I Became a Squinty-Eyed Character with Time Stop Ability.

That person and I are kindred spirits.
I realized it from the moment our eyes first met, but seeing him act as if nothing had happened makes him somehow detestable.
On the other hand, as if he didn’t care what I thought, the narrow-eyed man smiled and said:
“Well, shall we have a deep conversation?”
Sawamura Sento thought.
That the person in front of her was truly a shameless and absurd person.
Just like herself, who had lived her entire life wearing a mask and acting.
She also recalled a memory.

“Hey, Mom.”
Sawamura Sento.
The point at which she recognized that she was different from others was around the time she entered elementary school.
She had superior looks given by her parents and innate intelligence, but it wasn’t that kind of ordinary story.
“Is this how I do it?”
“Hmm, let me see.”
Sento’s parents were, to put it kindly, open-minded, or to put it harshly, materialistic people.
Her father was a loan shark, and her mother enjoyed gambling activities like horse racing and lottery.
Not just at a normal level, but to the extent of squandering some of the family fortune.
She was so addicted that she would even readily encourage her only daughter to participate.
“It’s better to pick numbers that are spaced apart rather than consecutive ones for better odds.”
Sawamura Sento became familiar with lottery numbers from an early age, specifically from around elementary school when she had just grasped the concept of numbers.
Before that, her mother, who was addicted to gambling, didn’t seem to have any intention of teaching a child who didn’t even know basic arithmetic about money-draining entertainment.
But perhaps she thought Sento had grown up enough?
Or maybe it was because she was particularly skillful that day or had plenty of cash in her pocket.
Sento’s mother invested 200 yen on her daughter for a lottery ticket.
A mini lotto where you pick 5 numbers from ‘1’ to ’31’.
The prize money was just around 10 million yen (approximately 100,000 USD), a modest amount.
She probably didn’t expect much.
Since Sento occasionally watched with interest when her mother was glued to horse racing on TV or when she filled in numbers, it felt like she was just giving her a toy.
“If you win, it’s all yours.”
“Really?!”
A brief moment of generosity.
Or a whim.
Sento’s mother tossed the lottery slip to her and immediately immersed herself in other tasks.
The prize money was low, and the invested capital was just 200 yen.
She had probably already forgotten she had given it.
“Mom, I won.”
Tuesday, the drawing day for the mini lotto.
Sawamura Sento, who had watched the broadcast alone, calmly walked up and said this.
Sento’s mother was momentarily puzzled by what her daughter was saying, but she first looked over the lottery slip that her daughter brought.
[ 1, 7, 15, 22, 31 ]
After checking the numbers on the slip, she immediately turned her gaze to the TV.
The mini lotto drawing broadcast.
The host repeated the numbers once more.
[ Ah, the numbers are all spread out! The numbers for the 417th Lotto 5 this week are 1! 7! 15! 22! 31! Congratulations to all winners! ]
“…Huh?”
The 5 numbers her daughter had chosen last week had become the exact winning numbers.
Sento saw her mother’s violently trembling eyes fixed on her slip.
Being smart from a young age, she soon knew what her mother would say.
“…Well done, my daughter! But… this is too much money for our daughter to manage, so mommy will keep it safe and give it to you when you become an adult, okay?”
“Mmm, okay.”
Eight-year-old Sento readily agreed.
It was a gamble she hadn’t expected much from anyway, and she knew her mother wouldn’t give her a large sum of money.
Since she hadn’t expected anything in the first place, there was no disappointment to feel.
As a daughter, she just had a small dream that her mother’s happy face would last longer than usual.
The next day, there was an accident where Mr. Yoshimitsu from next door, whom she usually got along with, was hit by a car, but of course, she thought it was an unrelated incident.
It was sad, but she was happier about the change in her mother, who treated her better than usual because of the free money that had come in.
“Ahem.”
Not long after, Sento’s mother brought a new slip in front of Sento, who was doing her school homework.
“Here, my daughter. Would you like to try this too?”
Sento’s mother was a person who believed in ‘luck’.
She believed that each person had their own luck, and her daughter had particularly good luck.
So this time, instead of the mini lotto, she attempted a slightly larger gamble.
A lottery where you pick 7 numbers from ‘1’ to ’37’, ‘Lotto 7’.
The first prize was 600 million yen (approximately 6 million USD), and could rise to a maximum of 1 billion yen in case of rollovers.
The investment cost per round was just 300 yen.
Sento’s mother made a big decision and brought 100 slips from nearby stores.
“Daughter, this time you need to pick 7 numbers.”
Just because she won the first round doesn’t mean she would necessarily win the next, but in the first place, an ordinary parent wouldn’t have encouraged gambling.
Sento reluctantly filled in the 100 lottery slips with various numbers, and the results were excellent.
[ This week’s Lotto 7 numbers are… ]
“…Aah!”
Seeing the numbers match perfectly, Sento’s mother exclaimed.
Because it was a rollover round, the prize money was a whopping 1 billion yen (approximately 10 million USD).
It was a large sum, not at all modest, for both her as a gambler and her husband as a loan shark.
After watching the TV with trembling pupils, she soon turned her gaze to her daughter beside her.
She hugged Sento tightly and said:
“M-my daughter. I’m proud, so proud of you! Um, is there anything you want? Mommy will buy you e-everything!”
“Really?”
“Of course, I’ll buy you everything!”
After breathing heavily for a while, she spoke after a moment’s thought:
“…But let’s play our number game again next week?”
She whispered into Sento’s ear.
.
.
.
.
.
A silent space.
Sawamura Sento woke up alone.
She stared at the familiar ceiling for a while before finally getting up from bed.
She prepared for school as usual.
She had enough wealth to live comfortably without doing anything for a lifetime, but she didn’t want to.
It had been a long time since she had completed her early education on how things without cost return.
As she drank water, she looked around the house for a moment.
A house too spacious for a student to live alone, a living room and kitchen with no signs of life.
There wasn’t much wear and tear because there was no use for it, but she bought the house because it would be a waste to never spend the money.
Well, there probably won’t be anyone in the future either.
“…At least they used to cook for me.”
Now there’s no one.
If the price for 10 million yen was a car accident, then it was natural that 1 billion yen (approximately 10 million USD) would cost something greater.
At first, she tried to resent the world, but as time passed and she realized that she was the cause, she gave up.
Although she knew that it was the world that bestowed such a fate, who could she hold onto and blame?
Because she couldn’t find the answer to that, she lived vainly, wearing a mask, and only after entering high school did she barely find a clue.
Sawamura Sento carefully recalled the story she heard yesterday from the mastermind-like man.
…Yokai, sorcery, magic, heroes, and so on.
Not from a regular movie, but topics you might find in folk beliefs or manga.
In other words, it was an absurd subject, but since her own existence was already bizarre, there was nothing she couldn’t believe.
Yes, she had to believe.
“Surely he didn’t run away.”
What she heard yesterday was only a brief explanation, and she reluctantly agreed to postpone until today because it was too late.
He suddenly looked tired, and for her, that suspicious man was the only one she could rely on.
Sawamura Sento packed her bag with inner concern and stepped outside.
“Oh my, what a coincidental meeting!”
She immediately encountered the narrow-eyed man.
Ichimaru Shiki, in neat school uniform, waved his hand with a grinning face.
Sawamura Sento, having completely erased her previous worry, confronted him with a contorted face.
“Could it be that your home is nearby? Oh my, then I should visit my seat partner’s home someday for a tour!”
“Who decided that?”
“Haha, of course, we’ll decide gradually. Isn’t it something that can happen when we become closer than we are now?”
“…”
Shameless to the point of being detestable.
It’s obvious that he investigated her too…
Sawamura Sento deliberately did not answer and expressionlessly continued on her way.
“Oh, since our path is the same, let’s walk together.”
“Please be quiet.”
Afterward, Sawamura Sento experienced the danger of her mask nearly cracking throughout the entire journey to school.

