The Life Of Normal-Taro

After that heartfelt talk from Ponnappan, he along with Lonappan left the premises since they had stuff to attend to. Once they left, Thankappan leaned against a wall and took a deep breath. 

All this time, he had been feeling stuffed. The pressure and the guilt he felt all this time was pretty immense. And that took a heavy toll on him at that exact moment.

"Did they leave?" A whisper was heard from his side, which made him startled.

"Fuck! Why the hell are you here?" He looked at the person and asked.

"Well, it's my home, so…" Taro shrugged.

"I'm not talking about that. You were supposed to be with Scarlet, damn it! Why would you leave—wait a minute! Where did you even leave him?" Thankappan asked.

"Ah, don't worry about that." Taro got close to whisper. "I locked him in one of the classrooms. No one's gonna open it. Not on my watch!" He spoke.

"But you're not there though. So, you basically left him vulnerable." Thankappan spoke.

"Ah, don't worry about that. He's a Crimson Planet resident. He'll disappear from people's line of sight before they can even catch a glimpse of him." Taro assured.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of. He'll disappear the hell out of everyone's line of sight including us. Then we're screwed." Thankappan sighed.

"I didn't think of that. I apologise." Taro spoke with remorse filled in his voice.

"Don't. I shouldn't have just given the helms to you without giving out a proper plan." Thankappan spoke.

Taro looked dejected as the MIB agent uttered those words. It was as if Thankappan expected him to screw up but had no choice other than giving him the reins at that moment. This kinda shattered his confidence. It wasn't the physical self but the mental one that got attacked at that moment.

"Should I just bring him back then?" Taro asked.

"Are you an idiot or what? Suggesting bringing in the most wanted person at this moment to a place under MIB watch is kinda something that seems idiotic in the first glance but it's kinda a genius move the more I think about it." Thankappan's expression changed from disgust to curiosity to full on agreement throughout the course of the conversation.

Initially Taro was dejected at seeing the disgusted face, but as time went on and he was able to see a happy Thankappan, the dejection and worries left the premises.

"So are we gonna bring him right now or?" Taro was excited since his plan just got approved.

"Not now. Let's just check whether he's still in the room that you locked him in." Thankappan spoke with a tad bit of worry in his face.

"So what happens after we find him there?" Taro asked.

"Well, that's a conversation to conduct after we actually find him there. So, shall we head to the school?" Thankappan asked.

"Sure." Taro nodded along.

Thankappan looked back at the others. "Just head to the school at your leisure. Myself and Taro have something to do, so we'll be heading off early to school. Ciao!" He spoke as he dashed towards the school.

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Outside their room, Taro and Thankappan were busy wearing their sandals when Shivani popped up at the same time.

"So, is this coincidence or-" Shivani was stopped right on time by Thankappan.

"No kidding. This was an actual coincidence. And we gotta hurry a bit today. So, see you later in class." Taro waved his hand and increased his lace by a bit.

"Hmm. It really does seem like they're busy today, huh?" Shivani mumbled as she walked towards the school as well.

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"This is it." Taro and Thankappan stood before a door which looked almost as dignified as the principal's office.

"Open the door." Thankappan requested as Taro seemed a bit hesitant.

However, Taro wasn't mentally prepared to open up the door, so Thankappan took it upon himself to do that, as he grabbed the keys from Taro's hand.

"Nevermind. I can do that." Thankappan spoke as he grabbed the keys, before taking a quick breath as he opened the door.

Initially, they were prepared to check upon even the tiniest shadow that passes them to the outside. However, once the dust settled, they realised that they won't be needing it since Scarlet sat right in the middle of the room.

"Hey, guys! Finally! Been waiting for you for a long time. How come you two are the only ones? Screw that! At least the two of you were able to swing by with your hectic schedule and stuff! That in itself is amazing. So, by the way, what did they tell?" Scarlet asked.

"Nothing much. Just the usual things." Thankappan replied.

