"To change your future, you must first accept the past. And then destroy it."
I. The Awakening of the Body
The first time I used the technique was an accident.
It was on the third day after awakening in this new body.
I was alone in the stone training courtyard. It had fallen dark. The damp ground glistened under the light of a yellowish full moon. The traditional spear of the Zen'in clan rested on my knees as I meditated with my eyes open.
In my mind, I replayed a scene I knew all too well: adult Naoya, surrounded by sorcerers, activating his technique with a smirk, moving as if time were an animation made for him.
"Twenty-four frames per second," I murmured.
The world seemed to listen.
Everything became clear. My muscles tensed naturally, as if a switch had been flipped. The air vibrated around my body. I felt a snap between time and space. My legs moved before I could rationalize it.
I ran for the nearest tree.
I didn't run. I ran through it. A spear movement. A spin. A backflip. A precise fall.
CRACK! My right shoulder dislocated.
I fell sideways, screaming silently.
The pain brought me back.
The technique had lasted exactly 11 seconds.
And it had cost me a shoulder.
II. Science Behind the Body
I spent the next day with my arm immobilized, lying to the clan doctor. I said I'd slipped on the stairs. They didn't believe me, but they didn't ask any more questions. I was Naoya Zen'in. At 14, I already had tacit permission to kill myself in training. That's what prodigies did.
But I wasn't a prodigy. I was an imposter in one's body.
And I was afraid I wouldn't be up to it.
That night, I devoured the clan's ancient scrolls. Texts on time techniques, astral coordinates, cursed kinetics. They didn't have modern diagrams, but their concepts were solid. I drew on my knowledge of real-world physics, biomechanics, and visual logic to reinterpret them.
"Each second divided into 24 frames. Each frame must contain a complete instruction. Each instruction must be physical and energetic. If you fail, the body collapses."
It was almost like programming. But the hardware was my body.
If the adult Naoya in the anime could master it like nothing, then I had to surpass him. He never took it beyond what was expected. He only used it to intimidate, to impose. He never perfected it. He never combined it with creativity.
It was my chance to do what he didn't.
III. Pain Management
For two weeks, I was almost completely distracted.
I slept six hours, ate minimally, and spent the rest of my time training. I couldn't risk failing. The original Naoya never failed in public. If I showed weakness, the clan would remember it… and that would change everything.
So every attempt was secret.
Intent #24: 16 seconds. Result: Extreme dizziness, nosebleed. Attempt #37: 18 seconds. Result: Dislocated knee. Attempt #51: 23 seconds. Result: Partial success. Broken spear. Manageable pain. Euphoria.
At 14, my body was already quite developed. Naoya was a weapon fashioned as a child. But his technique was like a glass sword: beautiful, but fragile if used with brute force.
I had to temper it.
One afternoon, in a downpour, I went to the forest surrounding the Zen'in estate. I found a clearing. Mud covered my shoes, rain pounded my forehead. I closed my eyes. I felt the cursed energy flow from my core to my limbs.
"Astral Projection," I whispered.
Time split again. Frame by frame.
I ran. I jumped. I attacked.
But this time I didn't stop at the first jerk.
Keep going.
My legs ached like fire. My hands cracked from the vibration of the spear. But I held on. In my mind, I saw the future Naoya smiling arrogantly, believing he was invincible.
I wanted to go further.
I kept running until my eyes burned. Until tears and rain were indistinguishable.
And finally, just before I fell… I felt time align with me. That I was no longer running in it. But it was running with me.
Duration: 49 seconds.
I fainted.
And I woke up to someone's small voice near me.
"Onii-san... are you dead?"
I opened my eyes. Maki was there.
A girl with short hair, thick glasses, holding a stick in her hand, wet from the rain.
She looked at me curiously.
I froze.
Her.
The girl who would one day kill me. The one who would one day defy everyone. The one who would live without cursed energy... but with a heart that couldn't be broken.
I didn't say anything. I just sat there, my body trembling.
She came over and held out a large leaf to me, like some kind of umbrella.
"Here. So you don't get so wet."
I took it wordlessly.
A part of me wanted to say something to her. Announcement. To congratulate her on the future she would have. But she only appeared for a moment, and then ran away.
As if nothing had happened.
IV. Conclusion: The Reflection
That night I wrote in my hidden notebook:
"My body is no longer that of a child. My mind is no longer that of Naoya. But the clan still thinks I'm just another prodigy. That gives me an advantage.
I'm beginning to master this technique. Now comes the difficult part: Using it with purpose."
And beneath that I wrote:
"I won't be like you, Naoya. But I will use your strength to forge the path you won't take."