail.
"Saya, let's do something even more fun!"
Shizuku said happily.
"Sounds good. What should we do?"
Saya pinched Yuuma up from her nail.
"Okay, so—making him stand on the rim of a cup is fun! Like, he looks like he'll fall but doesn't!"
"Ahaha, that's good. What happens if he falls?"
"If he falls, he'll probably die, I think? I dunno, though!"
Shizuku said it innocently.
A cold thing crawled up Yuuma's spine.
(What are these two talking about?)
(If he falls, he dies?)
(And that's—funny to them?)
Saya stood Yuuma on the rim of the cup.
Yuuma desperately balanced on the rim. Below was the table surface, far, far below. If he fell, there was no way he'd come out of it unharmed.
"Ahaha, he's trying so hard! So cute!"
Saya nudged the cup lightly with her finger.
Yuuma's body tilted, wobbling.
"Stop...! I'll really fall...!"
Yuuma forced the words out.
"It's fine, even if you fall, we don't know if you'll die, right?"
Saya kept shaking the cup, laughing.
"Saya, next let's bury him in a mountain of tissues! That's fun too!"
"Nice. Anything goes, huh."
Saya pinched Yuuma up from the rim of the cup.
Yuuma no longer had the will to resist.
(Help.)
(Help me.)
(Someone.)
Yuuma kept screaming inside his heart.
But his voice reached no one.
The two girls' laughter echoed through the living room.
Yuuma was buried in a mountain of tissues.
A giant labyrinth of white fibers. Yuuma's body felt like it would be crushed under the weight of the tissues.
"Help...! Get me out...!"
Yuuma screamed through the gaps in the tissues with all his strength.
"Ahaha, we can't even tell where he is."
Saya's voice came from far away.
"Hey, Saya, let's search for him! Search for sensei in the tissue mountain!"
"Nice. It's like hide-and-seek."
Yuuma desperately searched for an exit inside the tissue mountain.
(I have to escape.)
(I have to get out of here.)
Yuuma pushed through the tissue fibers, advancing.
But no matter how far he went, walls of white fiber continued.
"Ah, found him."
Saya's fingers pinched Yuuma's body and lifted him.
Yuuma struggled. But Saya's fingers didn't budge.
"Were you trying to run? It's pointless."
Saya lifted Yuuma up in front of her eyes.
Her narrow eyes stared fixedly at Yuuma.
"There's no one in this room who's going to help you."
Saya said it slowly.
"You don't have a single ally. You're just our toy."
Yuuma looked into Saya's eyes.
There was no emotion whatsoever in them.
(She genuinely believes that.)
(She doesn't think of me as human.)
In that moment, Yuuma understood that there was no one in this room who would help him.
Shizuku was laughing beside Saya.
But her smile was slightly strained.
Yuuma didn't miss that change.
(Shizuku is starting to feel guilt.)
(But in front of Saya, she can't show it.)
Yuuma observed the relationship between the two.
Shizuku doesn't want Saya to hate her. She wants Saya to find her interesting. With that single-minded desire, she's suppressing her own guilt.
Saya sees right through Shizuku's psychology. And she finds it amusing.
(These two are accomplices.)
(But that complicity is far too fragile.)
Yuuma analyzed it quietly inside Saya's fingers.
"Hey, Saya, what should we do after this? Let's think of something even more fun!"
Shizuku said in a bright voice.
"Yeah. But aren't you getting hungry? Let's eat something."
Saya placed Yuuma on the table.
"Oh, good idea! I'll go get some snacks!"
Shizuku headed for the kitchen.
Saya looked down at the shrunken Yuuma on the table.
"What did Shizuku do to you?"
Saya asked in a low voice.
Yuuma didn't answer.
"You don't have to answer. But how do you feel right now?"
Saya twisted her lips into a smile.
"Frustrated? Sad? Want to die?"
Yuuma glared at Saya.
"Ahaha, that face. Nice, that's funny."
Saya laughed.
"You resent Shizuku, don't you. Of course you do. What she's doing is just violence."
Saya brought her face close to Yuuma.
"But you can't defy Shizuku. Because you know what'll happen if you do."
Saya's eyes pierced through Yuuma.
"You're Shizuku's toy. Nothing more, nothing less."
Yuuma listened to Saya's words in silence.
(She understands.)
(The essence of Shizuku's power.)
(The asymmetric relationship between those who hold power and those who don't.)
Saya took Yuuma's silence as affirmation.
"Well, it doesn't matter what you think, anyway."
Saya said that and stepped away from the table.
Yuuma was left alone on the table.
(I'm being toyed with by these two.)
(By Shizuku's innocent cruelty and Saya's cold-blooded cruelty.)
Yuuma looked at his own hands.
Tiny, tiny hands.
(What can I do with these hands?)
(Nothing.)
Yuuma bit his lip.
The taste of blood spread through his mouth.
(But I can't give up.)
(I will get out of this situation. No matter what.)
Yuuma quietly swore that on the table.
That night.
After Saya went home, Shizuku sat down in front of the cotton bed.
Yuuma lay on the cotton. His body ached everywhere. The wounds from being toyed with by Saya remained all over him.
Shizuku looked down at Yuuma for a while.
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