The Tiger Claws may have had their share of martial sensei's, but most Claws to come through his gym only knew him as, "coach." Though his tattoos would have identified him as a member of the gang, they were old and faded, and wouldn't have scrambled even the simplest of scanners. Even as a young man, his accolades were won in the ring, not the streets. His skills and temperament afforded him his own brand of reputation, as well as the trust to mentor the younger generation.
"Did you do this just to humiliate me? Why do you keep doing this? You're always trying to play tricks on me! What was the point of this? You know I can-"
Per tradition, they were by and large rude.
"I'm fourteen," the exception to the rule interrupted. Motoko Kusanagi – good work ethic, carried a lot of iron, rumor had it she could absolutely murk scavs – nice kid. Slow to anger too, judging by how she seemed unaffected by Hayato's quickening rant. Still, it was about time for him to cut her off before she really picked up steam.
"Hayato." Though his tone was low, the Tiger Claw princess instantly stopped running her mouth and settled for a glare.
"You lost." The glare deepened and she made to complain again.
"Don't give me that," he snapped, shutting her down before she could start. "I've told you, and I'll keep telling you until you listen, you can't keep relying on your mods like that. I don't care how hard you punch bots, against someone with less than a quarter of your mods, why did you lose?"
Her mouth pulled into a scowl. "She… surprised me." Against training simulations and goons provided by her father, Hayato had yet to meet a challenge she could not overcome. Her natural talent, backed by the raw power of her biomods, had her nearly exclusively train with older sparring partners, and more often than not, win. John didn't have to be a coach to see it was building a dangerous amount of overconfidence – a lethal poison, to those in their world. "But in a real fight I would have won! She may have caught me off guard-,"
"In a real fight, you got your licks in, but she adapted, and you didn't. You lost your cool, all you could think about was her kick, when you should have known to dance around her grapple."
"How was I to know her chrome could do that?" Hayato harshly whispered, glancing over to Motoko. Luckily, she seemed preoccupied with adjusting her holsters into place.
"That's not the point. You were supposed to treat your opponent with respect, which you didn't. Even now, you're still not. If you were more careful and took time to think," He rapped a knuckle on her head. "You would have figured out she had to find a way around your keren."
Hayato snarled, before taking a breath and simmering down to a grimace. "I am still getting accustomed to it."
John leveled a look at his charge. If Hayato was still adjusting to heightened perception, Motoko adapted to it in a single sparring session.
"Maybe you could get accustomed with a proper training partner? One you still haven't acknowledged after ending your spar?" Egotistic and sheltered Hayato might be, but he knew he taught her proper manners in the ring.
She made a face, but turned to catch Motoko before she left. Their bows to each other may have been stiff, but proper enough etiquette was observed. Motoko even gave Hayato contact deets before leaving, which surprised him. Could it be? Did his troublesome student make a friend on her own?
"Coach, if you keep making that face, I'm going to deck you."