(50) Day 3 Game Room Antics (16.4 m < 16.6 m)

“You know… this actually isn’t that bad. It doesn’t even feel like there’s anything there at all.”

“Isn’t that the embarrassing part, Touya? I mean, it’s comfy, but I’d rather wear my normal underwear instead of this. I feel naked under my yukata”

“You could wear both. Yurika-san did say that’s okay. As for me, I might sleep in just this later.”

“You always did like the sci-fi genre, Touya… And just so we’re clear, I’m not wandering around with only this under my yukata. I AM wearing my underwear too.”

“Aww, I can’t say that I’m not disappointed.”

“Touya, you perv…”

After finishing dinner, Yae and I were back in the Magnified inn lobby at our un-Size-Linked scales. Both of us were exhausted from having had to spend another half hour with Ranko-san and Yurika-san. Two women had given us a proper run down on what they wanted us to do for their equipment testing. After that, though, they pestered Yae and me about what I had written down about our experience during Reduction Week. Yurika-san had been very interested in my physiological responses to the girls when extremely small, and Ranko-san pressed Yae about if she did anything to me while I was literally in her hands. Our inability to lie meant we both answered honestly.

As friendly as both women were, and as frequently as they bantered with each other to lighten the mood, we were both grateful to finally be free from the nerve-wracking meeting. I leaned against Yae’s thigh to relax while she rested on the lounge sofa. We were both trying to get used to the Alteration clothing we had been asked to wear by trying to not think about it too much.

“… So are you going to take the job offer, Touya?” Yae changed the subject with concern. I had informed her of the conversation she had missed before arriving. “That means you won’t have to go to a medical school, right?”

“I’m not sure yet. You know why I’ve been working so hard at Sakuragawa, Yae. This is a great chance, but I don’t want to get in over my head.”

“You could try doing both at once.”

“Do you think I have the ability to juggle work and school?” I stared incredulously at Yae. “It’s hard enough getting into the top fifty in our year. I still have to study for the next set of exams after this week too.”

“… Let’s not think about that,” Yae did not appreciate the reminder about exams. “We should just spend the rest of the night having fun, Touya. It’s a school trip after all!”

“Heh, I guess I could use a break,” I chuckled, knowing Yae was desperately avoiding thinking about her studies. “Maybe hanging out with everyone will clear my head.”

“It looks like there’s a game room across the hall. Let’s go there. I wonder what they have.” Yae carried me with both hands, holding me against her stomach, as we headed to the game room.

Because we had returned after dinner time, it seemed just about every one of our classmates and the other schools were around. It felt like an all girls’ school with how many girls were wandering around the halls of the inn and using the facilities. The girls who I didn’t recognize had to be from either Isuzu or Kogei but it was harder to distinguish now that everyone was wearing the ryokan yukata. As for the guys, I saw some movement down below under the floor. What surprised me was that they were moving faster than I would’ve expected. The glass tunnels seemed to be in use with vehicles taking people around like a tram-system.

Hotel Ten-Scale was certainly a ryokan with all of its amenities, but it had way more than I would’ve expected. The arcade/game room was combined together into a large expansive room that stretched at least two dozen of city blocks in width and length. It had just about everything you would expect to see for entertainment expected it was all magnified. There were monolithic arcade cabinets bigger than sky scrapers and even table tennis tables wider than rice paddies. Even though I knew I was normal sized, with everything Magnified, it was hard not to think of myself as Reduced.

“Hm? Oh, Asano! Over here!” a voice called, recognizing Yae the moment she walked in. I recognized who it was immediately by her voice. The foxy Tsujimoto waved at us from an arcade cabinet with a Magnified gun controller in her hand that was more like a cannon when I saw it waved in front of me.

“Tsujimoto-san,” Yae was grateful to see a familiar face in a hotel filled with so many students from other schools. She gravitated towards her. As she did, I spotted a strange addition to the arcade machine beside the one Tsujimoto was at. What looked like laptop table adjusted to be chest high to Tsujimoto was blocking people from using the other machine. It was affixed to the floor and there was a transparent box on top of it.

“Looking cute in that yukata, girl,” complimented the smiling girl. “Did you come here to play? Wanna switch with me and Ryou? I’m done beating Ryou’s butt here.”

“Ryou-san? O-Oh! He’s in there?” Yae took a moment to realize where Tsujimoto’s childhood friend was. Ryou was inside the clear box I had noticed.

“It’s cool, isn’t it? It’s to keep him safe so that he doesn’t get knocked off accidentally while he plays on these Magnified machines.”

I wondered if these tables were available for when people were Reduced too. I bet they were. The entire hotel was Magnified, so these Reduction tools being Magnified were perfect for regular sized people now. Yae put me down on top of the chest high platform so that she wouldn’t have to keep holding me and so that I could be at a higher position for her to talk to me. She bent down so that her head was level with my body.

“Do you want to try, Touya? I never played this game before.”

I turned to my left. The screen of the arcade machine was a meter away from the table, but when Magnified, it was about 10 meters. It was also large enough that I was reminded of those times whenever we had to go to the lecture room in Sakuragawa to look at the giant wall-filling screen there.

