Chapter 83: A screw-up

After the usage of neuralyzer on John, everything went perfectly fine. Both Lonappan and John watched everything unfolding before them, although, there wasn't much to watch there because they hadn't yet started the sports event officially. However, they were content with seeing children running, jumping and crying. Even though that was kinda annoying, Lonappan was fine with it because he didn't want John to have any sorta recollection about the incident that happened just a few minutes ago.

Thankfully, Lonappan's worry subsided a little upon seeing John thoroughly enjoying every single moment. Since he hadn't been around children for a long time now, seeing them do literally anything made him happy! Lonappan was kinda perplexed because he did not expect himself to use the neuralyzer on that particular occasion; it was much more of a reflex action rather than a well-thought-out plan like the one that happened during the tournament. Not just that, he wasn't satisfied with his explanation that he gave to John while he was in the trance, so he was kinda worried that some loophole might have formed, which might enable John to remember all the events that happened, So, he made a promise to himself that he was not going to let John out of his sight at all. Or at least, that was the plan until the aliens and his subordinate Thankappan came up to them. Upon seeing them Lonappan forgot all about his promise and then just headed towards them to tell what actually happened just a moment ago.

"Yo, how are you guys doing?" Thankappan asked with a smile on his face. However, before he could get an answer, Lonappan grabbed the four of them far away from John.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Gibli asked.

"Don't ask me any questions right now. I'll answer every doubt thyat you have, but right now we gotta move as far as we can. So, let's go to a secluded place. If you know such a place, lead me there." Lonappan ordered. Without asking any further questions, the guys took Lonappan to a rather secluded place where he heaved a sigh of relief.

"So, what's going on? We have reached the most secluded place that I know of in this school, so you better start answering my questions." Thankappan spoke in a serious tone.

" Ok, listen. I might have screwed up things just a little bit. " Lonappan replied.

"Screwed up? What do you mean you screwed up?" Thankappan asked.

"Well, you see. I might have used the neuralyzer on John." Lonappan chuckled nervously.

"What the hell? Why did you do that? I hope that you probably have a good reason for doing so, right?" Thankappan asked, looking for an answer from his superior. However, Lonappan hesistated to give an answer, which made Thankappan suspicious of his senior even more. "Why aren't you answering?" He asked again.

"You gotta believe me when I say this. It's not my fault this time! He started suspecting some of the things that's been happening around the Holy Land, so I had to shut him up somehow. Do you know he has been spying on us since he has been staying at the Holy Land? No, right? Even I didn't know, until now. " Lonappan replied.

"Ok, that might be a little concerning, however I don't think that's enough for you to flash the neuralyzer on him! It's not like we were saying something really controversial or something around him, right? But then again, I really hope that you had a legitimate reason to use it on him. Hell, you were the one who actually preached us about the problematic part of the neuralyzer and here you are, using it freely like it's some free real estate or something. If you are to consider, it is like the second time we are using the neuralyzer on him, right? Don't you think that repeated usage of the neuralyzer might eventually corrupt his mind or something?" Thankappan asked.

"Look, I know what I said. I know that using the neuralyzer has huge side effects. I'm aware that that what I did was a huge mistake. I shouldn't have used it on him. I should have just tried talking to him a bit more so that his doubts subside a bit, rather than foolishly using the neuralyzer on him on a whim and for that I gotta apologize. Realistically, I would have apologized to him, however that would be impossible due to circumstances, so I am doing the second best thing that I can. I am sorry for panicking and I really hope that it doesn't instill a long-lasting problem on him." Lonappan replied.

"Ha... I would like to say that apologizing would solve things up, but it really wouldn't. However, if it helps with your guilt, then so be it. Other than that it doesn't really help. So, what we can do is sincerely hope that we haven't caused some mental problems for John. At least, he doesn't look that bad now that I look at him... Oh, my god! He is gawking at the kids! You really screw things up, didn't you?" Thankappan asked. At that moment, he felt like he was the sane one amongst them.

"Ah, don't worry about that. That's kinda normal. He hasn't been around many kids recently, so he doesn't know how to behave around them and that's why he looks at them like that. It's not on me, you know? Don't just put all the blame on me like that." Lonappan sighed. Things had been going a bit wrong for him this day, however this wasn't one of the mistakes that he caused. So, he was kinda relieved.

"Is that so? That's good; he already has a problem then, so I guess we won't be adding a lot to it with the neuralyzer. Anyway, I think you should go back and join John because I think you not being around him would be a much bigger issue than you actually being around him... Although, it seems like your presence around him isn't much of a help either, so I don't know what to think about it." Thankappan spoke, taking this opportunity to take a jab at his senior.

"Ha ha, real funny! But yea, I think I should go. So, good luck with whatever shit you're gonna do today." Lonappan spoke as he waved goodbye.

"Thanks!" Thankappan and the aliens shouted back.

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Although John did bad mouth the preparations that the school made for the sports day earlier, he kinda understood that simplicity was sometimes the best answer one could give. Because one thing that all the extensive preparations in this world couldn't give is might be a smile in a child's face. However, this sports event was able to plant a smile on the faces of these children. It was pretty fun if you were to ask him. Several of the initial welcome segments of this sports ceremony was a bit cringy in his mind, however John was still able to enjoy a big chunk of the events that occurred that day. The surrounding people were excited about it, so naturally he was too and in the end he could enjoy that day like everyone else did.

Meanwhile, the others had their fair share of fun as well. For Lonappan, it was seeing his son bag a few gold medals, while for the others, it was the friendly competition that they were having against each other. In the end, when the sports day was done and dusted, they came to know that the house that Taro was responsible for actually became the champions by a really narrow margin. And this narrow win led to an intense banter between the four people responsible for the four houses. At first, it was just a war of words. However, as time passed, it soon escalated into somewhat of a strike fest. Although, by the time that happened, the other three retracted their previous statements and accepted Taro's win because they knew how good he was when it came to a fist fight. They didn't want to mess with the bull because they knew they would get the horns if they did that. So in the end, it was peaceful by the time Taro and the company received the championship from the principal.

After that ended, the four of them were getting ready to go back to the staff rooms however they were stopped by John before they did so. When they noticed John's presence before them, they kinda looked around for Lonappan as well. However, they couldn't see him; it looked as if he gave Lonappan a slip to meet them. Suddenly it seemed like Lonappan's worries weren't one without a reason.

"Hey, John! What are you doing here?" Thankappan asked.

"Oh, well I wanted to have a talk with Taro here." John answered, while staring at Taro.

"Hmm, sure. Have your chat! We'll leave." Thankappan and the others left, leaving Taro and John alone.

"What is it?" Taro asked.

"I want you to answer my question." He spoke so seriously that it made Taro gulp.

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