"Get ready!!" The middle-aged guy, who was also the one announcing the rules, raised the flag.
All 14 participants got into position, except Quicksilver and Iceman.
'So arrogant!' Everyone watching and participating thought in unison—except me and Harry.
"START!!"
The 12 runners immediately dashed off, leaving Quicksilver and Iceman in the dust.
"Come on, everyone! Keep your eyes on these 12 starters—they're all students with great stamina for long-distance running, especially Peter. Hey, no cheering for him, okay? Only I'm allowed to do that!" Gwen announced while cosplaying as Miku.
"Oh! The students from the AMERICAN school are taking the lead!" Teto commentated.
Harry and I were running side by side when we spotted two muscular guys in full American-themed outfits pulling ahead of everyone.
"Peter, we have to do something! They're way ahead!!" Harry shouted.
"Relax, it's an endurance race, not a sprint. Pace yourself," I replied, glancing at the other teams that were already catching up to us.
Then I saw this one 'girl' who looked exactly like a dude pull out a pair of boxing gloves and slip them on.
"?!"
She started throwing punches at me non-stop.
"Whoa, mom! Are we allowed to hit people??" I dodged every single attack, sweating bullets.
Harry wasn't doing much better—two people were sandwiching him and swinging baguettes that were harder than rock at him.
"What the heck?! Why are there two Tetos???" Harry screamed in fear.
"Are you cloning yourself?" Gwen asked the Teto next to her.
"Nope, they're from our Teto school. Got a problem?"
"...No."
The two Tetos in different outfits swung their baguettes at Harry. He dodged as fast as he could, but he was no match for these two super-strong chimeras.
"SAVE ME, PETER!!! WHY ARE THEY SO STRONG?!"
Hearing his cry for help, I had no choice but to get violent.
While 'she' was attacking without pause and clearly had no intention of stopping, I threw just one punch.
A single hit right to the gut—and it was so strong that 'her' eyes nearly popped out, and she vomited a whole pile of food.
"GAHH!" The crowd gasped in horror, mostly from the school flying the rainbow flag.
"HE JUST HIT A TRANS PERSON!"
"REPORT HIM TO THE UNITED NATIONS!!"
"THAT GUY NEEDS TO LEAVE!!!"
Bang!
Everyone turned to look at the middle-aged guy, who had just fired a gunshot into the air.
"Did I ever say fighting wasn't allowed? Any of you got a problem with that?"
Instant silence.
I ran over to Harry and started throwing punches at the Tetos.
They blocked everything with their baguettes—and holy crap, those things were insanely hard!!
"Teto word of the day!" one of them shouted, raising her baguette high.
"Suffering."
"?!"
She slammed it down with all her might. I barely dodged in time, but when I looked at the ground where it hit—total powder. The spot was completely obliterated!
"HARRY! STAY AS FAR AWAY FROM THESE TWO AS POSSIBLE!!"
"Huh?! Uh, yeah!"
The two of us overtook the Tetos and chased after the two muscular American guys.
Suddenly, I heard something rolling up behind us.
"??"
It was two super fat dudes rolling at breakneck speed—like literal godspeed.
"Don't underestimate us!" the two shouted as they rolled past and blocked our path.
They stood up... and dropped their pants.
"????" Everyone was confused. The girls screamed and covered their eyes.
They weren't wearing any underwear!!
"Uohhhhhhh..." The two radiated a powerful aura, their right hands moving furiously down below.
These bastards were jerking off right here and now????
"Take this!!" Both of them moaned as they shot white bullets straight at us.
"AGHHH!!" Harry and I panicked and dodged. The two shots hit someone from the rainbow-flag school square in the face.
"AGHHH!! MY EYES!!!" That person rolled on the ground, clutching their face.
Mother of—, that's just disgusting!
"2025 kinda crazy," Gwen commented casually, as if this was totally normal.
"I don't even want to look," Teto said, covering her eyes.
"Reload, bro!"
"Yeah!"
The two started moving their right hands again at lightning speed.
Holy crap, how are their dicks that strong?? They just came and they're ready to go again??
Suddenly, the two muscular guys who had been leading stopped dead in their tracks. They reached into their pants and pulled something out.
"?!"
Two massive machine guns appeared in their hands, and the American flag started waving furiously.
"AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!!"
They opened fire on everyone behind them.
"These guys have all lost their minds!! Is anyone here normal??" Harry and I hid behind a trash can while the two fat guys got riddled with bullets because they couldn't run away fast enough.
Suddenly, an engine roared.
"?" Everyone looked behind them.
A wheelchair was zooming like a jet fighter, with two guys on it grinning ear to ear.
"GAHAHA, YOU IDIOTS! WINNING REQUIRES BRAINS!!"
It was the two dudes wearing ahegao hoodies!!
They blasted past the muscular guys and took the lead.
"..." I stared at the wheelchair, then at the trash can. An idea flashed in my mind.
"Harry!"
"Yeah?"
"I've got a plan."
Meanwhile...
"Have they been gone long?" Iceman asked.
"Idk."
"Fine, let's go and end this stupid game quick."
Quicksilver pulled down his goggles. Instantly, in his vision, everything slowed to a crawl.
He crouched into a sprinter's stance, a huge pressure wave radiating from him.
"Oh, right."
He stood up, walked over to Iceman, slung him over his shoulder, and got back into position.
In the next instant, he vanished from the spot.
"Huh?!" The spectators who had been watching to see what they were doing suddenly saw nothing.
"We're definitely winning," Lee said calmly.
"Well, I wanted to see what little boyfriend of yours was up to... Oh well, there are still a few more events," Jean Grey teased.
"He's not my boyfriend yet."
"'Yet' means he will be in the future, right?" Jean Grey nudged Lee with her elbow.
Lee stayed silent and kept watching.
As expected, Quicksilver instantly overtook everyone and caught up to the leaders.
"W-Who the hell is that?!" The two hoodie guys stared in shock as Quicksilver, carrying Iceman, sped past them.
Funny enough, this was the slowest speed Quicksilver had ever used—just to make the game less boring.
Back to Peter and Harry:
"Hey, how do you even know how to make this stuff?"
"...Harry, did you forget that before I started programming games, you saw me build a bunch of things?" Peter said while tinkering with something.
"...Oh yeah, forgot."
"And this... this... and finally this... Done!" Peter stood up with a grin and showed Harry.
A trash can... with four wheels... and ten jet thrusters.
"How did you make jet engines with bunch of scrap? And ten of them?" Harry thought it was ridiculous.
"Skill issue. Just get in, Harry!"
The two squeezed into the stinky, cramped trash can. The smell hit Harry so hard he had to cover his nose.
"I'm gonna make you fly!!!!"
Peter hit the button. Instantly, all ten thrusters ignited and shot out flames.
In a split second, Harry saw his late mother waving goodbye.
"Oh fuck."
The two of them vanished, leaving nothing behind.