╔.𖥸. .════════════════╗

𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬

chapter fifty-one
one more sleepless night

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ALYSSA UNFORTUNATELY HAD a lot of experience with her life feeling dark — where her head was stuck in an endless gray cloud, and no matter what she did to try to get herself out of it, she couldn't.

The last time she had felt like this was after the school fight and after Eli had broken Demetri's arm. Two pivotal moments that changed her life, and yet, here was another. She couldn't quite get Kwon's death out of her head. The way his blood spilled on the mat, the way the knife stuck out of his chest, the way his eyes were completely lifeless . . . there was nothing that she could've done to help him. He was gone so quick.

She rose up in her bed, rubbing at her eyes that were practically begging to close, even though she knew that any attempt would be futile. That huge brawl at the end of the Sekai Taikai with the horrible ending would just be on repeat, anyways. Her body felt heavy and her movements felt sluggish. As she did so, she felt an arm, slung loosely around her hips, adjust slightly.

Alyssa blinked through her tiredness and over to the other side of her bed, where Eli was still sleeping peacefully. His locks of blue hair (he had gotten rid of the American flag mohawk when they came home — thank God — and now it was all blue) flopped against the pillow and his face. Against her own will, and everything else racing through her mind, she felt a smile appear on her face. Through it all, Eli had truly been her only saving grace. He had noticed she was struggling and was there every step of the way, including giving her space when she needed it and asked for it.

She tapped her phone screen. It was early in the morning, about eight, and the sun was slightly shining through the curtains of her room. With her boyfriend next to her and the morning light, it felt a little peaceful, even if her mind wasn't peaceful. She honestly would've just fallen back into her bed and laid there all day, but she couldn't. It was mostly for a bigger reason — LaRusso Auto was having an anniversary party, and Alyssa promised Sam that she would help set up.

Alyssa let out a deep breath. She looked down at Eli and pushed some of his hair back from his face gently before leaning down and kissing his forehead. Alyssa pushed her covers off of her, shivering slightly from the cold air, and stood up. She rubbed her eyes again in effort to make herself more away as she wandered over to her closet. Without really thinking, she grabbed a pair of black leggings and pink cropped hoodie.

"Where're you going?" a groggy, slightly raspy voice asked, cutting through the silence.

She looked back at her bed, seeing Eli had woken up and was now pushed up on his elbows, watching her through squinted eyes since he just woke up. "Good morning, sunshine. I'm going to LaRusso Auto — I told you yesterday."

"Oh, right." Eli blinked a couple of times to wake himself up and sat up fully. "How'd you sleep?"

"I didn't."

Eli let out a sigh. "Lys."

The disappointment and concern in his voice was evident. He cared about her, she knew that — but right now, she didn't want to talk about her problems. It just made them all too real. So, she didn't what she did best — she pushed them down, pretending that they didn't exist.

"I know, I know," Alyssa said, walking over to her vanity and putting her clothes down. "It's not my fault, I just can't."

He took the covers off of him and stood up, approaching her and placing his hands on her face so she would look at him. "Lys. I'm worried about you."

"You don't have to be," Alyssa reassured him, although she wasn't even convinced herself about that. "It'll work out. Just . . . drop it, okay?"

Eli didn't seem to want to drop it, but he eventually agreed. "Okay." He planted a kiss on her lips. "I can go make some breakfast."

Alyssa got ready for the day and ate breakfast — including coffee, which she needed — before leaving the house, telling Eli she would see him later. She drove over to LaRusso auto and parked before walking into the building. Her eyes immediately set on Sam and Miguel, and she headed over to them.

"Hi, Als," Miguel greeted.

She gave him a tight smile. "Hi, honey."

"What's up with you?" Sam commented. "You look like a wreck."

Alyssa stopped in her tracks, giving her a look. "Gee, thanks, Sammy."

"Come on, you know you always look gorgeous, but you just look . . . tired." Sam tilted her head a little. "Didn't sleep again?"

"Yeah, but I'm fine." She then noticed the expressions Miguel and Sam were giving her, which basically screamed concern. "Seriously, I'm fine. I've bounced back before, and I can do it again." She straightened up a bit. "What do you need me to do?"

Decorate, basically. She started with helping Sam and Miguel put a golden bow on one of the showcased cars while Mrs. LaRusso supervised. Honestly, as tired as Alyssa was, doing mindless tasks to help decorate the dealership was doing her some good. It kind of made her forget about everything, even if it was just for a moment.

