"Supplies and stuff is the only thing we discussed so far… We really don't have any idea about what to think of next, huh?" Taro sighed.
"Well, it's the unknown. We just can't prepare too much for the unknown. So, rather than baseless preparations, what we need is vigilance. We gotta monitor things happening around us… Taro in particular." Thankappan replied.
"I'll take care of that." Taro assured him.
"Great. The meeting, which has mostly been a waste of time, is dispersed!" Thankappan spoke as he got up.
Soon, the rest of them got up as well. The next day was gonna be a really decisive day.
#
Next morning; the ones in the room #306 got up way earlier than they usually do. This was their form of staying vigilant.
So, by the time they usually woke up, they were actually done changing. And it got even weirder when Thankappan barged out without waiting for the coincidence stuff.
He really didn't want any danger to befall on a normal civilian due to them, but that argument seemed extremely flawed since they were heading towards a place where civilians, that too minors, came to learn. Thankappan didn't reveal the real reason, but the aliens suspected that he was nervous enough with the curse stuff that he didn't want to meet up with Shivani.
And as for Shivani, she felt weird that day since everyone left without her. Initially, she suspected that they were just late, so when she confirmed that they left without her, she was kinda devastated and she didn't know why.
The more that she thought about it, the more it seemed great to her, and yet she felt betrayed by them. However, she didn't want to blame anything on them just yet before hearing their side of the story.
Hence, she headed towards Taro the first chance that she got upon reaching school. However, as if deliberately avoiding her, every time she came around hearing rumors about Taro being there, he would've left already.
She got fed up with this cat-and-mouse chase, so she headed back to her class. Also, the bell rang and Taro had the first period, so everything worked out the way she hoped it to.
However, even though Taro swung by to take the class, it was almost like the Taro that day was merely a shadow of his former self. He didn't sound confident; he ran with the chapter and hell; he didn't even maintain eye contact with any of the students. It was truly a sorry sight to see.
Now Shivani was genuinely concerned. The morning began in a really confusing way, and Shivani wanted answers.
Therefore, just after the classes ended, she decided to catch up with Taro, but Taro was running at a freight train speed. By the time she got to the staff room running at her full might at that, Taro had already left for his next class.
After this, Shivani tried waiting for Taro by the staff room any time she got free, but Taro never came. And this made her sad. She truly felt betrayed by whom she considered a friend that day, and it felt damn worse.
#
Taro had a busy day. Not only he had to stay vigilant all the time, he had to stay away from the ones with whom he usually talked to, since it would adversely affect them if it was actually a curse because of him.
Usually, avoiding people was a simple task. However, what made it difficult for him was that someone was actually pursuing him all the way. He had to routinely avoid her so that nothing dangerous happened to her, but seeing Shivani sad like that was too much for Taro.
However, he had promised himself. Just this one day and everything would go back to normal—is what they believed. So, he was willing to do this for a day.
When he saw Shivani's dejected face, he actually thought that she would give up on talking to him. But she actually wasn't giving up.
By the time the last break came by, it wasn't just Shivani who looked for him, but the entire class. He did not know where to go at that point without arousing suspicions.
However, as if godsend, Rita pulled him to her office and closed the doors on it.
"What the!" Taro was surprised by this development, but Rita asked him to stop.
"They're out looking for you. If you make any noise, they're gonna find you here. Is that something you want to see happen?" Rita asked, to which Taro vigorously shook his head no.
"I see. Great. Now we shall wait." Rita spoke, and they waited until the voices subsided.
"Thank you for your help. Would've had a hard time without it." Taro smiled as he opened the office door… or he tried doing so, but the door was locked. "Will you please open the way for me?" He politely asked.
"Well, before that. Answer me. Why are you avoiding them? Did something happen between the two of you?" She asked back.
Taro sighed. "It's slightly complicated." He replied.
"Don't worry. You got all the time around the world since I'm not gonna open up the door anytime soon." She replied with a smirk on her face.
Taro sighed yet again. "Okay, where shall we begin…"
#
Taro talked about his curse to Rita, except for the regions where an ordinary human would find it difficult to believe about.
"So you're saying that you avoided her because of this stupid curse thingy." Rita spoke.
"Yup." Taro nodded his head.
"Okay, that's idiotic. Plus, even if you wanted to avoid people, give them a heads up or things like this will continue to happen. They care about you way more that they care about anyone else. So, just go explain your stupid stuff to people before they isolate you or something." Rita replied.
"You're right! What am I even doing? Surely they'll come to an understanding with me once I talk it with them, right?" He asked.
"Sure took you a long time to realize that." Rita smirked as she tossed the key to Taro. "Go get them, tiger!"
#