(39) Before Arrival (13.9 m < 14.0 m)

We really did end up passing too much time on Narumi-senpai’s lap. Yae actually fell asleep due to how comfortable and warm it was atop Narumi-senpai's thighs. It made sense that she fell asleep anyways. I doubted she had any good rest the previous night after being dosed on SRS.

Zzz…. Zzz…

“Aww… How cute! Is that how Yae-chan normally sleeps, Kirishima-kun?”

“Mffph! Hey, Senpai. A little help please! Mgggph! This is-!”

However, I would have liked for her to wake up as soon as possible. Yae was starting to shift her legs as she curled up. Because I had been lying on her lap, I was pinned between her thighs. The pressure of her legs pinned my arms and legs in place.

“Fufu~ You look like you’re having fun there, Kirishima-kun,” Senpai couldn’t hear me well enough so she just giggled at the sight of me.

It felt nice. I had to admit that much. However, there was such a thing as ‘too nice’. Being squeezed between Yae’s legs was like being smothered between two mattresses. I couldn’t move from the weight and pressure pinning me down, and it was quickly getting rough from the pressure of Yae’s legs and stockings rubbing together.

The other girls in the committee were immensely starry-eyed over our position. Akagi, Saegusa-senpai, and Okazaki pulled out their smartphones to record video.

“Tou-san, I’ll send this to you and Asano-chan later.”

“Pffft! This is rich. A double whammy of Naruru’s lap pillow and Kirishima-kun with his girlfriend. I’ve got to post this online.”

“Awah~! That looks so nice. Senpai, you’re so cute down there, but wow, I didn’t think Asano-senpai could be even cuter! She’s like a baby squirrel!”

I wanted to confiscate their phones and delete their videos so badly, but, of course, I wasn’t in any position to. I was grateful another giant figure approached the trio of girls from behind.

Chop! Hit! Whack!

“Gyah!” “Grk!” “Kyah!”

“It is rude to take video of others without their explicit permission, you three.” The power of our Committee Chairman’s ‘President Chop’ was intense. It drove all three of them to the side in an instant as Kamiya-senpai returned. “I take it that you successfully pacified Yae-san, Naru-chan?”

Our fluffy haired committee member nodded. “She just fell asleep.”

“I can see that. Fufu~!” giggled the committee head. She leaned forward and brushed her hair behind her ear so that when her face was over the two of us, it wouldn’t fall onto us. She kept silent for a moment as she inspected Yae and then pulled back to talk. “Knowing how you operate, Naru-chan, she may not be waking up unless we forcibly awaken her.”

Forcibly was the key word. Nobody could fight Narumi-senpai’s soft lap pillow. Waking from it early required a legitimate effort. This helped Kamiya-senpai in any case as she slowly and gently slipped her fingers between Yae’s equally thick legs. She spread Yae’s legs open just enough for me to slip out. I had no control over my escape, though, as Senpai promptly used her fingers to pinch my entire torso and pick me up onto her palm.

“... Oof… Guh… Hah. Thanks Kamiya-senpai,” I had to at least thank her for freeing me.

There was a frown on Senpai’s face that told her she didn’t feel happy to hear my gratitude as she walked away from the rest of the group. I held on tightly to her finger as her steps caused me to bounce atop her springy palm. “You should not thank me, Kirishima-kun. I only did this because I did need to speak to you. Sadly, I was unable to get the permission for Yae-san’s temporary size change. ”

Senpai feeling bad about failing to get permission was so typical of her kind nature. I pushed myself off of her finger and stumbled back to the center of her palm. She quickly caught me using her other hand’s index finger before I fell. “Oof. I think it should be okay. Yae was the one who was looking forward to it, but considering how she is now, I don’t think she minds...”

“I see your point,” Senpai avoided speaking too loudly when her face was so close to my body that her breath could blow me off her hand. The fact that Yae was still happily curled atop Narumi-senpai’s lap like a pet gerbil was evidence enough that she’d be fine. “I suppose we can simply return you and her to the gymnasium later to be resized properly then, but again, my apologies for having gotten her hopes up for nothing.”

Although it would be a shame that we wouldn’t be able to get any alone time or even time for Yae to feel normal, it was, I understand that it was the program’s final decision. They must not have wanted to waste the resources for something unnecessary.

That wasn’t the actual reason though, as Senpai soon told me. “We actually would have been able to, Kirishima-kun, but it seems the health committee from one of the other schools travelling with us asked first. They took up the last unscheduled time for using the device.”

The reason she gave was a fair enough justification as to why we wouldn’t be able to do so, but it also made me curious. 

“Other schools?”

“Yes. We are travelling with others. I hope you did not think we were the only school taking part in the program, Kirishima-kun. This is country-wide after all.”

