Shuichi kept his fingers on the last page. He surprised himself that he managed to make it to the end of these twisted tales. “Why was this book even written?” His analytical mind sprang into action. With no more pages to read, he could start driving down the highway in his mind to put together the pieces of the puzzle. First, what did they all have in common? That was obvious, all three stories involved shrinking. Next, why did these stories contain his friends in them? The only option he could consider was that someone in the academy had to write this. But the last question was the only one he couldn’t solve. Why would someone write this?

It was once again time for Kaede to do her thing. She cocked her arm back, swinging it right into Shuichi’s back for the third time this night. Despite all the slapping she’s done, Kaede still managed to keep a positive demeanor about her. “Hey Shuichi…what did you think about that last chapter? It was a bit different from the other two, wasn’t it?” She proposed the question, breaking the awkward silence in the air.

“Ah, you’re right.” Shuichi immediately responded. “In the other two chapters, everyone who was shrunk died in some gruesome manner. But in the third one, there was a survivor. And it led to a happy ending…if one could call it that.” Even though he spoke those words aloud, Shuichi still wasn’t close to figuring out what that could mean.

“I mean…what did you think about the ending? Did you like it?” Kaede asked another question innocently enough.

“It was a nice change of pace from all the gory ends everyone else met…” Shuichi commented, trailing off a bit.

“And what about the decision where he chose to stay small? What did you think of that?” Kaede continued her interrogation.

“It was a rather odd choice. Most people would want to grow back to normal as soon as possible if they were in that situation. However, I can sort of see that perspective of being looked after by someone you can trust. It’s weird, yet strangely comforting to be in a spot like that.” Shuichi said solemnly, almost like he was starting to get engrossed in the content, despite it already being over.

“I see…that’s good.” With that, Kaede scooted closer to Shuichi, placing her hand on top of his, staring right into his eyes. “Hey, I could tell you seemed troubled by all this. So I figured I should give you a clue that could help. The one who wrote this book…was me.” Shuichi seemed shocked to learn this news. But before he could ask another question, he was interrupted once more. “I spent the past three weeks putting this together. Then once I got it finished, I came here to the library last night and placed it on the bookshelf for us to find today.”

Shuichi paused. He didn’t suspect Kaede to be the culprit behind all this, then again the only person who came to mind doing something like this would be Kokichi. “That explains why it looked brand new. Because it was brand new.” The detective managed to piece that together. “But that still doesn’t explain why you wrote three different stories about shrinking people…”

This was it, the million dollar question. Shuichi could feel his heart sink getting closer to the truth. But Kaede never skipped a beat, answering everything with sincerity. “Because, I wanted to see how you felt if you were shrunk. All the other stuff about everyone getting squished led up to that final moment. Because I imagine being that tiny is incredibly scary and dangerous…but it can be fun if you’re with the right person.”

Shuichi could feel Kaede’s body temperature rise through her hand. It was so bizarre, but she seemed completely serious about this whole idea. Yet, something within Shuichi resonated those same feelings deep inside. Perhaps being cared for like that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. He wouldn’t have to worry about classes or work, or anything trivial for that matter. All he would need to do is take care of Kaede. “But, that book was a work of fiction. There’s no way that could actually happen.”

Upon hearing that, Kaede let go of Shuichi’s hand and reached around behind herself, pulling off her backpack and digging through it. After a few seconds, Kaede pulled out a strange gun-like device, one eerily similar to the one described in the last story they read. “Halfway through writing, I asked Miu to actually make a shrink ray. But it turns out, she already had one and gave it to me to borrow. But before she explained why she had one in the first place, I just left.” Shuichi sighed, knowing a couple of reasons why Miu would need something like that. But getting back on track, Shuichi examined the shrink ray in hand. If Miu really did make it, then it must be the real deal. Still, it was a life-changing decision if he wanted to go through with it or not. After a moment of deliberation in his mind, he stood up and faced Kaede.

“Alright, let’s do it. I trust you, and I wouldn’t want to do this if it was anyone else.” He gave his answer. He didn’t know if he would regret this choice, but this time, the detective followed his heart instead of his mind.

“If you’re sure…then, here goes…” Kaede didn’t even wait for a second opinion, because if she did then Shuichi might actually chicken out. She took aim right at her friend and fired, having the dials already set beforehand. She watched in awe as her stories soon became true, shrinking down someone before her very eyes. But soon she couldn’t even see him anymore, like he had truly vanished in the blink of an eye.

When Shuichi came to, he had no idea where he was for a moment. To his right was a white wall that seemed to stretch up for miles. To his right was a cliff way too high up for him to jump down from. In reality, he was standing on the back of the cover of the book they were just reading, with that white wall being a sheet of paper. The boy detective was now a nanometer tall, completely at the mercy of the outside world now. Looking up, it was blurry, but now he knew where he was. Standing on the table, he was staring right up at Kaede’s chest, each breast larger than a planet to him. Reading about this sort of thing and actually experiencing it were two different feelings entirely. But it was too late now, this was the path he chose.

Kaede put the shrink ray away and looked down at the table. Shuichi was impossible to see now, but that didn’t matter. They had their cell phones, so they could still communicate. But she didn’t need that for what she was about to do. Kaede reached her hand forward and balled it into a fist. Her hand hovering behind the book, she slammed it down as hard as she could. The resulting shockwaves from the blow caused Shuichi to go flying forward through the air towards Kaede. He was soon greeted by a wall of maroon, then a wall of pink, then a sea of black. At a size that small, Shuichi was able to phase right through the fibers of Kaede’s skirt and panties, landing himself deep within the forest of pubes. She kept them well maintained, but still each strand was still several thousand times his size. Never he would have guessed this is how he would get to experience seeing something like this, yet he was still cozy. He was knocked out of his trance-like state as his phone started to vibrate.

“Comfy down there?”

“Yeah…it’s different, but I think I’ll like things like this.”

“I’m really glad. I love you, Shuichi, and this is my way of saying I want to be by your side forever.”

Shuichi blushed hard at this last text, but no one was able to see him anyway. He was free to do whatever he pleases now, unable to be judged by anyone else. He can walk high now, as the only one who mattered to him anymore was Kaede.

“I love you too.”

With that, Kaede closed the book and threw it into her backpack. She may have not found a costume for the gala coming up, but she gained something much more important - a relationship that will last forever.

Things were a bit different at the Academy now. Kaede told everyone Shuichi had to go for a while to investigate a murder, leaving the rest of the students none the wiser about their new secret bond. Every morning she would take him out from wherever she kept him for the night and fed him a piece of crumb that would last a whole year before needing to replace it. The two of them would text each other about their days, although Kaede was the only one doing anything meaningful, but she didn’t mind. She had someone she wanted to protect and admire, and that’s what mattered. It was tough, but she wouldn’t trade this feeling for the world.

The End