Capítulo 52: Semi-finals

"Hey, Sadanandan!" While Taro was prepping for his next match, someone called him from behind. It was Harish. He was still a bit teary eyed from the events that unfolded after the match.

"Yo! Good fight out there." Taro smiled.

"Yea, thanks." Harish blushed, since it was the first time that someone other than his mast...father appreciated his bout. "Oh, by the way, you're facing Zaheer next round, right? I got info on him if you're interested." He said. He wanted to be of some help for Taro who enlightened him of his way of martial arts. Hence, he was prepared to talk about his bitter defeat last year. Although, he didn't feel bitter about it anymore.

Taro thought about it for a while. "Hmm, let me hear it then." He replied.

"Well, he is a three time state champion. Although, his second and third reign as champion has a big time lapse. I still remember it clearly. The first two times, he was focused more on doing flashy moves. However, that didn't help him anymore and fell into the pit of losses. Surprisingly, he made a big return to the state competitions by winning the title. It was a bit strange though; like he changed quite significantly." Harish explained.

"What do you mean?" Taro was in a hurry. Harish's explanation seemed long since he had literally seconds to prepare.

"Well, it was like he reverted back to basics. Like, he won the entire tourney with just the basic techniques. Nothing flashy. It was like he was a master at that." Harish replied.

"Hmm, so you're telling me to look out for his basics, huh? His style makes sense though! Sometimes sticking to the basics is the best thing one could do. Anyway, thanks! I'll keep what you said in my mind. Gotta go now! They called my name." Taro waved and was about to head towards the mat, when he noticed something. The glitch on his translator was less frequent. Hell, there hasn't been a glitch for a while now. Therefore, before heading towards the mat, he headed towards Thankappan. "Hey, seems like the glitch has subsided… for now." He looked happy as he replied. He can finally spew random bullshit in a single language now!

"Ah, that's great! But, the fuck are you doing here? Get your ass to the mat." Thankappan ordered.

Few minutes later, the referee got between the already present Taro and Zaheer. However, before the referee could announce the start of the match, Zaheer bowed before Taro, unlike his colleague Jai, who doesn't have an ounce of sportsmanship. "Sorry." He mumbled under his breath as he bowed. It was a heartfelt apology for what he was about to do.

Seeing Zaheer's polite bow, Taro bowed as well. Once all the pleasantries were all done, the referee finally announced the start of the match with a "fight" scream.

Once that happened, both competitors got into stances. While Taro decided to take up the wide stance which gained him the victory, Zaheer took a more careful approach, thinking that Taro might do something different this time.

However, seeing that Taro hadn't changed his strategy, Zaheer started giving out a bunch of powerless side-kicks to test out his defense. And as expected, Taro defended against them and even countered a fair share of them.

As Zaheer desperately defended against the counters, he timed one wrong and a point was leaked out. He didn't care about it though. He had plenty of opportunities to get a point back. Although, unlike him, someone was clearly upset about this outcome. He could sense the intense glare shot at him, asking when he was going to do the screw-job.

"Ah, I get it, you fucking prick. I'll do it in a moment." Zaheer thought as he distanced himself from Taro and got himself ready. From what he had seen of Taro, he knew that Taro wouldn't attack one bit. Therefore, he took ample time in preparations.

Once he mentally prepared himself, he advanced towards Taro and gave out a bunch of side-kicks. What people didn't notice was that each new kick was lower than the other. It reached a point where the kick could possibly be called a thigh kick. However, since Zaheer was careful about his approach, he was safe.

What he planned was a precise kick to the knees; the kinda kick that doesn't have an enormous amount of power behind it, but enough power to get the job done. He decided to do so after careful consideration. If he went straight forth with a stomp or something similar, he would straight up be disqualified for malicious intent. He wanted to avoid that as much as possible. He wanted to face Jai no matter what. His plan was theoretically perfect. Best case scenario, he could break his opponent's leg and no one actually disqualifies him. Worst case scenario, Taro might end up buckling his knee, which would open three different scenarios. First of all, he could actually take advantage of it and score a win when his knees entirely give out. Secondly, he could still gain a victory on points, even though Anil wouldn't approve of it. And finally, if nothing worked, he could still go for a proper stomp and get disqualified.

Hence, after all those kicks to the side, he feigned a punch and expected Taro to defend against it. However, Taro didn't even flinch.. It was as if he knew that this punch was a dud. Noticing this, Zaheer really wanted to change his plans and punch him instead. However, since he already started a motion, he couldn't back off it and aimed for his knees. He didn't miss it. The precise kick struck Taro right in the knee. To further prove his innocence later, Zaheer tripped on the mat after the kick, making it look like a pure accident.

However, Taro didn't fall. He didn't scream. He stood still. His face remained expressionless; it remained stoic the entire time. The referee responded quickly and made Zaheer stand back and checked on Taro. Then, something unexpected happened. Taro smiled and said he was fine. The situation was weird in Zaheer's eyes. The kick was precise, it was bound to get him hurt. He believed that this was a desperate attempt to stay in the fight.

However, upon noticing Taro's smile, he was sure. It wasn't much of an injured guy trying to do his best kinda smile. It was more of a taunt, trying to provoke Zaheer. He was sure. The kick didn't even tickle Taro. "Damn, I'm facing a fucking monster, huh?" He sighed inwardly.

Zaheer felt like he didn't have any choice. After he got a warning and the fight restarted, he went on a frenzy. He didn't even hide his malice. He full-on went for a stomp on Taro's knees. However, the more he did that, the more sinister Taro's smile became. It seemed like he was enjoying the madness. The referee tried intervening, however, since none of the kicks landed the mark, he was reluctant to stop, which was bad refereeing if you think about it.

Few minutes passed since Zaheer began his stomp parade and only two things happened. Either he missed the spot or Taro defended it with his hand, which was kinda simple after further lowering his stance. Taro chuckled. "You will never win like this, you know that, right?" He asked nonchalantly, in between a tournament fight.

Zaheer sighed. "I know." He replied as he continued on with his tactics.

"Then why are you doing it?" Taro asked, confused about the logic behind the Earthling's tactic.

"Master's orders." He replied.

Taro could see Anil smiling like crazy with the corner of his eyes, "Jeez. And you're still considering him as your master, huh? Rather than having an asshole like that guy as a master, it would've been better if you got yourself one that cares about you and your thoughts." He said.

Upon hearing this, Zaheer finally stopped his rampage and glanced at the crowd. There, he could see his master-his real master, staring without even giving out a word of cheer. He didn't look disappointed. He looked like he expected this. Even though his face looked stoic, his eyes looked like he understood what his pupil was going through, which made sense, because he did go through it. Zaheer sighed. For the first time in the entire fight, he had a clear conscience and a greater conviction.

"You stopped!" Taro exclaimed happily, since it seemed like his words went through his opponent's head. Even though he greatly enjoyed a challenge, he felt like his opponent had been disrespecting the martial art by using underhanded tactics.

"Yea."

"So, you made a decision, right? What is it? Will you continue the shit you did before or will you fight for real?" Taro asked.

Zaheer sighed. "Fuck it. Fuck Anil. Fuck everything!" He mumbled and took his usual stance; a rather basic one. Taro smiled upon seeing this.

The match went on till the time limit. Even though Zaheer tried his best recovering, he couldn't get a comeback. He lost convincingly as he lost a few extra points due to his initial attitude. However, he didn't feel sad. Rather, he felt happy that he had a proper fight at the end. He felt like a real martial artist upon exiting the mat with a bright smile on his face. A feeling that he never got after all these years under Anil's tutelage had finally blossomed.