When word got out of the new limited-time raid event, everyone agreed it was way too gimmicky. To participate, you would have to wear a ring that slowly lowered your stats to a certain level, supposedly so that everyone could face the raid boss at the difficulty level the developer intended. Why couldn't the de-leveling just happen immediately prior to the raid, everyone wondered. To make matters worse, the way de-leveling worked was by shrinking the player, which wasn't something most people wanted to experience in virtual-reality. By the time the process finished, you'd be completely and utterly at the mercy of even the weakest enemies in the game.

Normally, no one would have wanted to take part in something like that. You'd have to be a total masochist or a real weirdo to be interested. But when the reward for clearing the raid was revealed, tens of thousands of people reluctantly signed up anyway. Simply put, it was the most powerful sword in the game–something so broken it could trivialize almost every enemy encounter and carry even the mashiest, most unthinking player through most floors.

Enticed by the reward, Kirito was one of the first players to visit the registration booth. After signing up, he received the special shrinking ring and put it on. As soon as he did, the ring was stuck to his finger and could no longer be unequipped. Supposedly it would disappear when it finished de-leveling him, and after the raid he'd receive an item that would let him grow back to normal and also shrink back down if he ever wanted to. Why the game couldn't just grow him back automatically was beyond him. All anyone could guess was that there was so much spaghetti code in the game as a whole that this was the only way it could be made to work.

It was annoying, but he'd put up with anything for the sake of that killer sword. He could practically feel it in his hands already as he made his way back home to his wife Asuna and their adopted daughter Yui.

“Welcome home, Kirito!” Asuna said as she opened wide the door of their log house to receive him. When they saw each other, the both of them froze as they noticed that Kirito was now a few centimeters shorter than her, not a few taller like he usually was. They stood looking at each other for a moment, until Asuna raised a hand to her mouth and snickered. “So you didn't back out in the end, huh? Looks like I'm gonna be the taller one between us for a change!” She patted his head and ruffled his hair teasingly, until he rolled his eyes and firmly pushed her hand away.

“Yeah, well, don't get used to it. It's just three more days until the raid, and then I'll go back to normal.”

“I still can't believe you're going through with it. Do you even have any idea how small you're going to shrink?”

“No, they never announced that.”

“So what you're saying is you might keep shrinking until you're as small as my toes?” She lifted her bare foot, wiggling her toes to demonstrate.

Kirito rolled his eyes. Asuna had been teasing him nonstop about how small he would end up ever since he told her he'd be taking part in the event. The way she went on about it, you'd think she'd been dreaming about something like this her whole life. Kirito could already tell he'd be in for a whole lot more teasing as his shrinking progressed, but he was willing to put up with that too for the sake of his reward.

“Daddy!” Yui called out as soon as she stepped into the living room and saw him. Asuna stepped aside as Yui ran towards him, letting their daughter pounce on Kirito. As she hugged him, Kirito grabbed her in his arms and spun her around twice before setting her back down. “Daddy, are you going to shrink really tiny?”

“Maybe, maybe not. It could be that this is as small as I'm going to get. But don't worry, Yui, it's only going to be for a few days. After that your dad's gonna be back to normal.”

“He-he! I bet you're gonna be as small as our toes! I can't wait to play with you when you're all tiny and cute!” Yui said.

Kirito was taken aback by how excited she sounded. “Eh? You really want to see me shrink that small?”

“Look, Yui! Daddy's already shorter than mommy!” Asuna said, pulling him close so they were shoulder to shoulder and moving a hand back and forth to compare their heights.

“Okay, that's enough teasing. Anyway, I only came to say hi before I head out for some grinding.”

“Grinding? But aren't you going to get de-leveled all the way when you go on the raid?”

“Sure, but I can still hone my skills for the fight, and maybe nab some useful items.”

“And are you sure you can handle it by yourself? You haven't lost too much power yet?”

“Let me see.” Kirito pulled up his character screen. “Looks like I've only lost three percent of my stats so far. Pretty sure I'll be fine.”

“You lost three percent after what, half an hour? You're gonna be way weaker before long. I should go along and make sure things don't get too hot for you to handle.”

Kirito shrugged. “If you say so. Come on, let's get going while I'm still big enough for this. Yui, you stay here for now, okay? We'll be back in a couple hours.”

“Okay. Take care, daddy!” Yui said, waving at her parents as they left for the layer's labyrinth.

For the next two hours Kirito would do nothing but battle, slicing up monster after monster to hone his tactics for the raid boss. The boss's identity was still a mystery to everyone, so he couldn't be too sure what he'd need for it; he'd just have to practice all his moves for now. At first he hardly noticed any difference from his reduced level—the monsters here were all weak enough that he could one-shot all the common enemy mooks. But as he got smaller, the enemies got tougher. He started needing two good attacks to defeat them, then three, then four right after that. Asuna mostly stayed back and watched him deal with all of them, not bothering any monsters that didn't come after her first.

Kirito's stamina was starting to run low as the expedition neared two hours in, but he could still handle every enemy encounter that came his way until they ran into a whole pack of maroon wolves. By then he had lost about a third of his height and stood around four feet tall, head and shoulders shorter than Asuna. The monsters took too many hits to defeat, and there were too many of them for him to handle alone. He managed to thin out their numbers a bit, but then they knocked him to the ground and might have ripped out his throat if Asuna hadn't stepped in to cut them all in half.

“You okay, Kirito?” she asked, crouching next to him while he caught his breath and let his stamina recharge.

“Yeah, I'm fine. Guess I reached my limit. Thanks for the help, Asuna. Just wish I could have gotten a little bit more practice today.”

“Don't sweat it, I'm sure you don't need it anyways. If you really want to practice, we'll find you some other way to train later. But for now, let's just get you home, little guy!” Asuna surprised Kirito by hooking her arms under his back and his knees, then standing up to lift him as easily as if she were carrying a little kid.

“H-hey, put me down! I can still walk fine on my own!”

Asuna giggled. “Nope, sorry! You're too short and cute to be left on your own! I'll carry you all the way back home. You just sit tight and get your energy back in the meantime,” she said, carrying him despite his protestations. He tried to convince her to set him down, but eventually he gave up and let her do what she wanted, crossing his arms in a huff and turning away in embarrassment.

It was late in the day when they were coming back, the waters of the lake shimmering brightly with the light of the setting sun. Before they reached their home Kirito jumped out of Asuna's arms and almost fell flat on his face as he was surprised by the distance to the ground. He'd kept shrinking since leaving the labyrinth, and now he was another six inches shorter. The top of his head didn't even come up to Asuna's breasts now, as he saw when he looked up at her in awe, really understanding for the first time what it would mean for him to keep shrinking smaller. Even someone as slender as Asuna already seemed like a towering amazon to him, easily strong enough to knock him out in a single blow. It made his gut roil to think of how gigantic she would look if he ended up shorter than her knees.

“You okay, Kirito?” she asked mischievously once she saw his stunned expression, walking right up to him so he had to crane his head back to see her face. She looked so big and intimidating with that grin she wore that Kirito couldn't help but take a step back. “What's wrong? Scared I'll do something to you out here?” She reached over and patted his head. “Come on, let's go say hi to Yui. I'm sure she'll be happy when she sees how small you are.”

Yui. That's right. Kirito hadn't even thought about how big she would be compared to him now. He probably wouldn't even reach her chin.

Sure enough, when they were back in their home a minute later and Yui was rushing over to greet them, the both of them stopped in their tracks as soon as they saw each other, taking in how much things had changed between them. Yui's “daddy” barely reached her shoulders now, and she looked like almost as much of an amazon as Asuna did. Grinning, she walked right up to Kirito until she was looking down at him and he up at her. “Hi, daddy!” she said, draping her arms over his shoulders and pulling him closer with her hands at his back until he was hugged right up against her, unable to step away until she let him go. “How did your grinding go? Did you beat all those big bad monsters by yourself, or did mommy have to rescue you?”

“Well, I did beat most of them by myself...” he muttered, hoping Asuna wouldn't say anything.

“Oh, sure, he beat most of them, until he got too short and almost got eaten by a pack of wolves.” Kirito frowned at Asuna, upset that she'd revealed his failure, but as soon as she met his eyes he looked away submissively.

“Yeah, well, I probably could've beat them all still if I just remembered to grab a stamina potion first. Even at the end they weren't that tough, I was just getting tired, and anyway I only wanted to spend a couple hours grinding so it's not like I cut the session short because of it. I would've kept going if I'd wanted to.” He tried to sound as strong and confident as he could, but Yui and Asuna giggled all the same.

He got upset but he didn't say anything about it. He didn't dare, not when they were both so much bigger than him. Simply being here with his back to the wall and the both of them standing in front of him already had him feeling cornered. Maybe Asuna noticed it, though, because right after that she stepped back and pulled Yui away. “Alright, let's give Daddy some time to rest. Come here, Yui; why don't you help me make some food for us?”

Kirito breathed a sigh of relief when they left him alone. Not that he was relieved for long. Even simply looking around at his home and seeing how huge everything was reminded him that he was going to spend a lot of time being really small and vulnerable. Despite their teasing, he was glad to have Yui and Asuna around to take care of him, or else who knew if he'd survive until the day of the raid. “I wonder if everyone else who signed up also has people to take care of them.”

The rest of the day went by fairly normal, without too much teasing . It was getting late and he was still tired from all that grinding so he decided to go to bed right after dinner, bidding the others good night.

He still hadn't fallen asleep when Asuna came in. By then he was down to half his normal height, so she looked positively gigantic to him. She quietly stripped off her clothes and put them away, until she wore only her underwear. Then, standing in front of the window, her beautiful figure outlined by the moonlight filtered through the white curtains, she turned to Kirito and smiled.

Normally Kirito's first thought would have been about how beautiful she was, but now, the first thing he noticed was how tall she looked to him. And to think he hadn't finished shrinking yet. How big would she be when he did? Would he really end up as small as her toes?

He was a bit nervous as she walked around to the other side of the bed and climbed on, her huge body making everything move. She lay down next to him, a big and terrifying presence. Even with his back turned to her he could feel her amusement, and tried to push it out of his mind. But then her hand fell on his chest and pulled him closer, until he was pressed against her.

“Why are you sleeping all the way over there?” she murmured. “It's way more comfortable here with me~.” Holding him close with both hands, she rolled onto her back and lifted him up along with her so that he lay atop her body, his head resting on her chest and his feet down on her lap. Her hands covered his chest and stomach, and the warmth of her body blanketed him all over. She laughed softly. “Good night, Kirito~.”

“G-good night,” he said. He lay stiffly on her at first, but after a while, when she was fast asleep and he could feel the gentle rhythm of her breathing beneath him, he started relaxing and before long fell asleep on her.

Kirito shrank even more as he slept, and by the next morning he was no more than half Yui's height. “Daddy you're so small!” she exclaimed as soon as he appeared, and hurried over for a better look. She was so huge and her steps so loud that Kirito had to resist the urge to run away from her. “Isn't daddy the cutest?” Yui said, laughing as she patted Kirito's head.

“He is!” Asuna joined her in mussing up his hair, the both of them moving his head back and forth with their hands until he pushed them away.

Greatly annoyed, Kirito tried to compose himself and act like everything was still normal. If he didn't take charge of the situation now, things would only get worse for him as they treated him more and more like a little kid, or worse, like a pet.

“Ahem! Yes, I'm a bit smaller, but I shouldn't have to remind you that I'm still your dad and your husband, and you need to pay me the same respect as before. Let's quit playing around and go have breakfast as a family, okay?”

“He-he! His voice sounds so squeaky now!” Yui said, completely ignoring everything he'd said to pet him again.

Getting really annoyed now, Kirito pushed her hand away with much effort. “Hey! Didn't you hear me? I told you to quit playing around. Asuna, help me out here, will you?”

“Oh, Kirito, don't be so grumpy! We're just curious about how small you've gotten. No need to make such a big deal about it.”

“Mom, let's compare our size! I want to see just how small daddy is!” Yui held Kirito by the shoulders and slowly pulled him closer. Kirito tried to move away, but suddenly he felt a wall behind him and when he looked around he saw that Asuna was standing there, with her legs keeping him from getting away. Then Yui stepped up to him, and he found himself pinned between their bodies. “Look! Daddy's barely as tall as my hips now!”

“And he's not even as tall as my legs! I bet he could even fit between them,” said Asuna. The both of them giggled while he tried in vain to escape their bodies, until finally Yui stepped back and he burst out of the cage of legs.

