❛ You're just a lowlife piece of shit. ❜

        There was something telling Ayane that this might have been a bad idea.

As she and Miguel got off of the bus, Ayane stifling a yawn and stretching, she looked around and realized that they really were in Mexico.

Holy shit, she thought, glancing up at Miguel, we're in Mexico.

But, unfortunately, there was no going back now.

"Wow," Ayane remarked, Miguel looking down at her with a small smile.

"Yeah," he replied, taking it all in. Ceuta, Mexico, was where they were. It was where he had narrowed down his father, Hector Salazar, to be.

Ayane began walking forward, Miguel quickly following after her. They weaved their way through vendors offering them various things, Miguel pulling out his phone and frowned upon seeing that he had no service.

"Do you have any service?" he asked Ayane, who stopped walking and reached in her pocket for her phone.

"Mm, nope. That's wonderful."

Before he could reply, a man to their left called, "Oi! Do you two need some help?"

He had an accent that Ayane wondered if it was Australian, Miguel taking the guy's offer as he approached them.

Ayane was hesitant, but it was too late now. She swore in her head as Miguel began talking with the guy, Ayane noticing that he appeared to be with some others.

"Do you think you could help me get to 137 Avenue Santurce?" Miguel inquired, looking up at the long-haired Australian.

"Oh!" The Aussie waved a hand. "You're in luck. I can show ya."

He pulled out a map while Miguel thanked him profusely, Ayane keeping her suspicions high. It was normal for her to do so with anyone, especially strangers like these men that came off as extremely shady.

"There you go," the Aussie handed Miguel the map. "It's not easy finding your way around here."

Miguel gave a small laugh and a nod. "Yeah–"

"Actually, you don't mind giving me some pesos, do you? I mean, just 'cause– it's my map and all."

Ayane fought the urge to roll her eyes, slightly shaking her head. But Miguel unsurprisingly agreed, pulling out his wallet.

"Yeah, yeah yeah. How many?"

"Oh," the Aussie looked back at his friends, shrugging. "Well, five bucks sounds fair?"

Miguel smiled again. "That sounds more than fair." He fished out a five dollar bill, handing it over.

The Aussie handed him the map with the cash in his other hand. "Alright, there you go. And... how much you wanna pay for the bag?"

Ayane furrowed her eyebrows, looking over to see one of the guys had Miguel's bag.

"Hey, what the fuck?" she said, taking a step toward the Aussie. "Give it back, you shitheads!"

The Aussie grinned down at her. "Whew, you've got some fire in you. Where are you from, anyway? China? Japan?"

Ayane's fists tightened, and Miguel could see how close she was to throwing a punch. But he did not want to start a fight, not right then.

"Ayane, it's okay," Miguel said, gently grabbing her arms and pulling her back. She looked over at him with a scowl, scoffing.

She opened her mouth to say something, but then held her tongue. Ayane closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, opening them again.

Miguel emptied all of the cash out of his wallet, to which the Aussie grabbed all of it and handed it over to one of his guys, then took Miguel's wallet from him and put only the one dollar bills back in it.

"What, you didn't think I'd take all your money, did you?" he chuckled. "What kind of monster do you think I am?"

He winked, Ayane tapping her foot on the sand with infuriation.

"You're just a lowlife piece of shit," she spat, stepping toward the guy in blue and snatching Miguel's backpack out of his hands.

Miguel sighed, looking down at the ground as the group of thugs walked away. Ayane glared at them over her shoulder, handing Miguel his bag.

"Come on," she muttered, leading him away.

"What the hell am I gonna do now? I don't have any money."

Ayane shook her head slightly. "Miguel, I have money. I withdrew fifteen thousand in cash a couple weeks ago because I figured it was only a matter of time before my dad cut me off. I honestly don't even think he'll notice it's gone."

Miguel's eyes widened a bit, his mouth falling open.

"Fif– fifteen thousand? Holy shit."

Ayane rubbed her eyes, trying to ignore the onset headache she was having. She really needed to take her meds.

"Yeah. So, what now? Where's our first stop?"

