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

The bright red full moon.
It must be thanks to that large orb in the night sky that I could attempt this method.
It wasn’t just Kenichi and Sento whose abilities had been strengthened beyond normal.
A world where time has stopped for everything.
Within it, I, the only one alive and moving, slung my sword over my shoulder and took a step forward.
“Well, let’s hurry and go.”
Enhanced body and abilities.
Yet, I didn’t have much time given.

Bang!
Kwaaang!
Countless lightning strikes of steel.
The iron clubs heated the floor, and the entire classroom cracked as if it might collapse at any moment.
It wasn’t just the ground that was creaking.
Kenichi’s body, which had rolled and rolled on the floor to avoid the demons’ strikes, was also a complete mess—covered in dust with aching limbs.
But somehow, he managed.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Despite the red demons with iron clubs increasing from one to four, he dodged them.
He threw his body to roll on the floor, and flew by stepping on or supporting himself with desks throughout the classroom.
After all the desks were broken, he used the demons’ bodies as vaulting boxes to avoid the iron clubs.
‘What’s going on?’
A feat that even Kenichi himself found strange, something he could never have accomplished normally.
For some reason, though his entire body ached, it felt light, and everything in his field of vision appeared clearly.
Was it due to the fear of possibly dying, or because he had been moving so frantically?
His heart was beating more fiercely than ever before.
The blood throughout his body raged as if it might burst at any moment. Kenichi fully realized all the phenomena occurring in his body. He had now half-transcended humanity.
‘…At this rate, I can survive!’
Encouraged, Kenichi ran even more vigorously.
With a more leisurely gaze and cooler judgment than before, he guided the path of the red demons’ strikes.
He would linger as if daring them to catch him, and when one raised its iron club, he would hide behind the body of another demon charging at him.
‘Got it.’
Crack!
─Kwoeoeoeoe!!!
The diversion worked.
The red demon hit by its comrade’s iron club clutched its crushed leg.
Even the one who had swung seemed bewildered, its eyes shaking violently.
‘I can do this.’
Kenichi thought that if he continued to evade like this, he could somehow defeat them all.
Their intelligence was lower than expected, and his body was in much better condition than usual.
‘I can win.’
Having found hope, he smiled brightly and moved his feet.
─Kwoeoeoe!!
The demons’ iron clubs, their movements—he could see it all. His body moved according to his thoughts.
Fast, flexible, vigorous, he could run around freely.
As the tension eased and everything went according to plan, it somehow felt like playing a game.
Yes, this is a game.
A game where I’m the protagonist of the world, a hero defeating monsters.
“Come at me, you things!”
Protagonist Kitagawa Kenichi played with the demons with a lighter heart.
He was confident.
That these fools who struck their comrades’ bodies rather than his would break first.
Indeed, his judgment was partly correct.
Since he got a feel for it, the demons’ strikes never hit him, so if the situation continued like this, that’s exactly how it would have turned out.
─Kwoeoeoe!
As Kenichi continued to dodge the iron clubs, a furious demon slammed the floor in frustration.
Bang!
A missed swing that had been repeated countless times before.
The club aimed at empty air only shattered the innocent floor.
Kenichi was leisurely watching this stupid sight when he soon realized something was wrong.
Crack! The floor broke.
“…Huh?”
The entire classroom floor collapsed. Both human and demons lost their balance and fell.
Kenichi tried to step on fragments floating in the air. He tried to rise back up.
But for someone who had been an ordinary person until just now, such a feat was impossible.
All he could do was flail his arms.
And so he fell.
Bang!
Craaaack!
“…Kuhak!”
His body crashed into a desk in the classroom below, and small fragments fell on top of him.
Though his body was strengthened beyond normal, allowing him to somehow survive, he could no longer move.
With a distorted expression, Kenichi urged his trembling body.
‘…What’s this, move. I said move.’
But it wouldn’t listen at all. The neural connection between brain and body that had been working well until just now was now severed, and he could only twitch convulsively without moving.
…Freely? Like a game?
Kenichi finally realized that what he faced was cruel reality.
Late at night, in a classroom that should be empty, he sensed presences from everywhere.
From within the rising dust, booming, dull footsteps and the sound of something dragging a blunt weapon could be heard.
Gleaming, sinister eyes appeared.
─Uwo?
Kenichi smiled bitterly.
It seems the concept of arithmetic was shattered as punishment for not doing his math homework.
One, two… three… four… As he numbly counted the demons, he soon reached double digits.
─Uwooe?
The growing horde of demons saw a feast laid on the table.
Likewise, Kenichi also stared at them.
Except he couldn’t move.
Unable to suppress their appetite any longer, a demon reached out to him.