“It’s pretty cool playin’ on a huge screen, Kiri,” Ryou exited the protective box and greeted me with a wave. “A bit rough ta’ get used ta’ but if I had another round ta’ warm up, I’m pretty sure I’d beat Kirika.”

“You seem to be having fun, Ryou.”

“They got a whole buildin’ just for us guys in the corner, but it’s way more fun ta’ do this,” he grinned. He handed me the regular sized gun controller. “You know what I mean, dontcha’, Kiri?”

Ryou knew me well. Of course I wouldn’t pass up such an unusual and exciting way to play. Besides that, I knew the light gun game series that was displayed in flashy, edgy colors on the monolithic structure of the arcade cabinet. It was a classic series – Justice Enforcers. Unlike normal cooperative light gun games, this was one where both players would be competing for a higher score.

“Let’s do a round then,” I agreed. Before entering the glass box, I looked up at Yae who had stood up straight to receive the light gun controller from Tsujimoto. “You think you can beat me, Yae? You’re not exactly that good at these sorts of games.”

“I think I have a huge handicap, Touya,” Yae giggled, holding the gun controller up. It was around 240 cm long so it felt unnerving to have its barrel pointed at me even though it was a toy.

“We’ll see…” I tried to sound confident but to little avail as Yae and Tsujimoto both giggled at me. Ryou had mentioned that it would be rough to get used to playing with everything Magnified. At the very least, the Justice Enforcers was meant to be a fair game. Tsujimoto let Ryou climb onto her palms so the two of them could watch us play.

Stepping inside, I realized that this was a Plexiglas box. It was thinner than glass, but fairly solid looking. It certainly seemed like something that was meant for use while I was Reduced, but it had been Magnified for use in Hotel Ten-Scale.

There wasn’t anything inside the room either. It was only used for protection rather than giving the person inside a way to use the arcade machine. Yae had to start the game from the outside before the game screen displayed that it would register my controller’s actions.

“Huh, that’s weird,” I noticed that there was a difference in what was showing on both my and Yae’s screens for the demo reel. Compared to Yae’s screen which showed shooting gangsters, my screen was displaying insects. “This is Justice Enforcers, isn’t it?”

“It is. It’s Justice Enforcers 7 - one of the newer ones that has a Reduced officer and a regular officer competing as rivals to rescue a kidnapped girl,” Tsujimoto explained. “The point scaling is the same, but it fits the size difference between us guys and girls, doesn’t it? Well, I guess we’re Magnified in this case…”

I never played 7 before, but the plot was unexpected to me. Alteration getting put into media wasn’t as common when we were younger, but recently, it seemed to be getting more prevalent. As Tsujimoto had said, though - it sure did fit the difference in scale between me and Yae. Now I was curious how the stages would be.

“Well, I guess let’s give it a shot. If the point system is fair, then I’ll win this game. Yae, the loser gets to do any one thing the other asks.”

“Any? Oh, I’m ready, Touya.”

The two of us readied our gun controllers and started the machine…

… and ended the game 40 minutes later with a clear winner.

“Ehehe! I win! I guess that means I get to boss you around later, Touya.”

“Oof. You guys ran out of credits at the end, but, out of the other five rounds… that’s five wins for Asano. Even Ryou did better and won at least one round, Kirishima-kun,” Tsujimoto announced the final score.

I understood what Ryou meant by getting used to the controls now. I thought it wouldn’t be too bad playing with a big screen that would let me see everything. But even at the comparable distance that it was away from me, the movie theater sized screen was so large that I had to move my arm a lot to get the cross-hair cursor to move where I wanted to shoot. I tired out half way through the first round and struggled to clear each stage compared to Yae who, despite her amateur movements, had no trouble waving her controller around.

“The insects were bigger targets, weren’t they?” Yae asked. Her comment poked fun at me for losing after being so confident earlier.

“That’s true, but the stage bosses were way too different to get used to. Really, my 5th stage boss was the kidnapped girl’s shoe? I had to use to dodge command way too many times.”

“Don’t be a sore loser, Kiri,” Ryou scolded me as Tsujimoto put him back down onto the table. “Just do better next time.”

I frowned, knowing he was right. I got a bit too heated because I was on a losing streak. “You’re right, Ryou. Hah…Is there something else playable at this size?”

“I think there were some other dual-size machines over behind the table tennis tables. Those tables unfortunately aren’t playable for you guys.”

“Table tennis?” I repeated, turning my entire body around and looking into the distance. I saw four tables a few ‘city blocks’ away. There were two girls I spotted with a strong rally going on.

“Oh, Is that Airi-chan and Kaede-chan?” Yae recognized who they were before me. Those first names belonged to Shima and Yamaguchi. If there was some form of tennis to be had, the two tennis club members would definitely be there. Yae and I said a quick good-bye to Tsujimoto and Ryou before heading over to where Eguchi’s admirers were. “As expected of tennis club members. How hard were you two playing?”

