The next week came by quicker than expected. Taro had expected something like what happened before the municipality tournament. However, he was calm and composed. Unlike last time, he had someone to look forward to and fight. Although he didn't know who it was and what he looked like, he knew that a prodigy was around the corner. As much as this prospect excited him, he was prepared to get disappointed as well, since he had witnessed what Earthlings deemed powerful and that was truly disappointing. Therefore, the days flew as Taro diligently worked and trained without having a feverish wet dream of all the strong competitors.
"Taro, are you ready?" Thankappan asked on the night of their departure. It wasn't the day of the tournament though. The tournament was scheduled for the next day. However, since it was held in the state capital of Kerala, Trivandrum, they decided to travel by night on a train. Even though the dojo master was initially opposed to this idea since a train ride could cause fatigue to his pupil, Taro persuaded him, since he didn't want to miss an extra day working in the construction site.
Taro, previously meditating, opened his eyes upon hearing Thankappan's voice. He picked up his duffel bag containing his uniform and took in a deep breath. "Yes, I am!"
"Then, let's go. Your master asked us to head towards the railway station by ourselves and he'll meet us there with the tickets. Gopan will be coming in a few minutes too. Let's head down." Thankappan said softly. It was just nine at night. However, the aliens were tired for some reason that day even though they literally did minimal work. Therefore, there wasn't anyone departing them off. Well, all except Lonappan, who was waiting for them before the Holy Land.
"Hey guys! Gopan said that he'll be here in a few seconds." Lonappan looked at his watch and spoke, before turning his attention towards Taro. "Well, best of luck, Taro. I'll pray for your win… without serious injuries to the other side, of course!" Lonappan chuckled.
Taro sighed. "Don't worry, Lonappan. I'm a responsible martial artist. I've grown past carelessly destroying stuff." He assured.
"I sure hope that's the case." Lonappan replied.
"Hey! Gopan's here!" Thankappan pointed to Gopan's auto and spoke.
"Hey, guys. Hop in! Your train's at ten-thirty, right? I'll get you there within half an hour. Plenty of time, right?" Gopan asked.
"Yup! That's cool." Taro said as he and Thankappan hopped in.
#
Gopan fulfilled his promise. In exactly half an hour, they reached the Thrissur railway station. Taro and Thankappan hopped out of the auto taxi and thanked Gopan for his mad driving skills and headed inside the station. The first thing they did inside was to try to find the dojo master. However, he was nowhere to be seen.
"Is he late?" Taro wondered.
"Well, you got his number, right? Call him." Thankappan suggested.
"Yea, you're right." Taro took out his phone and dialled for his master. However, before calling, he turned on his translator.
The phone rang for a long time until the dojo master finally picked it up. "Hey, Sadanandan! I'm sorry! I'll be out in a minute. Wait for me out there." The master said.
Taro was shocked. "Wait, you're just leaving your house? The train's gonna get here by ten-thirty, you know that, right?" He asked.
"Yea, yea. I'll be there by ten-twenty, don't worry! And for your kind information, the railway is always late, so don't worry about that." The master replied.
"But that doesn't mean you can-" Before Taro could utter another word, his master hung up the phone.
"He's treading through the thin wire, huh?" Thankappan asked.
"Yea." Taro replied. Their conversation didn't last past that. They didn't have much to speak anyway, since they lived under the same roof and worked together. Even if they did, they had plenty of free time to talk between work, so they were literally out of small talks.
Because of this, every minute was literally like hell. He finally experienced the feeling he felt during those three days. However, the only difference would be that back then, it was a wait of excitement and this time was a dreadful one.
Taro hated it. He was a sucker of punctuality ever since his time in the disaster management squad. That's what made him an excellent leader. He had a habit of leaving a few hours early as a head start since he feared that he might mess up something if he did it at the last minute. This was evident by the fact that he arrived really early to his master's house last week. For a guy like him, the wait for his unpunctual master pained him. He couldn't focus on anything other than the big clock in the station. He was nervous about missing the train. While Thankappan casually strolled around, Taro intensely stared at the big clock for the entire time.
