❝ are you fucking serious right now? ❞

AFTER THE RULES HAD BEEN explained to everyone participating in laser tag, Ayane turned to Miguel excitedly.

"So you're telling me... I get to shoot people? This is fuckin' awesome!"

Miguel laughed. "I told you you're gonna love it. Ready?"

"Uh, yeah," Ayane replied, nodding with a toothy smile.

"You're team green," the teenager pointed at Ayane, "you're team blue." He pointed at Miguel.

They both quickly looked at each other and Ayane began to grin even wider whilst Miguel shook his head.

"Great," he sighed with a mocking eye roll.

Before Miguel could say anything else, the game started and Ayane disappeared into the dark arena.

He quickly ran after her but Ayane managed to shake him off. Miguel took cover to avoid getting shot by any other kids on the green team.

Ayane, meanwhile, was shooting people left and right. They didn't even stand a chance when they approached her, whether from the front or the back. She was having the time of her life.

Miguel managed to snag a few people, finding places to hide and stake out.

After a few minutes of not being able to find Ayane, Miguel was starting to get a little hopeless. He seemed to have found everyone but her.

Then, on an overhead intercom a voice announced, "Attention all players: one player from each team remains."

Miguel glanced around, then looked down at his vest. It was still blue, so he was still in. And, if he had to guess, the other player was Ayane.

He chanced leaving his little hideout, running through the arena and running past kids with their vests colored red.

Ayane, on the other hand, had been keeping watch of Miguel for the past ten minutes. She had a foolproof plan to win.

She waited in one spot until Miguel showed up. Smirking, Ayane jumped out of her spot and pushed Miguel into a corner, immediately smashing her lips against his.

Before Miguel even had time to react, Ayane took her little laser gun and put it against Miguel's abdomen, pulling the trigger.

Ayane pulled away with a satisfactory smile on her face.

"I win," she whispered, pushing off of Miguel.

. . . .

"YOU STILL CHEATED," Miguel argued as he pulled up to the LaRusso's home.

Ayane laughed. "No I did not! It's called strategy, Diaz. Maybe you should learn it."

He was unable to even make an annoyed face at her, breaking out into a smile. Miguel pulled into the driveway and put the car in park with a small sigh.

"Well," he said, "I hope this was worthwhile and I hope you had fun."

Ayane rolled her eyes with some disbelief. "I've never had so much fun in my life. But the best part was that I got to be with you."

Miguel's face softened and he glanced down sheepishly.

"You're not getting sappy on me now, are you?" He finally replied after a moment, looking back up at her.

Ayane reached over and shoved him with a laugh. "Yeah, right. I'll leave the sappiness up to you."

Before Miguel could reply, his phone vibrated. Miguel picked it up and checked it, frowning for a moment.

"Shit," he said, "I-I have to get down to this fair. Sensei wants to do some kind of showcase that might get some more students."

Ayane's smile faltered a little. The two always got along perfectly until they seemed to be interrupted by something involving karate.

"Fair? Mrs. LaRusso mentioned a fair before I left. She told me she hoped I could be there."

Miguel tapped the steering wheel. "Well... then I guess we can go together."

A few minutes later they arrived at the Valley Fest. As soon as Ayane got out of the car, Sam came running up to her.

"Ayane- I'm so glad you're here. I didn't want to interrupt your plans but I was about to call you."

Miguel raised an eyebrow, glancing away at once. Sam looked at him for a moment, then back to Ayane. "Do you mind if we- go this way?"

Ayane shrugged, turning her head to Miguel. "Think you can live without me for five minutes?"

He shot her a snarky look, Ayane smirking at him and following Sam away.

"My dad wants to do this demo for Miyagi-Do," Sam quickly explained, facing Ayane. "I brought your gi, all we need to do is go over this routine with Robby and my dad."

Ayane narrowed her eyes, finding it funny how Miguel had mentioned Cobra Kai doing the same thing.

This wasn't going to end well.