“Yae-chan? Oh, you’re here with Kirishima-kun,” Shima and Yamaguchi both stopped their rally upon hearing Yae, not worrying about whatever score they had. Both were glistening in sweat which they wiped off their brows. Yamaguchi stepped aside for Yae to have some room to put me down on top of the expansive, flat green table tennis table.

“We’re here to have fun,” Yae answered them as I looked around the table, comparing myself to the net which was more of a proper tennis net than a table tennis one to me. It looked to be around 150 cm high.

“Did you want to join us, Kirishima-kun? We’ll go easy on you,” Yamaguchi asked, finding my interest in comparing my height to the net funny. She put her paddle next to me, lining it up against me vertically; the normally 25 cm long paddle was over 250 cm to me. I reflexively took a step back to avoid it toppling over and falling on me if Yamaguchi decided to let go of it. “You and Yae-chan could go up against one of us.”

“Yeah, I’ll pass, Yamaguchi. It looks like I’m closer to a ball than a player at this size, especially if I curl up into one.”

“Ufufu. You aren’t wrong, Kirishima-kun,” Shima giggled and put down the ball to prove my point. As she did, she leaned forward. The color pink filled my vision because the bubbly girl’s clothes were disheveled from their hardcore rally earlier.

“Uh, Airi-chan, your yukata,” Yae noticed as well and pointed it out calmly. It was better than she told her than if I did as Shima quickly fixed it without being too embarrassed. “And I think I’ll pass, too. I don’t want to have a one sided match against either of you two.”

“We were more in the mood for another co-size arcade game, honestly,” I told them.

“Co-size?” Shima blinked before knowing what I was talking about. “Oh, did you want to play the dance game then?”

The dance game she was talking about was the sets of arcade dance machine beside her with the metal platforms that had directional pads to step on. Just like with the light gun game, this one also had an accommodation for multiple sizes – another Plexiglas box. This one in the center of the second platform, however, and there looked to be another directional pad platform inside it as well as a screen.

“Ooh! I haven’t played one of these in ages. The music is always so good,” Yae became sparkly eyed at the sight of the dance machine.

“That box down there… That’s where I’ll be playing?” I asked.

“I think so,” Shima answered, somewhat unsure. “I haven’t seen any boys play this thing yet. I saw a bunch of them heading into that box- I mean that building over there.”

The building Shima considered a box was the one in the corner that Ryou had mentioned. It looked like an ordinary arcade building, but its size was certainly that of a small cardboard box when compared to the girls. From the bus I saw in the distance, it seemed the underground tunnels also led there.

“You should give this thing a try, Kirishima-kun. I’d love to see it in action with a boy playing too,” Yamaguchi was curious about the co-size dance machine.

“It’s probably the same as the shooting game,” Yae was pumped up to play so I was picked up and put down onto the machine without being given a single second to react. “I’ll set up the game so we can play, Touya.”

Being almost ground level on the platform was always unnerving when among giants. Yae took off the ryokan provided slippers she had been wearing and stepped barefoot onto the metal platform of the dance machine. Although she was on the right side that was for her scale, the impact caused by the weight of her body reverberated through the steel and up my spine.

“I can see why the box is necessary here,” I winced as Yae’s weight made itself apparent. “There’s no need for the second Magnified machine is there? They could’ve just put this smaller one right next to the first.

Whaaaam!

“Grk!”

“I think it’s for us to see the score, Kirishima-kun. Actually, I think these things were already paired up and they just added the box after.”

Shima answered me by stepping onto my end of the dance pad platform to look at the screen herself. I quickly jumped into the transparent box to avoid her feet as I was nearly hit by her left foot which landed 3 cm in front of me. The smell of sweat from the workout she had playing table tennis wafted through the open glass door. I gagged, rushing to slam the door closed to prevent any more foot sweat odor from coming in.

“Shima, watch where you’re going!”

“Huh?” Shima blinked. She looked down and realized she had nearly hit me. As I was still more doll-sized then bug sized, she wasn’t freaking out from her phobia. “O-Oh. Sorry, Kirishima-kun! I thought I stepped further away.”

“These yukata are pretty flowy so it’s hard to see the floor with how much they flap around,” Yamaguchi noted. “You okay there, Kirishima-kun? Airi-chan’s feet must be killer right now because of the sweat we worked up.”

“K-Kaede-chan!”

“… Sorry, Shima…” I couldn’t deny the truth. Yamaguchi had hit the nail on the head.

“Uuuu~!” Shima hopped off the platform, retreating to check her feet which had collected dirt and dust from stepping onto the platform barefooted. “I’m taking another bath after this. I don’t want to go around to see Eguchi-kun later with smelly feet.”

“Touya, you’re too sensitive to feet. I know Shizuku-san’s the reason, but you can’t just say that to a girl like Airi-chan,” Yae frowned, knowing how self-conscious girls like Shima were. She was one of them too.

“Yae-chan, beat him in a round for me,” Shima requested while hiding between Yamaguchi.

“Leave it to me, Airi-chan.”

The camaraderie of girls was strong. I wasn’t sure whether to sigh or to chuckle. At the very least, Yamaguchi wasn’t taking sides and was choosing to just push up her glasses and watch.

