A present-day city built around a mixed-scale university where giant women average 200–300 feet tall and tiny people stand around six feet. The campus is giant-first — lecture halls the size of stadiums, desks like parking structures — with tiny accommodations bolted on afterward. Giants face little consequence for what they destroy, and most tiny deaths are never registered as anything at all.
Haruto is a timid college student surviving a giant-first university one careful commute at a time. W
Straining the Seam - The cage of trembling palms, it's not my fault
The administration building's corridor was dim even in daytime, with few lights scaled for the Smallfolk. Haruto sat on the waiting bench outside the interview room, staring at his own fingertips. Bony hands. An old burn scar from childhood remained on his right palm.
(Partnership dissolved, huh.)
It had been only thirty minutes since the Pair-Link Oversight Committee delivered their verdict. Nami Varga's management capabilities were deemed deficient. She had failed to ensure her partner's safety. Therefore, Haruto would be assigned a new provisional partner—
Inside the interview room, Nami was still shouting something. Through the wall, her voice reached him as vibration. A giant's roar was, to the Smallfolk, like the rumbling of the earth itself.
"You've gotta be kidding me! What did I even do!?"
Haruto clenched both hands on his knees.
(Nami-san isn't the one at fault.)
He thought so. But he didn't have the strength to say it aloud. The committee's decision would not be overturned. The Smallfolk had no right to refuse. Under the giants' "management," he could only accept.
From the far end of the corridor, new footsteps approached.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Rhythmic, composed footsteps. Haruto's shoulders hunched reflexively. A giant was coming closer. He fought the urge to hide beneath the waiting bench.
"You're Haruto-san, yes?"
The voice was younger and brighter than he'd expected.
Haruto timidly raised his head.
Standing there was a giant female student, roughly two hundred and forty feet tall. A silver bob cut, trimmed at the shoulders. Narrow blue eyes. A faint smile at the corners of her mouth, as though she were always amused. She wore the university's giant-sized uniform with impeccable neatness.
"I'm Sasha Volk. Starting today, I'll be serving as your provisional partner."
She crouched down in front of Haruto. Even so, her face was far above his head.
"I look forward to working with you. ...Ah, you don't need to be so nervous."
Sasha smiled as she said it.
"I've been paired with Smallfolk three times now, you see. I'm used to it."
A cold sensation ran down Haruto's spine.
(Three times.)
He knew what that number meant. Pair-Link rumors circulated among the Smallfolk as life-or-death intelligence. Sasha Volk. During past pairings, she had injured two partners. One lost an arm. The other still hadn't regained consciousness. She had received a disciplinary reprimand. Even so, the university had re-registered her as a provisional partner. Because giants had no right to refuse a pairing.
"Please don't worry. I'm truly accustomed to handling Smallfolk. The previous two were nervous at first too, but we became friends quickly enough."
Haruto's mouth went dry.
(This person doesn't understand anything.)
(She doesn't understand what happened to the previous two.)
Sasha's smile was genuinely, from the bottom of her heart, convinced that everything was "fine." There wasn't a shred of malice. That was precisely why Haruto trembled.
"U-um... I look forward to working with you..."
Haruto forced the words out.
Sasha nodded happily.
"Yes. Starting tomorrow, let's do our best on assignments together."
She stood and walked away.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The footsteps receded.
Haruto couldn't move from the bench for a while.
(Nami-san.)
He called that name in his heart.
(I'm not your partner anymore.)
A dull ache spread deep in his chest. It wasn't the old wound in his ribs—it was deeper than that.
---
Several days later.
Haruto sat in a Smallfolk seat in Lecture Hall Seven.
A massive hall with a capacity of three thousand. The ceiling stretched far above. The giant-sized desks were, to a Smallfolk, the size of buildings. Along the very edge of the front row, twenty Smallfolk seats had been installed as a token gesture.
Haruto sat at the far end, a laptop open in front of him. The text on the screen was a giant-sized textbook shrunk down for Smallfolk use. The letters were tiny—he had to squint to read them.
(Sasha-san should be in the giant seats at the back.)
Assignment work with his provisional partner. Sasha had said, "I'll be near the Smallfolk seats, so relax." But the distance from the giant seats to the Smallfolk seats was, by Smallfolk perception, several hundred meters. Not a distance from which she could come to his aid quickly if something happened.
The lecture began.
The professor's voice echoed through the hall via loudspeaker. The sound of giant students taking notes, clearing throats, sighing. All of it felt like thunder to Haruto's Smallfolk ears.
Haruto curled his small body inward and wrote characters in his notebook.
(I have to focus.)
He thought so, but Nami wouldn't leave the corner of his mind.
(Where is Nami-san right now? What is she doing?)
(She's not my partner anymore.)
(I'm Sasha-san's—)
That was when it happened.
Behind him, in the giant seats, something stirred.
Haruto didn't turn around. A Smallfolk looking up at the giant seats would see nothing anyway. He only sensed a massive shadow moving at the edge of his vision.
That shadow was seated directly behind him.
It was Nami Varga.
She was enrolled in this lecture. Haruto hadn't known. Nami hadn't noticed that Haruto was in the Smallfolk seats up front either.
The lecture reached its midpoint.
The professor began writing key points on the board. The giant students all pulled out their notebooks at once. Nami opened her own enormous notebook and picked up her pen.
Then, reaching for a notebook she'd left on the backrest of the seat in front of her, she extended her right arm.
That arm swept the Smallfolk desk where Haruto sat clean off to the side.
—CRASH!!
Haruto's body was sent flying along with the desk.
His vision spun. For a moment, he couldn't comprehend what had happened.
His back slammed against the floor.
"—!!"
All the air in his lungs was forced out.
A sharp pain shot through his ribs.
