Monolith World

Even though I was nervous before looking at my time, I was visibly shaking now. My breath didn"t need to quicken, though, since I was already out of it after exerting my body to its limit.

I had to check whether or not I was dreaming again, otherwise I couldn"t accept this result.

I flipped the phone around a few times and looked at the time again. It didn"t change. This was reality.

The only other plausible explanation was that the distance around my neighborhood"s loop was actually less than one kilometer, but that was impossible. I had measured it many times with an odometer. The distance of the inner sidewalk of the loop was very close to one kilometer.

*I wish I could measure it again, but my bike isn"t here...*

The garage was void of everything important, especially methods of transportation. I wouldn"t be lamenting fate if there were at least something that would make my travels slightly easier.

*Who"s lamenting fate? I"m not dead, and that"s very lucky already. Well, I did die once... maybe I"m not actually so lucky...*

Anyway, what was my time?

2:22.37...

It was a world record. For high schoolers, at least. The *world* world record for the one kilometer run was still a little ways off.

*Still, this is insane.*

Although I did train my body, I wasn"t a maniac about it. The thing is, my previous record for a kilometer run was 2:58.96. I had just broken the three-minute mark, which was a great achievement when I accomplished it. But I had just busted my record by thirty-six seconds...

*Maybe I need more sleep.*

That was probably it. After all, I didn"t even remember the last time I had a proper night"s rest.

*Maybe I"ll take a shower and hop in bed.*

I was sweating bullets, so I needed to clean myself off if I were to jump back into bed. I was sort of a neat freak, so getting anything dirty would always irk me to no end. This especially included my bed, where I would spend the most time throughout the course of 24 hours.

I was already directly in front of my house, so I didn"t hesitate to step straight back through the front door. After removing my shoes, I made a beeline for my room, ignoring absolutely everything else. Not that there was much to pay attention to, anyway. Everything was exactly where I had left them.

My door was open when I entered my room, so I instinctively shut it, even though there was n.o.body around. I determinedly headed towards the bathroom.

As I was taking my clothes off, I thought of something.

*Why don"t I treat myself to a bath instead?*

It wasn"t a very important thought, but I couldn"t let it go once it entered my head.

*When was the last time I took a bath instead of a shower?*

I was never really fond of baths, simply because they took up too much time and water. But today, I had all the time in the world. I wasn"t doing anything else, and I had no plans for the future besides training my body.

*In this world, is there anything for me to do, anyway?*

According to the clocks in my possession, it was 11:27. It had been slightly over four hours in this new world, and I was already bored.

*It"s certainly felt like longer, even though I"ve been unconscious for so much of that time... or dead, apparently?*

For a moment, I lamented how much water I would be using for the next hour.

*I deserve this! It"s a treat.*

I steeled my resolve, quit idling and turned on the bath.

Lukewarm water cascaded from the faucet. It took a moment, but the running water eventually heated up to a satisfactory temperature. I watched the water level rise and estimated how many gallons had poured forth so far.

*They say a bathtub holds seventy gallons of water. That"s so much...*

This "reward" I was giving myself was already eating away at my soul.

*Maybe I should have just taken a shower.*

I instantly switched the flow of the water from bath faucet to shower head, and then back again.

At this point, I hadn"t even decided what I was going to do, and the bathtub was already full.

*Looks like it"s decided by default, then.*

It was going to be a bath... I sighed and stuck my leg in the water.

As I stepped into the tub, the warm water seemingly caressed my legs.

*Wow... I guess a bath really feels good when you"ve been exerting yourself.*

At this point, it took a lot of willpower to not jump straight in. I had learned a lesson to not dive in shallow water long ago.

The water line moved up my chest, then my shoulders as I slumped back into the tub.

"Ahh...blublublub...." I exhaled out loud as my face partially submerged.

*Maybe I should do this more often?*

I pondered taking more baths in the future, then shook my head.

*No, this should definitely only be a special occasion.*

I shouldn"t abuse this privilege due to the amount of water it consumed and how good it felt. If I were to do it more often, there was no way it would feel as good.

*Where does this water come from, anyway?*

I suddenly stumped myself with a riddle. There was no water tower in sight, nor were there mountain ranges with flowing rivers. All I had seen outside this neighborhood was a vast field.

*Well, it was a very lush field, so there must be an abundance of water somewhere. I won"t run out of water here, will I?*

I once again attempted to shake this thought from my head. But no thought can permanently escape the brain once it"s entered...

I firmly reminded myself again that baths would only be for special occasions.

*Regardless... I am getting pretty tired... I should finish up here pretty soon and go to sleep. But this bath is so warm... I"ll stay in here for a few more minutes.*

I had only been in the bath for a few minutes, and leaving it so soon would truly be a waste. So I decided to enjoy the warm sensation all over my body for just a bit longer.

——

*Did I seriously fall asleep?*

My head was leaning back on the porcelain when I came to. I groggily lifted it up and looked around.

*I can"t have been unconscious for that long, though.*

The water was still warm, so it could only have been a few minutes at most. My hands were starting to get wrinkly, though, which meant that it was about time to get out.

*Looks like that"s about it for now. Let"s get this over with.*

I hastily washed myself with soap, rinsed it off, and reached to pull the plug on the drain.

All of a sudden, I had an idea.

*They say the Coriolis effect makes the swirl in your toilet go in different directions depending on your hemisphere.*

Water is supposed to spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Of course, I knew that information was bogus. The swirl purely depends on how the toilet is constructed.

However, there is a small force applied to the liquid due to this effect. Unfortunately, this force is so small that it"s hardly even visible, even if the water is still.

Regardless, I still wanted to try this. I knew the drain in this tub was just a hole with no fancy bells and whistles attached. So, theoretically, the water should spin as it drains purely due to the Coriolis effect.

After a brief pause, I pulled the plug.

Water slowly accelerated down the drain. For a few seconds, the water just drained directly into the hole without changing direction. But after a few seconds...

*It"s actually visible, wow!*

The water was clearly spinning in a clockwise direction, which meant that I was in the southern part of the planet. I didn"t live in the Southern Hemisphere.

*As if I needed any more confirmation I was in a different world...*

Not that I had any doubts remaining about this, but this science experiment solidified my belief that I was no longer on Earth.

*Interesting... wait, isn"t it spinning a bit too fast?*

Not only was the swirl clearly visible, it was speeding up! Although it was still relatively slow, the fact that it was visible to this degree was a pretty telltale sign of one thing. Whether it was a good or a bad thing had yet to be seen, but this incident definitely left an interesting question in my mind.

*How fast is this d.a.m.n planet spinning?*