consolation prize
It became a tradition of Hilary's: whenever Tyson was an asshole, she threw a barbeque.
They met on the banks of the canal in the evenings of the days after Tyson did something particularly nasty. Like when Tyson told Rei he'd never need him. Or when he told Max to get out of his way, and stay out. Or when he told Kenny to mind his own damn business. Or that time he quit blading just to get Kai home, and instead got a black-eye and bruised ribs, and only momentarily had Kai under their roof to show for it. That time Ozuma tried to pound in the door and Tyson refused to deal with it; just set the dead-bolt.
That time he'd told Hilary she was a stupid fan-girl, and why should Mr. D waste a plane ticket on her? Or when he locked Daichi out of the house at night and the kid walked in the cold to the outer suburbs of the city, and crawled into bed with Max and cried.
Times like that. When they couldn't trust Tyson, so they trusted each other. And what they did was pretend, for a while, that he didn't exist.