The Guardian's Playmate

(Zetta)

WARNING: This story is rated MA-LVS for strong language, brief scenes of bloody violence, and sexual teases. Reader discretion is advised.

Chapter One: The Other Half

His eyes snapped open. A blanket enveloped his sweat-covered body, and a wall of fire burned before him. When did he fall asleep in front of the fireplace?

His head throbbed, too. Last night must’ve been another crazy one.

He rubbed his eyes and stood, stretching, the blanket pooling around him. He turned from the fireplace and walked, eyes closing as he yawned. He ran into something plush and stumbled backward. He opened his eyes.

A stomach?

He gazed up…and up…and up, panic churning his stomach. Two mounds blocked her face, so he backed away to see her soft, blue eyes. Her hair was pulled into two ponytails, the ends sprawled on the floor.

Oh. Shit.

Four other teenage giantesses sat behind the blonde, staring right at him. Had been waiting for him to wake up.

His head grew heavier with the realization that his final living hours lay ahead.

Another blonde, a red bow decorating her hair, reached, engulfed him with one hand, and then lifted him up to her face. His mind blanked.

She opened the palm of her hand. Thumbed his stomach, knocking him down. She pressed harder and harder, knocking the wind out of him. He flailed.

“His eyes pop out, just like a plush toy,” she said.

“Careful, Mina-chan. Smaller men are very fragile.” The soft-spoken voice came from behind.

The blonde let go of his stomach, and he let out a long breath. His hands and legs hit the palm of her hand.

“I know, Ami-chan.”

He looked toward Ami’s voice. A blue-haired girl with matching blue eyes sat slightly behind the blonde who had picked him up.

He looked around. There was a brunette, her hair tied in a wavy ponytail, with bright green eyes; and a girl with long, black hair, eyes a deep yet cold purple.

“It’s his fault for coming over here,” the black-haired girl said. “He knows the rules. If a small man comes to our side, we can do whatever we want to him.”

All the smaller men knew the rules, but that didn’t stop them from being stupid and reckless.

Twenty years ago—five years before he was born—there had been a televised “agreement” between the queen of the giantesses and the president of the smaller men concerning what would happen when smaller men wandered to the giantesses’ side. The agreement was shown to smaller men at the beginning of every school year. The president, a stout, middle-aged man, had stood on an oval table, forced to gaze up at the curvy, thirty-year-old woman sitting at the table. The president had flown to the queen’s mansion for the agreement; the queen refused to come to the smaller men’s side. Between them lay a blank piece of paper, and the queen was the only one with a pen. Had said that the president didn’t need a pen. She’d been the only one to write the agreement, telling the president that she’d crush him if he disagreed or came up with any terms with which she didn’t agree. Thus, the agreement was written.

Before the “agreement,” giantesses and smaller men lived alongside one another, giantesses keeping the smaller men as friends, slaves, or pets. Smaller men were rarely kept as friends and most commonly kept as slaves. Now, a 1,000-foot iron wall separated the smaller men and the giantesses, halving the world. The wall had a large and small door for the giantesses and smaller men if they needed to interact with one another, like for the giantesses’ school trips. No guards patrolled the iron wall, so men could cross to the giantesses’ side at will. In the “agreement,” giantesses were not allowed to cross to the men’s side, and a giantess always guarded their side. The queen didn’t want a giantess to kill the all of the male population at one time. Wouldn’t be very smart for reproduction.

Like the others who had accidentally ventured onto this side after drunken nights, he would be killed soon. Eaten. Stomped. Something. They would have their fun with him first.

He needed to leave as quickly as possible.

He darted his eyes, searching the bedroom that was as crowded as a forest, with manga volumes and CDs scattered throughout. He could use the clutter to his advantage, making the girls trip over them or something.

These girls were so large that they were blocking all means of escape. He stood before a fireplace, the first blonde girl, the one whose hair was in…pigtails…sat in front of him. The brunette sat on his right side, and the black-haired one sat at his left side. The blue-haired girl sat beside the brunette while the second blonde whose hair was tied in a red bow sat beside the black-haired girl.

“He’s looking for a way out,” the black-haired girl said.

“I would be, too,” the brunette said.

The color drained from his face.

“Aw, you’re making him scared, Mako-chan,” the pigtailed girl said. Mako had to be short for “Makoto.” He knew a few guys who were named Makoto. It was rare that a girl be named a guy’s name.

“Looks like I spoke a bit too much again. Sorry. I’ll try and make him less afraid.” Makoto gestured toward herself. “Hand him to me, Minako.”

Minako passed him to Makoto, the wind whipping his face. His stomach lurched and quickened the pulse in his head.

Into another warm hand.

Makoto’s eyes softened. “We won’t hurt you.” Was she serious?

She shrugged. “He doesn’t believe me.” She held him between two fingers, looking him up and down. He looked her up and down, scowling. If he was going to die, he was going to put up a hell of a fight. “So, have any of you ever”—she squeezed him, but not so tightly that she hurt him—“cared for a little man before? I mean, before eating him.”

That was how he was gonna die, if they didn’t accidentally stomp him.

“I’ve only seen two,” Minako said. “I ate the first one who came as soon as I saw him. I saw and captured him at school, and I didn’t want to risk any of the other girls seeing and taking him from me. And I’d never eaten a little human before but had heard how delicious they were. He tasted great.”

He shuddered. Makoto flashed him a smirk. Weren’t they supposed to be making him more comfortable?

“The second time…” She scratched the side of her face, chuckling. “Um, I accidentally sat on him.”

He sharply drew in breath.

“See, I had left my room for a moment to get my chain to do some…experiments”—she winked at Ami—“with him.

Chain?

“I came back, and I didn’t see him…”

“All right.” Chijinda paced Minako’s bedroom desk. He had willfully come to the other side of the world to investigate the surge of disappearing smaller men, mostly stupid adolescents. Chijinda thought that all adult men instilled in male children and adolescents a fear of going to the giantesses’ side. But teenage boys were stupid and reckless. He wouldn’t be surprised if the recent surge in disappearing boys was because of the increasing popularity of getting wasted every night, including school nights, the increased availability of alcohol, and boys’ curiosity of the other sex. Being cooped up with other men couldn’t be good for…other needs. They tried to fulfill those needs with one another, but that didn’t stop several from seeking out companionship with giantesses during drunken nights.

Chijinda had seen no smaller men in this girl’s room, had even asked the girl, and she said no, that he was the second little man she had seen and was determined to play with him for a little while. He was definitely going to leave before that happened.

He jumped off the table, wind whistling in his face and tousling his brown hair.

The door opened. He landed on the chair, losing his balance and falling facedown in its cushion. He looked up.

Minako walked into the room, carrying a whip, tongue peeking from her lips, looking at her desk for him.

She furrowed her brow.

Chijinda was out in the open. If he moved, she might see him. Just stay still.

“Where did he go?” Minako sped-walked to the desk. “I left him here. Damn. I should’ve strapped him down before I left. I certainly wouldn’t want me to get my hands on a little guy.” She lifted pencils, papers. Opened the drawer and searched, bending slightly.

Chijinda watched. She was right above her, and he had a nice view of her behind. But this was his chance.

He turned to slide down one of the chair’s legs. The shadow over him grew.

He lost his breath. Her body enveloped his vision.

“Uwagh!”

She sat. She raised her eyebrows. It felt like she had crushed a nut. Did she leave anything on her chair?

She stood. A splatter of blood on her chair cushion. A splatter of blood on her jeans. The remains of a flattened human on the chair and her jeans.

“Oops.”

The other giantesses stared at Minako, his own heart jackhammering his chest. He did not want to end up alone with any of the giantesses, but especially not with someone as careless as Minako.

“How was I supposed to know he was there?”

“Looking before you sit, maybe?” the black-haired girl said.

Minako giggled. “Well, yes, obviously, Rei-chan. But I was so preoccupied on finding that little guy that I just…did it without thinking.”

Great.

“We shouldn’t worry about that for now,” Makoto said. “We should all have our own alone time with him right before we eat him.”

He deflated. He was going to be put in a room alone with Minako.

The pigtailed girl raised a finger. “I’ve heard about eating little humans before, but I guess this would be a good time to tell you that I’ve never eaten one myself.”

Minako gaped. “You’ve never eaten a little human before, Usagi-chan?”

Fitting name, considering that her hair reminded him of rabbit ears.

Usagi blushed lightly. “No, I haven’t. I mean, they don’t come all that often, so… And Mamo-chan…”

Who?

“This is the perfect opportunity.” Minako winked at him, and his cheeks became hot. “After we’re finished having fun with this little guy—oh, Usagi, you’ll have so much fun playing with him, and since he’s a nobody, you can do whatever you’d like, unlike Mamoru. After we’re done with him, you can have him to yourself to eat. Little humans are delicious, even more so since they come here so rarely. Usually by accident.”

What made him a nobody compared to this Mamoru person?

“Then, all of you have eaten little humans?” Usagi said. All her friends nodded.

Usagi seemed…innocent. She had even looked at him with concern when he woke up. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she was the one who found him and let him warm up by the fire.

He wouldn’t mind being alone with her. He wanted to know where her head was truly at—a risk he was willing to take. Unlike the other girls, she didn’t seem thrilled at the prospect of spending alone time with him or of eating him.

“I’m out of the loop.” Usagi grinned. “But that’ll change by the time we’re finished with him.”

Even her.

So he had to rely only on himself. Just needed to think of a plan. Maybe it’d be easier to escape when he was alone with one of them instead of confronting all five of them. Makoto and Rei seemed very observant. The way Makoto had looked him up and down, memorizing every part of him. How Rei had looked at him, almost repulsed but amused.

The more these girls talked, the more he wanted to leave. He was tempted to just jump out of Makoto’s hand and run, even though he would be swept up by one of them as soon as he tried.

“It’s great that you’re ready to have fun with this guy, Usagi,” Minako said. “Now, who’ll have him first?”

They exchanged looks, waiting for someone else to answer. Not looking at him. This could be his chance. Maybe Makoto was too big to feel him move. He was already standing.

He crept toward the edge of her palm.

“I think Usagi-chan should have him first,” Ami said as he stopped at the edge of Makoto’s palm. “She’s never really messed with a little human before”—her lips twisted into a smile—“and we’ll probably tire him out.”

“I agree,” Makoto said.

He looked down. It was a long way from her palm to the carpet, and it probably wouldn’t bode well for his body if he landed right on the floor. If he landed on her thigh directly below him—hopefully, she wouldn’t feel him—he could cushion his fall and survive.

If he failed, the punishment couldn’t be severe. They needed to keep him as…whole as possible to have the fun they wanted. Especially since it was Usagi’s first time playing with a smaller man.

He jumped.

“Hey!”

He landed on Makoto’s thigh and then rolled like a log onto the carpet. He scrambled onto his feet and tore toward the door, the light seeping from the gap between the bottom of the door and the carpet calling to him.

A hand grabbed him, hitching his breathing. The ceiling spun in front of him, then the wall, then a desk, then Makoto’s face, her eyes dangerously narrow. If her grip wasn’t so tight, he’d be shaking.

“Don’t you dare try that again, or we’ll make you regret it. Got it?”

He nodded rapidly.

Her eyes softened slightly. “Good.” She squeezed him more tightly than the first time.

Rei scoffed. “Stupid man.”

He still wanted to try to escape, but after that, he wasn’t sure if he could.

He looked at Usagi. Her eyebrows were arched, even though she had shown some excitement at playing with him earlier.

She was his only hope. She had said that she wanted to play with him to her friends, and maybe she truly did. But she also felt bad for him. He could use that to his advantage in trying to escape.

Or maybe she was playing him right now.

“Take this as a lesson, Usagi-chan,” Ami said. “The little humans oftentimes try to escape even though we’re hundreds of times stronger than them and we can catch them quickly because of our bigger sizes. You have to be stern with them. It’s a natural fight-or-flight response, though.”

“We should give him props for trying,” Minako said.

“For being an idiot?” Rei crossed her arms. “If I was in his position, I wouldn’t have tried to escape at all. Actually, I wouldn’t have come over here in the first place.”

He shouldn’t have gotten wasted. Never again would he touch a bottle of beer.

“Do we all agree that Usagi-chan should have him first?”

The other girls nodded, said, “Yes.”

Usagi clapped her hands. “I’d love to get my hands on him first.”

Rei flipped her hair.

“What’s wrong, Rei-chan?”

Rei cast him an icy gaze. “Nothing.”

Did she know him or something? What was her problem?

“We’ll leave him with you, Usagi-chan,” Ami said, Makoto holding her hand out to Usagi, the resulting gust whipping his face, scattering his brown hair backward and revealing his brown eyes. Makoto stopped her hand, and he jerked forward, falling on his hands and knees. He looked up, scowling at Usagi, nearly scowled at Makoto too.

Usagi paused, her hand inches from him, curling her lips inward.

Minako shoved him onto his back with her pinky. “Don’t look at Usagi like that.”

Then he would look at Minako like that. He scowled at her.

Makoto squeezed, stealing his breath. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t breathe. “I can’t tell if he’s just feisty or stupid.”

“Both,” Rei said. “It can be a deadly combination.” Her eyes sharpened at him, his vision blurring. “And it will be deadly for him today.”

The world dimmed. They were going to kill him before they messed with him. Couldn’t believe…they…going…kill…

Sleep. Just for a little while, and then he would wake up in bed and have to go to school with another indescribable headache…

“Don’t kill him, Makoto!” Usagi blurted.

Makoto let him go. He collapsed, chest heaving, inhaling sweet oxygen.

Usagi’s friends stared at her. Usagi tapped her fingers together. “N-not until I’ve had my time with him, I mean. A-a-and I would like to eat him.”

He gaped at her.

By the way Usagi’s friends were staring at her, they didn’t know what to think either. He and Usagi were strangers to each other.

Maybe her concern had something to do with Mamoru.

Makoto might not have actually killed him. But he sure felt like if Usagi had waited a second later to say something, he would’ve seen the light.

“Of course, Usagi-chan.” She opened the palm of her hand. “Here.”

Usagi reached slowly, hand shaking. She carefully wrapped her hand and fingers around him, her hand a bit sweaty.

She lifted him to her blue eyes and then opened the palm of her hand. She smiled softly.

Minako nudged Usagi. “We’ll leave you two to get acquainted. See you, Usagi.”

They were leaving.

They all left the room, Ami saying, “Have fun, Usagi-chan.”

They closed the door.

Their footsteps faded.

They were gone.

Gone.

He jumped from her hand, not even afraid this time, not even looking to see if he would land safely. He landed on her thigh, rolled down, fell on the carpet, scrambled onto his feet, and sprinted.

“Wait! Don’t…”

He threw himself onto his stomach and slid under the gap between the door and the carpet. The light ahead brightened.

A shadow darkened everything.

Footsteps. Close.

He tripped over someone’s socked toes and crashed onto her foot. She flipped up her foot, and he was thrown into the air, the wind lashing him.  His flight stopped abruptly, the girl swiping him, stealing his breath again. Oh, God, again. Oh God no more air he was going to die—

Everything blurred. And then he was face-to-familiar-green-eyes.

“Did you honestly think we were going to leave?” Makoto. Again.

He suppressed a scowl. Despite his situation, that rebellious teenager thing still reared its ugly head.

“Not when Usagi has no…experience catching little humans.”

She drove her finger into the top of his head, screwing it back and forth. He screamed like a girl. How embarrassing.

Makoto laughed.

Usagi opened the door, wincing at the sight of Makoto giving him a twisted version of a noogie. “Makoto, you don’t have to do that. We were just playing a game of hide-and-seek, that’s all.”

The bully stopped, and his head was released of pressure. He panted. “He left his allotted area.”

“We never told him where he could and couldn’t go, so there’s no way he could’ve known.” She gestured toward herself. “Please give him back.”

