❛ We were two sides of the same coin. ❜

Every time Ayane heard a voice, it was only a distant echo in her ears.

She seemed to have been hit with a wave of derealization, or some form of shock that put her body in a state of paralysis.

Ayane was hardly even sure of where she was at this point, as her mind could only flash images of Jae's lifeless body across her vision.

This has to be a bad dream, Ayane kept repeating in her head, trying to pull herself away from that haunting picture that she could not escape. None of this is real, she thought, throwing herself some sort of bargain. Jae is fine.

"Ayane?"

A voice rang out clearly for the first time, Ayane looking up from the entranced stare she had been fixated in. Ayane looked around the room, seeing that she was seated in the lobby of the Barcelona hotel.

Sitting beside her was Miguel, who had been calling her name. Ayane was unsure of how many times he had spoken before she actually realized it, but she finally turned her head to him with a distance face.

"Hm?"

Miguel's expression still bore shock and horror, underneath the soft look he gave to Ayane.

Ayane had a rather blank stare, Miguel's stomach still churning from the thought of what he had just experienced. He could not even begin to imagine what Ayane was feeling, or what she was going to feel.

"Do you want to– go back to your hotel room a-and get cleaned up?" he asked, Ayane somewhat registering what he was saying.

She glanced down at her white gi, stained red along with her hands. The dried blood was turning darker against her skin, a mix of her own blood and her brother's.

Ayane vaguely thought she nodded her head, and Miguel stood up to help her to her feet and guide her to her hotel room.

There was silence between them as he flicked the lights on in the bathroom, turning the sink on and grabbing a washcloth. He ran it under the water, taking Ayane's hands as she stood there with her same distant stare.

Miguel cleaned the blood off of her hands, then gently placing a hand under her chin. Ayane blinked when she felt cold against her upper lip, realizing that Miguel was cleaning the blood from her face as well.

Ayane's eyes were on Miguel now, watching him as he wiped away the traces of the tragedy that had just taken place.

Taking his hands away, Miguel set aside the rag and looked back to Ayane, unable to figure out what was going on inside her mind.

"Here, I'll go get you some different clothes to change in to. Or– would you rather shower first? I-I can start the shower for you–"

"It's okay," Ayane said, meeting Miguel's eyes. He frowned, taken off guard by her very calm voice.

The longer she looked at him, the more tears Miguel could see welling in Ayane's eyes. Her jaded expression began to wither away, all of her pain and despair showing itself in that moment.

Ayane shrunk down onto the bathroom floor just then, Miguel immediately following her down as she doubled over and sobbed. Miguel scooped his arms under her, pulling Ayane's head into his chest as she cried. Her entire body trembled violently with each sob, but Miguel kept his arms around her and did not dare let go.

She could hardly get breaths out as her cries echoed through the bathroom, Ayane wishing the hurting would just stop. It never stopped.

"Please don't let me go," Ayane mumbled between full force sobs.

Miguel clung onto her tighter, looking down at Ayane before raising his head and staring into nothingness. He did not know if Ayane would ever fully get past what had just happened back there.

"I'm not going anywhere."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Ayane did not feel prepared for what she was about to have to do.

Jae's funeral was today, and Ayane was in South Korea for the first time since she was six years old. She hardly remembered anything about the place she was in, though it did seem vaguely familiar to her.

She made the decision to travel there on her own, assuring Miguel and the LaRussos that she would be okay. Her parents were going to be there, and John Kreese would likely also be there. Every Cobra Kai student she had fought in the Sekai Taikai was going to be present, as well as Kim Da-eun.

Basically, every person that did not like her was going to be at her brother's funeral. Even her brother had also not liked her. Ayane felt stupid to even be going, feeling like Jae would not want her there.

Nonetheless, Ayane was going to be the one to give his eulogy. It may have been the hardest thing she would ever have to do; harder than any martial arts tournament at any level.

