For those who may not know, the title is an ode to the movie "Honey, I shrunk the kids."

Hope you enjoy!

"Yes I placed Mr. Jan's loan request in my drawer" I tell my boss on a phone call. She sometimes comes into work on Sundays but she calls me at home if she can't find something. She was looking for Mr. Jan's loan request to update her database.

"Thanks Nishigaki, we'll put through all of these and those salary advances to the CEO tomorrow."

"Yes those people need that money" I reply. I see Elma leaving the apartment. She's probably going to buy fast food on the street or something. I'm still on the phone with Ms. Sakurai.

"Well thanks for the help Nishigaki. See you tomorrow at work."

"You're welcome. Well until tomorrow then, Ms. Sakurai.. Have a good afternoon."

She hangs up and then I do.

3 hours later.

Elma hasn't returned. That's strange. She probably dropped by at Kobayashi and Tohru.

I begin vacuuming the living room.

"Ow!" I feel an insect's teeth sink into the bridge of my foot. It felt like an ant's bite but more painful. I bend down to swat away the creature.

I gasp. On the bridge of my foot, is no ordinary insect. I lift the creature and bring it closer to my eyes so I can carefully examine it.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT THE?!"

This can't be happening, right?

"Nai! You found me! I'm so happy. I was being chased." Between my index finger and thumb, I hold a tiny Elma- no bigger than three inches. I hear faint pants.

"A spider was chasing me but you didn't hear me calling your name" she squeaks. Her voice was much more squeakier.

"I-I'm sorry. How did you become so small?" I ask, feeling confused.

xxxx

"Ah this is a classic case of a curse" Lucoa says. She, Kanna, Tohru and Kobayashi are all gathered around a tiny Elma in the palm of my hand.

Everyone is fixated on her tiny form.

"A curse?" she squeaks.

"Yes. If one is cursed, then it can be assumed, the cursed individual must have something to cross a divine being or a practitioner of magic" Lucoa replies, still maintaining a calm demeanor despite the situation.

Elma places her hands on her head and close her eyes. I find her movements to be cute- the way she moves her tiny arms and legs and the notable squeak in her voice.

"She's the size of a faerie" Tohru comments. But I'm puzzled. Who can Elma possibly cross that someone would put a curse on her?

"Uuuwuuu I may have done something" she says.

I lean in so my face is inches close to her.

"What did you do Elma?" I ask.

She begins shaking and clenches both her fists. I pat her tiny head with my index finger to soothe her."I was on my way to the dorayaki stand and well I got side-tracked. When I was passing the shrine at the bus stop, I picked up the smell of a rare dish from the other world. it's made from an ox's tail. The dish was an offering to the shrine goddess. I decided to take a peek and before I know it, the entire bowl was empty. I had eaten all...I couldn't control it. When I see delicious food, sometimes I would block out everything else. It's just- well this particular dish brought back memories of when humans used to bring me food offerings. I hadn't had that dish since then" she trails off and begins sobbing. The tiny droplets fall in my palm.

"Fear not. I will keep you safe until this is over" I say to the tiny weeping Elma in my palm.

"I see. The shrine goddess must have put a curse on her. This kind of thing happens a lot in the other world." Lucoa says, looking at Elma sympathetically.

"Lucoa-dono, how long will it take for this curse to be lifted?" I ask.

"Well it depends. These kinds of things can take hours or days even. I'm sorry to day but it's possible she can remain like this forever, if the goddess found her actions to be extremely disrespectful. I wish there was something I could do to help but I can't. Even if I tried, it's possible I may be cursed from helping her."

"I'm so stupid. My hunger got the best of me this time." Now I don't even know if I can ever turn back big again." Elma says, covering her face in shame.

"Don't blame yourself. Everyone makes mistakes." I tell her. I feel truly sorry for her. She was being punished for her peculiar eating urges in a very cruel way.

"But how did you get home?" Kobayashi asks her.

"Well I couldn't call Nai because my phone had shrunk too. So I walked all the way. It took hours and it felt exhausting even for me. I was even chased by a dog. I snuck under the crease of our apartment door that's how I got inside. I called for Nai but because my voice is small in this form, she couldn't hear me as I was on the floor. A huge spider started chasing me and I bit Nai to get her attention. I was so scared the spider would have eaten me but Nai saved me."

