Walking down the road, The streets empty as If making way for the ones that felt defeated
"..."
Cale moved his feet In silence while also reaching Into his pocket, opening his phone to check the time
[11:46]
School ended earlier than usual due to the absence of multiple teachers.
'I guess something like this can also happen?'
He also didn't return to Gardenia like usual. Which was something to take note of
'Does this mean that when classes end, no matter the hour I won't go back to Gardenia?'
Cale hastened his 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 that could be used to describe himself how dumb he really was.
"My vocabulary isn't that rich...." He muttered under a quiet breath, lowering his head In genuine shame
He reached his house soon after, changed clothes and went to the gym after eating.
'It should be open at this hour'
And he was right, It was wide open. He entered the gym and stretched his 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 through the street but that was it
A stark contrast to the gym however.
"Don't they have jobs?"
Going to the the gym prior. Cale 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'
He was already stupid enough, he didn't want to become even dumber.
Laying down on the machine, a figure in the corner of his eye was spotted.
It was Gravel Stone, he was Deadlifting.
'Is that...over 100 Kg?'
The exact weights couldn't be made out, but it looked to be over 100 Kg.
Staring back at the machine he sat with his rear down, he involuntarily looked at how much he set the weights to.
'150 Kg... that's not half bad for 12 reps'
Cale tried complimenting himself and stared at Gravel getting ready to deadlift.
"Huup!"
He picked up the bar from the floor and raised it to hip-level in a slow and controlled but bored manner, and Cale started counting his reps to see how much he could do
-
-
-
-
"Haaaah"
Gravel chugged down his water bottle
"..."
Cale stared blankly at the yawning and newly-refreshed Gravel.
'45...'
"What kind of monster could do that?"
It was the only thing that could be genuinely said in this situation
'Is it fake? no it had to be fake, because what kind of person can just do that?'
Believing the weights were fake, he scoffed at the idiot trying to pretend
'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 again, he took one look at the rack with all the remaining 10 Kg plates and swiftly put it on the Bar.
Someone couldn't just switch out the plates on the rack without being noticed at least once, especially not that many fake plates since people would start to question how it was possible to carry that many in
The previous set was just a warmup, he started lifting again and Cale started counting, more seriously this time.
This time however.
"Whew~"
He had done 50 reps..
Gravel wiped the beads of sweat that formed on his forehead with his towel.
And Cale couldn't refute this, he knew firsthand just how heavy those plates are
'This guy really did Deadlift that much weight 50 times, barely breaking a sweat'
For reference, the exact weight was 220KG, well within the category of advanced, maybe even in the elite
And the funniest part? The only reason Gravel would even be doing so many reps had to be because of one thing
The gym didn't have enough plates for him and even if there was, the bar wouldn't be able to hold it
Cale tore his eyes away from Gravel and focused on his own tasks
***
Wobbleeee~
Cale's legs were shaking, wobbling and threatening to tumble and fall down pathetically.
'I... tried to push for more'
Watching Gravel. Cale had realized that he couldn't do something ordinary for humans, he had to mold his body Into a body made to survive those monsters.
It was impossible in reality, but the supernatural that was Gardenia was proof enough that he could surpass his limits in some shape or form
"Maybe if my ability evolves..."
But it didn't seem like he would get the famous 'Level up!' popup from those system novels anytime soon
'Still, I should try'
"Those monsters can lift cars for all I know"
Cale wouldn't be able to do something like that, but he 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 he couldn't slack off, he had to strive to be more than what he was now.
'Studying will still be a problem though'
Cale stopped thinking about that hopeless case entirely, after all If almost an entire month had passed without improvement In that area whatsoever, he knew it would take a long time to actually get good grades, so he would start by Improving the body first instead.
"The practical exam will definitely require a strong body to make things smoother" He muttered while holding onto a pole to regain a little strength to use on his 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 the grilling head, face resembling a ripe red apple. Cale felt his entire body becoming hotter despite the cold wind enveloping him and touching him whole.
Like throwing the training wheels to a bike, he let go of the pole and started walking carefully until reaching his greatest enemy.