She stood at the very front of the group of people at Dohk Sa, watching as the students carried forward a wooden coffin. Jae's captain headband was lying on top of it, though his gi was with Ayane. She had had a brief discussion with Kreese and Kim before the funeral began, and they agreed to let her have it.

It was the only thing she would have to remember him by.

Jae's coffin was laid in front of everyone, sitting atop a fire pit.

Ayane watched as one of the students stepped forward, per their sensei, Master Kim's, command. He brought a torch below the coffin, setting it ablaze.

She closed her eyes momentarily, drawing in a deep breath. Opening them once more, she watched the wooden coffin slowly begin to burn. Ayane wanted to cry all over again, but she held it together.

Master Kim stood on the other side of the coffin, facing everyone else. He had a staff in one hand, raising it before striking the ground. His eyes locked onto Ayane's, giving the girl a curt nod before stepping away.

Ayane took this as her signal to step forward and give the eulogy. She held onto a piece of paper in her hand, clothed in the same white dress that the others wore.

She stopped in front of the coffin, not standing too close to avoid the heat coming off of it, and turned to face everyone else.

Ayane's eyes went to her parents first, whom she had been standing beside just moments ago. She had not spoken a single word to them since being here, nor did she plan to.

Taking another shaky breath, Ayane unfolded the piece of paper she was holding. She read over the words that she had barely managed to bring herself to write, tears welling in her eyes once more.

Ayane raised her head, clearing her throat before speaking in Korean.

"I didn't grow up with Kwon. Or, as I called him, Jae. But, in the short time I got to reunite with him, I knew without a doubt that Jae was my brother."

She shoved the piece of paper in her pocket, folding her hands in front of her as she looked out at everyone's faces. They all remained stoic, except for Liana. She was the only other one crying.

Ayane continued, "I saw a lot of myself in Jae, which means that he and I butted heads. He was hot-headed, stubborn, and wasn't afraid to speak his mind, and I'm the same way. We were two sides of the same coin."

The girl paused, inhaling sharply as her speech then took a turn.

"Jae wasn't perfect, but his fighting damn near was. Everyone here knows that's what he was best at. But everyone here also failed Jae, including myself."

Some people raised their heads, including Ennis, Liana, Kreese and Kim. Ayane was speaking to them specifically, and they knew it.

"I think that what happened was a very terrible accident, but I also think that Jae's life could have gone differently if not for the things he was being taught. Jae had more potential than any martial artist I've ever seen, and that opportunity got taken away from him far too soon. I thought I had lost him once, and now... I have to do that all over again."

Ayane's words seemed to hit everyone hard, nothing but the sound of crackling flames to be heard throughout Dohk Sa's dojang.

"So now, I'm going to do whatever I can to carry out Kwon Jae-sung's legacy. I'm going to make sure that he will always be remembered."

With that, Ayane concluded her eulogy. She stepped back to her place beside Liana, facing the coffin as it continued to burn.

The longer she watched, the more the anger in her burned, too.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

One month had passed since the tragic events of Barcelona.

Ayane was going to therapy sessions twice a week, which truthfully did seem to be helping. It was nice to have an unbiased figure to talk to, even if Ayane was only opening up little by little. They had hardly even discussed what happened in Barcelona, because Ayane did not feel ready for that just yet.

But she was also seeing a decline in her grades at school, even with Miguel's help. He kept telling her not to stress, and that the teachers were going to cut her some slack, but Ayane's mind could only think about Stanford.

She knew how badly Miguel wanted to go, and Ayane wanted to be there with him. But after everything that had happened, Ayane was unsure of where life was going to take her at the moment.

Ayane returned home (the LaRussos') from school, having Miguel with her. There was yet another Calculus test coming up, and Ayane had not the slightest clue what was going on in that class.

She and Miguel went up to her bedroom, Ayane setting her things down and throwing herself onto her bed. Miguel laughed softly as she did, shaking his head.

"It's not that bad, Ayane," he said as he pulled off his shoes and sat down on the bed. "After a few practice problems you should get the hang of it."

