ALL NOVEL Chapter 142: Harish?
"Karate dojo, huh? But why, though?" Taro asked.
"Well, weren't you the one who told me that you're a Karate expert? I thought it would bring back those fond memories you have for the martial art in your mind." She smiled.
However, this one didn't apply for Taro. The "fond memories" Taro had for Karate were completely destroying an entire tournament. So, he wasn't particularly fond of retracing back to those memories.
"Hmm, I never knew you were practicing Karate!" Taro spoke, trying to deviate the conversation from his memories to something Abhirami-centric.
"Ah, well. You weren't aware of the activity period in the first place, so it's understandable." She replied.
"I'm not talking about that. A karateka has a certain aura around them. I mean, even the least experienced one has some sorta fighting spirit in them. And a fellow karateka can always sense it—or at least, I can! So, how come I can't feel it from you? Even in all the times you got involved in a fight around me, you never took up a stance or even looked willing to do basic self defense. So… How come?" He asked.
"Ah, you see.. I didn't take Karate seriously from the beginning. So, even though I'm in the karate class, I literally know nothing." She sighed.
"Then how about now?" He asked.
"Huh?"
"Do you feel like learning Karate?" He asked again.
"Yup!" She nodded her head. "After all the events that happened around me these few days and seeing you fight as well, I feel like learning it even a bit would be better for me." She spoke.
"Hmm, great! You won't regret it. Karate is a wonderful martial art." Taro replied.
"Is that so? Anyhow, let's head to the dojo no, shall we?" Abhirami asked, to which Taro nodded.
A few minutes later, both of them were on the topmost floor of the old block of the school. "Is it here?" Taro asked before she opened the door.
"Yea, it's technically the auditorium. But on Fridays, we treat it like our dojo." She replied.
"I see. Let's get in!" She swung the auditorium door open. "I'm here, Sensei!" She shouted.
"Oh, it's Abhirami! Don't shout too loud, okay. The kung-fu guys are gonna kill us, if we disturbed them. So…" As the master was walking towards her to reprimand her a bit, he noticed the man behind her. And the man noticed him back as well.
The two stared at each other for quite a while, before coming to a realization. "WHAT!" They shouted almost simultaneously.
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Taro was confused. The one before him was Harish, whom he faced in the tournament. He never expected that someone from back then would be here. This was even more surprising because Taro clearly remembered that he originally wasn't from Thrissur. A lot of doubts crept up in Taro's mind with each passing second.
"Wait, why did you two scream like that? Do you two know each other or something?" Abhirami, who was in between the two, was equally confused as well.
Taro was the first to respond in this scenario. "Umm, I don't know how to say this, but I've watched Mr Harish's matches, so I'm kinda familiar with him. A bit of a fan, if you ask me." He smiled as he cringed inwardly.
"Ah, that makes sense! My master is pretty famous, you see! He even faced the mysterious winner of this year's state tournament! Sure, he lost quickly, but I'm still proud of him." She giggled.
"Abhirami!" Harish sighed since he couldn't control the girl at all.
"So, why did YOU scream, sensei?" Abhirami turned towards Harish and asked.
Taro was curious about it as well. In his case, it was because he knew Harish. However, that shouldn't be the case for Harish, who isn't supposed to know about him. "... Unless the neuralyzer didn't fall on his eyes back then. Which means his memories are still intact. Which means… DANGER! Wait, let's not jump into any conclusions. Let's hear what the dude has to say." He thought.
Anyhow, Harish's facial expressions weren't helping him at all. He looked nervous, as if he was trying to hide something from them. However, after a few seconds of contemplation, he looked calm.
"Well, I screamed because he did!" He answered, whilst pointing towards Taro.
"Eh? I'm pretty sure that your screams were almost simultaneous." Abhirami spoke.
"Maybe you misheard… It's a scream, after all." Harish shrugged.
"Hmm, you might be right about that." Abhirami lightly nodded her head. However, the suspicion in her mind wasn't cleared though.
The situation was the same for Taro. The more Harish tried to deny it, the more suspicious Taro became. He felt that even if Harish didn't have the memories beforehand, his meeting with him surely jogged his memories back. However, without concrete proof, he couldn't accuse something like that and asked his MIB friends to flash him again. Therefore, he was determined to stick around Harish no matter what.
So, the first thing he did was that he went to the principal's office and requested her to appoint him as the preceding teacher for Karate, which she happily agreed. From the very next moment, he placed close attention to what Harish did.
However, Harish didn't feel very comfortable with Taro's staring. It genuinely creeped him out. So, as to make him stop staring, he thought of actively involving Taro in the class itself.'
"Mr Sadanandan? I heard from Abhirami that you're a karateka as well. So, would you like to have a spar with me or something? It would be pretty fun!" Harish smiled.
"Nope, I don't do spars without putting on my gi." Taro gave a stern reply.
"Is that so? Then why don't you bring your gi the next time you come by? We'll have a spar then! The kids genuinely seem excited to watch you fight, so…" Harish tried to guilt Taro into bringing his gi.
"Hmm, I guess I'll bring it for the kids then." He replied and soon the bell rang. "Okay, I gotta go now. Nice session by the way." Taro spoke.
"Thank you for being the official advisor for Karate." Harish bowed as Taro nodded his head and left.
Soon enough, all the kids left. That's when Harish picked up his phone and dialed a number. "Hello? Yea, it's me. I met with him today! No, I'm not kidding! It's him—Sadanandan."
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