Miguel pulled out his phone once more, checking the location. "Castillo Escondido. It's a bar."

Ayane raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "Alright. Let's get going then. How far is it from here?"

"About four blocks. Hey," Miguel turned to face her, a serious look on his face. "You're sure you wanna do this? I-I won't hold it against you if you wanna go back home."

"And I what am I gonna do when I get home?" she returned, referring to her current living situation. Ayane had no idea where she would stay when she got back to California. She knew for sure that her parents were done with her after this stunt that she pulled. Not that Ayane wanted to go back anyway.

She looked Miguel in this eyes. "I want to be here, alright? With you."

Miguel slowly began to smile, scrunching his nose. "I love you."

"Yeah yeah," Ayane waved a hand, starting down the streets of Ceuta.

Ayane still had a really bad feeling about all of this.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

   They arrived at the bar, Miguel checking again to make sure it was the right place.

"Is this it?" Ayane asked, Miguel giving a nod.

"Yeah. I think so."

She made a face at his unsure response, but did not say anything. Ayane was trying not to point out the fact that Miguel did not have much of a plan, simply trying to go along with him without asking questions. This was what he wanted to do.

"Alright, but anything even slightly shady starts happening, we're getting outta there."

Miguel shrugged. "Fair enough."

She inhaled sharply, following Miguel inside. They entered the bar and Ayane was faced with some looks, likely because she was the only non-Hispanic person there.

Ayane stuck close beside her boyfriend, having no choice but to quickly follow as Miguel darted toward a dark room toward the back of the bar. Her eyes widened as he bolted in without hesitation or warning, peering into the smoky room apprehensively. She was becoming painstakingly aware of how hard she was being stared at by the men sitting around the only table in the small room, playing a card game that was likely poker.

Miguel and the man at the far end of the table began conversing in Spanish, Ayane having entirely no clue what they were saying. She simply stood there with confusion, eyeing the man to her left that looked like he was supposed to be a bodyguard or something. Ayane was beginning to wonder if this was a shady situation she had been referring to.

She crossed her arms, tightening her jaw and leaning against the doorway. The man said something she didn't understand, suddenly prompting the 'bodyguard' to reach out and grab Miguel who reacted by grabbing hold of his arm and twisting it back.

Ayane's gasped a little at the suddenness, standing up straight. "Miguel," she took him by the arm, pulling him back.

But the guard straightened up and came at Miguel, who deflected a punch and kicked him in the shin, knocking him off of his feet. Ayane only pinched the bridge of her nose with a deep sigh, shaking her head.

"Miguel!"

The men in the room stood, slightly advancing on the teenagers who were both now extremely defensive.

Miguel and the leader exchanged more words, the guy giving another chuckle. He leaned forward, telling Miguel something that seemed both genuine and harsh.

Ayane looked around the room, grabbing Miguel's hand this time.

"Come on, Mig," she muttered, not knowing what the man said but clearly seeing by Miguel's expression that it was not the answers he had been looking for.

So Miguel followed Ayane out of the bar, to which she instantly turned on him with a strained expression.

"Miguel– what exactly is your plan, here?"

He looked down at her with his mouth falling open, unable to respond right away. It was becoming clear to her what his answer was; that he didn't have a plan.

Ayane touched her fingertips to her temples. "Alright, before we get any further into this, I need to know that you at least have some idea of where we need to go next."

Miguel raised his hands. "Well– Ceuta's not that big, and surely there's not that many Hectors here. I was just thinking that we could narrow it down until we find the right Hector."

She stared at him, almost in disbelief. Ayane truly loved Miguel, but she never would have thought he would have come up with something so stupid.

"That's a really dumb ass plan," she responded at once, Miguel dropping his shoulders dejectedly.

"I-I'm sorry, Ayane," he apologized, "I am. I'm just– trying to go off of what I know... which isn't much. A-And you know, you're a lot smarter than me, so I was sort of hoping you could... I don't know– help me think of something?"

Ayane met Miguel's eyes, one of her own eyes slightly twitching. She was trying really hard to mask her annoyance.

