Tanji scratched at the car window as if that was going to do anything. Tamiko continued crying, hoping to somehow be heard by her mistress—her strained throat and puffy red eyes getting tired from the endeavor. And Naomi? Naomi just sat there, looking out of the window. Not being able to do anything was an acrid feeling. The thought of how easy it would have been for him to overpower the both of them—to save Tanji and her sister—if she were still a human made Naomi feel sick. 

The car of their captors glided across the road, with the pine trees becoming more sparse the further they moved from the mansion and into the suburbs of Osaka. There was no more silence, with the distant sound of the city roaring through the night sky. 

What was this place? Some kind of hideout? It looked like an ordinary house from the outside, but was barren, with only the most spartan of furniture. They were placed in a basement, descending a narrow set of stairs to a room filled with the smell of rubber. It may have once been used to store bicycles and other junk that had no place anywhere else, but now the fencing appeared oppressive—like that of a prison. 

“I wonder if stuff like this happens to anyone else.” Tanji grumbled, setting down on towels and sheets they had provided as bedding for the 3 of them. 

“No, just us.” Naomi added, putting her hands on the aluminum mesh. She could probably squeeze through if she tried, but what was the point? At least the fact that Tamiko looked more pathetic than the two of them was somehow comforting, even if it felt cruel to admit it. 

Tamiko appeared to have folded onto herself. “It’s over!” She looked like she wanted to cry, but there was no more water left. “They are going to kill us!”

There was a swoosh of air as a crisp slap landed on Tamiki’s face, leaving behind a pinkish palm. “Stop whining.” Tanji ordered, extending the very same hand she just slapped her with to her sister to get her standing again. “You’re going to choke yourself to death if you keep crying.”

Tamiko blinked in surprise at the sudden slap, her eyes welling up with fresh tears. She touched her cheek, feeling the warmth of the stinging mark. Eventually, she grabbed Tanji’s hand, dusting herself off. 

“Do you have a plan?” This probably should have come from Tamiko, but Naomi was the one to ask this question. Since Tanji was taking a dominant position here, it was at least worth hearing her out. 

“You.” She pointed at Naomi. “Get the keys. Open this thing. Then, we run.”

The first part of that plan seemed reasonable. Then, it deteriorated into “we run.” But there was no time to come up with a more sophisticated idea, so the mouse girl gave Tanji a reluctant nod. 

What followed was a few good minutes of Tanji trying to squeeze Naomi through the bars—her back scratched by the wires as she pleaded for her life. “Stop! Stop! I am not going to fit! Ouch-ouch-ouch!” She cried out, half of her body on the other side of the bars. With one final push, Tanji proved her wrong, managing to force Naomi through to the other side. The mouse girl landed on the ground with a SPLAT, her head spinning as she stood up. “You dumb broad! You could have killed me!” Naomi stomped her foot on the ground, puffing her cheeks and preparing to yell before Tanji shushed her. 

Seeing Tanji as the reasonable one for once…was odd. Naomi shook her head, pumping her fist and readying for the “mission” ahead. 

Climbing up a set of stairs was already a hustle. When she made it to the edge, Naomi heard the click of heels against the hardwood floor. It was their captor, her long slender legs appearing like two huge blue pillars as they were hugged snuggly by a pair of jeans. Ditching the strange maid outfit, she now dressed in a more comfortable white crop top. She had spent so much time with Tanji, that the mouse girl had almost forgotten how tiny she was. 

Hugging the wooden leg of a chair for support, Naomi felt tremors as the giantess paced around the room. Just like them, it looked like she wasn’t exactly thrilled about being here. “Did you prepare the extraction?” She hissed into the phone, using her free hand to pet Maya. It didn’t do much, but it was at least something to calm her down. “Yeah, I know. But this place is hardly safe.” She cracked her neck back, letting out a groan. “Yeah, I still have my car, but I need to ditch it. Just hurry up! There is nothing to drink here…”

On the counter, there was a glint of something shiny. The keys! They were strapped to a thin metal circle—one which could serve as a hula hoop for the tiny. For a moment, it seemed like the lazy eyes of Maya met with hers, making the mouse girl freeze up. Despite being a gentle shade of pink, there seemed to be a certain fire in them. Did she see her? Or was it just her paranoid mind playing tricks on her? Either way, she found herself unable to move, holding onto the chair while silently hyperventilating. 

When the woman and her pet left the kitchen, a sense of relief washed over Naomi, allowing herself to take a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Now, it was only a matter of climbing up to the top of the counter—a herculean task in itself. She thought about detaching some of them from the ring but ultimately decided to just drag the whole keyring as it clunked on her back.

“There…I got it!” Naomi squeezed out, watching as Tanji reached for her. “GET THE KEYS, NOT ME!” She wailed, feeling the pudgy cat trying to squeeze her back through the gate instead of unlocking the doors. 

