Afterwards: The Fourth Tekken Novel

Deep Feelings

"Amber? You there?" Shasha called. "You've been quiet for quite some time."
Amber stirred out of her sleep. "Hmm?" She groggily responded.
"Wait, were you asleep the whole time?" Shasha asked, surprised.
"I think so," Amber yawned, holding into her collagen eye patches as she did. "How are you not tired of talking?"
Shasha laughed. "Tired of talking? Me? Nah!"
Jun snorted. "Good, at least we won't fall asleep like Amber."
"How can you sleep anyway?" Shasha asked.
Amber sighed. "Try being a mother, then you'll know."
Shasha sighed. "You sound like my mom now."
Jun chuckled. "Anyway, how's things with your friend?"
"Which friend?" Shasha asked.
"That girl that always came by before," Amber added. "I remember her, a rather shy one."
"Oh, Ella..." Shasha sighed. "I'm not sure. We're no longer in touch."
Jun nearly sat up in surprise. "What? Really?! What happened between you guys?"
"Who knows?" Shasha frowned. "She just started ghosting me one day, I hadn't done anything that offended her. I have no idea what her problem is."
"Aww, I'm sure it wasn't whatever you did, you were a very good friend," Amber said. "You still are. You're a kind person."
"I'm glad that you think that," Shasha said, slightly touched. "I was actually thinking of ambushing her since I know where she lives, I know where her company is too, but I... don't think that's worth it. Like... I'm not the one who distanced myself from her, why should I be the one to approach her? She'll probably not let me in even if I did."
Jun shrugged. "Maybe she got a boyfriend or something."
Shasha groaned. "So what if she did? Like I would care for that, she's still my friend."
"Just leave her be," Amber sighed. "It's not even your fault, it's her loss. Don't sweat about it, if she really saw you as a friend, she'd come back for you. She'll return herself. You don't go sucking up on her."
"But she's... she's my friend, what if something's up in her life? What if... what if she's depressed or something?"
"Shasha, let her go," Jun groaned. "I'm sure she's fine in that billion-yen industry of hers. And I'm sure she can afford a therapist if she needed one, you're not one."
"Well, at this point, it sure seems like it," Shasha piped up. "I mean, I'm always the person my friends come to whenever they need help, like going through a breakup and stuff like that."
Amber laughed. "Sounds like what we do sometimes."
"No, I actually don't mind," Shasha quickly said. "You guys help me too."
"Do we really?" Jun sighed.
Shasha shrugged. "Well, I'm at the spa for free. None of my other friends buy me anything, not that I mind that, but you guys are the first to do this for me."
Jun chuckle. "Yeah, we couldn't help it. Steve was gloating about it, and he even fanned it in your face, didn't he?"
"He did," Shasha sighed. "Which is why I didn't let him get away from rooming with Heihachi. But it seems like he's enjoying that. The two of them became besties."
Amber snorted. "Heihachi being besties with Steve. Never saw that unlikely combo coming."
Shasha scoffed. "Ah, that feller can become best friends with everyone lah. He with Law lah, Paul lah, Lei lah, Hwoarang lah. I feel like he has the most friends in the Tekken tournaments."
Jun nodded. "Yeah, that's true. He's a very friendly person."
"Yeah, he is," Shasha couldn't help but say. "Anyway, is this mask done? My face is becoming a little stiff."
"Yeah, we should call the masseuse..." Jun agreed.

