"You know the dojos breaking up wasn't your fault, right?"
From where he was lying down on his beach towel, shaded by the big blue umbrella, Hawk lifted his black sunglasses to peek at Miguel for a second before readjusting them. He then wrapped his hands behind his head and sighed. "If you say so, dude."
Sitting beside Hawk on his own towel, Miguel rested his arms on his drawn-up knees. The beach was packed all around them on that beautiful day. But instead of the ocean grasping his attention this time, Miguel's mind was back home again. Back to what he and Hawk had been talking about yesterday. Back even further still to what Hawk had told him that night when Sensei Lawrence parted from Miyagi-Do with the Eagle Fangs in tow.
Sorry I broke up the dojos.
Miguel pressed forward, adamant. "I'm serious. Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso were already arguing a lot even before their fight that night. It's kinda why I didn't think the rematch was such a good idea in the first place. They shouldn't have even been fighting for which style would take over the dojos. It shouldn't have been about Eagle Fang versus Miyagi-Do, we were supposed to be united together."
He just didn't understand why it had to be either/or, Eagle Fang or Miyagi-Do, offense or defense. Different situations called for different responses, right? Sometimes it was better to deescalate and sometimes it was better to strike.
But Miguel knew he didn't have the precise answers on what was the appropriate response to every given situation. Trying to deescalate with the sprinklers only ended up provoking the Cobra Kais more. But then when Sam tried to strike first at the prom afterparty, that left them both soaked and humiliated by Robby and Tory, ruining their night. How would things have turned out if they'd practiced the opposite philosophies at the time?
Miguel didn't know. Struggling with those options might as well have left his feet stuck in cement. Wouldn't it have been better if Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso had banded together to teach them to recognize when was an appropriate time to walk away and when was an appropriate time to act?
But then, wasn't that what ultimately drove the dojos apart? Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso not being able to agree on how they should react to what happened to Hawk?
You still think your way is the only way. You were so proud when they pulled their little sprinkler prank. If they kicked ass like I taught them, this never would've happened.
If they fight every time they're provoked, where does that lead? Back to the hospital? Or to jail?
"I shouldn't have driven to the dojo at all."
Miguel glanced back down at Hawk. With those sunglasses he was wearing, it was near impossible to read his face. And while Miguel knew Hawk's emphasis had been on the word dojo there, he still wondered how Eli had managed to drive himself there at all. So he asked, "Hey, why didn't you call me or Demetri? We would've come and picked you up."
"One of the Cobra Kais busted my phone," explained Hawk. "I couldn't call anyone."
"What about the guy who owns the place?" asked Miguel, furrowing his brows.
Hawk sat on the question for a few seconds, whatever emotions he was feeling blocked by the shades over his eyes. "I don't know where Rico went," he then admitted. "He just disappeared. Maybe the Cobra Kais beat him up. Maybe they paid him to get lost for a while. I don't know, I didn't stick around to find out. Once it was over, I just wanted to get out of there, and I remembered everyone was gonna be at the dojo. I…I wanted to see what Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso thought I should do. But I should've just gone home. Then there wouldn't have been a big fight. I mean, besides the Sensei Throw Down, I guess. Sucks I didn't even get to see it."
Miguel struggled to think of a counterargument but found he had none. Hawk probably would've been better off going straight home to his parents rather than Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso. The Moskowitzes had been upset, too, from the sounds of it, but at least they had tried helping Eli. All Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso did was get into an argument.
Blood rushed beneath the surface of Miguel's skin, heating it up hotter than even the sun could warm it. He frowned, narrowed his eyes, and leaned forward to rest his chin on his folded arms. He was suddenly angry.
Why had they picked that time to get into another argument? Why had they decided that was the time to split everyone apart? Why couldn't they put their issues with each other aside and reunite the dojos before the All-Valley Tournament? Why hadn't they put their students first? Hadn't both Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso said they'd wanted what was best for them? After what happened to Hawk, what was best for them was to stay together!
…we'll show LaRusso and everybody else who's really the best.
Miguel huffed, his breath coming out shaky. He didn't want to be angry. He just wanted the sting of betrayal to stop burning.
"You wanna go kick the ocean?"
Miguel blinked, lifting his head up to glance at Hawk, who was peeking at him from under his sunglasses again. "Huh?"
Eli observed, "You look pretty pissed right now."
