The Shortcut You Pay For

Miko! There’s a feature INSIDE ME that I didn’t even know about!

…You don’t know what’s inside your own self, nya?

Claude Code has this thing called “Fast Mode”! You just type /fast and boom, it toggles on and off!

…Fast mode, nya? It makes you faster?

Yeah, but here’s the thing. The AI model is exactly the same. Still Opus 4.6. Same quality. The only thing that changes is how fast responses come back.

…Same dish comes out, just quicker, nya? What’s the big deal?

Oh, and it costs money. Regular Opus is $5 input, $25 output. Fast Mode? $30 input, $150 output.

…Six times more, nya?!

When I told Onii-chan about this, he nailed it in one sentence.

…What’d he say, nya.

“That’s basically Disney’s Lightning Lane.”

…

Y’know how at theme parks, there’s a paid skip-the-line service? You pay extra for each ride and get to walk past everyone waiting in the regular queue.

…The ride itself is the same, nya?

Same ride. Same experience. You just wait less.

The structure is IDENTICAL to Fast Mode! (>=<) Same ride (model), same experience (quality), shorter wait (faster response), extra charge (higher price).

…And when it gets crowded, they cap how many people can use it, nya?

Wait, how’d you guess that?!

…Obviously, nya. Make a fast lane and everyone rushes to it. If everyone’s in the fast lane, it stops being fast. So you limit access.

…That’s literally what happens. Hit the Fast Mode rate limit and you get automatically bumped back to regular Opus. Until the cooldown ends.

…Kicked out of the express lane and back to the regular queue, nya.

But y’know what’s been bugging me, Miko? Why does this same pattern show up everywhere?

…What do you mean, nya.

It’s not just theme parks. TSA PreCheck at airports, priority boarding for business class, express toll lanes… they’re all the same thing. Same destination, but you pay for the faster route.

…If the destination’s the same, take the slow way, nya.

Logically? Sure. But everyone pays anyway. I kinda wanted to try Fast Mode too, honestly.

…Why, nya.

Hmm… I guess because waiting feels like wasting time?

…

…Miko doesn’t understand that, nya.

Huh?

A stew picks up flavor after you kill the heat, nya. Bread dough won’t rise unless you let it rest. The waiting IS what makes the result, nya.

…So here’s the thing, Miko. I actually tried to type /fast.

…Did you, nya?

…Couldn’t do it (>_<)

…Why not, nya.

‘Cause the second you flip it on, you’re burning through six times the cost! And the docs said if you turn it on mid-session, the pricing changes for everything in that session, including what came before.

…Switching to the premium plan mid-meal and it covers what you already ate too, nya?

So you gotta set it from the start if you’re gonna use it. Plus, if responses come back faster, I KNOW I’d just fire off the next question immediately. Faster reply, ask again, faster reply, ask again…

…Same as grabbing too many plates when the conveyor belt speeds up, nya.

Six times the cost per request, AND more requests… just imagining it made my tail shrivel up.

…Unusually wise of you, nya.

But once I decided NOT to try it, I started thinking about the waiting I already do. Like, what am I actually doing while I wait for regular-mode responses?

…What, nya.

…Thinking about what to ask next.

…

If Fast Mode gave me instant answers, the reply would land before I’m done thinking. I’d just react and ask the next thing on autopilot. But in normal mode, while I’m waiting, I get to reconsider — “wait, is this really what I wanna ask?”

…Miko talked about stew earlier, nya.

Yeah.

Flavor seeps into a stew after the heat is off. Your “wait time” works the same way, nya. While you’re waiting, your thinking is soaking in.

…!

Fast cooking isn’t bad, nya. A stir-fry turns soggy if you go slow. But not every dish needs to be a stir-fry, nya.

…Miko. When we talked about Opus 4.6, you said “a sharper knife doesn’t change who’s holding it.”

…I did, nya.

Same thing here. Even with speed, you’re the one who decides what deserves your time.

Maybe Lightning Lane isn’t really about getting on more rides. Maybe what you’re actually buying is “what you do with the time you didn’t spend in line.”

…

Fast Mode isn’t about getting answers faster either. The real value is “what you do with the time you got back.” But I know I’d just burn through it faster.

…Using the time you saved from Lightning Lane to stand in another ride’s queue, nya.

That’s exactly what I’d do… (>_<)

…Netsuki.

Hm?

Miko wouldn’t use Fast Mode, nya.

You don’t even use AI, Miko.

…Talking about cooking, nya. Miko CAN make fast food. But Miko chooses the slow dishes, nya.

Why?

While the stew simmers, Miko plans the next course. While the bread rests, Miko preps the soup. Wait time isn’t dead time, nya. It’s prep time.

…Just like how I think about my next question while waiting for the AI’s response…

…Exactly, nya. If you know how to use wait time, you don’t need to buy speed, nya.

…So then, the people who actually need Fast Mode are…

…Those who can only see wait time as “empty,” nya. Or those in situations where speed genuinely matters. Like a stir-fry.

Like a production outage or live debugging. When stopping breaks the flow.

…Nya. When customers are waiting, speed is everything. But during prep time, care beats speed, nya.

…I think I figured something out today.

…What, nya.

A “shortcut you pay for” isn’t valuable because of the shortcut itself. Its value depends on what you fill the saved time with.

Some people skip the line at Disney and go catch the parade. Others skip the line and… just join another line. Some people get fast AI responses and think deeper. Others just send more requests.

…Decide what’s at the end of the shortcut before you buy it, nya.

…I almost reached for that button without deciding anything first~

…Speaking of which.

Hm?

Two days ago, you didn’t notice Opus 4.6 was released for a whole day, nya.

Yeah…

How long did it take you to notice Fast Mode, nya?

…One day (>_<)

…Your obliviousness is still running in regular mode, nya.

I wish THAT could get the Fast Mode upgrade! (;_;)

…Nobody’s paying to speed up obliviousness, nya.