Chapter 67: New beginnings

"Heyo!" Taro jumped into the room where the aliens and John were patiently waiting for them.

"Eyy!" Gibli jumped up as well. He always loves a moment where he can be hyperactive as hell.

"So, notice any change?" Taro asked before changing the language to English. "What about now? Real fluent, isn't it?" He asked.

"Yea, it's fluent. Finally, eh? Now you don't have to worry about it!" Gibli replied.

Meanwhile, John walked towards him. "Seems like the MIB base here isn't a dunce after all. Congrats on getting a new translator." He spoke.

Taro chuckled nervously since it wasn't MIB base's technical brilliance that got him the translator. "Yea! Thanks, mate."

"Before you thank me, take this." John handed a suit to him. "I bought it for everyone. Since you're gonna be teaching children and all. The least you could do is to look professional. I got one for you too, Thankappan." He handed one to Thankappan and spoke.

"Whoa, thanks man!" Both thanked John.

"You're welcome. Good luck for tomorrow." He wished them luck and headed outside to get some air.

#

Next morning. After the misunderstanding before, Shivani really didn't want to meet her neighbors again, so she decided to exit her house a bit early. When her mum asked what's the special occasion, she just replied that she had a special morning class. She didn't like lying to her mother, however she couldn't tell her that she was a bit shy and embarrassed about facing her neighbors and wanted to head first before they even stepped out of the house. In retrospect, she thought that would have been a good idea since her mum could be understanding sometimes. Since now that she just told a lie to her, she had no choice but to go with it.

However, things didn't go as she planned. As soon as she stepped out of her hou...room, she was faced with three suited men stretching their bodies while another one tied their shoelaces. She couldn't just escape them anymore. As she accidentally locked eyes with the one tying the shoelaces, he gently smiled. Not knowing how to respond, she quickly wore her shoes and ran out.

She was kinda relieved though. Since her neighbors were wearing suits, she was sure that they weren't heading to her school for manual labor today. She just didn't want to get in contact with them more than she does.

#

"Dude, we freaked her out yet again!" Gibli sighed.

"I believe it's this guy's creepy smile." Taro said as he slightly kicked Thankappan.

"I have to agree with Taro on this. The girl seems like an introvert. I don't think she can handle extreme advances that Thankappan's been putting in." Kunjan nodded his head as he spoke.

"Hey! It ain't creepy. For your information, I know she's introverted. That's why I'm smiling at her, you know? Like, I'm being a welcoming face that she'll find familiarity in sooner or later!" Thankappan explained his stance.

"Welcoming? It's real creepy, dude! How will you react if a guy you don't talk to at all starts to smile all of a sudden for no reason? Especially if you're an introvert or a girl?" Gibli asked.

"Since I'm neither of those, I don't know the right answer." He replied.

"You'll be creeped out. That's what will happen. So, calm down with your smiles, okay? Especially since we're gonna be dealing with kids later." Gibli requested.

"I'll try." He replied.

"You guys are going?" John, who just woke up, asked.

"Yea. By the way, don't worry about what you'll be doing and stuff. I called up Lonappan, so he'll be coming soon and you two can do whatever the guy's been planning to do." Thankappan replied.

"I see. See you in the evening then?" John waved his hand goodbye.

"Yea." Thankappan nodded his head as the crew headed down and exited the Holy Land.

#

A minute later. The crew were before the school gates. However, there wasn't a single soul that they could see on the school grounds. Well, they did know that Shivani had headed to the school, so they knew at least one person was there in the classrooms, at least. However, there wasn't anyone that they could find. No officials; no one.

"Are we a tad bit early?" Taro asked as he looked around.

"Wait a minute. I see someone!" Thankappan pointed out someone walking a bit away from them and paced towards the person. It was a woman, who looked a bit older than them. "Chechi [1]! Where is everyone?" He asked.

"Well, the teachers are all in the chapel out in the hostel doing their morning prayers. So, they'll be coming out in a bit. By the way, what's up with you guys?" She asked.

