We Three Kings

“You want us to do what?!?” T.J. yelled in Noizchild’s office one hot summer’s morning. The boss smiled at him calmly.

“It’s just a small thing,” Noiz reasoned. T.J. shook his head.

“No!” he said. “This is a *big* thing!”

“It’s not even that hard,” the kitty told him. “Just hang out with the guy for two weeks and everything will be honky-dorky.” T.J. snorted at her.

“Easy for you to say!” he remarked.

“Come on T.J.!” Noiz insisted. “It’ll only be two weeks and he’s a college student, already!” Her employee still didn’t look convinced. The kitty headmistress sighed in frustration.

“Look,” she said. “Just do this for me! I got Tony and Art to do it.” The Spanish man raised an eyebrow at her.

“How the devil did you manage that?” he questioned. The kitty grinned at him.

“Beer,” was all she said. That caught the Spaniard’s attention now.

“Beer?” he asked.

“Yes,” Noiz replied.

“How?” T.J. asked. The kitty fidgeted a little bit.

“I said that I would pay for the next round,” she replied. Her coworker looked at him with eyes. Okay, he hadn’t expected this one.

“Serious?” he asked. Noiz nodded. But, she quickly held up her hand.

“But that’s only if you agree to guiding the boy around the campus for two weeks!” she summed up. T.J. looked at her for a moment. Tough choice he had here. Beer for baby-sitting. Freedom for no beer. It looked rather close…

“Fine,” the Spanish man grumbled. “I’ll do it!” Noiz sat back grinning at him.

“Good boy,” she replied. “You might like Willard.” T.J. rolled his eyes.

“Whatever; just get me my beer,” he mumbled under his breath. By that afternoon, T.J. made it down to the bus stop. He found his pals, Art and Anthony, already waiting for the transfer student in question. They looked up and saw the third man coming towards him.

“Hey T.J.!” Anthony yelled to his pale. The Spaniard made it over to him.

“Art, Tony!” he greeted them. They all high-fived each other like college boys. T.J. sat down on the bench once everything settled.

“She got you with the beer too, huh?” he asked. His pals nodded.

“Yeah,” Tony said.

“I see…” T.J. mumbled. He looked at his friends for a moment.

“Anything on this Willard kid?” Art shrugged and shook his head.

“Not much. His name is Willard Slick. He just finished his sophomore year in Okinawa. He just turned twenty as well.” T.J. thought about all that for a moment.

“A newly twenty-year-old transferring junior, huh?” Art and Tony nodded at him. Their friend took a moment to ponder all of this new information for a long moment. The other two observed him for a long moment.

“What are you thinking there, T?” Anthony asked him. The Spanish man turned back to his pals, grinning.

“Gentlemen!” he spoke up. “It looks like we’ll have to show our new friend, Willy, a good time when he arrives!” Art and Anthony stared at him lost for moment. Then, it all sank into their heads for them. Tony now had a devilish grin on his face.

“Oh!” he said. “You mean…”

“Hell to the yes!” the Spanish man answered. Tony grinned harder. He liked the sound of that one. Art on the other hand, looked rather worried.

“You are forgetting one thing however,” he pointed out. His pals frowned at that little reminder.

“Noiz!” they said in unison.

“Exactly,” the nerdy man replied. They all went silent for a long moment. How were they going to fix that one? An idea came into T.J.’s head. He couldn’t help but to snicker to himself. Art raised an eyebrow at him.

“T.J…”

“What?”

“What are you plotting now?” The Spanish man turned to him, grinning.

“Noiz just had a baby, right?” he asked.

“Well, yeah…” Art mumbled. His friend leaned in close with his mischievous smile.

“She’s going to be more focused on the kid and family than on us,” he pointed out. Art thought about that for a moment. He still looked a little nervous.

“You sure this will work?” T.J. grinned at him boldly.

“Come on!” he encouraged. “It could be fun to break a sweet little nerd.” Art sneered at his buddy.

“Hey!” he said aloud. “That’s not funny! I’m a nerd!” T.J. just laughed again.

“My bad!” the Spanish man said. “So are you in or not?” There a breather as T.J. and Anthony stared at their friend for a long moment. Art looked on at his friends nervously. He sighed in defeat at last.

“Fine, let’s do it!” the geeky guy said. His pals grinned at him. Anthony slapped him on the back hard. T.J. lightly shoved on his shoulder.

“Good boy!” he said. “We’re going to have a good two weeks, my friend!” *Sweat drop on Art’s head* “That’s what I was afraid of!” he thought. There was not much to do until the bus came.

By five o’clock, the bus finally pulled up. The men stood up as the bus doors opened up wide as if looking for a hug. The three kings looked on as a sea of people flooded into the bus stop. Towards the end, a young American college student wandered off the bus, looking around. T.J., Art, and Anthony all grinned to himself.

“That’s him,” T.J. mumbled.

“Oh yeah, we see him,” Tony whispered. May the corruption begin. The three men gracefully made their way over to the transfer student. Willard looked up at his guides. He didn’t look impressed at all. “Oh great,” he thought. “I get picked up by hairy apes to be taken to a sham of a school for two weeks! Oh what fun!” The young man sighed and rolled his eyes. Willard turned his attention to the front once again. His guides stood right in front of him, grinning.

“Welcome Willard Slick,” T.J. greeted him. “We will be your guides around Tokyo-Zion Academy for the next two weeks.”

You Are Now a Man