He didn't respawn.
0100152000022800 Version: v1245184
It started with a glitch.
The screen flashed white. His Switch rebooted. When the game loaded again, the version was 3.0.1. The shopping cart was gone. The developer ghosts were silent. The corrupted track was just a normal Rainbow Road. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe -0100152000022800--v1245184...
The music was slowed down by 700%. It sounded like a lullaby being eaten by a whale. The character select screen showed everyone —not just Mario, Peach, Bowser. It showed obscure NPCs from Super Mario Sunshine. It showed Waluigi’s third cousin, "Walugio." It showed a blank silhouette labeled "The 1993 Live-Action Movie Mario." He didn't respawn
He never played Mario Kart online again. But sometimes, late at night, when his Switch was in sleep mode, he'd hear a faint, slowed-down version of the character select theme, coming from the cartridge slot. His Switch rebooted
Kevin reached for the A button. Then he saw the second line below it.