Chapter 59: Taking it slow

"What do you mean by what happened? That terrorist has escaped. We have no idea where he went! We were asking for your opinion, however you seem like you're not listening!" Lonappan replied, shaking his head in dismay.

As John collected himself from his 'daydream', he apologized. "I'm sorry, guys. Even I have no idea as to where this terrorist escaped to!"

Lonappan sighed. "That's fine! Most importantly, the people here are safe! And I think it's high time that we scoot from here." He suggested.

"Yea." The guys agreed as well. They slowly exited from the arena, where the people started recovering from the trance with altered memory.

"So, was I gonna do something? I don't know; I feel like I forgot some stuff." John spoke.

"Well, you did say that you were gonna call the HQ in regards to something. So, there's that." Lonappan replied.

"Oh, yea! Wait here for a minute or two. I need some privacy." John said as he left the squad outside the arena and moved to a rather secluded place.

"So, what do you think?" Thankappan asked Lonappan, after John had left.

"Hmm, too early to speculate. However, from what I observed, it's indeed a success. He remembers the event differently now." Lonappan replied.

Meanwhile, once he reached the secluded region, John took out his smartphone and dialed to HQ. "Hello? This is agent John Krabinski here." He spoke.

"John, what's the report?" The voice from the other side of the phone asked.

"Well, seems like there's a really smart alien running on loose here in Kerala. He somehow outsmarted us and escaped. So, I may have to look into it." John replied.

"Hmm, someone capable of giving you the slip, huh? That's interesting. You should definitely look into it. However, what about the calamity threat back there? What's your assessment about that alien?" The voice asked.

"Nothing solid. The subject hasn't shown much movement, so I can't judge him based on what I've seen as of now. I need some time to give out a proper answer about him." John replied.

"Sure, take your time. However, by the end of it, you should give me a proper answer about that. If you can catch that alien terrorist in the meanwhile, that would be great too!" The voice ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" John then hung up the phone and walked back to where the squad was. "Shall we go then?" He asked.

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On their way back to Thrissur, they decided to take the tickets for the AC compartment of the train, rather than the sleeper one, under John's suggestion. For John and the three who came with him to Trivandrum, it wasn't that big of a deal. However, for the first wave guys like Thankappan and Taro, this was a big deal. They felt like they were in bliss—the same feeling the second wave squad had on their journey to Trivandrum.

While most of them tried to sleep in the AC compartment, Taro looked up and stared at John in the opposite upper berth for the longest time. However, his staring hour was interrupted by Lonappan, laying in the lower berth opposite to him, directly below John. "Hey, can I ask you something?" He whispered, well aware that John's been squirming on the top. However, he particularly didn't have to worry about it, since he had changed the language into Wadorian in the translator, the one language that wasn't installed in the HQ translators.

"Sure."

"You went to the dojo to learn Kung-Fu, right?" He asked.

"Yea?" Taro didn't like where the conversation was going.

"Well, then. Why did you learn Karate instead?" He asked.

"What?"

"Well, it's a 'dojo' in the first place; that's Japanese. For Kung-Fu, it's something else entirely. The uniform isn't exactly white for it and the belt color ratings are different. Didn't you notice anything different when you went to the dojo or the tournament at least?" Lonappan asked.

"You see, my translator always registered it as martial arts rather than Kung-Fu or Karate. And as for the dojo—all I saw was 'training ground'. So, I couldn't possibly decipher which martial arts that I learned. However, you guys could, right? Why didn't you inform me?" He asked.

"We thought that was intentional and you liked Karate!" Lonappan answered.

"I can't deny that. I do started to like Karate after practicing it!" Taro replied.

"Geez, that's the most boring plot twist that I've ever heard about!" A voice from the top chimed in as well. It was Thankappan.

"Deal with it! It wasn't meant to be one anyway!" Lonappan replied. After the reveal of the sub-par plot twist, Lonappan went back to counting sheep and Taro reverted back to staring at John.

"What the hell are you doing?" John stared back at Taro and asked.

"What? I just wanted to check up on how you are doing." Taro replied.

"That doesn't mean you have to stare at me for hours! You're weird as fuck!" John said as he went back to sleep.

"Hmm, seems like he hasn't stopped hating me yet! The order didn't work." Taro thought as he went to sleep. What he failed to notice in the dark was that John blushing for some reason.

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A few good hours later, the squad ended up back in the Holy Land. Even though Lonappan had offered him a better place to stay, John decided that he would stay in the already crowded Room 306 with the guys. The guys agreed while Lonappan contemplated on how to reveal this to Timothy. In the end, he decided he would speak with money rather than words.

It was about two in the morning and everyone was asleep—except for Taro, of course. However, he didn't watch television this time and stared deep into the darkness instead. At that moment, he could hear light tapping at the front door. Before he could get up and unlock it, the door was already unlocked. Since he knew of just one person who could do that, Taro sat back in his chair. "Hey, Lonappan! What are you doing here this time of the night?" He asked.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about something." Lonappan replied.

"Shoot."

"Remember how I gave you permission to do martial arts?" He asked.

"Yea?"

"Well, I'm gonna retract that permission now." Lonappan replied.

Taro thought for a while. "Hmm. That makes sense." He nodded his head along.

"Wait, you're not gonna ask why?" Lonappan asked. He expected Taro to be curious about it. He never expected Taro to straight up accept the reality as it is.

"Let's see. It's because John's around, isn't it? First of all, since my master's memory is altered, I can no longer practice at the dojo, since that could mess things up." He replied.

"Yea, there have been cases where a subject's real memory got revived when it got in contact with something that emotionally bound him with that memory. It acted as a trigger to activate that memory." Lonappan explained.

"Going by what you said, I might act as a trigger for the master since I'm emotionally attached to him and end up reviving his memories. So, practicing at the dojo is impossible. And what's left is to practice here, at the Holy Land. However, the person who should not be triggered is here." Taro continued on with his side of explanation.

"Well, there has been some other cases, where subjects with abnormal or rather strong mental power reviving their memories even if it's not an emotionally attached moment." Lonappan added in his interesting tidbit.

"And as of right now, we don't know about John's mental capabilities. Seems like the order didn't work though, since he still kinda hates me. However, that couldn't still be considered as a valid gauge of his mental prowess. Hence, I can't practice martial arts before him, right?" Taro asked.

Lonappan sighed. "Since we're already on this topic, I want you to not work in the construction site as well. First of all, it was kinda my fault that I didn't tell you the reason for us allowing you to participate in the tourney. Had you known about the calamity level stuff, you wouldn't have let your emotions run amok. Secondly, I don't want you to do anything that could potentially showcase your strength to John and hence I ask you to not work in the construction sector. Don't worry, I'll find you a job that's less power oriented and until then you could keep your job here. However, I still believe it's time to take it slow and do something mediocre." He explained.

"I get that. Anyway, the tournament thing was partly my fault too because a martial artist's emotions should never run wild. And I agree with you on the fact that I shouldn't work on construction sites. So, do what you wanna do. Get me a normal desk job and I'll be really happy to do that. Less effort and more pay—who wouldn't want that?" Taro smiled.

"Hmm, you're deceptively intelligent. Well, I did know that from the time you argued with Ponnappan. But, it's easy to talk with you. It's been a productive chat today! I'll see you later then." Lonappan gave out a nod of respect and went back to his home.

"Time to take it slow, huh?" Taro sighed as he continued staring into the darkness.

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