Summers in my neighborhood were usually hot. Regardless, I still did my daily training even though it usually meant coming home drenched in sweat. The park close to my house had various bars for exercise, so I made good use of them on the days that I didn't run. I still hated running, but it was something that was necessary. Eclipse varied their training regiments to achieve a holistic fitness - save mental health, of course.

  One morning, about a week after the sleepover at Denki's house, I was doing calisthenics in the park when Chika came by walking her dog, Lucy. Lucy was a Shiba with a cute coat of light brown fur with black patches. She had been with Chika since we started junior high, and she saw everyone she met as her friend. The two of them walked up, and I got down from doing pull-ups and wiped the sweat from my brow.

  "Kazu, it's barely morning, and it's already too hot to be doing anything like what you're doing," Chika almost whined.

  "Well, I actually enjoy it. Besides, I'm not making you join me, not like you could keep up anyway," I had a hint of arrogance in my voice that she picked up like a high-end metal detector.

  "Oh really?" She perked up. "I may not be the most athletic girl in our class, but I can keep up with whatever you're doing. Just tell me what to do." She had an almost out of place fire in her eye.

  She wasn't usually this competitive, but I saw this as a good opportunity to have something to tease her about.

  "Let's see, today's workout for me was squats, push-ups, and pull-ups; we'll start with squats. I'll hold Lucy." I took her leash and sat on the bench with her.

  "Alright!"

  She started with a level of confidence I'd only seen before in Denki. Then, she got into the squat, and the confidence stalled. Her form wasn't great, at least it was a body weight exercise. She got about fourteen and went down for the last one when she started shaking like a leaf. She managed to push herself up and, after catching her breath, turned to me.

  "What's next?"

  "Push-ups if you're up to them," I said kind of nervously.

  Teasing her about her fitness is one thing, but I didn't want her to hurt herself trying to prove a point.

  "Of course I am!"

  She got to the concrete and got down into the stance. By the fifth repetition, she was shaking again.

  "You can go to your knees, Chika, don't hurt yourself," I tried to encourage her, but she fell and stayed there for a minute.

  "It's okay, you did your best. We won't worry about — "

  "Pull-ups!"

  She launched up and ran to the bars. Lucy tried to jump after her, and I went with her.

  "Chika, you don't have to do more than what you're comfortable with."

  I had to persuade her to stop. She was going to hurt herself if she kept going. Of course, she didn't listen to me and jumped up to grab the bar.

  "This is nothing!"

  Her confidence came back in full between every exercise. She struggled to get started, and I helped her by bracing her feet against my thigh.

  "Kazu?"

  "You didn't have to do this, and you don't have to do it alone. Let me help you."

  I knew I couldn't stop her from trying, but at least I could help her out and keep her from getting hurt. She did a couple of good repetitions in silence then stopped.

  "Can you let me down?" She said in a completely different voice than she had when she jumped up. I stepped back, and she dropped to the ground.

  She took Lucy's leash and walked over to the bench where she sat and curled up a bit. I sat down next to her and tried to cheer her up.

  "Hey, don't worry about it. You did your best. Calisthenics is something that comes with practice and repetition," I said trying to see her face.

  She turned away, and I went back to facing forward. We sat in silence as the sun climbed higher into the morning sky.

  "Hey, Kazu," Chika finally spoke up.

  "Hmm?"

  She turned towards me a bit. "Do you like fit girls?" The question caught me off guard.

  "I've never really thought about it," I answered after a few seconds.

  In my previous life, there was a girl at Makarov Academy who had a physical enhancement ability like Denki's. She wasn't chosen for the prestige program, but I remember seeing her compete in the sports festivals. She no doubt ended up dispatched when the purge happened.

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  I wonder how she met her end. What was her name?

  "Kazu?"

  I snapped back to reality to find Chika's curious face inches from mine.

  Her eyes pulled mine in like an inescapable force. My heart started racing again - seriously, this has to be illegal somehow. I panicked and tried to squirm away, but she caught me by the cheeks.

  "Look at me, Kazu," she said with a pouting face. Our eyes locked again.

  Her eyes were both serious and playful. The green color was made more vibrant by the light of the rising sun. Her pale skin had a light glisten from the sweat she broke trying to prove me wrong. Her hair pulled back into a pony tail. Why did younger me never notice how cute she was? Time continued, but I felt like we were frozen where we were.

  Her face relaxed. "Geez, always zoning out," she said finally. As she turned to pick up Lucy's leash, we both heard a bark... and a honking horn.