“Okay, that's enough!” Kirito said with a sigh. “If you two won't respect me then I'm going out by myself! I just hope you won't be so childish about my height when I get back.”

“Whoa, whoa, hold it young man!” Before he could reach the door, Asuna stepped in front of it, blocking his path. He tried to walk past her, but she moved to cut him off each time. When he tried to surprise her by ducking between her legs, she pressed her thighs together and trapped him. “Nice try, Kirito, but there's no way you're getting past me at that size. You're really in no condition to fight anything right now. Didn't you learn after yesterday that it's too dangerous?”

“T-that was just a mistake on my part! I should have brought more supplies when I went. Now I have my inventory packed with all the supplies I could ever need. I don't need you to come along with me this time, but I'll allow it as long as you show me the respect I deserve. And... let go of me already!” He tried to squeeze out of her legs, tried to push them both apart, but they were so much stronger than him.

“Pfft! If you can't even manage to defeat my legs, how do you think you're going to beat any monsters out there? Face it, Kirito, you couldn't fight against anything stronger than a slime!”

“What are you talking about? I can totally beat your legs! Just... let me grab my swords and I'll show you!”

“You're talking an awfully big game for such a short little guy. You really think you can beat me?”

“Easily! I checked my stats and they're not even that low yet.”

“How about we make a deal, then? If you manage to win, I'll go with you to fight more monsters. But if you lose, then you'll have to do all your training here at home and do anything that Yui and I ask for until you grow back!”

“Deal!” Kirito said, and he stumbled and fell over as he was suddenly let go. Yui and Asuna both giggled over him like they were laughing at their pet dog who did something silly. His face was flush with indignation when he stood up and wiped down his coat with as much bearing as he could muster, storming out of the house to the clearing outside where he and Asuna sometimes practiced their skills. There he stood on the well-trod ground, swords in hand as he waited for Asuna to come challenge him.

But Asuna still stood atop the steps to the house's entrance, looking thoughtfully at him and at Yui. “Actually... I think I have someone else who would make a fairer challenge for you. Yui, why don't you go up and fight your father?”

“Should I really? I don't want to hurt him.”

“What do you mean you don't want to hurt me? I'm the one who should be saying that about you! Come on, Asuna, I don't need this pity. I can take you on just fine.”

“It's alright, Yui, you don't have to hurt him at all. Just pin him to the ground so he'll admit he lost.”

“Are you even listening to me?” Kirito shouted at them. “Oh, fine, whatever. Let Yui come down if she wants.”

“Okay! Here I come!” Yui bounded playfully down the steps and skipped along until she was standing across from Kirito. “Daddy, I want you to have a fair chance, so I'm going to give you five minutes to try and beat me. If you can't, then I'll have to beat you with my legs alone.”

“What? No, I'm the one who's going easy on... Oh, forget it. Let's just get this over so I can go practice.”

Asuna walked to the side of their battleground and raised a hand straight up. “Ready, fighters? Go!” she announced, bringing her arm quickly down.

Kirito jogged over to Yui without any great rush. He didn't care for the thought of her going easy on him, but at least if she wasn't going to resist then he could win this “battle” quickly and go do something more useful with his time. Once he stood beside her, he crouched and held her by her left calf, pulling on it to try and knock her down. His stats were much reduced, only about 40% of what they'd been before he put on that stupid ring, but since Yui had such a low combat level, he figured it still wouldn't be an issue to knock her down and pin her.

Yet, when he tugged on Yui's leg, it didn't even as budge an inch. She wasn't doing anything special to keep her balance—as far as she could tell she was just standing like normal, with hands clasped behind her back and a look of amusement on her. Maybe he just didn't have a good leverage point? He shifted his feet and then tried again, but when Yui pulled her leg back a bit he was launched towards it and hit his head on her knee. “He-he-he!” she snickered, so clearly amused at him.

Kirito stood up, rubbing his head. He didn't understand; he should have been strong enough to defeat her easily. What was going on? He pulled up his character screen, but the stats it showed weren't even one percent lower than they had been when last he checked them. And as for Yui's stats...

“What the!?”

Kirito was shocked when his scan of her came up. Her stats were some six times higher than they should have been! He found the same thing after scanning Asuna. How was this possible? Did they both suddenly become way stronger? No, that didn't make any sense. It must have something to do with his shrinking. Maybe more of that weird spaghetti code the developers used to implement this gimmick. His real stats must be way lower than he'd thought, but instead of showing it correctly, the game was making it look like everyone else had gotten stronger.

“Are you getting cold feet, Kirito?” Asuna asked, grinning as she saw his shocked expression.

Kirito looked back at Yui. Her stats were so high that even with his swords he wasn't sure he could damage her. And the immense discrepancy between them was only increasing the longer he waited. At the same time, he didn't want to hurt her by accident, so when he ran at her to attack he started fighting with just his fists to make sure it was safe. Yui only laughed; she wasn't taking any damage from him. Kirito then drew one sword and tried out some simple attacks. Still nothing. He pulled out his other sword and kept intensifying his attacks, throwing swing after swing at Yui's legs, whose defense stat rendered all of it useless.

Time was running out and Kirito grew desperate. With nothing else to lose, he pulled both of his swords back and swung them at Yui's legs with a fierce battle cry. But as soon as they struck, there was a loud SNAP as one of them broke in half, leaving him staring wide-eyed at the blade clattering on the ground while his fingers still gripped the broken hilt.

“Okay, that's five minutes. Yui, why don't you finish things up?”

Yui giggled and swiftly raised her knee, hitting Kirito squarely in the chest and knocking him right off balance. He fell on his back, and moved to get up, but a heavy weight fell on his chest and pushed him firmly down. “That was easy! You're sooo weak now, daddy.”

Kirito grunted as he tried to wrest her foot off of him, but it was way too strong for that. At about a third of his size, it was big enough to cover his whole torso. He could feel the soft flesh of her sole warp against his body while it pressed down on him, and his hands sank into it when he tried to push it away. “Yui, get off of me,” he finally said to her when he realized he'd never get out on his own.

“Don't worry, daddy, I'll let you go! Just as soon as you admit you're weaker than my foot!”

Kirito grimaced. She really had beaten him with just her foot, hadn't she? “I... I only lost because I was holding back. My character screen wasn't telling me my real stats and I didn't know how strong you were until I scanned you. If I knew from the beginning I could have gone all out and beaten you with the right strategy.”

“Silly daddy! Quit making excuses and just admit you lost to my foot!” Yui pressed down with more of her weight, and Kirito redoubled his efforts to escape.

“L-let me go! You already know I'm weak so why do you need me to admit anything?”

“Your daddy's too stubborn to admit he lost, Yui. Why don't you ask him to do something else for you instead?” Asuna suggested, leaning over to get a good look at his struggles.

“Hmm. Oh, I know!” Yui moved her foot forward, until her big toe was resting on top of Kirito's chin. The thing was huge now, easily big enough to cover his cheek. “I'll let you go right after you kiss my toe, daddy!”

“W-what!? There's no way I'm doing that! Just... get your foot off of me already! P-please?”

“First a kiss. Then you can go.” Yui's tone was more a command than a request. She spoke like she was talking to a dog, not her own father. The last thing Kirito wanted to do was to kiss her toe. It was the most humiliating thing he could think of. But he couldn't fight back against her foot and he was only getting weaker the longer he struggled.

“Alright, I'll do it. Here, you see?” With his lips puckered, he leaned a little bit forward and touched his lips to the bottom of Yui's big toe and gave them a quick peck. “There. Now will you let me go?”

“Come on, Kirito, that wasn't a real kiss! Our daughter deserves better than that.”

Kirito grimaced, but with Yui's toes wiggling over his face, he closed his eyes and went in again, this time keeping his lips on her toe for a second and pulling them away with an audible “Mwah!” He had never been so humiliated in his life, and he shuddered as he moved his lips away, feeling as if something big had shifted between him and Yui. Going by how she grinned at him, she felt it too.

“Good, daddy,” she said—or, was it “Good daddy”?—and moved her foot off of him at last, letting him stand up and wipe the dusty footprint that she had left on his chest.

“I'm glad you're learning where your new place is, Kirito.” Asuna spoke like she was lecturing him, but she seemed more amused than anything. “You're weak and tiny, and you're only going to get weaker until this is over. Yui and I will take care of you, but you have to be good and do whatever we say, and remember it's all for your sake so try not to complain about it, okay?”

“Yeah, I get it; just don't rub it in so much.”

“Who's rubbing it in? I'm just telling you the truth. You're weaker than our daughter's foot now, so there's no way you can go training on your own. But I know you still want to practice for your big battle, so I have a compromise for you. Instead of going out to fight monsters, you can practice your attacks on the training dummy, or try fighting Yui again to practice dodging. Now, I'm going out to buy some supplies. Yui, stay here with Kirito and make sure he doesn't get in trouble, okay?”

“Okay, mom!”

“Bye, Asuna.”

Asuna waved them both good-bye. While she was gone, Kirito occupied himself with the training dummy, practicing all of his moves on it with Yui watching him. He thought it would help him take his mind off of everything, and at first it did help, but then he noticed that the numbers saying how much damage he dealt kept getting smaller and smaller as he kept on shrinking. After a while he stopped to let his stamina recharge and looked at his ring, frowning. “This is ridiculous! There's no way anyone thought an event like this was a good idea,” he thought to himself. “How much smaller am I going to get? Will I really end up as small as Yui and Asuna's toes?”

He glanced at Yui, who was still sitting on the steps to the entrance. As if she could read his thoughts, when she saw him looking over she stretched out her legs and wiggled her toes, grinning smugly at him all the while. The gesture made his face go white, and he quickly turned back to the training dummy, which itself was already a giant next to him. Hardening his grip on his one remaining sword, he launched himself at it in a savage frenzy, throwing out swing after swing, with as much ferocity as if it was his own fear and insignificance he was beating down.

He kept at it for a few hours, succeeding at least for a little while in distracting himself. He only stopped when Asuna got back with the supplies and announced she'd be making lunch. “Why don't you come in and get cleaned up, Kirito?” Putting his sword away, he left the dummy behind and went to lie down on the couch and rest. Once he was feeling better, though, his stomach started growling and he went to see if the food was ready yet.

He entered the kitchen standing just two feet tall and stopped right behind Yui and Asuna, staring up at them both. His head only reached about halfway up their thighs now, and each of their legs was nearly as thick as his torso. It wouldn't be much longer before he reached no higher than their knees—probably by tonight.

Yui and Asuna were both busy, with Asuna helping Yui to slice up some carrots for the stew, and neither of them had noticed him yet, which helped drive home just how far beneath them he already was. They only realized he was there when Asuna turned to get something from the table and almost tripped on him. “Kirito! Watch where you're standing!”

Kirito lay on the ground after her knee had hit him right in the chest. “Sorry. I was just coming to ask if the food was ready yet.” He took Asuna's hand that she offered him and got up.

“Ours isn't, but yours is.”

“What do you mean? Aren't we all eating the same thing?”

“Oh, no, with how small you are there's no way you could eat with us. I mean, look at you: you're as small as a baby! You probably couldn't handle regular food. You'll have to eat something softer today.”

“That's ridiculous! Anything you can eat, I can eat too!”

“Hush, Kirito. Go sit down and don't make any more noise. Remember that this is all for your own good. Here; eat.” Asuna grabbed a plate and set it down on the table, pulling back a chair for Kirito to sit at. Grumbling, he went over and with some effort climbed on it. He had to stand on the seat just to see over the edge of the table, and while he stood there Asuna pushed the chair forward so that he could reach his plate. He saw there was nothing in it but a pile of mashed potatoes.

“Are you serious? This is all I get?”

“If you're still hungry when you finish I can give you something else. For now, just eat.” Asuna went back to the stove and left him mulling over his meal. He grabbed the spoon. It was the smallest one Asuna could find, but even so it felt unwieldy in his hand, as big and heavy as an axe. He tried to wield it to scoop up some mashed potatoes, but he couldn't do it comfortably from where he stood. In the end he had to climb on the table and sit cross-legged right by the plate, holding the spoon by its neck to scoop up his meal. Worst of all, he could hear Yui and Asuna snickering behind him while he ate.

He finished just as they were coming to sit at the table with him, and left before they could tease him any more. “Where are you going?” Asuna asked. “Not outside to train, right?”

“Just taking a little nap,” he muttered, and went to lie down again. After lunch, Asuna and Yui came to the living room and found him still fast asleep. They giggled softly among themselves, then when Asuna whispered something into her ear, Yui went and tiptoed until she stood in front of the couch, with her back turned to Kirito. She looked at him over her shoulder, aiming herself properly, and slowly lowered herself until her weight came to rest on his body, her butt covering everything but his head and his feet.

