Time stood still all around me. I sat in a panic and tried to come up with a reason. I had never before frozen time or even slowed it without a degree of concentration, and the longer I froze or slowed it, the greater of a headache I would have after. That pain was what kept me from using my powers more than needed. This, however, came from no concentration. In fact, I tried to concentrate to undo it, and nothing happened.

  I couldn't rewind time while it was frozen even as developed as my powers were at the end. The amount of concentration to do either was steep, but since this didn't come from concentration, I thought I'd give it a try. I thought back and pleaded with myself like I remembered doing the last time. I pictured myself back in my bed waking up and seeing my younger self, remembering the confusion and panic. I felt no different, and I opened my eyes to find myself still in my classroom. Perhaps it wasn't just that I couldn't concentrate on two things at once. Perhaps it was that I couldn't use two of my powers at once.

  Frustrated, I got up and started to pace the floor in the front of the classroom. Suddenly, my bladder reminded me of its existence and it's fullness. I ran to the bathroom and relieved myself, almost not making it in time. Once I was finished, I started to walk out but saw an open door stall that hadn't been visible before. In it sat a boy from one of my earlier classes in tears.

  He held a letter in his hands that was crumpled from his grip on the paper. I took a closer look and saw that it was a letter from Makarov Academy. They had denied his entry based on less than desirable academic achievement. I doubt he knew or would ever know how lucky he was for not making it in. Although, there were norms at Makarov: they had to keep a certain appearance and even competed against other high schools through clubs and teams.

  I was about to leave when I saw another letter stuffed in his pocket. This one was much worse, an anonymous letter spewing hatred and belittling words. He was equated to nothing more than a burden that should pay for others having to be around him. I had forgotten how cruel those my age could be. I took it and threw it away on my way out.

  I wandered the school searching for any sign that the freezing was coming undone or anyone had been unaffected. As I passed by classroom after classroom filled with living statues, all hope slipped away. I walked up and down the stairs at the ends of each hallway continuing my search. I found a few students skipping out on class by a vending machine on the third floor, utterly clueless to the fact that they may never move again.

  After maybe two hours of searching the school and finding only seemingly normal moments locked in time, I returned to my classroom. I looked around at my classmates in their various states.

  Denki was checking his mostly correct answers. Chika was about to answer the last question wrong and barely pass because of it. A boy and girl passed a note talking about their date during the coming Sunday. Another girl looked on with burning jealousy. The boy rolling his pencil hadn't been given a correct answer thus far, and by the looks of how the pencil would land and roll, it would fail him yet again. Ms Tsuya was reading a self-proclaimed love expert's guide to understanding young adult men hidden behind a piece of classic literature. Perhaps if she'd let them go to the bathroom, that would be a good start.

  I finally sat back in my chair and gave more thought to how to undo the freezing that came from emotion rather than concentration. When Eclipse trained me, they told me that my powers came from concentration. In this life, however, I had thought that the stronger the emotion, the stronger the effect. Then, an idea came to my head. If strong emotions had caused the freezing, then perhaps strong emotions could undo the freezing. But the issue became "what emotions were strong enough to undo this?"

  I sat and pondered my emotions for an hour or so. The passage of time when using my abilities was more of just perception since every clock stood still. I came to dead end after dead end searching for powerful emotions. I went through as many positive memories as I could, mostly my life before Eclipse, but every one either didn't feel strong enough or lead to dark and painful memories which got me into this mess in the first place. I eventually got up and went for another trip around the school for a change of scenery.

  It was eerie walking through the functional ghost town in the middle of the day. Everyone's faces were full of life and their emotions. School was the centerpiece of what they based themselves on, whether that be giving their all to succeed, living for friends, or doing everything they could to avoid it. It was all so odd being back in this situation after leaving it so many years ago. After school, all I had was my mission and whatever came next, so in a way, I never actually had a real life either.

