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𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬

chapter nine
miyagi-do

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"I CANNOT BELIEVE you're dragging me into this."

Ever since the Cobra Kai demonstration at Valley Fest, Demetri had been hyper-fixated on joining the dojo again. Maybe it was Eli's kick, or all the other stuff they had shown, but Demetri was convinced that he wanted to go back. And, in true Demetri fashion, he was dragging Alyssa to come with him, claiming he didn't want to go alone. She kept telling herself that this was for him, not her, because she did not want to go back.

And while Demetri found himself being hyper-fixated on Cobra Kai, Alyssa found herself being hyper-fixated on Miyagi-Do. For some reason, she couldn't get their demonstration out of her head. Mr. LaRusso's bo staff, Sam and Robby's movements, it all just seemed . . . her.

"Hey, last time, it was the other way around," Demetri insisted.

As much as she wanted to argue with that, she really couldn't. It had been her and Eli convincing Demetri to join Cobra Kai after Miguel's fight in the cafeteria. Don't get her wrong, Alyssa still wanted to learn karate — she enjoyed all the punching she had learned and had still yet to learn to kick like Miguel — but, like she had said many times before, she didn't like the way Cobra Kai taught her.

Miyagi-Do could teach her differently — teach her better, maybe. The only thing holding her back was Eli. He was Cobra Kai through-and-through. If she joined Miyagi-Do, Cobra Kai's complete rival, that would technically make them rivals. And that was exactly what she didn't want.

Alyssa shook her head. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

All the blinds were shut at the dojo, basically signaling that they were closed. Demetri crept up to the door. He glanced back at Alyssa nervously, but she raised an eyebrow, basically saying you wanted to do this. Demetri knocked four times against the glass. When there was no response, he just decided to open it, the bell jingling as he did so.

"Hello?" Demetri called peeking his head inside. "Oh. Thank God. I was a little afraid you'd be the other guy. He's a little . . . unhinged."

Demetri walked in, holding the door for Alyssa behind him. She wandered in after her friend, crossing her arms across her chest as she looked around at the place she hadn't been in months. There was a much older guy there, whom Alyssa could only assume was somebody Sensei Lawrence worked with now. Her eyes went over to the wall, and she felt her insides fill with distaste at the strike first, strike hard, no mercy painted onto it.

The older guy said nothing and just continued to stare at Demetri. Alyssa crossed her arms a little tighter around herself

"Oh," Demetri said. He then bent down, taking his shoes off. "Saw your little demonstration at Valley Fest. Couple of the guys have been requesting I come join the club. So, uh, I feel like it's time to give it another go." He tossed his shoes to the side and got onto the mat. "But I've got some ground rules."

Alyssa rolled her eyes. Oh boy, there he goes. She stayed by the door, watching as Demetri walked across the mat.

"I prefer to take a flag-football approach to my karate training. Ideally, learning to hit and kick without actually being hit or kicked. Part and parcel with that, I have a bit of a thing about personal space. The other Cobras are just gonna have to accept that." Demetri's eyes then slid down to the man's arm. "Wow, that is quite the tattoo."

The guy had also crossed his arms, revealing a tattoo of a snake on his upper arm. Alyssa raised an eyebrow. What was with this dojo and influencing people to get tattoos? She didn't get it.

"Oh, uh, not to nitpick here, but I'm not sure it's anatomically correct," Demetri revealed.

He grabbed onto the man's arm to inspect his tattoo, and Alyssa turned, letting her forehead onto the red wall next to her. She started to hit it against the wall over and over again, really wanting nothing more than to just leave. Something about that guy didn't sit well with her, and the fact that Demetri was spewing out snake facts to him . . . well, she should've known it wouldn't end in his favor.

"You see, the hood of the Indo-Chinese spitting cobra is much smaller and their pupils are actually round, not the vertical type your artist opted for. So, uh, you know, probably an easy enough fix to correct the . . ." Demetri then looked up, noticing the blank expression on the man's face. "Pupils."

