Afterwards: The Fourth Tekken Novel

Ichiya

Heihachi perched himself at the bar and called a sake to the bartender. It was a rather fancy restaurant, but he didn't really come for a meal. Maybe he'll get one later after a few rounds.
"Ichiya, pass me a bottle of shochu?" A waiter came to ask the bartender just as he handed Heihachi his sake.
The bartender wordlessly handed him a bottle and shochu. The waiter briskly ran off to serve one of the seated guests.
"Ichiya..." Heihachi said, gaining the bartender's attention. "That's a nice name."
The bartender smiled as he nodded. "Thanks. My parents got me during a dark time, and they really saw me as their first part of luck."
Heihachi couldn't help but smile at that. "My son has a similar name, Kazuya."
"Ah, I'm pretty sure we have the same characters in our names, then," Ichiya chuckled. "Anything else to go with your sake, sir?"
"Maybe some peanuts? Or whatever snacks that you've got back there."
"Well, we don't have any peanuts, but we do have some trail mix and nachos."
"Bring me both," Heihachi simply said.
Ichiya shrugged and stopped a waiter to ask for some nachos before moving on to serve another customer on the other end of the bar. Heihachi sipped his sake, having a good look around the bar as he sat. He kept a lookout at where the waiter who took his nacho order had went to. But to his surprise, he spotted a group of familiar faces laughing at a table not far from where the waiter collected the customers' food.
"Oh great," Heihachi muttered to himself in dismay.
"Is everything okay, sir?" Ichiya asked as he worked on a drink.
Heihachi sighed. "No, it's just that the son I told you about is here."
"What? Where?" Ichiya said, interested. "I wanna see what he looks like."
"Why?" Heihachi asked, a little weirded out.
Ichiya turned to him with a smile. "Because we pretty much share the same name."
Heihachi shook his head. "I don't want him to know that I'm here."
"You drinking behind your wife's back or something?" Ichiya snorted as he served the other customer. "Or are you cheating on her? Trust me, I've seen worse scandals."
"Why do I have to tell you anything?" Heihachi rolled his eyes. "My personal affairs are none of your concern."
"Okay, but... I still wanna see what your son looks like," Ichiya said. "I like children, they're always so adorable."
Heihachi couldn't help but snort. This guy had an image of a small child to match Kazuya's description when in reality, Kazuya is old enough to have a child of his own who isn't even a child anymore. It was probably because of Heihachi's regained youth.
"He just left the restaurant," Heihachi simply said, sipping his sake. "Where's my nachos?"
That shut him up. Ichiya seemed to be a very chatty person. Then again, most bartenders are the chatty kind anyway.

Jun could sense Heihachi's presence nearby, but chose to not say anything. She glanced at her husband as she took another sip of her shochu, and noticed how he was amiably talking and laughing with the rest, quite forgetting about the recent turn of events. She frowned as she looked around to try and see where he was and... spotted him at the bar, drinking sake alone with some nachos. Jun inwardly groaned and turned away, hoping that he hadn't spotted them.
"As I was saying, Nina walked in just then and none of us had any idea what to do when Steve..." Jin burst into laughter before continuing. "He put the blame on his father, saying that he farted and it said smelled like fish. Adam had no choice but to play along."
"Why do I feel like you would do this to me if you could?" Kazuya laughed as well.
Jin shrugged. "I would. I so would."
"How much have you two drank?" Lars asked, taking the bottle away to look at it once again. "Because you guys are starting to act really weird..."
"I don't see anything wrong?" Jun shrugged as she took a sip of her shot. "Besides, I don't think any of us have finished our first shot..."
"Wait, this is still my first shot?" Kazuya said, surprised. "Wow... this stuff is strong..."
Jun couldn't help but snort. "But seriously, where is our food?"
As if in cue, a waiter arrived with her meal and Kazuya's. Less than a minute later, the rest arrived.
"Alright, let's eat," Jun casually said as she picked up her cutlery.
Amber frowned. "Am I the only who feels something off here?"
That statement made Jun groan. Of course she could sense Heihachi's energy too, but she hoped she wouldn't try to find out more.
"Yeah, I know what's off," Jin added, a frown on his face.
"Wha... what is it?" Jun asked, fearing that Jin had somehow sensed it too. After all, he was a Kazama too.
Jin pointed at his plate. "Our food took forever too arrive. That's what's wrong."
Amber nodded. "You're right, the service is a little bad today."
"Let's demand a discount!" Kazuya joined in.
Jun heaved a sigh of relief. Maybe it was just the alcohol talking. She leaned onto Kazuya, gripped his arm for a moment, smiled, then resumed her meal.

Heihachi couldn't help but notice how united and happy the rest were, with them even laughing and talking animatedly as they sat eating together.
"Something bothering you?" Ichiya practically reappeared before him.
Heihachi groaned to himself and shook head. "Not now, Ichiya."
"Come on, you know you can talk to me, right?" Ichiya insisted. "Whatever you say will only stay between us."
Heihachi scoffed as he popped a cheesy nacho into his mouth. "You're speaking as if you didn't just gossip about one of your regulars to that woman." He pointed another chip towards the lady at the other end of the bar before eating it as well.
"Yeah, but I didn't reveal which one of my regulars it is, right?" Ichiya reasoned.
A skinny middle-aged man with thick glasses and balding hair clumsily perched himself just a few seats away.
"Your usual?" Ichiya asked, to which the man nodded in response.
"You were saying that you don't reveal the ingredients of your tea?" Heihachi smirked. "Then, how come I know the moment they stepped in?"
Ichiya turned red, the man that stepped in looking clueless, and immediately left Heihachi to tend to his usual customer. Heihachi shook his head as he continued his snack. In the end, he asked Ichiya for the bill and paid instead.
"But sir, you've only had two rounds," Ichiya reasoned. "And you've had nothing but nachos and trail mix."
"So you want me to end up like that guy and become subjected to one of your gossips, then," Heihachi said, signalling his eyes over to the poor sap Ichiya had been gossiping about not long ago. "I'm not taking any chances."
With that, he walked away, much to Ichiya's surprise. Heihachi couldn't help feel that the name didn't in the least suit him, seeing how his name may as well could have been pronounced as Kazuya anyway. He was a chatty piece of work who couldn't care less about the privacy of his customers.
Not that Kazuya cared about the privacy of others anyway... last time Heihachi checked, his son had planted cameras all around him to constantly have an eye on him.
But perhaps times have changed. Heihachi spared one last glance at where, what could have been his family, sat having a good time together. He sighed to himself and left the restaurant to take a walk around instead, see what has changed in the city or something like that.