  My path lead me to the library on the second floor. It was expansive for a junior high school library, with seemingly miles of shelves packed with every book a young teenager could want. My hope was that there would be something an adult in a teenager's body could want: something to give me the raw emotion I needed to undo this freezing. I walked through the doors and saw Mr Chiba, Ino's grandfather, the librarian.

  In my past life, I had a few interactions with him when I would check out a week's worth of reading at a time then return it a few days later. Since everything was frozen, he wouldn't be able to point me in the right direction as he always had before. The computers were worthless with time frozen too, since I can't interact with the internet. I wandered the forest of knowledge almost aimlessly, searching for something, anything, to undo what I had done.

  Even though time had stopped in the middle of class, not every student was in a classroom during that period. Some had gym while others had study hall, and some skipped class all together and took naps or played cards on the roof. I had my fun playing solitaire for a little bit, I won't lie. I thought that distracting myself again would undo the freezing, but everyone remained as petrified as when I started.

  In the library, there were a few students browsing for a bit of light reading, but two stood out to me - Rito and Yamada Shizune, a girl in his class that had just transferred. She was about his height, blue hair and yellow eyes and rather developed for a junior high student. Since Rito was in the equation, of course, I found him mid fall reaching for Yamada. He would undoubtedly end up in a compromising position when the flow of time resumed.

  If and when I figure out how to fix this mess, I'm going to investigate that power of his.

  Since I had no idea how much time had passed, every minute seemed like an hour, every hour a day. Weeks and weeks seemed to go by as I poured over everything that I could find that seemed remotely related to the flow of time and the possibility of altering it. Time and time again, I came up short. Either because topics of that level were "too advanced" for junior high students or entirely in the realm of fiction. I sat back in my chair after finishing one book in particular and thought to myself.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Maybe I'm just overthinking it? I mean, concentration is what activated my powers before, but it can't undo them this time. Intense emotions put me in this situation, but no matter which ones I dig for, I can't find any that will get me out of it: they either all lack intensity, or they're the same ones that started this mess.

  Then, an idea struck me. Maybe, just maybe, instead of concentration or emotion, what I needed was a void, a reset. I looked for books on meditation.

  If you're going to do something, you might as well do it right; besides, mental and spiritual well being weren't Makarov Academy's or Eclipse's priorities, so I don't know the first thing about it.

  I skimmed through a couple of books and built a good enough foundation, at least it was to me. I made a good spot on the floor, sat down, and started to clear my mind of everything.

  I thought of absolutely nothing but my breathing. In. Out.

  Memories of both bright and dark places tried to resurface, but I let them join the void and slip from my mind. In. Out.

  The darkness and silence began to take me in. In. Out.

  My anxieties of what to do in this new life joined my memories in the void. In. Out.

  My hatred of my power boiled inside me, and I struggled to let it go. In. Out.

  My first kill started to replay, but I stopped it and released it from my mind. In. Out.

  My hatred for Eclipse, Captain Ryder, and Number 12 reared it's ugly head; this was more difficult to push away, but I did it. In. Out.

  Thelen Kryne and his daughter - my final mission - revisited me, and I started to cry. They didn't deserve the end they met, but there was nothing I could do without resuming the flow. Her scared face joined the other haunted memories in the void, and my crying stopped. In. Out.

  I felt myself falling asleep from exhaustion. In. Out. In. Out.

  CRASH! THUD!

  I quickly opened my eyes and looked around. Like I predicted, Rito and Yamada were in an awkward position, but they were moving, and Rito began apologizing. Time had resumed. I was so happy that I forgot for a moment that I was supposed to be in class. I ran out of the library and straight for the classroom. I threw open the door and instantly bowed to apologize to the teacher for sneaking out to use the bathroom; needless to say, I was still in trouble.

  I spent break carrying boxes filled with tests to and from the teachers offices. So much had happened, and it wasn't even lunch time yet. I made it back to my classroom and changed into my gym uniform already exhausted. Denki waited for me and talked with me on the way to the gymnasium.