"Elma-sama is so tiny. She's cute. Do you mind if I hold her Nayura-san?" Kanna asks me.

"Ok sure." The little girl grabs Elma from my hand.

"UWAA!" Elma screams.

"Kanna, be careful with her. She's small and fragile" I say.

"I'm sorry Elma- sama."

"Hey I'm still a dragon you know! Everyone looks like giants though."

Kanna gently holds her in her two hands as if she was holding some eggs.

"Ohhhh you're so small, Elma-sama. Can I play with you?" her eyes widen.

Elma looks confused. "Oh okay. I guess there won't be any harm in that."

Kanna puts her to sit in a tiny chair of her toy 'tea-set'.

"Would you like to have some tea?" the girls aks her.

"Why, certainly" she smiles for the first time since she was shrunk.

Kanna pours the 'pretend-tea' into the tiny tea-cup.

"You know Kanna, I feel better now. Thank you."

"Hmph hmph. Elma-sama, you don't play with me anymore."

"I'm sorry. Say Kanna, I promise I will play with you if I ever turn back big again."

Kanna gives her a sympathetic look. "Don't say that. You will."

Meanwhile the adults are all watching the exchange. Kanna is surely a sweet and kind girl.

The redhead places a hand on my shoulder as a comforting gesture.

"You'll both get through this" she says.

"Thank you. "

"Hey Elma, turn back big again so we can fight. I'll give you that rematch like you always wanted." Tohru says, clenching her fists and looking at her. It seems to me she genuinely pities her.

"I'll hold you to that, Tohru" Elma says, taking a 'sip' of the 'tea'.

"Hey I object to the two of you fighting!" I say loudly.

I won't allow them to fight each other to the death, even if they're just joking.

"I'm glad to have good friends as you are. You guys don't find me disgusting after I did something so unpleasant."

"Of course we won't. Nai is right. We've all done things we are not proud of." Kobayashi tells her.

"Well Elma-dono, I know if we're in trouble, you'd support us too." Lucoa says.

Tohru approaches her. "Elma, you know if there was something I could have done to help you, I would have done it. But it's-it's not like I would do it for you though. I'd do it because I pity Nai.." I've come to believe that Tohru and Elma actually care about each other but both are 'tsundere' to admit it. Elma told me that once they were close friends but something happened that caused a rift between them.

"Aw you guys are really friends" Lucoa says.

Elma stomps in my palm. "Friends? I don't know about that. She's the one who always teases me first!"

Tohru pouts. "Why you! I don't know how you can still function with such a small brain but it's not like it was big in the first place."

Little Elma spits on the maid's face.

Tohru's hands turn into claws.

I laugh nervously. "I think Elma has had a rough day. I'll take her home."

"GRRRR!" she groans in my palm, glaring at Tohru.

When it's time to go home, I nestle her between my breasts and we head out of the apartment.

"Nai, your breasts feel like cushions" she tells me when we're inside our apartment. I kind of enjoyed you carrying me around."

I hold her. She sits in my palm.

"Oh Elma, please turn back big."

"Nai, do you hate me for what I did? Sometimes I don't think."

"There you go again feeling guilty. You just made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes even dragons" I lightly stroke her cheek with my thumb, being careful not to hurt her. She's like a litle pet hamster, only with dimples and innocent round eyes.

She places her arms around my thumb.

"Thank you. I knew you'd forgive me. I'll take my punishment and pray that I turn back big."

"Let's get you something to eat, ok?" I gently pat her head with my index and give her a reassuring smile.

I break the cream bread into small pieces and feed it to her, one by one so she wouldn't choke.

"You know, you're still very cute. Could I take a photo of you like this?"

"Go ahead. But please don't show it to anyone."

"I won't" I hold her in my left palm and open the camera app on my phone with my right hand. I press the red button and the camera flashes. Her eyes look swirly and she falls. I close my palm so that she won't fall out.

"I'm so sorry. I forgot to take off the flash." I say.

"It's fine." she makes out, still lying in the palm of my hand.

"You know, I don't love you less, even if you're so tiny." I pause. "You could turn into the size of a planet and my feelings for you'd never change.."

She stands up. "I'm glad I chose you" she says with a warm smile.

"I'm a bit thirsty. Could I have something to drink?"

