The Life Of Normal-Taro

"You ready?" Samuel asked with the ball in his hand.

"Yup." Taro nodded his head.

"Cool. Prepare yourself! You're gonna get royally defeated." Samuel laughed like a madman.

He was sure that he would win. First of all, he was a PT teacher who works out every other day, unlike Taro, who's an English teacher. He expected nothing from Taro, who looks like a pretty guy with no substance. In his eyes, muscles are where it is!

The second reason for his confidence would be the team he picked. Although the twelfth grade comprised a few students, there are some athletes in this pick. Samuel knew who they were and picked them from the beginning, leaving Taro with a ragtag of a team.

"Wait, there's a member less in our team." Shivani shouted before the match officially began.

"Hmm, you're right about that. However, what are we supposed to do about that? I mean, blame your teacher for losing the toss and picking such a—vibrant team." Samuel smirked. He just couldn't help leaking it out.

He was in the neutral faction in the fight between Mary and Taro. He really didn't care about it since it seemed petty. However, he was super furious when he learned that Taro's actions gained him massive favorability among students. For someone who had been actively trying to look cool before the students, it was frustrating.

So, rather than a fair fight, what he was looking for was humiliation—complete and utter humiliation. He believed that once the kids see their teacher's pathetic side, they would think that he's cool and Taro's trash.

"Sorry, not sorry, Mr Sadanandan! This is a fight that I must win!" He thought as he shrugged.

"So, you're gonna make us play in this disadvantage, huh?" Shivani stared at Samuel and asked.

"Shoot! If I made them play with a member less, they'd think that I'm a tyrant. Well, even if they got one extra member, they're touted to lose. So, why not?" He sighed. "You see, I'm all in for that. However, the rest of them explicitly said that they don't wanna partake in the match. So, if you're able to convince them… Why not! You can play with the same number." Samuel replied.

"Is that so? You heard it, right?" Shivani turned her head towards the non-playing classmates.

"Yup. I'm joining in." Someone jumped out from behind them. It was Juan.

"Wait, you never play any games with us, how come you're playing now?" Samuel looked dumbfounded.

"Well, she called for me, so I came." Juan replied as he pointed towards Shivani.

Samuel sighed. Had he known that Juan would come if someone called for him, he would've done that earlier. After all, he excelled at stuff like this.

However, he had a question in his mind that's been bugging him. "Hmm, would you have come out if we asked for you as well?" Samuel asked.

"Nope." He gave a stern answer.

"Shit! How is that fair? Wait, is she his girlfriend or something? That'd make total sense!" Samuel sighed yet again. Had he picked Shivani, he could've got Juan in his team.

"Not really, though! She's more like my best friend of the entire world than anything." Juan spoke out of nowhere, while staring at Samuel.

No one seemed to understand why Juan said such a thing out of nowhere. No one except Samuel.

"You! How did you-" Before Samuel could say anything more, Juan interrupted.

"It's called intuition." Juan replied.

"What kinda intuition allows someone to read someone else's mind?" Samuel looked towards Juan in disbelief, but Juan simply smiled.

"So, shall we start our game?" Taro spoke.

However, before Samuel could nod yes, someone else interfered.

"Ta—Sadanandan!" It was Thankappan.

"Yo, Thankappan! Why are you here?" Taro asked.

"Well, I saw you were gonna play, so I wanted to get a closer view." Thankappan replied.

"Hmm, I see. Sit beside the kids then, you'll get a good view. Or better, be the referee of this match. That'd be an entirely different view compared to the sidelines." Taro spoke.

"Ah, I'll be the referee then… Since it's cool. Hehe." Thankappan chuckled. "But before that, Sadanandan, can we have a private conversation?" He asked.

"Sure." Taro nodded. Once he did that, Taro was immediately dragged away from the group of people.

"What the hell are you doing?" Thankappan sounded frustrated as he said that.

"What did I do wrong this time around?" He asked, sounding equally frustrated since he didn't know Thankappan's reason for frustration.

"You are playing a basketball match with them! You know you're gonna mess it up, right? You're gonna grab the ball and never leave it until the end of the match or do some superhuman shit like that! I can't afford you to do that. There's already one who's been flashed here, so I would prefer if I can't survive without completely wiping off someone's memories." Thankappan sighed.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna play that role this game. I already know what I'm gonna do. I just have to play in the shadows for this game. After all, there's a bright shining star there who's gonna hide me in plain sight." Taro spoke as he looked towards Juan, who was stretching.

"Ah! You're right about that! He's pretty good! Let him do all the flashy stuff and you can just lurk around, maybe?" Thankappan suggested.

"Well, that's what I'm planning to do, at least." Taro spoke.

"Oh, great! Let's do the game then." Thankappan took the lead and headed to the grounds with Taro right behind him.

Both the teams were nervous. For Taro's team, it was the lack of proper team coordination that haunted them. However, the entry of Juan into their squad relieved them from most of their worries. They trusted it all on Juan.

Samuel knew about it and found it pathetic how the team is trying to rely on Juan for the most part. Basketball is a team sport. A single man cannot win it for you. So, Samuel was supposed to be confident because he had the superior team. However, even with all that said, he was wary of Juan. He's an all purpose player. So, if it was him, there's a chance that Taro's team actually wins—even if the probability was too low. However, Samuel wished to destroy even the slightest bit of worry he had from the very start. The game is on!

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