It totally slipped my mind. That meant I was going to be seeing a lot more giant women wandering around, didn’t it? Was the place we were going actually going to be able to fit multiple groups worth of Magnified girls?

Senpai saw my concerned expression. To knock some sense into me, she purposefully shifted her finger on her palm, knocking the wind out of me as I was knocked all the way back to the wall her curled fingers made.

“Grk!”

“I see that you have been too focused on Yae-san to be thinking straight. Please do remember that you are on duty even while you are going through this week, Kirishima-kun.”

Even if she said I was on duty, there wasn’t much that I could really do other than keep an eye on Yae.

Senpai continued speaking, letting me know one more thing she found out while she was out. “Also, I have been told some members from the Department of Alteration will be greeting us all when we arrive.”

“Really? That’s going to be something,” I nodded. It made sense because where we were going was controlled by the government. After all, Reduction and Magnification were technological innovations that they did their best to regulate. 

Before I could think about this any further, however, Kamiya-senpai asked an out of place question that caught me off guard. “Incidentally, Kirishima-kun, how much do you know about Ranko-san?”

Ranko? It took me a moment to connect the name to the list of people I knew.

“That’s the name of Sensei’s sister, right? I only saw the name once so I don’t really know her. I’m surprised you’re on a first name basis with her, Senpai.”

“She is… quite the forward woman...” Senpai used her freehand to play with her hair. There was a blush on her face as she seemed to recall something embarrassing. “She will be one of the officials coming, and she would like to meet you and Yae-san later. I will send you the details after we restore your scale.”

Hearing that I was going to be meeting Ranko Sasakura, I suddenly became both curious and nervous. She was the person who apparently read my previous report on Reduction Week. Was that the reason why she wanted to meet me and Yae? 

I glanced past the edge of Senpai’s palm, instinctively wanting to look at my childhood friend to hear her thoughts. However, Senpai had walked far away from the sofas. It was blurry to even see the girls lounging there. The best I could make out was Morino trying to sneak a picture of Yae on Narumi-senpai’s lap.

Senpai’s description and my recollection of Sasakura-sensei’s annoyance at her younger sister lingered in my mind. Even if she was going to be back to her Magnified scale, was Yae going to be able to handle the woman?

(40) Day 3 Sudden School Trip (14.0 m < 14.6 m)

As someone in the health committee, I was more ‘in the know‘ than my other classmates and Yae. The Magnification Mid-Week Moving Itinerary told me where we would be ending up; however, it didn’t tell me a thing about how we would be arriving there. The entire trip had been so smooth and calm, there was no way of knowing what kind of vehicle was taking us to our final destination.

Well, this being Japan, I suppose there were only so many places you could get to in a few hours. Still, technology was amazing and so was our ways of travelling nowadays. I had to keep silent and seated in the corner to avoid spoiling things when Yae and I were returned to the gymnasium. We found the girls and boys seated at their desks all tired and burnt out from the written questions that concluded the training. All of the other physical activity and training had exhausted them.

“Ok, training’s over everyone,” the health committee upperclassman who replaced Yanase-senpai, Reika Fushimi, was passing out the Certificates of Completion to the girls while Yagi and Hirose were doing the same for the boys. “Are you ready to end the day?”

“... No response. They’re just corpses, Senpai.”

That was right. We had a half day that only consisted of the training. Everyone seemed too tired to properly hear her let alone reply. Well, that was to be expected. Yae and I were found unconscious lying on top of each other with our eyes rolled back at the Asano residence when we came back from our training session in the summer.

But the health committee knew this would happen. If we wanted the program to continue, everyone needed to get shocked back into reality. That was why discovering our final destination was actually written as a part of the itinerary.

“Hm… So we’re all set up? Huh? Ran’s here too? Oh, boy,” Sasakura-sensei was down by the entrance on the phone. She had to walk around Yae who was seated hugging her knees to get to the normal sized entrance . “I hope you had your fun, Asano. It’s going to be even more interesting from here on.”

“More interesting?” Yae tilted her head. She had woken up refreshed, so she was the only giant girl in any position to respond properly. “Are you sure you don’t mean more surreal, Sensei?”

“Well, I guess you can put it that way,” Sensei chuckled and spoke to the giant health committee members. “Okay. Open the doors, girls.”

At Sensei’s request, the warehouse-sized doors of the gymnasium were unlocked and opened. Immediately, natural sunlight rushed into the room along with a salty gust that stirred our exhausted classmates.

“Huh? No way,” Yae, who was closest to the entrance, had her jaw drop upon looking outside. 

“Huh? What’s that?” “Hey, do you hear that?” “Waves?” “That smells like the ocean.” “Seriously?”

She wasn’t the only one either. Everyone one of our classmates could feel, hear, and smell the difference in atmosphere when the sealed doors of the gymnasium opened. We had been moved and re-scaled without their knowledge, so to them, it was as though the building had magically been transported.

