Take Off II

"That's impossible, isn't it?"

After hearing her husband's words, Rina could not help but deny it immediately.

Agreeing with his wife, Ren pondered, "You're right…"

"The former is unlikely since even if the mastermind behind the president was able to know about his death, he would have a hard time finding out about us. Besides, if the mastermind was able to see through our plans with just the president's death, then we might as well surrender ourselves."

"As for the latter… I can't form theories with the limited amount of information I have. I feel as if I'm blindly finding my way through the darkness. This guess lay on the possibility that the government found something to harness powers from the games in advance. Besides, if the one we killed was one of the president's doubles, which is impossible, then it still would not make sense for them to quickly guess our plans, right?"

Receiving no reply from Rina, Ren turned his head towards her, only to find out that she was already dozing off in his embrace.

He chuckled and softly caressed her head.

Although Rina had an unexplainable monstrous innate strength, she had one weakness— thinking.

It was not to say that she was dumb. But more like she finds this kind of stuff boring.

At this moment Zen and Sera walked towards them.

Ren looked at his children and put his index finger over his lips, signalling them to keep silent.

The siblings became stunned but after noticing their sleeping mother, they both had a look of understanding.

Looking at the countless rows of seats, Zen and Sera both excitedly took a row of seats for themselves and rested.

They had both explored the interior of the plane. They knew where the galley, the place where food was prepared and stored, was and also the comfort rooms.

Zen and Sera were both mesmerized by the size of the plane's interior. Although it looked gigantic from the outside, seeing the inside still had the same impact on them.

A few minutes later, the family heard the speakers turn on, followed by an announcement.

[Attention to all the passengers. Please fasten your seatbelts and secure all baggage underneath your seat or in the overhead compartments. The plane is about to take off.]

"Huh? What? Who dozed off? I'm not dozing off–" Rina, who was awoken by the loud noise, hurriedly wiped off the saliva on the side of her mouth and looked around.

She saw Ren, who was doing his best to avoid bursting into laughter, and frowned.

"Ouch! Why did you punch me!?" Ren held his shoulders with a pained expression after being punched by Rina.

"You were laughing!"

"N-no, I'm not!"

"Liar."

…

Zen and Sera silently watched their parents, with a smile on their faces.

At this moment, the announcement sounded again.

[I repeat. Please fasten your seatbelts and secure all baggage underneath your seat or in the overhead compartments. The plane is about to take off.]

Following the announcement, the family fastened their seatbelts.

"Wait. Isn't this Ms. Sophie's voice?" Sera questioned after a while.

"Wait… you're right! Is Ms. Sophie also the pilot?" Zen added.

Ren and Rina glanced at each other and decided to tell their children about what they talked with Sophie earlier.

Since the day they have told their children about their "darker side", such as them killing the president, they have decided to treat their children as adults too. Besides, there are times where it would be bad for them to keep their children from knowing information with the reasoning that they were just kids, and this was one of those "times".

In addition, the couple believed that their children were capable and mature enough to handle all the things that will happen in the future.

"That's so cool! Ms. Sophie is piloting a plane that requires four people to operate!?" Sera exclaimed with shining eyes.

Since he left earlier, this was also Ren's first time hearing this. He looked at his wife and said, "For her to be able to be confident in piloting this kind of aircraft alone, she's not as simple as she seems."

Then, he looked at his children's curious expressions and further explained, "If I'm not wrong the model of this plane is Boeing X-69, which is the standard model used in commercial flights. Since the worsening of the turbulence in the troposphere– to which the airplanes of the past used to fly in, various flight companies used the hidden technology the countries had made public in order to cope up with the changes of the world."

As Ren explained more things about the airplane they were riding, the siblings gained a lot of information about it.

It turned out that in order for aircraft to cope up with the changes in nature, they were developed in different directions.

The airplane they were in right now was developed in such a way that it could withstand the turbulent troposphere. It was designed to be more 'tanky', if you will.

However, the aircraft's 'tankiness' also made it stiffer, making it slower and harder to manoeuvre than other aircraft.

This was also the reason why it required four people in order to be able to fly stably.

At this moment, the family experienced a slight jerk followed by a feeling of weightlessness. Clearly, the plane had already taken off.