Kirito awoke with a cry and tried to wriggle free from this huge white thing that had him pinned down. It wasn't until a few seconds later that he heard Yui's laughter and realized what was happening. “You don't mind me sitting on your lap today, do you daddy?” she asked him, wiggling her butt on him to make herself comfortable.

“Y-Yui, please... you're too heavy...” As always, he was powerless against her. He only got out when she finally let him go, scooting off of him to the side. Then he stood and leaned against the back of the couch while he caught his breath. “I swear, if you two keep this up, I might not make it to the raid boss at all.”

“Oh, don't be that way! We were just joking, isn't that right, Yui?”

“Ugh, whatever. I'm going out for a walk now. See you later.”

“If you're going outside, you have to go with Yui. You can't take care of yourself, and we wouldn't want anything bad happening to you out there.”

“I can handle myself fine! I don't need Yui's or anyone else's help.” Kirito said resolutely and marched towards the door. He tried to ignore that Yui and Asuna were both following him, but he realized that he could feel the floor shaking with their footsteps. “Well, it's a wooden floor, so it's normal for it to shake,” he thought, but he couldn't remember it ever shaking this much, or their footsteps being this loud.

Still, he tried to ignore that and focus on his purpose. But when he reached the door, he realized he had a problem. The doorknob, it turned out, was too high for him to reach. He hopped up a few times, batting it with his hand. When that didn't work, he jumped and grabbed it in both hands thinking he could make it turn, but he just ended up dangling uselessly from the handle while Yui and Asuna both stifled their laughter.

“Yui, help Kirito out, will you?” said Asuna.

“Here, daddy.” Yui held Kirito by the armpit and lowered him back down, then turned the knob by herself and opened the door, now walking out in front of him. Kirito glanced back at Asuna, winced at her smug grin, then went outside in defeat. He had wanted to some time away from the others, but apparently that was too much to ask at his size. Instead he trailed after Yui while she teased him the whole time. “Hurry up, daddy! You're falling way too far behind!” she told him more than once. Even so, she didn't slow down for him at all, as if to prove how much more capable than him she was. He had to jog just to keep pace with her, and he couldn't keep it up for long. He had to take a lot of breaks, which Yui loved teasing him about even more.

By the time they got back, he didn't think he would ever want to go for a walk again. While Yui held the door open for him, he plodded inside on leaden legs, tried climbing on the couch, and when he couldn't do it, collapsed on the floor instead.

Hearing them come in, Asuna came over to greet them. “Did you two have a nice walk outside?” she asked.

“I did, but daddy was too slow and I kept having to stop for him.”

“Well, it was nice of you to give him time to catch up. Remember that your daddy's smaller than you now, so we have to take care of him together. You did a good job, Yui. Now go get washed up, okay?”

As Yui left, Asuna walked to the couch, where she picked Kirito up and sat him against the armrest on one end. He was too tired to object or even speak, and just took the time to relax on the soft cushion. But suddenly two heavy weights landed on his lap and he sat up with a start to find himself face to face with a giant pair of soles. Each was as long as his whole upper body, with their toes rising slightly higher than his head. Looking past those splayed digits, he saw Asuna's face peering down at him from the other end of the couch. “I'm sooo glad you're back now, Kirito,” she said with a curl of her toes. “My feet have been killing me after working so much around the house. I could really go for a foot massage right now.”

Kirito was no stranger to giving her foot rubs, but he wasn't in the mood at all. He sank his hands into her dirty soles trying to push them off. “Can't you ask Yui to do it instead?”

“Massaging a woman's feet is a job for her husband. Besides, I like your dainty little hands feel so much better on my sole. But if you're too tired, I'll just have to take care of it myself.” Suddenly her foot rushed forward, leaving Kirito smothered between her sole and the armrest.

Kirito tried yelling at her to stop, but her second toe covered his mouth completely and when he opened it he just got the taste of dirt and sweat. “Ahh, that feels so good!” Asuna moved her foot from side to side over the armrest, and dragged Kirito along with her sole. “What about you? I bet being rubbed under my big soft sole feels like a massage over your whole body. Do you want me to go on?”

“Please don't.” Kirito said as soon as she moved her toe off his face. “I'll rub your foot if that's what you want.”

“Then get to it!” Again Asuna presented her soles to him, and with a sigh Kirito pressed his hands into the left one and started rubbing. Her sole was dirty from going barefoot all day, but at least it wasn't sweaty, he thought. He started working around her heel, rubbing away many specks of dirt that covered it, and little by little worked his way up her foot.

Before long, Asuna tapped on his face with a toe. “Rub a little harder, Kirito.” Scowling, he pressed his hands deep into her flesh, digging all the way down to massage her foot muscles. “Ahhh~! There you go!” With his tiny hands rubbing at the source of her tension, her feet started moving in response to his touch, soles suddenly stretching or scrunching, sometimes leaning forward in pleasure to smother him again. This kept going until all the tension had left her feet, then they just lay softly on his lap to receive his massage.

“This is perfect! I wish I could keep you this size forever so you could rub my feet like this every day~.” Kirito grunted. “Hey, don't act all upset! I know you like rubbing my feet.” Usually that was true, but not today. Those two walls of flesh resting on his legs had him intimidated, as he couldn't help thinking that they might soon become even bigger for him. The ring was still on his hand, which meant he wasn't finished shrinking yet. It might end tonight, or tomorrow morning, but if it kept going past that, he feared that by this time tomorrow he would already be smaller than either one of these two feet, and who knew how much smaller he would end up after that. By the end of it, even her toes might look gigantic.

Still, as time went by, and especially after Asuna lay back and stopped teasing him, Kirito started to feel it wasn't so bad. In fact, it was almost relaxing working on Asuna's soles. Once he had brushed off most of the dust, they were as soft as warm as ever. It was nice having them on his lap, and feeling their warmth radiating over his body. Even the smell was alright, if a bit stronger than he would have liked. It was so soothing that he soon started getting sleepy, and then he just slumped forward and rested his body on Asuna's sole. He had almost fallen asleep when his bed was snatched from him and he jolted up to find Asuna looking at him.

“Kirito, were you just hugging my foot? My, do you really like it that much~?”

“N-no! I wasn't hugging it, I just fell asleep on it. I mean, I didn't fall asleep because I liked it, just because I was so tired after the walk and your foot rub. I don't like your feet at all! In fact, I don't like any feet!” He was so adamant on not liking her feet, and yet he started blushing all over when she wiggled her toes in front of his face.

“Are you sure? Maybe you always liked big feet but you never knew because you hadn't seen any until now. Or maybe you only signed up for this event because you secretly always wanted to be all tiny at my feet. Now I can help make your dream come true~.” She crossed one leg over the other and moved her feet to his side, posing and moving them seductively.

Kirito dusted himself off and turned sharply away from them. “Thanks but no thanks. I honestly don't want anything more to do with your feet. Now, I think I'll go change into something more comfortable for tonight.”

“Whatever you say, Kirito. But remember, if you get much smaller you'll be spending a lot of time at our feet, so you'd better get used to them soon!” Her soft chuckles followed Kirito as he went away—even jogging he couldn't escape them. She was right, he knew, but that wouldn't have bothered him so much if he hadn't been enjoying her feet so much just now. That feeling he got when he was rubbing them... it had to be an effect of the ring. There was no way he would ever feel this way otherwise. Whatever happened these next two days, he had to resist those feelings, or who knew how much of his pride would remain by the end of this.

“Glad you're finally awake, Kirito,” Asuna said when he came into the living room. She and Yui both went to greet him, or rather, to loom over him and see how small he had gotten overnight. By now he was no taller than Yui's knees, and the girls to him seemed bigger than ever—giants over twenty feet tall, who would only grow bigger as the ring's persistence announced he still had further to shrink. “Yui and I were just talking about you. We think you should come with us to the beach today.”

“You're going to the beach? That's... wait, why should I have to go? You already know I have the raid to prepare for. I can't be wasting any time on useless things like a trip to the beach.”

“I don't know why you're so worried about that fight. You're one of the best players at this game, and all the practice in the world won't make much of a difference. No, you're coming with us and that's that!” A stomp of her foot marked the finality of her decision and shook the floor so hard that Kirito thought he might fall over. The sheer force of its impact left a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. Her legs and Yui's were bigger than him by far now, like a quartet of pale pillars holding their titanic figures aloft. His mouth went dry as he beheld how far above their faces loomed. But he licked his lips and tried to speak like it didn't affect him.

“And why should I go with you? You can't order me around.”

“Did you forget already? That was part of our bet when you fought Yui. We agreed if you lost you would stop going out to train and you would do anything we said. You're not going back on your word now, are you?”

Kirito grimaced; that part of the deal had slipped his mind until now. He couldn't go back on it, especially not when Asuna and Yui were more than capable of punishing him for it, but... “I... don't want anyone else to see me like this.”

“Don't worry, there won't be anyone else at the beach. It's a secret spot only I know about.”

“Fine,” he sighed. “I'll go. But if there's anyone else there we're coming back right away.”

“Deal! Now go fetch my swimsuit.”

“And mine too!” Yui added.

“Huh? Why can't you get them yourselves? It'd be way faster.”

“Because it's more fun if we get to watch you trying to carry them here! Oh, and get our sandals too while you're at it,” Asuna said.

Kirito gritted his teeth, but he went for their swimsuits all the same, pulling open their drawers one by one and climbing from one to the next until he found them and pulled them out. One by one he brought them over, holding the bulky things in his arms and almost stumbling over them on his way back to the living room. Yui's one-piece swimsuit was the hardest one, while Asuna's red-and-white two-piece was a piece of cake by comparison. Their sandals he had to lug around, grabbing them by the toe strap and pulling them after him one by one to lay them down at their feet while they giggled over him.

“Good job, Kirito. Now, put them on me.” Asuna held out her foot to him, her toes splayed as they awaited her sandals. Muttering under his breath, he hoisted the sandal up by the front end and carried it to Asuna's foot, but the thing was so heavy and unwieldy, and his arms so tired after carrying everything here, that he couldn't aim it right and ended up putting the toe strap between the wrong pair of toes. “Tsk. Is that the best you can do? I guess I can't expect any better from you like this.” Lowering her foot again, she readjusted the sandal to put it on correctly and slipped her foot into the other one as well, making a mockery of all Kirito's efforts to get it on her foot at all. Yui put hers on too, and then both of them stood over Kirito. “Here, get in.” Asuna set a big tote bag down in front of him.

“No, I can walk,” he said.

“Still so prideful.” Asuna shook her head. “Remember how tired you were when you got back from your walk with Yui? You can't keep up with us anymore. Just get inside, Kirito. There's a snack for you in there, too. You're hungry, aren't you? Besides, if we meet anyone else you can hide in there so they don't see you.”

Kirito climbed into the bag without saying another word. Once he was sitting inside and only his head stuck out, Asuna slung it over her shoulder and left with Yui. Once they were out, Kirito ducked inside. He dug around a bit and found the snack Asuna had mentioned, a very small slice of a sandwich in paper wrap, which he ate on the way to the beach.

It was a short and uneventful trip. Never once did he so much as hear anyone else pass by. When they finally arrived a half hour later and Asuna set down her bag, telling him the coast was clear, he stuck out his head for a quick look around outside, then climbed out of the bag.

Asuna and Yui, already in their swimsuits after having switched outfits in their inventory, stood over him taking in the sun. Even though their size unsettled him, he had to admit they looked gorgeous, like a pair of monuments to youthful beauty. If anything, their size made them even more beautiful even as it made them scarier. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

After he had changing into his swim trunks, Kirito joined them in taking in the landscape. From what he could see they were on a small island that Asuna must have fast-traveled them to. There were some palm trees behind them, but other than that it looked completely deserted. The sand was clean and white, the water a pristine blue, and the virtual sun was shining brightly on everything. It was a beautiful place to spend the day. Just looking at it he forgot about his intention to find a way to practice for the raid boss here and decided he would spend the day relaxing here. After all the teasing and humiliation he'd had to put up with, he figured he'd earned a break, if only for one day.

Finding a good spot, Yui and Asuna put down a beach umbrella and a couple of towels for themselves, then Asuna reached into her bag and pulled out a small bottle. “Oh, Kirito~” Having walked a bit closer to the water, Kirito now looked over his shoulder at her. “Don't you want any sunscreen? You're going to get a sunburn if you go out like that.”

