The Life Of Normal-Taro

"Where are you even taking us?" Zaheer asked as Scarlet took them into some dark alleyway.

"I'm not gonna rob you, don't worry." Scarlet assured them.

"It's not like you're not gonna rob us, it's just that you can't rob us since we are karatekas." Zaheer scoffed.

"Nice! You got me on that one." Scarlet smirked.

Zaheer sighed. "So, where are you taking us?" He asked yet again.

"Just come with me now, will ya? Didn't I say that I'll show Sadanandan to ya? I'm planning to do just that." Scarlet replied.

"So you're saying to me that he was in this dark alleyway doing some shady shit as well." Zaheer spoke.

"Why? Can't believe it? Well, there's always a different side for the people we know so dearly about, so don't be surprised." Scarlet replied as he patted on Zaheer's shoulders. And Zaheer swatted off his hand yet again.

"I wasn't surprised about that or anything. What I'm surprised about is the fact that your hand touched my shoulder yet again, even after clearly warning you not to do that kinda shit." The karateka looked serious as he said that.

"Bruv, it's just a hand. Chill." Scarlet shrugged as he took the hand off him.

"Again, don't do something like that carelessly. I'm not a fan of it." Zaheer replied.

"Sheesh. Fine. Anyhow, a few more meters and we'll reach our destination." Scarlet spoke as he increased the pace.

And within a few minutes, they reached a shop named 'Ajish's spare parts'.

"Hmm, why though? It makes little sense. Frequent visit to a spare parts shop isn't something that people normally do." Harish, who had stayed silent for the most part of the walk, looked at the sign and mumbled.

"Maybe he has something of value here?" Zaheer put forth his guess.

"Something valuable? In a freaking spare parts shop? Are you crazy or what?" Harish looked at Zaheer as if he told one of the most obnoxious things in the world.

"Well, think about it. A seemingly nothing shop could be a great hideout spot for whatever you wanna hide, don't you think?" Zaheer asked.

"Hmm. You might just be right about that." Harish nodded his head along.

"Or there's also a chance that he was here to buy something that only shady businesses sell." Scarlet sowed the seeds of discord with that sentence.

"Hmm, are you talking about drugs and stuff?" Harish asked.

"Maybe, who knows?" Scarlet acted as if he knew nothing.

"Well… I have nothing to say. I'll talk about it once I see it for real." Harish spoke.

"Cool. He's here. See for yourself." Scarlet spoke as he pointed towards hyper ecstatic Taro.

"Why the hell is he here?" Harish went ballistic upon seeing Taro.

"Well, I told ya, didn't I? I said he's gonna come and here he is." Scarlet was proud of his achievement.

"Wait, a minute! Weren't you the one who said he's not gonna come?" Zaheer whispered to Harish. He sounded furious.

"I didn't think he'd be here as well. It's not my fault!" Harish whispered back, sounding almost as furious as him.

"Well, you should've investigated it before calling in a private investigator." Zaheer sighed.

"Did you really think that THIS guy was gonna find him?" Harish asked.

"Not really." Zaheer replied.

"See, this was just our luck, my man… Any other day and we would've missed them." Harish spoke.

"No." Scarlet gave out a serious reply in the midst.

"What?"

"I said no. It wasn't just dumb luck. It was a part of careful planning. I've been monitoring him for weeks now. And the day before, I heard him say that he wanted to come here. So, yea… It isn't luck that made you see him here." Scarlet explained.

"Did you just buy a super smart detective instead of an idiot one?" Zaheer gave out a questionable look at Harish.

"I'm gonna tell ya again. I had no hopes for him to find Sadanandan." Harish replied.

"Real proud of me now, aren't you?" Scarlet laughed at their misfortune.

"Proud? I feel like strangling you, but I'm gonna leave it there." Harish spoke.

"Why are you being so rude to me? You wanted me to find the guy, I found the guy. If you wanted to ACT like I found the guy and yet have him no show when you come by, you should've specifically asked me so. There's a package for that as well." Scarlet explained.

"Really?" 

"Yup. I came to learn that many people hire me believing that I don't have the basic investigative skills. They just want me to act like I'm doing my job and then just not do my job. And that's why I came up with this idea. They got what I want, and I got the money for acting. Pretty great, eh?" Scarlet spoke.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me about this when I met up with you?" Harish was this close to blowing up in rage. 

Had he known about this, he certainly wouldn't have picked the other one.

"YOU are the one who didn't ask me about it!" Scarlet retorted.

"Hey! Who the hell ASKS for something like this? You're the one who should've talked to me about it. For real!" Harish brought forth a counter of his own.

"Hmm… I feel like both the parties are right in certain points. I mean, I just can't blame Harish for not asking Scarlet about it since it isn't something that you normally ask. So yea…" Zaheer gave out his opinion.

"The way you shaped the sentence makes me believe that you're leaning towards me with this, however since you don't wanna hurt this guy's feelings and at the same time, you don't want my pride to grow as well. Isn't that right?" Harish asked.

Zaheer sighed. "How come you're so smart in moments like this?" He asked.

"What do you mean moments like this? I'm always smart, you know? It's just that I don't have to use my smarts often." Harish replied.

"Is that so?" Zaheer mumbled. "So, what are we gonna do now?" He asked.

Harish thought for quite some time before coming in with a reply. "Well, since we're here already, why don't we just take a peek at what he's doing?" He asked, not knowing what he was actually gonna see.

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