Tanji blinked a few times before reaching for the keys. Calling her sister over, she forced her to go to her knees as she jumped onto her back, using Tamiko as a stepping stool. She took her time checking through the menagerie, occasionally pointing at the ring and waiting for Naomi to give her input. 

“No, that’s for the car. No, that’s for the mailbox.” Rubbing her face, the mouse girl decided to sit down as she watched the woman continue to fidget with her options. “Just try them all, Tanji.” The doors finally swung open with a satisfying click, allowing Tamiko to collapse to the ground the second her sister jumped off. 

Now that the “open this thing” part of the plan was over, it was time to run. Naomi got scooped up by the tubby cat, feeling herself rattling around in her grasp just like the keys. Both she and Tamiko had the feline agility he had seen Tanji display, managing to bounce up the set of stairs and into the main area of the house.

Their collective ears perked up as the door opened, seeing the woman and her pink-haired pet entering the room—laughing with each other and carrying shopping bags. There were a few seconds of silence as the two groups stared at each other, punctuated by the sound of breaking glass. The contents shattered as they dropped their bags to the ground in surprise, the cheap liquor leaving a large puddle. 

What followed was…messy. Tanji threw Naomi over to Tamiko while running up to Maya, kicking her in the side of her stomach and sending the woman flying. Meanwhile, Tamiko’s instincts kicked in—opening her mouth in anticipation as if her mistress was throwing her a treat. It was only after the mouse girl landed on her tongue and was nearly swallowed that she came to her senses, moving Naomi over to one of her cheeks and running outside through the still-opened door after her sister. As much as she hated to admit it, the creepy little mousey was delicious. 

The woman was preoccupied with tending to Maya, allowing them to get a few feet lead start. Already having an interest in cars, Tanji immediately gravitated to the black cab the kidnapped used to get them here. Using the other key on the ring to get the doors opened, she jumped in the driver’s seat—a wide grin appearing on her face. 

“Tan-zhee?” Tamiko mumbled with her mouth full, lifting the tiny mouse girl by her tail and allowing her to fall down into the cup holder. This had been the 2nd time she had been gobbled up by a Neko. She hated how used to it she was getting. 

Naomi watched as Tanji struggled to the car, twisting the keys in the ignition just to find that her legs were too short to reach the pedals and dangled in the air awkwardly. Tamiko jumped down with a determined look on her face, landing on the gas pedal. Despite how scary this was for a purse cat such as herself, she couldn’t help but giggle in excitement. The engine purred as the car began revving up, Tanji’s excited hands gripping onto the wheel as the vehicle slammed into something behind it. It was another car, the man behind the wheel stumbling out of the wreck. 

Tanji may not have been able to see a lot due to being vertically challenged, but Naomi was essentially blind. The mouse climbed up the white shirt her “driver” wore, ending up on her chest and using it as a vantage point. Fortunately, there was more than enough space on her boobs for her to stand on—her feet sinking into Tanji’s soft body. 

“Was that the police?” Tamiko exhaled through her teeth, afraid that they could get into trouble. 

She squinted, struggling to look in the mirror. Their kidnapper was helping the man they bumped into, with him pointing towards the other car as if to snitch. He must have been with her, then. “No!” Tanji responded, switching the stick over to “drive” while ordering Tamiko to put more weight on the gas. Soon, the car began moving again, with Naomi tumbling from recoil into the dark abyss of her chest—past her mammaries—before popping out the other side like some white marble.

“Stop!” Naomi tucked on Tanji’s shirt, just to see her smiling like an idiot at the road ahead. “Tanji, you don’t know how to drive!”

The car swirled from left to right as the pudgy cat tagged on the wheel for fun. Seeing that there was no way of getting through her tiny skull, Naomi jumped up to the wheel—repeatedly hitting the horn. Maybe it would at least save some pedestrians. 

The other vehicle—the one they dented—tried following them. Fortunately, Tanji’s driving proved to be impossible to track since it lacked any direction; both cars became completely lost in the concrete jungle. Tamiko was busy passing out in the corner while their impromptu driver explored the rest of the car. Once she found a coin inside, she walked and gave it over to the mouse girl as a little treat before going back to rummaging through the car. 

A coin…Naomi spent a moment playing with it like a metallic disc before noticing an old payphone. After a quick climb, she sat down on the body of the plastic telephone handle, covering her ears as it rang. This thing was ancient, with the woman hoping that it would work. “Hiro?” She inched her sensitive ear to the speaker, careful to keep her distance in case another electric screech came from the other side. “Hiro, this is…Noah. We have the girl. But there was an incident. Will explain later. We are…somewhere in the suburbs.” There was only silence. Naomi swallowed nervously, wetting her dry throat. “Listen, can you just trace this call or something?”  

Finally, a distorted voice came from the other end. “Somebody is on the way. Good job. You deserve a little leisure time, Noah.”