“Sunscreen? What are you talking about? You can't get sunburnt in the game so why would we need sunscreen?” At least, he'd never heard of anyone getting sunburnt.

Asuna rolled her eyes. “Just come over here and help us put it on.”

Kirito gave a longing glance at the beach before trudging back across the hot sand to Yui and Asuna lying on their towels. While he was coming over, Asuna uncapped the bottle and put it down next to her. “Don't use too much, now; this should be enough for the three of us. Oh, and be sure to get everywhere.”

Kneeling beside it, Kirito squeezed out a handful of lotion and started applying it to Asuna's thigh, dabbing it on and then rubbing it all over until he had run out. Then he went for more and rubbed it on the next part of her body, over and over again, trying to cover every inch of her skin as she made sure to remind him constantly. Then when he'd covered her front and sides, she rolled over so he could do her back as well. It wasn't hard at all, but it was tiresome having to cover her whole thirty-foot body by himself, all because of that silly bet he'd made the other day.

It also reminded him again of the sheer size discrepancy between them. When he climbed on her to apply the lotion to her back or her belly, he could feel it more than ever. He could sense how much she was enjoying the attention, too. “That's a good boy,” she cooed every now and then, moaning softly as she enjoyed his hands servicing her body. And, for some reason, Kirito didn't mind that she was treating him almost like a pet or a servant instead of her husband. He had always liked her body, and now that he was less than a quarter of her size, it meant there was so much more of it for him to enjoy. But beyond that, there was also an almost religious sense of awe at serving a being so much bigger and stronger than himself.

Ah! But he shouldn't be feeling like this! He was Asuna's equal and he had to remember that. Even if he couldn't help being humiliated and treated like a dog, that didn't mean he had to start liking it.

He held his thoughts under control while he finished applying the sunscreen to all of Asuna's body, then wiped his hands and started heading for the ocean.

“Hang on, Kirito! You forgot about me.”

“Kirito?” He turned to Yui. “Why 'Kirito'? Shouldn't you call me 'dad' or 'daddy'?”

“He-he! Don't be silly! You can't be my dad if you're only as tall as my knee!” Kirito winced at the sound of her laughter, but he couldn't find fault in what she said. Meekly he stood beside her and covered her arms and legs with sunscreen, knowing she was smirking at him all the while, knowing that he just had to keep working and take the humiliation.

“There, I'm done,” he said once he finished with her arms, and turned to leave without another word. But Yui's fingers wrapped around his waist before he could take more than a few steps, and they lifted him up and turned him back towards her. She was sitting now as she held him in the air. Kirito tried to pry her fingers off of him, but even with minimal effort she easily kept her grip.

“Not so fast! We still need to put sunscreen on you.” Bringing the bottle over him, she squeezed out some of the lotion on his chest, then pressed her thumb on it and started rubbing it over his skin. Her powerful thumb slid easily over his body, going up and down his chest and back. “Quit squirming around!” she said sternly as she pinched his arm between her fingers and slathered sunscreen all over it. “You're being disobedient right now. Do you want me to have to punish you?”

“Asuna? A little help?” he said, but Asuna was sitting back and enjoying his humiliation as much as Yui was.

“Just give up and this will all be over quicker, Kirito.”

“Ugh, fine. Let's be done with this.” He stopped resisting, letting Yui move his body as she pleased to apply the sunscreen. But she hadn't finished doing that when she started playing with him instead, moving his limbs just to see how easily she could. “Yui, what are you doing?” he asked, a bit nervously, as he was turned over in her hand.

“He-he! You're sooo small and weak now, holding you is just like holding a little doll. You said when you started shrinking I could play with you when you got small enough, remember?”

“A-as long as you're careful.” With how easily she was moving his arms and legs, he was scared of what else she might do to him. He wanted to get away, but if he started resisting now she might break his limbs by mistake, and besides, he knew there was no way he could escape even if he tried.

Turning him around again, Yui saw all his fear showing on his face, and she smirked, snickering smugly at his weakness. Finally she finished applying sunscreen to his legs. “There, all done. Now let's go for a dip!” She stood with Kirito still in hand and headed for the ocean, leaving her sandals at the water's edge.

“Be careful with him, Yui! You know how helpless he is. Make sure he doesn't get too far away from you,” Asuna told her.

“Okay, mom!” Yui splashed cheerfully into the water, walking in beyond the shore, deeper and deeper, until salt water covered her up to her waist.

“H-hang on a second! You can't bring me in this deep!” Kirito shouted as he looked down from her hand and saw how much water was below him, rushing back and forth with the tide. If he fell in here, he wasn't sure he could swim back to shore, though it was only several yards away.

“Don't be scared, Kirito; I'll keep you safe.” So she said, but right after that she let go of him and dropped him in the water. Falling in with a cry and a splash, Kirito started kicking and flailing his arms. He was pulled a few feet away by the tides before he could get a handle on things away, and he swam towards Yui, struggling to keep his head above water as he bobbed up and down with the “giant” waves. “See? It's not so bad.”

After a while Kirito finally made it to her, and as soon as his hands met her body he clung to it, pulling himself towards her and clinging to her like a koala to a tree. He climbed up her torso, holding tight to her swimsuit, until everything but his legs was out of the water, then held on, shivering, and let her body warmth remediate the water's coolness.

“He-he! Are you really that scared of the ocean? You're such a little baby.” Yui stroked his back like she was trying to soothe a frightened animal. Much as Kirito disliked it, he had to admit that it worked. It was so soothing to know that he had someone big and strong around to take care of him, and he shamelessly held on to her until Asuna joined them in the water.

“Are you two having fun?” she asked. Kirito knew she was probably laughing at him inside, but he didn't dare let go. “What's wrong? Are you really that scared of the water, Kirito? Or are you that attached to Yui?” She moved close to her daughter, and soon Kirito was pinned between her hips and Yui's waist. He tried to push her back at first but soon gave up, understanding that he couldn't hope to stand against the might of their bodies. Like a meek little kitten he let them have their way with him, submitting to the unassailable pressure.

They smothered him between their bodies until Yui stepped away from Asuna. “Alright, Kirito, let's get you away from the big scary ocean,” she teased while petting him. She waded closer to the shore, and brushed Kirito off her waist where the water only reached halfway up her knee. The shrunken Kirito gave a yelp as he fell into the water and frantically tried to stand up. Though the water only came up to his chest, the tides were still too strong for him and would have swept him away had he not grabbed Yui's leg. “Hmm? What's this? Can't even handle a few inches of water by yourself? He-he-he! So weak~! Don't worry, I'll help you out just like you helped me when you were the bigger one.” With Kirito still wrapped around her leg, Yui took a few steps closer to land.

Kirito finally let go when the water only came up to his knees. His heart was still pounding in fear, and he was ashamed to note that he still didn't want to leave Yui's side. He felt so vulnerable staying all alone, and so much safer when he was with her and Asuna, even if they did spend all day teasing and bullying him. But he let go all the same when Yui brushed him off, and watched her turn back to Asuna. “Try not to get in trouble, okay? I don't want to have to come rescue you every few minutes,” she said to him as her long and powerful legs carried her into deeper waters.

With Yui and Asuna so far away and busy with their own fun, the beach all of a sudden felt way too big. For a while Kirito tried to distract himself by playing in the shallow waves, but the water was still too scary for him, and after a while he retreated towards their bags, where with a lot of effort he dragged a towel into the sun and lay down on it, thinking to dry off and take a nap until the girls came back.

He started to wake up when he heard their voices coming closer, and slowly blinked open his eyes until he could make out their towering bodies trudging towards him. He waved at them, but they both ignored him, and even when they were both standing over him they didn't even glance at him. Asuna was telling Yui about her life in the real world, her family and friends, things she and Kirito had both shared many times with each other, and they were both totally engrossed in the conversation. They would probably talk for a long time yet.

Kirito sat up and stretched, then turned to Asuna's bag. He could really go for some water now, so he went over to grab a bottle. But before he could reach them, Asuna leaned down and grabbed both, one for herself and one for Yui. Kirito waited impatiently for them to finish and hand them back down, but even when they finished drinking they still held on to the bottles like they were trying to taunt him. “Yui? Asuna?” he finally said to them, but they just ignored him like before.

Asuna's bottle was hanging by her side, right below her hip. Kirito thought he might be able to grab it with a good jump. He stood under it and, jumping as high as he could, he made a swipe for the bottle, but his hand came a centimeter short and smacked Asuna's thigh instead.

Asuna almost jumped at his touch, and she looked down in surprise at him. “Kirito! What do you think you're doing?”

“I was just trying to...”

“You dirty little pervert! Did you really think I wouldn't notice you trying to touch my thigh just because you're so small?”

“W-what? Asuna, that's not what I...” Kirito's explanation was cut off as Asuna brought her foot to bear on his chest, forcing him to the sandy ground. Her sole came to rest on his tiny body, covering everything from his shoulders down to his knees, and even covering his mouth with her second toe. The pressure was enough to slowly push him deeper into the dirt, and his squirming only helped it along.

“Don't lie to me! Honestly, I don't mind you wanting to touch me, but you could at least wait until we're alone instead of trying to do it in front of Yui. Just because you're as small as a little animal that doesn't mean you can start acting like one. If you have that much energy to work off, you can try rubbing my feet again.”

Kirito managed at last to grab Asuna's toe and push it off his mouth. “Won't you please listen to me!?” he said. “I'm telling you, I wasn't trying to touch you, I was trying to grab the water bottle since I wanted a drink and you weren't giving it back.”

“Kirito, if you really wanted a drink, you should have just asked us for one.”

“I did! But you two didn't–”

“Yui, why don't you give him some of your water?”

Asuna moved her foot off of Kirito and sat down, letting him wriggle out of the sand and dust himself off. At the same tie, Yui knelt beside him and opened her bottle. Kirito waited for her to offer it to him, but instead she cupped her hand and poured some water into it. “Go on, drink!”

Kirito felt it demeaning to have to drink like this, but he knew that complaining wouldn't change anything—if anything they'd just tease him even more if he refused—so he leaned forward and started drinking from her hands like some little pet while she and Asuna giggled.

That wouldn't be the last humiliation of the day, either. The two of them kept on teasing him all the time, treating him less and less like a human and more like some helpless kitten, sitting him down on their laps or bellies while they basked in the virtual sun so he could curl up with them. And the worst part was, Kirito let them do it. He had given up on resisting their teasing, knowing that he was powerless to stop it anyways. What could he possibly do against people who were so big next to him that their legs alone were like huge pillars?

Yui and Asuna alike were already so imposing, and they only became more so as he kept shrinking throughout the day. He had to crane his head so far back just to look at their heads when he stood next to them, and to run so fast just to keep up with their casual gait. When they went for a walk around the beach with Kirito trailing behind them, their footprints were so deep that he had to avoid them or else he might trip on them. When they saw that he was falling behind and started carrying him around, he just accepted it as a necessity, and a part of him was even glad to be in their hands again.

By the time they left the beach, late when the sun was going down, Kirito was only a little taller than Asuna's feet were long. Just being around either of the girls made him feel all small and helpless. He easily fit inside Asuna's bag by then, and only when standing up could he look around outside. Not that he wanted to now when everything and everyone was so dangerous compared to him. It was so scary to think about how weak he must be now that he refused to look at his still-diminishing stats or compare them with Asuna's or Yui's, certain that if he did he would get some terrifying number. He was so relieved when they all got home so he wouldn't have to worry anymore about being captured and beaten by a level 1 slime or some other pathetically weak monster.

The rest of that evening he spent on Yui and Asuna laps, and come nighttime the two of them decided that he would be sleeping with Yui tonight. The girl he'd once called daughter, who now felt more like his master or owner, took him happily to her room, where she sat on her bed and compared his size to hers again. She was thrilled to find that he was now no taller than her foot was long. “Sooooo tiny~!” she said as she held him between her feet, smothering his face under her toes and everything else between her soles. “And you're still shrinking, aren't you? You're going to get even tinier!”

“Y-yeah, well, enjoy it while it lasts. Tomorrow's the raid, and once I finish it I can finally grow back to normal again.”

“But you'll get an item that lets you shrink whenever you want to, right? So just promise you'll shrink and let us play with you again!”

“No way! After how you've treated me, there's no way I'll ever want to be tiny again, especially not with you two.”

“Then I'll have to make the most of it and play with you as much as I can while you're small!” Yui pressed her feet tight together around him and smothered him whole, giggling while she rubbed her feet back and forth around him.

