Brett spoke into the microphone;
"Thank you for having us at your competition. I look forward to seeing a fair competition, beautiful technique and great sportsmanship."
--------------------------------------------
"As the Head Judge of this competition, I take code of conduct very seriously."
Oh my f*cking god he was the head judge !!! And here I was telling that guy to come and go and see the head judge when we were all standing right in front of him!!!
"I would therefore like to see the three head instructors of the following 3 students,"
Brett pointed at three black belts.
"You, you and you."
He pointed at Eddy and the young man standing next to him that put the red dye on Brett's uniform and also the female blackbelt who was standing a few spaces away.
Me?!?!
Eddy tried to calm himself down.
I have done nothing to be ashamed of.
"We will start the competition right after I speak to these head instructors."
The whole group was dismissed.
Eddy quickly walked up to Brett.
"Eddy? Who's the head instructor of your dojo?"
"I am. Eddy Chen, 4th dan blackbelt. I'm the head instructor of a new dojo in Morrisville."
"Oh, my bad. No wonder. Great code of conduct. I wanted to thank you again. Good luck with the competition. Please stay till I finish talking to the other two head instructors."
Eddy nodded as two more black belts approached Brett and Eddy.
Brett commanded.
"Disqualify your student that I pointed out to you, please. Their attitude and behaviour do not warrant taking part in this competition."
The two head instructors gasped.
"Oh my god Brett, what have they done ??"
"I suggest you go talk to them. Please let me know how you go, I'm curious as to how honest they are with you. Thanks."
The two head instructors stormed off. Having a blackbelt competitor disqualified from the competition was a terrible embarrassment for the dojo.
Brett smiled at Eddy.
"I think the students at Morrisville dojo are lucky to have you as their leader, Eddy."
"Thank you. ....So you're the head judge."
"Yes I am"
"And there I was trying to convince the guy to come with me to go see... you."
Brett gave out a little chuckle.
"Yes."
Eddy scratched his head.
"..Um, aren't you doing a demo for us as the head judge?"
"Yes, I am."
"So.. don't you need to wear a white uniform for being on the competition ring? Like I said before, I can lend you one."
Brett eyed Eddy up and down.
"Eddy, that is very sweet of you but I have a feeling your jacket is going to be a bit too long for me. Don't worry, I've already washed the sleeve in the bathroom and I got the colour out, I'll just use the bathroom hand dryer to dry it."
"Oh.. I can do that if you like. I'm sure you're busy with the judging panel."
"Really? I'd really appreciate that. I've hung it up in the change room section of the mens toilets. It's my competition uniform so it has my name embroidered on the lapel. Yang."
"Okay, I'll go get it done now."
Eddy walked into the men's bathrooms and was mortified of what he saw.
The young man who stained Brett's uniform sleeve with the red dye was there. He must have removed Brett's uniform jacket from the hanger which was left on the hook on the wall. He had clenched in his fist, what looked like Brett's uniform, but it looked like it was torn and stained with more dye.
Eddy started to shake with rage.
"Just what the f*ck do you think you are doing?"
"That prick disqualified me and my girlfriend...!!!"
"And you think this is going to make things better ?"
"Oh shut the f*ck up!!!!"
The young man threw the jacket to Eddy's face. Eddy caught it with his hand before it hit him. He opened up the uniform and saw a jiggered tear through the back of the jacket. He saw the embroidered name "Yang" on the lapel and his heart sank.
Don't these guys have any sense of respect?
Eddy wanted to punch the guy's lights out but refused to stoop down to his level and walked out of the bathroom with Brett's uniform. He immediately ran downstairs to the front reception of the sports centre and asked to borrow a pair of scissors.
Eddy didn't hesitate. He went to where his bag was and took out his spare competition uniform. He measured up Brett's damaged uniform's sleeve against his uniform and he then carefully and neatly cut the excess length off with the pair of scissors. He cut off about 10cm of each sleeve. He then cut out the embroidery at the base of the lapel that said "Chen". He then neatly folded both his own and Brett's uniforms and went to see Brett.
"Brett"
Brett looked up from his seat and stood up.
"Eddy"
"I'm really sorry but that guy was tampering with your uniform again when I got there."
Eddy handed over the folded jacket. Even though it was folded neatly it was still evident of a tear and that it had more red stains.
"Oh my god I can't believe this."
"I'm really sorry this has happened... Look, I prepared a uniform to wear for your demo."
Eddy shook out his own jacket with the shortened sleeve and passed it to Brett.
"Oh my god, this is your competitive uniform.. you cut the sleeves ?!!?? What about the embroidery... OMG... you cut that out too...!!!!"
"It's okay, I still have spares."
"I'm sure you do but Eddy, this must have been one of your favourites if you brought it along... I can't believe you did this for me. Thank you Eddy."
"Um.. you're welcome... I'm sorry the sleeves aren't starched."
Brett grabbed the sleeves of the uniform and felt the soft fabric between his fingers.
"Heh, I don't need starch. You obviously don't either."
Both men were confident they had enough snap in their technique to make their uniform ripple without starching up their uniform. They grinned at each other.
"I look forward to watching your demonstration Brett."
"I look forward to watching you compete Eddy."