The Incredible Shrinking Nagatoro
Based on the Manga "Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro" by Nanashi/774 and the illustration "Little Troublemaker Nagatoro" by Pixiv Artist ShrinkyMini.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Since this is the Halloween season, I thought a sci-fi based story in the "Nagatoro-verse" would be appropriate, and lo and behold, the picture that inspired today's story popped up on the r/Nagatoro reddit stream this week. Considering we've dealt with zombies, the Afterlife, demonic Spiders and other Bizarre Adventures, an old-fashioned 50's sci-fi story seemed rather appropriate.
Part 1: Blinded By the Light KAZEHAYA HIGH SCHOOL: Art Club Room 3:15 pm
The crisp spring air blew into the Art Club room through an open window that Club President Naoto Hachiouji opened to ventilate the fumes the oil paints he was using gave off. The afternoon sun bathed the room in a golden light that he preferred to paint under. His canvas already bore a preliminary rough outline sketch of his subject, his muse, and the girl he loved, Hayase Nagatoro.
Today he planned on painting her in a judoka stance, wanting to inspire her for the upcoming School-wide Judo tournament, one that held much promise for both of them. After last year's tournament, although both lost on points, both Nagatoro and Naoto found motivation in each other's encouragement, so much so that she asked her Senpai that if she beat her rival, Mariko Orihara, in this year's tournament, that he would reward her with a kiss.
Senpai was more than motivated to get her psyched up for the tournament. He had realized not too long ago that Nagatoro, despite her arly antics at teasing him relentless, had become his heart's desire, she had become not only his inspiration to move his art to the next level, but he found himself wanting her to stay in his life even after he graduated later that spring.
"I don't understand why you don't want me in my Judo gi yet, Senpai," Hayase asked as she stood in the same stane that he drew her in a year ago when he first learned of her history with Judo and Orihara. "Maybe you made me keep my uniform on because you like looking at My legs, huh, creepy Senpai," Her teasing used to fluster him, but he had long since figured out how to temper her teasing.
He pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose, as if he was pushing up a pair of glasses, which he no longer wore in favor of contacts, but the gesture was a long-ingrained habit he couldn't overcome. "In a manner of speaking, I Do need to see your legs," his answer made Hayase blush in surprise. " I need to see how your knees are bent, it helps in getting the proper perspective of your stance." Although he looked at her from over the canvas, she could not see the smirk he wore in his explanation.
"Oh, okay, Senpai, since you're making me look incredible, I'll let it slide, but don't be ogling my legs too much," she warned him in her normal teasing voice. "Don't be Lewd, pervy Senpai." she smiled at him as she set her stance, knees bent and arms out to grapple an invisible opponent. She could hear the scratching of the sketch pen on the canvas as he added detail to the basic framework, seeing him occasionally peek over the canvas top or to the side to get a perspective of her pose. Every time their eyes met, she blushed, she knew that he was working hard to make her look like a champion in his artwork and her own growing affection for him fed on that like a voracious beast. After a few minutes, the alarm on his phone went off, their scheduled break so she could stretch and recover from holding her pose for that amount of time.
"Come on, Senpai, lemme see!" she said as she shot over to stand behind him. On the canvasm, she could see her own features as if they had been chiseled in marble by Senpai, "Wow, you REALLY like to capture my expressions, huh, Senpai?" she elbowed him gently in the back, pleased that she made her come alive again. "Okay that inspired me to pose even better, watch me." she said as she ran back in front of the easel he was sketching on and resumed the pose.
Suddenly, the room got very bright as a beam of light entered the room and hit Nagatoro full-on. "SENPAI! HELP!" She screamed as the beam engulfed her, and the room filled with a blinding light. Senpai was knocked to the floor as Hayase disappeared with a scream in the light. Then, as quickly as it came, the beam disappeared, leaving the room back to normal lighting.
Senpai groaned as his vision cleared slowly, he found himself sprawled on the floor, the Easel and chair fallen over. What was worse, the canvas had somehow been incinerated, leaving only the wooden frame oddly unburnt. "Oohhh, what was that… Nagatoro? NAGATORO!" Senpai suddenly panicked as he discovered her missing, with only her uniform skirt and her shoes in a small pile where she previously stood when the beam hit.