"A-Ah, you've got to be..." He covered his teary face with one hand, voice trembling and becoming timid
"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
Cale surrendered to his fate. But he still felt the need to be optimistic
"If I go slowly I won't fall" Such last words were spoken by the brittle vocals of the mouth, only to quickly realize that the road was rigged from the start.
***
Soon, he reached his house and put all of his dirty clothes in the washing machine as his first action.
"How the hell do you get shit on by a passing bird?" He inwardly cursed his luck, trudging slowly to his closet to get clean clothes that are usable.
Then he took a warm shower, legs still wobbling.
It felt heavenly to bullshit stricken body that was his damned mortal body.
"That felt good after a day full of shit~"
Literally
Walking out of the bathroom with a towel resting on the nape after a shower was taken like he was in a date.
The feeling of warm water caressing the skin soothed his mind constantly.
Thud!
"?!"
The moment he tried going to the bedroom for rest. Cale fell down
Legs drained of strength and spirit
They felt sore, attempts of moving them were done but it was impossible. It was as if they had fallen asleep, and strangely Cale's eyelids felt heavy at the same time, arms drained completely of strength.
Eventually, his weary eyes closed and fell asleep on the floor.
'The sensation of falling asleep is different from usual, I don't know what the difference is but I know that I am not falling asleep under mere exhaustion'
Something was forcing him, something was closing his eyes with their own fingers and Cale couldn't know what it was.
The only words he could use to describe this feeling was that it felt like he was being cradled, held by something gentle, at some point a faint lullaby was echoing anthems In his mind.
Cale didn't dream about anything, maybe he did dream of something but he couldn't remember it.
His mind was only accompanied by a gentle swirling darkness that followed every step and decision he took, no matter how small they were.
***
"Ugh!"
He woke up, a piercing pain strangled at the back of his head, it was so painful that he thought someone stuck numerous needles into it.
Raising his rested body up from the floor, he first went to the kitchen to get a cup of water to moisten his dry mouth.
He downed all the tap water from the cup.
The water filled the entirety of the desert that was his mouth and moisture returned to it shortly after.
"That feels refreshing"
The pain eased, so much so that such a comment could be made
Afterwards he went back Into his room and booted up his Computer.
"..?"
Something had briefly caught his eye when booting up the computer.
[4:54 PM]
'Didn't I come back home at 2:15 PM after working out in the gym?'
"Then I finished showering at 2:34 PM"
It didn't add up, which could only mean.
"I slept for more than 2 hours?"
Cale was stunned that he had fallen asleep for that long, after all no matter how tired he was.
"I never sleep in the afternoons though..."
He would never sleep in the afternoon, only at night.
"Well it must have been a coincidence"
He dismissed it, after all It was already more surprising that a place like Gardenia existed. Something like this is acceptable
"Ah, now that I think about it, Gardenia could have existed in this world"
'Nobody said Gardenia wouldn't have a history in my world after all, did they?'
"Even if there is no school named Gardenia, I can still find out about something else"
Potential predecessors, in other words people that may have been sent to Gardenia once like him
"There's no way I was the only one transported to Gardenia"
It was arrogant to think that he would be the only student transported to Gardenia, there was bound to be a case where one of his predecessors would have been claiming he was sent to a place called 'Gardenia' the sent to some mental asylum.
It was worth a shot, since it wouldn't hurt to know at the very least
"....What?"
But Cale's search was met with a load of nothing, just some random websites that had nothing to do with the search itself.
He clicked on the Images to see If there was something there, but
"..."
Nothing resembled a remote quality to Gardenia.
There was no history of Gardenia or anyone claiming they were sent there at any point of the observable history.
"This makes no sense...."
Cale covered his face In disappointment and gave up on trying to search anything about Gardenia since obviously it wouldn't amount to anything.
Of course It wasn't like he hadn't tried to phrase it in another way, he did and the results were even more disappointing than before.
He even tried using Ai for help but nothing there
Gardenia doesn't have any sort of history, no one even knows the name.
Cale kept on gazing at his computer blankly before closing the browser and also closing the computer completely.
He raised himself up from his chair and laid down at his soft bed, staring at the tall ceiling above with no particular thoughts in mind.
The beat of his heart accompanied the silence that he carried anxiously