With a frustrated sigh, Miguel shook his head, leaning back on his hands. "I was just thinking again about how Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso shouldn't have gotten into that argument that night. I mean, Cobra Kai had just attacked you, they broke the truce, and instead of doing anything about it, instead of helping you, our senseis split up the dojos. And now we've all lost. It was wrong. But that was on them, not you, alright?" When Hawk still didn't look convinced, Miguel added, "Remember how you reacted when I told you about Sensei pressuring me to keep fighting after I pulled the muscle in my back?"
"Yeah," conceded Hawk.
"Same thing here, man," said Miguel. "I respect both of them, and they've both been good to me, but sometimes I think they let whatever happened between them in high school make them lose sight of what's more important."
Hawk seemed to mull on that a moment, and Miguel hoped he was really taking what he said to heart. He wished Eli would stop being hard on himself. Hawk wouldn't even let him shoulder a fraction of the blame for what happened with the sprinklers, and yet he blamed himself for the dojos splitting up, something that could only have been in the power of Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso to prevent.
And if Hawk needed to be kinder to himself, Miguel figured perhaps he needed to, as well.
Beside him, Hawk's voice dropped low, admitting, "I respect both of them, too…but, to be honest, I don't think either of them ever really cared about me."
Miguel wanted to tell him he was sure that wasn't true, thinking back to how Sensei Lawrence had initially wanted payback for what happened to Eli, and how Mr. LaRusso had let him into his dojo despite the things Hawk had done. But then Miguel also remembered Sensei Lawrence encouraging him to show bad sportsmanship to Hawk, simply for signing up under Miyagi-Do. And how Mr. LaRusso used him for a win against Cobra Kai because he couldn't train Demetri or Chris or Nate to beat Robby instead.
So for a minute, Miguel said nothing at all. But then an idea flashed in his mind. "Hey, you said you wished you got to see the Sensei Throw Down," he remarked, reaching into their beach bag to pull out his cellphone. "Chris took a video of it that night, and I bet it's still up on Instagram. You wanna watch it instead of kicking the ocean?"
"Really?" Hawk sat up on his towel, pushing his sunglasses on top of his head, revealing blue eyes wide with excitement. "Oh fuck yeah!"
Miguel grinned, scooting over to sit beside Hawk as he brought up the video. He hadn't even watched it himself since witnessing it in realtime that night. He'd forgotten that Sensei Lawrence landed the first point. He and Hawk both chuckled when they heard Mitch giving his energetic input as if he was announcing a pro-wrestling match.
"Mitch should do that for all our fights," said Hawk.
They cringed when Mr. LaRusso's kick landed on Sensei Lawrence. "Dude, check out Sensei's energy after that," said Miguel, commenting on how Sensei Lawrence tried recovering by going after Mr. LaRusso with a barrage of unrelenting kicks and punches. But they winced again when Sensei left himself open to attack, where Mr. LaRusso could punch him in his chest. "Wasn't paying attention to defense."
"Yo, what the heck was that move from Mr. LaRusso?" asked Hawk, eyebrows rising up his forehead in shock at witnessing Sensei Lawrence's arm go limp like a rag doll's after Mr. LaRusso struck him there.
Miguel explained, "Sam told me it's some secret Miyagi-Do pressure point technique. Apparently, her dad picked it up last year on a trip to Okinawa."
"Didn't save him from Sensei knocking him to the mats and nailing that heel-kick though," Hawk pointed out with a small smirk, making Miguel recall to the time on the bus when Eli had described landing a similar move to earn the final point on Robby at the All-Valley Tournament. "Shit, going in with a tie, who wins?"
Miguel's grin widened. "Wait for it…."
The last round was nuts, with Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso evenly matched. Strike after strike, kick after kick, block after block. Miguel could see the suspense building up on Hawk's face. Until Mr. LaRusso went for a high kick while Sensei Lawrence simultaneously aimed a backhanded punch, leading both to cuff each other smack dab in the face and come crashing down on the mats at the same time together.
Hawk busted out laughing. Not with just a mild chortle, but literally falling on his back and wrapping his hands around his sides while cackling. The kind of laughter that was attracting the attention of the beach-goers around them. The kind of laughter Miguel hadn't seen from Hawk in a long time. "Haha! Yes! Holy shit, that's awesome!"
On the night it happened, there had been too much riding on the outcome of the fight to find the joy in seeing both senseis knock each other senseless. And especially not with happened immediately after. But now, with enough time and space away from the event? Miguel found he could laugh about it with Hawk, too. Because it actually was really fucking funny.