Severity, Miguel Diaz¹

― chapter 50.

AYANE WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING, feeling in a slightly better mood than usual.

It was short-lived, however, when she recalled Robby's stupid face showing up last night.

She got out of bed and showered, then walked downstairs. But Ayane was quickly taken by surprise when she saw Daniel in the kitchen, giving her a strange look.

Ayane frowned a little. "Good morning," she said slowly, approaching the fridge.

"Ayane, I need to have a talk with you."

Her heart skipped a beat for a moment, wondering what she could have done.

Ayane turned away from the refrigerator slowly, leaning against the counter with a strained smile.

"What's up?"

Daniel stood up from the table at once, standing on the other side of the counter with his hands folded. He looked down at them for a moment, trying to find the words to say.

"Ayane... I was just informed that for the past few weeks, you've been doing karate with Johnny Lawrence. Is that true?"

She froze completely. Ayane's heart dropped to her stomach.

Licking her lips, she stammered, "Um– well, i-it's not entirely a lie. Mr. LaRusso, I'm so sorry, I just–"

"Why didn't you tell me, Ayane?" he sounded more hurt than angry, which made a pit of guilt form in Ayane's stomach. "Do you– do you not like Miyagi-Do?"

"I love Miyagi-Do," Ayane quickly replied. "I do. And I love karate. But I didn't want to be a part of something that keeps getting people hurt and in trouble. Cobra Kai or Miyagi-Do, they're both... not really right for me."

Daniel looked as if he wanted to be mad, but he just couldn't. He glanced down, nodding at once.

"I understand where you're coming from. I just need to know that whatever Johnny is teaching you– it's not about harming others, is it?"

Ayane shook her head quickly. "No, of course not. That's too much like Cobra Kai. Kreese's Cobra Kai. And that's something I'll never be part of."

Daniel sighed, meeting her eyes and seeing she was being genuine.

"Well... alright then," he said with another sigh, straightening up. Daniel was about to walk away and then he stopped, turning back to her and saying, "Oh– I heard that Robby came by last night. Sam saw him, but he looked pretty upset. Did you talk to him by any chance?"

Ayane looked down, drawing in a breath.

"Yeah, I talked to him. I don't think I should have, though. I think it did more harm than good."

Daniel pursed his lips. "Robby really looked up to you, as strange as it may seem. I could tell when he started sparring with you, he started fighting like you too. Maybe you two should try to talk things over."

With that, Daniel walked away.

Ayane stood there for a moment, in deep thought. She did not want to 'talk things over', Ayane had too much pride for that. What she wanted was to pretend Robby Keene had never existed.