  We turned to see Lucy staring down a delivery truck out for its morning route with no idea that she was there.

  "Lucy!" Chika cried out.

  Like a knee jerk reaction, time came to a standstill. I ran to Lucy and scooped her up from the street. I walked back into the park with her in my arms.

  The reality of what I did set in. Lucy would probably be none the wiser about what just happened. Chika, however, would be a different story.

  I sat down at the entrance and thought about it for a while. Chika was a norm - someone who got hit with the same solar flare as everyone else but never developed an ability. Because of that, she almost certainly couldn't understand what I really was, much less accept it. One of the reasons that the purge went the way that I did was because metas were painted in such a bad light: it's easy to demonize the unknown. I took a big risk when I brought Denki, Hiro, and Rito into the fold, but we're all birds of a feather.

  Even with that, I hadn't heard from Hiro or Rito since the sleepover. On the other hand, I couldn't sit by and watch something bad happen, especially not when I have the power to do something about it. I sat pouring over my thoughts for a good while before I made my decision. In. Out. In. Out. Chika's scream resumed.

  "Huh?"

  Her scream turned to confusion as our eyes met again.

  The truck was gone. I was sitting against the rails at the edge of the park, and Lucy was in my arms. She looked down at the bench where I just was in her mind to see it empty.

  "Huh?"

  She stood up quickly. Her confusion grew and mixed with a sense of fear.

  I really hate being right sometimes.

  She walked over to me as Lucy licked my face just glad to be getting attention.

  "Kazu," she started. Her voice was shaking. "What just happened? You were there, and Lucy was there. How are you both here now?"

  Even if it means rejection and hatred, I can't lie to her. Not again.

  "Chika," our eyes met again, "I have this ability... I-I can stop time. I can even rewind it by up to a couple of minutes."

  I looked down and stroked Lucy's head. "I-I'm still human... just a little extra."

  I looked back up to see the face of my childhood friend almost completely consumed by fear. She reached for Lucy and took her from me before running out of the park. Probably one of the worst ways that could have gone, but at least she didn't lose Lucy. I sat against the rail for a bit longer before getting up, grabbing my things, and going home.

  Mother was sleeping after her shift, Father had gone back abroad, and my sister was either still fast asleep or working on her summer homework. I went upstairs and took a shower. Afterwards, I soaked in the tub for a bit. I closed my eyes to try to relax.

  Chika's terrified face replayed over and over in my head, and my mind turned on me again. Her face became that of the little girl that night in the rain. Her fearful eyes devolved into anger and hatred. I tossed and turned until I ended up on my knees with my head hung low. My own suffering as well as all that I had caused began to consume me. I opened my eyes to see my old self staring back at me in the water.

  My sunken, dead stare, the scar from the first life I took, my hair that was only kept up when I had to go make reports. My face was so devoid of color that I looked more like a ghost than a man. I stared into my own eyes, paralyzed. My breaths became shorter and shallower until I felt like I wasn't breathing at all. My own eyes pulled me in closer to the water. I felt him calling to me.

  Come, killer. One. Last. Kill.

  I could feel the water caressing my face.

  KNOCK KNOCK.

  "Zuzu? Are you in there?"

  My sister's voice ripped me out of the depths and I thrashed around for a second gasping for air.

  Zuzu?" She called again. I tried to calm myself down.

  "Yeah, sis, I'm in here." I managed between breaths.

  I realized too late the mistake I had made. The door creaked open, and her lustful eyes appeared in the crack.

  "Mom's asleep, Zuzu, let's take a bath together like we used to." I covered myself and sank down into the tub.

  "Not in your life, you perv! Close the door and wait your turn!"

  "Zuzu, don't be so cold to your loving sister," she said with a whine.

  I threw on a towel and barged out. "Out!" I grabbed her and pushed her out then shut and locked the door.

  "Meanie," she said behind the door.

  As I went to drain the tub, I saw myself in the mirror. Still a new high school student, but the old me was still inside. I drained the tub and put on some clothes. I managed to sneak past Yui and go downstairs to get something to eat when I heard a knock on the door. I looked through the glass to see Chika standing on my porch. I opened the door and stepped out.

  "Hi, Kazu," she said softly, still looking at the ground.

  "I didn't thank you earlier for saving Lucy... I'm sorry I ran off."

  She looked away then forced herself to look at me. She still had terrified eyes, but they held a hint of her normal self as well.

  "I'll make it up to you. What do you say? Tomorrow?"

  "Sure," I said with a smile. "I'd like that."