Where were we?

“No way. It seriously is.” “So that’s why we were told to bring swimsuits.” “The sea! I can’t believe it! How’d we get here?” “How did we not even notice?” “Magic?”

It was the ocean, of course. If the salty air and the sound of waves wasn’t enough to figure it out, the moment we peered out, we found ourselves on sand looking out to a bright sunny day and rolling ocean waves. A voice blaring on a megaphone suddenly shouted to make sure we knew.

“Yoohoo~! Sakuragawa High School~! How are you all doing today? Everyone have a good trip? Welcome to the port! Didn’t even realize you were being transported by ship, did you?”

Ranko Sasakura was definitely a personality. She had a bright and eccentric character to her that contrasted heavily with our school nurse, Kikue Sasakura’s, mild-mannered attitude. Though she was using a microphone with speakers so that she could speak to all of the 15 m tall girls, she honestly didn’t need them with how well she projected her bubbly voice.

“As expected of Ran,” Sasakura-sensei shook her head at her sister before turning to the class. “Class 2-D, everyone line up outside. The government is here to welcome us to Phase 2.”

A wave of excitement and curiosity had woken up all of my classmates. We all followed Sasakura and the health committee outside onto the sand. It was odd to think that a lone warehouse-sized building was now suddenly on a sandy beach. It was like some sort of light novel premise, but it at least made sense to me. Where else would there be enough room for all of the 15 m tall girls to gather, especially when they were as tall as the trees growing nearby?

Standing at regular size on a platform were four people. Of those four, there was one woman in particular we could all say held a strong resemblance to our school nurse.

“I am Ranko Sasakura from the Department of Alteration. I trust you all already know my sister!” She introduced herself happily.

There was a clamor of whispering to each other from my classmates as everyone grouped up in front of the podium. The boys went to the front because we wouldn’t be able to see anything if the building girls sat down in front. They didn’t sit though. They just stood and held her knees, leaning down to see more closely. The guys ended up walking through their legs and their footprints which left deep impressions in the sand to get to our destination along with Sasakura-sensei who went to join her sister. As for me, I stayed with the health committee group to the side with Yae.

“Welcome to Phase 2, everyone,” Sasakura-sensei grabbed the microphone from her sister. “Ignoring my younger sister for one moment, let me explain. While you were training, we transported the building you were in to our Phase 2 location. I know you’re all surprised to find yourselves a large beach. It may come as a surprise, but we’re no longer in the city you’re familiar with. But this is no deserted island either; there is a city just a kilometer away where you will be staying tonight.”

“Hey, Kikue-nee!” Snatching back the microphone, Sensei’s sister huffed and pouted, but she was quick to regain her composure and follow up on Sensei’s statement by adding more detail to it. “Ahem. We call this place Ookojima, the largest of a cluster of islands where we’ve been testing both Magnification and Reduction equipment. This is an island where we research multiple forms of Magnification and Reduction before introducing them to society. We welcome you to our experimental island.”

“Experimental island? How the heck?” Takahashi was in sheer disbelief.

Of course, being nearly ten times her normal size, Takahashi’s question could easily be heard by Ranko-san. “I see you’re all curious. I get it. You just got out of class and found yourself on an island. But that’s exactly why you were given a half day. I won’t bore you with all the details when it’s better that you all find out for yourselves. Essentially, you can treat this as the free-day of a school trip.”

“A school trip? Really?” I heard Yae’s excitement above me. “Is this what you were all waiting to surprise us with, Touya?”

I would have answered yes, but the re-scaled Yanase-senpai was eye level with her so she more readily answered. “Ufufu~ This is the true Phase 2, Yae-san~! You didn’t think we could fit you girls in the school and city when we’re all still growing, did you~?”

I nodded and confirmed Senpai’s statement. “Technically school’s still in session even if we’re done with classes for today, but this should be pretty fun and interesting right? Unlike back at home, this island’s designed to let you girls wander around at ten times your height.”

My explanation seemed to have been heard by the rest of the class as well as they were all looking over at Yae and I before they started talking amongst themselves.

“No way. Lucky!” “How’s that going to work like this?” “Seriously? Alright!” “Eguchi-kun, let’s go together.”

If you surprised students with a sudden field trip, of course they were going to get excited. We could hear Ranko-san’s laughter from the speakers as she watched us all.

“Hahaha. Easy there, everyone. There’s no schedule for today outside of meeting at the hotel later by dinner time. We have staff all around the city, so we’ll let you know when it is time to meet and direct you there.”

“Hotel!?” “Is it Magnified? Please tell me it’s our size!”

Hearing those words perked up the girls even further too. There were plenty answers to ask and plenty things to see. Everyone’s curiosities had been piqued. Those of us in the health committee couldn’t resist exchanging smirks. 

This was Phase 2: Magnified Life.