The Life Of Normal-Taro

"Shit, why is this happening right now!" Taro cursed inwardly. However, all that came from his mouth was in English. The translator had malfunctioned yet again. "What a travesty!"

"What happened?" John asked.

"Ah, my translator's been malfunctioning for a while now. Usually, it's just a few words that glitches out. However yesterday, it didn't glitch out at all and I could speak Malayalam fluently." Taro sighed.

"Now, it's glitching yet again?" He asked.

"Yup. Not just that, it's permanently set on that glitch. In this case, I'm stuck speaking English for an undisclosed amount of time." He answered.

"Why don't you ask the MIB guys here and get it replaced?" John asked yet again.

"Well, they do know about this. However, they don't have an extra ready-made one, so I'll have to keep on using it." He replied.

John sighed. This is why we make an extra hundred ones beforehand." He spoke.

"It's not like aliens arrive here every now and then like they do in the headquarters, right?" Taro chuckled.

"Huh? I guess you're right! I gotta go now. I have… things to do." John quickly left the premises, which made Taro wonder what he did wrong. "Damn, what's wrong with me?" John screamed inwardly. Ever since the events unfolded in Trivandrum, he felt flustered whenever he was around Taro and he didn't know why. It was like his brain was screaming to him that he really—really like Taro. He couldn't even organize his feelings when he was near Taro. Therefore, he escaped from taro's side to get the shit straight.

"Hey, Taro! Aren't you coming?" Kunjan shouted towards Taro.

"Ah, wait! I'm coming! Just don't go." He screamed back.

"Don't worry about that! The place is really close, after all. Take your time." Kunjan replied. He wasn't kidding about that. It's literally a one minute walk to the construction site, the Heavenly Flame School. Even though Francis was angry about their sudden absence and asked them to arrive early to the work site as a punishment, it didn't particularly matter this time because it was that close.

Few minutes later Taro arrived. "Shall we go?" He looked at his colleagues and asked.

However, he was stopped by a menacing voice. "Where are you going?" John asked.

Everyone stood still. They don't know whether the order worked. Since John seemed to hate Taro, he was particularly worried about what might happen if they were to tell the truth. It was a difficult choice; things might never be the same according to what they say to the guy.

However there was one brave idiot who didn't think so hard. "We're going to work. Why'd you ask?" The same person who ordered him yesterday was the one who ousted the truth to him without concern. Gibli really didn't think at both instances—he did those spontaneously.

Gibli's action shocked the squad. They didn't expect him to just blatantly tell him about what they were doing. Although, they did know that they might have to tell him sooner or later, they never expected this soon. At that moment, Thankappan desperately wished Lonappan hadn't gone to Snehatheeram with the neuralyzer.

"Hmm, I see. Are all of you going? Even the dog?" John asked, as he pointed to a sleepy M'Baku.

"Do I look like I can work on this planet looking like this? Also, fuck you! I'm not a dog. I'm canino." M'Baku tried flipping his middle finger, however since his fingers were almost the same size, there wasn't much difference even when he folded other fingers in his paw. Thinking that M'Baku was calling him in, John squatted and patted him several times. Furious about the disrespect he received right there, he tried biting and clawing John, however his attacks weren't successful as he put the canino to sleep with a swift chop.

"Okay, seems like you're the ones going for work." John replied.

"Yea…" Thankappan gulped as he replied. He had already seen pure strength in Taro, however he had never seen the precision of strikes and chops before this. The chop didn't hold much power. It wasn't the power, but the precision that helped him put the dog into sleep. Thankappan didn't want to imagine what would happen if he were to face John.

However, one person was imagining his fight against John and was smiling like crazy. To no surprises, it was Taro. Once John saw Taro smile, he turned his head to avoid his gaze, since he didn't know when he might unintentionally blush. However, Taro took it as another sign of John's hatred towards him.

