It was Tuesday morning. Heihachi had gone. He'd left a note with the assistant butler for Jin: In China for three days. Urgent business trip. Work on your karate.

Jin decided to take this very literally.

"Young Master Kazama, please, the car is waiting for you. Mishima-sama would want you to attend school."

"He said work on my karate though," Jin said. He was eating a wakame salad and dipping mushrooms in soy sauce and ignoring the fried beef he'd been made.

"In addition, to your schoolwork, Young Master Kazama," the exasperated butler was saying.

Jin looked up at him. "I'm going to go and climb the mountains on the estate. I will be back tomorrow."

He'd been thinking about when to go, given that it would take so long to walk across the estate to even get into the foothills. He'd decided it had to be at least a two-day trip.

"Master Kazama, please, you cannot take that trip alone, Mishima-sama has tasked his staff with your care. You need to behave and go to school."

"No," Jin said. "I don't want to go to school. I want to climb a mountain. It has been too long since I was in the mountains. I have to go."

"I cannot allow you to go alone, Young Master Kazama-"

"The mountains are still on the estate. I'm allowed to walk the estate on my own. I'm going to train karate and go up the mountain. Goodbye."

Jin got up, leaving all the boiled eggs and fried beef. The only clothes in his wardrobe were smart and not comfortable, so Jin put on his black gi, the only thing he had that he really liked anyway. He wondered if he should take anything else with him, but he didn't own very much, and he was used to just working things out as he walked. As he got dressed, he overheard the butler in the corridor telling someone to fetch Tekken Force. Jin was worried they'd summon that captain he kept running into who was stern and didn't let him get away with mischief. Jin didn't think he was really up to mischief, but he didn't want to wait around and find out if that captain agreed.

Jin slipped out of his room by the quickest route. He put his shoes on and strode out into the gardens. It was about seven thirty A.M., the time he normally left for school. He could see the car ready and waiting in the drive even. Jin skirted it and kept walking.

He helped himself to some fruit in the orchard and then walked on, crossing gardens, meadows, and hillocks. After some hours, he was out of the grounds he usually frequented and in newer, more untrodden territory. At about a quarter to eleven, or so he guessed by the sun, he came upon a hut he hadn't chanced across before. It was hidden in a dell and had an allotment outside its walls in which vegetables were growing. The garden was straggly and overgrown – in need of a good weeding, but its vegetables were still persevering. Jin set down his armful of fruit and immediately crouched and began removing the weeds threatening to choke the vegetables. There were cabbages and daikon radish, sweet potato and ginger, carrots and overripe tomatoes and cucumbers with wilted yellow flowers still clinging to their noses. Jin worked away for some time, until a voice said:

"Kazuya?"

Jin looked up. An old man was standing on the step to the hut. He had a long mossy beard and his eyes were almost hidden in the deep wrinkles of his face.

"I'm Kazama Jin," Jin said. "Kazuya was my father."

"Hm!" the old man replied. "Why are you in my garden, Kazuya?"

"It needed weeding. Are you a gardener? You should look after your garden more."

"What an impertinent young man you are! When are you going to learn some respect?!"

"May I have a tomato? And maybe a cucumber?"

The old man narrowed his eyes. Jin looked steadily back at him.

"You aren't Kazuya."

"I'm Kazama Jin," Jin said again.

"Take what you want, but – hehe – you have to help do all the harvesting first."

"Okay."

Jin knelt and started selecting the ripest vegetables to harvest. He twisted off those that were ready and set them in a wicker basket at the old man's feet.

"You know your vegetables well, Kazuya."

Jin ignored that and continued pinching off a large cucumber.

"Who are you?" Jin asked as he worked.

"Wang Jinrei. I'm your grandfather's friend."

"My grandfather or Kazuya's grandfather?"

"Mm! Yes!"

Jin aimed for the cabbages next. The outer leaves were riddled with caterpillar holes. He pulled these off and set the cabbages in the basket.

"What do you do out here? Do you just live on the estate?"

"What do you do out here? Do you live here on the estate?"

Jin considered. "I'm here to learn martial arts. And yes, I live here."

"Hmph! The same as me!"