"So, just to be clear," she slowly replied, "you never really had a plan at all?"

Miguel slightly tilted his head to the side and raised his shoulders, wincing.

"...Yeah."

She closed her eyes and took in yet another deep breath, which did not seem to be helping her stress at all, really.

Miguel suddenly nudged Ayane's arm, the girl opening her eyes to see him looking over at a man standing by a dumpster. Ayane furrowed her eyebrows, giving a shake of her head.

"Who is that supposed to be?"

"That other guy just called him Hector," Miguel replied in a quiet voice. "Do you think it could be him?"

Ayane did not think so at all, no. The chances of them randomly finding Miguel's father standing by a dumpster on a random street seemed pretty much nonexistent.

She made a face, conflicted. "Eh... I don't know–"

"We need to follow him," Miguel cut her off, grabbing Ayane's hand firmly and began dragging her down the street.

"Miguel!" Ayane hissed, calling him fifty different swears in her head. She finally wrenched her hand out of his grip, snatching it away with irritation as they rounded a corner that had a lot more people.

Miguel's sights were set on one person, and Ayane could see that he was not going to stop until he talked to the man face to face.

Ayane decided to just go along with it and give Miguel the benefit of a doubt, even if she herself did not believe this guy was truly Miguel's father.

They stayed parallel to the guy as he walked through the colorful crowd of people and vendors, chatting with just about any and everyone before he approached a woman and greeted her with a kiss. Ayane raised her eyebrows a little, looking over at Miguel who did not seem as surprised as he was disappointed.

Just then, a small elderly woman approached her with a basket and a sweet smile on her face. She reached in the basket and pulled something out, offering it to Ayane who looked down and saw that it was a bracelet.

"Mal de ojo," the little old lady said, gesturing for Ayane to take the bracelet.

Ayane slightly frowned, hesitating, but figured at once that there was no harm in taking the bracelet. It seemed rude to turn it down.

"Um, gracias," Ayane nodded with a smile. "Uh... dinero? Quieres dinero?"

The old lady raised a hand and quickly shook her head, declining as Ayane reached in her bag for her wallet. She gave Ayane one last smile before walking away.

Ayane stood there for a moment, taking in the rather unusual interaction she had just had. She looked down at the bracelet, which was made with black beads and had a blue, white and black circular charm in the middle. She had no idea what that meant.

"Hey Mig, do you know what kind of bracelet this is–"

As she turned around, Ayane came to a startling discovery: Miguel was not there anymore. Her eyes widened with some slight panic, looking around in every direction for him.

Fuck, she thought, rushing down the sidewalk, I lost Miguel.

Ayane stood on her tippy toes to try and see over the people in front of her, weaving her way in and out of them as she suddenly spotted a familiar shirt and backpack. She pushed through the people on the sidewalk, muttering various 'lo siento's' as she tried to get to Miguel.

And just as she reached him, panting and trying to catch her breath, she watched as Miguel leaped into oncoming traffic to snatch a little boy out of the road, bringing him back to the safety of the sidewalk while Ayane witnessed the entire thing in shock.

There was a man and a woman standing there as well, the same couple Ayane had seen just a few minutes ago. They were the young boy's parents, as Ayane observed when the woman kneeled in front of him and fretted over the boy which Miguel had just saved.

And the man was the very one Miguel swore he had been searching for. He also kneeled by the boy, kissing him on the forehead before looking up at Miguel.

In Spanish, he thanked Miguel profusely for what he had just done, which Ayane was still trying to process.

For all the trouble we've gone through, this guy had better really be Miguel's dad, Ayane thought.

Notes.
WE'RE BACKKKKK

HI HOW IS EVERYONE TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT HOW'S LIFE TREATING YOU

season 5 absolutely blew me away, the creators of cobra kai truly never miss because i eat up the new season every time

so i want to hear your thoughts for everything! what do you think is in store for ayane this season? any predictions?

i have a MASSIVE plot twist coming, y'all it's gonna be so insane i can't wait

headcanons about ayane?