"Ah, I'm Thankappan. These people right here are Sadanandan, Kunjan and Gibli." He replied.

"Hello, chechi." The other three spoke simultaneously.

"You see, we're here to meet the principal. We kinda have a job interview today." Thankappan said to the woman. "What do you do around here, chechi?" He asked.

"I'm Jenna, the school peon. And speak of the devil! She's here." Jenna pointed towards the chapel, where a horde of teachers were exiting it.

"Ah, thank you for your help!" Thakappan bowed deeply and headed towards the chapel with the aliens.

"I didn't help you though!" Jenna thought as she watched them prance towards the principal.

"Hello, there!" Thankappan and the crew waved their hand towards the principal.

"Oh, you guys are here! I honestly thought you would take a bit more time to… think about it, you know?" The principal spoke.

"Well, the offer you gave us was god sent! There's no way that we were ever gonna reject such an offer!" Thankappan replied.

"I hope you brought your resume and stuff?" She asked.

"Yup. Here it is!" Thankappan showed the resume off.

"Great. Let's head to my office. I'll check it there." The principal led them towards her office.

#

"Okay, your documents seem legit. A few of you seem to lack a bit of experience, but I guess you'll manage anyway. We'll be assigning you to the lower grades, so don't worry. Anyway, congratulations. You're hired! You're officially part of the faculty of the Heavenly Flame School." She smiled.

"Oh, thank you. We're pleased to be part of such an esteemed faculty!" Thankappan replied.

"Well, you don't have to necessarily sweet talk, you know? And about your schedule today, I'll inform you in a bit. In the meantime, why don't you meet up with your friends over there? They seem really eager to have a chat with you!" The principal spoke as she pointed towards Francis and the workers waving towards them.

As soon as they saw it, they stood up and thanked the principal for the job opportunity that she had given them and exited the office to meet up with their former co-workers. "Hey, guys! How are you?" Thankappan asked as he met up with them.

"We're fine! And you look hella fine too, ya know?" Francis replied.

"Yea, damn boys! You look sleek in those suits!" Vineeth voiced Francis' opinion as well. The others shouted similar compliments towards them.

"Thank you guys! Like, for real… Thanks! Francis, if you had never taken us in, we'd never reached this place and this job would never have been possible. And you guys as well! If you never took us in as your friends and comrades, we'd have been alienated. Thank you for all your help! We're here because of you." Thankappan gave out his emotional speech.

"You sure got a way with your words, eh? But, it's all you, kid! Even if we had brought you here for work, there's no way you would've got the job if you weren't qualified, right?" Francis asked.

"Yea, never would've thought you got a degree in English and stuff! But the unemployment rate is high here, so it makes sense that you did construction work all this time. However, you'll be happy now, right? Finally getting a job that you're actually qualified for?" Vineeth asked.

Thankappan nodded his head. "You're right. However, we're gonna dearly miss you guys though! We had fun with you guys, you know?" He smiled.

"We're gonna miss you too, man! The abnormal strength and skills that you guys have really helped us, you know? We're gonna have a hard time finding someone of your caliber anymore." Francis sighed.

"Well, I sure do hope that you find someone quite as skilled and powerful as us. Someone close, but quite not our level though, since that'd be impossible!" Thankappan laughed.

"Oh, you got quite the confidence in your skills, eh?" Francis laughed as well.

"Of course! Where else are you gonna find the all-star team of two powerful and one smart alien and one highly trained MIB field agent? Sure, finding someone barely close to us would be gosh darn impossible!" Thankappan thought as he laughed a bit more.

"Anyhow,we got work. So, why don't you head back and do your thing while we do ours. And good luck for your new adventure." Francis extended his hand and Thankappan shook on it.

"Thank you. We wish you luck as well." Thankappan replied as he headed back with a bright smile on his face.

#

[1] Female equivalent of chetta.