"Oh No! HAYASE! Where Are You?!" He shouted, praying that she hadn't been turned to ashes but whatever that beam was. As he searched the room, he heard a strange gurgling sound, as well as what sounded like a baby. "Why do I hear a baby? Where's Nagatoro?" he said to himself. From under the table that held the marble busts, a black-haired infant came crawling out.
He looked at the baby for a moment, then nearly fainted as he noticed the child had a pair of silver hair clips, exactly where Hayase wore hers. Also in the area where the baby crawled out, Senpai could see what looked like Nagatoro's silver ear clip on the floor. A sudden and scary epiphany hit his brain. That wasn't some Baby. That was his would-be girlfriend, Nagatoro, reduced to a baby. The realization short-circuited his brain and he fainted dead away. The baby crawled over to the prone Senpai and began to pat him on the chest.
Gamo, Yoshi, and Sakura walked into the Art Club room as usual, "Hey, Paisen, what's happ..." She froze as she saw Senpai on the floor, passed out and a tiny baby Nagatoro slapping him. "WHAT THE?!" She exclaimed as Baby Nagatoro smiled and babbled, "Sem-pai! Sem-pai!" as she patted Naoto's face.
"Baby!" Yoshi exclaimed as she went over and picked her up, revealing her clad in Hayase's school shirt. "Oh My, how did this happen?" Sakura said as she went to check on Senpai.
Yoshi bounced Baby Toro on her lap, "Bouncy, Bouncy!" She said, making the child giggle and clap her little hands. Yoshi had a knack with children, having helped to take care of Gamo's brother and sister growing up.
"Senpai-kun! Wake up!" Sakura said as she propped him up. Senpai groaned, "Oohh, my head, what happened?" he looked up to see Gamo and Sakura next to him, not seeing Yoshi behind him, sitting on the couch with the baby, "oh, I just had the weirdest daydream, some strange light hit Nagatoro and she turned into..."
His voice trailed off as he heard the baby gurgling in Yoshi's arms behind him, her little arms reaching over for him. "Sem-pai!" She giggled. He scrambled to his feet, "Oh God, it really happened?!"
Gamo grabbed him by the shoulders, "Paisen! Focus here!" She slapped him across the face, not hard but forceful enough to snap him out of his panic. "Gamo! Oh God, I don't know what happened! There was a light that hit her and the next thing I know, she turned into a Baby!"
Baby Toro was clapping and laughing in Yoshi's arms, who seemed to have a knack with children. "Adorable!" She said as she brought her over, and immediately the baby reached for Senpai. "Kee-moi, Kee-moi!" She said as she grabbed his collar and pulled herself to him. Gamo started to giggle, "even as a baby, she's still teasing you!"
Senpai instinctively tried to cradle her in his arms, "What do we do? She's a Baby!" Baby Toro snuggled in Senpai's arms and immediately fell asleep, her thumb in her mouth. The girls immediately started to coo, "Awwww, she fell asleep in your arms, Senpai, she trusts you," Sakura said. Gamo and Yoshi grinned as they took pictures.
"This is serious, You two, What are we going to tell her parents?!" Senpai was waffling between panic and confusion. He was holding Nagatoro in his arms, but in a way he never expected.
"I'm calling her Sister and telling her to get over here," Gamo said as she hit her speed dial on her phone.
"Maki-Chan? What's going on?" Hayase's sister, Haruna answered. "I hardly ever hear from you unless Hayase-kun got in trouble with the principal."
"Hey, can you come over to the school, something happened to Hayacchi and we need your help, come up to Paisen's Art Room as soon as you get here."
"Wait, what happened? What did Senpai-Kun do to her? AM I GOING TO BE AN AUNT?"
Gamo hung up the phone. "Well, she shouldn't take long to get here, meanwhile, Yoshi, run down to the vending machine and see if there's some milk. She's gonna be hungry soon and I doubt any of us want to feed her the "Old-fashioned way," she said, making Senpai blush like a beet.
Sakura got up, "There are some baby bottles in the kitchen craft club room, they use them for showing how to take care of a baby sibling, I'll grab a couple," she ran down the hall to that club room, returned in a little bit with a couple of small bottles.
Fifteen minutes later, Haruna burst through the Art Club door, "Where is she? Where's Hayase?!" She said then stopped dead as she saw Gamo and the girls on the couch sitting with Senpai as Baby Toro slept peacefully in his arms, wrapped in her school shirt.