Makoto glared at him one final time, pinched his sides between two fingers, not hurting him nearly as much as she had been hurting him before, and then dropped him in the palm of Usagi’s hand.

Usagi entered the safe haven and closed the door.

She had lied for him.

“Now you know not to leave this room,” Usagi said.

He nodded twice.

Usagi sat on her knees and then rested on her stomach, placing her head on her arms so that she looked directly at him. He didn’t feel the need to run away.

“I’m sorry that my friends are treating you like this. Especially Makoto. I didn’t know she could be like that. She’s always so nice and gentle, and she’s a great cook.” Her face lit up. “I know. I’ll ask her to make lunch for not only me and my other friends, but for you, too. How’d you like that?”

For all he knew, Makoto could poison his food. He shook his head.

Usagi pouted. “I know you don’t like her, and, um, I don’t blame you—if I were you and she was treating me like that, I wouldn’t like her, either. But please. You must be hungry anyhow.”

He shook his head once more. His stomach growled. There went his argument.

Usagi reached her index finger toward him. She stopped it an inch from his stomach, cocking her head.

He smiled and nodded. She wouldn’t hurt him.

She poked his stomach, tickled him, and he laughed.

“Lie to me, will you?” She kept tickling him, and he collapsed onto his back, trying to push Usagi’s hands away. She kept tickling him, and his face reddened from laughing. She was laughing, too.

He gasped for air from laughing so hard. She stopped, still laughing. He wiped his watering eyes and smiled at her. She smiled at him.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

Chapter Two: The First Encounter

He smiled into Usagi’s blue eyes, genuinely happy, despite his circumstances.

Well, not circumstances. He had ended up here out of choice—sort of. He had chosen to get wasted again. He had chosen to invite his friends over while his dad was out getting wasted with a group of work buddies. In his drunken stupor, he had agreed to a dare that he come over to the other side.

So, not only did he have a head-breaking hangover, but he was also at the mercy of five giantesses.

He didn’t mind being at Usagi’s mercy, though. Usagi was nice to him. She understood that he had come here (sort of) by accident.

Usagi smiled at him, too. Not the feral smiles on her friends’ faces earlier, but one that said she cared for his well-being.

“Would you like to go home?” she whispered.

His eyes widened. He nodded.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take you home.”

He relaxed. The only questions were, how? When?

She scratched the side of her face. “Um, I’ll think of some way.”

“Having fun, Usagi-chan?”

He winced. Makoto.

“A lot, Mako-chan.”

“That’s great.” Minako now. “If you need any ideas, let me know. I’ve got a few pointers, too.”

“Erm, thanks, Mina-chan, but I think I’m all right.”

Giantesses must be naturally inclined to touch and play with smaller men, like men were naturally inclined to fulfill bodily needs. But when men’s needs weren’t fulfilled and when men were lost every day to the giantesses’ side, they turned to drinking every morning, afternoon, and especially nights.

Didn’t the giantesses have the same needs as men? How did they fulfill them?

She reached for him and then paused, looking at him. Waiting for his permission. He nodded, finding that his smile was broadening.

She gently took him and raised him to her eyes. Examined him, mouth parted. Did she want to explore? He certainly wanted to explore her. Not because he was that attracted to her, but because he’d never explored a woman before.

“If you don’t mind, I want to play with you for a little while.”

He nodded. So did he.

Usagi touched his stomach with her pinky, and he nearly started at her touch. Not because it hurt, but because it was…different. The gentlest touch he had ever felt. He was used to roughhousing. Not this care.

She slowly moved her pinky around his stomach, then up, to his chest. He let out a moan.

She blushed deeply, stopping. “No, no, I shouldn’t be doing this.”

He cocked his head. He was enjoying himself. And by the look of fascination in her eyes, she was enjoying it, too. It wasn’t even sexual.

“Mamo-chan…”

His breath caught. What?

She peered at him. “You’re probably wondering who Mamo-chan is.” She averted her eyes to the floor. “Actually, you’ve probably already figured it out.”

He had a pretty solid idea. Boyfriend. Somehow. But she had said that she had never played with a small man before, so how could she have a boyfriend?

“It’s a long story. But I’ve never touched any man other than Mamoru.”

Ah, Mamoru. That name should’ve rung a bell before, but he was so scared he couldn’t think straight. Mamoru Chiba. A high school student. One of the few smaller men who didn’t drink, he was so serious about his studies.

Props to Mamoru for keeping his giant relationship a secret.

Mamoru must have been sneaking over to this side when everyone else was out partying. Everyone except Motoki Furuhata, Mamoru’s friend, who people had stopped inviting to parties because he didn’t drink. Why party without drinks? That was like eating a pizza without cheese.

Mamoru and Usagi’s relationship must’ve recently begun. Their relationship would’ve slipped out one day.

Several weeks ago, the queen had bullied the mayor into inviting the giantesses onto the men’s side.  “Just for a tour,” she’d said.

Yes, he remembered. Usagi was the one with the…pigtails…who had come with a red-haired girl, Naru, and the four other girls who had captured him. He had seen all these girls before. Just didn’t remember them immediately, he had seen so many, more beautiful young women that day. He had mostly had his eye on the guardian of the giantesses’ gate, Setsuna Meioh, who had been given rare permission to leave her post. Since she was the most beautiful, he followed her around only for her not to bat an eye at him or any smaller man. School had been called off that day on both the men’s and the giantesses’ sides. Thankfully, the queen didn’t let the giantesses touch the men to keep the giantesses from killing them.

After the “tour,” Mamoru and Usagi must’ve started seeing each other. They’d gain infamy if their relationship was discovered.

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

He shook his head. Keeping her and Mamoru’s relationship secret was the least he could do in return for Usagi’s kindness.

She sunk with relief. “Oh, thank you so much.” She brought him to her cheek, rubbing him into it gently. He grinned. So soft.

She held him to her eyes. “I bet you’re wondering how Mamoru and I started dating. And my friends know because I’m horrible at hiding my feelings.” She blushed lightly. “Mamo-chan…” She giggled. “I blush every time I think about him. And I giggle. Somehow, I’ve been able to keep it secret from Mama. I’m not sure how she would react, but I don’t want to find out.”

She looked at the ceiling, her eyes glazing over, and she blushed once more. “Mamo-chan and I met when…”

The queen, as she preferred to be called, had mandated that giantesses be allowed to cross to the smaller men’s side once. The queen had said it was for the purpose of education—if men never crossed to the giantesses’ side, then schoolgirls would never know what men looked like.

Usagi knew that wasn’t true. The queen just wanted to scare the men because she was bored.

Usagi was with Naru, Ami, Makoto, Minako, and Rei. She had been to the little men’s side only once before, when she was in elementary school. The queen made these visits rare so the men would be more afraid.

The little men’s side was similar to the giantesses’ side, but shrunk. Like the window view when flying in an airplane. The people looked kind of like ants, but she could distinguish between each of them by their different hair colors and clothes.

A black-haired man with beautiful, intense blue eyes was among them, next to another man with sandy hair. The black-haired man was looking right at Usagi while his friend was admiring Makoto, who was taking in all the men alongside the rest of their friends.

Usagi giggled.

The black-haired man stared at her, stoic.

Usagi half-smiled. She fumbled with her fingers, glanced at the ground and then at the black-haired man again. He was still staring at her. Still stoic.

Usagi crouched beside the man. “H-hello.” She couldn’t help but blush. This was her first time seriously conversing with a smaller man since she was in elementary school. “I-I’m Usagi Tsukino. I noticed you staring at me.”

The black-haired man had the gall to scowl and say, “I wasn’t staring at you, bunhead. Who would look at you?”

Usagi’s blush deepened. “Who do you think you are, talking like that to someone ten times bigger than you?” Her hand twitched. She was so used to seeing giantesses, mostly the queen, being aggressive toward the men that she was tempted to grab this rude man and squeeze the breath out of him.

But the giantesses weren’t allowed to touch the smaller men. The men were so fragile that they might be accidentally killed if the giantesses were allowed to touch them. The queen said the punishment would be severe if the giantesses touched the men, so severe that she wasn’t allowed to say what it was on television. The queen always kept her word.

Usagi clenched her hand. “You’d better be glad…”

“Something wrong, Usagi-chan?” Makoto said. Usagi’s friends had finally noticed the scene and surrounded her. They glared at the black-haired man and his friend. Sandy coughed and shifted from side to side, frowning at the ground.

The black-haired man wasn’t looking so smug anymore.

“Yeah.” She pointed to the black-haired man, her finger inches from his face. He staggered backward and fell. “This man called me ugly.”

“N-no, I didn’t.” Not a trace of rudeness in his voice. “That’s not true. I just said I wasn’t looking at her.”

The sandy-haired man had managed to peel his eyes off the ground and stare at the girls, breathing quickly.

“Point taken,” Makoto said.

The sandy-haired man was completely still. And the black-haired man was petrified right along with him.

“I was looking at…someone else, is all.” The black-haired man scratched the side of his face. “Someone else who was more eye-catching. I didn’t mean that you’re ugly.”

“Just plain?” Usagi shot back, pushing her head closer to him. He scrambled backward, eyes wide.

“No. Just…”

Usagi kept glaring alongside her friends. But her stomach flipped just enough to let her know that six giant girls intimidating two small men, no matter what happened, wasn’t right.

The black-haired man bowed his head. “I apologize for speaking to you that way and for calling you plain and ugly indirectly. I won’t do it again.”

“Good,” Usagi said. “Now get out of my sight.”

The men ran away.

Usagi stood. Makoto eyed Usagi, like she suspected that Usagi’s aggression was fake, too. Maybe it wasn’t in her nature to be aggressive without a legitimate reason.

Afterward, Usagi watched the little men and spoke to a few. They were shy, stood ramrod straight and spoke overly politely. Usagi still spoke aggressively because she was expected to, but her heart started to ache for these men. Her mama didn’t talk about the little men much, and the little men didn’t really appear on television. The age of little men and giant women starring in television shows together had ended since the separation; Usagi didn’t have much experience with little men except from what she had read in textbooks and manga. Even in those books, it was made to seem as though the giantesses were supposed to be aggressive.

From what Usagi had heard of giantesses who had gotten their hands on little men, including her friends, giantesses treated little men like subhumans.

While Usagi’s friends verbally tortured other little men, Usagi found the black-haired man and his friend behind a two-story house that reached Usagi’s ankles. When the men saw her, they recoiled.

“Don’t run away.”

The men froze, the sandy-haired man shaking.

She crouched and whispered, “I’m sorry. My and my friends’ reactions were uncalled for.”

The men’s breathing was shallow, their shoulders high. Primed to run.

“I want to give you a proper apology privately. There’s too much pressure from other giantesses to be mean to you all. Please meet me at midnight behind the gate.” Usagi had heard about the parties that the little men threw, that those parties were the reason why men wandered over to the giantesses’ side. The little men would be too drunk to be concerned about the black-haired man and his friend. “I know it sounds suspicious, but I promise that I won’t hurt you two.”

The black-haired man looked Usagi in the eyes. She almost stepped back, his gaze was so intense. “All right. I’ll see you tonight.” He looked at his friend. “Are you coming too, Motoki?”

“Yeah.” Motoki’s voice was high; he cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

Usagi’s smile broadened. “You’re a great friend, Motoki-san.” The men were older than her, at least high-school age. “I’m sorry. I never introduced myself.” She outstretched her pinky to Motoki first. “I’m Usagi Tsukino. It’s nice to meet you.”

Motoki slowly took Usagi’s pinky. They shook, Usagi light and loose, Motoki stiff, forcing a smile.

She then outstretched her pinky to the black-haired man. They shook.

“I’m Mamoru Chiba. It’s…also nice to meet you, Usagi-san.”

“Just call me ‘Usagi’. I am younger than you, after all.”

Mamoru smiled genuinely, softening his features and making him look much more handsome than before. “All right then. Just ‘Usagi.’”

That night, once her mama was asleep, Usagi snuck out of the apartment complex and crept to the gate, where Setsuna Meioh, the gatekeeper, was stationed. Did Setsuna take breaks or share shifts with someone else? Every time Usagi had ended up at the gate, whether by walking around to procrastinate from doing her homework or taking trips with her friends to see if any little men turned up, she had always seen only Setsuna.

Setsuna was staring at Usagi, pressing her mouth into a thin line. Setsuna upheld the law that prohibited giantesses from crossing to the little men’s side, restraining any giantesses who tried to force themselves past the gate. There were stories of girls who had been restrained. Depending on how aggressive the girls were, Setsuna would change her own aggression. Some girls had ended up in hospitals while others had left with only bruises. Usagi didn’t want to get on Setsuna’s bad side, especially since she didn’t know how to fight.

Usagi stood a few feet away from Setsuna, watching the small gate for Mamoru and Motoki. Setsuna kept staring at her.

Usagi smiled. “I’m just waiting for someone.”

After staring at Usagi for a few more seconds, Setsuna looked straight ahead. Usagi knew that Setsuna was still watching her out of the corner of her eye.

Would Mamoru and Motoki show up at all? They didn’t have a reason to.

Usagi crouched, pressing her ear to the gate’s door.

“Are you sure about this, Mamoru?”

Her eyes bulged. They’d come.

“Not really. But she did seem to be telling the truth. To be honest, I’m curious. I could find my mother, too.”

Mamoru’s mother might still be alive. It was the law for twenty-five-year-old men to give their sperm to banks so that the women, if they wanted to, could become pregnant.

Mamoru might just be using Usagi to see his own mother. Usagi didn’t blame him, though. She was often curious about who her papa was.

The door was pushed open, hitting Usagi’s ear. She stumbled over her own feet and fell onto her side. Mamoru and Motoki, standing in the doorway, stared at her.

“Uh, hi.”

Mamoru looked her up and down.

“Sorry. I was listening to hear you guys coming. The only time little men come over here is when they’re drunk and feeling brave.” She cleared her throat. She might as well tell them what she had heard. “I heard everything, though. About…” She glanced at Setsuna, who stared straight ahead but was surely listening.

“That’s all right,” Mamoru said.

Usagi turned so that she crouched on her knees. “You’re not just saying that because I’m taller than you, right?”

“Not at all.”

His eyes didn’t waver. He was telling the truth. Even though he was in potentially lethal territory…

Mamoru was much different than the rest of the little men. Why was he so trusting of Usagi?

“If you don’t mind,” Usagi said, “I need to take you two back to my room and hide you on the way there, before someone sees you here. Trust me, whoever sees you will definitely suggest that we all play with together or try to take you from me.” Rarely did girls try to take little men from other giantesses. Usually, they asked if they could play together. “Plus, it’s almost that time of night when other giantesses start hovering by here in the hopes of finding drunk little men. So we’d better get going.” She laid her hand on the grass, and Mamoru walked onto it, Motoki a step behind. Usagi slowly lifted them up, doing her best to keep her hand steady.

“Why don’t giantesses stay here all the time?” Motoki said.

“Setsuna keeps them away. It’s illegal for giantesses to hang around here for more than an hour. If there weren’t rules, then nothing would ever get done. Most of them stay at work, though, and none of us play hookey to hang around the gate anyhow, mostly because little men are in school and work during the same time.”

Usagi had worn a shirt with a breast pocket to hide Mamoru and Motoki. She put them inside, telling him to stay out of sight, and then walked the little men to her home. Thankfully, even though it was Friday night, the hallways and outdoors were deserted, crickets’ chirping filling the air. It was almost summer break, and final exams were next week; everyone was studying.

She took the men to her room, closed the door, and placed them on one side of her bed. She lay on her side next to them, her back to the door. Usagi took a manga volume of Doraemon, one of the few manga where men and women were relatively the same size, from her nightstand and opened it to a random page so it looked like she was doing something if her mama came in. She hadn’t made up her bed, either, so the men could hide under the covers if necessary.