"Alright," Ayane agreed, "let's do it."

Sam and Ayane found Robby and Daniel, who were going over the moves as they got there.

"Boy, am I glad you're here," Mr. LaRusso exhaled, "we need all the numbers we have. Okay, Robby and Sam can show you this routine. It's fairly simple, especially for you."

Ayane nodded curtly. "Got it." She paused, wondering if she should inform him about Cobra Kai. But Ayane didn't say anything.

Robby and Sam showed her the routine, which Ayane did find pretty simple. It consisted of kata, something all three of them had learned early on in training.

Ayane got changed into her gi, along with Sam, Robby and Daniel. Then, a few minutes later, they were on stage.

She had never been on a stage before, and Ayane realized with some anxiousness that she had a bit of stage fright.

The emcee presented them, all of them bowing toward the crowd. Ayane looked for Miguel, but she couldn't find him. She did, however, see Demetri and Moon.

Ayane closed her eyes to focus, repeating the same moves she had done before.

"Hai!"

They all brought their arms down, and there was some applause.

The four bowed once more. Ayane sighed, already feeling bored herself. This demo felt bland. Just then, she got an idea.

Ayane didn't act on it right away, following the routine. She blocked the bo staff Mr. LaRusso was using, kicking it away with a hook kick. There was more enthusiastic cheering, now.

"Now time for the grand finale," Daniel announced, walking over and pushing out a cart with slabs of ice parallel to each other.

Before anyone could get in position, the system suddenly powered down.

Ayane frowned in confusion, turning her head to Robby. He shook his head with equal confusion, shrugging.

And suddenly, there was chanting. But not just any chants.

"Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!"

Ayane rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as she saw the students in black gis running up to a stage beside them.

She watched them, growing increasingly more pissed off.

"Are you fucking serious right now?" Ayane said, clenching her jaw.

Robby gave her a look, unsure of what she was about to do.

Before he could stop her, Ayane hopped down off of their stage and walked over to the Cobra Kai's, climbing up on it.

There was some visible confusion from the students, which turned to panic when Ayane started fighting them.

She kicked, flipped, and made sure to put on a show. Miguel paused in mid kick and turned, watching Ayane as she angrily knocked down the Cobra Kai students.

Robby, Sam and Daniel all looked at each other, unsure of what to do. If anything, at least Miyagi-Do was now getting some attention.

Ayane turned and pushed off with her hands, kicking Hawk square in the jaw. Miguel was the only one left standing, but Ayane was going to make sure she got him too.

Miguel seemed pretty pissed himself, so he fought Ayane back. But it was no match to her anger.

Ayane ducked under his throw, taking Miguel's arm and flipping him over her.

The crowd erupted with cheers and applause as Ayane turned to face them, pushing her hair out of her face.

She turned her head, making eye contact with Johnny who stood on the side of the stage. Ayane slowly smiled.

"Miyagi-Do!" Ayane shouted, smiling triumphantly.

"Hell yeah!" Moon yelled back from the crowd, clapping. Then, she saw the look on Hawk's face and stopped.

Ayane turned back to Miguel, who was back on his feet now. He wasn't smiling or laughing.

She didn't say anything, smiling once more and walking off the stage.

Mr. LaRusso was waiting on her, and he didn't look happy either.

"Ayane, why on earth did you decide to do that?"

She shrugged. "They interrupted our demo so I figured, why not interrupt theirs?"

Daniel sighed, shaking his head. He knew Ayane had good intentions and she had acted on her anger, but her 'demonstration' had not shown was Miyagi-Do was all about.

"I thought it was badass," Robby added, raising his hands.

Ayane smiled at him, then looked back to Daniel.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I know I shouldn't have done it. But I just hated the smug looks on their faces."

Mr. LaRusso nodded in understanding. "I know, I know. It's okay. Maybe... now we'll get some students."

Ayane nodded back. "Hopefully."

She turned around, trying to find Miguel in the crowd. Ayane felt a sudden twinge of guilt for what she did.

