❝ i'll never give up on you, mig. ❞
THERE WAS STILL AN HOUR left in the school day, but Ayane did not care now.
She called Mr. LaRusso, but did not get an answer.
Ayane paced in front of the office, calling Amanda next.
"Hello?" she finally picked up.
"Amanda, hi," Ayane said with relief. "Um- Miguel woke up."
"Really? That's- that's great-"
"Yeah it is," Ayane cut her off. "Can I go see him?"
Amanda paused. "Well honey, I'm sure Sam won't mind taking you after school. Is that alright?"
Ayane crossed her arm underneath the other, sighing. She wanted to see Miguel now, but she supposed she could wait.
"Yes ma'am. T-Thank you. Bye."
Ayane hung up, going back into the library. Moon was still sitting at the table.
"Is everything alright?" Moon stood and asked, raising her eyebrows.
Ayane smiled wide, suddenly hugging Moon.
"Miguel's awake."
"Oh my God, that's amazing!" Moon replied with a grin, patting Ayane's back.
Then, Ayane got a sudden idea.
She pulled away from Moon, saying, "Hey- you have a car, don't you?"
Five minutes later, they were driving up to West Valley General.
"This is so cute," Moon said as Ayane got out of her, "you can just tell how much you guys love each other."
Ayane's heart could have melted, honestly. She smiled at Moon gratefully.
"You're so sweet. Thank you so much for the ride. I'll text you!"
Moon nodded, waving as Ayane ran up to the hospital entrance.
Ayane had never gotten up a flight of stairs so fast. The elevator was busy, so they were her best bet.
Miguel's grandmother was standing outside when Ayane got there, waiting to take the girl to Miguel.
Her heart was racing uncontrollably, nodding as Miguel's grandmother said something in Spanish that Ayane did not understand.
Ayane stopped at the doorway, breaking into a smile when she met Miguel's eyes. He was sitting up, which was a good sign in her eyes.
She walked over at once, looking down at him. Miguel looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't get the words out.
"You don't have to say anything," Ayane said, placing her hand on his.
Miguel sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. Ayane looked over to Carmen.
"How's he been?"
Carmen slowly smiled, walking around to Ayane and placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's... progress. You were the first person he asked for, though."
Ayane looked back to Miguel, who mustered up a small smile.
"I'll be back with some water," Carmen said at once, leaving the room.
Ayane pulled up a chair, sitting beside Miguel.
"I tried to get here as fast as I could," Ayane explained, inhaling deeply. "I'm- so glad you're awake."
Miguel did not say anything right off, instead reaching for Ayane's hand.
"I heard your voice," he finally said, swallowing.
Ayane intertwined her fingers with his, shaking her head in confusion.
"What- what do you mean?"
Miguel pursed his lips. "I-I could hear you. Talking to me. At least, I think it was you."
She nodded after a moment, smiling again. "Yeah, yeah. I-I came by yesterday. And believe me, I had no idea you would have made so much progress from then compared to now."
Miguel smiled softly, looking down at her hand in his.
"I just want to be able to do karate again," he finally said, meeting her eyes again.
Ayane bit her lip, tilting her head. "Hey, I mean- if I could do it, then you can definitely do it. If anyone can beat the odds, it's you."
He glanced down and laughed a little, going quiet again.
Ayane frowned. "Are you okay, though? Really? I can see that something's bothering you."
Miguel did not respond right away, staring off distantly as he tried to find the words to say.
"I'm so sorry about Tory. Everything that happened involving her. I-I'm so sorry, Ayane. This never would've happened if-"
"Hey, look at me," Ayane cut him off, leaning over so that Miguel was forced to look at her. She met his eyes sternly.
"I don't care about Tory. I don't care about what happened at that stupid party. But what I do care about is you. Alright?"
Ayane did not mention the part about how she blamed herself for everything. That could be a conversation for a different day.
Miguel finally nodded, breaking eye contact with Ayane. "Alright. Yeah."
Carmen came back in just then with a cup of water for Miguel, the doctor following behind her. Ayane stood up and moved out of the way, watching as the doctor examined Miguel.
Ayane felt nervous for him, and she didn't even know why. He said that his arms felt fine, but he did not feel anything when the doctor prodded at his legs and feet.
Her heart sank a little, watching as the doctor called Carmen out of the room.
Ayane sat back down beside Miguel with a smile, looking at the television and seeing a baseball game on.
"I keep forgetting you're a Dodgers fan," she said. "I've always been a Cubs fan, myself, but-" Ayane looked back over at him, seeing Miguel's eyes trailing outside.
She turned her head, seeing Carmen with her hands over her mouth and appearing to be distressed.
Ayane turned back to Miguel, trying to think of something to distract him.
"We should go to a baseball game together one day," she said, drawing his attention to her.
He nodded after a moment, smiling a little. "Yeah, that'd be fun. I didn't know you liked baseball."
Ayane leaned back in her chair, grinning. "Oh, yeah. I used to want to play tee-ball when I was little, but- my parents never let me. What about you, did you ever play?"
Miguel gave her a look. "Do you remember how scrawny I was when I first came here? The only thing I was playing was Dungeons and Dragons."
"Nerd," Ayane began to laugh, shaking her head. She had managed to distract Miguel for now, but Ayane had to admit that she was worried herself.
Ayane stayed as long as she could, until Amanda arrived at the hospital to take her home.
"I'll come see you tomorrow, as soon as I can," Ayane said, standing from her chair. "And I'll-"
Her phone buzzed just then. Ayane pulled it out, seeing she had a message from Sam.
