Yuki opens her eyes, slowly. Immediately when she wakes up she almost falls asleep again, the bed she is lying on is so soft and comfortable. But she slaps her right chin to stop herself from falling asleep. Memories of "that guy" quickly flushes into her mind, every morning the same memories come into her mind. Anger instantly build up inside her, she releases it by slamming the pillow she was sleeping on a couple of minutes ago. The things he did to her a couple of years ago isn't something she could forgive easily, nor could she forget it. Yuki rolls to the other side of the bed and notices a sleeping Simon on the floor in a futon. She forgets the memories, replacing her thoughts with ones about pranking Simon. She giggles as she walks up to Simon. Simon also rolls around on his futon, revealing his face. Yuki gets a surprised look on her face, she sees tears around Simon's eyes.

Perhaps he's thinking of some painful memories as well, Yuki thinks to herself.

Although she feels a bit of guilt for what she's about to do, she still does it.

She went to the bathroom and grabbed some shaving cream, she also found a feather lying on Simon's desk. With a mischievous smile, Yuki pours some shaving cream in Simon's hand. She then lightly touches Simon's face with the feather. Instantly, Simon's hand flies up in his face and he wakes up in distress. The first thing he says is

"What's happening? Did somebody die?" while looking insanely confused concerning the situation he's in. Simon searches the room before landing his eyes on the now laughing Yuki. While laughing Yuki says

"Why is that the first thing you say?"

Simon only responds with a disappointed sigh. He touches the shaving cream on his chin and makes a slightly disgusted face.

With short and even steps, I make my way to the bathroom to wash the cream off. In the hallway, I look at a clock. It's currently ... 05:10!! Excitement came rushing through my tired body. I washed the cream off my face quicker than I thought that I was capable of. I run back to my room and close the door, I run up to Yuki with a star-like shine in my eyes, I grab her hands and say

"Do you always wake up at this time?"

Yuki stares down at the floor while saying

"Yes. Every day, I wake up at around 05:00."

I tighten my grip around Yuki's hands and ask her

"Are you planning on sleeping here for the rest of the week?"

Yuki immediately looks at my face and pauses, she then says a bit quiet

"I don't know... I haven't decided"

I see this as my opportunity and say

"Could you please do that? With you around, I'll be able to wake up this early every day!" I continue on with mumbling "Imagine all the things I can get done".

Yuki gazes at me, Her eyes filled with astonishment. She takes a minute to respond

"If you're okay with it, I'd love to stay. But if you want to wake up early, can't you just use things like alarm clocks?"

I scratch the back of my hair as I say

"Nope, they're impossible for me to use. Every time I use them, I just sleep through the sound."

"Oh, I see." Yuki ends the conversation with.

I run up to my desk and pull out my storyboards for the next month's chapter. I then go and grab all my art supplies. I turn on my artificial lighting and start sketching the first page. Yuki grabs a chair and sits next to me. She asks me

"Can I look at the storyboards?"

Without turning around I say

"Yeah, sure."

"Done with the sketch."

I say 8 minutes later. Just like Maria did, Yuki stares at the last page of the storyboard in awe. She brakes the silence and says

"This was simply amazing. I don't get it. How can you mix so dark subjects with the lighthearted atmosphere and work so well?"

I answer

"Honestly, I'm not sure."

I grab my dip pen to start inking the drawing. Scratching sounds are heard as I stroke the pen around the paper. Yuki organizes the storyboards and places them in front of me. Yuki observes me drawing with great interest. After a while, She says

"You have a lot of talent, haven't you? Being able to draw that good, and making a story that's so compelling."

A faint "Oh no." can be heard through the door. I freeze completely. I stare at the paper in front of while holding the dip pen in the air. I start gripping the pen harder. I feel the anger and memories rushing through me. The boiling anger that I've felt one too many times in my life.

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

A quiet "I hate talent" slips through my mouth. Yuki tilts her head because she didn't hear what I said.

"What did you say?" Yuki asks.

Quickly, I spring up out of my chair and make a big gesture with my right hand.

I half-yell

"I HATE TALENT!"

The words fly out with passion. Yuki sits still in her chair, staring at the standing boy.

"Every time someone says it, it feels like all my work, all my tears and sweat are dismissed as something I was born with! I don't have any talent, I built everything I have on training, training, training!"

My words start to slow down and become more emotional

"Not to mention the shit I've been through thanks to "talent".

