Chapter 14: The greatest vehicle ever made

At some point, he had stopped still. More precisely, it had only taken Haruto a few seconds before running out of air and slumping down on the ground, gasping for his poor lungs, while the city fell apart barely half a block away. For him, however, it felt like he’d been on the move for hours. That’s what happens when you don’t exercise, kids. Not even your soul will be safe.

The boy looked around for a moment. The intersection he’d just crumpled down on looked exactly the same as the one he'd just ran from, except narrower and slightly better lit, as the sky between the buildings was mostly unobstructed.

It was over, he thought. Without a vehicle, there should be no way for him to catch up to the crazy girl, now.

Moreover, he’d expended his crafting ability on that bare escape of his just a minute prior.

He was out of options.

Except…

This was not the first time he’d thought something like that, only for some absurd circumstance or another to drag him forward and keep him going, for better or worse, completely negating his hopeless thoughts.

The map beside him was enough hope for him. Technically speaking, he was the one farthest from the singular dot marking the goal ahead of them. However, through sheer, dumb luck, having survived that crazy predicament back there had left him all the way down on the lower streets which, if the map was correct about, was also where the finish line was placed, in terms of altitude, or at least that was what the dot seemed to suggest. His own dot had increased in size to match it after the fall, while the girls’ remained the same, narrower than the other two, likely because she was high above them.

That meant she would likely have to travel around that whole set path the elevated road forced her onto, going lower and lower until she was able to exit onto ground zero, while he, on the other hand, had just thrown himself out into a massive shortcut, and was already down on the ground. Even though she was technically closer to it, looking flatly at the menu, he was actually the one closest to victory, barring the fact he did not have a vehicle anymore.

If he could somehow find himself, by some miracle, a way to weave himself through these streets fast enough to keep that lead, then… Could it be that he still had a chance to win?

Even though none of this made any sense…

Ever since he’d come to this world, nothing had made any sense. Game menus? Sure, why not? People gaining superpowers like fireballs and freezing time? Sure, why not? Driverless trains and police cars just racing around, trying to kill him for no good reason? Sure, why not!?

He looked around. There were cars parked everywhere, along each and every side of the curb around him. Small, big, and otherwise. Why couldn’t he just take one of those for himself and do the rest of the race in that? His better judgment told him that would be an absurdity. Something like this would obviously be against the rules in a proper, new alternate world.

But this was not a proper world. This was the Cyberway.

So… Why not!? Why not give it a shot? It wasn’t like he had anything to lose!

His spirit renewed, Haruto sprang right back to his feet, forgetting his previous exhaustion entirely, and ran to the nearest car, pulling on its door. It was smaller, more compact than the previous one, with a fully blue finish but it should do for the time being.

Locked.

One more of those insufferable menus popped up beside him: ‘You cannot acquire locked vehicles.’

“Gee, thanks a lot.”

It was no use. He pulled on the handle a few more times. But he couldn’t just force it open. If so, maybe break a window?

“No…”

Something told him that wouldn’t be a good idea. He had no experience doing anything like that, and would likely just end up wasting more time attempting it.

He instead moved on to another car next to it, which looked similar enough. When it didn’t work, he moved on to another. And then another. And another.

After about seven or eight tries, he had started to lose hope again. As predicted they were most likely all locked, so what good would it do him to persist any further. If there was something else… Anything he could use…

Like several times before, a mysterious glint had caught the corner of his eye.

He turned around to meet it, and like so, dread filled him whole.

All the vehicles in that place looked the same, and would likewise be all locked, but there was a sole exception standing right before him now, parked at his nearest end of the intersection.

A row of about half a dozen golf carts were parked side by side right along the curb just waiting for someone to grab them.

“Are you kidding me…?”

Had he really gotten to the point, now, where he was starting to think even a golf cart would be a reasonable choice?

“I mean… It’s not like I have any other alternatives. It’s either that, or… I stay here. And wait ‘till I die?”

Was this it? Was he finally starting to go insane?

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Maybe he was, or maybe not. Little did it matter, anyway.

Springing into one last run, Haruto headed straight for the small, barely guarded vehicles.

Upon reaching the nearest one, he peered inside. Looking closer, the boy felt a shiver crawl along his spine.

Far beyond anything his time spent clumsily driving the Roller could have prepared him for, each part of the vehicle’s interior was either badly rusted, completely covered in dust, or both.

It didn’t take a clairvoyant to see that thing was very old. Abandoned. Just like this ‘Chariot City’, whatever it could be.

Still, that did not stop him. He searched along the entire dashboard (or what he assumed to be it, at least), until he found the partly corroded ignition, with a greasy, sticky key to go along with it.

‘Harrison Golf Model 31, Satisfactory Condition, successfully acquired. For more information, check your vehicle inventory.’

His decision made, Haruto sat down inside the small vehicle, waving away the absurd amounts of grime covering its surfaces, and looked down.

Only two pedals, which made for a simpler design.

Turning the key and pressing the accelerator without further ado, he waited for the vehicle to start moving. Just as expected, it hadn’t started off immediately, taking him another turn and three more presses before the wheels made any effort at all. Still, for a vehicle in such a sorry state, it was a miracle for it to still be working.

Slowly, but steadily, the golf cart moved forward, away from its parking spot, and with a brief turn of the wheel, the boy had placed it back onto the road, ready to resume the race.

Surprisingly enough, the thing seemed to work better than the previous car.

The pedal scheme was easier, with the added bonus that the machine’s overall movement was smooth as butter, almost to a disturbing degree, in fact. The shitty car he’d been forced to use before couldn’t even drive longer than ten meters before it started jerking and jumping about on the move like some crazy cow in heat.

This one, though? This one was perfect, not even a hint of a third pedal in sight…

Except of course, for the fact that something so slow wouldn’t do him any good in a race against that girl…

But then again, not all was lost, he did have the advantage against her when it came to distance. He didn’t need to be ten times faster than her, or even close to that. Only fast enough that he could reach that dot on the map before she could catch up.

Haruto looked into his inventory, tapping the support gear tab. ‘Rocket Booster x11’. He tapped again.

“Item equipped.”

The small, metallic box-like object suddenly took form, sticking tightly to the back of the cart like a starfish to a rock, faintly trembling in place as though it were alive.

Exhaling briefly, he brought his hands to the steering wheel, which barely held itself together. He moved his foot to the accelerator, hesitating for a moment to press it again.

“Alright, grasshopper… Are you really about to try to win some crazy death race with a golf cart?” he mused to himself. “..........SURE, WHY NOT!?!?”

There were no doubts left in his mind. Or rather, there was no mind left to doubt.

The old, dusty machine sprang forward with half-a-dozen hiccups, and he was on his way.

The landscape passed him by, running quickly by him like a slideshow.

But not fast enough.

“Need more.”

He opened his inventory and selected one more booster. And one more. And one more.

“Item– It– Item equipped.”

It sprang further forward, wild, unstoppable. He was barely able to turn. Hell, he was barely able to do anything but go forward and veer slightly anymore. But that was fine. He could find room.

Inside the speeding golf cart, the perfectly sane young man laughed as the cold air mercilessly hit him, filling up his mouth and nostrils. His eyes were wide. He could see it all, he could reach it all.

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