“I wanted to properly apologize for what I did,” Usagi whispered. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that. I was really doing it because that’s what I thought giantesses were supposed to do to little men. And because my friends were there. I felt so bad… So…I’m sorry.”

Mamoru’s eyes softened. “Apology accepted, Usagi.”

“Same here,” Motoki said, his shoulders lowering. “Thanks for taking a risk for us.”

“You’re taking a much bigger risk. But don’t worry. I’ll get you back safely before sunrise. I don’t want anyone to suspect that you’re gone.”

“Today’s Friday,” Mamoru said. “So no school tomorrow. Which means that everyone will be partying all weekend. And since I don’t drink, they won’t miss me.”

“I don’t drink, either,” Motoki said, “so I won’t be missed.”

“Great.” She gave a lopsided smile. “So I can keep you as long as I’d like.”

Both men paled, Motoki gaping, darting his eyes—probably for an exit.

“I-I’m sorry. It’s just a joke, just a joke. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” Usagi inwardly cringed. She had to get a better grip on what scared the little men. “Seriously, I’ll take you home anytime. Just say when.”

Mamoru and Motoki exchanged looks.

“Even now, if you’d like.”

“I want to go home now,” Motoki said. “Final exams are next week, and I should start studying.”

“I need to start studying, too,” Mamoru said.

A frown flashed across Usagi’s face, but she quickly replaced the expression with a grin. “Okay. Um, I’d better gather you up.” She took the two men in her palm and put them in her breast pocket. She snuck out her home and to the gate, hiding the men from passers-by—thankfully, no one she knew. She laid them in front of the door leading to their side, Setsuna watching, eyes slightly wide.

“Here you go,” Usagi said. “Um, have a good night.”

“Good night, Usagi,” Mamoru said. “And thank you for keeping your word.”

Usagi warmed.

“They were so thankful that I vowed to always treat little men respectfully.”

He couldn’t believe Usagi had decided, just like that, to not torture the smaller men, especially when everyone around her was torturing them. How did she resist all the pressure? Her friends knew about Mamoru, and they hadn’t tortured Mamoru at all, had they?

“Mamoru came to this side alone the next night. My friends and I thought it’d be a good opportunity to get smaller men since everyone was studying for exams, so we waited by the gate. I explained to them that Mamoru was my friend, too. They were a little resistant to Mamoru at first, but I didn’t give them a chance to hurt him. I always kept him close to me.”

She still couldn’t keep her friends from torturing him since they would all get their alone time with him.

So what was she gonna do to him?

“You all right in there, Usagi-chan?” Minako. Of course, the giantesses weren’t asking about him at all.

“Yeah, I’m having a lot of fun. I’ll tell you all about it later.” She whispered to him, “I haven’t interacted with any other little man than Mamoru and Motoki. And I never saw Motoki much—mostly Mamoru. And Mamoru and I ended up in a relationship.” She blushed lightly. “So…this is a little awkward.”

He raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t awkward when she was tickling him.

He’d let her do whatever she wanted to him, though. He trusted her enough to know she wouldn’t hurt him.

He grinned widely at her. She grinned back.

She gently took him in her hand and rested him on her stomach. He smelled her fruity scent and sunk into her stomach…so soft, like a pillow. He would love to fall asleep on her stomach. Or, better yet, her chest. But Usagi had a boyfriend.

“Everything will be all right. I’ll make sure of that. I’ll get you home safely. I promise.”

He believed her the first time, but he believed her even more now. He couldn’t help but moan in response—so soft, so nice-smelling…made him a nice light-headed, high.

She rubbed his back with her finger, pressing him deeper into her stomach. He moaned again.

He gently released him from her stomach. She looked into his eyes with her soft, blue ones. She wasn’t looking at him at all like she was trying to earlier—like a predator.

She still held him in her hand, a light grip so he could squiggle out if he wanted to. She lay him to her cheek and rubbed his whole body up and down.

She released him and held him before her eyes. “Anything you want to explore?”

His breathing hitched. A girl he wasn’t romantically involved with was pretty much asking him what he wanted to do to her. He was a decent enough person to not explore too deeply because of Mamoru. He seriously doubted that the other girls would give him a chance like this.

He looked up and down her entire gargantuan body, so different than a man’s. Curves where a man was straight, soft where a man was hard.

He wanted to explore everything.

She set him on the floor and then lay on her back, spreading her legs slightly, letting her arms stretch away from her body. “Do whatever you’d like.”

He had been set near her socked feet. They were huge. He was even curious about feet.

She lifted her head to watch him. Maybe she would help him explore.

He walked to her right foot and drew back. A wall of stink pushed him back. He coughed, fanned himself. Skip the feet.

Usagi giggled. “Sorry. If you want, I can wash my feet. I’m sure they look very different from your angle than they do from mine.” She wiggled her toes. “You’re probably curious about everything, like I was curious about Mamoru’s…everything.”

He nodded. He wasn’t that curious about her feet, though.

He gripped her jeans and then clambered, digging his sneakers into the rough fabric, fumbling to grip higher and higher.

“Do you need help?”

He shook his head. He wanted to experience as much as possible.

With a final heave, he reached the crest of her ankle and stood on the hardness. At least that was the same as a boy’s.

He walked forward, toward her thighs. It was the same as a man’s body, just much bigger. Her kneecap alone was big enough for three men to lay on.

He stepped on top of her knee and then down, onto her thigh. His eyes widened. Her thigh was so squishy.

He let one foot stay on top of her hard knee and then the other on top of her thigh, moving his foot and jiggling her thigh. She giggled.

“That tickles. But keep going.”

He took his other foot off her knee. The squishiness was too much. More jiggling, and he lost his balance and fell on his stomach, on top of her thigh. He didn’t really sink in much, but it was like a mattress. He let himself lay there for a while and then stood, stretching.

He kept going, his feet almost sinking into her thigh. He reached her stomach and stepped onto it. He collapsed onto it and let himself lay, closing his eyes. Could lay there for an eternity.

He rolled onto his back, looking at her chest from upside-down. She had a boyfriend, so…being on her chest would be awkward. At least from what he had seen on T.V. Men only touched woman’s chests when they were romantically involved or when the man was assaulting the woman.

He stared at her chest. They were huge, almost as big as mountains. How he wanted to lay on them…

Usagi blushed deeply. He was staring at her chest. Of course she was blushing.

He turned onto his stomach and buried himself into Usagi’s own. He let his thoughts drift, like he was going to sleep. It was like he was on a cruise ship. He could spend forever on here.

Her stomach gurgled. He opened his eyes. He felt like being a kid.

He stood and jumped up and down once. Usagi giggled.  He jumped up and down again and again, going higher and higher. He laughed, and Usagi laughed. It was like he was jumping on a bed, but better, more exhilarating.

He jumped one final time and then let himself flop down on his stomach. He bounced up once and then landed, sinking into her stomach. He rolled onto his back, laughing alongside Usagi. He spread his arms and lay, grinning at Usagi, who smiled back.

“I don’t want to let you go to them,” Usagi whispered. “If I could, I’d keep you with me.”

He wouldn’t object. He shuddered. What Makoto would do to him…

“I think it’d be suspicious if we were quiet for too long.” Usagi sunk. “I…should get you back.”

He deflated. He wanted to spend the whole day with her, but her friends were probably getting impatient.

Usagi sat up, and he rolled down, the room spinning, laughing, feeling her softness again. He plopped onto her thigh.

“I thought you’d enjoy that.” She took him between two fingers and raised him to her eyes. “I shouldn’t do this, but…it’ll be fast. And considering the torture you’re about to go through, I think it’s well-deserved.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Her lips were so soft and ended up covering almost his whole face instead of just his cheek. His heart fluttered, his head fluttered. He could grow wings and fly away.

She took him in her hand. “Can you do me a favor?”

He grinned. Anything for her.

“Can you look tired and defeated? I need my friends to think that I put you through hell.”

He collapsed, panting, gritting his teeth and screwing his eyes shut.

“Perfect. Thank you so much.” She released a breath. “Ready?”

He wasn’t, but he nodded.

Usagi opened the door. He parted his eyes. All of Usagi’s friends were right outside the doorway.

“I see you’ve had quite a fun time with him, Usagi-chan,” Ami said.

“Yup. A lot of fun. I squeezed him and made him massage my feet and my back.”

Rei’s eyes flashed. “Maybe I’ll make him do that for me.”

He gulped. Rei was one of the scariest, next to Makoto. She had something against men, and he had accidentally gotten on Makoto’s bad side.

The rest of his day would not go well.

Chapter Three: The Examination

If he tried running away now, Usagi would help him.

Usagi was glaring at him. Doing a pretty good job of pretending to hate him.

Running away would require some collaboration between them. Maybe later, when they found time.

“Hey, Mako-chan,” Usagi said, clutching her stomach, “I’m kind of hungry.”

Makoto’s face lit up. “I’ll start fixing something up while Ami plays with him.” She turned and practically skipped into the kitchen. He gawked.

With Makoto gone, his chances of escaping got a little higher. But with Rei around, he doubted he’d get very far away.

Usagi grinned. “He’s all yours, Ami-chan.” She dropped him into the warm palm of Ami’s hand.

“Go wild,” Minako said.

Ami smiled mischievously. “I will.”

Hopefully, not too wild.

He was left in the same bedroom where he and Usagi had spent time alone.

He peered up at Ami, and she stared down at him, a soft smile touching her lips. He didn’t know what to make of that, or of Ami, she was so quiet.

Ami tapped her chin, her smile becoming slightly crooked. She picked him up and placed him in the palm of her hand. She gingerly roamed her finger over his legs, his feet, his stomach, his chest, his raggedy hair. Pressed down, watching him recoil…watching his reactions. Like she was trying to see how much he could handle.

She held him to her eyes and then looked him slowly up and down, like she was measuring him. He felt naked in front of her, she was so observant.

“Shaking…”

Was she going to try and make him comfortable enough so he would stop shaking?

Ami’s sort-of smirk evened into an unfriendly smile. Apparently not.

Ami shoved her long-nailed pinky into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He coughed and then scowled. She wasn’t going to kill him. If what she was about to put him through would be worse than the deepest level of hell, he’d take it.

He grabbed her pinky with both of his hands, one on each side. Her smile broadened.

She expected him to rebel.

She’d tell her friends and then…

Who cared? Usagi’s friends weren’t going to treat him well. Why should he?

He opened his mouth as wide as possible, making sure that his pointiest, vampire-like teeth would get some of the action. He removed one hand from her pinky and then craned his neck. He bit the side of her pinky as hard as he could.

She yelped, withdrawing her hand from his stomach. Her eyes became as cold as ice, small indents left from his bite. Not expecting a “little boy” to actually hurt her.

“You okay, Ami-chan?” Makoto.

Her eyes narrowed. “I will be.”

Makoto whistled. “Oh. We’d better leave her alone for a little while.”

His blood froze. If someone as violent as Makoto was saying that, then Ami’s temper must truly be fearsome.

“R-remember, Ami-chan,” Usagi said, “you want to leave enough fight in him for Rei, Mako, and Mina-chan.”

“I know.” Ami’s voice was devoid of emotion. His breathing became shallow.

She gripped him, vice-like. He couldn’t breathe. Then, she opened her mouth. Her minty breath lashed him, blew back his hair. He squirmed, but her grip was immovable. Her mouth came closer and closer…big enough to engulf him.

She wasn’t going to eat him, but whatever she was planning on doing with him would not be pleasant. Anything involving a mouth and a giant girl could not be pleasant.

He probably shouldn’t have bitten her.

But…

He quickly opened his own mouth and then clamped down on Ami’s index finger. Ami winced, but her grip did not waver. He was hoping that she would’ve let go of him and he could run.

What an idiotic plan. Run where?

Her mouth kept coming. The taste buds on her tongue and the ridges on her teeth came closer. She opened her hand and then scooped him up using her scaly, damp, soft tongue. Despite her tongue’s warmth, he shuddered.

She rolled her tongue, capturing him. She lifted her tongue, lifting him, too. His pupils contracted, and he inhaled wet air. He closed his mouth.

The air was heavy, making it so difficult to breathe that…he couldn’t. Again.

Did she know that he couldn’t breathe?

He shoved both his hands onto the tongue, his own roof, and pushed as hard as he could. The tongue didn’t move.

Hopefully, she wouldn’t think that he was trying to rebel. Hopefully, she would realize that he couldn’t breathe.

Prayerfully, she would realize that in the next few seconds.

He shoved harder. The tongue didn’t budge.

He shoved his feet onto her tongue. The air grew heavier every second. He couldn’t survive for much longer.

Kept pushing. Rasped nothing but damp, oxygen-less air.

The world dimmed. He became light-headed, and then his hangover intensified, like a coconut had been dropped onto his head.

Then she opened her tongue and, with it, flicked him out.

He hollered as he flew through the air. He landed heavily on the palm of her hand, facedown. Couldn’t breathe. He scrambled onto his back and inhaled sweet oxygen. Hacked. Breathed in. Hacked some more. Breathed even more.

He glared. She smiled.

Then she popped him into her mouth again.

The world blurred, and then he was surrounded with that heavy, humid air again. He landed on her tongue but, thankfully, she didn’t wrap it around him again. With it, she shoved him onto one of her incisors. He inhaled sharply, pain striking his chest, stealing his breath, as though someone with claws had punched him.

She pushed him off her incisor and then drew up saliva, covering him in the heavy wetness, and spat him in a glob of saliva onto her palm. He was soaked in a blanket on him that was so heavy he could hardly move.

He planted his feet onto her squishy palm and then pushed. The saliva pushed him down, his muscles straining.

He panted, inching up into a standing position. He slowly turned, saliva slapping her palm, and glared at her again. She smirked.

“You taste delicious. Usagi-chan will love eating you.”

He roared. She was still smirking, even though she had almost killed him, taken him away from their dear Usagi-chan. She had almost killed a teenager like her. She had almost killed him because in her narrow eyes, he didn’t matter.

He wrest through the saliva and dug his nails into her palm, but his nails couldn’t pierce the surface. She was staring at him, a slight crease in the brow but also a small smile on her lips. Studying him, but amused, too.

He dragged his nails across her palms. Still couldn’t pierce the surface, and she showed no signs of being hurt.

He dug repeatedly the same way, through that same track, hoping that his repeated diggings would soon pierce the skin. But there was no reaction. No piercing. No blood. No torture.

He couldn’t do anything to her.

He couldn’t hurt her or scare her like she had to him.

He growled, ran to her wrist, dug his nails into it, and dragged. Nothing, even on the thinner skin of her wrist.

Nothing.

Nothing.

He slammed his hands onto her wrist, panting on his hands and knees. Just a fly.

He clenched his hands, red filling his vision. He slammed his fists onto her wrist, kicked the bottom of her hand.

She laughed.

The redness in his vision deepened. He punched harder and kicked harder only for her to laugh harder. He couldn’t stifle the tears. Wiped them away with his fists. He pounded her wrist again and then swiped more tears away.

And still she laughed.

He kept pounding and wiping and pounding and wiping until fatigue replaced anger. He pounded one final time, panted, and stopped. The red still filled his vision, only he couldn’t do anything about it.

“That’s enough fun for today.”

He glared at her wrist. Didn’t have the strength to look in her laughing eyes.

She picked him up by the torso and then placed him onto the floor.

“You’ve tired yourself out. The rest of the girls won’t have any fun with you if you’re too tired. It’s time for a lunch and a nap.”

Where were they, in kindergarten?

“You little boys are certainly entertaining. I hope that more of you come over here soon.”

He kept glaring at the floor.

“We’d better head over to the kitchen.”

The smell hit him. He didn’t know what it was, but it smelled delicious. His stomach rumbled, and he wanted to run to the kitchen and devour the food, the chairs, the refrigerator, everything.

She picked him up like the doll that he was, and he remembered his place.

He might not even be able to eat. Makoto probably would put something in his food to make him more entertaining to them.

