Sae Niijima arrived home tired. She had been busy all day, even more than usual after her new assistant Grace had failed to show up for work. Even now Sae was still furious over it. She'd really thought she could trust that young woman. Grace had proven a diligent worker even since she joined Sae's team, and even though she got distracted easily at times, she more than made up for it with her dedication. Before today, Sae never would have believed she was the kind of person to skip work without even calling in sick. She would definitely have some stern words for that woman the next time they met.
Until then, though, Sae tried to push those matters out of her head and relax. She was no stranger to bringing work home with her, but tomorrow was her day off and she didn't mean to spend it stressing out over it, and certainly not over Grace of all people. She slipped off her shoes at the entrance and stepped calmly over to the couch, where she took off her black suit and sat down with a sigh, leaving the suit slung over the armrest. Normally she would have changed out of her clothes, but she was too tired even for that. After twelve hours in her heels, her feet were killing her, and she wanted nothing more than to rest them for a while.
Sae turned on the TV and kicked her feet up onto the coffee table; first one and then the second over it. She never hear the frightened squeak that came from just beyond her heels, much less noticed the tiny creature on table.
Grace didn't know how it could be, but that morning she had woken up in Sae's apartment at the size of an ant. She had spent the morning cowering under the couch while the feet of both Niijima sisters thundered against the floor, shaking her world and making her little heart beat so fast whenever one of them stepped just outside her hiding spot. Those massive soles could have crushed her with a single step, and as long as the two young women were around, she didn't dare go out in the open.
After they left she explored a bit, and found some food and water on the kitchen floor to tide her over for the day. Eventually she returned to the living room and climbed painstakingly onto the table, where she hoped to get Sae's or Makoto's attention. She waited for a long time, until evening, before Makoto arrived, but she never noticed little Grace before retreating to her room. By the time Sae arrived hours later, Grace had fallen asleep waiting for her. She awoke to the sound of the woman's footsteps, and gave a start when she saw Sae standing over her before sitting on the couch. She had shouted and waved at her her boss, until one massive foot after the other swung up and onto the table. The heavy thumps shook and shocked little Grace, and as Sae gave her feet a stretch, Grace could only watch in fear and awe how those mighty soles moved above her.
Already Sae's feet dominated her little world. The air turned musty with their sweat, and filled up with their scent. The massive soles radiated heat onto Grace, and sent tremors over the table's surface with every move they made. Grace sat in their shadow, trembling, wondering if they might yet fall over and crush her like a bug without Sae even noticing. Most of all, though, she just marveled at how big and powerful they were.
Grace had obviously known that she was tiny, had seen how huge Sae and Makoto were before, but this was her closest encounter yet to any normal-sized people since she shrank. It was one thing to know she was the size of a bug, and another to really feel you were a helpless insect. There was no way she could think herself Sae's equal now, not when she was so far beneath the woman's feet, smaller and weaker even than her toes. If Grace still thought herself human, then Sae could be nothing less than a goddess.
It should have been terrifying, and it was, but the more Grace sensed the vast chasm of between Sae and herself, the more thrilled she was to be in this position. She had always been attracted to Sae, ever since she first met her in the job interview, and now for the first time she realized that at this size there was so much more of her to admire. Suddenly she felt herself drawn to Sae's foot, with an urge to climb up those dominant soles. Only to get her attention, a part of her said, but she knew that was more an excuse than a real reason.
Grace's heart was racing as she walked up to Sae's heel. A thrill ran over her as she felt her skin, all hot and humid against her hands, and so powerful too. Nerves still filled her when she started climbing, and awe from knowing that this wall was Sae's sole. It was really amazing how huge even the tiniest things seemed to her now. A twitch of a toe, or the unthinking rocking of those massive feet while Sae watched her movie, threatened to throw Grace off if she didn't hold on firmly. Little sweat droplets moistened her clothes from head to toe, and left her smelling of Sae's foot all over. The air felt like a sauna, and made her start to sweat too.
She climbed Sae's sole without ever being noticed—another proof of her insignificance. At the top, she crawled up between Sae's last two toes, monoliths that stood twice as tall as her at least, though even they were dwarfed by Sae's big toe. She crouched on Sae's skin, steadying herself with a hand on each toe, and looked out at the rest of Sae.