“Ugh! Let go of me already!”

“Promise that you'll shrink for me any time I ask?”

“I'm not going to do that, Yui!”

“Then I'll let you go, but I order you to rub my feet until I fall asleep!” Yui dropped Kirito, straightened out her legs, and rolled over, leaving her bare soles stretched out over the bed. Kirito grumbled but went over to them all the same, kneeling next to her left foot to start massaging it. “No, not like that! You have to be on top of my feet the whole time!” Again he grumbled, but he did as she said. Of course she only wanted him up there so she could tease him more easily, threatening to throw him off balance by moving her foot or her sole, but what could he do? Just bear it and keep working.

Yui laughed as he put all his meager strength into serving her feet, but slowly she relaxed and settled down, until with a yawn it seemed she had fallen asleep. It took Kirito a while to notice it, but when he heard her soft breathing, he realized he could finally stop working. He would have crawled over to her pillow and fallen asleep with her, but he was so tired, and Yui's sole so comfortable, that he collapsed on it and promptly fell asleep right there, and before he knew it he was hugging himself to Yui's toes and nuzzling his face into those big plush digits.

Come dawn the next day, Asuna walked into Yui's room to see how she and Kirito were doing. As soon as she entered it, she smiled as she saw her shrunken husband lying on Yui's feet, all curled up on her soft, pale sole. At the sound of Asuna's footsteps coming closer, Yui woke up and she quietly looked back, first seeing Asuna and then Kirito who was still sound asleep.

This morning he was only half as long as her foot was, having lost most of his remaining size overnight. For a while the both of them just admired how cute he was, and how happy he looked all cuddled up with Yui's feet, but then Yui curled her toes to wake him up. Even then he hardly stirred, and only moved to snuggle up to her sole again, until Yui wiggled her toes and she and Asuna started chuckling.

When he finally opened his eyes and saw what was going on, Kirito blushed red all over, and he hurriedly climbed down from Yui's sole. Her other foot pinned him down before he could leave, though. “Don't be so upset, Kirito,” Asuna chided him good-naturedly. “There's nothing wrong with enjoying your time on Yui's foot. I'm sure it must be nice and soft down there. If I was the same size as you, I wouldn't mind being in your place.”

Kirito sighed. “Could you please let me go, Yui?”

“After you kiss my toes good morning!” Kirito gave a quick peck to the two toes nearest to him, and finally Yui let him go. He scrambled off of her sole and stood at the foot of the bed, looking crossly at her and Asuna. His glare soon softened when he saw how much bigger they'd both gotten overnight, though.

From his perspective they had doubled in size, and now that he stood only some four inches tall it felt like they were both hundred-foot giants. Even from up here on the bed, the big solid wall that was Asuna's body seemed the most impressive thing he'd seen in his life. He was really starting to feel insignificant now, and, judging by the ring still wrapped around his finger, he still had more to shrink before this was over.

Kirito turned around when he felt the bed shake with Yui's movement, and saw the black-haired girl sit upright on her bed, her legs stretched out towards him so that her feet stood to either side of him. When they came together so their big toes touched above him, there was still enough room under them for him to stand upright. “Sooooo tiny,” she cooed again, wiggling her feet over him. When Kirito started to back away from them, she caught him between them and pulled him closer to pick him up. He fit neatly in her hand, most of his body wrapped up tight in her fist while she climbed out of bed and followed Asuna to the kitchen.

As she carried him around, it felt to Kirito as though he were flying at incredible speeds, several stories above the ground, and he held on tight to her fingers for safety.

Yui and Asuna didn't speak to him at all during breakfast. Aside from sitting him on the table and giving him a little plate of food, they mostly just ignored him. It was as if they really did just see him as a pet now. Not that he minded being ignored. He thought it was for the best with how big and scary they both were. Even their voices sounded so powerful to him now, and for that matter the clatter of their spoons against their bowls was also horribly loud.

He wondered if he could maybe run off unseen and find a place to stay by himself until it was time for the raid this afternoon. But perhaps guessing his thoughts, Asuna spoke up before he could put them into action. “Kirito, be sure not to wander off from me and Yui today. You're so small already and still shrinking; who knows how small you'll be by the end of it. You could even end up as small as an ant, and if you get lost at that size it could take to hours find you.”

“Yeah, okay,” he muttered.

After breakfast, Asuna picked him up and she and Yui both went to sit with him on the couch, setting him down between their hips. He felt cornered sitting there, in that tight little corridor between their legs, with the both of them looking down at him. “How did you sleep, Kirito? Were you nice and comfortable last night?” Asuna asked him.

“Are you tired? You can sleep with me again if you want,” said Yui.

“N-no, I'm fine. I don't need any sleep.”

“That's good.” Asuna crossed her legs, putting her other foot right on top of her lap ahead of Kirito. “If you're not sleepy that means you have a lot of energy. You'll need it for your raid today, and also to help me with my feet,”

Kirito resigned himself to his fate. “What do you want me to–” His question was cut off when Asuna grabbed him and dropped him on the floor, then flattened him under her foot.

“Don't worry, you don't have to do anything, Kirito. Well, nothing except for staying under my foot. It's good enough just to feel you stuck under there. But if you want to squirm around, that's even better! I'll even promise to let you go free if you can get escape my feet.” She slid her foot over the floor as she said this, dragging Kirito along and enjoying the sensation of his tiny figure being driven into her sole by the pressure. His tiny limbs were entombed under her foot, his struggles and his words swallowed up by her flesh. There was no part of him that wasn't completely at her mercy, and however hard he tried he couldn't move even a muscle.

When he found the pressure gone, Kirito tried to scurry away, but he moved only an inch before her other foot came down on him. “Too slow, Kirito! You'll have to be faster than that if you want to escape!” Again and again she gave him these little openings only to catch him with her other foot right afterwards, until Kirito stopped trying altogether. “Are you giving up already? That's no fun, Kirito. But I guess I'm making the game too hard for you. How about this, then?” She moved her foot off of him and instead gripped his leg between her toes, telling him to try and escape now. Kirito did everything in his power to escape that pair of toes, but no matter how he tried to wrest his leg free, they proved too strong for him.

“I give up. You win. Now can you please let go of me, Asuna?” he shouted.

“Aww, but I still want to keep playing. Well, I guess I can let you go, but since you admit defeat, I should get a reward from you. I know! I'll let you go it if you promise to lick my feet clean!”

“What!?”

“You don't want to?” Asuna raised her foot, letting him dangle from her toes a few inches above the floor. “Then how about I stick you in my shoe and use you as my insole instead? You like that better?”

“N-no, no. I... Fine, I'll lick your feet.”

“Good boy, Kirito!” Asuna released his leg and let him fall, then as he was getting up she put her feet down in front of him, thumping her heels on the floor. Their impact shook him, and looking up he saw her soles hanging right overhead, scrunching eagerly as they waited for the touch of his hands. “Hurry up! Remember, if you don't start licking I'll stick you in my shoe like I said!”

Kirito stood, feeling the pressure of the girls' eyes on him. With clenched fists and gritted teeth he stepped up to Asuna's foot, standing with his face half an inch from her sole. Then with his eyes shut tight, he grimaced and stuck out his tongue to start licking.

He kept working on her feet, lapping away at Asuna's soles for minutes on end while Yui and Asuna talked over him like he didn't exist. He found that the taste wasn't as bad as he was expecting, but still it was the humiliation that bothered him the most. At least it was a small comfort that after today he wouldn't have to put up with this ever again.

Kirito worked as quickly as he could, hoping that Asuna wouldn't notice that he was skipping over parts of her sole, and before too long he had finished with them. But before he could tell her about it, he suddenly felt a horrible sinking feeling come over his body, and before his very eyes he saw the world growing bigger. Before this, his shrinking had always happened too slow for him to notice it, but now the world more than doubled in size in the span of a few seconds. At first he feared that he would keep shrinking to some really ridiculous size, but thankfully his shrinking tapered off to leave him short of two inches tall. His ring had disappeared, too, which meant he shouldn't keep shrinking any more. He could only hope that was true, or else he really might end up the size of an ant before long.

Though he tried alerting Yui and Asuna to what had happened, neither of them noticed. Kirito had to go into the menu and turn team chat on before they could hear his voice. They were surprised to find him so much smaller, but when he explained what had happened they took it in stride. “Well, at least you don't have to worry about how small you'll shrink, isn't that right, Kirito? And look! You really did end up as small as our toes!” Asuna and bumped her big toe right into Kirito, knocking him flat and then sliding her toe on top of him. It was as long as he was tall, but it dwarfed him in girth and weighed on him like an elephant. Even lifting up this one single toe was now more than he could handle. “Too bad you didn't shrink this small right away so we could have more fun with you. I'd love to have you this size a few more days! But I guess it's too late for that.”

Asuna moved back her foot and stood up, while Kirito looked at her from below. She was much more than two hundred feet tall now, and even the act of standing up made the floor shake. Seeing her swaying overhead while she adjusted her stance, he really felt like she might topple over at any moment and crush him when she came down on him. “It's been fun, but I have to leave for a bit now. Yui, you're in charge of Kirito until I get back. Kirito, you do whatever she says. See you both later!”

Once Asuna was gone, Kirito turned back to Yui and found her looking right at him. Her stare unnerved him, at least until she started transforming. Wings sprouted from her back and she became rapidly smaller as she took on her fairy form. Then, jumping off the edge of the couch, she floated gently down to land on the floor with him. “Look, Kirito! Even as a fairy I'm still taller than you!” she happily exclaimed as she stepped right up to him for a comparison. Indeed, she was just over twice his size, a whole nine centimeters compared to his four, so that he only came up to her thighs.

“Yui, could you stay this size for me? It's way easier dealing with you like this,” Kirito said.

“Only until I get bored!” It wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear, but he supposed it was better than nothing. “Hey, you have your fight today, right? Do you want to get a little practice before then? I can simulate a boss fight with you! I'll even lower my stats for the simulation so you have a chance of winning.”

“Sure, might as well. Not like I have anything better to do.”

“Okay!” Yui walked away from Kirito until she stood a couple feet away from him. Then, as she turned around to face him, Kirito received a notification about an in coming boss fight, and a big health bar appeared over Yui's head in his HUD. He took a moment to check her stats and his own, and saw that hers were only twice as high as his. “Don't worry about hurting me, your attacks can't really damage me at all! It only looks like you can because of the simulation,” she explained. “Try hitting me a few times to see how it works.”

Kirito did so, running up for a couple slashes at her leg. Though his weapons bounced harmlessly off her leg just as they had during their last fight, the life bar over her head claimed that he'd dealt over a thousand points of damage. Then Yui's leg came at him in a kick and he jumped out of range, narrowly dodging her attack. “Watch out, Kirito! The big bad boss monster is coming to get you!” Yui said, holding her hands up with her fingers curled to mimic claws while she stomped towards him, roaring and growling like some huge beast.

Unlike the last time, Kirito knew from the start to take the fight seriously, and he was able to evade most of Yui's attacks while getting some good hits in whenever he saw an opportunity. And even if Yui was going easy on him at first, he could tell that she started trying harder to hit him the more he whittled down her HP. She might have way higher stats than him, but that hardly mattered when he was way more experienced in battle. He felt so good about his performance that he couldn't keep from taunting her a little.

“What's wrong, Yui? Can't you hit me at all? I thought you wanted to make this a challenge for me!”

Yui huffed and jumped out of reach of his swords just as he was about to land another attack. “You want more of a challenge?” she asked as she floated in mid air. “I'll give you a challenge, then. Let's see how you handle phase two!” In a flash she returned to her normal size, and her stats grew to such immense numbers that Kirito's scan only returned an error reading. For a while the game struggled with how to handle the boss fight in light of her massively increased stats, but eventually it seemed to sort things out by designating her foot alone as the boss.

“Look out! Big attack incoming!” Yui lifted her foot over Kirito's head, splaying wide her toes as her sole hovered right above. Kirito ran like mad away from the colossal foot, and right as he left its shadow, Yui stomped down right behind him. The floor shook as though there was an earthquake, and the puff of wind from Yui's stomp launched Kirito a few inches forward. “Oh, looks like it's recovering after its big attack! Now's your chance, Kirito!” Yui said.

Kirito looked at her when she spoke, but he hardly registered her words at all. He was still terrified from how close she had come to crushing him, and stared blankly at her. “Tsk! Too late! Looks like it's coming in for another one.”