"I'll be right back," she said dismissively, walking through the crowd to look for him. People high-fived her as she went along, including Moon.

"Hey," Ayane stopped as she saw the girl, "do you know where the Cobra Kais went?"

Moon nodded. "Yeah, they went behind the stage. You did amazing, by the way. You are so badass!"

"Thank you," Ayane quickly replied, pushing through the crowd to get to Miguel.

Ayane ran to the back of the stage, stopping before she went around the corner. Johnny was saying something.

"You guys did everything right, none of this was your fault. Except for you, Diaz. I'm kinda blaming you."

She frowned, about to turn the corner when someone beside her said, "Imagine if you were able to use all of that fighting skill."

Startled, Ayane jumped as she turned her head, finding that it was none other than Kreese.

Ayane frowned again. "What do you mean?"

Kreese put his hands in his pockets, watching Johnny from a distance.

"Well I know you don't get to use your impeccable fighting at Miyagi-Do," he said, adding the last words like they were disgusting to say. "LaRusso still teaching that 'self defense' bullshit?"

Ayane stuttered for a moment. "It's not bullshit," she replied, "it's beneficial."

Kreese laughed dryly. "Sure it is, kid. All I'm saying is, being the kind of fighter you are, you'd have a much better experience at Cobra Kai."

She scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief.

"You're trying to recruit me? Yeah, good one. I wouldn't join Cobra Kai if they made my grave out of the entrance doors."

Kreese chuckled once more, pulling a cigar from his pocket and lighting it. Taking a drag, he replied, "You're exactly how I remembered you."

Before Ayane could question that, Kreese walked away.

She cleared her mind of him, as that was the least of her problems right now. Ayane had to apologize to Miguel.

She waited until Johnny let them go, stepping from around the corner as Miguel started walking toward her.

Miguel quickly cut his eyes at her, glaring.

"Let me start off by saying that I'm sorry," Ayane said, taking a step closer to him.

Miguel laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, sorry's not gonna cut it this time."

Ayane held her hands to her head, taking in a deep breath.

"I know, I know. I-I just got so pissed off when you guys showed up. I mean, you guys did kind of interrupt our demo."

Miguel glanced down, as he was unable to deny that.

"I tried to get them to reconsider," he said, shaking his head. "I tried to tell Sensei to wait."

That made Ayane feel even more guilty. She swallowed, closing her eyes briefly.

"And that's why I'm saying sorry. To you, not to them. I'm not gonna let my anger get the best of me again. And you can hold me to that."

Miguel met her eyes, tapping his foot on the ground.

"I forgive you," he finally said. "And I'm sorry that we interrupted you guys. It sure looked like your meditation was winning them over."

Ayane tilted her head, surprised by Miguel. She slowly smiled, bursting into laughter.

"I hate you."

Miguel put his arm around Ayane, walking along with her.

"No you don't. But it's okay."

Ayane sighed, still feeling bugged about her conversation with Kreese. She decided to tell Miguel about it.

"This Kreese guy... I think I've met him before."

Miguel looked over at her, furrowing his eyebrows.

"What now?"

Ayane poked her tongue in her cheek. "I-I feel like it was from a long time ago. I couldn't have been any older than three. But I think..."

She trailed off, thinking about Ennis. He was in some jail cell right now, sitting there and doing God knows what.

"Think what?" Miguel asked slowly.

Ayane inhaled sharply, facing him. "I think Kreese knows my dad, somehow."

Miguel's eyes widened a little. "Woah. That's- that's um-"

"Weird. I know. I just- I wonder if I could find out more about Kreese... if I went and talked to my dad."

Immediately shaking his head, Miguel replied, "Ayane, no. I really don't think you'd want to see him right now."

"I don't," she shrugged, picking at her thumbnail.

"But it's a good way to get answers."

NOTES!
uh oh... looks like ayane's becoming a little bit of a hothead... i guess she fits right in with the larusso's alskdjsls