I'm a Villain, So I'll Take Over The World!

["Absolute Freeze"]

Time grinded to a halt around him as even falling leaves were left stagnant in the air; the hundreds of students that were on school grounds were frozen like statues and the wind was nonexistent.

'It'll be easy to win her over if I present her with a gift as if I remembered her birthday, but not her very own boyfriend. With my charisma as it is, it'll be an 'ultimate attack',' he thought.

It was in the essence of stopped time that he reigned supreme, allowing him to pick-and-choose his next move at his leisure.

'Let's see…Ah, that'll do,' he thought.

Only a moment was needed for him to sense the layout of the city as it was already etched into his mind, leaving a satisfied smile on his face at the fruition of his plan.

Pressing his palms together, a wormhole flashed open and closed around him as ["Spatial Warp"] was also invoked, moving him across the city in an instant as he brought himself within the interior of the locally famous mall in his city–"Brightview Plaza."

The floors were made out of reflective marble-like tile with snow-white railings; billboards and kiosks littered the mall, making it lively even within stagnate time.

Time was stopped globally as even far away from the initial spot of activation, everybody and everything in the mall was frozen in time.

'What would a girl like Akari like…? If I recall, she's actually a pretty big fan of those 'Domi-Domi' plushies,' He questioned.

As if this was a completely normal, mundane thing to do, the sophomore leisurely strolled around the mall with his hands tucked into his pockets, scoping out for the right shop and right gift.

He nonchalantly whistled while taking his 'time', finally finding the proper store in the huge galleria, which sold a variety of pop culture items. There were a lot of items in the store that caught his eye: limited-edition mecha figurines, anime merchandise that couldn't be found anywhere else, and even manhua merchandise that he'd never even seen on the internet.

'Is that Baek-Hyoon from 'Leveling Up Is My Path'...I thought this figure was pre-order only. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to snag it,' he thought.

Though he originally came for just one item, a little self-indulgence never hurt anybody, at least he thought as much.

Allowing ["Absolute Freeze"] to persist for longer than before finally presented light drawbacks as he felt a sense of fatigue in his body, prompting him to finish up bagging various figures he got caught up with.

'Ah, that's right…Akari's gift,' he remembered.

As he ventured deeper into the story, he stumbled across just what he was looking for: a rectangular-shaped, cutesy monster plushie with bunny ears and a toothy smile–a 'Domi-Domi.' He didn't understand the craze with it, but girls seemed to love it.

'This'll do great,' he thought.

Stuffing it into his backpack, he then clapped his hands together to warp back right where he initially came from, returning by Akari's side with the entirety of the school still locked in time.

As he snapped his fingers, it resumed without a hitch as the leaves that were suspended in the air continued trickling down and students began walking and talking again as if the 'play' button on a remote was pressed.

"You know…It's kind of embarrassing, but…" He began to say, scratching his cheek.

"What is it?" Akari looked at him, blinking a few times.

He reached into his backpack, retrieving the frighteningly-adorable Dori-Dori plush and presenting it to the scarlet-haired girl, "I meant to give this to you yesterday, but I never got the chance."

Akari's expression lit up as a big smile swept across her face and her amber eyes sparkled as if she was about to cry tears of joy.

"You remembered?! Thank you, thank you!" Akari said.

The energetic girl nearly jumped onto him, giving him a tight hug before accepting the gift, holding the plush in her arms with a childlike grin.

"Do you like it? I wasn't sure if you had that one already–I know you're a 'super-fan' of those," he chuckled.

"It's perfect! I tried getting this a few months ago, but it was totally sold out!" Akari told him, wiping a stray tear from the corner of her eye, "...Really, though, thank you, Noah. It means a lot."

"Don't mention it. It's only natural I'd get you something," he assured her with a smile.

It was that smile that sealed the deal; by the look of awe on her face, there was no doubt in his mind that the seeds were planted for Akari to be added to his desired 'harem.'

A small hint of pink was on the girl's cheeks as she looked at him, fidgeting a little, "I'll, err, message you tonight, okay? I'd really like to talk some more and catch up, okay?"

"Sure thing," he replied.

As it was getting close to classes starting, they went their separate ways as he watched the popular, yet somewhat geeky girl go to the west side of the campus.

"Hey! Almost thought I wouldn't catch you this morning."

Without a second in between both interactions, he found Emily catching up to him, just arriving on school grounds as she looked as though she had to quickly get ready that morning, still holding papers in her arms.

"Morning," he greeted her.

"Were you with Akari?" Emily asked, glancing past him, "What was that about?"

"Nothing much, really. She was just feeling down because Abe missed her birthday," he answered half-truthfully.

"Do you like her?" Emily asked bluntly.

He didn't hesitate to answer, "Yeah."

"I see. I'm fine with her, too," Emily smiled.

Such a question was incriminating in a relationship, though in this case, it was not so; there was a simple reason for this: in his usage of ["Absolute Hypnosis"], he made the concept of polygamy an accepted idea among the girls at the school, though it only applied when being in a relationship with him.