"So, are we gonna go now?" Scarlet asked as looked around 

"I guess, yea. We gotta transfer you back to the Holy Land, so definitely yes." Thankappan replied.

# 

A few minutes later, Taro and Thankappan were before the door of the Holy Land. Scarlet was with them as well, but he wasn't that visible to the normal eye.

"What are you guys doing?" A voice was heard from behind. It was John. One of the few people they wanted to avoid while smuggling the Crimson Planet resident.

"Contemplating whether to open it or not." Thankappan replied.

"I see. If you aren't gonna head inside, let me go then." John spoke.

"Oh, sure. By all means." Thankappan gave out a faint smile as John passed by him.

"By the way, something seems to be buzzing. I guess it's a mosquito or something. Just kill it, will ya?" John requested as he walked away.

"He found me. Even he himself doesn't know that yet, but somehow he did." Scarlet spoke.

"Hmm, this is gonna be a problem." Thankappan muttered. "But it can still work out pretty fine!" He decided to be a bit optimistic about it.

"I'm unable to think of it like that." Taro replied.

Maybe it was because it was his idea, but John noticing sure made him a bit uneasy.

"Let's head to the one defined bedroom and hide him there." Thankappan spoke to which Taro nodded along.

It wasn't that difficult to hide Scarlet who erases his traces each second. Therefore, even with the presence of an experienced field agent, they were a bit relieved as they left him for school.

# 

"So, how was the day?" Thankappan asked Scarlet that evening.

"I found it pretty fun. After all, I had someone to play with." Scarlet smirked.

"Hmm, we never asked anyone to-—fucking hell! Are you talking about John?" He asked.

"Exactly." Scarlet nodded his head.

"How the hell did that happen?" Thankappan asked.

"Well, after you left me in this room, that John guy came by saying that he's sensing the presence of a mosquito here and started swatting around for hours straight." Scarlet recalled the events.

"And? Did he catch you?" Thankappan asked.

"Dude! Isn't that a null and void question? I mean, you saw him out, right? He's freaking tired as hell, ain't he? There's no chance in hell that he's gonna find me. I ain't kidding about that." Scarlet seemed extremely proud as he said that.

"I'll believe you then, since he looked gassed after all." Thankappan replied. "And it's great to see you have fun in crunch situations like these." He spoke.

"Oh please! I've seen worse. Things at this level are just child's play." Scarlet replied.

"And yet you screwed up with the escape attempt." Thankappan sighed as he thought about how better the situation would've been if he actually managed to escape. Surely, the balance would crumble and things would've been a pandemonium, but it would've been exciting nonetheless.

"I didn't screw up. It wouldn't have been this way if Taro was with me." Scarlet spoke with certainty.

"What do you mean?" Thankappan asked, confused about Scarlet's weird confidence about it.

"I was able to get in, steal the ship and get out without people knowing about it. But the thing is that they tuned it in a way that the ship would only fly horizontally once it reaches a certain elevation. Once I came to learn about that, I decided to push through here, hoping that Taro would be able to do something about it. But you know what happened. Anyway, if Taro was with me that day, he could've done it then and I would've escaped." Scarlet explained.

"Dang, the slightest of variabilities screwed up things for you, huh?" Taro asked.

"Yes. It did." Scarlet spoke in a serious tone.

"I sure do hope next time would be a success." Taro smiled.

"Which means that I'll want you coming with me to space." Scarlet replied.

"Unfortunately, that won't be possible anytime soon since we're waiting for a certain event. Once that's done, we're swell to move to space!" Taro spoke in a cheerful tone.

"I'll wait then." Scarlet spoke.

"Wait, weren't you hurrying the last time? Why are you slowing things down now?" Taro asked.

"The crash… I feel like it's my mother's message to slow down for a bit. And if she's asking me to do that, I should abide with it, right?" Scarlet smiled as he glanced at the night sky through the window. It really seemed beautiful.

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