“What do you mean you don’t care? This was your idea and I just followed along. And as so you did, I had come to it too. We are the same William”

“You and I are the same yet so different like the tales of the Yin and Yang. Don’t act like you don’t know this, Wilson”

 “My advice to you is just keeping yourself alive. As long as we’re alive, it’ll be fine. So don’t act like that and leave these things to me-”

“Will you shut up? The plans you made me to compromise didn’t work. So, from now, leave this to me and keep a cool head in certain situations”

The only thing that’s between William and Wilson breaking into chaos is their desire for someone special in particular.

As the two were talking, the class became a bit too quiet. For a class of 44 to go completely silent, there must be something big that is wrong…

…Or the time had just stopped.

“Three past Nine” - the time that changed the both of their lives forever.

“Would you look at that? It’s 9 o’clock. Isn’t your date on that time? But it’s not a problem now as I’m not in charge now”.

“Wait, it has only been 2 minutes since we started? How did that happen?”

The thing that was separating them from going full berserk on each other was neither the human nature nor the lawfulness of both of them. It was someone named Cassandra.

“Wonder why it’s still 9:03? Wait why my left eye became dark? Wilson, why has my eye gone black? Wilson? WILSON?”

“Eh? It doesn’t seem to me that your eye is different. Maybe try looking around”.

“It’s the same. I cannot see anything. Or it’s that the class is completely still. I don’t know anymore. Wait, the class is completely frozen”

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“What’s the time?”

“9:03”

“Seconds”

“:02”

“Welp, do you have anything that you won’t get bored no matter how much or how long you’ll do?”

“Why is that? And what is going on? Why it has been 9:03:02 since we said her name?”

“I don’t really know but it seems that time had stopped. And did you really check the time when I said her name? That is not a good sign”.

“I’d liked to punch you right now but I’m very scared of this place’s physics”

“Let’s find out. Like we had something special to do anyway when we were not frozen in time”.

“Well, you’re right. I guess I wouldn’t die without a passion, eh?”

“Ok, hit me. Or at least try to move your arm”

When William tried to move his arm, his hand and the sleeve of his hand was cut with something that’s very thin. But Wilson quickly realized that William’s hands had cut his by dust particles or something that was in the air. As a result of it, William became very scared of moving and pushed Wilson to do the same.

“This hurts. And it seems that our bodies as a whole were not affected by the frozen effect. You try it. It feels like you’re moving in water. And be careful of the things that might be in the air”.

When Wilson tried to walk, it really felt like he was moving in water. And he didn’t cut his body. Right when they tried to approach their “someone”, the time had started rolling. The frozen effect was no more yet they felt like it wasn’t a one-time event.

“That was fun, wasn’t it? Let’s go back to our normal lives, shall we?”

“No. This was our destiny. Something only, we have. Let’s try to find what it is”.

They lived their normal lives for the rest of the day and they went home as Wilson tried some things.

“Aye, Will! Say her name”

“Eh? Why?”

“Just say it, will you?”

“Cassandra”

If it wasn’t for William’s OCD, by that his time remembrance, Wilson wouldn’t have found out about the deal.

“See, it was you. Your heart beats like a dang steam engine whenever you say or hear her name. And by that, you can technically stop time. But I still don’t know how I’m here too. Maybe because of my “Pure Zero”, that can copy and imitate everything and in this case your ability to perceive and feel about her. That makes sense, eh?”

“Yes, but your Pure Zero only imitates physical things but as for mine, I can perceive everything. But you can’t imitate my Pure Zero, it’s not physically there or at least you can’t see it. As for yours, you can imitate it and reveal the imitation. And you can’t imitate me to the point where you and I are the exact same”.

“Yet here we are. It’s not like you and I are different on the idea of love. Kind of ironic, isn’t it? You said you didn’t care anymore and now I care”

“But I still do care. And this means, you and I are now a rival. Friendly?”

“Friendly.”

As when they settled on being friendly, the time started rolling again. They still didn’t know how to stop the frozen effect but they knew how to start it. And they called the state, “True Zero” where all things become truly still.