Jin decided the old man was very strange and he should concentrate on finishing the task at hand if he wanted to get to the mountain in good time. When he was done, he selected a couple of tomatoes and two cucumbers and stuffed them inside the chest of his gi. He handed the vegetable basket to the old man.

"Thank you, dear boy!" the old man exclaimed. "Where are you off to this fine day?"

Jin pointed to the blue looming mountains. "To the mountains."

"Oh! That's a long way! Why are you going there?"

Jin tightened the white belt on his gi to stop the vegetables falling out, then began shoving fruit in. He placed one of the peaches on top of the vegetable pile for the old man.

"Because mountains are the centre of the universe, where all things come together, including me. I haven't been in a long time, and that's probably why I don't feel very together. Goodbye, Mr Wang."

Wang stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Goodbye, Kazuya."

Jin ate a cucumber as he strode across one of the estate's meadows. He was thinking about that strange old man, almost lost to time, living out here undisturbed. He wondered if Heihachi had forgotten about him. He wondered if Mr Wang had electricity and heating, and how he got enough firewood in if not. Why had no one told him there was someone just living out here? Were there other people living on the estate he didn't know about? Why was Kuma the bear allowed to live in the house, but that old man had to live in a shack? There was so much food in the mansion and more than enough rooms. Or maybe the old man liked his privacy, or had fallen out with Heihachi? Jin ate his cucumber and pondered all of this.

Out this far, there were less fences and less managed land. He'd already passed Hon Maru, he could tell by the darkened shape of the pagoda far off on his right. Things were more wild here, and he wondered if anyone regularly came out this far.

He found an old forest with a stream running through it, and foraged about until he found some edible mushrooms. He set all his food down on a wide rock near the stream, and jumped and caught a low tree branch. He counted off thirty pull-ups, then dropped to the earth and pressed through forty push-ups. He wanted to make sure he was still training like his grandfather asked. He kicked off his shoes and hopped onto a rock in the stream. He dunked his head in the river so that the cold water rushed about his ears. He drank deeply, then stood in horse stance in the water, with his fists at his hips and closed his eyes. He stood until his toes went numb, then a bit longer.

When he was done, he waded back out and did kata up and down the bank until the blood was flowing in his limbs again. Then he washed his feet, and sat on a rock in the sun, drying. He ate a lunch of tomatoes, and mushrooms, and cucumber, and apple, and a peach.

In early afternoon, he reached the mountain foothills. They were covered with thick pine forests that made them look fluffy from a distance. Up close, their branches were closely knit and dark. This thrilled Jin. He hadn't been in a properly dark forest since he'd left home. All the same, those low close branches would make them difficult to navigate, and he needed to move swiftly if he wanted to get onto the mountain proper today. He listened out for another brook, and followed this as his natural trail, using its babbling waters as a path through the dark woods. Soon, all about him was black, with barely a scrap of sunlight penetrating through the branches criss-crossing above. The undergrowth was the brownish russet of a thousand thousand dropped needles forming a spiney carpet underfoot. Jin toiled upward, and his breath sounded like the only thing alive in the whole forest.

Eventually, the path became steeper, and his brook began jumping down large boulders. They were wet and treacherous, but still preferable to the trees. Jin's fingers found small crevasses and ledges to pull himself up and he climbed on. Shortly, the trees thinned around the bare rock, and Jin was able to clamber onto a ledge and see how far he'd come. The forested foothills were spread beneath him, and the rolling estate beyond. There was a purple gash in the landscape where the great canyon that ran near Hon-Maru was a jagged blight against the greyish greens of the estate in early autumn. Jin's brook had become a thin, white waterfall, rushing off a cliff face above him. He leaned back and looked up. The true mountain was above him now, bullish and hulking, roving with dark, enticing colours. Jin's heart thrilled. He ate another peach, mostly because he was going to have to do more climbing and he didn't want it rolling out his gi.

