With thanks to Grey Rook here's Part Seven
As I headed out from my final class of the day, I still hadn't lost the silly grin that I had had plastered on my face since that morning. I had a date, for the first time in my entire life I had a date! Not only that, but it was with one of the most gorgeous women in Japan, if not the world, though that might have been bias talking. I don't think my feet touched the ground that entire day, and I'm pretty sure that people were looking at me funny but who cared!
It was in that hazy state of bliss that I was brought back to reality when I heard a female voice calling my name, one that sounded oddly familiar. I turned around and was sucked back to reality when I spotted one Miss Saeko Busujima looking at me askance. "Sensei? Are you alright?"
That quickly reminded me of the conversation I'd had with the young woman the day before. "Oh right, sorry, I had a bit of a crazy evening the day before, I'd forgotten you'd allowed me to use your dojo. I haven't even brought my stuff today. Terribly sorry, Ms. Bujishima." I quickly bowed in apology. "But if you're willing to wait I can go get it from my apartment, I literally live a couple of minutes away."
She looked me over. A girl that age shouldn't be able to berate a grown-ass man with just her eyes. Then she seemed to shrug it off. "I heard from the nurse's office about your... adventure last night. A man shouldn't apologize for doing a good deed, just come to the practice room as soon as you can." With a faint smile on her face she turned and began heading towards the kendo room. For some reason, I felt like I'd passed an extremely important test.
Deciding not to dwell on that particular line of thought, I exited the school grounds and ran down back to my apartment. I quickly walked over to my closet and opened the door, pushing aside the clothing I kept in there including a leather biker's outfit, something I hoped I could use when THAT day came, and pulled out the shield, axe, and spear, all three of them wrapped in heavy cloth.
After checking to make sure that they were still in good condition, I strapped the shield over my back, stuck the axe through my belt and kept the spear over my shoulder like a hobo stick. I looked ridiculous, but it was the best I could do at the time.
Locking the door behind me I quickly walked back up the hill to the school, purposefully ignoring the looks a few people gave me with the wrapped weapons. It only took me another few minutes to get back to the school proper and find the Kendo Dojo.
It was a traditional-looking building set on the school grounds, someone must have greatly appreciated the art when they donated to the school.
Slipping off my shoes, I quickly entered the building. I noted that Busujima was kneeling towards the back of the dojo, she'd managed to change into a kendo uniform in the time it took me to get back to the school. When she saw me shut the door behind me she smiled and rose to her feet.
���That was quicker than I expected, Sensei."
"Well, like I said, I live right near the school so it was no problem getting to my apartment and back."
"Convenient, so Sensei, let me see this gear you're wanting to learn how to use. Axe fighting isn't my area of expertise but I might be able to point out a few things."
"Alright then, let's take a look at these." And with that I unwrapped the axe and shield from their coverings. I heard a slight gasp from Saeko when I unwrapped the axe blade. I was a blithering moron when it came to weapons but even I could tell that a master had put his heart into forging the axe head, the curve of theFrancisca battle-axe's head was absolutely perfect, and the steel glistened like ice in the afternoon sun.
I took a few steps back from Saeko and after hefting the axe a few times, I gave it a few practice swings, it was perfectly balanced as far as I could tell and I felt a sort of rightness with the world when I swung the blade in a few lazy swings.
I then placed the blade on the ground and turned my attention to the shield. It seemed to be a work of art as well, made of solid wooden planking as well as having an iron rimming around the edge and tough leather making up the front. The front was painted a pure white background and a black raven painted in Norse style, if I recalled it actually the same Raven stitched into the Raven banner that the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok bore with him when they led the Great Heathen Army to the shores of Britain to fulfill their oath to avenge their father's death. ROB, or whatever power had sent me here, had a sense for the dramatic. The boss was made of solid steel and had some etchings that reminded me of Norse knotwork, wonderfully made, and I think I could see dragons and other creatures in the boss.
Even though I'd seen them before, it was still a sight to see these obvious works of master craftsmanship.
I slid my hand into the boss-grip, while not light it wasn't as monstrously heavy as I'd expected. I shifted the thing high to low and back several times before punching forward with it a few times. Once I was satisfied with that I picked the axe back up, holding it in my right hand while I kept the shield in my left. Bending my legs a hair and keeping on the balls of my feet, I moved my right foot back so that my shield was forward.
At this point Saeko spoke up. "You might have the right idea, Sensei, but you're too stiff, relax a bit more and straighten your legs a bit. Yes, like that. Feeling more comfortable?"
"Actually yes, I am, thank you." I replied, bobbing my head towards her in thanks. With that, I began some practice swings, just using what felt right to me. Overhand, underhand, sideswing, punch forward, hook and pull, punch with the handle and shield punch, they were a simple set of strikes, but considering that I only had about ten months to learn them simple was ideal. For about half an hour I continued to practice with the axe and shield with strike after strike after strike. It wasn't perfect and I was sure there were better ways to go about this, but I needed to start somewhere.
It was about then I noticed that Saeko was watching my - what I felt was - moronic flailing about. She wasn't in her kneeling position and when I looked around I saw that she'd been practicing on a dummy along one side of the building, but it was still odd to be watched with such intensity. "Is something the matter, Miss Busujima?" I finally asked.
"No, Brody-Sensei... you said you've never actually used that axe or shield before?" She replied, a slight look of interest on her face.
"Other than a few swings in the park one time, no. Why do you ask? My flailing about that obvious?" I asked with a self-deprecating chuckle.
"No, it's not that bad, but you've got some impressive stamina, wielding a blade requires the use of muscles you normally don't use or at least not in the way you need, most who first start working with a weapon would be spent after a few minutes and you've been going for half an hour already." She replied.