“Want to bet again, Touya? Loser does whatever the winner says?”

“Feeling confident?” I chuckled. Yae was still riding the high of her previous win. “Okay, Yae. Let’s go then. I’m pretty confident in my footing compared to yours.”

I was asking for it with my attempt at bravado and for my dig at Yae’s clumsiness. It was clear enough from how easy it was for me to feel the impacts of Yae’s and Shima’s feet that when the game started up, I would be in for a ride.

That was exactly what happened.

Slaaaam!

“Woah!”

Whaaaam!

“Urk!”

Baaam! Baaam!

“Grk! Uwah!”

This was probably why nobody had been playing this game with someone regular sized. Every step Yae took to match the rhythm was a small earthquake that caused the entire Plexiglas box to tremble. I was sent off balance more than once and even stumbled off of the regular sized dance pad when Yae had to quickly slam her foot onto the Magnified platform multiple times in time with the song.

Yae wasn’t a very good player, but my score ended up being two-thirds of hers.

“I won? I messed up so many times though.”

“Gah… That was rough…”

“That was pretty unfair, Yae-san,” Yamaguchi had also seen the issue and was sympathetic to my trouble. “Kirishima-kun was getting knocked around whenever you stomped too hard.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Yeah, it was kind of bad,” Shima stopped taking Yae’s side and glanced down at me with a look of pity. “I guess the reason I didn’t see anyone use this machine was because it wasn’t really made of two sizes. Sorry, Kirishima-kun.”

“Is that so? Maybe we shouldn’t count this match then, Touya,” Yae frowned, trying to be understanding.

As much as I understood that they were trying to be nice, the triple dose of pity was too much for me. My own stubborn streak got the best of me.

“No. Let’s just count it,” I declared. “It’s my fault for not realizing it sooner.”

“Are you sure? Touya?”

“Just add another ‘I’ll do anything’ request to the pile, Yae. It’s just one more thing. I can handle it.”

“Wow, Kirishima-kun. You’re so accepting of it that it almost sounds like you want to be ordered by Yae-chan,” Yamaguchi remarked.

“… Let’s not continue that conversation any further, Yamaguchi,” I tried to imply for her to stop before I was forced to admit that I was perfectly fine with that.

“Well, since that wasn’t a very good game, how about you two try something more analog?” the bespectacled Eguchi admirer suggested. “Nayu-chan’s playing mahjong in the connecting room with some other boys and girls. Maybe you can join in there.”

Mahjong? There was another game room in the inn that had that? I supposed it was common enough of a game for an entertainment area to have one. Yae and I played donjara when were kids which was essentially children’s mahjong. I had also played one other time with Ryou when we were freshmen, so I knew the rules enough that I didn’t mind playing at all. Actually there was something that drew my attention even more than the idea of a mahjong game.

“Boys and girls are playing? How would that work?”

Regular sized boys and Magnified girls were playing? How would they turn the game co-size when the tiles were Magnified too? This was something I wanted to see for myself.

“That sounds fun. I want to see how they’re playing with the boys.” It seemed Yae wanted to see it too. “Let’s take a look, Touya.”

“Have fun you two!” Shima and Yamaguchi bid us farewell as Yae picked me up off the ground to head to the second entertainment room

Mahjong was a game I was familiar with because of the days Yae and I played donjara as kids. If you’ve ever played card games like poker or especially rummy that were popular in the west, mahjong was a similar game but with tiles instead of cards. The best way I could describe the game was that it consisted of trying to make a hand of several triplets and/or sequences and then completing the final set with one last tile by either drawing it or waiting or someone else to discard it.

There were plenty of additional rules, but the complicated game could be pretty fun once you got used to it.

When Yae and I entered the mahjong game room, we saw four tables – three of which had girls playing. I didn’t recognize most of the girls, but there were three I did know at the corner table Yae chose to approach. Of the three girls, one person looked like she was happily winning, another seemed was having fun and laughing, and the last person looked like she had lost everything.

The atypical gyaru, Shino Watanabe, was the first. The second was Shima’s and Yamaguchi’s fellow Eguchi harem member, Nayuta Satou. And the sporty Haruka Hozuki was the third.

Clack!

“Gaaaah… No fair, Watanabe! You’re getting too much of an advantage with Arai!”

“Hiroshi’s only played two times before. You’re just unlucky, Haruka.”

Clack!

“Aikawa and I’ll get my points back this round and then you’ll see.”

Clack!

“Oh, that’s ‘Ron’!” “Me too! ‘Ron’!”

“Eh? No way!”

“That’s a ‘haneman’ and a ‘mangan’? Oof. I thought we had first place. Talk about a turn-around.”

Hozuki completely lost after putting down the tile both Satou and the girl to her right needed. When Yae brought me closer, I saw that it wasn’t just a game of four girls. There were four boys down on the table seated by tiles that were half way up their knees. They sat at the edge of the mahjong table by tiles that were larger than their heads. Arai, being her boyfriend, was with Watanabe. By the shadow of Satou’s breasts, I recognized Yamabuki. And Hozuki had Aikawa helping her. The fourth girl at the table who had long hair covering one eye had a male student wearing a dark brown uniform with a green tie. They were both Isuzu students.

