"Superpowers?" Rito asked, confused as possible.

  Thanks to the moon, there was plenty of light in the room, so I could see both Toshinori's and Denki's faces. Judging by their faces, Toshinori knew exactly what I meant, and Denki had a pretty good idea. Before I could press the subject and tried to reassure them that they were safe, Denki chimed in.

  "Kazuma, it's way too early for those talks, what I want to know is the real stuff talked about at sleepovers: who you guys like."

  Of course, a typical sleepover topic, more for girls, I thought, but something off-putting enough to defuse the situation and maybe build some trust before addressing what I really need to.

  "Well then, gracious host," I started. "Since you volunteered the subject, you should have the floor first. Enlighten us, who is it that you like?"

  Previously, I had never known Denki to be into anyone, so this was both playing his game and genuine curiosity.

  "Yeah, I should have seen that one coming," Denki said nervously, scratching the back of his head.

  "I, uh..." Denki struggled. "I don't really have anyone that I like, you know? Like, no one really stands out when I think about it."

  I thought that would be his answer, but it seemed different actually hearing it. Under the low glow of the candles we lit for our talks, his face was covered in a sort of disappointment that crept close to sadness.

  It was almost as if he lamented not having a crush, like his youth was incomplete because of it. He didn't seem like he was lying too, so the expression on his face was truly genuine. Denki let out a nervous and pained laugh.

  "Sorry for the disappointment. What about you guys? Rito, you seem to have good luck with girls. Who do you like?" Denki shifted the focus to the unlucky lucky boy.

  Rito blushed and looked down. "I'm truly human garbage," he started. "I really don't mean for things to go the way that they do - I think there's something wrong with me. I, uh," he paused and took a deep breath. "I like Ino, like a lot... but I also like Yamada Shizune from Class A."

  Yamada and Rito were both in Class A along with Ino. Her figure alone caught the eye of many of the guys in their class. Hell, it caught the eye of many of the guys in our school. Coupled with her blue hair and yellow eyes, personality withholding, she seemed like the perfect girl. Not to say that her personality was bad, but I had next to no interactions with her to judge it.

  "My family volunteered to host her since she's a transfer student from the countryside," Rito continued. "Because of that, she lives with us. It's really awkward. I can't help but fall for her even though I've already fallen for Ino. I'm truly the worst."

  Denki put his hand on Rito's shoulder. "You're not a bad person, Rito. You just have a difficult choice to make." He smiled at him.

  "I agree with Denki," I chimed in. "When the time comes to make that decision, you'll need to be firm in it, and the sooner the better. It... it will only hurt you more if you postpone it." I put my hand on his other shoulder.

  "Thanks, guys," Rito said timidly. "I'm glad I have friends like you." We exchanged smiles and shifted our gaze to Toshinori.

  "Your turn, Toshinori," Denki said with a smirk. He looked down.

  "Before I get into it... can I ask you all something?"

  "Of course," Denki replied.

  "What's up?" Rito added.

  "You all call each other by your given names... Can you do the same for me? Can you call me Hiro, and I call you by your given names?"

  He looked up with eyes that held a certain longing, like he was reaching out his hand for the first time in hopes that someone took it. The three of us looked at each other for a second and laughed.

  "Sure thing, Hiro!" Denki was the first to respond.

  "I guess you're fully taken into our group now, Hiro," Rito added with a smile.

  "A pleasure to have you, Hiro," I said after him. Hiro looked down and smiled.

  "Thank you, Kazuma, Denki, Rito. Now, for the question of who I like, I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you. I've never even thought about it, and now that I do, no one comes to mind. Sorry." He gave a sad smile.

  Denki put both hands on his shoulders. "There's nothing to worry about, Hiro. We'll find someone in time."

  "I hope you're right," Hiro said softly.

  "Now, then, Kazuma," everyone's eyes shifted to me. "Your turn."

  This... had turned into a difficult situation, like when Chika got my heart racing in the park. My body is that of a fifteen year old, but my mind is that of someone who's almost thirty. It feels wrong to think about girls "my age" in any sort of way like we're discussing.

  "Uh... I don't really-" I started.

  "Kazuma, don't lie to us," Denki interrupted. "You spend almost every day with Chika, and you've known her since you were kids." He had a devious smile on his face.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Rito jumped in. "If my experience in the depths of manga has taught me anything, either your true love is about to enter your life, or the childhood friend will win your heart. My guess is the two of them will have some knock down drag out with a mystery dere character that almost comes out of nowhere."

  I looked at him with an almost disgusted look. "It's not like that, guys, trust me." Besides, someone like me... probably isn't even worthy of something like love anyway.

  "Chika is my friend that enjoys tormenting me because I react to it. She likes my reactions, and that's that. I'm like you and Hiro; no one has really caught my eye."

  Denki and Hiro looked at each other then to me. "Whatever you say, Kazuma," Denki said with a chuckle.

  We went on about girls and how hard they are to understand for a while after that. Then, in the early hours of the morning, we came back to what I had said to start it all - superpowers.