I blinked at that, I'd always had pretty good stamina and the ability to shrug off discomfiture, but half an hour? I didn't even realize so much time had gone by, I was kind of impressed with myself. "Huh, well, that's good, I guess." Right then the muscles of my arms and shoulders tightened up, the abuse I'd put them through finally catching up.
Saeko noticed it immediately. "You over-exerted yourself, Sensei, you might want to get a drink of water and rest a few minutes before trying to continue."
I nodded and strode out and around the side of the building where I'd spotted a water fountain - the only sign of modernity in or around the building I'd spotted so far - and gulped down some water, quenching my thirst. Once I was finished I stood back up and stretched by arms in an attempt to keep any cramping or stiffness out. As I stretched I assessed my current situation. I still had about ten months before Z-Day came, in the past couple of months I'd been physically training myself to the best of my admittedly hazy memories of fitness and strength training I'd done with my high school football team and my father.
I grimaced at that. My dad, my mom, my younger brother and sister. After I'd gotten the teaching job I'd decided to try and look up my family to see if they were here, if there was a possible other me living on the other side of the world. My findings weren't comforting. My search was a failure, there was no record of any of my relatives or the firm my dad worked at.
On a whim I decided to look up my grandfather, a WWII veteran whom I was named for. It was then that I found out why my family didn't seem to exist. On a site dedicated to the Old Hickory Division was the name of a Tom Brody who was killed in action during Operation Cobra when the 30th Infantry got hit by friendly fire bombing. It had floored me when I saw it. I simply stared at that name over and over and over again. I looked up Operation Cobra, I saw how a British Bombing run had screwed up on their targeting and had dropped their payload right on top of the Division, causing a hundred casualties, my grandfather of this world apparently being one of them.
Luckily, that had been a Sunday, meaning that I wasn't missed because I was in a haze for the entire day. It had also finally hammered home that, without a shadow of a doubt, I was no longer home and that I likely wasn't ever going back. For the first time in a long time I wept, I cried long and hard, I screamed, I shouted, I cursed, I threw things, stomped on the floor and even hurled things against the wall. I prayed long and hard, begging God, ROB, anyone to take me back home away from this madness and horror of a world about to die in waves of the undead. I begged for the answer to why I'd been brought here, for personal amusement, to act as a hero? I wasn't a hero, I didn't have it in me to be one, I was a 25 year old college graduate, I'd never been in the army, I'd never had any serious leadership experience. I had the social skills of a rock, there was no way in hell I could survive in this world, let alone thrive.
I'd finally exhausted myself when the door to my closet groaned open. I had probably shaken it loose in my temper tantrum, though I was sure I'd shut that door properly. When it had opened wide, the weapons that had been given to me on my arrival had fallen out with a thudding clatter. The axe and spear heads and the shield boss glinted in the midday light that beamed into my room and hit them dead on. The Raven on the shield almost seemed to flap its wings.
A rush of warmth and confidence seemed to fill me up from deep in my core. Whatever force had brought me here wouldn't have given me so much time and such gear it had wanted to make me suffer and die quickly. I walked over to the fallen weapons, I picked the shield up and held it in my left, I hefted the axeand gave it a few practice twirls then stuck it into my belt. I then picked up the spear, beautifully balanced with a diamond shaped head about ten inches long and razor sharp. I gave it a few practice thrusts before holding it like I would a practice staff. I may be way over my head but I wasn't helpless. Taking comfort in that, I carefully put the equipment back into the closet and closed the door. I didn't have anywhere to practice with that gear, not yet. But I intended to rectify that as soon as I could.
The rest of the apartment dwellers never commented on my outburst but I did see a bottle of sake sitting next to my door the next morning with a short note saying, "It won't cure what ails ya but it'll numb it long enough for you to deal with it." No name was written below.
That bottle was still in my home, unopened. I'd also taken to wearing a crucifix under my shirt and next to my skin from that day on.
I was actually fingering the golden crucifix when Saeko interrupted my reminiscing behind the dojo. "Sensei? Are you alright?"
Blinking away my wool gathering, I straightened up and stretched one more time before turning back to Saeko. "Yes, I'm doing fine, Miss Busujima. Would it be alright if I practiced here for a little while longer?" I asked. "I wasn't planning to go longer than another fifteen minutes, if that's alright with you and your club members. Where are the rest of them anyway?" I hadn't seen anyone else besides Saeko since I came here.
I was actually a bit surprised when Saeko seemed flustered as she answered. "Food poisoning. I told them that a sushi platter that cheap was a poor choice."
The image of the normally stoic young swordswoman that agitated was enough to make me start laughing. It took me a few seconds to get back under control but eventually I managed to wheeze out; "I see, my sympathies, Miss Busujima and I hope your clubmates have a speedy recovery."
Saeko flushed for a second then bowed. "Thank you for the gesture, Sensei. As for your question, yes you can continue for a while longer. If you want, you could keep your gear here if you like."
Smiling, I bowed again. "Thank you Miss Busujima, that'd be greatly appreciated, it certainly makes it easier to not have to carry all that stuff back and forth from my house."
"Not at all, Sensei, it's a pleasure to see someone interested in the old methods of combat, even if it isn't with the sword." She answered.
She seemed to consider something for a moment then continued; "If you'd like some help with the spear as well, I think I might have an idea. I'm not experienced with that weapon but I know the captain of the Sojutsu club and she might be able to help you there."
I thanked her again and then went back into the Dojo to continue my practicing. The next day was the first time I met the next member of the original crew, one Rei Miyamoto.