Afterwards: The Fourth Tekken Novel

The Surprise

Nina frowned at the sight of hot coals laid out in the large barbecue pit on the beach. She was just talking about how Kazuya might be planning to cook Heihachi alive in such a setup.
"You sure this won't end up... disastrous?" Nina asked, turning to her sister and her husband. "I was literally talking about how Kazuya might be planning to cook Heihachi on hot coals. Why did you guys go with his plan?"
"His plan? Nins, this was ours," Anna chuckled. "Well, mostly Lee's." She leaned against her husband.
Lee chuckled, putting an arm around her. "Because if there's anything these guys love other than volcanoes and cliffs, it's a nice barbecue."
Nina sighed. "Well, as long as it doesn't go downhill. Where is Heihachi anyway? I know that Kazuya is out with Adam and Lars, but what about Heihachi?"
Steve smirked. "Jin and Hwo."
"Why aren't you with them, then?" Nina smirked. "Because I thought you guys were a package."
"Well, yeah, I had other things to worry about."
Shasha came in with a cooler box of meat. "Alright, this is the last of it. Now we just wait."
"Whoa! Did you carry that over all by yourself?" Nina asked, surprised.
"Yeah?" Shasha stretched her back with a sigh. "It isn't even that heavy."
"You sure about that?" Steve frowned at the box. "That has all the meat we got for the barbecue."
Shasha shrugged. "Eh, it wasn't. Anyway, where's Auntie Jun?"
"On a shopping spree for Kazuya," Nina said. "Apparently, she wishes to 'compensate' for going be behind him like that."
Steve snorted. "Wonder what she's getting for him."
"Probably shoes," Shasha smirked. "Or something he would like, I guess."
Nina shrugged. "Eh, she was talking about getting him a hat or something."
"A hat?!" Steve burst into laughter at that. "Why would he need a hat?"
"I have no idea," Nina snorted. "Anyway, we have to wait for our guys to get here."
Just then, Heihachi's SUV drove up, but with Jin at the wheel. Lee's Tesla was right behind them as well.
"And they're here," Nina smirked. "Alright, someone start recording."
Shasha grinned and pulled her phone out. Heihachi stepped out and looked at the scene in surprise. He turned around and realised that Kazuya looked just as surprised too.
"What's going on?" Heihachi asked. "Is this... a party?"
"You guys are partying behind my back now?" Kazuya said in surprise. "Where's Jun?"
Adam chuckled as he caught up beside him. "Come on, why would we party without you? The party's for you."
"For me?" Kazuya said surprised. "Why?"
"To celebrate your union," everyone turned to see Jun holding a large white cake, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.
Kazuya looked at her in surprise, then scanned the area of smiling faces. He turned to Heihachi and noticed how he looked just as surprised too, while Adam and Lars looked very proud of themselves when his gaze landed on them. "Wait, so... this is why you guys took me out?" Kazuya asked.
Adam nodded gleefully. "Yep! Distracted you real nice, didn't we? Though I did find it a little hard to do it with this guy..." he pointed a thumb at Lars while shaking his head. "He told you something else."
"I thought that was the plan," Lars sheepishly said. He shrugged. "Well, at least it worked."
"This is what happens when you try to speak to him with Alisa in the room," Lee added, coming up with a glass of fruit punch.
Lars blushed, grinning. "Oops."
"But Lars's plan did kinda work," Adam piped up with a smile. "Kaz did get Heihachi a nice little present."
Heihachi turned to Kazuya in surprise. "He did?"
"Well..." Kazuya gulped. He held up the paper bag he was holding, trying to avoid Heihachi's gaze as he did. "I saw this and... it reminded me of you. Somewhat."
"I got you a little something as well," Heihachi smiled before turning back to the car, then rummaged in the backseat before returning to Kazuya. "I got you these."
Kazuya frowned curiously and took the bag to see what was in it. "Did you guys like shop in Shoji or something?" He looked up from the bag in amusement. "I see some stuff, but I'll have to look again."
Jun smiled as she settled the cake down on the table before coming over. "You should open the gift, Heihachi."
"Wait, you know what's in it?" Kazuya looked at her in surprise.
"I documented everything!" Adam grinned, raising his hand. "I gave her live updates."
Kazuya sighed, smiling slightly. "So you were in on it as well."
Anna laughed as she rejoined Lee. "All of us are."