They could let him starve to see what his reaction would be.

They could screw with him any way they wanted.

And he was powerless.

Chapter Four: Break

“I’m all finished with him,” Ami said, holding him in her palm. He glared at each of the smiling girls, Usagi’s smile strained.

“You wiped him out, huh, Ami-chan?” Minako stepped before Ami and poked him. He cringed, gritting his teeth to keep himself from biting her finger. That could lead to a whole other torture session with all of them.

“He tired himself out. I did things to him, but I didn’t control his rather entertaining reactions.” She chuckled. “I wish you all had seen them.”

Minako rubbed her hands together. “Oh, I’ll make him squeal.”

He loved how much they were reassuring him.

Usagi looked over her shoulder. “Mako-chan, is lunch ready yet?”

“Just putting the finishing touches on it. Come on.”

Those “finishing touches” might be things that would finish him off.  Not kill him, but…do something to him. Kill him indirectly.

He was not going to eat.

Usagi jumped twice in glee. “All right. I’m so hungry.” She smiled at him. “Can I hold him for a while, Ami-chan?”

“You can.” Ami held out her own hand, and Usagi slowly gripped him and then opened her palm, not trapping him.

Usagi skipped into the kitchen. “Mako-chan’s food is better than my mama’s. And Mama’s no slouch when it comes to cooking.”

He had never heard anyone say anything like that before.

Makoto turned the stove off. She wiped her hands on her green apron and then examined each of the plates she had prepared. All of them were plated beautifully—and they all had a lot of food on them. The plates were piled high with udon noodles, and a whole cake sat beside them. This was lunch?

Usagi’s eyes lit up. “She even made dessert. Thank you so much, Mako-chan.”

“Hey, it’s a special occasion.” Makoto smirked at him. She had definitely put something in the food. “And I even made something just for him.” She gestured to a small plate (they made those on this side?) also piled high—for him—with udon noodles.

Wonderful. He was definitely not going to eat.

But how?

He wanted to refuse to increase his chances of survival, but his refusal could result in something much worse than whatever Makoto put in his food.

Time for another attempt at running away.

He didn’t dare glance at the door and tip Makoto off about his leaving. Besides, he was literally in Usagi’s hands now, and he didn’t know how to ask her to let him escape.

He was starving, but he wasn’t ravenous enough to eat Makoto’s food. One of his textbooks had read that a human could go three weeks without eating, and he probably ate last night at the party. He could hold out until he escaped.

If he escaped.

So powerless against the girls. He had tried his best against Ami, but she’d shrugged off his attempts, didn’t use much effort in getting him to do her bidding.

Could he really run away?

The other girls walked into the kitchen. Minako’s mouth was actually watering.

“I didn’t eat breakfast this morning. I’m so ready.” Minako swiped one of the plates and sat at the table in the middle of the small kitchen. The aroma filled the kitchen. Tantalizing aroma, tantalizing food…

This was all probably part of their plan to make him eat. Drug him and then have their fun with him.

One by one, the girls took their plates and sat at the table until only Usagi and Makoto were left standing at the counter, near the stove.

“He can get his himself, Usagi-chan,” Makoto said.

How dare she tell others what he could and couldn’t do? But he was powerless.

Usagi glanced at him. “All right.” She placed her palm near the counter. He walked to the small plate of food and then slowly picked it up. He sniffed it, and his pupils dilated. Oh, how nice that smelled. He could have inhaled all of it, plate and all, right then and there. It certainly didn’t smell poisoned. Then again, he didn’t know how poison smelled.

Makoto put her hands on her hips. “What, you think I put something in your food?”

He froze, his nose deep in the noodles. Not good.

“I asked you a question. You’d better answer me.”

He turned to look at her, glancing at the floor, the counter, the stove, and then at her.

She scoffed. “Must be a yes.”

She wouldn’t have said that if she had really poisoned or drugged the food, would she?

“You little boys are so paranoid.” Makoto stepped in front of him; he was still standing on the counter, plate in hand.

Makoto put her pinky under his chin, her fingernail as sharp as a sword. She tilted his chin up so he was forced to look at her. “Of course I didn’t put anything in the food. That’s ridiculous.”

He stared at her. Was she being serious, or did she think that he was that stupid?

“Go ahead and eat.” She winked. “I promise you, you’ll love it.”

Usagi walked closer to the counter. “Um, Mako-chan, I want him to eat with me.”

“Okay, Usagi-chan.”

Anything for Usagi.

Usagi put her hand to the counter, and he walked onto her hand. Makoto raised an eyebrow. Had she realized that he was happy to interact with Usagi, unlike the rest of them?

Maybe she realized that “little boys” would be more willing to do whatever the giantesses wanted if the giantesses were nice to them.

Maybe then they’d all have more fun.

Or maybe the giantesses were just as happy letting the men be legitimately afraid of them.

Usagi took him to the table. He sat on his knees, in her palm, and picked up the miniature chopsticks that had been already set inside the noodles, ready to eat.

All the girls thanked Makoto for the food. He did not.

Makoto noticed. Her eyes lingered on him for a bit longer than necessary as she went around thanking everyone for thanking her (stupid), saying that it was no problem and that everyone knew she loved to cook. He took intense interest in the udon noodles instead. He was intensely interested in the udon noodles. He glanced at Usagi’s bowl right in front of him to see if there was any difference between both, besides the obvious size difference. Any discoloration in his, anything…strange…floating in the sauce.

“For the last time, I didn’t put anything in it. Eat.” She was glaring at him with those dangerously narrow eyes.

But…something in his gut told him not to eat. Not even to pick up the noodles.

Her eyes narrowed farther. She walked to him and Usagi.

Everyone was silent, the noodles slipping off Minako’s chopsticks and plopping back into the bowl, Minako’s mouth hanging open.

Makoto gestured toward himself. “Usagi-chan, please.”

Usagi couldn’t hide her wince. “Wh-what’re you gonna do to him?” Couldn’t hide the stutter, either.

Makoto smirked. “You’ll see.”

Usagi looked from him, to Makoto, back to him. Surely, her friends must know that she was reluctant to give him to Makoto. Surely, they must realize that Usagi wanted to protect him, not hurt him.

“Mako-chan, if you tell me… It’s my first time having a little boy myself, so if you tell me what you’re going to do to him, I can do it myself. I want to. I’ll have a lot of fun.”

“No, Usagi-chan. I’d rather do this myself.”

Usagi held her trembling hand out to Makoto.

“Stand up.”

He stood.

Makoto wrapped her hand around his legs so he could still hold his plate. Then she took the plate from him. She put the plate on the edge of the table and then snatched the chopsticks from him. She managed to hold it despite its miniature size.

Rei was smirking, too, the chopsticks laying across the bowl, her hands in her lap, her legs crossed.

Minako leaned forward, grinning.

Ami sat back in her chair, her eyes gleaming.

And Usagi placed her trembling hands in her lap, her smirk very strained.

“So, you little boys enjoy behaving like children.” Makoto picked up noodles in the chopsticks. “Then I’ll treat you like a kid.” She held the noodles to his mouth, and he instinctively drew back. “Open your mouth.”

He was frozen.

“Do it now.”

What consequences would await him if he didn’t? It wasn’t like he could actually resist. If only he was strong enough to stand up to them.

“Now.”

He ran his tongue across his lips.

Then he felt the hot tears running down his cheeks.

His eyes widened farther. A small gasp from Usagi.

“M-Mako-chan,” Usagi said, “if you keep going like this, the rest of you won’t have very much fun with him later.”

“Actually,” Makoto said, “I made little boys cry plenty of times, and they’ve always been all right afterward.”

“Maybe not him, though.”

“Relax, Usagi-chan. I know what I’m doing.”

Minako chuckled darkly. The smile on Rei’s face broadened. Ami tented her hands in her lap.

Meanwhile, he grit his teeth, his face reddening.

Makoto had broken smaller men before.

He wasn’t going to let her break him.

He wiped his tears, his breath quickening.

“I’m going to make you open your mouth.” She jabbed her finger into his gut. He cried out. She thrust noodles into his mouth, tilted his chin upward, forcing him to swallow.

He held his breath, waiting for the inevitable unconsciousness to come, the poison, drugs, or whatever to kick in.

But his surroundings stayed clear.

Could take a while to kick in.

He glared at her as hard as he could.

“Glare at me all you want. You can’t do anything to me.”

He was going to prove them wrong today.

Despite his earlier failure. He. Would. Prove. Them. Wrong.

A chair screeched. He looked sharply. Rei had stood and walked behind him.

“I’ll hold him down.”

His pupils contracted. She must have sensed that he was going to put up a hell of a fight, no matter how futile it was.

Rei reached for his arms, and he elbowed the palm of her hand. With her finger, she flicked his elbow, and he cried out again, pain shooting through his entire arm. More tears blurred his vision.

Rei raised his hands over his head. She slammed his arms down on the table with two fingers. Then, she held both of his legs onto the table with one of her fingers on her other hand.

“There. Go ahead, Makoto.”

Makoto screwed her finger into his stomach again, making him cry out, even though he would’ve opened his mouth for her this time because he didn’t want to endure any more pain and humiliation. If he had been obedient in the first place, would he have been spared?

Maybe if he was obedient for the rest of the time…

Makoto forced noodles into his mouth again and, before she could make him, he swallowed it of his own free will.

“I see,” Ami said.

He glanced at Usagi. She was covering her mouth, her eyebrows arched.

He flashed a smile at her.

Usagi relaxed a little, putting her hands back in her lap and putting on that strained smile.

“Who do you think you are?” Makoto screwed her finger into his stomach, and he cried out for the third time. “There. Not smiling anymore.”

“Really…” Rei said. “You think he wouldn’t be so arrogant.”

Makoto grinned at Rei. “We should fix that, Rei-chan.”

“We should.”

A pang of terror, of desperately wanting to leave raced through him. He had to run had to run had to run had to—

Makoto pinched his chin and then held his mouth open. With her other hand, she picked up more noodles. Rei took her hands off his arms and then flicked his head so it was tilted upward, and then Makoto forced noodles in and Rei slammed his head back on the table and he gulped it all down.

“I want to this time,” Rei said.

“Be my guest.”

The tears blurred his vision so much that he could hardly see. Rei took her blurry hands off his blurry legs.

The bowl of noodles was right in front of his feet.

He used all his strength to scoot forward and then swiped his legs, knocking the bowl over the side of the table and onto the floor.

All the girls stared at him, wide-eyed, Usagi and Minako gaping. Except Ami, who only nodded.

It was deathly silent. Probably for his own impending death.

Here was his chance.

He twisted his legs behind him and kicked Rei’s finger as hard as he could. She yelped—yes— and drew back. He jumped onto his feet—who knew he could twist like a human pretzel? Amazing what you could do when you were in the gutter.

He jumped and clung to the table leg, slid down like a fireman.

Rei cursed loudly, called him something so derogative that he would’ve called her something equally derogative if she wasn’t thirty feet taller than him.

He scampered under Usagi’s chair. Usagi watched, still gaping. Maybe to help him escape. Maybe because she was genuinely surprised.

He sprinted toward the door. Ami, still sitting, regarded him calmly.

Minako shot onto her feet. “We’re not gonna let him get away, are we?” She ran after him. As did Makoto, who swerved around the table, and Rei, who was right behind her, reaching for him.

They were going to catch him if he didn’t do something.

Usagi’s eyes bulged, like she had just woken up from a long sleep. “Right, we have to catch him.” She slid her chair back, right into Rei’s and Makoto’s paths, knocking Rei and Makoto onto their backs. Both girls groaned. The floor quaked, and he stumbled but kept going. Usagi covered her mouth. “Oops. I’m sorry, guys.”

He smiled broadly.

But Minako was still coming after him.

He searched for something, anything discarded on the floor. A banana peel would be especially helpful.

He made it to the hallway, the carpet replacing the linoleum floor. Minako was gaining fast. Usagi was pretending to scramble, pretending to be clumsy as she “helped” Rei and Makoto up, trying to help them up at the same time with one hand each, but not strong enough. Rei was saying, “We can pick ourselves up, Usagi” and Makoto was saying, “Don’t worry about us. Just go help Minako” and Usagi kept saying, “Oh, I’m so sorry, guys. I’m sorry.”

Minako’s shadow fell over him. Her hot hand engulfed him. The world spun until he was looking right into her glaring eyes. He bit her pinky. She screamed and let him go. He fell, grabbed for Minako’s jeans, slowing his fall, and then landed. The girls should’ve learned to expect his bites by now.

He turned, only to trip over a sock and then fall into Ami’s ankle.

Ami flicked up her foot, kicking him into the air, and caught him. Minako, recovered from the bite, stepped closer to him.

“Give him to me, Ami.”

He opened his mouth, but before he could bite, Ami tossed him toward MInako’s hand. Minako fumbled for him, didn’t manage to catch him but, with her finger, knocked him into her cleavage exposed by her V-necked shirt.

What a heavenly sensation.

“Ah, shit, Ami, you could’ve warned me.”

He wanted to stay there forever.

“I’m sorry. You usually have great reflexes. He was about to bite me, so I tossed him to you instead of handing him to you.”

But it wasn’t safe.

The area brightened. Minako’s face and her hand reaching for him appeared.

“That’s true. Everyone makes mistakes, though.”

He squirmed. She paused. “Shit, shit, he tickles.” She giggled and then laughed. “S-so…ticklish.” She laughed louder but kept reaching for him.

He bit her boob.

Her laugh turned into a scream.

“Usagi, move it.” Rei, her words practically growls now. “For the last time, it’s all right. Just move now and let Makoto and I get up.”

He wriggled his way down, raising his arms over his head to make himself a little smaller, and squeezed between her breasts. He fell on some cotton-like material. Her bra.

“H-he’s going down,” Minako said through her laughter. “Ami-chan…”

His heartbeat quickened. Ami would be waiting for him when he fell out. And Minako was waiting above.

He kicked, stretching back her white, heart-patterned bra, and wriggled his way past, the softness being replaced by free-falling, air whipping in his face. He clung to her shirt and then shimmied sideways.

They could see him, though.

He switched and clung to her stomach instead, squaring his feet and hands onto her plush skin. He shimmied sideways again. Minako laughed again.

“On…my stomach.”

He kicked her stomach.

“Ouch!” She unleashed a flurry of curses.

He shoved himself off, her stomach helping to propel him backward, and he came out the side of her shirt, where Ami wasn’t waiting. He didn’t bother to slow his fall but landed onto his feet, his knees buckling slightly, and then scurried into the bedroom, dodging Ami’s feet. The bed, it was right there. Right there…

He dove for it, fell onto his stomach, slid under the bed, to its middle, where the girls couldn’t reach him.

He lay under the middle of the bed, lacing his hands behind his head, and rested on his back. He released a long breath, his heart slowing.

For now, he was safe.

He needed this rest after that chase. He needed time to think, too.

“He’s under the bed,” Ami said.

All of them surrounded the bed, cutting off all the light seeping under it.

“He can’t stay under there forever.” Minako plopped beside the bed, cross-legged.

Neither could they.

“We won’t have to wait at all.”

The bed slid, its edge nearing him. His eyes widened to three times its normal size. Makoto was pushing the bed, the light threatening to expose him. He couldn’t breathe.

He scampered, staying under the bed’s middle so the girls couldn’t reach him. He wasn’t going to let them catch him.

“What a game he’s playing with us,” Rei said.

“I wish I had something to reach him with,” Ami said.

He kept running, staying under the middle of the bed. He’d run as long as necessary.

“Anyone wanna try crawling under the bed?” Minako said.

There was no way they could fit under there.

“I’ll do something I should’ve done in the first place.”

The bed stopped moving. He froze.

Makoto’s hands clasped the underside of the bed. Then, she lifted the bed, coating him in light.

Makoto grinned. “Oops, sorry.”

