Ichika was looking forward to spending a few hours around town to shop, where Futaro was far less thrilled since he was currently crammed between her toes…

She begins walking down the street, aiming for a clothing store first, unknowingly stomping on poor Futaro the entire time. While he was trapped, he noticed that skin felt incredibly soft and squishy, though her toes were large enough where he couldn’t push against them even if he tried. But with how she used to very frequently tease him by acting suggestive around him, this was just a reminder of how things used to be, since he felt like Ichika’s toes were doing the same thing that their master used to do.

Though with every step Ichika took, Futaro found himself slipping farther and farther under the ball of her foot, which was a scary location right now. But because he was sliding near there so slowly, he thought that he had a chance to avoid it, prompting him to grip the small wrinkles that formed between her toes. She doesn’t notice this act consciously, but it still causes her to lightly scrunch her toes while her foot was on the sidewalk, inadvertently plastering him to the side of her 3rd toe. So for the rest of her walk, he remained stuck to the side of her toe, as her sweat acted as glue.

And speaking of sweat, there was a lot of it right now, probably because it was a warm spring day. That caused the inside of her flat to heat up, making Futaro feel like he was stuck inside a sauna cranked up to the maximum temperature, and that heat caused Ichika to sweat a bit more, which would naturally pool around her flat. And that increase in sweat production made everything far more humid as well, which made it challenging for him to even breathe properly. Due to all of the madness, he was even grew slightly delirious, where he convinced himself that licking the area he was stuck to would be the only way to survive.

Ichika’s sweat was far too potent and salty for his liking, but he was driven more out of his need to live rather than his comfort, so he ignored his displeasure and kept on licking. But after a few minutes of this, the rational part of his brain noted he’d be doomed to a lifetime of annoying teasing if she ever found out that he was doing this, though at this point it was worth the risk. Thankfully, she seemed to be aware of the heat as well, prompting her to occasionally pop her feet out of her flats to let them cool.

The fresh air was what finally snapped Futaro out of that delirium, prompting him to immediately spit the sweat that was currently in his mouth out, as he grumbles and says “Damn you, Ichika… If you only spoke to the other two idiots, I wouldn’t have had to demean myself…”

Right after that complaint, Ichika also says, as if responding to him “Boy today is a hot one! Good thing I’m almost there…”

As she said this, she slips her foot out of her flat again, this time bending her knee to lift up her leg, before lazily wriggling her toes. That causes Futaro to be constantly rubbed between her 3rd and 4th toes, where he was becoming nervous due to being so high up right now. But as she did that, he ended up getting dislodged, leaving him to scramble to remain near her toes while he started to slip away. He may have by this point grown to appreciate feet a bit more than previously, but he still did not like them nearly enough for this, though he didn’t have any other safe options. So he grabs onto and hugs Ichika’s 4th toe as tightly as he could, causing her to reflexively squeeze her toes, ensuring that he’d yet again remain trapped between them for awhile longer.

And after forcefully squeezing her toes a few more times, nearly pulverizing the tiny tutor in the process, she lowers her foot back into the flat while saying “That’s enough stretching for now…”

While Futaro was being sealed inside her flat again, he sighed with frustration while saying “Ichika… Somehow she manages to make things difficult even without realizing it…”

Following that, Ichika continues on her way to the store, still blissfully unaware of the shrunken Futaro lodged between her toes…

The rest of Ichika’s walk was fairly repetitive for Futaro, though that didn’t make it any easier on him. With each step he felt the skin between her toes expand, smothering him further due to her full weight bearing down on him. The heat made her flesh far more moist, which helped keep it soft at least, though Futaro still wouldn’t admit to himself that he found the sweat not awful to deal with. But the most challenging part for him was the noise and shockwave that occurred alongside each step, blasting him and interrupting his concentration each and every time.

However at one point Ichika walks to a crosswalk right as the light as about to change, prompting her to say to herself “Looks like I’ve gotta run to make it…”

When Futaro hears that, he grumbles to himself and yells “You could always be patient, Ichika!”

Unfortunately, there was no way for her to hear Futaro’s complaint, so she starts to jog across the street, brutally smashing him under her toes. And with each stomping movement, he found himself slipping further and further under the ball of her foot, leaving him to try and grasp at anything to save himself. The skin under Ichika’s toes were far too slippery for him to grab onto, though his actions did slightly tickle her, causing her to mumble “Maybe I should check my shoe when I get inside…”

After she crosses the street, she walks into the store, quickly grabbing a random shirt to walk with. And as she walked toward one of the changing rooms, Futaro was getting buried under the ball of her foot, where he couldn’t even speak due to the extreme pressure. If he could speak right now, it’d surely be a complaint directed toward Ichika, though he had to admit that it wasn’t completely her fault, since Miku and Nino failed to warn her about his situation as well.

But after she sits down and closes the door, she slips off her flat and places her foot on her lap, wondering what she felt in her shoe. And as she inspected it, she found an odd looking and dirty thing plastered to the ball of her foot, causing her to pick it out while mumbling “I must’ve stepped on something back at the house…”

However, as she placed it on her palm, Futaro started to move and shout at her, causing her to tilt her head and say “Is that a bug…? It’s moving, but it isn’t shaped like a bug…”

When Futaro heard that, he begins to wave at her and angrily shout “I’m not a bug, you airhead! It’s me, Futaro!!”

