That day was just as ordinary as any other.

But then it came out of nowhere.

It happened while I was riding the usual commuter train, swaying with the motion, and sneakily glancing at the chest area of a pretty lady sitting across from me during a time stop.

[Yay, your Time Stop level has increased!]

In this monochrome, soundless world—frozen for the sake of peeking—a colorful, translucent window, glowing like neon at night, floated before my eyes. A slightly Vocaloid-like voice read out the text displayed on it.

[Yay, your Time Stop level has increased!
Now your Time Stop magic has reached Level 1!
Your Time Mage level has also reached 1, so you’ve finally graduated from the tutorial!
The Status Window function has been unlocked, so give it a try!]

The one-second time stop ended, and the flow of time resumed. Everyone around me started moving again, but I, on the other hand, couldn’t tear my eyes away from the floating window and stood there frozen.

After a while, the window gradually faded and disappeared.

“What… the hell is this…?”

I unintentionally muttered out loud. I thought the person sitting next to me glanced my way, but that didn’t matter at all.

I understood the words.
But I didn’t understand the meaning.

……

First, where should I even start?

My Time Stop leveled up and reached Level 1, and as a Time Mage, I also hit Level 1. And with that, I’ve “graduated from the tutorial.”
Does that mean I was at Level 0 until now?
Wait, there are levels?

If Time Magic was at Level 0 and I was in tutorial mode, then it makes sense why I couldn’t use it properly until now.
Does that mean I’ll get to see Time Magic at full power now, with a future full of rainbow-colored paradise?

Wait, if there are levels, does that mean there’s EXP?
And why did I level up now of all times?
If leveling up happened at that exact moment, does that mean peeking at that lady’s chest gave me EXP? (What kind of delicious EXP-gaining method is that?!)

Come to think of it, it said the Status Window was unlocked—but how do I use it? How do I open it? Nobody told me about this!

And speaking of the Status Window, or even the level-up announcement earlier—can other people not see it?
The train was nearly full, but only the person next to me seemed to glance my way for a second, so that must mean others can’t see it, right? Right? Right?!

There are way too many things to question, and my thoughts are all over the place.
But there’s one thing I can say for sure.

Hey, old man from Episode 1! You could’ve at least given me a one-sentence explanation about all this from the start!!!!!!!!