Jin climbed with the sun warm on his back and his fingers trembling with exertion. Once above the cliff face, he was back in woodland. This time, the trees were further apart by necessity of the steep slope. He could walk among them and look for hidden birds in their highest branches. The birdsong rejuvenated him and he felt more at peace than he had in a long time. He took his time now, winding slowly upward. He didn't have any desire to climb to the top of the mountain, he just wanted to be on it, and explore it. He collected wild, leafy mizuna, and found different kinds of mushrooms and berries he knew. He refound his brook, bursting off a bald patch of cliff into another waterfall. It became a fine mist in the air before it hit land again, and took all the colours of the setting sun into its embrace as it shimmered there.

Jin was hungry by the evening and didn't know the land as well as Yakushima. He didn't mind being a little hungry in places like this though. He sat with his feet dangling off a cliff and ate more tomatoes, berries, mushrooms, and mizuna. He ordinarily would have made a fire, but the evenings were still a little warm, and just in case Tekken Force got any ideas, he didn't want them following him out here. He practised kata on the cliff edge, then stood still practising his punches and kicks until the sun slipped down beyond the horizon and sunset fell into dusk.

The trees here were not so large and old and majestic as on Yakushima, and their roots held no caverns to sleep within. Still, Jin found one with a large enough root system that he could burrow out a little of the leaf litter and soil beneath it. He dug down into the earth with his hands, then squeezed himself beneath the twining roots. He felt calm then, with a black lattice work of roots tangled over him, and the black earth beneath him, and patches of starlight caught between the upper treetops. He stayed awake awhile just looking at the stars.

There was something very deep and very sad in his chest, that he'd thought would go the moment he came to somewhere familiar. He felt desperately lonely, even though he liked being on his own. When he looked at the stars and saw they were the same as the stars from home, he felt closer to the things he'd lost. He curled up tighter and bowed his head into his knees.

Sometimes, he wondered if this was all a dream. He wondered if he'd wake back up and the sunlight would be pouring in through the window. A pan would be rattling on the stove, and he'd leap out of bed to save the morning's rice. He'd sigh and tell his mother she got distracted again. She'd laugh and apologise to him, and show him whatever it was that had caught her interest this morning – new seedlings coming to light, a new bird in the garden, storm clouds brewing over the island. Jin would roll his eyes, and tell her an interesting sight would also be unburned rice for breakfast. She would laugh again, and brush a hand back through his hair. He missed that so much. Maybe more than anything. That casual contact. The small gestures of affection. The way she always reached for him whenever anything bothered him. She could still his worries with just a hand gentle on his head.

How could it all be gone?

He'd been so patient through all these weeks, but he still hadn't woken up. That was enough now. He'd had enough. He wanted to be back home. He wanted his mother.

Jin's eyes drifted shut. The smell of damp earth and the rustle of leaves lulled him to sleep. He dreamed of Yakushima and his mother, and long days of sunshine on a beach with a sea, green with tangled seaweed.

Jin awoke in the morning, damp with dew at first dawn. His muscles were cramped and there were leaves in his hair. He crawled out of his hole and sat eating a peach as the forest came alive with the dawn chorus. Then he stretched and found his stream – a thin brilliantly clear channel of water now, running down a rocky bed. He checked upstream, then drank from it, and splashed water in his face. He took off his damp gi and hung it to dry on a tree facing east. He bathed in the freezing water, then practised his karate until his limbs warmed up, and his gi was dry enough to put back on.

He climbed further after this, and a chill wind started to pick up. It made his heart race, and he felt light and in his essence. He could see dark clouds roaming across from the east. There would be a storm later today, but he had time still.

At midmorning, Jin found what he had been looking for. A very old, weathered shrine, small and in disrepair, looking out over the mountain from an almost hidden alcove. He delighted in the find and set about clearing it of moss and helping it stand a little straighter. When its features were free of undergrowth, Jin stood before it. He clapped his hands and prayed. He asked a lot of things – mostly for the mountain, and the land, and the sky, and all the people who lived nearby and on the estate, but also a little for himself.

Since he had left Yakushima, there was this crack inside him – like the canyon by Hon-Maru or in the pottery from his home. Except the cracks in the pottery at home were sealed over with gold and made new. Even though he'd been trying, he couldn't seem to do that to himself. He didn't understand why he felt sad every day, and why his chest always hurt when he paused and stood still. Small emotions that he would have brushed off before kept becoming big things that he couldn't get to die down. He cried more than he used to, sometimes for no reason at all, and he really wished that would stop, since his grandfather didn't like crying. He seemed to be crying now, even, despite being in the mountains and forests where he felt calmest and happiest. He wondered if there was any place on earth where he wouldn't cry.

