“Senpai! I’ll save you!” “Cosmos Scale - Full Size!” “Akari-chan, beneath you! Take that monster down in one stomp!”

It being an anime that incorporated Reduction and Magnification into its story was expected considering our society was built around it. It sure was something seeing the heroine Akari get embarrassed from absorbing Universe Energy to grow. Its occasional tokusatsu references made me a fan of it in the first place. However, the mention of shrinking the villains to capture them along with Yuri’s hold on me served as constant reminders to me that I was Reduced the entire time we were watching the show.

At the very least, it did distract all of us for the half hour that the episode aired. Yuri was in love with the transformation sequence while Yae was enraptured by the remake’s faithfulness to the original. I forgot about my situation as well when the villainous rival girl’s new design was revealed.

“Haaah… Hm…?” I heard Yae trying to control her heavy breathing. She turned her attention to me and noticed my expression. “Touya, close your mouth. I know Nozomi’s new outfit looks sexy cute now, but Akari’s is way better.”

“Hey, I appreciate her character for more than just those boots and stockings,” I replied back to the Meteor Heart fangirl, saying more than I really should have said.

“Ehehehe~! Protect the world with galactic love and justice~!” Yuri recited Meteor Heart’s tag-line.

While that was all fine and dandy, I did not appreciate the fact that I was still being hugged like a stuffed toy by Yae’s younger sister. Even when the episode ended, she held me close to her in her arms. My feet were dangling off the floor when she stood up with me in tow. Yae seemed to appreciate that though, because I could see she was physically reeling away from me. She was still extremely conscious over how close I got to her.

“Alright, you kids, I’ve got dinner all ready. Yae, help me out for a minute. I need to clean something. Yuri, Touya-kun, wash your hands,” Ayame-san was treating my home just like her own. Considering she cooked for me more than my own mother did, I didn’t mind. 

“Eh? Me? Coming.”

Yae left ahead of us to follow her mother’s orders. That left me with Yuri who kept her grip on me, holding me like a teddy bear as she stood up. I dangled limply in her arms.

“Yuri, you can put me down now,” I told her.

“Eh? Okay, Onii-chan,” though she was disappointed the girl did do as I asked. I started to have second thoughts when she put me down however. 

Yae’s growth was definitely still progressing even though I was now taking the brunt of it by becoming smaller in her stead. Though it didn’t seem like I had shrunk much, perhaps a centimeter in height, looking up at Yuri, I was short enough to have to look up at her crotch. To be shorter than a primary school girl’s legs… I truly was baby sized. 

Yuri found that fact funny. “Ehehe~! It’s like Onii-chan’s my baby brother now. Hey, Onii-chan, can you call me Onee-chan? Just once?”

Like older sister, like younger sister. Yae had asked me that before once and my answer was the same. I was not going to address her like she was my big sister. “Rejected.”

But when I got to the kitchen to wash my hands, Yuri suddenly had a strong case. The kitchen sink was well above my head. Even jumping, I couldn’t reach the countertop.

“Nishishishi~ Do you need help, Touya Onii-chan?” Yuri snickered as she turned on the sink water above me to wash her hands. “If you call me Onee-chan, I’ll help~!”

“Nope. I’d rather climb up myself,” I frowned, realizing I would have to go get a stool or something to climb up properly. I started to walk back to the dining area to grab a chair, but I found I couldn’t move. Yuri grabbed me on the shoulder, her grip holding me tight and keeping me from continuing like a leash.

“Aw~! Don’t say that, Onii-chan,” she laughed, pulling in close for a hug.

“Whoa!” I yipped as the primary school girl lifted me off the ground.

“Okaa-san’s going to be mad if you don’t wash your hands soon,” Yuri let go of one of the arms holding me, but I was still held in place by her other hand as she reached for the sink. 

