CHAPTER ONE, new jersey boy. ' c'mon, he's cute! '
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INHALING DEEPLY, OPHELIA JUNE held in a grunt of pure frustration as she, yet again, stood up with a sharp pain shooting through her back. she glared at the man in front of her, who simply smiled softly with amusement.
"you get this soon, ophelia~san. just feel air around," her mentor, nariyoshi miyagi, repeated to the visibly frustrated girl, as he breathed in dramatically as he motioned to their surroundings, which were all trees and water. they were at a creek on the outskirts of their town.
"but, mister miyagi!—" she started to groan out, but the wise old man just held out a stern hand, and she huffed out a breath, rolling her eyes as she turned away from him, facing the water yet again, like she had been doing for the past five hours.
she closed her eyes, slowly lifting herself onto one foot instead of two, and her arms slowly went up into a bird-like stance.
she focused on the sounds around her; the current of the water swishing in front of her, the squirrels and the birds happily nesting in the trees, and just the overall peaceful nature sounds. she felt herself breathe in slowly, and then switch her legs as she kicked the opposite one in the air perfectly.
she landed, and opened her eyes, letting out a squeal of joy as she turned around to face her mentor with a gleaming grin on her face.
he as well held a small smile of joy on his lips as well. "i did it, miyagi! i did it!" she cheered, jumping around happily. he let out a few chuckles, but then motioned to the sun which was midway up in the sky. it was time to go.
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OPHELIA AND MR. MIYAGI sat in mister miyagi's old maintenance shack in the roseda apartment complex.
ophelia ate her little meal of homemade okinawan sushi with pure amusement as she closely watched as mister miyagi tried his hardest to catch a fly between his wooden chopsticks, but failed.
suddenly, there were a few soft knocks on mister miyagi's shack door. ophelia looked over to miyagi to see if he had noticed, but he seemingly had not, since he didn't remove his focus from the fly. she shrugged to herself, concluding that someone must have gotten the wrong apartment.
but when a skinny dark haired boy with deep, dark brown eyes slowly came walking in, she found herself becoming intrigued. nobody ever really came to visit.
"hey, are you the maintenance man?" the boy asked, his eyes flickering quickly between ophelia and the old okinawan man, who didn't face the boy.
"hai." miyagi grunted slightly at the boy, nodding.
the boy's eyebrows furrowed at the man as he continued. "yeah, we're the people in apartment twenty," he informed the two, who didn't say anything more.
so, the boy stepped through the screen door, as he explained further as ophelia returned to her bar stool and continued to eat her rice. "our faucet's really leakin' there," he explained.
miyagi stopped for a second, turning around to finally face the young boy. miyagi said nothing, keeping a blank stance as he stared at the boy.
he stepped back out from the room, now standing back from the screened door, seeming slightly uncomfortable. "w-well can you fix it or something?" he asked, earning yet another 'hai' from miyagi, and a sympathetic smile from the girl who sat still in her creaking chair.
"well can i tell my mom when?" the boy asked, visibly confused.
"when what?" miyagi asked, acting oblivious. ophelia rolled her eyes, stifling a giggle as she nudged miyagi's side as he tried at the fly trick again.
"when are you gonna fix the faucet?"
"after," miyagi responded vaguely.
"after what?"
"after, after!" miyagi exclaimed.
the boy stood there for a second, before shaking his head and walking out without another word. ophelia scoffed, smirking at the satisfied man. "you're a jerk, 'yagi." she joked, calling him the nickname only she was allowed to call him.
the man only shrugged and watched as the young girl went back out to find the young boy to apologize.
"hey, wait!" she called out, jogging out to the boy who was mumbling profanities under his breath. he stopped, turning around.
"i'll make him fix your faucet soon as he can, i promise. okay?" the girl claimed, giving him a bright smile, which earned a bashful one back.
"who is he, anyway?" the boy asked. she smiled, looking the boy up and down, noticing his stance. she ignored the question, and asked her own.
"you do karate, pretty boy?" she asked smoothly, not missing how his cheeks flared up with a pink blush before he responded.
he nodded softly, smiling. "a little bit. i took a few classes at the Y in jersey. not that good though," he explained. the girl let out a small hum, nodding as she looked to be thinking.
"well anyways, i'm ophelia, but you can call me lia. and you are?" she asked, shaking his hand firmly. he was surprised at the young girl's grip as he smiled. "daniel. daniel larusso." he responded.
she smiled as she broke away from his hand and started to skip backwards to the shack, "nice to meetcha, larusso. see ya 'round."