Just like that, it was over.

Minako lay on her side and rolled under the bed, reaching for him.

Giantesses on each side of the bed. Except the foot, which just happened to face the door that was feet away.

He scampered toward it. Rei stepped before the door and the foot of the bed, blocking his way. He scrambled to a stop.

Minako grabbed him, stealing his breath. She whisked him out from under the bed.

“Since he doesn’t like Mako-chan’s food,” Minako said, “we should let him starve.”

Usagi’s eyes bulged. She quickly replaced her surprised expression with a default glare.

“Agreed,” Rei said. “And we should even let him watch us eat.”

They did just that.

Minako kept him in her hands even though Usagi insisted that she wanted to hold him badly.

“Sorry, Usagi-chan,” Minako said. “This guy’s pretty cunning. He needs someone equally as cunning to hold him.”

Even though he stared at Usagi eating, Usagi flashing apologetic smiles at him every now and then, his mind was elsewhere.

He thought about his dad, his little brother, his friends, all of whose judgment was so bad that night because of being wasted that they had let him come over to this side.

If everyone sobered up, this kind of thing wouldn’t happen as much. The problem was, how would everyone sober up?

Maybe only if the giantesses treated them nicely. Maybe if the giantesses visited and treated the smaller men like Usagi had treated him today.

If only…

Once all of them finished, Usagi said that she was sleepy, and the girls set out sleeping bags and snuggled inside them, close to one another. Minako and Makoto lay in front of the door. Would he really have to try and sleep next to these beasts?

Usagi gestured toward herself. “Minako-chan, please. Let him stay with me. I want to…” She blushed lightly.

Minako squeezed Usagi’s hand. “Cuddle with him? Oh, Usagi-chan, of course you can.”

She passed him to Usagi, and she cupped him in her hand, holding him near her chest and shielding him from those bitches. Heaven.

He was still very close to Rei, who lay next to Usagi. Rei’s purplish eyes bored into him, and he stayed completely still.

Usagi guided him closer to her chest. More heaven.

“You’re too nice to him, Usagi,” Rei said.

“Not when I was alone with him,” Usagi said. “I put him through quite a hell.”

“Right.”

“I’m really looking forward to eating him. I’ve heard you guys talk about, time and time again, how great little boys taste. Well, I’m ready to taste one of my own.”

“Great.” Rei didn’t sound enthusiastic at all.

“Rei-chan, don’t be like that. Your time with him is next. You should be happier.”

“Yeah.” He felt her eyes burning lasers into the back of his head. “I’m looking forward to it, too.”

He certainly wasn’t.

All the girls gradually fell asleep, their breathing becoming steady. Soon, despite the circumstances, he fell asleep, too.

“Oh, Tuxedo Mask…”

Usagi’s breath covered his entire body. His eyes shot open. Usagi’s face was right next to him, her eyes closed, still sleeping. 

“Tuxedo Mask, I love you…”

Who the hell was Tuxedo Mask?

“Thanks for saving me all those times… I love you so much because…you saved me…”

She kissed him gently. Even though her kiss covered his entire head, it felt great, the softness of her lips caressing him. And it knocked all the sleepiness out of him, getting him ready for something else. Even though Usagi had a boyfriend, and he didn’t want to intrude upon that.

“Tuxedo Mask, what would I do without you...?”

Where had she gotten this Tuxedo Mask thing from? A fantasy she had about Mamoru dressed up in a tuxedo and wearing a mask? 

Whatever was happening, one thing was for sure: She thought he was Tuxedo Mask.

She kissed his stomach. His heart fluttered, and lightness filled his head. As long as she kept treating him like this, he didn’t mind that she thought he was Tuxedo Mask.

He glanced around. Everyone else was sound asleep, their breaths even. That was one good thing about being smaller than the rest of the girls; he could hear their breaths, could hear almost everything they did. That made it easier to escape.

He glanced around once more. If he could find a way around these huge girls.

Usagi was blocking the whole entrance. Rei had stopped cuddling next to Usagi and had sidled in front of the door, blocking the gap between the door and the floor. Makoto was close to Rei. Minako rested her head on Makoto’s lap.

Wait…

Minako rested her head on Makoto’s lap.

And Makoto was draping her arm around Minako’s shoulder, resting her hand on Minako’s chest.

He blushed deeply and couldn’t help but stare, his pupils dilating to give him a clearer image of what was happening feet away from him. Holy shit on high. His mind reeled.

He had to calm himself down. They were just friends. Just. Friends. That’s all. He hadn’t seen any of the girls get…intimate with one another. Not even a kiss between them. Had to be just cuddling because they were asleep. Maybe girls did that sort of thing.

Usagi whispered, “Tuxedo Mask,” shattering his own fantasy.

Usagi gripped him tighter and rubbed him up and down her chest. His mind went to a happy place. Heaven existed in hell.

Behind him, Ami turned. He couldn’t see how she turned, but she turned. Maybe studying him and Usagi.

Usagi moaned. “You’re so stoic, Tuxedo Mask. Show me you love me, too.”

He couldn’t do this. Usagi had a boyfriend. But he was so tempted to try something…

She drew him back from her chest, still breathing steadily but her face right near him. If her eyes were open, she would be staring at him. She smiled softly, inviting him.

He turned his head. Ami was still asleep.

He opened his ears. Every girl was still asleep.

“Tuxedo Mask, you don’t love me?”

She was only dreaming. Maybe he could crush her dreams. She’d always have Mamoru.

But he kinda wanted to…his body wanted to, anyhow. His brain was vehemently saying no, not to ruin Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship. Even though Usagi didn’t have to know and probably wouldn’t know since people usually forgot their dreams as soon as they woke up.

But…

This might be his only chance.

But…it was wrong.

This whole situation was wrong.

He pecked her on her lips.

Her face lit up. “Oh, Tuxedo Mask, you do love me. I’m so happy.”

She was very coherent for being asleep. He had heard his friends talk in their sleep (usually after drunken nights) and they spoke of calling pumpkins on their turkey phones and asking the pumpkins to save the fish in the sky.

Usagi kissed him three times, each time becoming more aggressive, like she was going to lose him soon. Her kisses forced his head back, but she held him so tightly that he didn’t fall onto his back. He was thankful that that one little peck was all it took to satisfy her. She wasn’t asking for anything else but was only kissing him. He could handle this.

Maybe he would tell Usagi what had happened after she woke up… Or maybe that would make things too complicated. What she didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.

“Now, Tuxedo Mask…come inside me.”

His eyes shot wide open.

She opened her mouth so that it was wide open. Ready to put him inside of her.

He came closer and closer to her. Would she lick him or swallow him whole?

He struggled, pushing against Usagi’s powerful hand. Her hand wouldn’t budge even though he pushed with all his strength. Why was she so strong even though she was asleep?

“Usagi-chan!”

Ami grabbed Usagi’s wrist, stopping Usagi, who awakened, her eyes shooting open.

“Huh?” Usagi looked at him, then at Ami, then at him, then down at her open mouth. “I’m so sorry,” she said to him.

“Why are you apologizing to him?” Ami said.

“B-because…I thought he was still Tuxedo Mask.”

“Dreaming about him again?”

“Well, yeah. Tuxedo Mask looks an awful lot like Mamo-chan. Actually, I’m sure that Tuxedo Mask is only Mamo-chan in my dreams. And, ironically enough, Tuxedo Mask keeps saving me.”

Ami smiled. “It’s only natural. Since the roles are that women are more powerful, of course you would have thoughts and dreams about men being more powerful. You’re just wondering what it would be like. I’ve had dreams like those, too, but they make me glad that things are the way they are.”

Usagi smiled, too, and it didn’t look strained. “Yeah, same here.” Was she serious, or did she mean something else?

She looked over her shoulder. He looked, too, but Usagi blocked his way so that he could see only Makoto’s arm draped over Minako’s. Rei kept sleeping. “I’m glad I didn’t wake anybody up. Let’s get back to sleep.”

They both lay, Usagi gently pressing him to her chest again. He fell asleep faster than before. Usagi curled inward, protecting him from the others.

Chapter Five: Blaze

“Get up.”

His eyes opened. Rei was standing over him, the other girls behind her, Usagi no longer holding him.

As soon as he stood, Rei scooped him into her hand, held him up to her eyes. It was her turn. Rei hated him for no reason, so this would suck royally.

“Have fun, Rei-chan.” Minako practically skipped out the room, the others girls following, all wishing her fun and great times. Usagi kept her expression neutral, didn’t hint that she cared for him at all. As long as Usagi could keep up a charade, he’d be able to escape with her.

But Rei and Makoto had become suspicious of Usagi, and the other girls were likely more suspicious than they were letting on. Maybe the girls already knew of Usagi’s plan and were going to eat him themselves after they all got through with him.

In that case, the best thing to do was to escape by himself.

He’d take the first opportunity that presented itself.

For now, Rei literally had him in the palm of her hands. He’d jumped down before to much failure.

They stared at each other, their expressions serious.

She sat on her knees, her long, black hair waving behind her. So pretty…

Did he just think the word, “pretty”?

Rei narrowed her eyes. “You’ve been so arrogant, thinking you’re so clever and cunning that you can run away from five smarter, bigger women.”

He blinked. Where was she going with all of this? She could just start the torture.

“You’re much more reckless and stupid than the other little boy I had. And for trying to escape earlier, I have my own punishment for you.”

She set him on the floor and then sat on her knees.

“When little men and giantesses used to live together, I heard that my mother kept little men as slaves.” She averted her eyes. “That was before…” She set her jaw. “It’s none of your business. But the point is, the little men pleased her very much.”

Did she want him to please her?

Rei glanced at her red handbag sitting in the corner with the other girls’ belongings, her eyes distant. He cocked his head.

Why and how could she hate men so much? It wasn’t like she spent much time with smaller men. And he didn’t remember giantesses and smaller men ever living together, although that era was written about in textbooks. Giantesses and smaller men living together was before his time and, most likely, Rei’s time as well. Rei looked to be around the same age he was.

Her expression became colder. “My father never served me, so I’ll make you serve me instead.”

What did he have to do with her father? She wouldn’t be able to see her father unless she either tracked him down during the periodic trips to the men’s side or if her mother had passed away.

Standard protocol would be that, if a giantesses’ mother passed away, then giantesses appointed by the queen would track the father down and force him to the giantesses’ side to grieve with his daughter, although the fathers had never met the mothers. The fathers often didn’t know they had daughters until the mother passed away. Maybe the fathers were brought over for emotional support, but the giantess could get that from her friends, teachers, schoolmates.

Maybe Rei’s father hadn’t shown the affection that he should have, even though her father and Rei’s meeting had to be awkward.

Rei scowled. “What’re you looking at me like that for?”

He shifted from side to side. Couldn’t tell her what he thought he’d figured out.

“Stop looking at me like that. You’re looking at me like everyone else did when Mother...” She bit her lip.

Her mother had definitely passed away.

But why was she letting loose now? Was it because he didn’t dare speak to her? Did she see him as a diary?

Despite everything that she had put him through, he would be nice to her.

He smiled.

Her nostrils flared. She gripped him tightly, erasing his smile and nearly cutting off his air supply. Oxygen was so precious on this side.

Only his head poked above her fingers. He gulped and smiled again.

She squeezed tighter, wiping off his smile and taking away all of his oxygen.

“You’re still so arrogant after everything that’s happened to you.”

Oh, so that’s how his smile came across.

The priority right now was oxygen.

He gasped for air, and she loosened her grip a little, letting him breathe again.

She placed him beside her and then lay flat on her stomach. “Give me a back massage.”

He gaped. A little guy like him? With little fingers? Would she feel him?

“Do it now.”

He scurried to her back. He’d have to climb, and she wasn’t making any effort to help him. He gripped her shirt and pulled.  Gripped another part of her shirt above and hoisted himself again. Rei relaxed slightly, shoulders sinking. Maybe his climbing was part of the massage.

He made it to the top of her back, huffing and puffing like an old person, even though he played soccer and lifted weights back home.

He had never given anyone a massage before.

He gulped, got on his hands and knees, and began rolling his hands back and forth. That’s what he’d seen on T.V.

“Do it.” She looked over her shoulder. “You’re already doing it but not hard enough. Are you more stupid than I thought? You’re a gnat compared to me. You have to do it hard enough for me to feel it.”

He rubbed harder until he was sweating. Her skin was thick, hard to massage. It would be easier if she took her shirt off, but she wouldn’t let a dirty pig like him ogle and objectify her.

Sweat drenched him. She relaxed slightly once more. She wouldn’t dare give any man a compliment or word of encouragement, not after what just one man did to her.

Generalizing was such a childish thing to do.

His face darkened into crimson. The weird thing was, he wanted to massage her.

He wasn’t enjoying it, but she deserved it after everything she had been through. So he massaged as best as he could.

“Go to my upper back.” She sounded more relaxed.

He scurried to her upper back and massaged there. Massages lasted, like, an hour, right?

Yup, this would be his workout for the week.

She let out a small moan. He smiled. Thank goodness she was enjoying this. Making her happy made him happy.

She might realize how obedient and pleased he was to serve her and then start being nice to him. Earning her trust would make it easier for him to escape.

“Harder, you idiot.”

Or maybe not.

He massaged harder.

“Seriously, do you not know just how tall I am compared to you? Have you not realized? You can’t be that pigheaded.”

He pursed his lips. He knew why she was being so verbally abusive; he didn’t get angry.

“Lower back. Now.”

He scampered to her lower back and massaged, drenched in sweat, panting more heavily than a dog. His sweat dripped off his forehead, onto her clothing.

She glared at him. “Are you sweating on me, pig?”

He froze.

She turned, throwing him off of her. He fell on his side, onto the floor, and rolled onto one knee. He braced himself.

She whisked him up by her hand, took a cloth that hung from the back of a seat. “I’ll have to dry you off, then.” She covered him in the cloth so he couldn’t see. She rubbed him roughly, like he was the giant and she was the smaller woman. He cried out, the roughness making him bleed. It burned so badly, the pain unlike anything he had gone through today. Definitely one of the worst types of pain he had undergone in his whole life.

He chewed his tongue to help him cope.

After an eternity, she raised the cloth over his head, still glaring at him. She nodded, a small smirk appearing on her face. “That’s better.” She narrowed her eyes. “But I had to serve you.”

He lost his breath.

That whole “making her happy” idea he’d had would never work.

He gulped for what had to be the millionth time that incredibly long day. The longest day of his life.

“My feet need to be rubbed.”

His pupils contracted. Oh, God.

The stench from Usagi’s feet… Rei’s couldn’t be any better.

She put him in front of her socked feet. She slid off her socks and then lay on her back. The stench hit him like a truck.

He had to touch them.

“Start with my right foot.”

He walked slowly, wrinkling his nose. He couldn’t pinch his nose to keep himself from inhaling the fumes, because then Rei wouldn’t feel him massaging, which wouldn’t bode well for him.

He rubbed as hard as he could. To block the scaly sensation and the stench, he thought about how the world would be if all giantesses were nice to smaller men.

Giantesses would let smaller men sleep on them. Help smaller men reach taller surfaces. Protect smaller men from wild animals and harmful giantesses. Wouldn’t make the smaller men massage anything or abuse them.

They’d still have to go to separate schools because of the constant threat of being crushed. But smaller men and giantesses would be integrated in every other way. They would live as families and friends. Smaller men could find women they loved and then procreate the natural way. And then the smaller men could live with their daughters, and the giantesses could live with their sons, and they could be a unit.

There would be no more harm from the giantesses. No more cowering in fear of giantesses because giantesses hurting the smaller men would be punishable. It would be a beautiful world.

But here he was, massaging a giantess’ foot. He still hadn’t started on the other one.

He’d begun sweating again. Not good.

Rei had stayed quiet since he started. He must be doing a good job, despite not being attentive at all. He didn’t want to be attentive to the stench. It wasn’t terrible—some kind of indescribable odor—but it was enough to make him try to shut it out.