Yuri was going to be annoying until she got what she wanted. While I normally did humor her, I really didn’t want to this time for the sake of my pride. Being babied by Yae’s little sister was a bit too demeaning as someone who would actually end up being her older brother eventually.

“C’mon! I wanna be called Onee-chan!”

“Grk. Gwa-hargh! H-Hey, Yuri!” asides from shaking my body around haphazardly, her hold on me tightened. It actually hurt having the air squeezed out of my body. She was acting spoiled, and because of my Reduced size, I was unable to fight her. She completely overpowered me physically, and without Yae or Ayame-san around, I couldn’t get any help.

“Please, Onii-chan!”

In the end, I was forced to give up. “... Just once... Can you help me out already, Yuri... Onee-chan...”

“Awaaa~!” Those words caused the eight year old girl’s eyes to sparkle and brighten up. “Ehehehe~ Thankyouthankyou! You’re the best Onii-chan~! Oh wait… Nishishishi, I guess I can’t call you that now.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Yuri,” I snapped back to my usual way of addressing her. “I told you, it was just once. Now how about turning the water on?”

“Aww, no more?” Yuri was disappointed, but did what she promised and let me wash my hands. “But that’s fine. Since you called me ‘Onee-chan’ that means I beat Yae Onee-chan then!”

Were the two siblings competing to see if they could get me to address them as an older sister or something? Whatever the case was, I hoped the babying would stop so I could eat in peace. However, when Yuri carried me back to the dining table, I was in for shock. Ayame-san had asked Yae to help her for a reason, and I quickly saw what that reason was.

“Eh? A-Ayame-san, that chair...”

“I know where your mother keeps things. This was the one you used back when you were a baby, isn’t it? She kept it in perfect condition. We just had to get all of the dust off,” the Asano mother smiled calmly as she stood beside an alien item that wasn’t in my dining room before.

“Pffft… Sorry, Touya. I didn’t think Okaa-san had this in mind when she asked me to help,” Yae was trying her best to hold in her laughter.

“Ahaha~! It’s a baby chair!” Yuri pointed out the obvious.

That was right. Ayame-san had known that my packrat of a mother felt it was a waste of money to just get rid of the high chair for babies I used when I was little. She had taken it out from storage just for me because I was now Reduced.

“Can I veto this idea?” I frowned. “Ayame-san, I’m not a baby anymore.”

“But you are the size of one,” she countered, putting her arms on her sides. It was intimidating to be looked down on by the 173 cm woman. 

“I can’t change back to eat? Isn’t it bad to eat normal food like this?” I tried to come up with an argument.

“If it’s at this scale, you should still be able to. It’s only at even smaller scales that eating normal food isn’t advisable. And I think it’s still too soon to let Yae change back,” Ayame-san denied me. 

“But a baby chair? Are you serious?”

“This may be your house, Touya-kun, but even if you don’t like it, I won’t be having you eating on the table or floor when you’re still this big. That’s just unsanitary,” she wasn’t joking around. But did that mean it’d be fine if I were smaller?

I shot Yae a frustrated glance as Yuri happily plopped me into the child’s high chair. “Yae, I blame you for this. Magnification Week’s supposed to be rough for you, not me.”

“Sorry, Touya. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” My childhood friend clasped her hands together to apologize, but she couldn’t hide her smile. Despite how uncomfortable the Sensitivity Raiser had her feeling, the sight of me in a high chair tickled her funny bone. “Ppffft… This is too surreal...”

“Nishishishi~ Now Onii-chan really does look like our baby brother,” Yuri giggled as she pulled a chair right beside me. Even while sitting down, the top of her head was above mine. “Do you want me to feed you?”

So this was going to be how dinner was going to end up - with me in a baby’s seat in my own house. I could only hope that after dinner was over and the other Asano family members left that I could be grown back. 

“Yuri, cut it out. I don’t need someone to feed me.”

“Nishishishi~ Come on. Open wide! Open wide!”