"What... Is that... Hayase?" She approached slowly as Senpai looked up at her. "I still don't know what happened," Senpai started to explain. "I was doing a primary sketch of her in her Judo stance for a painting when a beam of light hit her and the next thing I knew..." He looked down at his would-be girlfriend, sleeping peacefully like any baby after a good meal of milk.
Gamo stroked her hair where her silver hair clips were still attached to her hair, "Whatever happened to her, she wanted nothing more than to have Paisen hold her, she fell asleep in his arms almost immediately, Haruna."
She smirked, "Well, I guess it proves she loves you all right, she used to curl up in Ichiro's arms just like that the first time around," she said as she picked her baby sister from Senpai's arms. "Come on, little sister, let's figure out how to bring you back to normal so you can cuddle with your Senpai properly." as she headed to the door, she turned around,
"Well, don't just sit there, I'm going to need some help taking care of her, meet me at our house as soon as you can, Senpai, she said you can cook, right?"
He grabbed his things, "Uhh, yeah, I'm pretty good at cooking, why?" She smiled at him, "well, if we're all going to figure out how to get my sister back to her normal teenage self, we're going to need a good meal to fire up the brain cells."
A SECRET MILITARY RESEARCH BASE NEAR YOKOHAMA
"Sir, we've traced the beam's trajectory, it looks like it struck a high school on the Miura Peninsula, in the town of Hayama!"
"Commander, HQ is on the line, they want to know what went wrong with the test firing!"
"Sir, we've dispatched agents to investigate if anyone was affected by the beam, but we believe the beam did not impact anyone in the school."
A cacophony of voices surrounded Commander Date Amuro, head of the Experimental Technology Battalion for the Unicorn Science Corps. The matter beam, which had been designed to safely reduce the quantum distances between atoms to allow miniaturization of inorganic materials, had a surprising side effect on organic matter. Exposure to the beam caused organic cells to de-age, although the extent of the de-aging hadn't been explored due to the ethical gray area the beam exposed.
"I want that school checked out to make sure nobody was affected by the beam. " He shouted to his subordinates. A female officer approached him, "Sir, we have analyzed why the beam went haywire on us," handing a hastily prepared report, which he looked over.
"Sabotage? Here?" he said looking at her. She nodded, "the targeting mirrors were deliberately misaligned to insure the beam hit a populated area, we may have been lucky in that the school sits high over the town and may have prevented it from hitting Hayama all together."
"Find that Traitor, then we need to break down and move to another lab that's less accessible to outside forces." He said as she left. He sat back down, drumming his fingers, "Oh Nephew, I hope you weren't at school today," he said to himself, looking at a picture of Naoto and his parents on his desk.
Part 2: Baby Mine, Don't You Cry
It took less than 30 minutes for everyone to regroup at the Nagatoros, with Sakura going with Senpai to pick up ingredients for dinner and Gamo and Yoshi heading home to change clothes. By the time everyone got there, Baby Hayase was awake and cranky. Haruna let everyone in while she tried to calm her little sister down. "Man, I forgot how cranky she got after a nap, here, Senpai-kun, she likes it when you hold her, maybe that will help." Haruna handed her off to Senpai once he put the bags of food down.
"Oh I thought she might need these as well," Sakura said as she held up a box of diapers. "We don't know how long she's going to be like this, so she might need a change or two ." Gamo nodded as she helped sort the food items, "I mean that makes sense, good thinking, Sakura." She patted the girl on the back gently, Paisen, you let me and Yoshi be your hands in the kitchen while you're holding Hayacchi,"
Haruna grabbed her sister from his arms and the diapers, "Wait, before you get too far, let me at least change her, no telling when her digestive system might kick in," she said as she disappeared. Senapi looked embarrassed at the thought of his would-be girlfriend being changed like a baby. "Well, she IS a baby, idiot,"his inner voice told him, "Be thankful that she didn't end up like half of all life after Thanos snapped His fingers."
Yoshi poked his cheek as he spaced out pondering his thoughts. "Hello?" she said as she poked his cheek. "Imagine having to re-raise her all the way back to where she was when this happened, I'll be an old man by the time she's her own age again!"Naoto's brain was overthinking and his ears started to turn bright red the more he over-thought things.
