Chapter 539: It's my Complete Defeat

I'm currently in a racing game showdown with Alice. I was able to overtake Alice by making use of my Special Drive, but the race was still in the middle stage…… You could say that the crucial moment starts here on out.

According to the course map, the next rough point…… was a big spiral curve. This was probably designed for a game, but maneuvering through such a path looked quite difficult.

The curve itself looked gentle, but because it is a spiral, it was a long path where it's difficult to accelerate. It would be great if I could somehow safely get through it.

As I was thinking this, the entrance to the spiral curve came into view. As I had expected, I couldn't go through it at full speed, so I slowed down to a moderate speed and……

"How naive! Kaito-san"

[What!?]

However, as I was slowing down my speed, Alice accelerated at full throttle, immediately passing me and heading for the spiral curve. But no matter how I see it, she's being too reckless. There was no way that she could pass through those curves with that speed.

This is certainly a game where you wouldn't get hurt even if you run into a wall, but there is a penalty that significantly slows down the rider. Considering that, Alice's attack was too reckless……

It was at this moment that I remembered the Special Drive that Alice had mentioned. Oh no, so that's what she's planning!? Alice's vehicle's Special Drive is great at cornering…… which means……

(T/N: Handling a car on a turn is called cornering)

As if to affirm the thoughts that had popped in my head, Alice's mini buggy used all of its four tires to its fullest and turned around the curve in a four-wheel drift that makes it seem like she's sticking close to the wall.

If she continues using that Inverse Cornering…… This is bad, she's going to pull away.

It seems that her Special Drive is more troublesome than I expected. As long as she has that Special Drive, Alice can go past curves without slowing down at all, putting the "in" in Inverse Cornering.

However, that Special Drive of her isn't unbeatable. There is always a flaw.

Thinking about this, I opened the menu and checked the page that describes the details of every vehicle. There was information on my BC96, as well as on Alice's machine, and it also mentioned each vehicle's Special Drive.

Alice's vehicle's Special Drive can be used once every two kilometers, and it can also be saved for later use as a charge. One charge lasts for 3 seconds…… Repeated use of a charge is also possible.

It's about 10km from the start point to here, which means Alice should have a maximum of 5 charges saved up…… The spiral curve we just saw was a pretty big curve, so she should have consumed two, or perhaps, three charges.

Other than that, there were only two other times that Alice's car drifted in such a way that it seemed like her car was clinging on the corner…… which means that Alice's stock of Special Drive charges should be exhausted already.

There are only about 8 and a half kilometers left to the finish line in this 19km long course. Which means, Alice can only use that Special Drive four more times, even if she saves them up until just before the finish line. However, since the last kilometer almost consists of just a straight line…… there shouldn't be any point in her saving all four of her Special Drives.

If it's possible, it would be great if she misuses at least one of her charges. I guess I should come up with a solution for that.

In that case, the part deciding the match would be …… either at the large S-curve at the 14km point, or the five consecutive curves between the 17km and 18km points, which would be the race's final obstacle.

For the time being, let's close the gap as much as possible and stay right behind her. And the next time Alice uses her Special Drive…… would be where the real battle begins.

Speaking of which, I wonder what happened to the NPCs following behind us? Did Alice set it on the weakest setting because this is my first time playing?

As I was thinking about such unimportant things, my BC96, with its superior maximum speed, closed the gap that had opened up on the curve as we passed through a straight road, catching up behind Alice with only a 50m difference between us.

"……Kaito-san."

[Unnn?]

"You were planning something, aren't you? Fufufu, I don't know what you're planning but…… If you think you can overtake me, I'd like to see you try!"

[Yeah…… You're on, Alice!]

The S-Curve of Victory. Is Alice going to use her Special Drive on that? No, she definitely will. She went out of her way to say something that would provoke me. That means, she's going to decide the race here!

As if to affirm my thoughts, Alice approached the curve at a clearly excessive speed. I also followed her into the S-curve with as little deceleration as possible.

"That's great. Those sharp thrusts of yours…… As expected of Kaito-san. However, can you break through this!?"

As soon as she says that, Alice's baby buggy starts to drift around the inner walls, making perfect use of all four wheels.

Seeing this, as I had planned beforehand, I swerved.

"You're going to move towards the outer corner, Kaito-san? Or perhaps, a lane-taking mistake? No, this is!?"

Click to open image >> (T/N: Lane-taking is something like this. Apparently. I'm not sure, I can't even drift in Mario kart.)

Yes, this is the position I've been aiming for…… From the end of the first curve to the second curve, there is a straight line…… to which I will activate my second Special Drive.

What I'm aiming for…… was the "inner wall" of the second curve!

"What…… the!?"

On the straight line between these S-curves, the distance is too short to use BC96's Special Drive. The disadvantage of not being able to turn too fast is that I will inevitably end up hitting a wall…… and that's why I'm aiming for that gamble of a moment.

