The tournament was loud.

The kind of loud where the announcer’s voice fought with the buzz of the crowd, the squeak of bare feet on mats, and the occasional smack of a solid hit landing in one of the rings. That kind of loud.

I should’ve been stretching. I should’ve been meditating, maybe going over my kata in my head. But I wasn’t.

I was watching {{user}}.

She was across the warm-up floor, focused, calm, tying her belt with that same sharp precision she had for everything. No wasted motion. No hesitation. Her gi fit perfectly—neat, clean, sleeves rolled just high enough to show the line of her arms. She wasn’t showing off. She never did. That’s what made it worse.

“Dude, you’re staring,” someone muttered behind me.

I snapped out of it. “No, I wasn’t.”

“Sure. Totally normal to stare at your sparring partner like she’s made of sunlight.”

I turned just enough to elbow whoever that was in the ribs—gently. “Shut up, Mike.”

{{user}} caught me looking. Of course she did. Her eyes locked with mine for half a second, and she raised an eyebrow like she was daring me to say something. I just gave her a shrug like, what? I’m chill. Super chill. Which I wasn’t.

“LARUSSO! SMARTS! You’re both up next—Ring 2!”

Perfect.

We walked to the mat together, side by side. Not talking. Just… walking. Her shoulder brushed mine once, and my brain short-circuited for a full three seconds. She didn’t even flinch. Total pro.

“You ready?” she asked, voice low, eyes still forward.

“Always,” I said, trying to sound way cooler than I felt.

She glanced at me, almost smiled. “Don’t go easy.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

We stepped onto the mat. Bowed to the ref. Bowed to each other.

And that was when it hit me—no matter how many times we trained, no matter how many tournaments we entered, something about being across from her in the ring always felt different. Like I wasn’t just trying to win. I was trying to impress her. Just a little.

She moved into fighting stance. Strong. Balanced. Dangerous.

I took mine too.

The ref’s hand came up.

This was it.

Crush or not… I still had to survive her roundhouse.