Zzz... zzz...

You had been asleep for the past 10 minutes, or so you thought. You couldn't really tell, but when you awoke an unfamiliar smell encompassed your senses.

"Is this... the savanna?"

You sat up in whoever's pants cuff you stowed away in and looked down at the ground. Brown sand and tiny pebbles littered the ground.

"Savannaclaw... no wonder it smells like outside. I wonder who this is..."

Somehow, you felt Savannaclaw was worse. No one liked you, especially the Housewarden, Leona. The only friend you had here was Jack.

"Jack... maybe he could help me. But who is this...?"

You looked up and saw a young boy holding a few sandwiches in his hands. He had a short tail with a black tuft of fur on the end, and round hyena ears peaking out dusty brownish blonde hair.

"Bucchi-senpai?" you asked yourself.

Ruggie pushed a door open, moving into the room. He set the sandwiches down on a table and sighed.

"Boss! Lunch is here!"

A low growl came from upstairs. You jumped out of Ruggie's pants cuff and hid behind the leg of the table.

"Finally. Did those herbivores keep the line up?"

"Yea, like a pack of wildebeest. Ooh, wildebeest! Sounds like a good meal to me," Ruggie snickered.

"Yea, yea, quit ya yappin'. Ya got what I asked for?"

"Of course. Good thing I got there fast too, otherwise those losers woulda taken all of em. Enjoy, boss."

What a bunch of no-good cheaters, you thought to yourself.

You remembered the Magishift tournament and how Ruggie used his magic to injure all the good players for the other teams. You remember Trey sitting in bed with his sprained ankle after saving Riddle from falling down the stairs.

Riddle... he was furious at you. You couldn't help but wonder why, though. It's not your fault you were tiny.

It's my fault they all have the collar. Riddle might even have collared more people since I've been gone. I'm sorry, guys. Especially to Deuce. He was actually trying to help me. Maybe I should've just gone with Riddle. I could've avoided that entire situation.

You thought about who could help you get back to normal. It took you a moment, but eventually you settled on one person.

Tsunotaro! He can help me! But what'll he think if he sees me like this? You thought about this, but quickly shook it off. It doesn't matter anymore. I have to get his help, otherwise I'll be stuck like this for the rest of my life. Besides, he's my friend. Friends help friends, right? I sure hope he does help me. And even if he didn't, I'll probably go tell Crowley.

You rolled your eyes at this thought. Crowley? What's he gonna do? "Oh, but {Y/N}-san! I'm being oh so kind right now. The least you can do is not ask for such ridiculous favors!"

How useless was the headmage? You grumbled to yourself at this thought. Anyways, I've wasted enough time thinking about the past. My priority now is to find Tsunotaro and ask him to make me big again. That way, we can hang out like we had promised.

~

Leona's tail flicked as he grabbed several sandwiches and unwrapped them. The sound of crunching bread could be heard as he began to eat. You realized this was your chance to escape and go find Jack.

Peeking out from behind the leg of the table, you started running towards the door that would take you back out to the stairs.

~

"Ruggie, ya smell that?"

You paused. You could hear Leona sniffing the air for something.

"N-no, boss. What're ya smelling?"

Leona turned in your direction. "It smells like... that herbivore that stepped on my tail a while back."

"Ramshackle's prefect? No way, they ain't even here. I woulda smelled em too if—"

Ruggie stopped. You assumed he started to smell you too. You quickly turned back to the door and started running again. "I gotta hurry!"

Leona looked down at the ground, a smile coming to his face. "There's where we're smellin' em."

Just as you thought you could make it, a large shadow began to stretch out across the ground. You looked back and screamed as Leona brought a hand down over you.

"Caught you, herbivore~"

~

You screamed as Leona picked you up by the back of your shirt. He stared at you with a malicious green gaze.

"Well, this is unexpected. Using a shrinkin' potion to sneak around and get info, eh? Real sneaky. Who taught'cha that one, the cephalopunk livin' in the ocean?"

"What?! I didn't come to gather info!! It wasn't a choice! Something happened to me!! LET ME GO!!"

Leona laughed. "Like I'll believe that one. Good one, kid. Next you'll be tellin' me Ruggie'll be flying."

"Heh! Imagine! Anyways, what're we gonna do with you now?" Ruggie asked.

"I-I have to get help! Please, just put me down! I'm begging you! I promise that I wasn't trying to gather information! Honestly! I'm just looking for a friend!"

"Ya mean Jack? Haha! Bad news for you, kid. Jack's not here right now. Guess that means you'll be trapped here for a while... and that means I get to do with you whatever I want~"

Fear crawled into your eyes as Leona and Ruggie laughed. You had been caught by the one person who despised you most here.