It can be said that this is just a forced move that can be used only because this game ensures that we wouldn't be hurt.

When we hit a wall, the penalty is a significant deceleration of speed. However, I knew that the penalty would be based on the rider's "current speed", so after hitting the inside wall…… I would overtake Alice, and using my Special Drive, I would accelerate through the speed that I lost from hitting the curve.

I also have one big goal for doing this. That is to "block Alice from using her Special Drive"……

"Kuhh, the inside wall……"

I could hear Alice's frustration through the private line…… Yes, Alice's vehicle's Special Drive has the characteristic of "automatically aiming for the Inverse Cornering". In that case, if I were to block the inside wall…… Alice cannot activate her Special Drive.

The plan seemed to be a great success, as I was able to hold Alice off and get through the S-curve.

Thereupon, arriving on the long straight line…… I used my final Special Drive, immediately pulling a distance away from Alice.

Alice had used the Special Drive once at the first corner of the S-curve. This means that she should have 2 charges left…… a Special Drive for a total of 6 seconds. It's just a simple calculation, but if I can outpace Alice by more than 6 seconds, I can win.

With my last Special Drive, I was able to pull away quite a distance, which should be an advantage of 10 seconds. As long as my car has a higher maximum speed, there's no way she can overtake me.

After a few moments, I finally saw the 5 consecutive curves. I've won! Now, all I have to do is not make any mistakes……

"Ughee, Kaito-san, you're really amazing. For you to do this much even though this should be your first time playing this game, how surprising."

[I think you made a mistake in using your Special Drive too much on the start……]

"Ahaha……"

At that moment, I felt a chill run down my spine. Arehh? What is this unpleasant feeling…… I thought victory was already almost in my grasp…… I have already entered the 5 consecutive curves. If I could just get past this point, the finish line would be just around the corner.

"……I did tell you, didn't I? My vehicle's special ability is to automatically attack the inner walls of the curves "without slowing down at all"……"

[ ! ? ]

……Wait, what did she mean by that? I mean, Alice's has been using her Special Drive, right…… That drift should be her Special Drive…… Drift?

When she's drifting…… I think…… she's slowing down……

"……I've never used it yet. From the start of the race, "I've never used my Special Drive"."

[Wha!?]

As Alice said those despair-inducing words, approaching the third corner of the 5 consecutive curves, Alice's car appeared in my rear-view mirror.

With a speed over 100km/h, not slowing down at all…… Alice's buggy was approaching with an unconventional behavior, as if there were rails on the inner curves.

This is her real Special Drive…… This is bad, I should block the inner wall……

"It's useless."

[She…… avoided my block……]

As if to trample upon my idea of blocking the inner walls and interfering with Alice's Special Drive, her car avoided mine with a perpendicular trajectory and passed through me, still moving with her maximum speed.

I completely misread her ability. Her Special Drive also automatically evades the car in front of her huh…… D*mn it, this is bad. The two remaining curves will allow her to make a big difference between us!

Now that I've used up all of my Special Drives, there's no way for me to catch up with Alice. It seemed that what I had said to Alice had come straight back to me.

Of course, my technique is far inferior to Alice's, who can drift like that even without using a Special Drive…… Still, if I had saved one last Special Drive for this moment…… No, it's too late to say such things now.

[……It's my loss.]

"Fufufu, well, this is just our first game. For me, I was wondering if I can win without having to use my Special Drive, but I was so surprised about how fast you were. Maybe next time, we'll have a better match."

[……Mnghh. Alice, one more game.]

"Alrighty. After we reach the goal, let's take some break before we go to the second round!"

Dear Mom, Dad———— How should I say this…… I thought I had planned things out, but in the end, the match was complete under Alice's control. Even putting aside the fact that I was a beginner, I was overwhelmed by her strategies. Anyway, in this match———- It's my complete defeat.

~~ Highlight of the race ~~

? ? ? : [Amazing, that 96! It completely broke Alice-chan's drift opportunity, making her unable to push forward!? It also got a great start-up distance too! Just barely missing the guardrail!]

Serious-senpai : [No, there's no way a motorbike could do something like that!!!]

＊＊＊＊

Alice-chan : [Kaito-san was amazing! His course planning and strategy were great! But! However! Nevertheless! It completely didn't work! He's still far from beating Alice-chan!!!]

Serious-senpai : [……Oi…… It disappeared…… That thing blocking your name disappeared.]

Alice-chan : [……Eh?]

Serious-senpai : [? ? ?, that thing blocking your name disappeared.]

Alice-chan : [……Well then, that's it for the Afterword, let's get back to the main story! ? ? ?, who is that? I totally don't know any beauty with such a name! I'll take my leave then!!!]

On a side note : The character rough draft of Volume 3 has been posted in the Activity Report. Also, I'm secretly posting a Christmas original that I was going to submit to another project. If you're so inclined, please take a glimpse at it as if you were the Demon King of a certain card game.

(T/N: Dunno what TCG Author-san was talking about here)