Karakura High School, First-year Class A.
Having walked to school with Sawamura Sento, I arrived at the classroom that had been completely destroyed yesterday, now perfectly intact.
The traces left by the evil spirits returned to normal upon their death, which was natural.
‘Well, things like souls are a different matter.’
It was good for both parties that yokai don’t leave property damage charges when they die.
Anyway, as I was about to sit in the back seat with a smiling Sento, for some reason, Ichinose Hotaru in the front seat had an unusual expression.
─Goooo!
The kind of face that would fit perfectly with such a sound effect.
Ichinose Hotaru, who was usually quite cheerful, had an extremely fierce expression today.
Also, she seemed to be waiting for someone.
“…Aah.”
It seems it was a mistake on my part to just get the answer yesterday, immediately knock him out, and have him delivered home.
…Well, they say children grow through fights.
I suppose high school students are still children in a way.
“Shikiiii!!!”
Speak of the devil.
Today’s protagonist, Kenichi, arrived at the classroom in a hurried state.
Despite panting heavily, he looked around the classroom with wide-open eyes.
Soon his gaze reached me, the same as usual.
“…What, was it really a dream after all?”
It seems he mistook it for a dream, but unfortunately, this was cruel reality.
With a screech, Hotaru, with her fierce expression, rose from her seat while glaring intently.
That was excellent killing intent (殺意).
─Uwaaaaaaaah!!
The events that followed were so cruel that I turned my head and said to Sento beside me:
“Let’s leave the foolish Kenichi alone today and go somewhere together after school.”
“…Where?”
Sawamura Sento looked at me with a face that seemed to say, ‘After talking about other things all this time, now you bring this up?’
Have we already become close? Somehow, it feels like I can hear her inner voice.
Feeling pleased with our deepened intimacy, I also wanted to fulfill my duty as an information provider.
Therefore, I smiled brightly and said:
“To my home!”
Finally, Sento’s expression became completely bizarre.