I walked down the road, The streets empty as If making way for me.
"..."
I moved my feet In silence while also reaching Into my pocket, opening my phone to check the time
[11:46]
classes ended earlier than usual due to the absence of multiple teachers.
'I guess something like this can also happen?'
I also didn't return to Gardenia like usual.
'Does this mean that when classes end, no matter the hour I won't go back to Gardenia?'
I hastened my steps to go home faster In a attempt to forget the failure that was the test.
"Absolutely terrible..."
There weren't any suitable fancy words I could say to tell myself how dumb I was.
"my vocabulary isn't that rich...." I muttered under my breath, lowering my head In shame
I reached my house soon after, I changed clothes and went to the gym.
'It should be open at this hour'
And I was right, It was open. I entered the gym and stretched my body before going up to the Leg Press
'I wouldn't go for this one so early but'
It was the only machine that was free, 'Why are there so many people here In the morning?' The streets were completely empty, some elderly people did pass but that was it
A stark contrast to the gym.
I didn't start going to the gym recently, I had already been going there months prior.
So I was familiar with most of the machines, The leg press included.
'Well if I didn't know that, I'd huddle in a corner and cry in shame'
I was already stupid enough, I didn't want to become even dumber.
Laying down on the machine, I spot a figure in the corner of my eye.
It was Gravel Stone, he was Deadlifting.
'Is that...over 100 Kg?'
I couldn't make out the exact weights, but it looked to be over 100 Kg.
Staring back at the machine I involuntarily look at how much I set the weights to.
'150 Kg... that's not half bad for 12 reps'
I tried complimenting myself and stared at Gravel getting ready to deadlift.
"Huup!"
He picked up the bar and raised it, I started counting his reps to see how much he could do
-
-
-
-
"Haaaah"
"..."
I stared blankly at the yawning Gravel.
'45...'
"What kind of monster Is that?"
It was the only thing I could say in this situation, was it fake? no it had to be fake, because who can just do that? I solemnly believed the weights were fake, I mean if he could deadlift that for 45 times, why wouldn't he change the weights?
'It had to be a show'
Gravel started walking towards the weights, he took all the remaining 10 Kg plates and put it on the Bar.
It was a warmup, he started lifting again and I started counting.
This time however.
"Whew~"
He had done 50 reps
He wiped the beads of sweat that formed on his forehead with his towel.
I couldn't refute this, I knew firsthand how heavy those plates are, This guy really did Deadlift that much weight 50 times, barely breaking a sweat.
I tore my eyes away from Gravel and focused on myself.
***
Wobbleeee~
My legs were shaking, wobbling and threatening me to fall down.
I had... tried to push for more.
Watching Gravel I had realized that I couldn't do something ordinary, I had to mold my body Into a body made to survive those monsters.
My life was on the line, If I couldn't even do something as simple as this, I would die.
"Those monsters can lift cars for all I know"
I wouldn't be able to do something like that, but I would be able to react at least or maybe at least tank one hit from them.
Any gain is important, no matter how small it may be, that small gain may save my life one day.
So I can't slack off, I have to strive to be more than what I am now.
'Studying will still be a problem'
I stopped thinking about it entirely, after all If almost an entire month had passed without me improving In that area whatsoever, I knew it would take a long time for me to actually get good grades, so I'll start by Improving my body instead.
"The practical exam will definitely require a strong body to make things smoother" I muttered while holding onto a pole to regain a little strength to use on my legs that still wobbled erratically.
'I look like I came out of an eventful nigh- no no no don't think about it!!'
Steam rose from my head, my face resembling a ripe red apple, I felt my entire body becoming hotter despite the cold wind enveloping me.
I let go of the pole and started walking until I reached my greatest enemy.
"A-Ah, you've got to be..." I covered my face with my hand, my voice trembled and became timid, I surrendered myself to my destiny.
"This road is too steep"
A steep road met my vision, normally it wouldn't matter much, but with my current state? I was bound to tumble and fall down pathetically.
"If I go slowly I won't fall" Such last words were spoken by mouth, only to quickly realize that the road was rigged from the start.
***
I reached my house and put all of my dirty clothes in the washing machine.
"How the hell do you get shit on by a bird?" I inwardly cursed my luck, I went to my closet to get clean clothes to use.
Then I took a shower, my legs still wobbling.
It felt heavenly.
"That felt good after a day full of bullshit~"
I walked out of the bathroom with a towel resting on my nape after I took a shower.
I could still feel the warm water caressing my skin and soothing my mind.
Thud!
"?!"
the moment I tried going to my bedroom I fell down, my legs drained of strength
They felt sore, I tried moving them but I couldn't move them, It was as if they had fallen asleep, my eyelids felt heavy, my arms were drained of strength.
Eventually my eyes closed and I fell asleep on the floor.
The sensation of falling asleep was different, I didn't know what the difference was but I knew that I wasn't falling asleep under mere exhaustion.
Something was forcing me, something was closing my eyes and I didn't know what it was.
The only words I could use to describe this feeling was that I felt like I was being cradled, held by something gentle, at some point I even heard a faint lullaby echo In my mind.
I didn't dream about anything, maybe I did dream of something but I couldn't remember it.
I was simply accompanied by a gentle swirling darkness that followed my every step, no matter how small they were.
***
"Ugh!"
I woke up, I felt a piercing pain at the back of my head, it was so painful that I thought someone stuck a needle into it.
Raising my rested body up from the floor, I went to the kitchen to get a cup of water to moisten my dry mouth.
I gulped down all the tap water from the cup.
The water filled my entire mouth that resembled a desert and moisture returned to it shortly after.
"That feels refreshing"
I made such a comment before going back Into my room and booted up my Computer.
"..?"
something had caught my eye when I opened the computer.
[4:54 PM]
I came back home at 2:15 PM after I was done working out in the gym.
I finished showering at 2:34 PM.
which meant.
"I slept for more than 2 hours?"
I was stunned that I had fallen asleep for that long, after all no matter how tired I was.
"I never sleep in the afternoons though..."
I would never sleep in the afternoon, only at night.
"Well it must have been a coincidence"
I dismissed it, after all It was already more surprising that a place like Gardenia existed.
"Ah, now that I think about it, Gardenia might have existed in this world"
Nobody said Gardenia wouldn't have a history in my world after all, did they?
Even if there was no school named Gardenia, I could still find out about something else.
"There's no way I was the only one transported to Gardenia"
It was arrogant to think that I would be the only student transported to Gardenia, there was bound to be a case where one of my predecessors would have been claiming he was sent to a place called 'Gardenia'.
It was worth a shot, since it wouldn't hurt to know.
"....what"
But I was met with a load of nothing, just some random websites that had nothing to do with the search.
I clicked on the Images to see If there was something there, but
"..."
Nothing resembled a remote quality of Gardenia.
There was no history of Gardenia or anyone claiming they were sent there.
"This makes no sense...."
I covered my face In disappointment and gave up on trying to search anything about Gardenia.
Of course It wasn't like I hadn't tried to phrase it in another way, I did and the results were even more disappointing than before.
Gardenia doesn't have any sort of history, no one even knows the name.
I stared at my computer blankly before closing the browser and also closed the computer completely.
I got up and laid down at my bed, staring at the tall ceiling above with no particular thoughts in mind.