Dominating
The bell rang.
I exploded from the gate.
Concentration activated.
Perfect start.
Perfect reaction.
Perfect timing.
Good.
Exactly according to plan.
The field spread out around me as I settled into fourth.
Not first.
Not second.
Fourth.
The optimal position according to hundreds of race simulations.
Corner Recovery activated entering the first turn.
My body flowed through the bend.
No wasted motion.
No wasted stamina.
Everything was clean.
Everything was efficient.
Everything was
Wrong.
I glanced left.
Marzenskii was beside me.
Not behind.
Beside.
Her posture looked effortless.
No skill activation.
No acceleration trigger.
No visible strain.
She was simply keeping pace.
My smile faded slightly.
The backstretch arrived.
Good Pace activated.
Calm Breathing activated.
Ground Condition Expert activated.
Sunny Day Preference activated.
The system stacked buffs one after another.
My speed increased.
My stamina consumption dropped.
Everything was working exactly as intended.
Marzenskii remained beside me.
Still smiling.
Still relaxed.
The hell?
The final corner approached.
Time to finish it.
Position Sense activated.
Straight Line Preparation activated.
Corner Adept activated.
The chain completed.
Red Shift LP-1211M Level 4 activated.
The world stretched.
My stride length increased.
My acceleration exploded.
Finally.
I shot forward.
The gap appeared.
Half a length.
Three quarters.
One full length.
Got you.
I grinned.
Then Marzenskii looked at me.
And smiled.
Not nervous.
Not pressured.
Amused.
The next moment she accelerated.
My eyes widened.
"What?"
There was no skill.
No visual effect.
No activation window.
Nothing.
She simply became faster.
The gap vanished.
One stride.
Two strides.
Three strides.
She flew past me.
Not gradually.
Violently.
Like she had spent the entire race holding herself back.
The finish line rushed closer.
I activated every remaining skill.
Nothing mattered.
Marzenskii crossed first.
I crossed second.
The result screen appeared.
[2ND PLACE]
[CAREER FAILED]
I stared at it.
Silent.
"..."
"..."
"...What the hell was that?"
That wasn't a skill.
That wasn't optimization.
That wasn't strategy.
That was pure physical dominance.
The kind that ignored math.
Ignored builds.
Ignored plans.
Ignored everything.
I finally understood why the anime treated her like a monster.
Marzenskii wasn't winning because she raced perfectly.
Marzenskii won because she was stronger than everyone else.
The realization hurt.
Because I had spent hundreds of years optimizing this game.
And she had just brute-forced her way through all of it.
The system offered a familiar prompt.
[USE ALARM CLOCK?]
I stared at it.
Then sighed.
"...Fine."
I pressed yes.
The world shattered.
The bell rang.
Again.
Same race.
Same runners.
Same weather.
Same track.
One difference.
I knew.
I knew exactly what had happened.
I settled into the field.
Fourth place.
Just like before.
Marzenskii glanced toward me.
Confident.
Relaxed.
Good.
That confidence was the key.
The first race had taught me something.
Marzenskii wasn't strongest when she was chasing.
She was strongest when she felt threatened.
The moment she identified a rival
The moment she decided she needed to race seriously
She transformed into a monster.
So this time I wouldn't let her.
The race progressed.
Corner Recovery activated.
Good Pace activated.
Calm Breathing activated.
Everything happened exactly as before.
The difference was me.
I never challenged her.
Never pressured her.
Never showed my hand.
Every time I could move up
I didn't.
Every time I could contest position
I yielded.
Every time I could threaten her lead
I backed off.
Marzenskii slowly moved to the front.
Exactly where she wanted to be.
Exactly where she expected to be.
Perfect.
The final corner approached.
I was still behind her.
Still harmless.
Still irrelevant.
At least from her perspective.
I could almost feel her confidence.
The certainty.
The belief that she controlled the race.
That was the trap.
Position Sense activated.
Corner Adept activated.
Straight Line Preparation activated.
The chain completed.
Red Shift LP-1211M Level 4 activated.
Everything happened at once.
My stored momentum exploded forward.
Not enough time.
Not enough distance.
Not enough warning.
Marzenskii's eyes widened.
For the first time all race.
She realized it.
Too late.
She accelerated immediately.
Terrifyingly fast.
Far faster than me.
If we'd had another fifty meters
I would have lost.
Another twenty.
I would have lost.
Another ten.
I would have lost.
But we didn't.
The finish line arrived first.
I lunged.
Marzenskii lunged.
The result board flashed.
[1ST PLACE]
Margin:
[NOSE]
Silence.
I crossed the finish line breathing heavily.
The crowd erupted.
The system celebrated.
The victory screen appeared.
I didn't.
Because I knew the truth.
That wasn't domination.
That wasn't superiority.
That wasn't even a clean win.
That was a robbery.
A carefully planned theft conducted with hundreds of years of accumulated experience and one extremely shameless Alarm Clock.
I looked toward Marzenskii.
She was staring at me.
Not angry.
Not upset.
Interested.
Like she had just encountered a puzzle.
A puzzle she couldn't immediately solve.
And somehow that expression scared me more than losing.
Because if there was one thing I had learned today
It was that Marzenskii was absolutely capable of crushing me.