"Oh my God," Ayane shook her head, frowning.
They had arrested Robby.
"What?" Miguel asked, his eyes going a little wide.
Ayane looked up at him, shoving her phone back in her pocket.
"Don't worry about it. I'll see you soon, okay?"
Miguel nodded. "Ayane?"
She halted, looking back over at him. "Yeah?"
He licked his lips, glancing down briefly.
"Thank you. For not giving up on me."
Ayane could see tears in his eyes, and it was taking all she could not to start crying too. She nodded.
"I'll never give up on you, Mig."
. . . .
AFTER SCHOOL THE NEXT DAY, Ayane headed straight to the hospital.
She walked right into Miguel's room, noticing that his heart monitor went up when she walked in.
Ayane began smiling, looking from the heart monitor to Miguel.
"Does this mean you're happy to see me or does it mean I stress you out?"
Miguel smiled, shrugging. "I guess we'll never know."
Ayane grinned, then continued, "So I wasn't sure how much longer you were going to be here, and I decided that you might be interested in having this with you."
From behind her back, Ayane brought out a familiar sparkly stuffed unicorn.
Miguel began to laugh, taking the stuffed animal from her.
"Professor Sparkles, what are you doing here?"
"I think he missed you," Ayane replied, touching the little stuffed animal's head.
Miguel narrowed his eyes at her with a smile, replying, "Are you sure it was Professor Sparkles who missed me?"
"Totally," Ayane replied, grinning back at him. "So, fill me in on the latest. Any news? Good or bad, though I would appreciate good news."
His smile faltered a little, glancing away from Ayane.
"The doctor thinks I might not be able to walk again," Miguel finally told her, not looking up at her.
Ayane's smiled faded, turning to a frown.
"But I have a surgery on Friday," he continued, "supposedly there's this doctor from out of state who can work miracles."
Ayane nodded. "Well- that's great."
"I'm not getting my hopes up," Miguel replied, shaking his head a little. "The surgery costs a ton and- my mom's gonna be in debt. And... there's no guarantee it'll work."
She pursed her lips, trailing away for a moment in thought.
Ayane knew a surgeon who could have undoubtedly fixed Miguel, and could have done it for free.
Unfortunately, Ennis was in jail and it would have been impossible to get him reinstated, anyway.
But, while he may not have been able to help Miguel medically, Ayane knew that her family could help him financially.
"Don't work yourself up over it," Ayane finally told him, reaching over and ruffling his hair.
"You are Miguel fucking Diaz. And you are a badass."
Miguel began to laugh, interrupted suddenly by a familiar voice.
"El Serpiente!"
Ayane turned, her smile going away as she saw Hawk standing in the doorway.
Hawk grew quiet, looking at Ayane.
"I'll come back," he finally said.
"No," Miguel quickly replied, "it's not like you guys can't be in the same room. Come in."
Hawk hesitated, then entered the room. Ayane stepped around the hospital bed and stood on the other side of Miguel, allowing Hawk to stand on the opposite side.
"What's up, bro?" Hawk said, clapping Miguel's hand.
Ayane's phone vibrated just then. It was from Moon, asking how Ayane was doing and if she wanted to hang out sometime.
"Who are you talking to?" Hawk asked, knowing it wasn't his business.
Ayane glanced up, cutting her eyes at him.
"Your ex-girlfriend. That a problem?"
Hawk glared, about to say something when Miguel cut in, "Guys, can you at least try to get along just this once? For my sake?"
Ayane put her phone in her pocket, sighing.
"Maybe in another life. I have to go, I'll see you tomorrow."
She hesitated for a moment, then leaned down and kissed Miguel on the cheek.
He watched her leave, smiling in a bit of a daze.
"I can't believe you're still with her after that shit Keene did to you," Hawk suddenly said.
Miguel looked over, frowning. "Ayane didn't have anything to do with that."
Hawk rolled his eyes. "They're both Miyagi-Do. The actions of one reflect on the rest. And besides, didn't you hear what she did to Tory?"
Miguel slowly shook his head.
"Uh, no... why? What'd she do?"
Hawk clenched his jaw, replying, "Your girlfriend broke four of Tory's ribs, her nose, and fractured her spine. And no one's offered to help Tory out because they think she's the crazy one. I guess Ayane forgot to mention that to you, huh?"
Miguel gave Hawk a defensive look. "Hey, Tory started the fight. Did you just expect Ayane to not fight back?"
It was a little worrisome to Miguel that Ayane had gone that far, but he had bigger problems right now. And as long as Ayane was not going to juvie or something, he would be okay.
Ayane got back to the LaRusso's and found Sam waiting for her.
"Ayane, hi," Sam said as she walked in.
"Hi," Ayane replied slowly, giving Sam a look.
Sam hesitated, then continued, "How is Miguel?"
Ayane shrugged. "He's having surgery soon. But- it's just going to cost a lot. I was thinking that maybe I could just get my dad to pay it off, but- I don't know if he would do that."
Sam sighed, frowning. "I'm sure we can think of something to help him. But- that's not what I needed to tell you."
Ayane was wary of Sam's distressed tone, hoping nothing bad had happened. Ayane was not in a state of mind to handle anymore bad news at the moment.
"What's going on?"
Sam intertwined her fingers, finally replying,
"It's- it's Robby. My dad called him today and he refuses to talk to anyone."
"Unless they're you."
NOTES!
sorry for the semi-short chapter shawties,, anyway i want my babies to be happy but like i like drama ✋🙄 guess we'll see