The Life Of Normal-Taro

Chapter 43: Prodigy awaits

"The fuck is this?" Taro asked as he stared at the crowd.

"Well, take it in, my pupil. This is how prestigious a martial arts tournament is!" The dojo master proudly proclaimed.

"As if! You're seeing the same thing that I'm seeing, right? Why are the numbers so low?" He exclaimed as he pointed towards the very few people walking around in the indoor stadium.

The master gave out a chuckle. "Well, it's just that we're a bit early! Weren't you the one in such a hurry? Had we came here somewhat late, you would've seen a sea of people here." He replied.

Taro sighed. "Fine, it's my fault then. So, what are we doing?" He asked.

"Well, we gotta register you as a participant now." The master said and headed towards the registration desk. "Hey there! We're here to register my pupil right here for the black belt category."

The personnel, a really old man, looked up to the master. "Black belt, huh? Are you sure though? Like the number of black belt participants are low in this tournament in general, so why don't you just place your participant in the brawl-for-all category?" He asked.

The master laughed. "Pretty fancy name for the exhibition category, old man! However, fret not. I decide what's best for my pupil, not you. So, listen to me and put him in the black belt category." The master's complexion suddenly got dark for a moment, as if he was releasing some sort of ominous aura.

The old man felt a bit chilly after this. "You know what? You're right! Who am I to tell you anything? Here's the form." He quickly gave out the form and started conversing with the next participant.

"Master, why did you do that?" Taro asked.

"Huh?"

"Well, won't the brawl-for-all category have more fighters than the black belt category? Why didn't we register for that?" He asked.

The dojo master sighed. "Okay, hear me out. First of all, you really wanna face a bunch of white belt small fries in a category which isn't even an actual category? I don't think so. Secondly, it seems that the guy's bluffing. I believe there might be a few more participants in the category." He explained.

"Finally?"

"Huh?"

"Well, you just can't end an explanation like that without a conclusion, can you?" Taro asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I too thought that there would be three points for some reason. Once I realized that was the case, I thought it might not be a good thing to use 'finally' for my second point." The master shrugged.

Taro sighed. "Why am I even talking about this when it's their own language and I don't know shit about it?" He thought before coming back to his senses. "Anyway, do you really think any more participants will come? A black belt at that?" He asked.

"Believe me. Give it a few more hours and this place will be crowded as hell!" The dojo master assured.

#

Few hours passed after the dojo master put forth the bold claim of his. To sum it up, nothing really happened. A few more participants came through, however none of them were black belts. Meanwhile, the tournament had already begun for the brawl-for-all category.

"So, what's your explanation?" Taro asked.

The master gave out a nervous laughter. "Well, the day's still young. The black belt category is the last one. Someone could still sign up for it!" He said.

"What kind of a tournament allows someone to participate in the last possible second?" Taro wondered.

"Well, this one does! We don't question their logic, my dear pupil!" The master replied.

"Hmm, I sure hope that's the case and someone actually signs up for it. Or else I'll be really disappointed." Taro spoke. Even though the master didn't understand what Taro said in the end, he got the gist of it by looking at the terrifying look in the Wadorian's face.

So, Taro waited. He waited until the brawl-for-all ended. He continued waiting, until all the belted categories ended. In the end, he won through a bye and was crowned the champion of the black belt category. He wasn't happy about this at all, since all he did throughout the entire day was watching someone else having all the fun that he should've been having.

"And the champion of the black belt category, Sadanandan." The announcer invited him into the podium during the award ceremony. However, Taro was reluctant to go out there and receive something that he didn't think he deserved. After all, the martial arts tournaments back in the Martial Planet were all about finding who deserved the title of the strongest and had the right to challenge the head of the planet. Although Taro wasn't able to participate in the tournament due to it being restricted to the Martial planet citizens because of the 'challenging the head' aspect, he loved watching those tournaments and always wanted to fight in one such tourney. However, right now, he ended up as a martial arts champion without even proving anything. He just couldn't accept this result.

"What are you doing? Go get the award!" The dojo master tried persuading Taro into it.

"No!" However, Taro was still adamant about it.

"Will the champion please head to the podium as soon as possible?" The announcer's voice sounded more irritated as time passed.

"Please? Pretty please? Just go to the podium and get the championship. You don't even have to pose with it. Hell, you don't even have to take the award back with you. I'll take care of it." The master assured.

Since Taro had a soft spot for his master in his heart, he reluctantly headed to the podium and received the award with a stoic expression in his face. "Here you go! Do whatever the fuck you want with it." Taro sighed as he tossed the award at his master.

"Phew, finally another award to decorate my dojo! I'll make this the focal point in the flyers I'm gonna make!" The master thought, not even hiding his happiness.

"Bravo! Finally, someone won something for your dojo, eh? You might be feeling mighty proud about that, right? Even though he did nothing to win it." Someone interfered with the dojo master's train of thoughts and barged in clapping his hands.

"You!" The master looked at the man with pure shock in his face.

"Yes, it's me!" The man relished this view.

"Who are you?"

"Hell no!" The man's face suddenly got twisted beyond recognition at this.

The master laughed at this. "Sheesh, I'm kidding, dude. How could I forget the ass whooping that I gave you back in the day?" He asked.

The man looked flustered. "That was just once!" He shouted.

"Seems like you're still pissed off about that one time, since you seem to remember it so fondly!" The master replied.

"Fuck off!" The man spoke. And then as if all this didn't happen, the man quickly changed the subject. "So, how do you feel shamelessly winning the tourney like this?" He asked.

"Extremely happy. Do you have a problem with it, you shithead?" The master fought back as well.

The man scoffed. "Hmm. Be happy while you can. Because your pupil will lose cleanly to mine at the state tourney. Or will you chicken out and not bring your pupil to that?" He laughed.

"You bet my pupil will whoop your pupil's candy ass just like I used to do with you!" In the heat of the moment, the master accepted the challenge.

The man chuckled. "Very well. I'll see you later then!" He was about to walk away, when he quickly returned. "Let me just gloat about my pupil before I go. Remember how you used to walk around saying that you were some kinda prodigy when you defeated me that one time. Well, you know what? You were wrong. How do I know? Because I know of one. Eighteen years old; just became a black belt after thirteen years of intense training. Could've just become a black belt whenever he wanted, however, he decided to hone his immense talent all these years. And now he's possibly the very best of all the black belters in India. Hell, he might even be able to take on the world! A real prodigy; that's whom your pathetic pupil's going to face. You really think he can handle it? Wait, don't answer. You'll find it when my pupil thoroughly defeats yours in the tournament. Bye!" After hyping up his pupil to the sky, the man ran away.

"Master, who the hell is he?" Taro asked.

"Ah, he's Anil. He used to be my dojo mate. Pretty great in what he does. Been the national champ once or twice. We used to be good friends back then. Well, I guess he didn't really forgot the time when I luckyman'd [1] him once." The master sighed.

"Lucky man'd?" Taro looked at him, confused.

"Shoot, my bad for putting in a reference. I thought it would sound cool. Anyway, this is bad. Really bad." The master replied.

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[1] The main character of Tottemo! Luckyman, who fought (and won) his way through sheer luck.