"SENPAI-KUN!" Sakura yelled in his ear, making him jump and exclaim in fright. "AAHHH!1 Sakura, what are you doing?" from up above, Baby Nagatoro started crying, prompting Sakura to smack him on the shoulder, 'Nice going, Asshole-Kun, you woke Hayacchi," she said, more than a bit upset. Naoto rubbed his shoulder, "S-Sorry, I was just imagining what it would take to have to re-raise Nagatoro from a baby, what if she never reverts back to her normal self and she has to grow up again?" Sakura saw the genuine fear in his eyes and did something he wasn't expecting, she hugged him, with Yoshi joining in on the hug.
"I know you're worried about her, Senpai-kun, but we are going to have to see this through, and if it takes all of us to help raise her, then dammit we're going to do that!" Yoshi nodded, "We're a village!" she said, as Gamo walked in. "All right, how freaked out is Paisen that BOTH of you are hugging him?"
Senpai sat down on a chair, breathing heavily from his anxieties. "Gamo, what if Nagatoro is stuck like this? Her parents are going to have to raise her all over again," he said looking down at the table. "Please tell Me that there's a way for her to turn back, I'll give anything to have her back…" he put his head in his hands, feeling like he was about to lose it emotionally,
"I just want her back, Gamo, even if she teases Me forever, I just want Hayase back." Gamo looked at him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I know how you feel, Paisen, I want her back too," she said as the three girls began to hug him again. At the doorway to the kitchen, Haruna stood in the doorway, "Ummm, I don't think you're going to need to worry about her, Senpai-kun," she said with an oddly wicked grin on her face. "Whatever that thing was that hit her, it was only temporary, see?" She stepped aside to have a fully-functioning Hayase standing next to her sister.
"Senpai, you missed me? You even want me to tease you forever? Oh, are you gonna regret those words!" she said with her usual wicked grin on her face. Senpai jumped up and ran to her, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tight. "HAYASE! You're Back to normal!" Nagatoro was shocked at how fast he moved to hug her, but something inside her clicked and her arms wrapped around His head in response.
"Senpai, I was so scared, all I remember was seeing you and feeling safe. You protected me, when whatever that was that hit me, turned me into a baby, you protected me," she said as tears began to flow down her a very soft voice that only she could hear, he told her, "You can call Me Naoto, Hayase," she squeezed him tighter, forcing him to let her go as he suddenly; was unable to breathe.
"Hayacchi, let Paisen come up for air!" Gamo yelled as she eased up on her grip, allowing Naoto to breathe again. All of them started laughing as the two held each other again, her head and his now side by side. "You know something, Forget making dinner, this calls for Pizza," Haruna declared, getting a shout of joy from the others.
Part 3: Somebody's Watching Me
A few weeks went by since the strange incident in the Art Club room, and Naoto and Hayase had become inseparable when they weren't at their club activities. Gamo, Yoshi and Sakura had become used to Hayase and Naoto being together. The two spent their lunch times sharing the bentos they made for each other, and walking her home after Judo club practice. Naoto would go out of his way to walk her to her house, even though it meant he would get home later. They wanted to spend as much time as possible together, and they weren't going to waste every moment.
One afternoon, after walking her home, he was surprised to see a familiar car parked near the convenience store. He walked over and ran into his Uncle, walking out of the store with a bag of items. "Uncle Date! What are you doing here? I thought you were busy with your research for the Space Agency," Date smiled at his nephew, "what, I can't take a couple days off and visit my favorite Nephew?"
He gave him a small hug, "Come on, I'll drive you home, your parents said they were going to be late anyway, I figured we'd have a 'Guy's Dinner' tonight and catch up." Naoto got in and they drove off to the house. They got to his house quickly and Naoto let his uncle inside, never noticing the van that was patrolling the street with a pair of rotating antennas atop the roof.
"So, Naoto, how have you been? How is your artwork coming along?" He asked as he started to assemble the instant Yakisoba meals, something he practically lived on at work. Naoto opened the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of fruit juice, "It's going well, Uncle, I… Uhhhh… have a girlfriend who inspires me," he said blushing a bit.