My struggles to push away Yuri’s hand holding a carrot stick were in vain. I tried to use both of my hands to stop the eight year old girl, but she was too strong. She pushed me back with ease and forced the orange stick into my mouth. I actually had trouble biting it for a moment due to how hard it seemed to me.

“Mgrgk!”

“...hehe...” I heard a laugh that wasn’t Yuri’s to my side. I shot a glare at Yae who was giggling while eating.

“It’s not funny, Yae,” I snarled, but my reaction made her bust out laughing.

“Ehehehe… I’m sorry, Touya… But it is… Hehehe…,” Yae was clenching her sides. “I never thought I’d see you in a baby’s seat. It’s like you’re throwing a tantrum too… Ufufufu~”

I turned red in the face from embarrassment. By getting angry, I looked like a baby having a fit to her. I wanted to just skip dinner and get back to my room or even do my homework, but there was no escape this time. I was locked up while I was seated on the high chair. The plastic table of the high chair made sure that I couldn’t just walk away. 

“Gya-hah!” all of a sudden, Yae yipped. Ayame-san put her hand on her shoulder as she walked over with a saucer in her hand. Yae’s senses were still enhanced enough for her to feel it, and it seemed to register as a tickle to her. “O-Okaa-san!” 

“Alright. That’s enough horseplay at the table, you three,” she scolded us, Yae in particular. “Yae, Touya-kun did this for your sake. You shouldn’t be rude to him like that. And Yuri, don’t force feed Touya-kun your carrots. I’ll give you more if you really don’t want to eat them.”

“Uwah. No. I’ll be good. I don’t want more carrots,” Yuri pulled away from me, her priority changing to not having to eat any more carrots than her mother made her.

“I-I’m sorry. Ahaha… O-Okaa-san, can you let go? Fufu… You’re tickling me,” Yae couldn’t fight her mother’s grip, so she was trying to hold in her laughter until she let go.

“The effects are still present, huh?” her mother frowned.

“I-It’s not so strong now, but it does tickle when you or Yuri touch me. I can handle it and get used to it if it’s just like this… But with Touya...,” Yae answered but drifted off in the end. I noticed she glanced over at me, but she didn’t talk any further on the subject. Something about me was clearly different for her compared to her mother and sister.

“Well, if that’s the case, you’ll have to continue avoiding touching other people until later tonight. If I remember right, I don’t think the spray’s worst effects last longer than 5 hours. Just bear with it until then, dear.”

That was Ayame-san’s suggestion. It seemed she didn’t have any other ideas to help out Yae despite being extremely knowledgeable about Reduction and Magnification. The Sensitivity Raiser stumped her as well.

While I was concerned about Yae, my own predicament was still my own concern though. With the loss of my size I had lost a lot of my own strength. I figured this out the moment Ayame-san approached to hand me a plate of food since I couldn’t reach the actual dining table while on the high chair.

“Thanks Ayame-s-Urk?!” Trying to grab the super-sized saucer with both hands was a mistake. I expected it to be light despite being the diameter of an inflatable pool to me, so I was caught off guard. I would’ve dropped it if Ayame-san wasn’t supporting me on the other end.

“Touya-kun, you shouldn’t try to do any lifting at your size,” she pulled the plate away from my hands and set it down on the plastic in front of me. “Even though you’re the size of a kid, you’re even weaker than one. This plate must weigh 20 kg to you now.”

It sure felt like it. It was something I could lift, but I hadn’t been prepared.

“I forgot,” I frowned. “Reduction really leaves you weaker. This is totally unfair how girls get Magnified and us boys get Reduced.”

“You’ll just have to make do until politics get with the times,” the Asano family’s mother told me. Until the gender restriction laws were rewritten, that was just going to how it would be, but I still disliked losing my own physical ability along with my size. “As much as I think some men would take advantage of Magnification if allowed, I feel women behave just as badly right now… my daughter included.”