“Yamabuki-kun, we did it!” “Nice advice for the ‘wait’ Dai-chan.”

“Heheheh! That means it’s a penalty game for our class’s two Haru’s!”

Considering her personality, Hozuki definitely wasn’t good at mahjong, but apparently Motoharu Aikawa’s luck was bad today. I had played with him and Ryou before when we taught Arai to play last year.

I had to admit. It was fun to watch Hozuki scrunch up her nose as the Isuzu student pushed an ominously yellow-green drink into her face. Aikawa might have been pretty lucky to only have to drink two drops being poured out with a straw by Watanabe. It was still a decent amount but it was proportionally less than the bottle Hozuki had to chug.

“Here we go~! Make sure you drink it all up, Hozuki-san.”

“Bleegh! Gak! Why does it taste like garlic? The top of my mouth feels funny.”

“There’s a vending machine with water right outside, Hozuki-san,” Yae pointed as we both watched the sporty girl stick her long tongue out. She had a perplexed expression on her face – as though she couldn’t tell whether to be disgusted or not with the drink.

“Yeah, I think I’m going to get one. Switch with me, Asano-chan.”

Hozuki ran off, giving Yae a place to sit and to put me down.

“A penalty drink, Watanabe-san? What is that?” Yae asked with curiosity.

“Apparently, it’s a gyoza flavored drink,” Watanabe smiled as she revealed a bottle with a picture of fried gyoza on it. “Mikan-chan over here brought it.”

“Nice to meet you, Asano-san. I’m Mikan Komori,” the Isuzu student respectfully bowed her head in greeting Yae.

“Ah, nice to meet you too.”

As the greetings and introductions were made with the girls, down on the table, I met up with Arai and the other guys who had started cleaning up the board now that their latest game ended.

“Yo, Kirishima. Did you want to join us?” Arai immediately asked when I approached. He was carrying a few box-sized tiles. The table had an automatic sorter, but the guys were all bringing the tiles into the center where the sorter’s opening was because the girls were busy talking.

“I don’t have to carry these tiles myself, do I? I’m pretty exhausted, Arai.”

“I mean, we could have the girls push them in, but it’s a lot faster if we do it ourselves since they’re so chatty. I think between them all, only Satou and Komori over there know how play.”

“Mikan knows the game, but she stubbornly tries to go for ‘yakuman’, so she only wins if she’s lucky. That ‘haneman’ earlier was pure luck since she had just the right tiles at that point,” a new face approached. I took a step back. Even though he wasn’t one of the Magnified girls, the Isuzu student was really tall. I was already 180 cm but he had to be 200 cm. I wasn’t even mentioning his tank-like build with broad shoulders and defined muscles. “That Satou girl’s pretty good though. She knew when to play defensive and to be picky about her discards.”

“I never knew Satou could play. I only ever got to play a few times last year, and it was only just us guys.”

“A few times? You were a pretty good advisor earlier, Arai-kun, leading your girlfriend through. If played alone so you could keep your tactics silent, you’d definitely do well. It’s been so long since someone’s given me a run for my money.”

“I’m still a newbie. Kirishima here’s one of the guys who taught me, so he’s probably a better match for you,” Arai unexpectedly boasted about me.

“Ryou was the one doing most of the teaching. I’m just good at remembering ‘yaku’.” Staring at the Isuzu student who was carrying double Arai’s load, I decided to help out and picked up some tiles as well. “Nice to meet you. I’m Touya Kirishima. I’m with Sakuragawa’s health committee so if you need something, just let me know.”

“Oh, you’re with those girls who were helping out all day. Good to hear. The name’s Daichi Daimon. If you’re as good as Arai-kun says, we should play a game together, Kirishima-kun.”

“It does sound fun but… Daimon…?” I paused. That name was familiar. And considering Isuzu’s location… “Wait… THAT Daimon? As in Daimon Industries’ Daimon?”

“Wow. I didn’t think folks from other prefectures would make the connection.”

“It’s a bit obvious, Daichi,” Arai laughed. “Kirishima, just call him Daichi. It’s way less stuffy than Daimon.”

“If that’s alright with you, Daichi-san,” the three of us joined Aikawa and Yamabuki in the center. There was a lid to the table that lifted up to expose a hole for us to throw the tiles below. The darkness underneath made it look like a bottomless pit despite it only being around 20 centimeters. “Aikawa, how was the drink?”

“Not bad honestly,” the kendo club member answered. “It’s actually a bit lemony, but the aftertaste is what was weird.”

“So Mikan’s choice of drinks this time was safe… That’s good to know,” Daichi-san grimaced. That told me enough about what his friend liked to do.

“So did you want to play, Kirishima? If Hozuki’s out, I can take a break so you and Asano can join,” Aikawa was willing to tag out. “Yamabuki and I can shoot the breeze next to Satou’s tits.”

Yamabuki said nothing but gave Aikawa a sharp glance.