Talents are so unfair! Why couldn't I have gotten the talent to draw and write? Why!?"

A tear runs down my cheek.

"That would have made everything easier. The least I want, is someone to recognize all my hard work I had to do to reach this point."

I fall down to my knees as more tears flood my cheek. This was an unleashing of emotions that have been building up this year.

Yuki feels a weird warmth in her heart as she stares at the boy who is crying. She had started feeling it a little yesterday when Kentarou Mizuya turned out to be this boy. Gradually, the feeling had gotten stronger and stronger until it reached this point. There

was something so admirable about this boy.

A couple of minutes later, I bow my head towards Yuki. I say

"I'm so sorry!"

With a flustered face, Yuki responds

"No, it's okay"

I bow my head even deeper and say

"No I mean it, I'm so so sorry! It was in no way meant to insult you. It's just that someone praising me for having talent triggers a set of memories and emotions to run into me."

I raise my head and look into Yuki's eyes. I continue with

"Perhaps I'll tell you why it happens someday."

I then walk up to the door and open it, revealing a peeping Elin. Elin makes an awkward smile and I say

"What are you doing, Elin?"

Elin says "Well"

I then point at an escaping mom and say

"You too. What're you doing?"

Mom, too, makes an awkward smile and says

"Well, you see..."

"So if I understand this correctly. You decided to spy on me, while I had an emotional outbreak?" I say.

The two ladies are sitting on the floor in front of me in my room. Yuki has a curious look on her face as she looks at the scene.

"Well, pretty much" Mom says staring at the ground.

"It's not our fault you were freaking out!" Elin yelled out.

The moment she finishes, I get an evil look in my eye. I slowly move towards her as Mom gets a concerned look. I chuckle a bit and say

"You don't seem to understand the position you're in."

Elin looks up at me with a frown. This could be a risky one but I'm going to do it!

"What're you..." Elin gets out before I say

"Punch me in the crotch."

"Eh" can be heard in unison by the three girls.

A bit of my pride slips away as I say

"You heard me, punch me in the crotch."

"What are you saying?" Mom asks.

"Is this your fetish?" Elin asks, concerned

Sweat is running down my forehead, I'm staring at the wall in front of me to avoid the embarrassment. I say

"Hurry up and just do it!"

"I mean if you insist" Elin says and makes a grin. Elin prepares a punch. Although Elin isn't very strong, any punch to the crotch will hurt. That's the reason I chose the place, I'm guessing that if I'm in bigger danger, the bigger the chance that the power activates. I close my eyes and stand up straight. The seconds pass slowly, like my doom is counting down. I bite my lips and quickly open my eyes.

Time has stopped yet again. When I look down, I see a fist right next to my private areas. By impulse, I jump back a pace. But I quickly regain my senses. I sit down on the floor in relief, I stare at Elin's still face as I think of what to do. My more perverted side of me comes out a bit every time I stop time, maybe because of the possibilities I get when stopping time. After weighing a couple of options, I decide to go to Elin's room and grab a pair of panties and show her them. I stand up and walk towards the door. But 3 meters from my starting position I'm suddenly stopped. I just walk into a wall, like an invisible wall in a video game. Is there a limit to where I can walk!?

Mildly depressed, I sigh. I walk up to Elin and notice one peculiar thing. She's wearing a bra. Elin has what you would call modest breasts, so I wouldn't expect her to wear a bra. After a couple of moments of contemplating, I decided to untie her bra. While laughing to myself, I untie the bra through her shirt. I move back to my original position, but I take a step back to avoid a punch to the crotch. Nothing happens as I stand still. I guess I have to say something. I say

"Time start!"

Everything starts moving again and Elin's misses me. Everybody gets a confused look on their faces. But it gets overlooked by the new event. Elin notices that her bra is untied. Her face instantly burns up and she runs away. Leaving me standing with a smile.

"Where are you going, Elin!?" Mom shouted.

I move towards Mom and squat next to her. Mom turns her head in horror, I say

"Do you know what I want from you?"

Mom looks at me in terror and says

"N-No"

I make an evil grin and say

"I want... Pancakes for breakfast."

Mom's face instantly relaxes and she says

"Okay." and walks away

I walk to my chair in joy and sit down. Yuki is staring at me in astonishment and curiosity. I say

"Well, time to go back to drawing."