Finally, the promised time had arrived. It was ten-twenty, however there was no sign of his master. "Thankappan, it's ten-twenty one and master's not here!" Taro raised his concern towards his carefree peer.
Thankappan sighed upon hearing this. He could see it in his eyes. Thankappan was a sucker for punctuality and such people couldn't bear waiting for anyone else. However, as of then, he couldn't do anything to help him other than give out a few words of random bullshit. "Dude, chill! It's just one minute. Wait." He replied.
Taro waited. He counted each second and when one minute passed, he alerted Thankappan yet again. "Ten-twenty two now!" He was slightly panicking.
Thankappan shook his head. "We've still got eight minutes, right? So, be patient for a second." He suggested.
Yet again, Taro calmed down and counted down the clock. As soon as the clock struck ten-twenty three, he was about to alert Thankappan once again. However, a voice interrupted him. "Hey, guys! Sorry, I'm late!" It was the dojo master.
"See? He came." Thankappan was more relieved than Taro upon seeing the dojo master's arrival since he might've had to suffer a few more of Taro's alert if he hadn't come. "Hello, I'm Thankappan." He extended his hand towards the dojo master.
The master awkwardly shook it. "Uh, hi!" However, he looked concerned about something as he shifted the topic. "Okay, don't freak out when I say this…"
"Oh no!" Taro gasped.
"What happened?" Thankappan looked towards Taro and asked.
"Well, whenever someone tells you not to freak out, there's something to freak out about, right?" He asked back.
"Well, he's certainly got a point!" Thankappan agreed with Taro's assessment on that. "So, what's there to freak out?" Thankappan turned to the dojo master and asked.
The master sighed. "Well, look. I booked the ticket for the sleeper coach last week, okay? It was on the waiting list back then; I guess it was two hundred or something . However, I didn't care about that, since most of the people take back their reservation by the time the day actually arrives. And that happened. Yesterday, we were thirty, thirty one and thirty two respectively. It was all going fine. Now, the problem is that the train is gonna arrive in six minutes and we're still in the double digits!" He calmly explained.
"No…" Taro knew it. He could sense the heavy atmosphere before his master even talked.
Since, Taro didn't seem level-headed like his usual self, Thankappan took the helms of being the level-headed one in this scenario. "So, what are we supposed to do now then? Miss the train entirely and take the tickets for the next one?" He asked.
The master shook his head. "No, we can't afford that. We don't have the luxury of time. We have to get in on this one. Don't worry, though! We could still get in on the sleeper coach with our current tickets." He replied.
"No." Taro suddenly spoke out.
"Huh?" Thankappan and Taro's master were confused by this.
Taro sighed. "We're not gonna do it that way. My travelling luck is fucked up. So, if we do things illegally like that…"
"It's not illegal, though! Although, we might have to lay on the floor or something." The master explained.
"You don't understand. My luck's so bad in journeys that even if it is kinda legal, the TTE [1] will actually throw us out." Taro replied.
"Whoa! He sure is paranoid about such stuff!" Thankappan thought. "What's the plan? We've only got five minutes." He spoke.
"Isn't there any ticket that's cheaper and easily obtainable for the train?" Taro asked.
His master thought for a few seconds. "There's the general compartment. The actual price is one hundred and twenty something, however, no one pays that cash. We could literally enter it for free!" He replied.
Thankappan was satisfied by this outcome. "That's great! Now-" However, he was cut short by Taro.
"No."
Thankappan had enough of it. "What now?" He cried.
"Just because everyone else is jumping on it for free doesn't mean we are too! I talked about my luck, right? So, what if the TTE catches us travelling for free? I can't do that! If we're doing it, we're doing it the right way. We're paying for the ticket!" Taro proclaimed.
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[1] TTE- Traveling Ticket Examiner. The guys who check your tickets if you're travelling by train.