❛ You think you would've done better? ❜

     Although the four boys tried to hide their disappointment, Ayane could tell that they were a little mad.

They all got back to the hotel, not saying much to each other. Demetri and Robby packed their things up from their room, making their way down to Miguel and Eli's.

Sam had rejoined them once back at the hotel, confused about why Robby and Demetri had their luggage with them.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked, Ayane drawing in a breath.

"Someone lost a bet," Demetri replied as he knocked on the hotel room door, cutting his eyes at Ayane.

She scoffed, looking back at him. Miguel opened the door as Ayane snapped back at Demetri, "What, and you could have done any better? You think any of you could have done better? It's not my fault Robby made that dumb ass bet."

Robby clenched his jaw, rolling his eyes. Ayane pushed past Miguel as she entered their hotel room, flopping down on one of the beds.

The others entered, everyone sharing the same irritated looks on their faces.

"So you gambled away your room?" Sam questioned to Robby, frowning. "What made you think that'd be a good idea?"

Robby huffed. "I don't know. Ayane's brother started the whole thing, anyway."

Ayane laughed dryly. "Come on now, don't try to pin the blame on him. You gave in to it."

"And maybe if I had done it instead of you, we wouldn't be in this situation," Robby shot back, Ayane raising an eyebrow.

Miguel, who stood against the wall with his arms crossed, pushed off of it and started to say something. But, he realized once again that it was not his place to.

Standing up, Ayane walked toward Robby. "You think you would've done better? Really?"

Robby's face softened at once, letting out a small sigh. He felt bad for snapping at Ayane.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

Ayane stepped away from him at once, looking around the room at all of her teammates. There was too much tension between all of them.

She glanced over at Miguel. He looked back at her, but only for a brief moment before he went over and sat down on the bed where she had been sitting.

"Everyone just– try to get a good night's rest," Ayane said at once, facing everyone in the room.

"We have a long day tomorrow."

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     As it turned out, Ayane had a hard time following her own advice.

She hardly slept that night, tossing and turning with a ball of nervousness in her stomach. Sam was the same way, clearly anxious.

Now, it was time for the first event. Miyagi-Do stood in the arena with the other dojos. Ayane, wearing her usual two braids and her captain headband, stifled a yawn as she stood beside Robby.

Gunther stood in the middle of the main mat, a microphone in hand.

"The time has come," he announced. "Welcome to our first event. I hope you're all well-rested and ready for a new and unique competition. We call it the 'Captain's War'."

Great, Ayane thought. That meant she and Robby were up first.

"We told you how important your captains would be," Gunther continued. "So let's see how well you protect them."

Ayane raised a brow, looking to the side at all of her teammates. Miguel looked back at her, then glanced away.

"Four dojos will take the mat. Only one will be left standing. If you hit the mat, you're out. If one of your captains hit the mat, your entire team is out for this round. Check the boards to see your group, decided by random draw. Group A, you're up!"

Ayane looked up at the board. Group A: Falchi Della Notte, Iron Dragons, Miyagi-Do, and Cobra Kai.

She swore in her head, turning to face her teammates. Everyone gathered in a circle on one corner of the mat as they began to discuss their plan.

"Alright. Protect the egg," Miguel said, referring to one of their lessons. "Let them come to us. Make sure that Ayane and Robby are safe."

Ayane frowned. "Cobra Kai is gonna target us, you guys already know that. It's gonna take all of us to fight them."

Miguel clenched his jaw, not responding. Daniel and Johnny approached them, joining in on their discussion.

"I know it hasn't always been pretty lately, but no one could ever count us out, you hear me? Do it for each other."

They all nodded, Johnny adding, "And wipe the smirks off their ugly faces."

Ayane straightened up, turning to face the other dojos.

"Ready?" Gunther dragged out, "Begin!"

Tory was already running at full speed toward the Miyagi-Do students, Ayane feeling someone pull her back. Miguel got in front of her, blocking a strike from Kwon as he tried to get to Ayane.

Ayane scoffed with annoyance, stepping away from them and taking on two Cobra Kais. She grappled one, using him to push off of and kick back the other. He hit the ground and, still holding the other guy, she threw him over onto the ground. Two out.

She turned, being met with a punch that Ayane parried. Tory was on her now, Ayane raising her fists. The last person here she wanted to fight was her, but it was going to have to be done.

Tory threw another strike, Ayane defending them like she always did. After fighting Tory so many times, Ayane felt like she could predict each move the girl was going to make.

With a kick toward the Cain girl, Ayane ducked underneath her and bounced back up to see Miguel in front of her once again, throwing strikes against Tory.

Ayane's fists tightened in anger, looking around to see who was left in Miyagi-Do. Demetri was out, and so were Eli and Sam.

There were only three Cobra Kais remaining, one of them being Jae. He was facing off with Robby, so Ayane ran over while he was not paying attention and threw a kick at his side.

Kwon stumbled, looking over at her with some surprise before he smiled and raised his fists.

Ayane came at him again, throwing hard and relentless kicks that he defended. Jae seemed to be having a hard time with defense, however, so he sidestepped her kick and threw a strike, hitting Ayane in the shoulder.

She was unfazed, putting double the amount of strikes forward at Kwon. Many people began watching as the two went back and forth, appearing almost identical in their fighting styles.

Jae threw a low sweeping kick, Ayane jumping over his foot and turning an aerial to bring her foot across his face. He almost fell backwards, but he refused to hit the ground. Ayane grabbed him from behind, prepared to throw him over when she caught sight of someone watching.

Ennis.