"Did you hear who your dad sold a car to this morning?" Mrs. LaRusso asked Sam.

"I did, like, ten times," Sam answered. "It's all he wants to talk about."

Sensei LaRusso then walked up. "Hey, Miguel, Ally, you hear who I sold a car to this morning?"

Sam let out a small laugh. "See?"

"Uh, who?" Miguel replied.

"A big shot at UCLA admissions," Mrs. LaRusso revealed.

Alyssa immediately straightened up. UCLA was her dream — even after everything, she still wanted to be accepted into their nursing program so badly. Yet, even though she heard that acceptances were starting to be rolled out, she hadn't heard anything. No letter, no email.

Miguel looked down at Sam with a smile. "Wow, Sam, that's amazing."

"Yeah," Sam stated. "I mean, it's still early, though."

"Yeah. Well, with the Sekai Taikai done, my Stanford dream's kind of gone. But I don't—"

"I know that changed things for everyone."

In more ways than one. Alyssa sighed internally, absentmindedly running the charms on her necklace back and forth.

"Yeah, well, it could just mean being closer to home and being closer to UCLA," Miguel continued.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Perfect."

Alyssa gave Sam a knowing look, but her best friend didn't meet her eyes. The two had had countless conversations about college. Yet, a new opportunity had popped up for Sam — one that was very far from home, and definitely not UCLA. Instead, Sam wanted to go to Okinawa for a study abroad program for a year, and Alyssa was the only one who knew. As much as Alyssa's heart already ached from being that far from Sam, all she wanted was for her follow her dreams.

Sensei LaRusso then pulled his buzzing phone out of his pocket. "Be right back, Bruins fans."

She looked back down at the bow. Alyssa was really the only Bruins fan among that group, but she certainly wasn't going to tell him that.

Their next order of business was to cover all of the tables in tablecloths. Alyssa stuck by Sam while Miguel wandered off somewhere, and the two of them were placing the red tablecloths on all of them. She glanced down, adjusting it so it was straight and making sure it wasn't lopsided.

Nessa, Sensei LaRusso's cousin, then approached her and Sam — in all honesty, Alyssa loved Nessa from the couple of times she met her, mostly because she always kept it real and wasn't afraid to speak her mind. "Oh, hi, loves. How was Barcelona?"

"Hi," Sam responded. "Uh, it was good, yeah. It was — you know, there was a bit of a dark cloud over everything, but—"

"Oh, no, honey, not the karate stuff. I want the tea on the city, the food, the Spanish men."

Alyssa shared a glance with Sam before letting out a small laugh, because even though Barcelona carried a lot of weight with her, she still couldn't deny how amazing it was. "It was incredible, honestly."

Nessa nodded, looking excited. "Mm-hmm."

"The — the culture, the — the beaches, it was just . . ." Sam rambled. "I don't know, it was nice to get out of the Valley bubble."

Nessa shrugged. "Yeah."

Alyssa scoffed, straightening the tablecloth a little more. "Tell me about it."

Mrs. LaRusso came out of nowhere, leaning her elbow on the table and placing her chin in the palm of her hand. "What are we all giddy about? UCLA?"

"Are you kidding?" Nessa questioned, gesturing to Sam. "She's not going to UCLA. This girl is dying to get away from home."

Sam's eyes widened as she looked to her mother. "No, no. No, I — I didn't . . . I — I didn't say that."

"Oh, okay, so we're just not having an honest conversation about this? Is that where you're all at, or . . .?"

Sam let out a deep breath. "Honestly, I've — I've been looking a little further from home, but I just didn't wanna say anything yet. I know it's gonna be complicated with Miguel and . . . and with dad."

Mrs. LaRusso had a comforting smile on her face. "I figured. And I get it. Look, I had the same instincts when I was your age. Your father, though . . . maybe we don't throw that news in the mix with him just yet."

"Ah," Nessa commented.

"What now?"

"Clearly you know Daniel is messed up. I mean, he's bridezilla-ing all over the dealership and not talking about Barcelona at all. But, you're getting what you want, so, hey, no sudden movements, right?"

Alyssa averted her gaze to the ceiling, suddenly feeling very awkward and very out of place. This was a family matter — and even though she was extremely close to the LaRusso's, that didn't mean she should've been able to hear about all of their problems.

"Look, I may personally be enjoying him putting his attention on the dealership, but that's because we're partners—" Mrs. LaRusso argued.