Ayane turned her head to him from where she lay, halfway rolling her eyes.

"Sounds like I'll just be cheating off of you again," she replied, sitting upright.

"Again?" Miguel raised an eyebrow, Ayane's eyes widening a little. She forgot she had not told him that she cheated off of him on the last test.

Ayane smiled sweetly, giving a small shrug.

Miguel narrowed his eyes at her, sighing at once. "Ayane... you know that you need to actually learn this for yourself, right? I mean, we won't be in all of the same classes at Stanford, so you can't rely on me there."

Her smile faded a little at the mention of Stanford, Ayane dropping her head. Miguel gave a frown, studying her.

"I'm sorry," Miguel apologized, "I didn't mean for that to sound so harsh. I just– I know you are capable of doing this without me."

"It's okay," Ayane looked up with a small smile, hesitating a little. She knew she needed to tell Miguel that she was reconsidering Stanford.

Ayane cleared her throat. "I, uh– I've actually been meaning to talk to you about... Stanford."

Miguel immediately frowned again, afraid of what she was going to say. His heart sank a little, knowing the look on Ayane's face.

"I've kinda been reconsidering going there. I-I mean, after what happened, I kind of don't really know what I want to do with my life right now."

He took in her words, reaching out at once and taking Ayane's hand in his.

Meeting her eyes, Miguel replied, "Ayane, it's okay. I don't even know if I'm getting into Stanford, either. There's a million other options for us, and it might not even have to be college, you know? We have time to figure things out."

Miguel squeezed her hand reassuringly, Ayane slowly beginning to smile once more.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right," she nodded, pushing a hand back through her hair. "I've just been kinda stressed, and I'm afraid it's taking a toll on my grades."

Releasing her hand, Miguel reached down and unzipped his backpack, fishing out his Calculus textbook and notebook before dropping them onto the bed.

"Well, there's only one way to improve those grades."

Ayane groaned dramatically, falling back onto the bed once again. Miguel sat there for a moment before he leaned forward on his knees, placing a hand on either side of Ayane as he looked down at her.

"Or... I could give you a little stress relief first."

She looked up at the boy, tilting her head sideways with a quipped smile. Miguel brought his lips down to hers, Ayane slowly bringing her hands up to his face.

He pulled away just then, hovering a couple inches over Ayane.

"Is this okay?" he asked, not wanting to overstep any boundaries. Ayane had been quite clingy with him since Jae's death, but she was avoiding intimacy, which Miguel completely understood.

Ayane looked into his eyes, debating with herself. She nodded at once, pulling Miguel in for another kiss.

Though slightly taken aback, Miguel moved so that he was completely on top of her, drawing away from her lips to kiss her neck.

Before it could go any further, however, Miguel's phone began buzzing in his back pocket. He tried to ignore it, but Ayane would not let him, reaching down for his phone and checking the contact. Johnny was calling.

Ayane handed it over to him as Miguel huffed a little, climbing off of her while she sat up.

"What's up, Sensei?" Johnny said something on the other line. "Yeah, I'm just hanging out with Ayane, why?"

Miguel's face changed just then, growing serious. "What– are you serious? Really?"

Ayane grew concerned at that, sitting up a little straighter.

"O-Okay, I'll let Ayane know. Thanks. Bye."

Miguel hung up the phone at once, looking over at Ayane. She was waiting with anticipation, raising an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

Miguel hesitated, eyeing her with precaution.

"The Sekai Taikai... it's back on."

Notes.
the beginning of the end is here 🥲

i hope this chapter wasn't too boring, i know what you guys are looking forward to most and i'm trying to get there as soon as possible, but i don't want to rush things either

anyway, i got very veryyy emotional watching the end of cobra kai. i've been watching it since it came out on youtube red in 2018, and i was NOT ready to let them go. all good things must come to an end, however

i love miguel and ayane so much and i'm not gonna start talking about how much i'll miss them just yet, but they are such a healthy couple
idc

so, how do you think ayane is gonna react to the news about the sekai taikai?