"Sure." I place her on the breakfast table. How will I give her the water? A glass or even a bowl might be too big for her. That's it. I'll use a straw. I have some left over from the set I bought when Haru visited.

I pour some water in a small glass and place the straw in it. I put the straw at her tiny mouth.

She gladly drinks all with the straw.

After she drinks the water, I notice her holding her stomach with a pained expression on her face.

"Nai, I want to urinate." she says quietly.

What should I do? The toilet bowl will be too big to put her over. I guess i'll use this plastic contained I've been meaning to throw away. I rinse the container and put her inside.

She hesitates.

"Uwaaa I can't hold it in any longer. " I turn away as she relieves herself in the container.

When she's finished I take her out. Her lower body is soaked in urine. She looks so embarrassed, it's almost cute. I rinse the container for when she has to go again. I take another plastic container and pour some lukewarm water inside.

"You can have a bath in this one" I tell her.

"Eh-well I guess I have no choice." She undresses and gets in the container of water.

"This feels so good. Thanks Nai. You always know what to do even in the strangest circumstances. "

"You don't need to thank me. You always take care of me so now it's my turn to look after you."

I dry her with a handkerchief and she shifts her scales to her striped pink and blue pajamas.

"I haven't thought about work until now. Tomorrow is Monday. I can't show up like this."

'Don't worry. I will tell them you have a bad case of food poisoning and you can't come to work."

"But isn't that lying?" she asks.

"Well think of it this way- you're at a disadvantage and can't possibly work in your current state so you come up with something simple and believable to explain your absence."

"That's right, Nai." I pick her up. I see her shivering again and biting her nails.

"What's wrong?"

She points to the floor. I look at where she's pointing to see a large brown spider. She flings her tiny arms around my thumb.

"It's-it's going to chase me again. I don't like it." This must have been the spider that chased her earlier today.

"Don't worry."I take a broom and usher the spider out of the apartment, not wanting to kill the poor creature.

"You see, it's gone. It won't chase you now." She rubs her eyes to dry them.

"Th-thank you." I pat her little head again.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you."

"I never thought a human would tell me those words but I'm thankful I have you" she says.

"Hey let's read together!" I say.

I pull out one of my favourite manga from my collection. I let her sit on my shoulder.

'The cover looks so tasty" she says, drooling.

"It's a story about a boy who has a dream of owning his family's restaurant. However he is sent off to a very competitive culinary school that's famous for their 'food wars'. His culinary skills are put to the test when he must prove to those talented students he has what it takes to survive in the restaurant business."

Her eyes light up."Oooh that sounds very fun and interesting."

We complete reading the first volume while I fed her potato chips.

"This manga was great. I hope Soma can accomplish his dream. I'm rooting for him and Megumi."

"I'm glad you liked it. Feel free to read the other volumes while I am at work tomorrow. Do you think you'll be ok by yourself?"

"Yes. I'll be fine."

The manga's pages aren't very big and if I put them out on the table, she can turn the pages and read them to her heart's content.

"I'll also leave the tv on and I will put your food on the breakfast table. I promise I won't stay late at work."

She yawns. "Ok. I think it's time for bed."

"I'm afraid I will crush you in my sleep if we share the bed." I tell her honestly.

"Hmm that will be a problem. I know! Put a pillow on the bedside table and I will sleep right there."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

I clear the things from the bedside table and put her pillow on top of it. I also put pillows at the foot of the table so in case she falls down in her sleep, she won't be injured.

"I'm going to sleep now, ok? If you need anything during the night, just wake me." I tell her as she stands in my palm.

"Nai, can you come a little closer."

I bring face closer to her.

"A little more closer" she says.

I do as she says and she dots my lower lips with a small kiss.

"I love you." she says and kisses the bridge of my nose now.

I lightly stroke her right cheek with my thumb.

"Love you too."

The third day

I open my eyes to see Elma, wide awake lying near to me.

"You turned back big. I'm relieved."

She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me deeply.

Not breaking the hug, her forehead touches mine. "I'm glad I can do this to you again. I thought I'd never be able to hold you and feel you like this again." she says.

I smile. "Likewise."

P.S. Elma and I visited the shrine together and brought offerings for the goddess. We placed the offerings at her figurine. Elma sincerely apologized for her 'distasteful' act and thanked the goddess for lifting the curse. Elma did live up to her promise and played with Kanna on her day-off.