He happened to glance up and lock eyes with Rei, who was staring at him, her expression holding a bit of interest.

She cleared her throat. “D-don’t lose focus. I can feel the difference when you’re focusing and when you’re not focusing.”

He rubbed more vigorously. She rested her head back down.

Was she wondering what he was thinking about?

She must have been. Otherwise, she would’ve said something as soon as she noticed that he wasn’t paying attention.

She was much more emotional about him than she was letting on.

“Move to the other foot.”

He did.

It seemed like Rei didn’t notice whenever his mind was elsewhere. He let his mind wander to the detail of the floor, the stray manga volumes. Everything was more detailed from his height.

Rei whipped her head around to look at him. He massaged harder.

“You weren’t paying attention again.” No trace of doubt. “You didn’t obey me.” She knocked him down with her foot and then grabbed him, the world swirling until he was right in front of her eyes.

She tilted her head. Trying to come up with some elaborate, incredibly painful punishment for him.

She squeezed tighter and then released her grip, letting him fall onto her thigh, bounce off of it onto the floor. A fresh wave of pain struck his side, and he grunted. His whole body, especially his hands, had already ached  thanks to the massages.

She held her foot over him, covering him in its shadow. Then, she lowered her foot to him, and he instinctually raised his hands onto the soles of her foot and pushed back as she pushed down.

She chuckled and pushed him into a squat. Veins bulged from his arms. He released a small cry. There was no way he could survive against this.

She laughed as she pushed him farther down, near the floor. His knees started to buckle, his legs and arms pulsing alongside his fast-beating heart. She pushed more and more, and he squatted more and more until he was sitting on the floor, only his arms holding the foot up.

He panted heavily. She pushed even more, threatening to crush him. His arms were bent, and he was hunched over, his face brushing the floor. He drew in a breath, and still she pushed, still laughing like breaking all a person’s bones was hilarious.

She pushed again, slamming his head to the floor. He couldn’t sidle out of her foot’s grasp.

He dug his feet into the floor and then pushed himself, trying to move again. A thrust from her foot.

“Don’t you dare move.”

He stopped and let her keep pushing, let her relish in this. He no longer wanted to please her because pleasing her meant that he would keep being subjected to this hell. The punishment would be worse if he resisted. The giantesses did horrible things to him no matter if he obeyed or not.

She gave another push and then lifted her foot a little, relieving him a bit of the pressure. He released another breath, this time, one of relief.

It sucked that she didn’t just take her foot off suddenly but—

Then she did.

The release in pressure made him almost keel over with relief, but he stopped when the aches in his arms and legs intensified.

Hot tears rolled down his red cheeks, mixing with the sweat. His body shook. He ached so badly that he couldn’t move; he was still in the position he was when he was pushing Rei’s foot back.

Rei tossed her hair back like the bitch she was. “I’m satisfied with what we did today.”

He managed to place himself down on his stomach. Felt better lying on the floor than he did in that ungodly position.

Rei’s mouth twisted into a feral smile. “Makoto would love to get her hands on you next.”

He paled. He still had to deal with that monster.

No matter what, he was getting out of here. He had to. He couldn’t imagine what permanent physical damage would be done to him under Makoto’s “care.” Being nice only backfired and made things worse. Resisting had made things worse. The only guarantee of his own safety was running away.

He resolved to run as soon as a chance presented itself, no matter how broken he was.

Chapter Six: Captive

Rei carried him out the room, smiling smugly. He was still panting from fighting against Rei’s foot. He’d definitely feel that in the morning—if he survived until the morning.

“I’m finished,” Rei said.

Minako brightened. “You look happy.” She snickered at him. “He does not.”

Rei let out a bitchy giggle. He panted more heavily. The more they believed he was tired, the more they’d let their guard down.

“Should we let him rest again?” Usagi nudged Makoto. “I want Mako-chan to have as much fun with him as possible.”

All these giantesses were skipping school to have fun with him. He managed to glance at the clock. His heart leaped into his throat. It was three o’clock, just about the time when school ended. It’d be even harder for him to escape.

It was a chance he was still going to take, though.

“Maybe we should let him rest again,” Ami said.

“He’ll need his strength.” Makoto grinned. He shrunk.

Usagi gestured toward herself. “Can I hold him again while he rests?”

Rei gave him to Usagi, and he held in a smile. She would definitely help him escape.

As Usagi settled onto her bed, the other giantesses getting tea in the kitchen, he pointed to the open bedroom door. Usagi pursed her lips and gave a minute shake of the head. Maybe she had seen the clock, too, and was thinking that it was too dangerous for him to escape on his own. But he no longer believed he could escape unscathed, that she would be able to save him. The way she was acting was kind of obvious. He was afraid that her plan wouldn’t work after all.

Since the other giantesses could see Usagi, she turned her back to the door.

He pointed toward the doorway again, even though her body blocked it from his view, and nodded, setting his jaw to let her know that he was going to keep asking for this.

“You don’t think I can save you anymore?” she whispered, her breath tickling him.

He curled his lips inward and shook his head.

She stared at him for a moment before glancing at her friends. “I think my friends are becoming suspicious of me.” She averted her gaze to the floor, brow creased. “The way out is straight ahead of here, if you leave. But this is an apartment complex, so it’ll take you a while to leave. And there aren’t many places to hide in the hallway.”

He didn’t care. He’d rather travel for a few days than be under Makoto’s and Minako’s control for a few hours.

He pointed more forcefully to the door.

A small smile crossed Usagi’s face. “You’re determined, huh?”

He nodded.

“Then you’ll make it. I know you will.”

Warmth covered him, surprising him that her opinion meant so much to him.

“I’ll let you go near the wall. Make sure you stay in the shadows and behind any objects you find. It’s a bit cold outside, but it wasn’t as bad as when I found you this morning. You should be all right.” She gave him directions to the gate, and he memorized every word.

She turned her head, glancing at her friends. “They’re not paying attention to us. I’m…going to let you go. Good luck, okay? And I’m sorry about everything that happened. My friends usually aren’t like this.” She hugged him to her chest and then took him, lowered her hand near the wall, opened her hand.

He ran behind manga volumes and shoes and pillows strewn about the floor, the giantesses in the kitchen still talking, Makoto leaning against the counter, Minako beside her, and Rei and Ami sitting down, all drinking from a steaming mug.

“I got a D on my math exam,” Minako was saying. “If I get another grade like that, then Mama will take away my Famicom.” She slammed her mug on the counter. “And that’s why, starting tomorrow, I am going to start studying so I won’t have to take make-up exams anymore so those exams won’t cut into my valuable video gaming time.”

As soon as he left Usagi’s room, he turned right into the apartment’s hallway. In front of him was the door to freedom.

He scampered under the gap between the bottom of the door and the carpet. He emerged in another hallway that seemed endless, other doors lining it.

Time to really start running.

He scurried through the hallway, keeping to the wall. There were no shadows or litter to hide behind. All he could do was go as fast as he could and hope that no one noticed him.

The floor quaked. He froze.

“You don’t want to go out to eat tonight?”

“I’m in the mood for something home-cooked.”

Turning the corner were a young woman, looking to be a bit older than Usagi and her friends, with brownish-white hair and another young woman with turquoise hair that flowed like the sea. They were holding hands, the taller giantess with the whitish-brown hair, even taller than Makoto, smiled wryly, and the other had a soft smile on her face. His cheeks pinked at the girl with the turquoise hair. So poised. But he kept running, praying that they wouldn’t see him. He and the giantesses were going toward one another.

Hopefully he could pass them without them noticing—

The turquoise-haired giantess looked straight at him, and her smile broadened. She stopped, and her friend focused on him and stopped, too.

No. Not this soon. Not ever again.

He swiveled and then took two steps and then fell facedown.

“That was anticlimatic.”

He scrambled onto his feet, but the taller girl’s shadow covered him. He ran. The taller giantess picked him up between two fingers and dangled him in front of her sky blue eye. “No fun at all.”

The other joined her at her side. “Someone probably lost him.”

“Or he wandered in here by accident. Then again, he probably wouldn’t be so far from the gate.”

He sure wouldn’t have been.

The taller woman’s eyes twinkled with a mischievousness that he didn’t want to be subjected to.

“The little men are stupid, but they’re not that stupid.”

He blinked. The taller woman looked sort of like a guy. Maybe the giantesses felt deprived, too, and did the same things that the smaller men did.

She dangled him like a pendulum. Sickness crept into his stomach. “Michiru, I think we should bring this little guy back to our place. Hotaru could take care of him for a bit until we come back from dinner. She’ll have a blast with him.”

“All right. Let’s go back.”

The taller one kept him in her hand. He pursed his lips. These giantesses seemed more mature than the others, which meant that they might not torture him. 

They quickly arrived in the giantesses’ apartment, and Haruka covered him with her hand, darkness surrounding him. She left a gap between two of her fingers; he saw a girl who couldn’t have been any more than twelve with bluish-black hair sitting up from her bed in the corner, rubbing her indigo eyes. She must have been taking a nap.

“What happened, Haruka-Papa, Michiru-Mama? You came back so soon.”

Haruka cupped him behind her back. “We have a surprise for you, Hotaru.”

“Really?” A shuffle on the bed. “What is it?”

Haruka walked to Hotaru. She held out her hand and then opened it. He scrambled, falling on his back. Hotaru’s giant face was only a foot above him.

“Think of him as a gift from us,” Michiru said from behind. “Take good care of him. But make sure you have a lot of fun with him, too.”

“Of course.” Hotaru reached, took him like he was as fragile as glass. She slowly looked over him. “From what I’ve heard at school, little boys come here so rarely. And it’s even rarer to find one.” It must’ve been her first time with a “little boy.”

He looked at Hotaru more carefully. She seemed really mature and serious for her age from the way she handled him and talked.

“I’ll get the cage.”

He hardly heard Michiru leaving the room. Cage? They kept a cage for this sort of thing?

Haruka laced her hands behind her head. “We haven’t had a little visitor in such a long time.” She glanced at the door Michiru must’ve went through and then knelt close to Hotaru. “When we get back, let us have some fun with him, huh?”

Hotaru smiled broadly. “Definitely, Haruka-Papa. But you don’t need to be so secretive about it, do you?”

Haruka placed a hand on the back of her head. “Yeah. Guess not.”

“I could hear you anyhow.” Michiru walked back into the room, carrying the square guinea pig cage. His pupils contracted.

A cage.

A cage.

A cage.

He couldn’t hear anything but the cage rattling.

Michiru rested the cage on top of a drawer and then hooked her arm through Haruka’s. “We should go. I’m not sure how crowded the restaurant is at this point.”

“So you don’t want something home-cooked after all?”

Michiru chuckled. “Hotaru, do whatever you’d like to him.”

Hotaru hadn’t stopped staring at him since Haruka had shown him to her. “I will.”

Haruka and Michiru left, arguing about whether home-cooked meals were better than restaurant meals.

He couldn’t take his eyes off that cage.

“You want to go inside the cage? It’s your new home.”

He shook his head vigorously. He was going to be a pet to these people. And the worst thing was, other than being in a cage, he didn’t know what being a pet meant. Haruka, walking him outside on a leash, him layered in sweaters? (Somehow, that would work, despite the size difference.) Him, crouching and eating mystery meat from a bowl, no utensils, on his hands and knees? Him, laying in his cage, asleep? Running on a hamster wheel? Catching Frisbees? Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru showing him off to other girls and letting those girls rub his belly, ruffle his fur—hair?

His mouth became as dry as a desert. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

“It…looks like you’re not ready for the cage yet. But there’s only one way to get used to it.”

She picked him up and lay him in the cage, straw covering its bottom. The straw wasn’t comfortable. A pillow that humans laid on would have been.

A water bottle hung from the corner, where he could suck water like a hamster. Thankfully, there was no wheel.

“Haruka-Papa and Michiru-Mama say that little boys get their exercise outside the cage, so there’s no wheel. I’ll let you out at least once a day for exercise.”

She’d likely let him out much more than that, the way she was looking him up and down.

Even though Haruka and Michiru hadn’t given her any pointers, that didn’t mean he could do whatever he wanted. He still needed to gauge her personality first before he did anything rebellious.

Did she have a mother? It didn’t look like she was the biological daughter of Haruka or Michiru, both of whom were obviously lovers (thankfully, the visual didn’t get his mind reeling as badly as it had when he had seen Makoto and Minako cuddling. Could be the cage clouding his thoughts). Maybe some women didn’t like keeping their daughters, like some men loved alcohol more than their sons. Maybe her mother had died, like Rei’s had, and Haruka and Michiru were kind enough to take Hotaru in.

Who knew giantesses other than Usagi could be kind?

Maybe Hotaru would pay it forward by taking him home.

It was after school, so she wouldn’t arouse any suspicion; she was alone, so she wouldn’t have to get past any guardians who would rather torture and eat him; and, if asked, she could say that she ate him because Michiru told her that she could do whatever she wanted with him. Or, better yet, she could say that he escaped. People usually spent a few hours at restaurants, so she had plenty of time to take him back. Somehow, he needed to convince her to take him home.

He considered talking, but he still needed to see what she was like. She could forcefully shut him up. Or she wouldn’t hear. Usually, giantesses were so huge that they couldn’t hear smaller men unless they yelled, which he had experienced firsthand when giantesses had come to the men’s side. So talking was pretty much a waste of breath. If the giantesses wanted to hear what smaller men had to say, then they would put the smaller men to their ears and let them talk, which usually wasn’t the case.

Hotaru stared at him standing in the cage, a small frown on her face. He backed away, striking the back of the cage. She smiled.

“There’s water in that bottle, if you’d like.”

He relaxed a little, shoulders sinking. His mouth was dry. And he doubted there was poison or drugs in that bottle. They wouldn’t do something like that to their pet, would they?

He walked to the bottle, feet crunching on the straw, and stood on his tiptoes to reach the nozzle. He put both hands on their side of the bottle and drank, staring at Hotaru all the while, Hotaru staring at him all the while. The water didn’t taste like there was anything strange in it.

He hadn’t drunk anything at all since last night when he drank only alcohol. So he’d been incredibly thirsty. The life-threatening torture from the other giantesses had distracted him from his thirst.

Hotaru’s face was inches away from the cage. She opened it and then reached inside. He let himself be grabbed, pulled out of the cage. She held him to her eye, like so many giantesses had done to him today.

Her eyes explored him once more. There were only girls in her class, and she was reaching the age where she had to be getting curious about the opposite sex. Although he was uncomfortable with her looking so closely at him, he understood. He hadn’t seen Hotaru at all when the giantesses had come to the other side. Then again, he’d been busy checking out Setsuna.

“So small…” she breathed.

She hovered her shaking finger above him. He looked from her finger, to her wide eyes, and back. She wanted to touch him like Usagi had.

Her hesitation could mean that she wasn’t as aggressive as the other giantesses.

If it looked like he trusted her, maybe she’d let him go.

She poked him without his permission.

Of course the “better than them” mentality was already starting to settle in even preteen girls. Girls had been taught all their life that, because they were bigger than men, they were superior.

He held back a grunt. He didn’t want to give this girl anything despite her probably unfortunate circumstances (her mom probably dying or not wanting her or something). He was tired of giving and getting only shit in return.

She moved her finger from his stomach to his chest, softly drawing in a breath. She moved her finger from his stomach to his chest again. Was she impressed by his physique?

Then, she hooked her finger under his shirt and slid his shirt over his head.

His breath caught. Did she want to…?

Her eyes practically popped out of her sockets. She stared at him for a few seconds and then seemed to realize what she was doing, blushing deeply and sliding on his shirt.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I wouldn’t normally do that. I guess my curiosity got the best of me.”