Again and again Yui's foot went up to hover over Kirito, and each time he dashed away just as it was coming down. He didn't even think about counterattacking—it was all he could do just to keep dodging Yui's attacks for as long as possible. “Th-that's enough, Yui! I've done all the training I need!” he said to her, but Yui didn't let up.

“You can't back out in the middle of a boss fight, Kirito! If you want to end it then just stand still and let my attack hit.” Kirito didn't want that, and he tried to run away under the couch to escape this fight, but when he was getting close to it Yui stomped her foot right in front of him and the force of the impact blew him right back. Then, as he scrambled to his feet, he saw Yui's foot rushing towards him, her toes raised in the air as they slid closer. Soon they rammed into him and knocked him to the ground, and then her sole came bulldozing over him, leaving him trapped underneath.

“Too slow! Now let's see if you can escape the boss's grab attack.” Yui tapped her foot on him over and over, grinding him down and pulling him deeper under her sole each time, all the while Kirito's stamina kept draining. Before long he was completely out, and then Yui could lift her foot and pull it back until he was lying at her feet. With her big toe she rolled him onto his back, and from below he looked up at her towering figure, shivering in fear of this girl the size of a skyscraper.

Yui's toes wiggled at his sides, each of them hitting the floor with a resounding thud. Their power was terrifying. He tried to stand, but his legs shook like they were made of jelly. Instead he rolled on his hands and knees and started crawling away, but Yui's toes curled around him before he could escape and they dragged him back into her grip. She briefly released him again, only for her big toe to fall on his back and pin him down.

“If this was a real boss fight you'd be dead already. Since my foot is too much for you, let's downgrade your enemy to just my toe. Can you finally score a win, or will you be crushed like a bug?” Yui took her foot off of Kirito, letting him stand again. As he picked his swords off the ground, he turned around and saw her her foot behind him, with everything but the first toe hanging in the air. “Are you ready? Fight start!” At her announcement, she pushed her toe towards him, and he narrowly dodged the first thrust. She kept sliding her toe around, humming to herself as she did, while Kirito pushed himself to his limit just to keep dodging it. Making a few attacks of his own was beyond his limits with his stamina drained as it was, and in time he couldn't even keep dodging. Her toe bumped into him and knocked him down, and as he lay there on the floor, her foot came down and he found himself lying between her splayed toes.

“So you can't even handle one of my toes anymore. I guess you really are a bug, Kirito. Just a teeny-tiny bug that could get crushed with a single step.” Yui raised her foot up on her heel and brought it down on top of Kirito, really grinding him down even long after his stamina ran out. When she raised her foot again, he was stuck to her sole, and there he stayed while she walked back to the couch. Sitting down, Yui brought her foot up on her lap to look at him. “You're soooo small~. I don't think you even count as a person anymore with how tiny you are. Who ever heard of a person the size of a bug? I think from now on you'll be my pet instead. How does that sound, Kirito?”

“Y-you're just being silly. I can't be anyone's pet. Besides, I'm going to be back to normal soon, so even if I was your pet it would only be for a few hours,” Kirito grunted. With great effort he peeled himself from Yui's sole and sat up on her foot, looking up at the black-haired girl.

“You don't have to grow back today, you know. You can stay small for as long as you want. All I have to do is convince you that you want to be my pet more than you want to be a person.” Yui scrunched her foot, catching Kirito by surprise. He fell over backwards and started rolling down her foot, but before he could fall off he grabbed her sole and started pulling himself back up. “In fact, I don't think I need to convince you very much. I think you like being small more than you admit.”

“That's nonsense! Why would I like being small, especially if it means you're going to treat me like some toy?”

“Would you like it better if I treat you like this instead?” Yui scooped the tiny Kirito up on her palm and brought him up to her chest. He tensed up when she stretched a finger towards him, but when she patted his head he relaxed again and even leaned into it. “See? You obviously like being pet.”

“I'm just too tired to fight you anymore.”

“What about this morning when you were so happy snuggled up on my foot?”

“I was having a good dream is all.”

“So you didn't think it was comfortable sleeping on my sole?”

“No, definitely not.”

“Let's see if you really think that!” Yui plucked Kirito from her foot, pinching his body between her fingers while she rearranged her legs. Then she turned him around to look at her feet, which were lying together on the couch seat with her soles touching closely. She dropped him on them, and he landed at the bottom of the little ravine between her soles. Before he could pick himself up, her soles started to close around him, and soon they were smothering him.

The softness of Yui's soles swallowed up all of Kirito's struggles while she rubbed her feet against each other and slid him up and down between them. It was obvious that he couldn't do anything against her, so he let Yui do what she wanted, telling himself again that he would be back to normal soon enough and wouldn't have to put up with this treatment again. But as she kept toying with him, he started to think it wasn't so bad after all. Again he was feeling the same warmth and softness that had so soothed him last night, only now he was all wrapped up in it.

“Can you still hear me, Kirito?” Yui's powerful voice easily reached him even through the tons of smothering flesh. “How are you holding up? Do you still want me to let you out?” Even though he didn't mind being in there, Kirito wriggled a bit. “Really? That's too bad. I thought you'd like it in there. I'm not letting you out, though. Not unless you promise to lick my toes. What do you say? Give me a lick now if you agree.”

Yui paid very close attention to her soles while she waited for Kirito's response. Just when she thought he wasn't going to do it, she felt a tiny wet thing push against her sole, and when she moved er feet apart she saw Kirito calmly licking it. “He-he! So you really did it! I was going to let you go even if you didn't want to lick my toes, but since you agreed now I'm going to make you do it!” Yui put her toes over the tiny Kirito and curled them tight, then dropped him back on the floor again and set her feet in front of him, wiggling her toes excitedly.

Kirito sighed, quietly chastising himself for not having waited a bit longer, but he walked up to her feet all the same. At his approach her toes sat still and waited for him to get to work. Stopping in front of her big toe, he knelt and looked up at Yui, hoping that maybe she would reveal it was all a joke and tell him he didn't really have to lick her toes. “Go ahead, pet. Lick my feet. You don't want to get punished for disobeying your master, do you?”

Her face was stern, and her voice was so commanding that Kirito felt he had no choice but to obey. He closed his eyes and leaned forward to lick Yui's toe. At first he thought he could hurry through it by skipping over parts of her toe, but when he tried to do that Yui quickly put him in his place by pinning him under her toe again. She made him work slow so he could lick every last inch of her toes, even making him lick under and between them, all the while praising him like she was talking to a dog. “Good boy, Kirito! Your master is very proud of you!”

Despite his frustrations, Kirito was happy hearing her praise. Before long he settled into his job, taking care to lick every groove and wrinkle of Yui's toes without her needing to tell him, secretly enjoying the taste of her foot and even the humiliation of being made to lick it.

That's how Asuna found him when she got back home. He was so engrossed with licking Yui's toes that he didn't even notice her standing over him until he heard her voice. “Are you ready to go yet?”

Kirito froze mid-lick and turned around to find Asuna right behind him, looking like she was holding back her laughter. He blushed. “G-go? Go where?” he asked, hoping he could avoid talking about what Yui had him doing.

“To your raid, of course! It's starting in a few minutes, isn't it? Don't tell me you forgot all about it.”

“I just lost track of time.” Kirito stood and shook away all his other thoughts, forcing himself to focus on the raid. Was there anything he needed to do before they left? He quickly went over everything in his head. “I'm... ready to go,” he said at last.

“Good! Then hold still; since you're so small now, I'm going to have to put you somewhere I know you won't get lost while I take you there.”

Kirito waited for Asuna to pick him up, but was confused when instead he saw her taking off her shoe. Then when she moved her bare foot towards him, he staggered back and fell on his butt when her foot fell right in front of him. It slid forward then, and gripped him between a pair of toes. “Say good-bye, Yui!”

“Bye, Kirito! See you later!”

Kirito didn't get to reply before he was lifted up and shoved into Asuna's shoe together with her foot. It was tight in there, and dreadfully stuffy—the air was heavy with the smell of Asuna's feet, and hot and humid too. Everything was moist with her sweat, and as she adjusted her foot and then adjusted him so that he lay beneath her toes, it seeped into Kirito's clothes and soon he was soaked to the bone. “Hope you're comfy, 'cause it's going to be a long walk!”

The first step she took brought a cry from Kirito. Her foot swung so fast, and came down with such an impact, that it scared him half to death. He tensed his whole body, and though he was already held safely under her toes, he still gripped them as hard as he could.

He lost track of how long he spent in there. It felt like forever to him, but he figured it couldn't be more than an hour. And all the time it kept getting hotter and sweatier inside, to the point where it felt like he was trapped in a sauna. He was nearly passed out by the time Asuna arrived at the entrance to the raid dungeon. About a dozen other shrunken players were there, and all of them watched her arrival warily. When she stopped a couple paces away, they were horrified to see her take off her shoe and drop Kirito off on the ground, and for a bit they were scared that she had come to do the same to them. But Asuna casually put her shoe back on and let Kirito go over to the other players were gathered. They all looked worried about him, but once they caught a whiff of the smell, they made sure to keep a good distance between them.

“Good luck on the raid, everyone! Kirito, I'll be waiting here for you,” Asuna said, and went to sit under one of the nearby trees.

The entrance to the raid was at the foot of a small rocky hill in one of the lower floors. There was a small opening at the base, one just big enough for a mouse to fit through, and once their team was built up they all went in to confront the boss.

It was another half hour before they came back out that hole, looking utterly spent. Judging by the weapon they all wielded, a red double-edged sword, Asuna thought they must have won the fight, but they didn't look to be in any celebratory mood. And why should they be when they were still as tiny as before? As far as they were concerned, it wasn't over until they had picked up the size-changing rings that had supposedly popped up in their homes and used them to get back to normal.

Kirito was one of the last players to come out, and Asuna hurried over to congratulate him, enjoying also the frightened looks she got from the other players. When Kirito asked her to take him back home, she stuck him back inside her shoe and left.

“Ah, what a day!” she groaned when she finally got back, and went to lie down on the couch, kicking up her legs on the armrest.

After a moment, Yui came over to greet her. “Welcome back! Hey mom, this ring showed up while you were gone.” She held up a small black and gold ring, and put it in Asuna's hand before going to take a shower.

“Oh, this must be the other reward! Hey Kirito, you hear that? Your ring is here!” Asuna curled her toes around Kirito, who wriggled against them practically begging to be let out. “Ha-ha! Not so fast! I think you owe me something for helping you out with all this! Before I grow you back, give me a foot massage one last time, as thanks for taking care of you while you were small and for giving you a ride to your little raid.”

Asuna waited a while and soon felt Kirito's hands pressing into her tired sole to start rubbing it. She closed her eyes and smiled, relaxing on the couch as she let Kirito work on her foot. At the same time, she started playing around with the ring, eventually putting it on. She started thinking, too, about its power: to shrink its user or to grow them back. It wasn't just limited to people who took part in the event, either, so it should work on her too. Did that mean she could shrink down as small as Kirito was now?

As she was dozing off, her thoughts kept circling around this subject. She thought about how big Yui would seem if she was as small as Kirito, and about how she had seen him kneeling in front of Yui's foot and licking her toes earlier today. To be honest, Asuna had felt a bit jealous of him back then, and almost wished that she could take his place. She had felt the same way when she found him sleeping on Yui's sole, too. There was just something so alluring about the thought of crawling in the shadow of Yui's feet, and while she sank deeper into her slumber, she silently wished that she could experience it herself, if only for one day...

Through her thoughts the ring activated, and it shrank her down to the same size as Kirito. At the same time, Kirito felt that same sudden sinking feeling from when he shrank earlier today, but, since Asuna's foot was still the same size compared to him, he thought it must be his imagination. He never suspected that it was only the same size because Asuna had shrunk together with him. Normally that shouldn't have been possible, as the ring could only shrink the user once, and only ever as small as he'd been when the other ring disappeared, but Kirito was so small that the game registered him as a part of Asuna's equipment and shrank him right along with her.

Neither Kirito nor Asuna had any notion of their new size. Yui was the first to find out about it when she returned after her shower and found the tiny Asuna lying on the couch. With a big grin she put her foot down next to the tiny girl and woke her up.

Asuna was shocked to find herself staring right at a bunch of giant toes. It was as if her fantasy had suddenly become real. She looked at her hand, seeing the ring gleaming on her finger, and then up at Yui, awestruck by her size. It was so much more impressive in person than it had been in her dreams, and she was soon overcome with submissive feelings.