“Okaa-san! I wouldn’t!”

“I seriously doubt that,” Ayame-san stood her ground. “Remember how you behaved in middle school with Sumire-chan? Also, as much as you hold things in, I know that hidden in your closet are tho-”

“Awawawawa! Stop! Stop!”

I laughed at seeing Yae so panicked to stop her mother from talking. It was good to see the conversation directed away from me. I was curious about what Yae had hidden away but chose not to ask out of respect for her privacy. I had a good assumption it was something lewd.

As dinner began. Ayame-san sat between myself and Yae to prevent any trouble with the Sensitivity Raiser Spray. It was clear between all of us now (other than Yuri who wasn’t paying attention) that Yae was having the largest reactions with me. We were going to have to wait until the side effects wore off before there could be some normalcy between us.

Mealtime was rather quick in any case. Although Ayame-san had brought over a lot of food, she did not warm up much due to the fact that Yae was normal scale. She also did not have much of an appetite because, as she put it, her tongue’s senses were still somewhat heightened. Things were either too salty, too sweet, or too bitter to her. There was no inbetween. Her mother said she could try to eat later when the spray’s worst effects wore off.

As for me, I also didn’t eat much, though it wasn’t from lack of trying. My smaller size actually made the spoon I held larger, heavier, and a lot more unwieldy. It was like trying to eat with a ladle.

To my dismay, this attracted my caring mother of a neighbor’s attention who did not see my Reduction as an excuse unlike Yae and her condition.

“You’re not going to grow big and strong if you don’t eat, Touya-kun,” Ayame-san scolded me.

“Is it really going to matter if I keep getting Reduced like this?” I retorted, having not even finished half of what she had set out for me. I didn’t appreciate the mention of words like ‘big’ and ‘strong’ while I was in a baby’s seat.

“... So you’re not going to eat the food I made for you, Touya-kun?” I definitely shouldn’t have talked back to Ayame-san. She did not appreciate it. And I soon learned my lesson when the woman suddenly stood up and approached the baby’s seat. 

“W-Whoa! H-Hey, Ayame-san!” I cried as the woman unceremoniously lifted me up. In an instant, I found cradled in her arms like an actual newborn.

With her experience as a mother of two, Ayame-san held me steady as she sat back down into her seat. 

“You weren’t comfortable with Yuri doing it for you, but perhaps an older woman would have more success,” she told me as she brought up a spoonful of food from her own plates and bowls. “Say ‘Aaaah’, Touya-kun.”

My face burned crimson. I glanced to my right and then my left. I could see Yuri snickering seeing me held in her mother’s arms. I was definitely proving her point that I was currently a baby to the Asano family. I was a bit more appreciative when I saw Yae. She had frozen in place, her jaw wide open. Her brain was taking a long while to process what she was seeing.

“A-Ayame-san, I can feed myself. Y-You don’t have to do this.”

“Can you, Touya-kun? I’d be glad to see that for myself.”

This was Ayame-san’s Mothering 101. She wanted me to say that which was why she chose to embarrass me in the first place. I couldn’t win against her. Nobody could. Reluctantly, I opened my mouth, letting Ayame-san spoon feed me the cream stew she made.

“Make sure you eat up well, Touya-kun. You’ll need all the energy you can muster for tonight,” she suggested. “Even after you change back, I’m willing to bet you and Yae will end up having some trouble after I go home.”

“Ayame-san, you don’t trust me at all, do you?”

“It’s Yae who I don’t trust,” the woman took one shot at her daughter and fed me another spoon of cream stew.

“Okaa-san, you’re always so mean to me,” Yae pouted.

Ayame-san did not care about her daughter’s ire though. She simply looked down at me with a look of worry. “Just do your best to avoid getting into any inappropriate and shameless positions tonight, Touya-kun. You’ll regret it.”

I had no idea what she had meant at the time, but I should have taken those words to mind when she had said them.