Bad Dreams

"Luckily I have my driver's license." Inori chuckled to Ichiro. "I'd never driven a truck like that before but there's a first time for everything."

The pair stood in the parking lot next to their apartments. A small truck sat next to them as they stared at a massive hammer that sat on the flat bed.

"I don't know how we're going to get that out of there though." Inori continued. "They used a machine to load it into the truck."

"That won't be too much of a problem." Ichiro responded. "Getting it up the stairs is going to be more of a problem than anything."

"Why on earth would you want to get it up the stairs?" Inori quipped back at him.

"Well I wouldn't want someone to steal it." Ichiro scoffed slightly.

"Who would steal that?" Inori scoffed back. "Nobody could even pick it up! What, do you think a random teenager is going to walk by with a bulldozer and think 'That's an awful nice hammer! I think I'll take that!"

"I don't know what a bulldozer is but it could happen." Ichiro responded truthfully believing his words.

"That's never going to happen." Inori remarked with a grumble.

"So then what should I do with it if I don't keep it in my apartment?" Ichiro asked intently wondering what should become of his hammer.

"I'd say leave it on the sidewalk next to the building." Inori explained as she pointed toward the sidewalk. "I don't know how we'll get it over there though. We don't have a winch or anything to pick it up and move it."

Ichiro climbed into the back of the truck and said, "Like I said, that won't be much of a problem."

With that, he clasped his hands around its handle and lifted it up with a slight struggle.

Shocked at Ichiro's show of strength, Inori exclaimed, "What the hell Ichiro!"

Holding the hammer, he jumped down from the truck which instantly lifted inches higher having the massive weight removed from it. It was still quite heavy for him as he could barely manage it, but with slight struggle, he walked over and sat the massive hammer down right where Inori had pointed.

"There's absolutely no way a normal person could lift that!" Inori worriedly exclaimed.

"Well, I am a normal person and I just lifted it." He replied. "I've been working hard to be able to lift something like that again. My old hammer was twice that size and it's slightly embarrassing that I struggle to lift this one."

"EMBARRASSING?" Inori cried out. "I've never seen anything like that before! That hammer has to weigh almost half a ton!"

"Not almost" Ichiro quipped as he lightly kicked the hammer making a thud.

"Oh, I get it. You're crazy." Inori said as she turned and began walking up to her apartment. "Of course, you're crazy. Why wouldn't I have expected that." She continued muttering to herself before calling out to Ichiro. "I'm going to go take a nap and act like I didn't see what I just saw."

Ichiro let out a chuckle and waved to her as she trod off. He watched as she stomped up the stairs and made her way over to her door.

"I can't wait to tell everyone at the meeting tomorrow about this." Inori called down to Ichiro. "Oh! I also plan to tell everyone about my world at the meeting so you better be there and be ready to hear about it."

"Magic rock laser beams?" Ichiro called back up with a questioning tone.

"There will definitely be magic rock laser beams." Inori called back down to him. "What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

Yelling across such a wide area and being that loud was very uncommon so their conversation began to draw glares from passers by.

"Who knows." Ichiro responded questioningly. "Maybe I'll just wander the city for a while."

Inori waved and then disappeared into her apartment. Ichiro watched as the door shut behind her, then looked at the truck.

"Oh, we're supposed to bring that back." He paused for a moment while he considered his options and what he should do. "I could try driving it back myself, but I think I should let Inori handle that."

A cool gust of wind blew through making Ichiro turn away from it.

"If it's going to be this cold, maybe I don't go for a walk." Ichiro considered.

After a few moments, he returned to his own apartment having decided not to brave the colder weather. Inside his apartment, he started pulling clothes from his closet to try to find clothes for the upcoming winter. A few lightweight jackets and such landed on the floor, not meeting the needs of the young man.

"Looks like I need some new clothes for the winter." He said as he pulled a single sweater out of his closet. "I'm used to wearing animal fur but I feel like this world doesn't do that. Maybe I can find something similar."

Ichiro tossed the sweater onto his bed and walked into the living room where his computer sat.

"Asuka and Shingo said I could find things online to buy and people would deliver them to my apartment but I think I might need winter clothes sooner than they could bring them to me." Ichiro paused for a few moments as he mentally laid out his future course of action. "That's what I should do. I wonder if there are any clothing shops near here that would have what I'm looking for. When it comes to clothing, I think Konomi would know."

With that, Ichiro pulled out his phone and messaged Konomi about a place where he could buy some winter clothing. It wasn't long before she responded asking for more specifics. Ichiro then explained that he found that he didn't really have any winter clothes and was wondering if there were any animal fur coats around. With little else to do, he sat on his couch awaiting a response. The phone buzzed in his hand. She explained that she was sure to be able to help him find something, but she was at work right then and wouldn't be able to help the following day due to work and the meeting. It wasn't a problem in Ichiro's eyes, so he typed that that any time would be fine and he thanked her for the help.

After that, he clicked the phone lock button, leaned back on the couch, closed his eyes, and said to himself, "This body needs more rest than my last one. Taking a nap seems reasonable."

Ichiro opened his eyes and saw Lenora at the forefront of a massive army.

"Listen up you idiots!" Lenora shouted to the army. "Most of you are going to die, but if we don't kill this beast then everyone in the city will die."

She wasn't the most charismatic leader, but she was straight forward and honest. The army at her command listened intently as in the distance, they could see portions of the city burning and multiple heads of a giant beast writing over the city's walls.

"We go! The longer we wait, the more innocents die." Lenora shouted as she turned away from the army to face the city. "Try to keep up and do what you can."

She began marching toward the city. Ichiro looked around and saw the army begin marching along with her. He followed along and found himself slowly speeding up to a full sprint with his hammer in hand. Far outside the walls, he watched as Lenora jumped, rocketing into and across the sky with her massive hammer in hand. Running alongside Ichiro was another adventurer.

"We have to get up there with her," Sheen, the seasoned adventurer said. "She's going to get herself killed going in by herself.

"You know how she is." Ichiro said back to the man as they continued to run toward the city. "We won't be able to keep up. We just have to hope she's fine when we get there."

In the distance, Lenora began her assault on the giant hydra like beast. The army was moving full sprint, but it had no way of keeping up with Lenora. Hundreds of soldiers wielding swords and shields and clad in heavy metal armor weighed down their assault, but it pressed forward. The hydra screeched as Lenora smacked it.

"I'll have to leave you behind brother!" Ichiro called out to Sheen the adventurer.

"What? No, we have to go together!" The grizzled veteran replied.

"I have to catch up to Lenora. Lead the army to us." Ichiro replied without breaking pace.

With that, Ichiro wound up with all his strength and threw his hammer toward the fight that Lenora had already started. It went soaring through the air with a thunderous crack. Ichiro, having shed himself from having to carry the weight of it along, burst forth with an overabundance of speed and kicked off with a devastatingly powerful jump which shattered the ground beneath him. He met his own hammer mid flight and, with a forceful swing, launched it downward toward the body of the massive beast. As it impacted the body, he watched as one of its heads slammed into Lenora sending the elderly adventurer into a building.

"NO!" Ichiro called out waking himself up from his sleep.

Cold sweat dripped down his face.