Raise Your Hand If You've Ever Taken Off Your Shoes on a Plane
Rai and Shalla spent a while talking about the S-Rank Strongest Championship being held in Marbas.
Rai crossed his arms and looked at her.
"So how exactly are we supposed to solve thissss..."
It had only been a few minutes since Shalla declared, full of swagger, that she'd find a way — and now she was clutching her head, still racking her brain.
"Well, is hitting S-Rank by next week out of the question for you?"
"You think that's easy?"
S-Rank wasn't a grade you could earn simply by being skilled.
Among all Awakener classifications, S-Rank carried a special meaning all its own. The promotion review itself was on an entirely different level from the ordinary Awakener evaluations — a process so significant that the state itself was directly involved. It didn't just verify an Awakener's combat ability; it comprehensively assessed their real battlefield experience and judgment, the danger level of their power, and their degree of control over it.
Earning S-Rank qualification meant being recognized, in name and in fact, as a top-tier veteran Awakener of the very first class.
What's more, the number of S-Ranks was vanishingly small. To date, only about three Awakeners in the entire world had officially reached it. In an era teeming with countless Awakeners, those who had attained that realm could be counted on one hand.
In other words, S-Rank was not simply a grade that meant 'the strong.' It marked a state-certified apex Awakener — and, quite literally, one of humanity's strongest assets, proven through countless battles and every form of verification.
After a long stretch of agonizing, Shalla suddenly lifted her head as if something had come to her.
"...Couldn't you just enter it yourself?"
"What?"
Rai stared at her in disbelief.
"Me?"
"Yep."
"Why would I enter?"
"Because people already treat you like an S-Rank as it is."
"That's just what people think!"
Rai threw both arms wide, exasperated.
"And that's completely unreasonable! I have no desire to travel all the way out to Marbas just for some tournament."
"..."
Shalla said nothing, only watching him. Then she slowly stepped closer.
"Please."
"..."
She looked up at the visor of Rai's helm.
"Rai."
"..."
"Please."
Silence stretched between them for a while. At last, Rai let out a sigh.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"That's not your eye."
Rai prodded the vision slit of his helm with a finger.
Tap. Tap.
"The eyes are here."
"Ah... I know that."
Shalla answered without missing a beat.
"..."
"..."
"Oh, so you're playing innocent."
Rai shook his head.
"Anyway..."
After a moment's thought, a sigh slipped from his lips.
"It's not like there's no way."
Shalla's eyes went wide.
"Really?"
"I'll look into it first."
A little while later.
This was the Director's Office of the Awakener Hazard Monitoring and Management Bureau.
A man sat at his desk, reviewing documents, when the phone on it rang.
Ring-ring-ring-ring~!
"...?"
Thunk.
Director Velk picked up the receiver, a puzzled look on his face.
"Hello, this is Velk, Director of the Hazard Monitoring and Management Bureau."
And then, the voice from the other end of the line:
"I am Akra."
"......"
Velk's eyes went wide.
"L-Lord Akra—!!!"
Leaping up!
Velk shot out of his seat in a panic.
"To think you'd call me personally, Lord Akra! What can I do for you?! If there's anything within my power, anything at all—!!!"
Then he caught himself, realizing how wildly overexcited he'd been, and cleared his throat.
"Ahem... my apologies. I got carried away."
"It's fine."
On the other end of the line, Rai was doing his best impression of Akra's usual manner of speaking.
"I intend to enter a tournament. I ask for your cooperation."
"......"
Velk went quiet for a moment. Then he asked carefully:
"Could this... be about an Awakener registration matter?"
"That..."
Rai let the words dangle.
"If you help me with this, I'll consider it."
"...!"
Velk's eyes lit up.
"May I ask which tournament?"
"One hosted by the Demon King."
"...Ah."
Velk's face froze in an instant.
"That one is... a little beyond my authority..."
"Is that so?"
Rai replied, perfectly composed.
"Then I suppose the registration matter is off the table—"
"I will get you entered no matter what!!!"
Velk sprang from his chair and shouted.
"I will mobilize every means at my disposal to make absolutely certain you can participate!"
"......"
Silence from Rai on the other end.
"Good."
"Yes, sir!"
"Then I leave it to you."
"Leave it to me!"
And with that, the call ended.
Velk stared at the receiver for a long moment — then, completely unaware that the call had already ended, threw himself into energetically processing something with single-minded zeal.
From a corner of the Director's office, Vella, who had been quietly watching the whole scene, murmured under her breath.
"...Uncle."
She watched him for a while, then let out a small sigh.
"He really is living his best life, isn't he..."
A few days later.
In front of Ragna's Cafe.
Rai, Shalla, and La Place stood waiting, each with their luggage in hand.
Ragna stepped up to Shalla and, carefully folding the maid uniform inside her bag with her own two hands, beamed at her.