Within the blink of an eye, the guy wound back his fist and literally punched Demetri across the face. Alyssa gasped, her eyes widening in horror as she watched Demetri stumble back. His nose was bleeding, along with the cut on the bridge of his nose that the man's ring had caused.

"Demetri, oh my God, are you okay?" Alyssa asked, taking his arm as he ran back over to her, grabbing his bag and shoes. Her head then whipped over to the guy, staring at him incredulously. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Well, now it really was settled. This was just the final nail in the coffin. Alyssa officially hated Cobra Kai.

And, she didn't give a fuck anymore. If she was going to learn karate, she was going to do it her way. Maybe Eli would understand.

Alyssa continued to hold onto Demetri's arm, dragging him out of the stupid dojo and towards her car. "I knew this was a bad idea."

She unlocked her car with her keys. Alyssa slid into the drivers seat while Demetri got into the passenger seat. He opened up the glovebox where she kept all of her napkins.

"No, c'mere," Alyssa stated. She took Demetri's face in her hands and looked at his nose. "You should be okay. Just a little blood."

Demetri reached his hand up to his nose, pulling it away to look at his fingers, which were stained with blood. "Shit. I can't believe he hit me."

"Well, you were doing that thing where you don't stop talking, but that doesn't give him an excuse to literally sock you across the face." She let out a deep breath. "Come on. Let me take you back to mine, and I'll patch you up."

Alyssa drove them back to her house, parking her car in the driveway. She took Demetri inside and up to her bathroom, where her mom kept all of the medical supplies. Alyssa cleaned his nose of all the blood and placed a bandage on top of the cut, muttering small sorry's every time Demetri winced.

"And there you go, you're all done," Alyssa voiced. "The cut should heal in a couple days if you keep the bandage on it."

Demetri gave her a tight smile. "Thanks, Ally."

She reached up and ruffled his hair, laughing slightly at how he pushed her hand away. "How about you go sit in the living room? I'll make you some tea."

Demetri was the most nervous and worried person Alyssa knew. Tea always managed to help. He nodded, and the two went back downstairs. Demetri wandered over to her living room while Alyssa went into her kitchen, pulling two mugs out of the cabinet along with the tea bags she had. She placed the tea bags into the two mugs and put the water in her kettle, setting it on top of the burner.

Alyssa leaned against the counter, waiting for the water in the kettle on her stove to boil. Her focus narrowed in on the kettle, sort of seeing it as a metaphor. The water was boiling over, just like she was. Cobra Kai was slowly pushing its way into the Valley, but more forcefully in recent events, like interrupting Miyagi-Do's demonstration or Miguel winning the All Valley.

(Let Alyssa be clear and say that she had nothing against Miguel. He was still himself and Alyssa knew he had the best intentions at heart.)

She hadn't liked Cobra Kai since Sensei Lawrence called Eli Lip, based on his own insecurity. She hadn't liked Cobra Kai since Eli snapped at her at the canyon party. She hadn't liked Cobra Kai since Eli dislocated Robby's shoulder at the All Valley and how Miguel made it worse. It was all just spiraling out of control.

Notice how all of them had to do with Eli? Alyssa liked the confidence he gained, because that was all she ever wanted for him. But Cobra Kai was turning him into something else, and Alyssa was having trouble keeping up. He was moving forwards in life and leaving her behind, and she couldn't figure out if it was intentional or unintentional.

The kettle started to whine at her, and Alyssa blinked, snapping herself out of her thoughts. She pushed herself off of her counter and poured into the mugs, averting her face away from the steam. Alyssa added a little milk and sugar into the two of them before picking up the mugs from the counter, heading towards her living room.

"So you got pushed around," a very familiar voice echoed from the living room as she walked in from Demetri's phone. "So what? Get over it. You were in a karate dojo. That's the whole point."

She got closer, only to see Eli on the other side of the screen. He was standing outside of the Cobra Kai dojo, and his mohawk was taking up most of the frame. Alyssa stopped momentarily behind Demetri, subconsciously holding onto the mugs in her hands even tighter.

