For the next few days, we stayed together.
Every morning, we walked to school side by side.
Every afternoon, we walked home together.
In class, I stayed close to her whenever I could.
Whenever we walked outside, I always stayed on her right side.
My fingers wrapped gently around Noa’s hand—light enough not to hurt, yet firm enough that I wouldn’t lose her again.
My other hand never strayed far from the pen resting quietly inside my pocket.
Just in case.
I never used its power.
I didn’t need to.
Simply knowing it was there was enough.
Of course, Noa noticed.
She noticed everything.
“You’re really serious about this,” she said one afternoon, giving my hand a gentle squeeze.
“You won’t even let me go to the vending machine alone.”
I managed a small smile.
“…Humor me.”
She laughed softly.
“You’re impossible.”
But she never argued.
The days passed.
Monday.
Nothing happened.
The walk home was peaceful.
No speeding cars.
No accidents.
Just an ordinary day.
Tuesday.
Another quiet day.
Noa laughed about something our teacher had said during class, and for a moment, I almost forgot why I was so afraid.
Almost.
Wednesday.
Still nothing.
Each peaceful day made the nightmare feel a little farther away.
Thursday.
The world remained unchanged.
The roads were calm.
The traffic lights changed as they always had.
Everything felt painfully…
normal.
Friday.
No warning signs.
No close calls.
No strange feeling in the air.
With every passing day, the weight on my chest grew a little lighter.
Maybe…
Maybe I had really changed the future.
Maybe this time…
I had saved her.
By the time Saturday arrived, I almost believed it.
Almost.
That evening, we were walking home together.
The sky was beginning to darken, painted with fading shades of orange and violet.
The evening air was cool and quiet.
Weekend traffic flowed a little faster than usual, drivers eager to get home before nightfall.
We reached the familiar pedestrian crossing.
Without thinking, I tightened my grip on Noa’s hand.
“Wait,” I said automatically.
She glanced at the traffic signal before smiling.
“It’s fine, Mizuki.”
“We’re going to be late.”
Before I could stop her, she slipped her hand free.
“Noa—!”
She stepped forward.
Too suddenly.
Too quickly.
Then she broke into a light run across the road, turning back with the same carefree smile she’d worn all week.
“Mizuki, hurry!”
My heart stopped.
Headlights.
A car.
Racing toward the crossing.
Far too fast.
Everything inside me went cold.
I looked up instinctively.
The distance registered in an instant.
Fifty meters.
No…
Less.
There wasn’t enough time.
Noa froze in the middle of the road.
For a single heartbeat…
Time seemed to slow. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Not for the world.
Only for her.
She looked back at me.
She saw the panic written across my face.
Saw my hand already reaching toward her.
Saw the terror I could no longer hide.
Her smile faded.
Her eyes widened.
Understanding finally reached her.
Too late.
Mizuki…
The thought was written so clearly across her face that it hurt.
As if, in that final moment, she finally understood.
I hadn’t been overprotective.
I hadn’t been paranoid.
I had been trying…
To save her.
The car roared closer.
I didn’t think.
My hand was already moving.
I pulled the pen free.
It didn’t resist.
It answered.
The moment my fingers closed around it, the pen tore itself apart—folding, unfolding, and hardening.
In a single heartbeat, its shape transformed, stretching into the familiar weight of the gun resting firmly in my hand.
I didn’t aim at the car.
I didn’t aim at Noa.
I aimed at space itself.
Then I pulled the trigger.
The sound never reached my ears.
The shot wasn’t loud—
It was absolute.
A surge of energy tore outward, not stopping time in the small, carefully controlled pocket I had created before.
This time…
It spread everywhere.
The street.
The buildings.
The sky.
The entire city…
Stopped.
The speeding car froze in the middle of the road, its headlights suspended in the air like broken stars.
Dust hung motionless.
Even the wind disappeared.
Everything fell silent.
I ran.
My legs burned as I sprinted across the frozen road, reaching Noa in only two heartbeats.
I grabbed her and pulled her tightly against me, holding her firmly—as if I needed to make sure she was real.
My arms locked around her as I hurried back toward the sidewalk.
Safe.
Only after my feet touched solid ground did I stop.
My hands were shaking.
I looked down at her.
The instant my skin touched hers—
She blinked.
Her body unfroze.
A sharp breath escaped her lips as she gasped for air.
“Mizuki…?” she whispered.
Behind her, the world remained motionless.
Cars hung frozen in place.
People stood motionless in the middle of their steps.
The entire city had become a still image.
Only we could move.
Only we could breathe.
Noa slowly turned her head.
Her eyes widened as she took in the impossible stillness surrounding us.
“…Why?” she asked, her voice trembling.
“Why is everything…
not moving?”
I tightened my arms around her, gently pressing my forehead against hers.
“Because,” I said softly, no longer hiding the truth in my voice,
“…I was almost too late.”
I closed my eyes for a brief moment.
“And this time…”
I whispered,
“I refused to be.”
Noa’s fingers tightened around my sleeves.
Her gaze slowly wandered across the frozen street.
The suspended car.
The motionless people.
The silent city.
Then her eyes returned to me.
I swallowed.
“What happened?” she asked quietly.
“Where are we?”
Her gaze dropped to my hand.
“And…”
Her eyes widened again.
“…What is that?”
The gun suddenly felt impossibly heavy in my hand.
Not because of its weight…
But because she had finally seen it.
“What did you do?” she continued, her voice shaking.
“I saw you…”
“You aimed it at the sky.”
“Then I blinked…”
“And suddenly…”
She looked around once more.
“…I was here.”
She looked back into my eyes.
“In your arms.”
I loosened my grip just enough to look at her properly.
“You were about to get hit,” I said quietly.
“The car wasn’t going to stop.”
She slowly looked past me, her eyes settling on the frozen headlights suspended only a short distance from where she had been standing.
“…So…”
She swallowed.
“This is real.”
“Yes.”
Her gaze returned to the gun.
“That thing…”
“It did all of this?”
I nodded once.
She didn’t pull away.
She didn’t scream.
Instead, she asked the question that mattered most.
“Is everyone…”
“…like this because of me?”
“No,” I answered immediately.
“Because of me.”
She flinched slightly.
I took a slow breath, forcing myself to remain calm.
“I didn’t stop you.”
I looked around at the silent city.
“I stopped everything.”
Noa stared at the frozen street again before turning back to me.
“You knew,” she whispered.
“Didn’t you?”
I couldn’t answer right away.
“When you held my hand every day…”
“When you wouldn’t let me cross the road alone…”
She lowered her eyes.
“…That wasn’t just because of a dream.”
I looked down.
“…I’ve seen this before.”
My voice sounded distant.
“Not exactly like this…”
“But I knew how it ended.”
Her fingers tightened around my uniform.
“…Your dream.”
I gave a slow nod.
Silence stretched between us—
Fragile.
Heavy.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally…
Noa broke the silence.
“Mizuki…”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Whatever this is…”
“…you saved me.”
I met her gaze without looking away.
“Yes.”
A quiet breath escaped my lips.
“This time…”
“I did.”
The frozen city stood silently around us, holding its breath.
And somehow…
I already knew.
Before she even spoke again…
The next question would change everything.
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