“What are you waiting for, bug? Start licking your master's feet!” As soon as Yui gave the order, Asuna crawled forward to kneel at her feet and press her face to those toes. She took a deep breath, letting the soft smell of Yui's just-washed feet fill her, then gave the toe a kiss and started licking. Everything just as she had imagined, but so much more vivid. She melted in the warmth of Yui's foot and gave herself up in worship of her toes.

After Asuna crawled between a pair of toes to keep licking them from there, Yui held her softly and sat down, moving her foot close to keep an eye on her tiny adoptive mother. “Good girl,” she cooed, and pet the tiny woman's head. In return Asuna gave her a look of total gratitude. “So you really like my giant feet, do you?” Asuna nodded and tenderly stroked Yui's foot. “He-he! You're so cute like this, mom! Or I guess I should call you Asuna now since you're so small.” Asuna was thrilled to have Yui's toes curl against her and wiggle around, dominating her as easily as a little bug. “You can stay with my feet as long as you want, or grow back any time. But you don't want to grow back, right? You want to stay with me forever? Just remember, as long as you're tiny, you're my little pet so you have to call me 'master', understand?”

“Yes, master! Thank you, master!”

“Good girl, Asuna! You're a way better pet than Kirito was! Oh! Where is Kirito, by the way?”

“Kirito? I think he's... still in my shoe?” Asuna hadn't even thought about him since she'd woken up to Yui's giant foot, but now as she was picked up and dropped on Yui's palm, she sat and took off her shoe to see if he was still in there.

After shrinking with Asuna, Kirito had been trying to figure out what had happened. He finally understood it after listening to Yui ad Asuna's conversation, and now he was dreading what he would see outside. He clung to Asuna's shoe after she took it off, not wanting to leave, but she just shook it a few times and he fell right onto her open palm.

He was starting to pick himself up when Yui's voice made him pause. “Is that him?” she asked. He could tell by the sound that she was whispering, but still her words were so loud that he felt his ears about to burst.

“It is,” Asuna said.

“I can barely see him. He's like a tiny little speck. How big do I look, Kirito?”

“Hey, Kirito! I know you're awake! Stop pretending to be asleep and answer our master.” Asuna poked his side until he gave up and started getting up again. First he turned to her, and avoided even glancing at Yui, but Asuna pinched his tiny body and turned him right around.

Though Kirito tried to steel himself for what he would see, he was still shocked when he saw Yui's eye staring right at him. The thing was immense, bigger even than a mansion. When it blinked, eyelashes as thick as he was tall quickly swept down and back up, and sent a gust of wind his way.

Kirito couldn't even hold on until he saw the rest of Yui's body. He passed out and didn't wake up for the rest of the day.

When Kirito awoke next morning after a night of restless dreams, he found himself lying by Asuna's face. He looked all around, anxious to know if he was still the size of a speck of dust, and was relieved to see that he was back to his previous size. Or maybe he'd never changed size at all—could it all have been a dream? Whatever the case, one thing he was sure of was that he wanted to get back to normal as soon as possible, so he walked up to Asuna's ear and called for her to wake up. Eventually she stirred, and rolled over on top of him. She finally woke up when she felt him squirming under her cheek, then sat and cupped him in her hand.

“Morning, Kirito. Did you sleep well? You were out all afternoon yesterday.”

“I'm fine,” he said, sitting up in her palm. “Asuna, do you have the ring on you? I think it's time I grow back once and for all.”

“The ring? Yui has it! So you really want to grow back now, huh?”

“Of course. Why shouldn't I? Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no, it's... well, let's just see what Yui has to say about it.” Kirito meant to ask her what she meant, but as Asuna climbed out of bed with Kirito in hand and headed for the door, Kirito saw that there was something wrong. Asuna wasn't anywhere near as big as she should have been. In fact, she was even less than half her normal size, her head reaching no higher than the doorknob. And since he was as small next to her as he had been yesterday, then he must be smaller too. Had that “dream” about shrinking even smaller been real last night? But if it was, why were Asuna and him at this other size?

That wasn't the only thing wrong, either. He noticed other differences around the house, like the position or the color of the furniture. He couldn't even begin to guess the explanation until Asuna stepped into the living room and he saw there a strangely familiar girl, short-haired and blonde, with a white top and a pair of black shorts, sitting at the table. Well, not a girl, more like a mannequin. Asuna kept walking without even a comment on her, but Kirito stared at the strange figure until everything clicked, then whirled around to face the door just as Asuna was opening it.

What he saw came as no surprise to him now. Instead of leaving for the outside world, by exiting the house they stepped into another, far larger room. They house they just left? It was a dollhouse they made Yui months ago, one fashioned after their cabin. The mannequin at the table had been one of Yui's dolls. He and Asuna hadn't grown back at all, they'd simply been put away in a dollhouse too big for them. As for Yui, she still lay sleeping soundly on a bed that looked big enough to host a whole city. She herself wasn't much smaller, either. Her body was like a huge mountain range. Even from this distance the size of her scared him, and it scared him all the more when Asuna called her though group chat and woke her up.

Yui stirred, sat up, yawned and stretched her arms. At his proper size, Kirito would have thought it adorable, but now it boggled his mind and left him speechless to see something so large moving so effortlessly. When her eyes fell on him and Asuna, he tensed up all over, and when she walked towards them he felt the impact of her feet from all the way down there and fell down.

Once she stood next to the small table where the dollhouse sat, she leaned over and looked down on them from the sky, making them crane their heads back to return her gaze. “Good morning, Asuna!” She wore a smile when she spoke, and her tone was tender, like a mother talking to her little kid, or an owner talking to her pet.

“Good morning, master!” Asuna gladly answered.

“Is Kirito with you?”

“Yes, of course! He's right here and he wants to talk to you about something.”

As he was raised above Asuna's head, Kirito felt as though he were being offered up in sacrifice to a god. He stared straight up as Yui's face descended and her eye came to fill almost all of his vision. It looked so much like the sky was falling that he almost fainted right away, but he managed to stay conscious without having to shut his eyes.

“He-he! Good morning, little speck~!” The whole world trembled with the power of Yui's voice.

When he didn't reply, Asuna shook him. “Go on, Kirito, answer her!”

“G-good morning, Yui,” he managed to say.

“So I can still hear you! With now small you are I wasn't sure if even voice chat would be enough no matter how much you shouted. Even 'tiny' isn't a good enough word for you anymore; you're almost microscopic!” Yui's laugh exploded in Kirito's ears. “Hand him over, Asuna. I want to see what it's like to hold him.” She stretched a finger to her tiny parents, and Asuna dropped Kirito right on the giant fingertip. Almost at once he was flattened to her skin as she lifted him up.

“Careful not to fall off, little speck~! Who knows how long it would take to find you if you did. Why don't you crawl in one of the wrinkles on my skin? I'm sure you'll be safe in there.” Just thinking about how high up he was had Kirito trembling. He hurried to follow her suggestion, lying down in one of the many grooves of her fingerprint. There he lay, pushing against her skin to keep himself in place, while Yui grabbed Asuna and carried both players back to her bed. There she sat with her feet up on the bed, and dropped Asuna next to them.

As soon as she was down, the shrunken woman ran over to Yui's towering soles and hugged the giant heel, calmly licking its surface. Meanwhile, Yui held her finger under her gaze, where the speck-sized Kirito cowered in silence. “You can get out of there now. Come on, stand up. If you fall you'll just fall on my chest. No big deal, right?” Kirito was in no mood to disobey. He climbed out of the little crevice and sat up. “Good. Now, you wanted to tell me something?”

“Y... Yes.” Kirito was still shaking. Why couldn't he make himself stop? “Asuna said you have the ring?”

“You mean this ring?” Yui held up her other hand, showing off the small black-and-gold ring on her fourth finger. “What about it?”

“I want to use it. I want to get back to normal. I can still do that, right? I'm not stuck like this forever now that I shrank again?”

Yui rolled the ring between her fingers, admiring its pretty sheen. “I had a look at the code while you were sleeping. I don't understand all of it, but it should be possible. First you need to be with Asuna while she grows back, and then you can use it yourself to grow the rest of the way.”

Kirito sighed in relief. He had been so worried that growing back might not be possible anymore. “Great! So let's do it, then.”

“If you really want to, sure. But you'll have to convince Asuna to grow with you first.” Yui pocketed the ring again, storing it in her inventory.

“Can't you tell her to do it yourself? She'll obey you, won't she?”

“Why should I? You're the one who wants to grow back, so you should ask her yourself.” Kirito sighed and tried calling to Asuna, but she didn't answer him. That's when he noticed that she wasn't in their group chat, and he couldn't contact her either. “He-he-he! Did you think you could just talk to her from here? I kicked Asuna out of the chat, so if you want to talk to her, you have to walk all~ the way over to my feet! It's a long walk, so better get started right away!” Yui tipped her finger over and sent Kirito rolling down its surface. He fell off, and after a short fall he landed right on Yui's chest. As he picked himself up, he felt her breath rushing past him and saw the rest of her body stretching out like a whole landscape before him. He stared in awe until a sharp breath from Yui's mouth send him tumbling down it a couple inches. Everything shook as her chest heaved with laughter, and he clung in fear to her white dress. When her chest settled down and stopped moving except for her calm breathing, he stood up and, with another look back at Yui's face, started walking down her body.

Though Kirito tried not to think about it, he couldn't help but be aware the whole time of how pathetically tiny he was compared to Yui. It was hard not to be when her presence surrounded him, and when even the slightest movement on her part could make him fall on his face. Even the gentle rise and fall of her chest and belly as she breathed felt like a massive upheaval, and for the first couple minutes his stomach always sank when he felt himself going up and down along with her chest. When she giggled, or adjusted her position, it was like a powerful earthquake.

After a while, her hands started to follow him while he walked. Usually she set them down right beside him and let her fingertips loom overhead to cast their shadows on him while he walked past all worried that she would do something more, but at one point she cupped her hand right over him and left him to walk under the broad roof of her palm, feeling small as could be. She didn't tease him or threaten to flatten him under her palm, didn't even say a word; just left her hand right there so he could see for himself how utterly insignificant he was beside her. Soon he couldn't stand it anymore and tried to get out as fast as possible, but seeing how long it took even when he was running only made him feel even smaller.

Suddenly, Kirito yelled as his leg slipped right between the threads of Yui's dress and his foot stopped on Yui's skin below. He stopped a moment and tried to pull it out, but it seemed his foot had slipped through some of the individual fibers and he was having trouble getting it back out.

“Something wrong?” Yui asked, moving her hand ass he heard Kirito grunting.

“I-it's just my leg. It's stuck in your dress,” he sighed. “Can you help me get it out? I can't manage by myself.”

“You need help? Then beg for it, little bug.”

“Please, Yui...”

“No, not Yui. Master. Try again.”

Kirito's face went red as he forced himself to say the word. “M-master. Please. Help me get out.”

“He-he-he! So the weak, tiny speck needs help from his big, strong master~. Of course I'll help you, little speck! It's so easy, I can do it with just my pinkie.” Yui put her fingertip down on the hem of her dress and pushed it further down, stretching the fabric until it released her pathetically puny father.

“T-thanks, Yui,” Kirito said, pulling out his leg.

“Don't mention it. I'd do anything to help my cute little pets~! Now, be careful, okay? I don't want you getting hurt.” She released her dress and let the fabric ease back into place, then watched as Kirito continued his trek towards her foot. He walked along her dress until he reached the hem, then hopped off to start walking on the soft surface of her thigh, from where he could feel soft swaying of Yui's foot. Other than that she kept her leg still while he walked across it, and after a while he reached her ankle and climbed down onto the bed, from where he carefully walked around to her sole.

He found Asuna kneeling at Yui's heel, arms spread wide to hug herself to the towering foot. She was calmly licking Yui's sole, paying no attention to the mite-sized Kirito approaching her. He shouted and shouted, but it looked like the only thing she cared about was worshipping Yui's titanic sole. From what little he could see of her face, she looked utterly blissful.

Indeed, Asuna had been happier than ever since shrinking down to this size. The tiny girl was infatuated with Yui's foot, finding it perfect in every way. She was in love with its smell, with its warmth, with the softness and smoothness of its skin, and most of all, with its incredible size and power. She could think of nothing better than spending every minute of every day worshipping these divine feet, and she was so grateful to Yui, her Goddess, for letting her bask in their presence, where they effortlessly commanded her full attention. She was so enthralled that she hadn't even noticed Yui and Kirito's earlier conversation, and she didn't notice Kirito at all even as he stood shouting by her knees. Not until he had climbed all the way up her body and to her ear to talk to her did she even realize he was there.