Heihachi placed a hand on Kazuya's shoulder, gaining his attention. "So, you want to party?"
Kazuya nodded. "Sure."
"You should open that gift," Lars piped up, much to Kazuya's dismay.
He was left to watch as Heihachi made his way over to a chair and eagerly started to open his present. Without much of a choice, Kazuya decided to seat himself and distract himself with whatever Heihachi got him as well.
"A humidifier?!" Kazuya exclaimed, surprised.
"Geta sandals?!" Heihachi gasped as he pulled one of the sandals out of the box. "Painted geta sandals?!"
Kazuya was embarrassed, but made no move to show it. "You like them?"
To his dismay, Heihachi started showing everyone what the sandals looked like. Kazuya felt like knocking it off his hands, but then they were an expensive gift.
"That's lovely," Jun said, looking at the wooden sandals. "And it has this cute tiger too."
Kazuya sighed, seeing how there was no way out anyway. "It reminded me of you, because of the tiger and whatnot, and also since you like collecting getas. You don't have the same one, do you?"
Heihachi shook his head. "Nope! I've never seen this design before. And kumihimo straps too! They're really nice, would make a fine addition to my collection. Thanks."
"You're welcome," Kazuya mumbled. "And thanks for the humidifier too."
"That's not the only thing that's in there," Lars pulled a chair to join them.
Kazuya rummaged in the bag and pulled out all sorts of things. There were premium incense sticks, an aroma stone, essential oils, and a whole bundle of snacks.
"Wait, so you also got me sweets?" Kazuya said in surprise. "What am I, five?"
"You don't have to be a child to enjoy sweets, Kazuya," Heihachi pointed out with a grin. "Besides, you've always liked ume candy, matcha candy, and banpeiyu sweets."
"Banpeiyu?" Kazuya said in surprise as he stared at the packet. "Oh gosh, been so long since I had these."
"There's also chocolate covered strawberries, various flavours," Jin added, joining them with a plate of grilled meat. "Also, you guys should dig in, the meat's nicely cooked."
"So that's where you went the whole time," Kazuya smirked, grabbing him. "Get here!"
Jin was trying so hard to not drop the plate he was holding as he laughed when Kazuya gave him a dig in the ribs. "Alright, alright, Hwo and I had to distract him, and we brought him to Shoji."
"Why Shoji of all places?" Jun snorted as she rejoined them with a can of cola.
Jin shrugged and pointed to his Korean friend, who had his face smothered in sauce.
"Give me a break, he did nothing," Hwoarang said through a full mouth. "I was coming up with ideas ninety percent of the time."
Jun sighed. "Yeah, that checks out."
Kazuya clapped Jin's back, the jolt nearly sending the plate off his hands again.. "You should teach me guitar when we get home."
"Sure," Jin nodded, moving his plate away to eat in peace. "Also, go get yourself some food instead of disturbing me like this?"
"Who's cooking all of this anyway?" Kazuya got up to go have a look.
To his surprise, it was Steve and his grandparents. Jacob was mostly instructing while Steve did most of the work, fanning the coal so that it would burn better, and Harper was drizzling honey onto the meat.
"Ah, now I see why it smells so good," Kazuya smirked. "Mind if I have one?"
Jacob happily pointed to a set of meat that had already cooked, even helping him put a piece onto a plate. "Careful, it's still hot."
Kazuya chuckled. "Thanks. By the way, aren't you guys eating?"
"In a while," Harper said, placing the container of honey down beside the pit. "So, how's it going with you and that guy?"
Kazuya turned to look at Heihachi laughing about something with Jin and bit his lip before turning back to them. "I guess it's good. Still feels strange, but it's going good."
Steve took a break from the fanning. "Yeah, the guy's a lot different from... the Old Fart. Even he calls him that at this point."
"Yeah, I heard," Kazuya couldn't help but snort. "I don't think I can call him anything other than that." He frowned. "But I guess Jun's right, he doesn't have the same sort of evil aura about him."
Steve nodded. "Yep. The guy actually seemed concerned for me, for Amber too when he came in with that bag of stuff."
Kazuya nodded, unsure what to say so he changed the subject. "You guys should eat too. Putting all of this together seems like hard work."
"Yeah," Jacob sighed. "We did all of this while Adam and your brother were out distracting you."
"Eh, they didn't do anything besides shop around," Kazuya chuckled before turning to leave.
He went back to his seat beside Jin and tried to join the conversation that was on.