“It depends if Yae’s okay with it,” I was fine but it was ultimately up to my childhood friend. “Yae and I were both curious as to how you guys were playing. We both know how to play, but I wanted to get away from games that tire me out.”

“Oh, getting tired out or not depends on you. These tiles aren’t too heavy, but sometimes it’s better to do things ourselves than rely on the girls.”

A team mahjong match definitely sounded interesting. Looking up, I saw Yae’s conversation with the other girls was just about finished. Watanabe seemed to have been trying to convince Yae the same way Arai had been with me.

“So how about joining us, Yae-chan? Mikan-chan’s got another drink packed away for a penalty game.”

“Ufufu~! I bought plenty!”

“… Another game with a penalty for losing? That’ll be the third one I’ve done in the past hour,” Yae giggled. “Well, if I’m teamed up with Touya this time, I guess he doesn’t have to worry about losing to me again.”

“Really, Yae? You’ve got to mention that?” I shook my head and chuckled, knowing she was poking fun at me.

Yae had agreed. That meant we were playing.

(51) Day 3 Mahjong, Drinks, Discipline - Isuzu Encounters (16.6 m < 16.7 m)

When it came to playing mahjong when the table and tiles were Magnified, it definitely would’ve been impossible if we weren’t playing in teams with the giant girls. As with most table games, the pace was a lot slower than video games, but with how clunky and difficult it was to see all of the tiles and to move them around the stadium sized table at our size, it would take us too many hours to play even a short game with only one full rotation to dealers.

“Ngh… Yae, this one.”

“You sure, Touya? I was going to discard this one, though.”

“That one? Wait don’-”

Clack!

“Ron!”

“Fueeh?”

“… I told you… At least that ends Komori’s dealer round.”

It was a lot faster if the girls made their own decisions. Yae could pick up the tiles even more easily than she could pick me up, so I had to quickly try to figure out from the other player’s discards what would be good to do when our turn came up. We boys were relegated to being advisors to the girls who were essentially the ones playing.

“This automatic table makes it easier at least. We don’t have to deal with all of the tiles getting scattered around by the girls,” I noted. It certainly sparked my interest when I saw the table literally open up to bring the tiles we had dropped down below back up. I probably would’ve loved it already if I saw the table when it was regular sized, but with it being Magnified, it looked so cool and reminded me of a secret entrance opening up.

Yae was very independent because she knew the game rules, but she wasn’t as good at reading her opponents’ discards. As a result, we were currently in third place in front of only Komori who had apparently been ignoring Daichi-san’s reminders to not go for risky and difficult to assemble high-point hands.

“In the end, it looks like we’re just sitting on the side-lines and waiting to flip any ‘ura-dora’, huh, Daichi-san?” After a few rounds, two of us had decided to meet up and chat in the corner of the table while the game still was going on. We knew we weren’t going to be able to get through to Yae or Komori. We took our time to just watch the game unfold, only moving when the loose yukata sleeves of the girls swept over us when their arms stretched over our heads and when Satou’s manicured, soap-scented hands came over to reveal a new ‘dora’ tile.

“It happens,” laughed Daichi-san. “It makes me jealous how those two guys over there can cooperate so well with those girls. Although I guess Arai-kun’s partner is his girlfriend, so it’s understandable for him.”

That was true. Watanabe listened in to Arai’s advice and took it with an open mind. It might have also been because Watanabe didn’t actually understand the game that well, but she was learning quickly. She even called out Arai when he mistook what one of the dangerous tiles to throw out was. Doing that earned his praise which made her go into lovey-dovey mode. She ended up pulling him close into her chest for a strong hug that pulled him literally off his feet, causing them to dangle in the air. Her antics knocked a fair amount of the tiles around her by accident too.

And speaking of chests, Satou was a surprisingly good pair with Yamabuki. It might have been because Eguchi wasn’t around to take away her attention or it might have been because Satou was actually very interested in mahjong. She was playing with a mind set on winning.

“Yamabuki-san, what do you think? This one or this one?” She was also open to asking Yamabuki for his thoughts while Aikawa hung out with him.

There was only one issue.

Pomf!

Thud!

“Oof!”

“Kyah! Sorry, Yamabuki-san! Aikawa-san!”

As expected of someone with her bust size, Satou’s wrecking ball breasts swung into Yamabuki whenever she leaned too far forward. Aikawa had dodged out of the way just in time, but her team mahjong partner only had his arm sticking out from beneath her breasts. At the very least, because Satou was conscious of her chest size, she had put the tiles further away from the edge of the table, making sure she did not knock over the tiles.

“Well isn’t that a lucky pervert moment,” chuckled Daichi-san.

“That’s more or less just Yamabuki’s bad luck in getting knocked around,” I sighed as I watched Aikawa peel the guy off of the underside of Satou’s left breast. “Also, Satou has someone else she likes. We’re lucky he’s not here now. She’d be way too distracted.”

“Oh? Reminds me of my buddy Kou. He’s got a few girls chasing after him who just drop what they’re doing when he’s around. He’d be better off choosing one of those girls already, but he’s a bit of a worrywart for his sister.”