Ichika proceeds to blink a few times, before laughing to herself and mumbling “Am I going crazy…?”

Futaro shakes his head and yells in response, shouting “I’m the one who’s going crazy, now hurry up and help me!!”

It was at this point that Ichika realized what was going on, or at least partially. Somehow, a Futaro the size of a bug was standing on her palm, which meant that he was probably stuck in her flat since she left the house. That thought made her feel a bit bad, but since she had no way of knowing, she just shrugged it off. But then she started to think about the possibilities of holding him while he was so small and vulnerable, though his sharp glare made her focus back on the current situation.

After that, Ichika smiles and says “Hello, Futaro! Sorry if I caused you any trouble. I’m dying to know what happened to you, so spill it…”

Futaro sighs, feeling glad that she was at least aware of him now, so he explains the whole story from the beginning. It took a little while to explain everything, and Ichika was thoroughly entertained by the entirety of it. By the time he was done, Ichika taps her chin and says “I should give Miku and Nino a call, shouldn’t I?”

He nods in response and says “Yeah, it’d save us some trouble for later…”

Following that, Ichika gives them a call, hoping to alleviate their concerns for Futaro’s safety...

Before she could even say anything, Nino yells “Ichika!! This is a weird question, but did you notice anything weird on you when you left? Maybe like a strange pebble in your flat??”

Futaro grumbles to himself when he hears that, as he says “It’d be simpler if she just told you that I shrank…”

Ichika smiles and whispers back, saying “If she said that, then I’d probably think she was joking…”

Futaro nods in response and says “I guess… Now hurry up and tell them…”

Surprisingly, Ichika motions for Futaro to stay quiet, before sneakily smiling and saying “A pebble, huh…?”

On the other line, Miku nods and says “Yes! Something of that size…”

Ichika begins to tap her chin and say “A pebble… Now that I think of it, I did feel one in my flat earlier. It felt fairly nice to squeeze actually…”

When Nino hears that, her eyes widen as she says “Ack! S… squeeze…?”

Miku then whispers to Nino, saying “That has to be Futaro! We’ve gotta do something…”

Nino nods in agreement and says “Yeah… Can’t believe she gets to play with Futaro before me, and she didn’t even realize it…”

Futaro was beginning to get annoyed by this exchange, causing him to say “Just tell them I’m fine… This is a waste of time…”

Ichika quietly giggles to herself and lightly presses her finger onto Futaro, silencing him while whispering “I’m just having some fun… Don’t worry too hard, Futaro…”

After that, she turns back to the phone and says “That’s right! I’m not sure exactly why, but it was quite relaxing to squeeze that little pebble with my toes. I guess it felt like one of those small stress balls…? Why do you ask, Nino?”

Nino starts to ruffle her hair nervously, before finally saying “Because that pebble is Futaro!”

Miku proceeds to look over at her sister, while whispering “Should we be that direct…?”

Nino then starts to grumble to herself, before saying “I don’t know… I just blurted that out…”

When Ichika hears that, she smiles and says “What was that…? The pebble is Futaro…? I never realized you had that kind of fantasy, Nino…”

Nino proceeds to blush heavily, her thoughts filling of getting to toy with Futaro while he was at this shrunken size. However, Futaro was growing even more annoyed by this pointless banter, so he walks up to the phone and shouts “I’ve had it! Miku!! Nino!! I’m perfectly fine!”

Miku notices his voice first, causing her to quietly mumble “Futaro…?”

Nino’s eyes then widen as she yells “F… Fu??”

Ichika then just sighs to herself and whispers, saying “And I was having so much fun…”

Following that, Ichika switches to a video call, showing to Miku and Nino that Futaro was unharmed though fairly dirty...

And as they stared and shouted to Futaro with concern, Ichika explains, saying “Futaro told me that he fell in my flat before I left, so I had no idea until I got to the clothing store… But at least he’s okay!”

Nino grins in response and says “Hey there, Fu! I wish I noticed you back when I was organizing your desk. You must look so adorable right now…”

Futaro merely grumbles and says “Yeah, that would have made things easier…” Then, he furrows his brow and adds, saying “Speaking of that, did you just wake up when you walked into the living room?”

Nino’s eyes widened, causing her to nervously laugh and say “Umm… Well, you’d better bring Fu back here, Ichika! I’m sure you’ll be too busy for him right now…”

Miku excitedly nods while saying “That’s right! We’ll take care of Futaro while you do your errands…”

To their surprise, Ichika merely smirks and says “Hmm… Nope!”

Nino starts to eye her sister suspiciously, before saying “Huh…? Why not?”

Ichika then winks and says “Futaro should spend some time with his big sister… And I could use some company while I shop. I’ll be careful with him…”

Following that statement, the girls on the other line start to shout over each other, both trying to argue why they should get to spend time with Futaro. And Ichika just grins at them, before saying “I’ll be going now… See you both in a few hours…”

Futaro then waves before saying “Bye…”

Ichika then ends the call, before looking down at Futaro with an amused expression, leaving him to wonder just what she had planned in that mischievous mind of hers. No matter what happened, it wouldn’t be boring at least…