Jin took shaky breaths in and out. Then knelt in silence and meditated. He meditated as the first soft drizzle fell, and a mists began to wend through the boughs of the forests, and slink down cliffs to flow off the mountain. He meditated as the bird song muffled into quiet and only the creak and lean of old trees bending in the wind filled the air. And he meditated until the cold set in his bones and in his thoughts and cleared away all the pain until there was only the raw fire of his determination left. He arose quieter and more sure of himself, older and more sealed over, with a new armour over the deep wounds within.

Jin descended the mountain more quickly than he'd ascended it. Even with the mist curling thick about his feet, he found his path easily. He got down into the foothills by the afternoon, and out onto the meadows a couple of hours after that. The estate was grey now and gentle sheets of rain were moving across the landscape. Jin forwent foraging in favour of beating the storm home. He would be able to eat well at the mansion anyway. When he passed the old man Wang Jinrei's hut, its windows and doors were tightly shut, and rain was already trickling off its rickety rafters and gutters.

Jin reached the mansion as the light was failing and the rain was just starting to come down in earnest. Thick black storm clouds filled up the sky, billowing and bulging like a raging demon. Jin paused to look up at it. A growl of thunder rippled across the land. Jin hurried to the porch and pulled off his shoes.

"He's here!" someone cried. "He's back!"

There was a flurry of activity and footsteps, and when Jin straightened, the butler, the assistant butler, a maid, a security guard, and even a Tekken Force officer were all standing before him. Jin had never seen any Tekken Force inside the mansion before.

"Young Master Kazama!" The butler started, in a tone of relieved reproach, but he said nothing more.

Jin looked at them. "What?"

"Where have you been?! We have been most concerned!"

"I said yesterday that I would be back today." Jin really didn't see what the problem was. He was tired now, and hungry. He wanted a shower and a hot meal.

"Kazama Jin!" A sharp voice filtered through a helmet. Jin looked up warily. He'd recognise that captain's voice anywhere at this point. "Your safety and wellbeing are the livelihood of everyone under this roof! You cannot just run off where you please!"

The butler hesitated and looked like he might intercede at that tone the captain was taking. He seemed to look over the man's armour and the live firearm holstered to him, and let his protestations die.

"I was just on the estate," Jin gave.

"You should have been in school," the captain grated. "Do you know what would have happened if anything should have happened to you whilst Mishima-Kaicho is away? Do you know how furious he would have been with everyone on this estate? Your whereabouts and safety are of the utmost importance to hundreds of people who live and work here. Have a care before you wander off, and think about your actions!"

Jin did feel a hint of shame then, but he wouldn't have done anything differently. He'd had to go to the mountains. It was as simple as that. He looked up at all the faces looking down at him, in their various states of agitation.

"Can I have supper, please. I'm going to shower."

He walked past them all and down to his room. He was beginning to realise that even though a lot of adults got frustrated with him, some kind of status he possessed in connection to Heihachi meant that he didn't really have to listen to anything they said. Mostly he cared if they told things to Heihachi, but it seemed that everyone told Heihachi everything anyway. Besides, he had a day before Heihachi returned at least. He'd go to school tomorrow maybe.

A knock came on his door as he was finding a new towel and yukata. He opened the door and was surprised to see the captain. He would have thought the butler would have turfed any Tekken Force out now that he was home.

"Kazama Jin, you need to listen to me."

"I don't think I do," Jin said, and continued collecting his things together.

"You are not your own unit anymore. You are a part of a very important household, and you need to understand your place amidst it. Your actions have consequences for everyone, you can't just go it alone."

Jin paused now. He looked up at that familiar helmet, and set it with a dark, inscrutable gaze.

"I am always alone. Excuse me, Captain. I have places to be, as, I believe, do Tekken Force. Namely outside this house."

Jin strode past the captain, towards the bathroom.