  "So, I know it's going to seem impossible," I started. "But bear with me. I think that the four of us have some sort of special abilities, like something you'd see in a manga."

  Rito's face indicated that he was thoroughly confused, and the others' faces revealed that they knew exactly what I meant. Hiro and I had already talked about his power briefly before when he stopped the bullies in the school yard and gave them a soft reset. Denki's face changed to a sort of relief before he spoke.

  "I don't really believe you, Kazuma. That stuff isn't just seen in manga; it only exists in manga. There's no way—"

  I froze time and walked out of the room. It was late at night, so I knew most convenience stores would be closed. I grabbed an ice pop from the freezer: sour apple, the only flavor Denki actively avoided. I popped it open and walked back upstairs. They were right where I had left them, and I put the ice pop in Denki's mouth. Time resumed.

  "Tha— BLEEH!" Denki spat out the ice pop and looked at me shocked. I sat in a completely different spot that I was previously laying in.

  "Like I said, Denki, all four of us have powers," I repeated confidently.

  Thanks to that, I had all of their undivided attention. I held their stares like a sideshow at a carnival or a dance with fire at a festival. I continued.

  "My power..." I paused, debating telling them everything or just enough to gain their trust. "My power is the ability to stop time... and rewind it by a couple of minutes."

  Two abilities that I have complete control over, enough to show that we are the same, but not too much if something goes wrong down the road.

  "And here I thought it was the ability to make the worst ice pops ever made appear on command," Denki said, clearly still upset about the mouthful of sour apple.

  "I guess it's my turn. I seem to have increased speed and strength. How much, exactly, I don't know. I originally thought it was just the results of training, but..." He looked at me. "I guess I have super powers," he said with a smile.

  Hiro went next. "I can change the gravity of an area with my mind... I first found out when..."

  He was trying to remember what he told me to avoid being caught in a lie. A valiant effort, but pointless in the end since I knew when he first told me that he was lying then.

  "...when I was being bullied behind the gym. Kazuma saved me, but they wouldn't stop attacking us. I screamed, and they ended up face down on the ground being crushed by the gravity... if Kazuma wasn't there..."

  "Don't think about it, Hiro," I stepped in. "You got control over your power, and no one got seriously hurt. It's okay."

  Hiro looked down and went on. "I don't have much control over it, but I can promise that I'll never intentionally hurt any of you guys."

  He wasn't lying that time, he won't intentionally hurt any of us or really anyone that isn't antagonizing him. Like Denki and me, his power is likely linked to his emotional condition.

  "This is cool and all," Rito spoke up. "But how does it involve me? I don't have powers, I'm just really unlucky."

  "But when you're unlucky, you end up "lucky," I added. "You trip and fall - you end up either face first in a girl's chest or between her legs. Some guys would kill for luck like that."

  "Some luck," Rito said, voicing his frustration. "Every time I fall, I know I'm going to get slapped, kicked, punched, stomped, and a whole list of other things done to me. You were right when you first named this 'ability' a curse."

  "I'm sorry, Rito," Denki offered to comfort him. "It would be funny if you were also indestructible, huh? The perfect combo." He tried to laugh, but Rito wasn't impressed.

  "I'm gonna go to sleep, guys," he said as he rolled over away from us.

  "Yeah, me too," Hiro said softly as he did the same.

  With the two of them out, Denki and I walked out onto his balcony and looked up at the stars. It was about 2 in the morning, but neither of us felt tired.

  "How long have you known?" Denki asked, eventually cutting the silence.

  "The judo match between us," I answered. "How you moved, the force behind your actions, it all added up as I landed on the ground."

  Denki chuckled. "You can freeze time, but you got beaten in speed?"

  "Even I can't do everything. Like when I burst into class earlier that day... I was in the library and had been for a while. My powers went haywire and I couldn't control them. I don't know how long I spent in that prison."

  Denki looked at me with both wonder and sorrow. "That must have been the longest day of your life, huh?"

  "Yeah, definitely."

  Denki chuckled to himself. "Of all our friends, I kind of feel the most pity for you and Rito."

  Random.

  "Where did that come from?" I asked. "Well," he started. "You could just be having a bad day, then all of a sudden, you're reliving your longest day forever."

  Fair, but not entirely true. I have more control over my emotions and thus my power now that I know how to do it.

  "As for Rito," he continued. "Rito's power will always cause him trouble even if he gets a girl - which we both know he will." He looked at me.

  "It isn't hard to see that she's head over heels for him if you've got an outside perspective."

  "Yeah, you're right there," I agreed.

  "Definitely more clear from the outside," he said almost to himself and chuckled again. We stood on the balcony in silence for a bit longer.

  "So what now?" Denki broke the silence again.

  "Now... now we protect each other," I said after thinking for a while. “No matter what.”

  Eclipse still existed, and they were after metas our age. If I wanted to stay away from them and protect everyone, I'd start with my friends, and this time, I'd have help. I didn't know it then, but that help would make all the difference in the world in the days, weeks, months, and years to come.