Her silver-haired superior looked divine from down here, her arms crossed and her face as stern as ever looking over her feet at the television. Her gaze passed mere inches above Grace, but she didn't see the little bug clinging to her foot. Her toes curled and squeezed little Grace, and still she didn't notice, taking her for a piece of lint. Then she relaxed her toes and Grace tumbled down the top of Sae's foot.
Grace landed between her ankles, and once she recovered, she climbed up the topmost one, looking out from there at Sae's face. She waved her arms, jumped up and down, and shouted at her boss, but Sae still didn't notice her, so she started a trek along Sae's leg to get closer. The whole time she watched the other woman's face, wondering when Sae would notice her, and if she would even recognize her then. She was the size of an ant, after all, so Sae might mistake her for one.
Grace remained beneath Sae's notice even as she made it all the way to Sae's lap. She stood on her superior's thigh, looking up at her towering torso and wondering if she would have to climb all that before she was noticed. Then she tried again to get Sae's attention, shouting and waving like before.
Maybe her voice did reach Sae this time, because her superior glanced down at her thigh after only a minute. Sae's gaze passed briefly over Grace before flicking back to the screen, but then she looked again and frowned as her eyes stopped on that tiny thing moving on her lap. She raised her hand high over that little bug. She scowled as she swatted it, then turned her hand over to wipe away whatever stain it had left on her skin. But when she found that thing still squirming on her palm, she paused and looked at it more closely.
“Grace?” she asked as the tiny woman weakly pushed herself up on Sae's palm and cowered under her superior's gaze. Yes, it was Grace, and when Sae saw her little mouth moving, she held the tiny woman up to her ear and listened in awe to her story. It was all so fantastical, but Sae didn't think she was dreaming.”So this is why you didn't show up,” she muttered, holding Grace back under her sight again, frowning at her.
Sae knew it was unfair to blame her assistant for missing work today, but she was still somewhat bitter about it, especially since now she'd have to do something about Grace's size, look for a new assistant to cover for her, and keep doing Graces job until she found one. “Just what I needed: even more work.” She let her hand fall on her lap and sighed, half-curling her fingers over Grace. Looking down on the tiny woman, she curled them still more, until Grace was pinned under a fingertip. It amused her to feel her assistant struggling under it, helpless to escape even that little weight. Such a helpless little thing. At that size she could do anything she pleased to Grace. Not that she meant to do anything, but it was nice to have that power nonetheless. And, thinking more on it, maybe there was something Grace could do for her at this size.
Sae released the woman. “Sorry about that. I was a little distracted. Regardless, I will, of course, help you with your unfortunate condition. I'll take care of you tonight, and tomorrow I'll help you look for anyone who might be able to fix you. But since I'm going out of my way to help, it's only fair that you do something to repay me for it, don't you agree?” Grace nodded. She knew better than anyone how hard Sae worked, and she was happy to help in any way she could. “Excellent. I'm glad I can count on you. To begin with, you may help me with my feet.” Sae brought a foot onto her lap, and turned her hand over to dump little Grace onto her sole. “A foot massage before bed would do wonders for me,” she said, and scrunched her foot. That simple gesture briefly trapped Grace in the folds of Sae's foot, and even when Sae wiggled her toes she had to cling to her superior's shifting sole.
Grace waited for Sae's foot to grow still, but even once she started working on it, it never settled down for long. That expansive sole kept shifting while she dug her hands into its warm flesh and rubbed as best she could. Every so often she could feel those powerful muscles contracting under the surface, and their strength always amazed her.
Sae could barely even feel Grace rubbing her foot, but seeing the tiny woman crawl like a bug on her sole and toil away at it amused her to no end. Her own power thrilled her, just like it thrilled Grace. Grace was infatuated with Sae's feet now. When those giant toes gripped her as she went to rub between them, she whined and moaned and squirmed in delight. Those warm, meaty digits handled her with ease, rolling her around like she was a mere piece of lint. Even when they released her again, she hugged herself to a toe and nuzzled her face into it, welcoming its warmth into her body. It surprised Sae to find her assistant so eager, and she almost gasped when she felt that little tongue lapping away at her sole.