Eli's eyes then slid upwards, settling on her. "Lys?"

"Hi," Alyssa responded, not really knowing what else to say. She rounded around the couch, putting the mugs on her coffee table before sitting next to Demetri on the couch. "What's up? How's your crazy teacher doing after punching Demetri? I patched up his nose, you know."

"See, she agrees," Demetri argued. "It was aggravated assault, Eli. I looked it up. That's a year in prison and a ten-thousand dollar fine.

"Stop being such a bitch, Demetri," Eli protested, making Alyssa blink in disbelief. "You know what happens to snitches."

"They get immunity."

Alyssa face-palmed.

"Snitches get stitches," Eli corrected.

"I have stitches," Demetri announced, gesturing around his face. "I've got several stitches."

"Don't do anything stupid. You'll regret it."

Oh, now he was threatening Demetri? No fucking way. She was over it.

"Hey, give me the phone," Alyssa said, extending her hand out. Demetri handed his phone to her, and Alyssa held it up to her face. "Pull your mohawk out of your ass and shut the fuck up, would you?"

She then hung up.

Demetri blinked. "Well, okay." He sighed, leaning his head back to rest against her couch. "So much for karate."

Alyssa tucked her legs underneath her, her eyebrows knit in thought. "Dem, what if I told you there was another place that we could learn karate that isn't anything like Cobra Kai?"

He stared at her for a moment. "I'm listening."

"Remember the Valley Fest before Cobra Kai came in? The other presentation that we were watching?"

Demetri raised an eyebrow. "Are you talking about Miyagi-Do?"

Alyssa shrugged. "I couldn't stop thinking about it, even when Cobra Kai showed up." She gave him a small smile. "You want to give it a shot?"

It was much too late in the day to show up to Miyagi-Do's practice, so the two went the next day. Demetri had actually agreed to her this time. Alyssa had come to the realization that Miyagi-Do was a lot like Demetri, too. He for sure wasn't the strike first, strike hard, no mercy type. Maybe this would be good for them.

Alyssa parked her car at the curb and got out, staring at a blue house surrounded by a wooden fence. She led the way in, walking through the open gate onto a dirt lot. There were some old cars to one side, and on the other was a wooden sign that had MIYAGI-DO KARATE with a bonsai tree engraved into it. In the very middle was a blue house with shoji doors around it.

She heard faint voices coming from the backyard, while Demetri was probably trying to find an entrance, Alyssa decided to follow them. Alyssa found a path on the side of the house and walked around, only to be led into a backyard. There were some wooden platforms, lots of trees, a rock (?), and a pond that a circular board floating in it.

The source of the voices were Mr. LaRusso, Robby, and Sam. Sam was sitting on one of the platforms while Mr. LaRusso and Robby were standing in front of her. Alyssa glanced back for a moment and saw Demetri slowly making his way into the backyard. She nodded her head, urging him on.

"Excuse me," Demetri began. "Uh, it was unclear if the gate was the front door or if I was supposed to ring the doorbell." He then pointed at something in the yard. "Is that a koi pond? How much does it cost to maintain that?"

"May I help you two?" Mr. LaRusso questioned.

Sam then peered over at them. "Ally?"

Alyssa gave her a smile. "Hey, Sam. Uh . . . we want to learn karate, if that's cool."

Mr. LaRusso — well, maybe Sensei LaRusso to her now, grinned back at her. Sam and Robby smiled as well, and Sam honestly looked pretty excited that Alyssa was there. Alyssa felt excitement creep up in her as well.

"You have come to the right place," Sensei LaRusso told them.

And, deep inside of her, Alyssa could feel that what he said was true.

•─•°•❀•°•─•

and here comes the alyssa and sam bff arc IT'S BEGINNING

I'M SUCH A SAM LARUSSO APOLOGIST THAT'S MY GIRL FR

yes I am also a tory apologist. real ones root for them both 💪🏻