Date laughed, "You have? Well, all right, Naoto. I should tell you about all the guys who wanted to date your mother in high school, but she turned them all down," Senpai blushed, "Oh that's all right, Uncle, I don't need to hear about that." Date brought out the meal, plated and garnished with some gyoza and negimaki skewers.
"So how did you two meet?" Naoto blushed a little, "Well, we met over a year ago, in the library, and we kind of grew into our relationship over the course of the last year or so." He left out some details, like specifically what happened between them in the library. He told him about the cultural festival and the Judo tournament and how they cheered each other on, and how she was obsessed with Penguins. He didn't mention their trip to the Jishu Shrine or the "modeling session" they did to help him with his exam preparations.
"Penguins, huh? Hmph, maybe if you two get married, I can get you two on an expedition to Antarctica to visit the Emperor penguins," Naoto blushed at the suggestion as his uncle laughed, "I'm kidding, my boy, I would never assume that of you, but she sounds like an incredible girl, I'm glad you found someone." He poured himself another glass of the fruit juice, "Naoto, just out of curiosity, has anything strange happened at your school recently?"
Naoto dropped his chopsticks at his uncle's words. "Ummmm, strange? What do you mean by strange, Uncle?" Naoto got a bit defensive at his uncle's question. "Oh like strange creatures seen around town, odd lights, stuff like that," he looked at him with an oddly inquisitive face. Naoto scratched his face slightly, looking away, "well… you won't believe this, but… about six weeks ago, My girlfriend was posing for me in the Art Club room when this weird light hit her and…" he paused for a moment, "This is the craziest part, Uncle, this beam of light hit her and," he paused and took a deep breath, "It turned her into a baby! For like three Hours!" He gulped down his fruit juice like it was a beer, putting the glass down firmly.
Date looked at him, "That's very strange, Naoto, I assume she's all right now?" Senpai nodded, "Just as strange as it happened, she reverted back to normal a couple hours later at her home," Naoto blushed a bit more than normal. "That's when we officially got together, Uncle. She didn't want to be out of my sight and I didn't want her to be out of Mine."
Date smiled as he relaxed a bit, "So other than that, nothing else strange happened?" Naoto shook his head, "No, Uncle, nothing else strange has happened, aside from Yoshi's Ahoge growing like a weed, but that's been happening for over a year now, so not really." Date laughed at that, "Oh Naoto, every girl's Ahoge grows out, that's not anything strange." Naoto picked up the dishes and put them in the sink, "Well, nephew, I think I will be heading out, I'm glad I got to spend some time with you. I'd love to meet your special girl next time I'm in town." They shook hands as he walked out the door, "Oh Naoto, let's keep this conversation to ourselves, okay? No need to mention that strange light, people might get the wrong idea, you know what I mean? I'll do some research and see what I can find, okay?" He smiled and winked at his nephew. "S-s-s-sure, Uncle, nobody would believe that anyway right?" He smiled, "right, See you soon, Nephew." He headed to his car and drove off. Naoto went inside the house and texted Nagatoro. "Hey, how are you doing?" He texted her, "My uncle stopped by for dinner, it was strange."
"How so?" she texted back.
"He asked if anything strange happened, and I told him about what happened."
"WHAT?! What did he say?"
"He didn't really say much, other than to keep it quiet and he'd look into it. But I think he won't say anything."
"Okay, Senpai, please be careful tonight, I love you, Naoto."
"I will, I love you too, Hayase."
Date dialed a number on his phone, the wireless connection letting the car's audio system handle the call while he drove back to Yokohama.
"Commander Amuro, Any results from your investigation?"
Date breathed in slowly, "Director, the incident did affect one person, a high school girl who was temporarily turned into an infant, the subject reverted back to normal after approximately two hours. I doubt there were any lingering effects. The subject is under constant monitoring by someone I know closely, if any further effects occur, they will contact me personally."
The voice on the other line paused, "Very Well, Commander, if this source is trustworthy, we will consider the matter closed for now, I assume you are returning to base?"
"Yes, I should return within the hour, I'm on the expressway now.n I will submit my findings by the end of shift tonight. Date out." He hung up the phone as he focused on the road ahead, "Naoto, I hope that your girlfriend remains just as normal as possible," he said to himself as he drove on.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope that you enjoyed the little Old School Easter egg planted in this narrative. If you don't know what I'm referring to, I'll mention it on the Reddit thread on Halloween