“Let me tell you, Daichi-san. Even if he chooses someone, they’ll still be like that. Satou’s basically in a harem right now.”

Cough! “Grk… Did I hear that right?”

“It’s a long story even I’m not sure about.” Our little small talk while the girls played made the two of us a bit friendlier with one another. The two of us shared our experiences at each other’s schools.

It took a bit longer, but our short match ended with a ‘Tsumo’ where Yae drew the tile she needed. She ended Satou’s dealer game. She didn’t win, but fortunately for me, she didn’t lose either.

“Third place. Phew,” Yae let out a breath of relief.

First place was Watanabe. Second place was Satou. Third place was Yae. And last place was Komori.

“Alright! We won! Let’s go, Hiroshi!” the happy Watanabe pulled her boyfriend in for a kiss that covered his face.

Wham!

Satou’s breast slammed down onto the table frighteningly hard. Aikawa pulled Yamabuki away just in time to not get knocked down again.

“So close. If only Yae-chan didn’t get the ura-dora,” Satou pouted and puffed up her cheeks, frustrated at not getting first place. I honestly never knew Satou could be such a competitive mahjong player. Her breasts had been the one thing I kept noticing when around her. Eguchi probably already knew about this… or not. I couldn’t recall him knowing much about mahjong.

“Oh my, I guess that means that it’s my loss,” Komori put her hand on her face and tried to sound concerned, but it was clear that she was perfectly content with losing. “I guess that means we both have to drink this, Dai-chan.”

“Urgh… Fine…” Daichi-san stood up knowing he had to accept the punishment despite barely even taking part in the game.

The drink Komori had brought for the penalty game was a disturbing red. She used a straw and put it into the drink and then covered the top with her finger. By doing that, she sealed the liquid inside to be able to bring a few drops over to Daichi-san. The guy willingly drank it like a hamster would take a drink out of one of those bottles in their cages.

“… Curry?” Daichi-san wasn’t disgusted by the taste, but the flavor surprised him.

Komori quickly chugged down the rest of the bottle and licked her lips as she looked back down to Daichi-san. “It’s a bit heavy and the cola’s carbonation is a little strong, but it’s acceptable.”

“You have a strong stomach, Mikan-chan,” Watanabe was both impressed and stunned.

“It’s actually more or less because she drinks these weird things on a daily basis,” Daichi-san sighed. His expression quickly changed however, as though something had flashed through his brain in an instant “… Huh? Mikan, time to get going.”

“Oh?” Komori seemed to take Daichi-san’s words like an order. She used both hands to scoop him off of the table and lowered her heads to us. “I do apologize, but we’ll have to turn in for tonight. It was nice meeting you all. Send my regards to Hozuki-san.”

With those words, the two Isuzu students fast walked away through one of the two exits of the mahjong room…

Just in time for a somewhat familiar face to pop in… or rather, barged in.

Whaaam!

“Mikan Komori, where are you!?” shouted a shrill voice.

The owner of the voice was accompanied by one that I was more familiar with. “Ruri-san, you shouldn’t yell.”

My underclassman, Yuno Saeki, and her patrol partner from earlier, Isuzu’s Ruri Asagiri, slammed other door to the mahjong room.

“Is something wrong?” Yae turned her head. At that moment, her eyes met Saeki’s.

“Oh, Asano-senpai!” Saeki was quick to approach when she saw a familiar face. She saw me down on the table as well. “And Kirishima-senpai! I’m sorry. We’re looking for a student who caused some trouble for the hotel.”

“Trouble?”

“Apparently an Isuzu student bought ten crates of drinks and had it delivered to the inn and even paid to have it Magnified,” Saeki shook her head. “We’re not sure how much money she spent, but it’s made a roadblock in the lobby.”

… Komori was more trouble than I thought she was. And with how Daichi-san was acting, this was a common occurrence in Isuzu.

“Hey, that bottle!” Asagiri shouted, pointing at our table. Komori hadn’t disposed of the curry drink before she ran off, so it was right next to me, standing at a bit over 200 cm. In an instant, the freshman disciplinary-health committee girl swooped in and I found myself body-to-face with her. “You guys… What are you doing with that bottle?”

“It was a penalty drink for our mahjong game?” I couldn’t lie, so I was forced to answer truthfully.

Whoosh!

“Urk!”

“Senpai! Ruri-san?!” “Touya?! Hey!”

Asagiri was more forceful than I thought she’d be. She grabbed the bottle off the table with one hand and snatched me as well with the other. She held me like a doll as she yanked me up over her head. I had honestly considered her a loudmouthed girl on par with a Chihuahua earlier today, but the fact that she was Magnified did mean she had a lot more power over me than she would normally.

“This was one of the weird drinks from those crates,” Asagiri’s grip tightened around my chest. You. Saw. Her. Didn’t. You?”

With every word she said at the end, the roughly 16 meter tall Isuzu freshman jerked me closer and closer to her face until I was right in front of her mouth. Her hot breath buffeted my face as her mouth opened up, revealing a sharp fanged tooth and a mouth that I was sure my head could fit inside with ease.

