I like that John's mindset here seems to be "I'll just steer clear of all the hierarchy and safehouse stuff and such, like I did before". It's a lot more realistic in terms of his personal development than how many series have a heel/face-turn just immediately do better: he's essentially back to his original "stay outside the system as much as possible" self, except it's muddled because he obviously isn't seen as a cripple anymore. Might make for a slower story, but uru-chan's already shown she has a great handle on the characters' development.