He dimly sensed his end approaching.
‘…Is this how I die.’
There was so much I wanted to do.
Just today, I had promised to watch the super moon, or lunar eclipse, with Hotaru.
Regardless of what I might do in the future, I wanted to live longer.
Not only that but manga I still wanted to read, PE classes with friends—especially in such a desperate moment.
Kitagawa Kenichi realized.
Indeed, I don’t want to die.
‘…I want to live.’
Strength returned to his pupils, which had momentarily lost will. He gritted his teeth. He tried to struggle until the end.
At least, rather than being eaten like a side dish, he wanted to die fighting. So, quickly.
‘Damn body, move.’
As the demon’s hand approached, his heart beat violently.
Yearning for life, or fear of death.
All those desperate emotions spread from his heart to his blood, through his vessels, throughout his body.
‘Please.’
Move.
.
.
.
.
.
Thump, thump, along with his fierce heartbeat, following his wish, the cross hanging from his neck shook.
The full moon carrying magical power, the bloodline continued for many years, boosted his energy.
The necklace, which had heard its master’s wish, shone brightly.
‘Move.’
Kenichi inwardly screamed as he watched the approaching hand of the demon.
He tried with all his might to move somehow.
He desperately wished for the strength, the opportunity to defeat the monsters before him.
He wished.
‘Move!’
His sword soon responded to the call.
“───Moooove!!!”
It bestowed power according to its master’s wish.
A bit of vitality, the form of a sharp sword, and the ability to nullify any ability.
Following an instinctive pull, Kenichi grabbed the necklace—the demon sword—and awakened it.
Simultaneously, he awakened.
Having completely transcended human limits at this moment, he was ready to fight against the demons.
With a fiery expression, Kenichi tried to execute the demon that had just tried to eat him.
He was about to slash with the sword in his hand…
“Huh?”
Where his gaze fell, there was a demon.
Demons were frozen in their outstretched postures, countless numbers of them.
Things that were alive and breathing until just a moment ago didn’t move at all.
Dozens of demons in the classroom had all stopped as if they had become statues.
─As if time had stopped.
“…”
Feeling a sense of dissonance, Kenichi looked out the window.
There was still the vivid red moon. However, the clouds beside it didn’t move at all.
Tick, tick, the second hand of the wall clock that should be moving was also stiff as a stone.
It seemed like time had stopped for everything in the world.
‘Is this my ability?’
That’s what he thought.
“Wow, a red oni party on the first day.”
Startled, Kenichi turned his head toward the source of the voice.
There stood a man with white hair but somehow familiar, with the impression of a mastermind.
Despite monsters lying nearby, he walked in with a very relaxed expression and gesture.
“This is something only a veteran like me could clear, so should I say you’re unlucky? No, considering you held out for so long without awakening the sword, this Kenichi might be exceptional, so am I the lucky one?”
“…Shiki?”
Kenichi murmured blankly toward his friend who was uttering incomprehensible words.
But the narrow-eyed man just stood in front of him, stroking his chin and muttering.
“Hmm, I thought the ability might be a counter, but who would have thought he’d really be moving fine. My swordsmanship is not at a trivial level, but it would be troublesome if the sword were taken. Today is really a series of troubles. Ah, or is it a series of choices?”
“…What are you saying.”
As Kenichi was thinking that this might not be Shiki after all, a sudden current ran through his entire body.
“Kitagawa Kenichi.”
Ichimaru Shiki, who called his name, asked with his usual grinning face:
“Are you confident you won’t die by anyone’s hand? It would be really troublesome if you offered your sword. No, it’s already a bit troublesome.”
“…You.”
“I’m thinking I might be expecting too much from someone as weak as you. It seems that me using it would be the right choice for that friend too.”
The narrow-eyed man, glancing at the elegant jet-black sword, shrugged.
“I try not to touch the belongings of the deceased. Well, I’ll reluctantly give you a chance! I never thought I’d be saying something like this. You’ll need to answer very well.”
Ichimaru Shiki extended his hand and said:
“Kenichi, don’t you want to become stronger than you are now?”
Half-opened eyes and wavering gazes met.

“Two.”
Sawamura Sento continued to count.
At the same time, she relaxed her brow as she tuned her senses in case the other person might run away.
She eased her tension just a little bit.
Because the promised person was still there.
“Three.”
After saying the final number, she immediately lifted her eyelids.
And was shocked.
As she had sensed, Ichimaru Shiki was in place.
However, as if something had happened in that very brief moment, blood was trickling down from the corner of his mouth.
It was a subtle difference, but his face had also become haggard.
Something had definitely happened.
But true to being her kindred spirit, Ichimaru Shiki spoke with the same leisurely demeanor as usual, tilting his hands and body.
He said:
“I’m back.”
That, too, was an incomprehensible remark.