She had almost forgotten about him already, but there he was beside Kreese and Kim, watching his two children fight one another.

And, in the split-second Ayane got distracted, Kwon grabbed her by the arms and threw her over him. Her feet hit the ground, but she was not completely down. Ayane fought in Jae's grip, finally breaking out of his hold and turning over to face him.

She needed to focus. Ayane was letting her family matters get in the way.

Just then, as Jae was about to come forward with a strike, a horn blared. Ayane looked over, seeing Robby on the ground.

"Captain down," the announcer said. "Miyagi-Do is out!"

Her eyes widened, looking back to her brother. Kwon only smirked.

"Should've joined Cobra Kai," he spoke in Korean as he walked away, Ayane standing there for a moment before she got off of the mat.

Everyone looked pissed off as she returned, Ayane being glad that it was not her they were mad at this time.

She fell into the line beside Robby, looking over at him.

"Why'd you hit the ground?" she asked, Robby glancing over at her.

He seemed reluctant to say for a moment. "I got distracted."

"By what?"

Robby pursed his lips. "I... I was watching you. Trying to make sure you were good."

Ayane looked away from Robby as another horn blared, announcing that Falchi Della Notte was now out of the match.

She did not say anything to him, simply spectating the match.

"Only Cobra Kai and the Iron Dragons remain," the announcer spoke, Ayane seeing that the Iron Dragons had not lost any of their team in this event.

She watched as the three Cobra Kais, Tory and Jae included, went forward. They halted suddenly, as four of the Iron Dragons dropped to a knee.

Ayane furrowed her eyebrows curiously as they then got up, walking behind their two captains. Her face fell as she saw the female captain, clenching her jaw. Zara.

She waited for them to begin, anxious to see how the fight between Zara and Tory was going to go.

And, in only a few seconds, both Zara and the male captain had all three Cobra Kais on the ground.

Ayane grimaced, feeling admittedly nervous at that. She knew it was going to come between her and Zara at some point.

And Ayane did not know if she was prepared for that.

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So far, the only ones that had come out victorious in their next matches were Ayane and Miguel.

She had done a bo staff match, while Miguel won a solo match against a member from Polarslaget.

After the morning events were over, the Miyagi-Do team returned to the hotel and hit the showers, changing out of their gis and into their everyday clothes. Daniel and Johnny wanted to have a small meeting with them.

They gathered in the hotel lobby, Daniel speaking up.

"Everyone, listen up. Alright, this morning's event was... tough, but let's not get discouraged just yet. We have two more events today, and the eliminations don't begin until the second one."

"Woah, woah woah," Demetri cut in, "if that wasn't the elimination round, then what is? Getting our heads cut off with swords?"

Daniel shook his head. "We knew this wasn't gonna be easy. We're going up against the best dojos in the world. But don't forget, you guys are one of 'em too."

"Yeah, so you better start fighting like it!" Johnny added.

"Johnny, come on man," Daniel said with a sigh. "The best thing you can do right now is just clear your minds, get some rest, you know. Put this behind you. You got this, alright? I believe in you."

Ayane sighed, walking away at once as the others followed. She really could have gone for a nap, but she was unsure of if that would actually happen. She was very worked up over what had happened earlier, feeling like she could have done more to prevent Miyagi-Do from being the first ones to get kicked off the mat.

She and Sam took the elevator to go up to their rooms, the both of them looking equally as tired.

"Have you talked to Tory?" Ayane asked at once, knowing it was probably a sensitive topic.

Sam nodded at once. "Yeah. She... she said she wanted to just focus on karate while she was here, so. I guess we're taking a break right now."

Ayane frowned a little. "I-I'm sorry. I understand that feeling, though. Definitely."

The LaRusso girl looked over at Ayane, giving her a small, sympathetic smile.

"You and Miguel are still not on good terms, huh?" she asked, Ayane shaking her head.

"Not right now. I was considering trying to talk to him, but... I don't know."

The elevator stopped just then, the doors opening. In walked none other than Zara, holding her phone up to her face as she spoke.

"What's up, everyone? It's your queen of karate here. Just finished our second Sekai Taikai event where the Dragons absolutely slayed. Although, it was awesome to see other badass girls of karate fighting out there."

Ayane audibly laughed, Zara turning her head to see her and Sam in the elevator.

She halfway glared at Ayane, looking back at her phone. "Anyway, let's see if any of these other dojos dare try to dethrone us. And to all my fans, I'm here to win for you."

Ayane and Sam exchanged a look, the both of them rolling their eyes.

"So stay tuned, I'll post again after the next event. Zara out!"

She blew a kiss to her livestream, tapping her phone screen and her smile immediately dropping.

"Sorry, I only do intros on my stories for fighters who win their events. It's a brand thing, so don't take it personally."

Ayane laughed again, Zara turning her head to the girl expectantly.

"Sorry," Ayane continued to laugh, "It's just... I already told you once I didn't want to be on your little Instagram page. You think I would change my mind?"

The elevator door opened just then, Ayane and Sam leaving before Zara.

Sam giggled as she and Ayane walked to their room, saying, "I hope you get the chance to fight her. I think you could take her."

Ayane swiped the keycard to their room, giving a small shrug.

"Yeah, I hope I get the chance, too."

Notes.
ayane's gonna run her fade with zara, she's not living down that taekwondo competition

also do not fret about the lack of ayane and miguel interactions, there will be in the next chapter and soon enough, something big is gonna happen between them

ayane's starting to let ennis and kwon both get in her head 🌝 not good

do you think ayane will go with miguel and johnny to see carmen or no?