He softened a bit. He was still curious about the female body too, despite playing with Usagi. It was interesting, to see the softness where guys would be hard, the curves where guys didn’t have them.

“Y-you’re blushing.”

Sure enough, his own cheeks were hot. He had a feeling he’d be thinking of Usagi for a long time. He had to do something about that. Usagi had a boyfriend, and while he liked Usagi as a friend, his feelings for her probably weren’t as strong as Mamoru’s.

He bowed her head, willing the blush to go away, but blushes didn’t work like that.

“That’s okay. It happens to everyone.”

She wasn’t angry about possibly being objectified?

“And…I’m sorry for touching you like that without your permission.”

His eyes bulged. 

Maybe she would take him back after all.

She looked at the door.

“I want to play with you for a little while. But I’m sure you want to go back to your side, too. Is it okay if I play with you for a while and then take you back at the end? Haruka and Michiru usually spend quite a bit of time at restaurants, although they might come back a little earlier this time because you’re here and they’re anxious to play with you, too.”

He nodded vigorously, a grin spreading from ear to ear. She grinned, too. If only all giantesses could see that when they made smaller men happy, they became happy, too. Might make their interactions a whole lot more fun.

“All right, then. Thank you for agreeing to play with me.”

Wow, was she polite. Much different than the preteens he knew on his side. Either girls matured faster than guys or this girl was more mature for her age because of her circumstances.

She cradled him in her hand. “Fascinating.” Sounded analytical like Ami. He felt like he was rocking on a cruise ship.

“I’ve never even seen a little man before.”

She addressed him as a man this time. He liked that.

“I won’t hurt you. I promise. I’ll try not to by accident.”

He nodded.

She traced circles on his stomach, and he released a chuckle.

“You have a really pleasant laugh.”

He smiled widely, and she moved her finger to his chest and then traced circles on that, making him laugh. She laughed, too.

She held out her pinky. “Take it.”

He took it, and she raised him near the ceiling.

“You’ve never seen anything from this height, have you?”

He shook his head. He’d never ridden an airplane before. Everything looked kind of small from this height. Must be what it was like to be a giantess.

She ran him around the room, and he spread out his arms, like he was flying. Air whipped his hair back, made him feel invincible, washed away everything that had happened.

She lowered him back down in front of her eye.

“Did you like that?”

He nodded vigorously once more. He wouldn’t mind if she flew him around all day.

“I want to play a game of hide-and-seek. Is that fine with you?”

He nodded. Anything was fine, as long as she took him back to his side soon.

“Okay.” She placed him on the floor. “You hide, and I’ll seek. It’d be pretty hard for me to hide from you.” She turned around, facing the wall, and covered her eyes. “I’ll count to one-hundred,” she said, her voice muffled. “One, two…”

The room was pretty clean since all these mature giantesses lived together. Under the bed was too predictable, and after his earlier experience with a bed, he didn’t want to see one ever again.

There were stuffed bears, elephants, and cats in the corner, but she might look behind them first.

“Fifty! Fifty-one, fifty-two…”

Time to make a decision.

There were a bunch of lamps in the corner opposite the stuffed animals. He ran behind one of them and waited for her to finish.

“One-hundred! Ready or not, here I come.”

He held his breath, even though it was pretty much impossible for her to hear his breathing. He had played hide-and-seek when he was, like, five, but not since then. She was at least twelve, so it was kind of strange for her to want to play a game like this.

She did look pale, though, so she must not get out of the house much.

The floor trembled as she walked around the room. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

He shrunk, grinning. No way.

“Hmm…”

He peeked out from behind one of the lamps, daring to be discovered. Hotaru kneeled, looked under the bed. She scooted out from under the bed and crawled on all-fours, searching the floor carefully, smiling softly. He smiled, too. Her smile lit up her face.

Hotaru took the sides of one of her stuffed bears. “Aha!” she said as she picked it up. Her face fell when she saw nothing was behind the bear. She peered around the others. “I bet I know where you are.”

He whirled around and put his back against the oil lamp. He wondered why lamps were sitting on the floor like this, but whatever. It seemed like something the elegant Michiru wouldn’t allow.

The floor’s trembles became rougher, louder. She was coming closer.

A shadow fell over him. He looked up. Hotaru was looking right at him, but she said, “Hmm, I wonder where exactly he is.” She placed her hands on her hips and swept her eyes behind the lamps. He furrowed his brow. What was she doing?

Hotaru kneeled once more, peering around the lamp so that her head was inches from him. “Boo!”

He screamed and almost fell over. She giggled and picked him up. “Found you.”

His heart pattered his chest, much different from the flutter of joy it had made earlier.

“I’m sorry. I was just having a bit of fun.” She cradled him in her hand. “I’ve never played hide-or-seek. A lot of the kids at school don’t think I’m very normal.  I am kind of sick—not all the time, but I do get sick easily—and they’ll think that they’ll catch my sickness. So I don’t leave much.”

That explained her paleness.

“Haruka-Papa and Michiru-Mama take me out a lot though, so that’s nice. Besides, the kids mostly thought I was contagious when we were all younger. Now that we’re in middle school, most of them are mature enough to realize that I’m safe. I have a few friends now.” She hugged him to her chest, resting her soft cheek on the top of his head. “Including you.”

He warmed.

The door opened. Haruka and Michiru walked in, slipping off their shoes at the door.

“We’re home,” Haruka announced. “We’re back kind of early, but we couldn’t wait to start messing with the little guy ourselves.”

“ ‘Messing with’ aren’t the right words,” Michiru said, letting Haruka take off her turquoise coat and hang it on the rack near the door. “We just want to play with him for a little while, like you have, Hotaru. We haven’t seen a little man in such a long time. That’s why we’re back from the restaurant so quickly. The waiter was surprised by how quickly we finished.” She looked at him, still being cradled in Hotaru’s hands. “It looks like you’ve been having a lot of fun with him. I’m glad.”

“You weren’t in the middle of anything, were you?” Haruka said.

He deflated. He was going to leave, and then…

“No, we weren’t,” Hotaru said.

He gaped at her.

“His facial expression says otherwise.” Michiru saw everything.

“We just finished a game of hide-and-seek. He probably wants to play another game.”

“We have to change anyhow.” Haruka put a hand to her forehead and saluted. “We’ll leave you to it.” They went into one of the bedrooms and closed the door.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m not that great of a liar, and I usually don’t lie. But this could be a chance. I could let you go, but you’d have to leave by yourself. I didn’t think they would come back so quickly. They’d be upset, but that’s fine. Do you want to leave?”

He shook his head. After trying to leave by himself before, he wasn’t sure he could do it. Besides, Haruka and Michiru seemed nice, and after taking what he had before, he was sure he could handle whatever they had in store for him.

Her eyebrows arched. “That’s too bad. I’m so sorry.”

He smiled.

“Even though you’re with us, you’re smiling… Maybe we’ll find a chance to escape in a few days. Haruka-Papa and Michiru-Mama go on dates every week without me. As soon as they’re gone next week, I promise that I’ll take you back to your side. And then I’ll tell them that you escaped while I was asleep.”

He grinned. He had no doubt she would keep his promise. No matter how much he might grow to like Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru, he had to return to his side. This side was too dangerous for him, and he already missed his friends and dad and younger brother.

The bedroom door opened, and Haruka and Michiru joined Hotaru.

Hotaru stood. “I’ll let you have some private time with him.”

His face fell.  She was leaving him alone with them? If she trusted them so much, then they probably wouldn’t do anything too harmful to him.

“Are you sure?” Michiru said.

“Yeah. Maybe we can play with him together one day, but I’ve had my fun with him. Go ahead. It can be part of your date night.” Just like that, Hotaru was gone, in her bedroom, unable to watch whatever happened to him next.

He gulped.

“Don’t worry,” Haruka said, that smirk still on her face. “We won’t hurt you. Much.”

She snatched him up. He struggled to breathe.

“Not so tightly, Haruka. We don’t want to take all his energy at once.”

Haruka frowned. “So fragile… How annoying.” But she loosened her grip, and he sucked in a breath. She pinched his shirt, dangling him between two fingers. “Even though he’s weak, I guess we can still have fun with him.”

He erroneously glared at the “weak” statement.

“Defiant bastard thinks he’s Hercules.” Haruka eyed Michiru, who returned a smile. “What do you say, Michiru? How about we prove to him just how weak he is?”

It had already been proven to him, but he wouldn’t mind going another round, especially with that cocky Haruka.

“I still don’t think we should be that aggressive to him. By the looks of things, someone lost him and already showed him how weak he truly is.” Michiru poked his stomach, making him swing like a pendulum. “You treated us for dinner this time. I suppose we could do things your way first.”

Haruka smirked broader than she had before. “I suppose so.”

He bit his tongue. Michiru would, hopefully, keep Haruka from doing anything too bad to him.

Haruka threw him into the air. The world around him turned over and over, dizzying him, bile shooting into his mouth. She swiped and caught him, engulfing his world in darkness.

He barfed into Haruka’s hand.

Haruka opened her hand as quick as lightning, dropping him, a dark orange splat in the palm of her hand. She glared. “What the…?”

He landed in Michiru’s soft, manicured hands. “You were too rough with him.”

He’d say. He panted and lay on his back. They needed to put the air conditioning on.

Michiru lay her pinky over his forehead. “It feels like a fever.”

Impossible. He’d been fine with Hotaru a few minutes before. He hadn’t started feeling like crap until Haruka tossed him in the air.

“I wasn’t too rough with him. He just couldn’t handle it.”

“Which means you were too rough with him.”

Haruka crossed her arms. “So fragile, so annoying.” She uncrossed her arms and looked at the splat in her hand. “I’d better go wash this off.” She went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Michiru brought him to her face. “Are you okay?”

He panted, looking her in her beautiful turquoise eyes. He smiled and nodded. She seemed a whole lot gentler than Haruka.

“Of course. Little men are resilient. When I was a little girl, I caught a little man and played with him a lot until my mother discovered him in my room. He was wandering around the room when I’d told him not to; anyone could come into my room after school, while I was out playing with friends. My mother had her time with him and then gave him to her friends. I never saw him again.”

Her smile broadened. “The point is, I have a bit of experience with little men. Haruka does need to be a bit gentler, though. She has had a little man before. She told me he ended up running away while she was at school. She had locked the cage but the man slipped out from between the bars somehow.”

Maybe he—

“That’s not possible with our cage.”

The bars were too close together. It wasn’t possible.

“You’re a welcome addition to our family. We’ll take you for walks—”

She kept talking, but he didn’t hear anything. His earlier visualizations of eating from a bowl, going for walks, catching Frisbees haunted him.

A dog. He was going to be a dog.

His pupils contracted.

“You don’t have to be afraid. As long as you do what you’re asked, we won’t have any problems.”

That was how it was supposed to work, but it never did.

She glanced at the door, the water still running from behind it. “Haruka must be having quite some trouble trying to get that bile off her hands, including the smell. Which means I have a bit of time with you.”

He blinked. Not quite sure how to respond. Not quite sure he wanted to show a response.

She was so beautiful, though. Not quite sure that thought was the right one.

His cheeks grew hot. Oh, no.

She giggled, but not like a little girl. Her giggle was…mature.

Like the giantesses before, she poked and prodded him in his stomach, his chest. Maybe she was imagining what it would be like to be with a guy. Maybe she wanted to know how much he could handle. He was used to this, though, so he could handle this part. She was being gentle, none of her pokes stealing breath from him.

Her eyes softened, and she poked his stomach and chest a little harder. Definitely seeing how much he could take.

This time, the breath was forced from him, and he gasped for air. She withdrew her pinky. Turned him over and massaged his back. Even though this was something usually done to a dog, he didn’t mind. Maybe being someone’s pet wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe the back rubs would make up for all the degradation and destruction of his self-esteem.

As if.

But the rub right now felt so good…

She prodded, guiding him onto his back, and then rubbed his stomach. He moaned.

She ruffled his hair, massaged his scalp. Rubbing him all over with her soft, gentle hands. Being slow, particular. A woman’s touch was nothing like a boy’s.

His thoughts drifted off until he could feel nothing but her rub, her delicate touch. All that mattered was the bliss he was feeling.

Michiru slowed down even more, maybe hinting that the heaven was going to come to a close soon. All these sensations…he could take these forever.

She rubbed him all over, even his chest and legs, everywhere…the rubs in the different body parts giving entirely new sensations. More warmth here, more warmth there. He felt like a cloud floating high above everyone else, even the giantesses. Like everything was all right.

She started rubbing for shorter times, in fewer places, so he wasn’t totally unprepared when she stopped. But she could’ve rubbed him forever, and he wouldn’t have minded it.

He smiled at her.

“You must’ve really enjoyed that.”

He grinned.

Her expression hardened, stabbing a needle of fear into him. “But don’t think that we’ll treat you that way all the time.”

He blanched. He didn’t expect them to, but he didn’t expect her to be so blunt, either. She didn’t seem like a blunt person, like Haruka, but she was. Those two sides of Michiru that could flip at the drop of a hat were scary. No need to find out what her punishing ways were if her praising ways were so good.

Her expression returned to its soft one. “But as long as you behave and do everything you’re asked, you’ll be fine.”

He warmed slightly. He believed her, but that didn’t mean that Michiru and Haruka wouldn’t try to humiliate him.

His situation was only temporary. He had no doubt that Hotaru would take him back to the men’s side. He had to survive for only a week. Everyone on his side would think he was dead, but this would make a great story. He’d tell them he was invincible, that none of the giantesses’ attacks hurt him, that he was made out of rubber, like that dude from the pirate manga. He’d be the most badass man alive.

“You’re chuckling. Are you enjoying this?”

He hadn’t realized he was chuckling. Oops.

The bathroom door opened, and Haruka stepped out, still rubbing her hands. “Geez. That took much longer than it should’ve. But I got the smell and everything out, so I should be good.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Time to get my revenge.”

He gulped thrice.

“Be gentle, Haruka. He likes it when you’re gentle.”

“They all do, but we can’t be gentle all the time.”

He wanted to scream, “Why not?” but was still fearful that the giantesses would crush him for daring to be a human being.

“If we did that, then there wouldn’t be much fun left for us.”

He deflated. Of course she was thinking only about the giantesses.

“Hey, little guy.” Haruka snatched him from Michiru’s hand. Michiru glared. “I’m sorry, Michiru.” Haruka looked genuinely sorry. “My emotions got the better of me. I’ll work on it.” She gave a feral smile to him, and he smiled sheepishly back, hoping that his smile was charming or innocent enough to keep Haruka from tearing him apart.

“I thought long and hard about what I would do to you while I was washing your gunk off my hand. You gave me plenty of time to think, that stuff took so long to get off. My plan isn’t that elaborate, but I’m still going to have a lot of fun with you.”

Haruka placed him on top of her head. What?

“Strange, isn’t it? But I want you to run in place.”

He stupidly stood there.

“Do it now.”

Her tone was so scary that he ran in place, Haruka’s hair mussing under him.

This was so humiliating that he wasn’t going to drink ever again. Not after being treated like a toy, a pet, and a slave.

He was so afraid, he shook a little while he ran. He didn’t know where Haruka was going by making him do this, and, evidently, neither did Michiru, who watched with her lips quirked into a small smile.

He panted, sweat drenching him, and kicked up hair while he ran. He never exposed the scalp, because, for some reason, more hair ended up under his feet, no matter how much he ran, how fast, how hard his footfalls were. He always kicked hair up, but the hair ended up flying flat down as soon as it was kicked up. That shouldn’t have been happening, but it was. For some strange reason. Maybe just giantess physics: didn’t have to make sense, just had to be entertaining (for the giantess. The smaller man’s enjoyment was optional.).

“Go faster.”

And he did.

“But don’t run so hard. You’re hurting my scalp. Giving me a headache, y’know?”

All too well.

