Afterwards: The Fourth Tekken Novel

Allies

Shasha gasped when the rather cheery old woman told her that she decided to have her comeback during the compensation anniversary party. As if it wasn't enough that Heihachi ruined the original one, and now it's happening again when he's trying to fix it.
"Madam, please," Shasha sighed. "Why during the party?"
"Why not?" The woman laughed. "It would be fun, wouldn't it?"
Shasha closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a few seconds to think. "It wouldn't be fun. The first party was already in ruined, you want to ruin this one too?"
"Oh... right, right, my appearance would crash the party once again, wouldn't it?" The lady sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll come earlier. Two days earlier."
"Why don't you just come this weekend?" Shasha said. She remembered how Heihachi had invited everyone over for a sleepover this Friday and smirked. "I have one idea. But first, I need to ask someone."
"Ask whom?"
"I can't say yet, but I'll call you back once it's confirmed," Shasha quickly said. "I'll call you back."
She hung up and looked at the peach blossoms raining from the tree in the Lings' garden. Shasha smiled and picked a few of the flowers before heading inside.
"If you don't mind, I took a few of the flowers," Shasha chuckled. "From the ground, not the tree."
Xiaoyu shrugged. "Sure, go right ahead. You can take more if you like. We're planning to make some tea with it later."
"Sounds tasty," Shasha chuckled. "Anyway, sorry I had to take this call. It was pretty important."
"Nah, we got it," Alisa smiled, fixing the last of the shelf. "Now, we just need help arranging the books."
Shasha sat down and looked through the books. "You have a really nice collection."
Xiaoyu shrugged. "Yeah, mostly reading material that our friends suggested." She smiled and picked up a copy of The Master Key. "I got this too, Jin recently started it and he says it's very interesting."
"It is," Shasha smiled as she regarded the book as if it was an old friend. "I couldn't guess the ending."
"Oh, you've read it?" Xiaoyu perked up.
Shasha nodded. "Yeah. It's a really good book."
Just then, her phone started ringing again. This time, it was Heihachi.

"You didn't tell me that you're working with RefreshiGordo," Heihachi said as he burst himself into Jin's office.
Jin looked up from his book. "You want me to write it on my forehead or something?"
Heihachi frowned, crossing his arms. "It's just a surprising fact. Also, I raided them."
"What did you do?" Jin sat up at that statement. "Hasn't Eddy had enough at this point?"
"Nah, not that sort of raid," Heihachi snorted. He turned to see Kiara entering the room, looking a little confused, and flourished at the tote bag that she was holding. "They gave out free drinks in the lobby."
Jin couldn't help but smile at that in relief. "Oh. So you guys raided their fridge. Well, you could've just come here. We order drinks from them too, for the cafeteria and snack rooms."
Heihachi snorted, taking the bag from Kiara before going over to Jin. "Where's the fun in that?" He placed the bag on the table. "Which flavour can I interest you in?"
Jin shook his head and reached under his desk to pull out a bottle of apple-flavoured soda, also by RefreshiGordo, from his personal fridge. "Pass. I have my own stash."
"Very well," Heihachi shrugged. "No free drinks for you, then."
"Is this why you came?" Jin sighed.
Just then, a knock came and someone entered without waiting for a response. It was Steve, whose eyes widened in surprise as soon as he spotted Two-Pointy standing there. "Yeah, I'll just come in later," the blond said and stepped back, closing the door again.
Jin rolled his eyes. "Ask him to come in."
Heihachi snorted and motioned for Kiara to open the door since she was near it. Kiara opened the door and poked her head out to see where the blond had went, but found him nowhere to be seen.
"He's not here, Master Heihachi," Kiara said, closing the door behind her. "Should I go look for him."
"No need, he should come by himself if he wants to," Jin said.
Kiara turned to look at Heihachi, who merely nodded. That interaction didn't go unnoticed by Jin, making him smirk to himself. There was loyalty there.
"So, about why you came over," Jin reminded. "Anything important?"
Heihachi immediately turned serious and leaned forward, his hands on Jin's desk. "Yes."
"What's up?" Jin also turned serious.
"What do I get for your father? I still haven't shopped for him."
Jin clicked his tongue and straightened himself, folding his arms in front of his chest. "You interrupted my work for that?"
Heihachi solemnly lifted the book that Jin was reading and held it near the younger man's face. "What does The Master Key have to do with your work?"
"I was taking a break," Jin moved a little closer to Heihachi till their noses touched, then snatched the book.
"Fine, then I need an idea," Heihachi smirked and settled himself on a chair in front of Jin. He turned to Kiara and motioned for her to sit as well.
Jin sighed. "As if I know what he wants."
"You're his son."
"And you're his father," Jin countered easily.
Heihachi frowned. "Boy, you know how the Old Fart spent his time with him, don't you? I don't see any gift ideas in his memories besides sneakers, even that I think isn't a wise gift since Kazuya has shelves and shelves of them."
"He's running out of space for them," Jin couldn't help but say. "How about this, I'll snoop tonight and let you know."
"Investigate for your mother as well," Heihachi added.
Jin nodded. "I'll be able to help you there."
The two ended up discussing about a nice new China tea set for Jun. Heihachi smirked and got up after he had gotten a few ideas.
"Kiara, let's get the rest and start our shopping," Heihachi happily said.
'Who are the rest?' Kiara wanted to ask, but stood up without a word and pushed her chair back into place before giving Heihachi a curt nod.
"I'll call them right now," Heihachi took his phone out. He turned to Jin and nodded. "I'll speak to you later."
Jin nodded back and raised a hand. "Bye."
Heihachi smiled at that and opened the door. Steve stood on the other side, a smirk on his face. Heihachi neatly pushed him aside by the shoulders and walked away, laughing and waving a hand in the air as he called his 'allies' for another round of shopping.