  "I don't understand how you even sneaked out of class with no one noticing you," he said eyeing me.

  "Let's just say that I have skills," I replied.

  He laughed and smacked my back. "I guess I should have expected that from the Almighty Kazuma. I'm pretty sure both Chika and I passed that test thanks to you, but it doesn't make me feel any better about you almost making a mess of yourself. I'm sorry, Kazuma."

  "Don't worry about it, Denki, it's in the past," I said almost ironically.

  We arrived in the gym to find mats laid out which only meant one thing - it was judo day. A day for manliness to be at its peak and for rivalries to ignite and escalate. I looked over at Denki and saw the fire in his eyes: he loved judo and was a member of the club. Mr Kabushi had us partner up for stretching and warm ups.

  Naturally, I went with Denki, not for any reasons besides being comfortable with him and Chika being obviously a girl and in a separate line up. When warm ups were finished, we lined up against our partners for a match. Even though I was confident in my memories of techniques learned in my previous life, if all else failed, I had a moderate confidence in my freezing to avoid anything extremely painful. We exchanged bows and smirks as our own rivalry was about to become enflamed again. Mr Kabushi began the match, and what happened next shook me to my core.

  Denki closed the distance in no time at all; I had no time to react. One second he was away from me, the next, the gym and our class was upside down from my point of view. All I could manage was "Huh?" before I had to force air from my lungs and brace for a fall. The crash was thunderous, but I was okay. I looked up into his eyes to see the same fire burning as when we walked in and a triumphant smile on his face.

  "Match decided! Fujimori is the victor!" declared Mr Kabushi. The whole class was in awe.

  "I didn't even see him move!" One boy uttered.

  "What speed, what power!" Another added.

  "The judo club is scary." One girl said.

  Denki reached down for my hand. "Good match, Kazuma. Let's go all out next time!"

  I sat on the sidelines for the rest of gym trying to process what happened. In my previous life, Denki was an incredible asset to the Judo club in junior high, but I didn't know what happened to him after since my life was taken over by Eclipse. Specifics about each day before then are still a blur, but I would have remembered something like Denki's speed being too much for me to have any sort of reaction to.

  Could I have missed the possibility that he was a meta? Is enhanced speed his only ability if so? What happened to him after I left?

  These questions filled my head and kept replaying without answer. Chika's match went about as well as mine. Her opponent was more athletic than her, so she got tossed pretty easily. Denki went through opponent after opponent with ease, but I was able to track his movements. Maybe I was just tired from spending who knows how long in biology class. It was then that it dawned on me - I was starving.

  Lunch came after gym, finally. Although it was the normal time for my classmates to eat, it had likely been a couple of days for me. Rito and Ino joined me, Chika, and Denki in our classroom. Of all the people in our group, Ino had the best cooking by far followed by a tie between me and Denki then Chika and Rito.

  Looks were definitely deceiving as far as Ino was concerned: she was a typical gal. Blonde hair worn down with waves and curls, sun-kissed skin in summer and autumn, greenish blue eyes, long painted nails, even the poofy socks and accessories on her phone and backpack.

  "I accidentally made way too much food, so if you guys want anything, feel free to grab it," Ino said as she pulled out a three layered lunch box. Everyone was in awe.

  "Ino, you're going to make a wonderful wife," Chika said through drooling and stuffing her face.

  "You really think so?" Ino asked hiding her blushing.

  "Absolutely!" Denki agreed.

  "I'd be really happy to eat your cooking every day," Rito said as he reached for a rice ball.

  Unfortunately, since it was Rito, he fell out of his chair and into Ino's chest. Her face went beet red as she slapped him away and onto the floor. Three of us laughed, and Rito apologized again. Lunch ended, and we resumed our day.

  Thankfully, the rest of the day was without incident, and I enjoyed my normal club activity of going home. Somehow, I had survived the longest day of school in my life.