Chapter 22: Introduction

"What do you think will happen when we get there?" I ask Hwoarang, discarding the mangled napkin. He shrugs.

"I don't know. But if we have to listen to any morale boosting speeches, I'm outta there."

"Me too," I laugh. "Do you think we should go and say hi to some of these guys?"

Tall Hair Biker and Carpet Slippers have moved on, and in their place is a dark-skinned man with dreadlocks. A woman in a floor length red dress walks in. The blonde woman leaves.

"Nah." Hwoarang says, shaking his head to emphasise this point.

"Why not?"

"Because," he tells me with a frown, "…if you talk to them and get to like them, what happens if you have to fight them?"

"I like you, but I won't hold back if we fight."

"And I don't mind that." He drawls. "Pinning you isn't exactly the worst thing I can imagine."

I snort. "How do you know it won't be the other way around, Red?"

"Hm, if you like being on top, then that's fine by me."

I roll my eyes at him, and he grins.

"Anyway, where's Kazama? I would have thought you'd want to be with him right now."

He just had to remind me.

"I haven't seen him since Friday. I'm sure he's around somewhere."

Hwoarang raises an eyebrow.

"Lover's tiff?"

"Not really."

"Then what?"

"What? I'm not surgically attached to him, Hwoarang!"

"Yeah. Something's up."

I ignore him. I really hate how perceptive he can be sometimes. Mind you, he didn't really need to be perceptive there, considering my reaction. But he's right. Something is up. And it's something I can do nothing about. I wanted to ask Jin about it on Friday, but how could I? Then he'd know I was listening. He'd probably say it was none of my business anyway.

"Have you heard anything from Baek?" Maybe I'd just imagined that conversation on Friday. Or maybe heard it wrong or something.

"Changing the subject are we?"

I glare at the table top - if anyone asks, it's because I'm affronted by the gaudy pattern - and Hwoarang seems to get the hint.

"No, I haven't. And don't look at me like that. I don't care anymore, Xiao. Really."

"Aren't you worried?"

"Not really." He gives an exasperated sigh. "Look, Baek can take care of himself. Anyway, like I told you before, if he wants to fuck off to wherever it is he's fucked off to, it's fine by me. I don't need him cheering me on from the sidelines anyway."

I bite my lip, wondering whether I should tell him what I'd heard. I can't let him keep thinking the worst about Baek. I think he knows deep down that Baek wouldn't skip out on him like this, but he's too proud to admit it.

"Besides, I have you here to do that." He laughs, leaning forward. "And if you feel the need to wear the outfit and carry the pom-poms, then that's a definite plus."

I shove him away.

"Can't you ever be serious for more than three seconds?"

"I think I was, this one time…"

Once we reach the island, Heihachi treats us to a morale-boosting speech. As we expected. I don't take much of it in, but I think it's something about being the best you could be and similar. Jin stands beside his grandfather, expressionless, as he makes his speech. Four Tekken Force soldiers stand with them.

"Is it even possible for this to get any more boring?" Hwo whispers to me.

"I don't think so." He stifles a yawn, as if to prove his point.

"I can't even catch a nap." He mutters. "You'd think they'd have brought some chairs out for us."

Or that Heihachi would at least try to have verbal inflections. I know he can do it, so I'm just going to have to add more fuel to my theory that he does these things on purpose because he's evil.

"Don't worry. It'll be over soon."

Heihachi seems to have moved on to the rules, and I try to focus on what he's saying.

"…One chance. There will be one round in each fight. You will fight once each day, and there is an infirmary on the ground floor of the hotel for those who need it. Your last opponent will be me. The winner of this battle will be crowned the King of Iron Fist." He smiles, but there's no warmth in it. "Good luck to all of you."

I'm not convinced that he really means it. Before I heard him and Jin talking, I really did think Heihachi was relatively harmless. I mean, sure, he's always struck me as sort of scary, but now, I'm not so sure that I shouldn't be scared of him.

The group disperses, and Jin starts to walk towards us. Hwoarang nudges me.

"I'm going back inside."

I nod, and he turns to leave, but not before throwing Jin a glare.

"See you later."

"He really doesn't like me, does he?" Jin asks,when he reaches me, sounding amused.

"Oh, I wouldn't say –"

"You don't have to make excuses for him. Doesn't matter. I'm not really bothered."

I smile awkwardly, and Jin sits on the ground, looking up at the cloudless sky. He seems irritated. I follow his gaze, trying not to let my uneasiness show. I want to know what the tournament's really about, what Toshin is, what happened to Baek, and most of all, why Jin can be calm one minute and then so different the next. He has worse mood swings than I do. What happened to his mother? Am I right in thinking that her death was something to do with this Toshin guy? I've drawn my own conclusions from what I heard, but I'm the type that adds two and two together to make five, so I'm not too confident about said conclusions.

"Xiao?"

"Hm?" I turn from the sun to look at him.

"You're quiet. You nervous?"

I force a smile.

"Yeah, I guess."

He looks down at the floor.

"Look… I'm sorry about the other day."

The other day? Oh God, he knows I was listening, doesn't he? This is going to take some explaining. What should I do? Should I lie and tell him I didn't hear anything? Or should I confront him about it? I'm starting to panic, and I don't even register that Jin's talking until he's almost finished his sentence.

"I know I went too far. I just… I couldn't help it."

I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from heaving a sigh of relief. He's talking about the near groping, thank the heavens.

"I couldn't either." I tell him. "I'm not upset or anything, Jin."

"You said you were nervous." He mumbles.

"Well, I meant about the tournament." Not entirely true, but not entirely false, either.

He doesn't answer, and I sit down next to him, pulling my knees to my chest. We're quiet for a while, and I look over at him. He hasn't moved.

"I…" I trail off, feeling heat rise to my face as he looks at me intensely. I need to finish what I'm saying, and it's impossible while he's looking at me like that, so I drop my gaze to my feet. "…wouldn't have stopped you."

I hear him draw in a breath, but he doesn't say anything in reply. Oh, great. Brilliant. I've done it again, haven't I – told him how I really feel and got nothing in return? You know, sometimes it feels like I'm the only one making an effort at all. Jin's quiet for a long while, then he stands up, offering me his hand. I allow him to pull me to my feet, looking anywhere but at him.

"I bet you've not had much rest, " he says. Well, that certainly came out of nowhere. I think it's just Jin changing the subject because he's uncomfortable with what I just said, though.

Wait, so it's not okay for me to be uncomfortable, but it is for him? I've just reassured him, why hasn't he returned the favour?

"You should focus on the tournament." He continues. "I'd better go, myself."

And he does just that. I feel like screaming. Focus on the tournament? Exactly how does he expect me to do that when he keeps messing with my damned head?