Edits - Ch 4.1.2

Chapter 4.1.2 - They become 8 years old.

<<Previous (4.1) / Outline

Tim decided it might be interesting to just divide in half the age of all the students in the room. It could be fun to see everyone looking the way they did back in grade school.

Tim checked the app and reviewed the caption:

This world history class is made up of mostly 16-year-old students with an even split between girls and boys. (Show more.)

He replaced the 16 with an 8 and saved the change.

As their teacher began a lecture, the loading bar for their changes began to fill up. Tim looked around the room, searching for the first signs of their bodies getting younger. He was expecting some dramatic changes with them all losing 8 years of growth. Sure enough, the bar was only a quarter full when the first changes became apparent.

A boy sitting a couple of desks in front of Tim was called on to answer a question. As he spoke, his voice cracked up an octave, causing some chuckling around him as he cleared his throat. When he continued speaking, the boy’s voice sounded distinctly childish with little or no trace of puberty in it. Tim leaned to the side to get a look at the boy as he became noticeably smaller and younger, rapidly shrinking through a reverse growth spurt.

“Wow,” Tim said and gasped to hear how high pitched his own voice had become. He touched his throat to feel his Adam’s apple shrinking and slid his hand up his chin feeling no trace of beard stubble there. Although he had not intended it, he seemed to be getting younger as well. He rechecked the caption, realizing that he had made no exception for himself. As a student in the class, of course the change would apply to him.

Around him, Tim started to hear students exclaiming in shock and surprise as they became aware of their own changing bodies. There were a number of worried looking, fresh-faced boys trying to figure out why their clothes had become so loose. Some concerned girls checked their bras to figure out why they seemed so empty all of a sudden. As they fell back through their middle school years, the rate of change for the boys and girls diverged, with the boys shrinking much faster than the girls. For several awkward moments, the girls lingered in an awkward, lanky pubescence while the boys became round-faced little children. However, the girls soon caught up, losing all traces of maturity and rapidly shrinking as small as the boys. All around, empty shoes could be heard, dropping to the floor as their too-small feet lifted off the ground due to their legs becoming too short to touch it anymore.

For a moment, once their rejuvenation had ceased, everyone looked like a child playing dress-up in older siblings' clothes. Then, those clothes changed as well, shrinking to fit their smaller bodies, in many cases just accentuating how much size and development they had lost. Although not immediately noticeable, subtle changes had happened to designs on their clothes to make them more age-appropriate. Anime heroes were replaced by public broadcasting cartoon characters. Mature slogans became innocent statements. And, beneath it all, their underwear shifted. Bras disappeared. Boxers became tighty-whities. Finally, shoes rose up to their little feet and shrank to fit them perfectly.

Shrieking voices cried out in panic and confusion. Some students stood up to discover that they had lost over a foot in height. Some had tears in their eyes, looking like lost children. As if in mockery of their squeaky voices, a squealing tone from Tim’s phone grew louder and more piercing. At last, the app burst out a bright flash, blinding them all, and the room went silent.

Tim looked around again, seeing that everyone appeared completely unconcerned now. The ones who had been standing took a seat without a fuss. Many of the little students seemed obviously bored by the class. Had Tim not known better, he might have just assumed that this was an ordinary class of third graders. Only their oversized desks indicated that the children sitting at them might be out-of-place here. There was something cute about seeing their little feet swing freely as the little kids did their best to work on desktops that were uncomfortably high for them.

Despite the obvious youth of everyone, the content of the instruction had not changed at all. Their teacher still lectured them as if they were high school students. Tim wondered if they would still be considered high school students now at this age. What else might have changed with them?

As the end of class approached, Tim considered doing more, such as reversing their age change or adding new changes. On the other hand, he could just keep them all like this and see how this age change had affected the school outside of this classroom.

What should he do, reverse the change or keep it?

He chooses to "undo all." (2)

Oh no, his phone is gone! (4.1.2.1)

He keeps them all at 8 years old. (4.1.2.2)