If I were to say I was intimidated around Asagiri, that wouldn’t be right. I was getting used to deal with giant girls. The girl had some anger issues she needed to resolve. It made me wonder if she had some tension with Komori back at Isuzu. I was, however, bothered by her grip continuing to tighten. It didn’t hurt. In fact, it left less of an impression on me than I thought it would. The pressure she was applying to me seemed to disperse and weaken for some reason.

In any case, I couldn’t really lie about that, nor could Yae if Asagiri decided to ask her. But I was friends with Daichi-san now, so I didn’t mind keeping silent for him, especially since Asagiri was not earning any favors from me with how she was acting. I stayed silent for long enough to give enough time for Yae and Yuno Saeki to help me out…

… But actually, someone else came right before they could do anything.

“Health Committee President Chop!”

Smack!

“Gak!”

“Whoa!”

“A-Ah! I got you, Touya!”

For a brief instance, I found myself flying through the air and plummeting. Yae caught me with cupped hands before I fell further thankfully, but the entire world was moving too quickly for me to keep up with. My brain needed a moment to catch up before I saw and realized that Kamiya-senpai had entered the room.

“I know you are new at being a member of a health committee, Asagiri-san, but you cannot be that forceful, especially when there is a big scale difference between you and someone else,” scolded Sakuragawa’s health committee head. Asagiri was now on her knees, rubbing the back of her throbbing head in pain. “I apologize, Kirishima-kun. We will discipline her properly. Are you hurt?”

“I think I’m fine. Thanks, Senpai. Your chop is a strong as ever,” I appreciated the rescue from my upperclassman.

“I should hope so. I have been at this all day,” Kamiya-senpai certainly looked exhausted. “Saeki-san, please take Asagiri-san to where the others are. Yuiko and Reika can handle things from there. Watanabe-san, Satou-san, could you too help her out too?”

“Understood,” our underclassman started to pull Asagiri towards the exit.

“Sure thing.” “Okay. I’ll take the boys along too.”

Watanabe and Satou joined in to support my underclassman as she consoled Asagiri who was silently holding back tears after being smacked. Watanabe grabbed Asagiri on the opposite end as Saeki while Satou picked up the boys in her cupped hands. That left Yae and I with Kamiya-senpai.

With her job done, Kamiya-senpai swept her hand across her hip in the same fashion as a swordsman would sheathe their sword after an iai draw. “There was no need to chase after students for something as simple as a souvenir delivery. And using the power difference to threaten a confession is a terrible thing to do. The evidence was all circumstantial too. I think Isuzu might be a school with more disciplinary problems than Sakuragawa.”

I thought the same as my senpai. Whatever was happening there, the health committee and discipline committee there seemed to be having plenty of trouble getting a handle of their students. “Maybe Saegusa-senpai and Fushimi-senpai can give Asagiri some training on how to handle situations better. She may have been chasing problems, but she can become one herself.”

“I agree with your assessment there, Kirishima-kun,” nodded Kamiya-senpai. She let out a long breath. Deciding to get a change of pace, she flicked her hair back over her shoulder and tried to change the subject with a gentle smile. “I hope you have been having fun. I understand that you had a hard time with Ranko-san. Have you had a chance to take a dip in the onsen to relax yet? Or maybe the indoor bath?”

“Neither yet,” I answered.

“How about you, Yae-san?”

“No. Actually, can we go into the outdoor onsen? Isn’t it just footbath sized to us?”

“Unfortunately, yes, you are correct. The girls only have access to an indoor bath unlike the boys who have a choice of either one,” Kamiya-senpai answered. Although she said that, she then put her hand up by her mouth to muffle the sound a little. “Actually, I should not be telling you this, but because you two are an exemption duo, I can. There is a bath where the indoor bath actually connects to the outdoor hot spring. It is a mixed bath.”

“A mixe-” Yae put her hand over her mouth before she shouted.

“The schools and the inn have given their permission for you both to use it so long as you wear swimsuits, but they did not want too many people to know or else it could get even chaotic than things already are,” we were told. “You two should be fine in terms of behaving, so I believed it should be fine to let you both go in. Would you to like to try it out or am I overstepping my boundaries?”

“You’re not overstepping anything at all, Senpai. It’s a bit embarrassing, but I’d love to go there. Besides, Touya and I used to take baths together when we were kids anyways,” Yae wanted to put her second hand over her mouth but it was currently holding me. As such, she was doing a poor job hiding her blush and smile. Was perverted Yae popping out again? She could certainly be a closet pervert at times.

“You probably shouldn’t have mentioned that Yae,” the classic ‘childhood friends who were young enough to bathe with each other’ cliché was a real thing, but I didn’t want to admit it. “But I guess we could both use a bath. We’ve been sweating way too much ever since we met with Ranko-san.”

“Is that so? Then I will guide you there so you may make use of the facilities to your hearts content.”

With our answer, Kamiya-senpai told us where the mixed bath was and how to get there. A bath with Yae… It seemed that was going to be the next thing on our itinerary.