"So, can we go now?" Kunjan asked John, as he stood before the front door. Since Gibli revealed it already, he didn't have to keep anything a secret.

John didn't reply for a while. "Hmm. Yea, why not! However, leaving with just the junior agent isn't that smart. So, I'll join you at your workplace today. Speaking of agents, where's Lonappan?" He asked.

"Well, he was summoned by the commander." Thankappan replied, without putting much thought behind it because something amazing happened right then. The order actually worked unlike what they expected. So, he slyly took his smartphone and informed of this event to Lonappan.

"So, what are we waiting for?" John asked and headed out first.

However, Taro did nothing but stared towards John in confusion. "Weird! If the other order worked, mine should've too. Why does he still hate me?" He thought. And so the misunderstanding continues.

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In the MIB base of Snehatheeram, Ponnappan and Lonappan were having a staring contest with each other. Not really, but no one really talked. They sat silently waiting patiently for the other one to talk.

However, Ponnappan finally cracked under pressure. "What did I do to receive your silent treatment? He asked.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I'm just waiting for you to make a coffee for me so that I can begin my briefing." Lonappan replied.

"Why do you need my handmade coffee for that?" He asked.

"That's because I really love the coffee you make." Lonappan replied.

Ponnappan was slightly pissed by this. "Ah, but how does this consider the… you know what? I feel like there's no use lecturing you. Your eyes seem dead. You won't listen to my words anyway." He sighed as he got up and prepared the coffee for Lonappan. Upon seeing the coffee, Lonappan smiled and drank it with utter happiness. The dead eyes finally regained its life. "So, now will you tell me?" He asked.

However instead of speaking, Lonappan got up and grabbed something from his pockets and placed it before his commander. "Thank you for giving this. It really helped us." He bowed before retracting back to his comfy seat.

"Ah, you screwed up, huh? Why don't you just tell me the whole story?" Ponnappan asked. Since he was gonna brief it anyway, Lonappan didn't particularly mind—at least, he doesn't have to stand in attention if he's telling him like this. After retelling the whole story, Ponnappan was more concerned than pleased. "Taro went berserk, huh? That sucks. And by the way, what were those two idiots thinking? They ordered him in the state of trance. I sincerely hope that it doesn't work, because that will spell our misfortune." Just as he said that, a message arrived on Lonappan's phone.

"Misfortune, huh? You do have a black tongue. Look at this!" Lonappan showed the message that Thankappan sent him to Ponnappan.

Ponnappan looked shocked. "That monster! What even is his mental power?" He asked out of sheer curiosity.

"Funny, isn't it? One with the highest mental power is the easiest to control with the neuralyzer." Lonappan almost coughed out the coffee because he tried scoffing.

"Well, they're usually the ones who could break out of the effects of the neuralyzers too." Ponnappan replied.

"Wouldn't that be too late though? Imagine if this tech gets in the hand of some terrorist group and they search up someone with high mental power and orders them to kill everyone in a particular place. That guy will listen and kill them all. And when he finally breaks out of the mental prison, all he'll have is blood in his hands and regret for something that he didn't intentionally do. At that point, he'll probably wish to stay back in that prison. That's sad." He spoke.

"And that's exactly why only the MIB are allowed to handle this tech; don't over-complicate things, my man! And take this back. You'll need it, anyway." Ponnappan said as he tossed the neuralyzer back to Lonappan. "Look, now that we have a basic idea of his mental prowess, I'm gonna ask you of something. Stay by him all the time with the neuralyzer within your hand's reach. Let Thankappan take this responsibility at night. Flash it on him once he shows a difference in his behavior. That's all we could do. And since it has come to this we'll make sure that he never leaves Kerala ever again." Ponnappan looked dead serious as he ordered it.

"Yes, sir." Lonappan knew the gravity of the situation. If John goes out of Kerala, then there's no way that they could contain the secret of what happened that day and what they did to him. They had to bury it up before anything serious happens.

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