125: Spaceship Race Begins
"Begin! All ships, launch! Departing the colony, going, going, going!!!"
"It's started."
"It has begun."
"No thruster output issues, no navigation synchronization problems, no ships exhibiting abnormal behavior... the spectators should be fine for now."
The Niliani Potz Asteroid Belt Cup Fighter 16-Hour Endurance Race has begun.
Almost simultaneously, thirty-two fighters launched from the Gate Colony and plunged into the asteroid belt.
Following closely behind are two groups.
One is the spectator group we belong to, and the other consists of the team spacecraft carrying support crew for the fighters.
"First to launch is No. 1 Fasttrans! Chasing right behind is No. 7 Black Shadow, followed by..."
Since the rule is simple—teams that travel the farthest through the asteroid belt within 16 hours win—the majority of fighters launch forward in a rush to get ahead.
The asteroid belt of the Narianipotts system is a hazardous zone filled with asteroids and meteoroids of various sizes, colliding and moving unpredictably. Yet, they breeze through it as if to say, “No big deal,” swiftly and with minimal course adjustments.
And gradually, the gap between the leading and trailing ships begins to widen.
According to the brochure on the official website, this kind of spacecraft race should have detailed regulations covering every aspect—hard, soft, mods, and more—so differences in speed shouldn't be that significant.
Yet this gap... It must just come down to the sheer skill of the pilots.
"Whoa! Intense blaster fire from behind! It's 22nd Hikari no Ame Arare! 13th Yamayama Rak is crashed by this fierce assault! But if we do something like this now... As expected! 22nd Hikari no Ame Arare is also crashed! We've been hammered hard by the other team!!"
"Ah, so soon, then?"
"Ooh, they're flying apart quite dramatically..."
Additionally, the fighters participating in this race are permitted to equip a blaster mod of appropriate output power in order to clear obstacles blocking their path.
Furthermore, each team is required to prepare up to three fighters, and if a crash occurs, they may restart from the crash site after a brief delay, up to two times.
Hmm, this time it's a rather calm start. Only two units crashing, I see.
"Yeah, normally there'd be a team willing to go all-in with a one-way run, sacrificing themselves to take out everyone else... but is it due to the rule adjustments?"
"Isn't that right? Well, self-destructing is definitely too problematic. It would cause trouble for the colony too."
...
Well, as you can see, it's not just rough—it's outright permitted to be extremely aggressive in this race.
Obstacles aren't a problem, even if they're other teams' machines, and it's fine if your own craft has its blaster barrel pointed directly behind you.
The only thing that's not allowed is deliberately targeting a pilot who's been ejected from a crashed machine.
Hmm, this is a sport that's only allowed because every racer brings high-output shield mods of their own.
"Alright, now that the start's over, we'll just be flying for a while."
"That's right. There are plenty of ways to interfere—tight in-routes, sniper blasters, mines, and so on—but I think we should hold off on using those until later, once things have eased up a bit."
"So, uh..."
To be honest, it's incredibly rough.
I didn't really care, so unlike Joharis and Vilijanira, I jumped in without any real knowledge, and it's really rough.
It's basically a race fought while battling.
"I'll just enjoy some popcorn for now."
"Speaking of which, Sat. Why are there three types of popcorn?"
"Since we're here, I thought I'd try out different flavors. Want to join in, Vee and Joharis?"
"We will."
"We'll give it a try."
I lay out the popcorn I bought in front of me.
Next to it, I place my carbonated drink, faintly glowing due to Sw's influence.
Well then, let's dig in.
"Mmm, just plain salted."
"Yes, it's just plain salted."
"Really plain, huh."
First one: regular salted popcorn.
Yeah, really ordinary.
Simple, just salty popcorn.
But I think ordinary is wonderful in its own way.
"This one's caramel flavor."
"Sweet and delicious."
"Yeah, definitely tasty."
Second one: a classic flavor, one of the most popular choices.
This time, it seems they've reduced the caramel amount, probably to cut down on sugar, and compensated for the loss with a flavor mod.
To an ordinary person, the caramel taste is still clearly detectable, and I could easily ignore it if I weren't paying attention. But with my palate and mind in tasting mode, I can't help but notice the mod's influence.
Just to be clear—there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.
It definitely has that sweet caramel flavor.
Yet, it doesn’t add extra calories from caramel, nor does it produce any strange metabolic byproducts—this is what makes caramel-flavored popcorn special when using this mod.
It’s just a matter of personal preference.
“Sata, what’s this red one?”
“Chili pepper flavor.”
“It’s spicy! It burns!”
Third one—chili pepper flavor.
Basically, it’s popcorn with a spicy kick.
This... spicy, simply spicy, crunchy in the mouth.
But delicious.
Joharis seems to have given up, but personally, I think this one's a hit.
By the way, no mods were used.
Ah, it's so easy to keep eating...
"Karaa!?!"
"Sata!?!"
"Kata, there was a clump!? Aaah, it stung!? Water!!?!"
Just as I thought, there was an uneven distribution of flavor, and a clump of spicy powder directly hit my tongue.
I ended up gasping in pain without meaning to.
I narrowly avoided disaster by quickly drinking something, but... ah, phew, ah, man, this is bad.
"This might require careful eating."
"Where on earth did Sata even get something like this...?"
"Ah... it was a stall set up for the festival. At first it seemed fine, but judging by how the seasoning was handled, it was probably one of the off ones. Hmm, the taste itself wasn't bad, though..."
There's nothing much we can do but accept that kind of thing as inevitable.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, I guess so.
This is a case where I'd like to write that the article could use a bit more consistent flavor.