After the foot scrub, the five of them went to the onsen together. Kazuya frowned, it wasn't even his first time in an onsen with Heihachi, but he didn't like it now for some reason.
"I remember when Kazuya was little, we went to an onsen together," Heihachi sighed at the memory. "Father was still around, and we continued our tradition of father scrubbing the back of his son!"
Kazuya scowled. "He scrubbed your back, and then you kill him shortly after."
"That wasn't me," Heihachi quickly said.
"Oh sure, so you scrubbed my back, but you didn't kill him?" Kazuya spat. "Last I checked, it was the same man who did both!"
Heihachi stared at him in surprise. "I... I suppose you're right, but... it really wasn't me. Maybe I'm having a bit of an identity crisis, unsure of how to differentiate my identity and his."
Kazuya frowned at him. "But you remember my childhood and your... grandpa-hood?"
"No, not just that," Heihachi sighed. "I remember everything. Even the things that I wish to never have done."
"I see..." Kazuya nodded slowly. "So I can ask you a few questions, then. You killed my mother because she tried to kill you, okay, you threw me off the cliff because you were a paranoid mess, fine. But what did Jiisan ever do?"
Heihachi sighed, remembering Jinpachi from his dream only that morning. "He didn't deserve that."
"Exactly!" Kazuya blurted out. "He deserved none of that. Not only was he painfully starved like that, he was also possessed by a vengeful demon that manifested on his pain and made him act against his wishes."
"You know, I've never met Mishima Jinpachi, but I'm sure he was a good man," Lee added. "What made... the Old Fart do that to him?"
"The lust for power," Heihachi sighed. "He forcefully took the Mishima Zaibatsu from him and trapped him under Hon-Maru so that he wouldn't retaliate. Your mother found out about this and... you know the rest."
"Wait... he was always evil?" Lars asked, surprised.
Heihachi nodded. "Yes."
Kazuya scowled. "I knew my mother wouldn't turn on you without reason."
"She didn't," Heihachi sighed. "Frankly, I wish she had succeeded. She would've raised you better alone. None of this would've ever happened, you would've had a better life without... me..."
There was silence at that outburst. It was strange hearing it from it from him, especially after a whole day of trying to be enthusiastic. But he realised it may have been right, Kazuya might have had a much better life with his mother.
"I don't think she was planning to raise Dad even if she had succeeded," Jin quietly said. Heihachi turned to look at him in surprise. "I... I read her diaries. She regrettably wrote what he scheme was."
Kazuya nodded slowly. "I know. Found out the hard way too." He turned to Heihachi. "If you're really seeing yourself as a different person from... from the man that killed my grandfather, I'm sorry that you have to live with the regret that he should have had. I don't think he had any, but I appreciate that you're trying to mend what he destroyed."
"Thanks," Heihachi softly said. "The memories of your childhood are freshest in my mind. I'm not sure if that was what he had intended. Training you was the best thing I can remember."
"Yeah, Kazuya was a cute kid, wasn't he?" Lee piped up. He decided to quickly change the subject before the waterworks would come on. "Am I the only one who feels like this onsen is too cold? I'm gonna turn the heat up, is everyone okay with that?"
Lars thought the current temperature was fine, but nodded as Lee reached for the controls.
"Ah, that's the stuff," Lee sighed as he leaned back, relaxing. "Now this is an onsen." He turned to Heihachi. "Also, enough of your sob stories. You said it yourself, we're here to enjoy, aren't we?"
Heihachi nodded. "Yeah, we are." He sighed and turned to Kazuya, placing a hand on the physically older man's shoulder. "I'm sorry I brought all of this up, the memories just flooded in like that."
Kazuya let out a deep exhale. "No, don't blame yourself for that. This is an onsen, where most people get together and talk about their feelings."
Jin nodded in agreement. "We're having a naked relationship right now."
"That sounds so wrong," Lars groaned, his face bright red because of the heat.
"How?" Lee frowned, confused. "There's nothing wrong with having hadaka no tsukiai with a group of people. It's just the act of people sharing their feelings since they have literally nothing to hide from each other." He smirked. "Wait, how come I'm more Japanese than you?"
Lars groaned as he stood up, having had enough of the scorching hot water. "Okay, I can't take this anymore. It's too hot! How are you guys not being cooked alive at this point?" He rushed out of the tub as quickly as he can and wrapped a towel around himself. "I'm red all over! How are you guys okay with this?!"
Kazuya shrugged, smirking. "We're used to it."
Heihachi sighed and turned the temperature lower. "Get back in here, this is good for your skin. And besides, we paid for this."
Lars sighed and tossed the towel aside before getting in again.