Finally hearing his voice, Asuna reached up to grab her puny husband. “Oh, Kirito! I thought you wanted to grow back. Did you decide to stay tiny so you could worship Yui with me?” she asked as he squirmed between her fingertips.

“N-no, no, it's just I'm going to need your help for that.” Kirito explained what Yui had told him about needing to grow back with Asuna while she had him “equipped” before he could be regrown to his normal size.

“Eh? You want me to stop being small?” Asuna asked, sounding so disappointed.

Kirito rolled his eyes. How in the world could she like being this small? Kirito had been sick of it long before he got to be as small as she was now. “You don't have to stay normal size if you don't want to. You can shrink back once I'm back to normal.”

“Well, sure, but...” Asuna sighed and snuggled up against Yui's sole. “Let's do that later, okay? I'm really not in the mood right now.”

“Are you even hearing yourself Asuna? Do you see how you're acting? How Yui's treating you? You're a person, not a pet! How can you throw away all your dignity to curl up at our daughter's feet?”

“Not our daughter; our master!” Asuna said with a twinkle in her eye. “And you should know why I love it so much. Didn't you spend a night cuddling up with her feet, too?”

“T-that's not what happened! I mean, I was sleeping on her foot, but...”

“You weren't just sleeping on it, Kirito~! Before you woke up, you were nuzzling into her toes and you looked the happiest I've ever seen you. I think deep down you love Yui's feet as much as I do, and I'll prove it! Master!” she called to Yui. “Can you bring your toes down, please?”

“He-he! Of course, my little pet~.” Yui pulled her heel back and lowered her sole until it lay flat on the bed. To Kirito, her sole's descent had looked the sky was crashing down, and he froze up in Asuna's grip as those toes approached, thinking all the time that he was about to be crushed under them. Even when they finally landed in front of him and Asuna, he was totally in awe of them. They weren't quite as tall as Asuna, but he knew that they were much more powerful, even the pinkie toe on the far end. When they curled after their landing, he felt the world shake even with Asuna making an effort to hold him steady.

Suddenly Kirito was flying as Asuna lobbed him between Yui's first two toes. When he landed, he looked up and found himself surrounded by the vast, curved walls of Yui's flesh on every direction except the one he'd come from, where Asuna stood blocking off his only exit. “If you spend half an hour worshipping Yui's toes with me and you still want to grow back after that, I'll help you out. If you don't even try it, you'll just have to stay this small forever,” she said.

“Please tell me you're joking, Asuna.”

“Nope! What's wrong? Are you scared you'll end up liking it? Go on, it's just a little worship. It won't hurt you to try,” she said, taking a couple steps up to Kirito until her feet stood right before him—both so gigantic to him, and yet dwarfed by Yui's mere toes, those titanic things beside her that might crush him with a mere twitch. He didn't dare approach those toes, but Asuna snatched him up with her own and carried him over to them, finally dropping him right at the big toe's base. Then she knelt behind him and started worshiping it, urging him to do the same.

Kirito was so minuscule that in order to even touch Yui's toe he had to be standing under its outermost curve, deep in its shadow with literal tons of flesh hanging right above him. Here the scent of her foot, a smell he had become very intimately familiar with these past few days, was stronger than ever before, completely dominating his nostrils. “Even that smell is stronger than me,” he thought as he stood cowering under that toe, not quite daring to go up to it.

“Are you worshipping my toe yet, Kirito? I can't feel you at all down there,” Yui said, startling him. “Maybe you need a little more encouragement.” The next thing Kirito knew, the great wall of flesh had barreled right over him, pinning him to the bed. He panicked thinking that he'd be crushed on the spot, but he survived it just fine, though he could still feel the immense weight of Yui's toe smothering him, leaving him unable to move. As it turned out, he was so pitifully small that the game didn't even recognize him as a player anymore, making him immune to all damage—something Yui had neglected to tell him precisely so she could deliver such a scare.

Yui ran her toe back and forth over Kirito until he was driven into the wrinkles of her skin. Then she gripped Asuna between her toes and pulled her foot closer so she could look at her two little tinies.

While Kirito cowered in the wrinkle of her skin, not daring to leave his hiding place, Asuna turned herself around and climbed up Yui's toe looking for him. “There you are!” she said as her face appeared before him, blocking off the sight of Yui's. “And you still haven't gotten started? Really? I guess I'll just have to make you do it.” She grabbed Kirito and turned him around, then with a finger at his back she pressed him against Yui's skin. “I'll let you go once you kiss master's toe, okay?”

Kirito grunted as he tried to wrest himself out from under her finger, but the giant digit was unyielding, and when he still refused to kiss Yui's toe. “Why do you refuse? Can't you see that master's toes are the most beautiful thing in the world? Just bask in her presence. Take in her incredible warmth.” Asuna started rubbing him all over Yui's toe, easily overpowering his struggles to escape as she made him intimate with every groove and wrinkle of that colossal toe, letting him feel how amazingly soft and smooth its skin was even at this scale. “Do you see it yet? Are you ready to worship master's foot? Just kiss it and I'll leave you to it.”

“Better do what she says, Kirito!” Yui said, rocking his world with a little toe-wiggle. “Asuna is a huge fan of my feet, and she won't help you out unless you play along.”

Kirito sighed. “Okay, okay. Just stop pushing me around.” Asuna complied and held him down on the very tip of Yui's toe, watching him close to make sure he really would kiss it. Kirito took a moment to steel himself. He had a sense that something bad would happen if he kissed Yui's toe, and he wanted to prepare for it. But when he finally kissed it, he found his preparation wasn't anywhere near enough.

Over all this time that he had spent in Yui's presence, his mind had more and more started thinking of her as an absolute Goddess. He had been trying to cling to his image of her as his adopted daughter, knowing that he'd need it for when he was back to normal. But as soon as he kissed her toe, the image of Yui as his daughter was replaced by that of her as his Goddess. Asuna finally let go of him, but Kirito didn't get up. He stayed lying down and kissed Yui's toe again and again, surrendering himself more and more to her awesome power with each new kiss.

“You see? I knew you would like it,” Asuna happily declared before going back between Yui's toes to kiss them too.

“So you finally came around to worshipping my toes? Tell me, how are you liking it down there, 'daddy'?” Yui asked, curling her toe to show Kirito her power, forcing him to cling to the wrinkles of her skin so he wouldn't fall off.

Kirito didn't answer. He was still too embarrassed to admit how he felt about Yui's toes. But at least to himself, he couldn't deny that he was starting to like being here at this size. Yes, it was scary being the size of a grain of sand, so small that Yui could do anything she pleased with him and he had no hope of ever fighting back. It was scary to see how much power the girl held in even just her pinkie toe. But it was also nice to know that Yui would use all that power to protect him and to take care of him. And besides all that, he had to admit that Yui's feet, and her toes especially, were amazing. Like Asuna said, it was great just to be in their presence.

Seeing her two pets so happy worshipping her, Yui decided to have a little fun with them. She put her foot down in front of her and brought her other foot closer too, putting that one's heel at the first one's toes, then started rubbing her soles together, taking both her little pets on a journey up and down her feet. After a few passes the two of them ended up together, with Kirito smothered between Asuna's bosom and Yui's sole. He was still there when Yui stopped rubbing her feet and simply held them together, smothering both her shrunken parents in the overwhelming atmosphere of her feet, letting all her warmth seep into them while her scent replaced theirs to mark them as her property. They belonged to her now, and she would make sure they never forgot it.

After Yui let go of them both, it took Asuna a while to feel Kirito squirming under her bosom and pull him out. He looked all worn out, but still it was clear he was enjoying this. Why, she was almost jealous of him being so small that he could enjoy even more of Yui's feet than she could. on the other hand, being this size meant she could enjoy being dominated at Yui's feet while also having fun dominating her speck-sized husband.

Getting a fun idea, Asuna carried Kirito back to Yui's toes, and dropped him right between two of them, getting him wedged between the colossal digits. As soon as she saw what Asuna did, Yui slowly wiggled her toes together, and Kirito was instantly swallowed up by that great valley of flesh, where he was rolled up and down at the mercy of Yui's godly digits.

When she stopped and splayed her toes, Asuna crawled over and found Kirito stuck to the side of her big toe, his whole front side plastered to her skin. As he tried and failed to peel himself off, Asuna chuckled over him and decided to mess with him some more. Sitting on the next toe over, she stretched out her leg and smothered Kirito under her own big toe. “How pathetic, Kirito! You can't handle Yui's toe and you can't handle my much smaller one either. You're lucky master's taking care of you—there's no way you could ever fend for yourself like this!” She laughed and pressed down even harder, practically burying Kirito in the flesh of Yui's toe.

“Is Asuna bothering you, Kirito~?” Yui said. “Poor little speck! so weak and helpless~. I guess I'll have to help you out.” Suddenly moving her foot, Yui made Asuna fall down on the bed, then slammed her foot down on the tiny woman, smothering her just as she had been smothering Kirito before. “There. Is that better pet?” she asked, softly curling her toes. Even then Kirito still couldn't peel himself off—he was just helplessly along for the ride for every little wiggle of her toe, just like any other speck of dust adorning her skin, completely at the mercy of Yui's whims. Meanwhile, Asuna happily worshipped Yui's sole while pinned under it, kissing and licking her master's foot to show all her adoration.

When Yui raised her foot from the bed, Asuna was plastered to her sole just as Kirito was to her toe, and Yui decided to keep them there while she got herself some breakfast. She jumped out of bed, totally smothering Asuna under the crushing weight of her body, and went to the kitchen to get some food. While she walked and while she ate, Yui kept turning her attention to her two little pets down on her foot, toying with them by scrunching her sole or wiggling her toes so they wouldn't forget who their master was.

Yui loved having them so small! The power she held over Kirito and Asuna, the people she had once considered her parents, was incredible. Asuna was a mere bug next to her, and Kirito was practically nothing, an insignificant little speck she could do with as she pleased. Still, she found herself wanting to get a closer look at them, so after breakfast, she went to sit in the living room, where she peeled Asuna off her sole and commanded her to grab Kirito off her toe before taking on her fairy form.

Yui floated down from the couch to where Asuna stood and landed right in front of her. Asuna was awed to see that even in this smaller form Yui was still more than twice as tall as her. She was barely as big as just one of Yui's legs.

“Do you have Kirito with you? Good girl, Asuna!” Yui said, patting her tiny pet on the head. Asuna smiled and leaned into Yui's affections, very happy to hear her master's praise for her. “Just hand him over and you can start rubbing my feet.” Asuna gladly dropped Kirito in Yui's open palm, then Yui floated up a bit and “sat” in midair, letting her feet hover just a little above the floor, where Asuna could easily reach them while kneeling. Asuna held one reverently and gently pressed her face to its sole, smelling it and enjoying the feeling of Yui's sole against her skin before kissing it and starting to massage it.

Meanwhile, Yui peered down at Kirito, who after so long stuck to her toe was taking a while to work off his numbness. When he finally sat up, he found Yui looking at him and by instinct he turned his head down submissively, which Yui was pleased to see. “So, Kirito, do you still want to grow back? Even if Asuna doesn't want to help you, she'll do it if I just order her to do it.”

Kirito opened his mouth, meaning to tell her that of course he still wanted to grow back, and that if she had just ordered Asuna to help him from the beginning he wouldn't have had to endure all this humiliating treatment. But he couldn't make himself say any of that. He couldn't find it in him to be angry about what had happened to him, and he didn't want to grow back at all, not if it meant missing out on the incredible power and warmth of Yui's feet.

“We can wait until later for that. There's no rush, I think,” Kirito said, trying and failing to hide his blush from Yui's eyes.

Yui grinned and pet his little head with a fingertip as long as he was tall. “Well then, if you're going to stay tiny, then you might as well help Asuna down there,” she said, and dropped him on the foot that Asuna was busy worshipping, where he was caught between Yui's toes.

“You're going to stay small Kirito? He-he! I knew you would come around to liking it!” Asuna picked up the tiny Kirito between her fingertips and bringing him to her lips for a big kiss before putting him right back. “You go ahead and work on Master's toes while I work on her sole,” she said, going back to work on kissing and rubbing and even licking Yui's expansive sole, showing that sole all her love. And after blushing for a while, Kirito finally started doing the same to Yui's toes. Soon he had forgotten all about his embarrassment as the longer he kept at it, the more he was overwhelmed with the desire to worship Yui his master, his Goddess, as thanks for taking care of him despite how puny and weak he was. Maybe some day he and Asuna would want to grow back to normal again, but for now they couldn't be happier just staying in Yui's care.