"You don't gotta justify it to me," Nessa interjected, holding up a hand to stop her. "I play this game, too. I got Anoush right where I want him."

"No, no, there are no games. The karate wars being over is a good thing. And Daniel is fine. He's fine. He just needs some time to adjust."

"What the hell is this?" Sensei LaRusso's voice demanded, and Alyssa peered over Nessa's shoulder to see him confronting Anoush and Louie (his employees) with the classic bonsai tree on a table. "I said no more bonsais. What's so hard about that?"

Yeah. Definitely not fine.

"I thought you meant no more bonsais for customers, not, like, no bonsais anywhere," Anoush insisted.

"I meant no more of these, period," Sensei LaRusso stated. "Come on."

"Okay." Anoush picked up the plant. "Okay."

Sensei LaRusso reached to take it. "You know what? Let me — I got it—"

Anoush tried to pull it back. "I got it—"

However, in their scuffle, both of them dropped the plant. It dropped to the ground with a loud clash, the pot shattering and dirt scattering on the floor. Alyssa slightly winced.

"Anoush!" Sensei LaRusso exclaimed before sighing. "Just . . . just clean it up. Save the tree."

Mrs. LaRusso looked back at Nessa. "You're always right about this stuff, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Nessa said.

"It's nice."

Alyssa let a breath pass through her lips, sharing another look with Sam. Seemed like everyone was getting a rocky start again after Barcelona while pretending they were fine.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

THE PARTY WAS in full swing, people gathered around the dealership with flutes of champagne as they talked to each other. Since Alyssa had helped set up, she was invited (more like Sam begged her to come). So there she stood, wearing a flowy light purple dress that tied in bows at the shoulders and a pair of short wedge heels, in a party that she felt slightly out of place in. At least she had Sam, Robby, and Miguel there.

Alyssa took a sip of her champagne, moving some of her red hair (that was ever so slightly fading back to her natural brown) off of her shoulder. She was about to go walk up to Robby to say hi since he had just arrived, but somebody caught onto her arm. Alyssa stopped in her tracks and looked to see who it was, and it turned out to be Sam. However, unlike the bright smile she had on her face for a majority of the party, this expression seemed to be in slight disbelief.

"The Sekai Taikai is back on," Sam told her.

Alyssa momentarily felt her heart stop. Back to the Sekai Taikai? Again? After everything that happened? After a kid died? On one hand, it made sense to finish things out, since all of them were feeling a little lost. Yet, on the other hand, Alyssa remembered the stress of her captainship and how undeserving she felt of it.

Before Alyssa could say anything or ask any questions, they were interrupted. Sensei LaRusso had tapped his wedding ring against his glass of champagne, gaining all of their attention. Alyssa looked to him, dropping it for now. It could wait until after his speech.

"Everyone," Sensei LaRusso began. "I just wanna thank you all for being here with us tonight. We are so lucky to be surrounded by friends and family, and the family that we have chosen, the LaRusso Auto family. You know, a family means that we love and support each other no matter what, and that we could be proud of every step forward we've taken together. And even after 18 incredible years, there's still so much ahead of us. You know, in the early days of this business, things were pretty uncertain. We knew we were taking a risk. We had no idea if we'd be well-received. But we built something of our own. We trusted each other, we trusted that it would all work out okay because we had each other. So thank you to everyone in our family, old and new." He raised his glass. "Here's to the next step forward. Cheers."

Miguel approached the two of them with Robby. "Did you hear the news?"

"About the Sekai Taikai?" Sam replied. "Yeah, and I just told Ally. Do you think it's true?"

Alyssa glanced over her shoulder, where Sensei LaRusso and Sensei Lawrence were near each other. "There's only one way to find out."

"Dad, is is true?" Sam asked, their group walking up to him. "Is the tournament back on?"

Sensei LaRusso shared a quick look with Sensei Lawrence before nodding. "It's true. If that's what you all want."

The four of them — Alyssa, Sam, Miguel, and Robby — all looked at each other for a moment. Even without any words, they were able to communicate what they wanted, which was all the same thing. Even though it had ended horribly in Barcelona, this was a new chance to fight.

Alyssa took a deep breath before looking at her Sensei's, a newfound determination glinting in her eyes. "Let's do it."

•─•°•❀•°•─•

hi everyone!!! welcome back . . . TO THE FINAL SIX CHAPTERS 💔💔💔

I actually can't believe we made it here what the hell

unfortunately I'm going to make ally go through it *slightly* in these final moments because that feels right idk don't come for me