“You know, I don't remember asking you to lick my foot clean,” she said when Grace didn't stop licking. The tiny woman stopped and scrambled out from her toes, kneeling on her sole to start rubbing it again. Sae smiled. “I didn't order you to stop, either.” She reached down for Grace, and pinned the tiny woman to her sole under a fingertip. “Go on. Do what you were doing just now. Lick my foot. You want to, don't you?” Grace hesitated, fearing a trap. She couldn't believe that Sae actually wanted Grace to lick her foot, and she was afraid that Sae would be disgusted at her if she did it. But Sae was so commanding that Grace couldn't refuse. She opened her mouth and gave a few small licks, and soon she was so into it that she forgot her fear and threw herself at the task, keeping at it even when Sae released her.
As she watched Grace keep licking and even worshipping her sole, Sae grew more and more excited. She put her feet together, smothered Grace between them, and still the tiny woman kept worshipping her; if anything, she did it all the more eagerly then.
Sae almost scared herself with how much she loved to dominate the tiny Grace. She put so much pressure on the tiny woman that a bug would have been crushed, rubbed her feet together and rolled Grace between them from heel to toes and back again, called her a lazy pest and an insect unworthy of even her feet. She abused the girl so much that she thought Grace must surely be scared out of her wits, but when next she saw her assistant, Grace was worshipping her feet in perfect reverence. It amazed her how committed Grace was to it, and she stopped toying with her to watch her work.
Grace gladly crawled all over Sae's feet, dragging her tiny self against those smooth soles, rendering worship to every last inch of them. She loved everything about them, from the feel of Sae's skin to the taste of sweat on her lips, and especially the warmth blanketing her against the cool night air. She almost wished she could spend the rest of her life on those feet.
Eventually, Sae plucked the woman from her soles and dropped her on her palm. Grace sat there meekly, and avoided Sae's eyes. She didn't think Sae hated her for what she'd done, but she was worried she had taken things too far and made Sae uncomfortable. Only at the sound of her soft laughter did Grace dare to look up and find Sae smiling at her.
“You dirty little bug,” Sae chuckled, dropping a fingertip on Grace and slowly stroking the tiny woman. “Who knew you were such a big fan of my feet? If I'd known sooner, I would have asked you to rub them from your first day on the job.” Grace sat a little straighter at Sae's praise. “Now, this may be a strange questions, but I want to make sure of something. Grace, do you still want to get back to normal? Or would you rather stay small, with me?” Grace couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was Sae really fine with keeping her like this? She didn't know what to say. If she stayed like this, she would be leaving her old life behind for good. There were so many things that she would miss out on then. But then, she wasn't even sure that she could ever go back to that life in the first place. If she had to stay small for the rest of her life, she would rather spend it all with Sae than with anyone else. And if she had the choice to grow back? She thought about it for a while, but in the end she felt perfectly sure that she would still rather stay with Sae.
“I want you to keep me, Sae! I want to stay with you for as long as you'll have me!” she declared.
“Do you really? even if it means treating me like a goddess?”
“You are my goddess! Please, I want to stay with you. I want to worship you. I want you to dominate me any way you like. I want...” Grace blushed; she'd said too much already. But Sae seemed amused by her little outburst.
“And you won't complain if I tell you to live off my sweat and toe jam alone? If I stick you in my shoes each day and use you as an insole, or make you clean my feet while I work? Will you still want to stay even then?”
“Y-yes. I would love all of those things.”
“Good. Then you can get started on your new life right away.” Sae placed her little pet between her first two toes and squeezed her with them, encasing Grace in the flesh of her toes. “Lick it all clean, insect. I want my toes to be perfectly clean by the time my movie's over, or you'll spend all night in my socks finishing your job, and all of tomorrow too if that's what it takes.” “Y-yes, ma'am,” Grace whimpered between those lovely toes, and started licking them even as they still held her in place. She loved how commanding Sae sounded, and wanted nothing more than to please her new owner—her new goddess. But she couldn't do as good a job as she should have, not with Sae's toes curling and wiggling around her, treating her like a lowly bug. Grace was totally at their mercy, and even if she wanted to there was nothing she could do to escape. Even when Sae let go of her and allowed her to keep licking, she still caught Grace between her other toes and dominated her with them, making sure that little bug of a woman knew who was in charge here.
Grace knew she had no chance of finishing before the movie was over—Sae simply wouldn't let her. She would have to spend all night at least on Sae's feet, and maybe even more than that. But that was all fine with her; even if she could finish her work tonight, she would still have begged to sleep on Sae's feet, and to serve as her insole for as long as she was out. Sae was her goddess, after all, and Grace lived only to serve her.