Poor Haruka. A little, baby-sized headache from doing something she asked him to do. He had been in someone’s mouth, massaged a giantess’ back, been squeezed so he couldn’t breathe, and Haruka had a headache. He pitied the poor giantess who was suffering under her own direction.

He stopped running so hard, lightening his footfalls. Haruka barked at him to run faster, and he did, only for her to tell him to stop running so hard, so he made his footfalls lighter. The pattern continued for too long. This day was just too long.

At long last, she told him to stop.

He stopped immediately. Before he had a chance to rest, she plucked him up by his sweat-drenched head, briefly held him in front of her sky blue eyes, and then held him in front of her mouth. His heart stopped momentarily. Was she going to eat him?

Michiru said nothing. She must not be worried at all. Or she was so used to her partner’s antics that she just plain wasn’t worried. But Michiru’s words earlier said otherwise.

“Looks like you need to cool down a little.”

Haruka blew air all over him, making him shut his eyes against the current. His legs waved behind him like they were flags. He raised his hands, trying to shield himself, but to no avail.

She stopped and smiled. “You did just give me a headache. And barfed on me.”

He kept his expression neutral. His heart had turned into a jackhammer.

“You’re making him more nervous, Haruka.”

Michiru saw everything, so even when he thought he was keeping his expression blank, he was apparently doing something that said he was nervous as all hell.

Haruka put him in his cage and shut it. “Run on your wheel instead.”

He hadn’t cooled down at all. Instead, Haruka’s “air conditioning” had made him hotter. He looked from the wheel, to her, and back again.

“Do I need to repeat myself, or can you not understand directions?”

He jumped on the wheel and started running. He should’ve known by now not to question a giantess or hesitate to do what she asked.

“Faster.”

He quickened into a sprint.

“Haruka, you’re being so rough with him.”

“You’d be rough with him too if he barfed all over your hand.”

“I’d punish him in my own, special way.”

“Oh, really?”

He glanced at Haruka and Michiru, who gazed at each other lovingly, mischievously.

“Could you show me what those punishments would be?”

Michiru placed her finger on Haruka’s chin. “I have my own punishments for you.” She returned her attention to him. “But I have different punishments for small boys.”

Haruka opened the cage and spun the wheel, making it spin so fast that he almost couldn’t keep up, but he managed to. He didn’t want to break a few bones.

She laughed. “Look at him try so hard.”

Yeah, he was trying hard. This was practically life or death for him. But, in a way, he had already died.

Haruka waved her fingers in front of him. His eyes widened.

She held the wheel, stopping it. He flew off, right into Michiru’s chest. He began to slide down but clung to Michiru’s blouse.

“I’m being assaulted, Haruka.”

A scoff. “What a pervert.”

He wanted to rage so badly. He tightened his grip on Michiru’s blouse, threatening to tear a hole in it. But that would definitely earn another punishment from them.

“He’s about to rip my blouse, he’s getting so angry.”

“At what, I wonder?”

He really wanted to rage. He wasn’t going to, though. He couldn’t. If there was anything he had learned here, it was to keep his temper in check.

He chewed his lip and let himself fall. Haruka caught him. Michiru took him out of her hand.

“He’s scowling,” Michiru said.

He pressed his lips into a straight line.

“What’d you take him from me for?”

“I thought that was your whole plan.”

Haruka scratched her head. “It kinda was, but…”

“You wanted to do more to him? Well, we can do things to him together. Besides, I wanted to show you what my punishments are.”

He gulped a large ball of nervousness that had suddenly appeared in his throat.

Four girls had teamed up on him earlier. He grit his teeth and let his hands fall to his sides. He was going to bear it, and he was going to survive. It would be yet another tale his could tell his friends when he undoubtedly returned to the smaller men’s side.

Michiru walked into the kitchen, Haruka following. She placed the stopper in the drain and filled the sink like a pool. A rock sunk into his stomach.

Michiru dropped him into the water. He sunk briefly and then surfaced, taking in a big breath of oxygen and holding it to prepare himself for whatever Michiru had planned for him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hotaru peering out of her bedroom door, covering her mouth. He lost his breath, and Michiru pushed him underwater.

“Hotaru?” Haruka said. “What are you doing awake? I thought you had already gone to bed.”

“I…couldn’t sleep.”

He could still understand them, even though their voices were blurred from him being underwater. Michiru’s pinky kept him down. He gasped water. He needed oxygen badly. Very badly. Incredibly badly. Like, in the next few seconds badly…

Michiru released her pinky, and he resurfaced, flailing. Michiru chuckled, and Haruka laughed. He inhaled deeply. What was it with giantesses and the lack of oxygen?

Hotaru was standing next to Haruka. She hadn’t laughed at all, and her face had whitened.

“Watch carefully, Hotaru,” Haruka said. “This is how smaller men deserve to be treated.”

Where did they get that logic from?

Michiru slammed her hand into the water, drenching him in water and sending a wave to him. He began to swim, but the wave crashed into him, plunging him underwater and then lifting him into the air. Haruka and Michiru lowered their faces so that they were face-to-body with him.

“Shall I?” Haruka said.

“You shall,” Michiru said.

Haruka flicked his back, not so hard that it was broken, but, damn, it could’ve been. He flew. Michiru snatched him and then threw him back into the water, where he sunk for a moment, realized where he was and what could happen, and then swam desperately to return to the surface. Before he could, Michiru shoved him back underwater.

“Want a turn, Hotaru?” Haruka asked, voice blurred.

“I...think so.”

Hotaru had to have a plan. Right?

Michiru plucked him out of the water, water pouring off of him, and then placed him into Hotaru’s outstretched hand. Hotaru squeezed him a bit, warming him up—the water had been freezing, but he had hardly noticed over the lack of oxygen. She was still out for her best interests.

She stared at the water. Perhaps thinking how she could blend in without giving away that she was on his side. He didn’t know, either, and wouldn’t blame her if she had to torture him a few times. He was going to escape in at least a week. Haruka and Michiru looked like they were in high school, so they must be in school all day, not to mention the after-school activities. So he would be tortured for only the last half of the day, possibly less.

“If you’re uncomfortable right now, Hotaru,” Michiru said, cupping Hotaru’s cheek and bending down to her level, “that’s fine. I was a little uncomfortable with the first smaller boy I found, too. You get used to it.”

Hotaru stared at her.

He didn’t blame her if she left him with Haruka and Michiru, either. He wished he could tell her that through a smile or some kind of gesture, but Michiru would definitely notice. Then, his punishment would be even worse, and Haruka and Michiru might not let him stay alone with Hotaru. They might catch on to Hotaru’s plan, to her sympathy.

Hotaru arched her eyebrows at him and, in her eyes, she dared to communicate that she was sorry. “I’m too uncomfortable right now. Besides, I had my fun with him tonight. I’m going to…go back to bed.” Once again, she had retreated into her bedroom, leaving him alone with Haruka and Michiru. He would’ve done the same thing.

They hadn’t even tried to convince Hotaru to stay. Were they catching onto the plan?

Michiru chuckled at him again and then dropped him back into the sink water. She let him stay above water for a moment before dunking him back underwater. Haruka’s fingers plunged underwater, too, and they clamped his sides, binding him. How would they feel if they couldn’t breathe? The giantesses lacked empathy, so he didn’t expect them to know the answer to that question.

Haruka guided him through the water. She whisked him out, spun him around so that he faced her, squeezed, and then plunged him back underwater. They were using him like a bath toy. Apparently, a toy was the same thing as a pet.

She released him, and Michiru flicked him, sending him flailing through the water. He hadn’t even noticed when Michiru’s fingers joined him and Haruka’s fingers underwater. He flailed right into Michiru’s palm. She squeezed him, making the not-breathing sensation even worse. He coughed up blood. Michiru let him above water. Thanks to them, he was bleeding internally. That’s what it took for them to let him breathe.

“Looks like we hurt him a bit too much,” Michiru said.

“There’s no such thing as hurting him too much. These guys may be a bit fragile, but when it comes down to it, they’re great at surviving, like cockroaches.”

Great. Now the toy had turned into a bug. At least it was a bug that usually survived.

“Wanna do anything else to him tonight, or should we save a bit for when he’s fresh in the morning?”

“Let’s save the rest for tomorrow.” Michiru plucked him out of the water, dangling him in front of her and Haruka’s eyes. “I think we’ve had enough for today.”

He summoned an ounce of his dwindling self-control to keep himself from rolling his eyes.

An insistent knock on the door.

Haruka and Michiru exchanged looks.

“I didn’t invite anyone over.” Michiru raised an eyebrow. “Did you?”

“No, no, of course not. Not since my womanizing days.”

Michiru smiled. “You’re still a womanizer.”

“Only to you.” Haruka opened the door, Michiru still holding him in front of her eyes.

“Good evening.”

Oh, Jesus.

Haruka’s tall stature blocked the door completely, but…that was Makoto’s voice.

They had come for him.

They didn’t let him go, but they had come back for him.

Makoto stood on her tiptoes and peered over Haruka’s shoulder. Her eyes lit up with a mixture of happiness and rage that said that he would be getting it when she got his hands on him. And it was probably her turn next, so if Haruka and Michiru gave him back, she’d be getting her hands on him very soon.

“I’m looking for a smaller man who looks just like him. My friends and I found him early this morning and have been playing with him all day. We were taking turns with him, but he managed to escape from all of us. We’ve split up and have been asking around to see if anyone’s seen or captured him. But you have.” Makoto bowed, a form of respect he didn’t think she was capable of. “Could you please return him to us?”

“No wonder we saw him running around in the hallway. But it’s your fault you let him escape. Since we found him, we get to keep him. Sorry.”

“Let’s give him back, Haruka.”

Haruka whipped her head around. “What? Normally, you’d agree with me.”

Michiru stepped beside Haruka. He shrunk. “I do, especially with the fact that it’s their fault. But let’s share. We get to keep him for a week at a time, and they get to keep him for a week at a time.  If you don’t keep the deal, we’ll come back and keep him ourselves as long as he lives.”

Giantesses and smaller men had the same lifespan.

Michiru meant that he could die at anytime.

The giantesses expected him to die before they did.

“That’s fine with us,” Makoto said. “Could you please give him back now? We weren’t finished with him yet.”

“No one’s ever finished with a smaller boy. But, yes, we’ll give him back today, you can keep him until next week, and then you return him.”

“That works. On behalf of my friends and I, we promise that we’ll always return him to you. Thank you so much for your kindness.”

He still had enough self-control to keep himself from doing something more stupid than he already had.

“Great.” Michiru handed him off to Makoto. He cowered. “Have a great time with him, and see you next week.”

The way Makoto was looking at him, he wasn’t sure he would survive until next week.

Chapter Seven: Storm

“You little shit,” Makoto hissed, her face inches from his body, as they walked toward Usagi’s apartment. Her hand engulfed him, and she hadn’t loosened her grip since getting him back from Haruka and Michiru.

At least he would escape sometime, either by Hotaru’s or Usagi’s hands with the deal they had.

But he had to survive first. And he was sure he could just…well…

Okay, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

Makoto stayed deathly silent as they walked back to the apartment. He preferred that she talked because at least then he could see where she was going as far as punishments. Makoto was a talkative person, so her silence was nerve-destroying.

They finally returned to Usagi’s apartment, and Makoto rapped on the door. Minako opened it. No one else was behind her; she must’ve stayed behind in the unlikely case he came back.

Minako’s eyes lit up. “You found him.”

“Yup.” Makoto walked into the apartment, slipped off her shoes. “Didn’t see anyone else on my way back.”

Minako’s eyes shone brighter. “So we get to have some fun with him alone for a little while.”

Makoto somehow tightened her grip around him. “Yeah. We do.”

First, Haruka and Michiru tag-teamed him, and now these younger, immature girls were going to do whatever until the rest of the girls came.

This day was getting better and better.

“He was at another couple’s apartment, having fun with them.”

Minako nodded and then tugged off her bow, making it a long, twirling ribbon. “I think our fun should involve this. Unfortunately, I left my chain at home.”

Holy. Shit.

“Do the same things to him with your bow that you would do with your chain. I’ll help with anything you need. Enhance things a bit, y’know.”

“Wonderful.”

Makoto dropped him, and he landed heavily on the carpet. A slapping noise boomed near him, and pain burst over his chest and then spread to the rest of his body, red splotches blinding him. He cried out, started to scramble onto his feet only for a finger to shove him back down. More pain erupted throughout his body, making him lurch, bringing bile to the forefront of his throat. He couldn’t throw up, not now, not when the consequences would get even worse.

A third strike. He threw up onto his shirt.

Through his watering eyes, he saw Minako’s and Makoto’s grins broaden at the same time.

Makoto pushed him onto his stomach. A fourth strike in the middle of his back. The red splotches deepened into crimson, and he cried out again, his cry muffled by the carpet. He dug his head into the carpet to drown out everything; hopefully, “everything” included the pain that fired like a machine gun. He cried out each time, the pain becoming worse and worse until, after a lifetime, his body was numb. He no longer cried out with each strike, but felt only the pressure of being dug deeper into the carpet.

Makoto pushed him back onto his back. “I don’t think he can feel anything anymore.”

Minako pouted. “Aw, that’s no fun. These guys lose it so quickly.”

He hadn’t “lost it.” He was much tougher than she was giving him credit for.

“Let’s let him relax for a little while,” Makoto said. “My turn’s coming up.”

A knock at the door. As Minako retied her bow and settled it on the back of her head, Makoto answered the door. Usagi, Ami, and Rei stood, Usagi at the forefront.

“We couldn’t find him,” Usagi said, almost breathless. They must’ve split up and then reunited somehow so they covered maximum ground. Her eyes widened at him, and her hands twitched. He gave a weak smile.

“You…found him.” Usagi’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“He was at another couple’s apartment.” Makoto laced a hand through one of Usagi’s own.

“We whipped him,” Minako said, “just in case you were wondering why he looks like hell. The other girls didn’t do this to him.”

Usagi’s breath hitched.

“Does this make you uncomfortable, Usagi-chan?” Makoto said.

Usagi could no longer hide it. She nodded.

Rei scooted past Makoto. “They should be whipped for all the stupidity they show.”

God, these girls were horrible.

The rest of the girls walked into Usagi’s apartment. He tried to sit up, cringing at the pain shooting through him. Makoto shoved him back down.

“No one told you to get up yet.”

His pupils contracted. They weren’t going to whip him again, were they?  Or did they have another punishment in mind?

Usagi kneeled near him. “Maybe I’ll get used to it soon.” She put her finger on her chin. “I had a lot of fun messing with him when I was alone with him, but I never did anything as severe as whipping him.”

Makoto looked at Usagi a little longer than normal, but Usagi kept her full attention on him.

Usagi managed to smile. “Well, it’s your turn with him now, Mako-chan.” She stood. “Have fun.”

“Let him recover a bit before he gets together with me.” Makoto released her finger from his chest, instantly allowing him to breathe a little easier. “He’ll need it.”

He knew he would.

Ami wrapped him in a blanket and lay him near the fire. Usagi volunteered to keep watch over him again, even though he had escaped under her care. To his relief and surprise, Usagi’s friends let her watch him and relaxed in the kitchen. However, Makoto stood in front of the open living room door, able to talk to the others from her position. Usagi was going to have to work hard to make sure that none of the girls caught her talking to him.

She lay on her stomach, narrowing her eyes at him to make it seem like she was watching him closely. His back faced her, but he watched her out of the corner of his eye.

When she whispered, she barely moved her lips, keeping her jaw set like she was angry. “Sorry you couldn’t escape. Were my directions unclear?”

He shook his head. It was all his fault. Should’ve been sneakier.

“There really wasn’t a way you could’ve hidden in the hallway, I guess.”

His thoughts exactly.

She glared. “You got caught by other giantesses, huh?”

He nodded.

“How many?”

He flashed three fingers and then slid his arm back into the blanket, not wanting anyone to see that he was communicating with her.