Shakugan no Shana / Yashichiro Takahashi

Sakai Yuuji thought he was a normal high school student, until one fateful day when time stopped. Watching in horror, he witnesses a monster devouring the “frozen” people around him; but luckily for Yuuji, he is saved by a sword-wielding red-headed girl that calls herself a “Flame Haze”. The girl informs him that he has been dead for some time now and that his current self is merely a replacement for the human that he used be while alive. He is, she says, merely a torch whose life will come to an end when the blue flame in his chest ceases to burn. After this rude awakening, Yuuji realizes that he is able to see the flames of life in other “torches”; and after discovering that a friend of his is also a torch — and her life is burning out faster than his – he gains the courage to live out the rest of his life with meaning. Will Yuuji be able to find his place in the world before he ceases to exist?