Unable to pay off my debts, I had no choice but to become a Kamen Rider.

"Buzzing! Buzzing!"

The vibration of his phone reached his pillow, causing him to twist his body in a state of disorientation.

The intense reluctance to get out of bed was gripping his body.

Perhaps because of a strange dream, Asano Yu felt really uncomfortable.

The crisp sound of the phone vibrating off the mattress and landing on the floor finally woke him up.

Asano Yuu suddenly sat up in bed. The car that was responsible for reincarnation in another world was still in front of her in her memory. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, and her forehead was covered with cold sweat.

He opened his eyes and found himself not in a convenience store or a hospital bed, but in his rented apartment.

The glaring morning sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, mercilessly piercing his eyes.

He was breathing heavily, trying to calm himself down by taking deep breaths. The absurd yet incredibly real scenes from his dream were still vivid in his mind.

Orfino white-collar workers, Gurongi traffic police, Leo cavalry workers, a convenience store, its manager, and finally, the out-of-control car that crashed in and the shattered glass—

The scene before my eyes blurred and vanished as quickly as the tide receded, leaving only intense palpitations and a strong sense of unreality.

The strange feeling of the bizarre coexistence between the strange creatures and humans in the dream had not completely dissipated, and now, mixed with the anxiety of reality, his mind was somewhat dazed.

He subconsciously recalled the ending of the dream.

That was so clear, so clear it didn't seem like a dream:

Late at night, a convenience store, a strange mother and son, a knight...

Delinquent youths, Gurongi traffic police, Steel Fighter, and 01...

Then came the blinding high beams, the screeching of tires screeching against the pavement, and the deafening crash of shattered glass...

Also, by the way, there were two people in uniforms who were knocked away in front of the convenience store... Were they members of the Knights Guild?

He grabbed his phone from the bedside table—

9:47 a.m.

"Oh no!"

Asano Yu instantly regained most of her senses.

Does this mean he's been sleeping since he got home last night?!

Damn VR is still too exhausting!

Asano Yu overslept. The reason is obvious: he played too much and went too crazy at that VR experience center yesterday, so he was exhausted when he got home.

After taking a shower, I thought I'd take a nap, but I ended up oversleeping.

I'm doomed! My job is going to be ruined!

He frantically searched for his phone, and sure enough, the screen showed several missed calls and messages from the store manager. The latest message was sent at 3 a.m.:

[Yu-kun? You didn't come to work? Call me back if you see this!]

Anxiety welled up inside me.

Could they be after me to yell at me? I did skip work, but does that mean they have to call me several times in a row?

Moreover, it seems that Kirishima Chinatsu and Duanmu Jun also sent messages while I was asleep.

However, Asano Yu is currently too preoccupied with these matters.

Just then, as if to confirm his most absurd conjecture, his phone suddenly vibrated, and the name that jumped on the screen was "Store Manager".

Asano Yu's fingers trembled slightly as he swiped to answer the call:

"Hey, manager, I'm sorry! I overslept last night, I..."

"Asano-kun!"

The store manager's voice was slightly hurried, even a little cracked, but it wasn't the expected reprimand; instead, it was a hurried tone filled with relief, trembling, and lingering fear.

"Are you alright? You didn't come to work last night, right? You're sure you didn't come, right?"

"Yes, yes, I overslept and slept until now..."

Asano Yu quickly apologized, but the store manager's reaction made him feel uneasy.

"Great! It's so good you didn't come!"

The store manager seemed to let out a long sigh of relief, his rough voice tinged with weariness.

After waiting a moment, the store manager continued:

"Listen, Asano-kun, it's a good thing you didn't come last night! It's incredibly good news! Something's happened! The convenience store... the convenience store got hit by a car!"

Asano Yu's brain buzzed.

"Around 2 a.m., a car, I don't know if the driver was drunk or what, suddenly went out of control, veered onto the sidewalk, and crashed straight into the store! All the windows were shattered, the cash register was smashed, and a lot of the shelves were overturned... Luckily, no one was in the store at the time!"

The store manager spoke very quickly, describing the terrible scene at the time.

Of course, it's normal for the store manager to be away from the store; the scene in the dream is still a bit too unrealistic. But unrealistic things have their advantages—

Wait... you got hit by a car?

Asano Yu's palms began to sweat as she gripped her phone, the images in her dream strangely overlapping with the store manager's description.

It was indeed a car that hit him while he was standing behind the cashier and sent him flying.

"And there's something even scarier," the store manager gasped, lowering his voice even further, "There were two patrol officers passing by at the entrance, chasing a suspicious person... and when that car crashed in, it hit them too... injured them! They're both in the hospital now! My God, if you had been in the store at the counter at the time..."

The store manager didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear.

Asano Yu felt a chill run down his spine.

Dream... police... hit and killed... convenience store hit...

Could it be that the two knights from the Knights Guild were hit in the dream, while the two policemen were hit in reality?

"Manager," Asano Yu's dry voice sounded, "what does that car... look like?"

"Huh? A car? A white, very ordinary family sedan. I couldn't see the license plate clearly. The front of the car was dented... The police said the driver was also injured. What happened?"

White... a regular family sedan...

The image of the last car in his dream, with its blinding halo and blurry outline but which looked like an ordinary white sedan, struck him hard.

"N-nothing..."

Asano Yu gave a vague reply.

"Manager, I'm so glad you're alright... How's the situation at the scene now?"

"The police have sealed off the area and are investigating—we definitely can't operate for the next few days. Don't come over yet, wait for further notice."

The store manager gave a few more safety instructions before hanging up the phone.

Asano Yu sat on the edge of the bed, feeling cold all over.

A dream?

Foresight?

coincidence?

Or was I just half asleep and incorporated news clips into my dreams?

But the level of detail and the eerie, immersive feeling were too realistic, far surpassing the realism of the gentle catgirl.

So he couldn't sit still, so he quickly put on his clothes, tidied himself up a bit, and rushed out of the house.

The convenience store wasn't far from his home.

When he ran to that familiar street, he could see the yellow police tape in the distance, as well as the crowd and police cars gathered in front of the convenience store.

The glass facade of the convenience store facing the street has disappeared, leaving only a grotesque hole with jagged shards of glass hanging from its edges.

The store was a mess, with shelves overturned and merchandise scattered all over the floor, mixed with shards of glass and an unidentified liquid. The cash register was dented from the impact, a truly shocking sight.

Police are busy collecting evidence, taking measurements, and questioning witnesses.

The air was filled with a faint smell of gasoline, dust, and a somber atmosphere following a disaster.

Yu Asano stood outside the cordon, his eyes fixed on the vehicle that had been towed away by the tow truck.

A white, ordinary family sedan with a severely damaged front end.

The style, color, and even the distorted shape caused by the impact were the same as the blurry outline he saw through the blinding light at the last moment of his dream.

Just then, his phone rang from his pocket. He was stared at by passersby, but finally chose to walk into a quiet, deserted alley to answer the call.

"Yu-kun! Could you come to the hospital? Hayami-neechan hasn't woken up yet, it's so strange!"