I wrote until the main character shrinks.
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"welfare" Ep.0
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My life was full of mistakes.
I was gambling when the guys around me were starting to put on their recruiting suits. I think this was my first failure.
I managed to get a job offer. It was a well-known company that I had often seen in advertisements. But this was also a failure.

"Not enough effort, not enough spunk, not enough ingenuity, not enough smiles..."
A boss with a red face and an angry voice in front of me.
I'm repeating my mistake for I don't know how many times today.

On the way home, even in the neon-lit downtown area, there are countless others, but I feel rejected, as if I am not participating in this world.
I bought a can of chuhai at a convenience store and chugged it down to fool my palpitating heart.
By the time I got home, I was in high spirits from all the alcohol I had consumed.
Tears spontaneously spilled out of my eyes as I mouthed words like "shit" and "idiot.
"What am I doing?"
I say, but no one listens to me in my one-room apartment.
"What the hell is going on, really!"
I opened the window and jumped off the balcony.

When I woke up, I was apparently in a hospital. I was lying in bed.
The nurse told me that I had jumped from my feet and that I had survived.
I realized the seriousness of the situation when I was told "you should do your best in rehabilitation so that you could walk again."

Later, a lawyer who said he was representing the company came to me and told me that my employment would be terminated as of today.
I was relieved to think that I could get out of that nasty organization. I just signed the documents spread out in front of me as I was told.

I was a full-time employee, but my salary was low and I had no savings at all because I was stressed and spending a lot of money.
I managed to walk and was discharged from the hospital. When I settled the bill, there was almost no cash left.
The management company of the apartment I rented had informed me that the money had not been paid in. But the money is running out.

I bought onigiri (rice balls) with spare change and ate them on a bench in front of the station. It was my first meal since leaving the hospital, but I couldn't taste it because I was worried about the money from now on.
One lady approached me.
"Do you need help? Can I offer you a place to live?"

I looked at her and she smiled at me. I guess she is about the same age as me.
Is she some kind of support organization? She seems to think I look poor to her.
But I'm sure I'm financially insecure for the future. I will be evicted from my current lease because I have no money.
When I told her this, she said, "No problem! Follow me," and I followed her, chewing my half-eaten rice ball in one gulp.

When I asked her, she said she had supported about 10 people in the last six months or so.
He seemed to know a lot about support. I didn't really understand what she said, but I felt confident that this person would be able to help me.

I did as she asked and went with her to the welfare department of the city office. We talked about another difficult contract again.
I didn't want to go through another difficult conversation, so I just signed it.
The welfare officer showed me to a back room, and as we sat in the small room, it was dark and the machine made a sizzling sound.

When the door was opened, I was grabbed and lifted up by a giant girl.
I realized that everything had become huge. No, I had been shrunk.

"Hope we'll get on well together!"
I see her huge smile in front of me. I had never seen such a beautiful woman's smile up close and I was thrilled.

She threw me into her bag and closed the mouth of the bag.
I made the mistake of signing up without listening to others. I despaired of what would happen to me now that I had been downsized.

In her bag, in front of me, was a woman's handkerchief. Even folded, it was about the size of a comforter, large enough to wrap around me.
Come to think of it, I was far from a woman in my life.
The smell of fabric softener on a handkerchief, perfume like that worn by women, or perhaps even body smell, is wafting through the space, a smell that one would never smell if living alone as a man.
I had no way of knowing what would happen next, but my own crotch was hardening in front of the feminine object.