Afterwards: The Fourth Tekken Novel

Hangouts

Jin ran towards the chalet and stared at the place in shock when he realised that there was an entire lorry parked in front of it.
"Lee, what the heck?!" Jin blurted out, much to the older man's surprise. "Why is there a lorry here?!"
Lee gave him a strange look, then crossed his arms as he gave him a look that demanded an answer. "What's wrong with you? How else would the things get here? You want them to bring the stuff in on foot?"
Jin frowned, realising that he shouldn't have said that. "Alright, I forgot. Where are Heihachi's car keys? And where is his car...?"
"His car is still parked at Nina's chalet," Lee said. "And how am I supposed to know where his keys are? Also, it's rude of you to just barge in like this and demand an explanation."
"I'm sorry," Jin sighed. "But I really need to get going. I suck at distracting him."
Lee shook his head. "Whatever you do, don't bring him back here."
Jin nodded and bolted up the stairs of the chalet, spotting Heihachi's Mercedes keys on the table beside the front door, then rushed over to Nina's chalet. He spotted Shasha and Steve dolefully seated on the deck staircase, as if waiting for something.
"All settled?" Jin asked as he walked past them.
Steve shook his head. "Hardly. The stuff we ordered isn't here yet, and we're contemplating on whether or not we should just head over and collect them ourselves."
"Thing is, the place is like three kilometres away and we're scared that they'll just arrive here while we're in the middle of going over," Shasha added. "We tried calling them to ask where the heck they are, but they just don't wanna pick up."
Jin sighed. "You guys just take care of that, I have to worry about distracting Heihachi. I left him with Hwo, who knows what he's doing right now."
"Eh, he should be fine, the two of them became besties during our trip here," Steve snorted.
"That's an odd combo," Jin said, mildly surprised. "But I guess I'm glad we got the right person."
He waved at them and got into Heihachi's car. Jin spotted Steve and Shasha getting back inside, before returning to go to Nina's car. He assumed that whatever they ordered needed to be collected instead and started the GLS before quickly telling Hwoarang to pull Heihachi over to the main road. It was a good thing that the beach had a second entrance.
Jin felt a little strange driving Heihachi's car, since it was his first time driving this car and all, but it was a good ride nonetheless. He drove over to the second entrance of the beach and stopped beside the gateway, where he spotted Hwoarang standing with a confused Heihachi beside him.
"You brought my car?!" Heihachi said in surprise when he got in beside Jin.
"You mind?" Jin asked, realising just now that he just brought the car without asking first.
Heihachi frowned slightly. "Actually, no." He readjusted himself in his seat before pulling the seatbelt around him. "It feels kinda strange to be a passenger instead of the driver."
Jin sighed. "Yeah, sorry I just took your car without asking first."
"It's fine," Heihachi said. "I don't actually mind my family using my car sometimes. Where are we even going?" He asked.
Jin fumbled on what to say, when Hwoarang suddenly piped up. "Ice cream!"
"Yeah!" Jin exclaimed as well. "Let's go for ice cream!"
Heihachi was confused, but shrugged. Ice cream sounded nice anyway.

Kazuya ended up buying Jun a nicely decorated hair band and a pair of sunglasses since she left hers at home. Adam couldn't help but get a few things for Nina like a black clutch purse since she was always complaining that her bag was too big to carry around and needed something small for short outings. Lars got Alisa a lollipop since he didn't know what to get for her.
"A lollipop? Are you joking?" Kazuya sighed when he saw how Lars was carefully carrying around the little thing as if it was made of glass. "Come on, man. At least get her something a little bigger."
"Like what?" Lars frowned. "She's an Android, Kaz. Besides, she has always wanted to try a lollipop."
"Wait, she can eat?" Adam asked, surprised.
Lars shrugged. "Only one way to find out."
Kazuya frowned. "Okay, I love the thought you put into this, but shouldn't you have a Plan B in case she can't eat it?"
"What should I get her?" Lars pursed his lips.
Adam smirked. "Does she complain about anything? Like, Nina kept complaining about not having a smaller bag to bring around, so I got her a clutch. Did Alisa complain about anything like that?"
Lars shrugged. "She doesn't even need to bring anything. She's even equipped with a first aid kit in her back."
"Wait, really?" Kazuya said, surprised. "Maybe the lollipop is a good idea after all."
"How about this instead?" Adam said, fishing a sun hat from the display stand. "This looks like it would suit her."
Lars frowned as he took a look at it. "Well, she was complaining about her vision sensors overheating because of the beach weather... but the colour sucks..."
Adam was a little offended by that, but helped him locate a sales assistant anyway. It didn't really take long since a young woman who worked in that shop was following them around anyway.
"Why do they always tail us like this?" Adam whispered to Kazuya. "It's kinda disturbing."
Kazuya chuckled. "Well, if this happens elsewhere, it's because the salesperson is suspicious of you. But not in Japan. It's just their way of respecting customers."
Adam relaxed at that. "Oh. So, they don't think I'm trying to rob a shop..."
"Why would they think you're trying to rob a shop?" Kazuya couldn't help but snort.
"Well, because it has happened before," Adam shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I wanted to get Nina a bottle of perfume, it was a very long time ago, back when we were still in college, and the saleswoman was actually surprised when I took my wallet out to pay since she thought she was being robbed. Well, maybe it was because I was in a hurry and I was wearing a full-face helmet that I forgot to take off after tossing my bike aside. But yeah, it turned out good. I actually forgot it was her birthday..."
Kazuya laughed as he imagined all of that. "That must've been funny."
"Well, I wouldn't say that since the shop lady seemed scared for her life," Adam pointed out. "Anyway, where did Lars go?"
Kazuya pointed over to the counter where the saleswoman was showing him an array of different types of sun hats and visors. In the end, Lars opted for a light pink hat with a purple ribbon tied around it. He smiled at it and nodded at the sales assistant to have it packed before motioning for the two of them to come over.
"I'm still giving her that lollipop," Lars smirked.
"Suit yourself," Kazuya put an arm around him and brought him out of the shop with Adam at their heels.