"Our Shalla, go out there and knock 'em dead! Your big sis will be cheering you on with everything she's got!"
The moment he saw this, Rai's expression hardened.
"Hold on. You're bringing your maid uniform?"
Shalla glanced down at her bag and answered breezily.
"Yep. It's actually pretty easy to move around in. I'll wear it at the tournament."
"No, that's not the point here!!"
"Is everyone not forgetting anything?"
Ragna stood at the cafe entrance and looked the three of them over.
"Yep."
Shalla nodded.
"You're going as support to Shalla's tournament, Rai!! You'd better be prepared down to the last detail!!"
Ragna jabbed a finger at Rai as she scolded him.
"I packed perfectly well, thank you. Honestly..."
At Rai's reply, Ragna grumbled in mock complaint.
"Still, what am I supposed to do when all three of you are gone at once?"
She sighed.
"I'll have to hire new part-timers to fill in."
"Your cafe's gotten huge, sis. One or two more hires should be fine."
"You think it's that easy?"
Ragna grumbled a bit more, then broke into a smile.
"Well, it's okay, really."
She pointed inside the cafe.
"I can't leave the cafe, so I can't come along — but the TV in here will be on, and I'll cheer for you together with the customers."
"...You'd go that far?"
Rai looked flustered, and Ragna just grinned.
"Yes, I would go that far."
And with that, she threw herself at the three of them.
Wham—!!!
"Wahk!"
"Sis...!"
"......"
Ragna wrapped all three of them in a single embrace.
"We're family. Of course I would."
Rai, Shalla, and La Place were trapped in her arms.
"Take care of yourselves out there."
Shalla smiled brightly.
"We will, Ragna!!"
Rai answered with his head turned slightly away.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it..."
And La Place gave a short reply of her own.
"Confirmed."
Ragna squeezed the three of them tight one more time.
"Alright! Then get going!"
And so the three of them set their steps toward Marbas.
They had one purpose: the single, once-in-a-lifetime chance to have a wish granted by the Demon King, Curse.
And there, already waiting, was one S-Rank Awakener.
Rafia Curtlay.
Through the airport, through boarding procedures, the three of them finally boarded the plane.
And just before takeoff—
"......"
Rai's body began to visibly tremble.
Shalla, seated beside him, stole a glance his way.
"Why are you shaking like that?"
"...This is my first time on a plane."
"What?"
Shalla stared at him incredulously.
"Your first time on a plane?"
"What's so surprising about that?"
"Nothing, it's just — the idea that you've never flown is hilarious."
Shalla snorted.
"This isn't your first time, then?"
"I did a few overseas trips back when Mom was still healthy."
"......"
Rai's mouth closed for a moment.
Shalla went on as if nothing had happened, gazing out the window.
"Anyway, I'm not like you."
Then she looked down at his feet and burst out laughing all over again.
"Though I never thought I'd see you trying to take your shoes off inside a plane~!"
"Th-that's...!"
Rai's face went red.
"I read about it on the internet!"
"What on earth did you read on the internet?"
"It said you get kicked off the plane if you don't take them off!!!"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA—!!! And there's actually a person who follows that advice—!!"
"......"
Rai clamped his mouth shut.
Watching all this from the seat beside Rai, La Place was quietly gazing out the window. As the plane began its slow taxi down the runway, her eyes widened slightly.
"...Fascinating."
"What is?"
"The ground is falling away."
Outside the window, the city's buildings shrank smaller and smaller. La Place watched the scene in silence, without a single exclamation of wonder.
"So this is what it's like to float in the sky."
Then, quite matter-of-factly, she pressed the call button beside her seat.
A flight attendant soon came over.
"How may I help you?"
La Place declared boldly:
"Donuts."
"......"
Rai's head whipped around.
"Hey!!"
"What?"
"Don't place orders on your own! You said you'd only eat one!!"
"I want more."
"How can you just order without even asking me?!"
La Place stared at Rai for a moment, then turned her eyes back to the attendant.
"Two."
"Are you even listening to me?!"
Shalla clutched her stomach at the sight.
"Pfft...! What is even happening with you two?"
"Stop laughing!!"
Rai's shriek echoed through the cabin.
And so, after that whole commotion, the plane carrying the three of them pressed onward, cleaving through the blue sky.
Their destination: the nation of the demons, Marbas — and the S-Rank Strongest Championship that would be held there.
Rai never bothered to ask what wish Shalla intended to make.
It wasn't that he wasn't curious. A single wish granted by the Demon King could hardly be anything ordinary.
But the fact that Shalla had come to him personally to ask for his help made him think she surely had a reason far stranger than anything he could imagine. So he simply chose not to ask.
He decided instead to do whatever he could, so that she could have the thing she wanted.