(W-what...)
The old wound was screaming. He couldn't breathe.
Haruto curled up on the floor.
Around him, the giant students continued the lecture as though nothing had happened. No one noticed that a single Smallfolk had been sent flying at the edge of the Smallfolk seats.
No—one person had noticed.
It was Nami.
She gasped at the sensation of her arm hitting something.
"...Huh?"
Nami looked beneath her arm.
There lay an overturned Smallfolk desk, and a small shadow collapsed on the floor.
"Ha... Haruto...?"
The color drained from Nami's face.
She tried to stand.
"Hey, move! That's my—!"
Nami tried to push through the surrounding giant students. But they only murmured in confusion at her sudden movement.
Haruto, on the floor, desperately tried to draw breath.
(I have to run.)
Some part of his mind stated it calmly.
Giant footsteps approached.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A giant student walked past Haruto. Each time that foot pressed against the floor, Haruto's body lifted slightly.
(I'll be stepped on.)
Haruto swallowed saliva mixed with blood.
(I'll die.)
Haruto began to crawl, keeping low.
He slipped between the legs of desks. To a Smallfolk, the giant desks were a space of enormous bridge piers. Haruto crawled desperately through the gaps.
The floor was cold and hard.
His ribs creaked with every movement.
(It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.)
Tears welled up.
But he couldn't stop.
Behind him, giant footsteps closed in.
Haruto rolled into the shadow of a pillar.
A decorative pillar along the lecture hall wall. Its shadow was large enough to hide a single Smallfolk.
Haruto pressed his back against the pillar and slumped down.
His breathing was ragged.
His heart pounded in his ears.
(Hah... hah...)
Haruto pressed a hand to his chest.
The area around his ribs was hot.
(Maybe they're broken.)
He thought so.
But what occupied Haruto's heart even more was a different emotion.
(Nami-san was there.)
(Nami-san sent me flying.)
(Nami-san isn't my partner anymore.)
(So she won't come to help.)
(She can't come to help.)
(I'm not Nami-san's—)
Haruto hugged his knees.
"...Why."
His voice trembled.
"Why did it come to this..."
Beyond the pillar, the lecture continued. The professor's voice, the students' murmuring, the sound of note-taking.
All of it felt like events in a distant world.
---
"Are you okay!?"
A voice called out.
When Haruto raised his head, Sasha was approaching at a quick pace down the lecture hall aisle.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Her footsteps reverberated through Haruto's body.
Sasha crouched down in front of him.
"I'm so sorry! I was so focused on the assignment, I didn't notice at all... Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Haruto looked up at Sasha's face.
Worry colored her blue eyes.
(This person is genuinely worried about me.)
(But that worry won't save my life.)
Haruto thought.
(If it were Nami-san—)
(Nami-san would have picked me up right away.)
(Nami-san would have been watching exactly where I was.)
That thought wouldn't leave Haruto's mind.
Was it anger, sorrow, or longing?
An emotion he couldn't identify lodged itself in the back of his throat.
"I-I'm fine... sorry..."
That was all Haruto could manage.
Sasha smiled in relief.
"Thank goodness. Can you stand? Let's go to the infirmary."
Sasha extended her hand toward Haruto.
That hand was far larger than Haruto's entire body.
Haruto stared at it.
(If I take this hand—)
(Where will it carry me this time?)
Without taking Sasha's hand, Haruto tried to stand on his own.
But the pain in his ribs wouldn't let his body move as he wanted.
"...Ngh."
Haruto braced himself against the wall and slowly raised his body.
Sasha watched him with a worried expression.
"Don't push yourself. I'll carry you."
Sasha said this and reached down to scoop him up.
That was when it happened.
"Wait."
A low voice echoed through the lecture hall.
Haruto started and looked toward the voice.
Nami was standing.
A giant, two hundred and fifty feet tall. Her orange hair swayed as though standing on end. Her amber eyes were fixed straight on Sasha—no, on Haruto, in Sasha's hand.
"What do you think you're doing with that child?"
Nami's voice was quiet.
So quiet it was almost unnerving.
Sasha looked up at Nami with a blank expression.
"Nami-san? What's wrong? I was just taking this child to the infirmary..."
"That child is my partner."
Nami stepped forward.
"I won't let you touch him."
The air in the lecture hall turned taut.
Giant students turned to look at Nami and Sasha, wondering what was happening.
Sasha smiled awkwardly.
"But the committee told me to serve as his provisional partner..."
"That doesn't matter!"
Nami's voice rang through the lecture hall.
"Do you even know what you did!? That child was sent flying, desk and all, because of you! And yet, why are you so calmly trying to carry him!?"
Nami advanced on Sasha.
Sasha took a step back.
"Th-that's not it. It wasn't my fault—I was just focused on the assignment..."
"Is that your so-called 'being used to it'!? The previous two—didn't they die the same way, because of your 'focus'!?"
The lecture hall stirred.
The smile vanished from Sasha's face.
"...Nami-san. That's going too far. I properly managed my partners. The accidents were purely force majeure—"
"Force majeure!? Two people are dead because of that, and you call it force majeure!?"
Haruto simply listened to the two giants argue.
(Nami-san is angry.)
(She's angry for my sake.)
That thought made Haruto's chest grow hot.
But at the same time, he was afraid.
(Nami-san is really angry right now.)
(When that person gets truly angry, her hands move.)
Haruto looked at Nami's hands.
Her fingers were trembling.
Trembling with rage.
(Stop.)
(Stop, Nami-san.)
(Please, calm down.)
Haruto wanted to speak.
But he couldn't.
---
In the end, Sasha retreated under the force of Nami's fury.
The lecture was interrupted.
Giant students watched Nami and Haruto from a distance.
Nami crouched down in
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