Afterwards: The Fourth Tekken Novel

Abandoned

Kazuya almost considered leaving the room when Heihachi walked in, but stayed on anyway. He was the only one in the living room at the time, and he borderline felt like leaving now would be like leaving leaving a guest unattended.
"Any plans for tomorrow?" Heihachi asked as he sat himself down on the armchair.
Kazuya shrugged. "Since when do things actually go according to plan?"
Heihachi frowned slightly, not sure if there was any underlying comment in that statement. After all, more than one person had been making comments like that only to act all innocent the next second. "You're right, nothing goes according to plan."
A few moments of silent passes.
"I tested out the humidifier you gave me," Kazuya piped up. "It works."
"I tested out mine too," Heihachi said. "I still don't understand what good it does, but I guess it works well?"
Kazuya frowned, surprised. "You don't know what a humidifier does?"
Heihachi shook his head. "Nope."
"It improves air quality, making it less dry and better for your skin," Kazuya added. "It's especially useful during the winter and summer as it keeps the air fresh indoors."
"I still think I like incense better," Heihachi shrugged. "It cleans the air too."
Kazuya shrugged as well. "You do you."
Another awkward silence passes.
"The getas you got me are really pretty," Heihachi piped up.
"A new addition to your collection," Kazuya remarked.
"A very nice addition too," Heihachi added.
Kazuya impatiently tapped his fingers against the seat beside him. "Where's Jun? Where's Jin?"
"They're next door," Heihachi said, much to his surprise. "Your brother's doing something."
"Oh come on," Kazuya groaned and got up, grabbing his phone before heading out. "You coming?"
Heihachi shrugged and got up. "Sure, why not."
"What is Excellent doing?" Kazuya muttered, much to Heihachi's amusement.
"I like how you call him that," Heihachi chuckled.
Kazuya ignored that and made his way out of the chalet, locking up as soon as Heihachi was out as well. It was dark too, with very little light illuminating the property. They could barely see where they were going, they could barely see anything besides the illuminated chalets around them.
Heihachi walked into something hard, and the object grunted when he blindly felt it.
"You're stepping on my shoes!" Kazuya scolded next.
Heihachi realised what it was. "Right, sorry about that."
Kazuya frowned and fixed the back of his shoes before walking a little faster. Not a few steps later did Heihachi step on the back of his shoes again.
"Come on, man," Kazuya groaned, grabbing Heihachi and pushing him forward. "Quit stepping on my shoes!"
Heihachi was surprised as he steadied himself before realising what had happened. "Sorry."
Kazuya sighed and pushed him forward. "You walk ahead of me."
Heihachi couldn't help but smirk while being pushed all the way to Lee's chalet.
"Knock." Heihachi felt like a threatened hostage held at gunpoint when Kazuya said that.
Heihachi raised his hand and knocked on the front door. Laughter and loud chatter radiated from the inside, so it was obvious that this was a planned gathering.
Anna opened the door with a smile on her face, but looked surprised as soon as her gaze fell on them. "You guys?"
"Are you guys actually partying without me?" Kazuya scowled.
"Umm..." Anna turned to her side to look at something which was clearly the rest of their friends. "This isn't a party."
Kazuya pushed Heihachi forward a little and poked his head in to look and sure enough, the whole gang was there, nibbling on snacks and things. "Sure seems like it." He glared at Anna. "What are you guys doing?"
Anna sighed and stepped away from the door to let them in.
"What are you guys even doing here?" Heihachi asked, looking amused.
Jun gulped as she swallowed her mouthful of cookie. "Nothing? Lee and Anna called us over so we... came over?"
"And you didn't even care to call us?" Kazuya said in surprise. He shook his head. "At this point, I just wanna go home. You guys are doing too much behind my back."
"Come on, it's not like that," Jun quickly said. "We... we had something else in mind."
Kazuya crossed his arms. "And what would that be?"
Jin pulled Lee towards him and whispered something in his ear, earning a look of surprise from the older man. "Oi! We can't just bag your father!"
"Bag your father?" Kazuya repeated in surprise. "Are you trying to get rid of me, Jin?"
Jin gulped and shook his head. "That's not what I said."
"That is exactly what you said," Lee frowned. He sighed as he turned back to Kazuya. "Spiky, we're just planning something good for you. The guy beside you was supposed to be in duty of distracting you while we come up with a nice surprise, but he's clearly not good at it."
Heihachi smirked as he pointed to Kazuya. "He practically held me hostage as he brought me here."
Kazuya gave him a sharp nudge and shook his head with a frown. "You're terrible at this, you know that? And this is coming from me."
"Sorry," Heihachi said.
Kazuya gave him a weird look that seemed like a mixture of dismay and sympathy. "It's so strange hearing you say that."
"Yeah, like Old Fart never says that," Lee added.
"I'm not him," Heihachi grumbled with a frown. "Also, they didn't really tell me that I wasn't supposed to tell you where they went. They just told me to keep you company while they came here."
Jun turned to look at Jin. "Jin, why didn't you make it clear?"
"I forgot, okay?" Jin groaned. "Also, can you two leave? Go have sake in the backyard or something? We need to plan."
Kazuya shook his head. "I ain't leaving. I know what your idea of surprises are like, and I don't like how it goes."
"Come on, didn't you enjoy the barbecue earlier?" Adam piped up. "It was fun, wasn't it?"
"Fine," Kazuya sighed. "I want this meeting dispersed since I don't want any more surprises from you guys. I'm done with all of this. We only have two more nights left, and I wanna make the most out of this vacation."
He glared at them, then at Heihachi, and left the chalet to go waddling off in the dark again. Heihachi went after him, seeing how the path was so dark.
"Kazuya, be careful!" Heihachi called as he went after him, much to the rest's surprise. "Watch your step, it's really dark."
Kazuya turned to look at him in surprise, standing at the foot of the stairs. "Since when are you so concerned for me? I'm a grown man, I can walk by myself."
Heihachi shook his head as he joined him. "Gosh, you really are acting like a teenager."
"Come on, you know I'm not," Kazuya groaned. "I'm married! I have a son too, don't I?"
"Well, maybe you do," Heihachi shrugged. "But you're still acting like a teenager."
Kazuya scowled as he started walking. "I'm not!"
Heihachi chuckled and put an arm around him. "Okay, okay. You're a big boy, okay?"
"Whatever," Kazuya sighed, slightly annoyed at being treated like a child.

I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but it seems like Kazuya is indeed still a child at heart in many Tekken scenarios. Like even during the final battle in Tekken 7, Kazuya still hasn't gotten over the trauma of being thrown off the Precipice of Fate at such a young age. It borderline feels as if he goes back to being a teenager each time he comes face to face with Heihachi, just that it is shown in a negative and more rebellious way in the original Tekken. I'm doing the same thing, but in a positive setting instead lol.