Chapter 3: Plush Feelings

It's been more than two weeks since the incident at the lounge, and the tension at school still hasn't subsided. Rumors of the next King of Iron Fist Tournament are in the air. Students are betting on confirmed entries already and gossiping about new possible entrants this year. Among the rumors, Jin, Hwoarang, and my own names have been floating around the halls. The girls, overall, have kept their distance from me, scared to be caught in the eventual crossfire of a fight.

This is dumb, I barely know anything about the tournament is and my name is already being associated with it.

The end of the day couldn't come any sooner as the 3:40 chime rang. Asami and myself were supposed to be on classroom duties today, meaning we're supposed to stay behind a few extra minutes to make sure the classroom is ready for tomorrow. I began erasing the board as I saw Asami from the corner of my eyes exit without so much as acknowledging her responsibilities. I guess it'll just be me this week. I picked up some of the excess papers on the floor, swept the floors, and had one final task left—returning the class attendance book to the teacher's lounge.

The school was emptier than usual with only one teacher remaining in the lounge, the Mr. Lee. "Good to see you again young lady. I see you're keeping yourself out of trouble. Well I guess you've actually found yourself in a little bit of trouble a few weeks ago."

He's probably talking about the fight from a few weeks ago, "Not on purpose. I wasn't even aware there was any trouble brewing."

"That's the funny thing about destiny. No one is able to pick theirs. Destiny has its own way of finding you." The Mr Lee's voice rang through the air keeping my body frozen. "Be careful, Miss Ling Xiaoyu."

I exited the teacher's lounge, and made a stop at the giant windows across from the door. What the hell was all this destiny stuff about? Outside I could see some of the students walking home. Asami, Akari, and Miharu among them. They looked so happy and carefree, the only thing they had to worry about was their apparent set future in the upper echelons of the corporate world. No family drama, money issues, or anything. Just pure teenage bliss.

"You're still here?" Jin asked while approaching me. He leaned his back against the naked wall beside the window. He seemed genuinely irritated at the moment.

"I had to stay behind for after school duties. My partner, well, abandoned me this week."

"Try not to take it personally. They're just scared."

"What are you doing here?"

"Parent-teacher conference with my grandfather. Except my grandfather cancelled at the last minute. I don't know why the teachers even try anymore."

"Oh, that's a little bit annoying. He's a pretty busy person though, your grandfather."

"Yeah, can't expect too much time from the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Now I'm just waiting for my uncle since he wanted to talk today as well."

"You're uncle…" I looked back at the teacher's lounge. There was only one teacher left here, so that means, "Mr. Lee? Mr. Lee is your uncle?"

Jin laughed at my surprise, "Yeah my adopted uncle. But my uncle nonetheless."

"You really can't catch a break from your family huh?" I chuckled at Jin's predicament. It's probably nice that his family owns everything but I think I'd lose my mind if I felt like I could get any space from them. Jin reached out and touched the end tail of my left pigtail. "You're wearing your hair up again?"

I grabbed the end trail out of instinct and to ward off the feeling of embarrassment, "I normally wear it up. Helps me concentrate."

"That's a shame. You look a lot better with it down."

I turned my face to the side to try and hide the red tinge that was appearing across my cheeks although I'm sure my ears would give me away.

"Look Jin's still here!" a voice loudly shouted from down the hall. There were three girls waving trying to get his attention. That irritated look returned to Jin's face as he tried to ignore them, hoping they would get the hint and go away.

"Oh you've got a fan club?" I teased him a bit.

"If you can call them that. They're mostly annoying."

"Well what can you expect? Most girls love strong guys." I followed my arms and rested my body on the window sill. "Must be nice being a boy. Strong girls don't receive nearly as much love."

"Whys that?"

"I think most guys feel pretty intimidated by a girl who could beat them up."

"Yeah, that's him," the girls kept saying as they approached.

Out of instinct Jin started walking away down the hall, "C'mon" he grabbed my arm pulling me along with him. "Woah, wait don't you want to say hi. They seem nice." Jin ignored my teasing as he continued to pull me down the hallway. We turned a corner and Jin pulled me into an open classroom. He locked the door behind us and held me up against his body as his back leaned against the door. "What are you–"

"Shh," Jin listened waiting for any sign of the girls to disappear.

"Did anybody see where he went?" a voice asked.

"Maybe further down…" another voice replied.

The footsteps slowly disappeared, and I could feel the tension in Jin's body relax a little. I never noticed before but he is a big guy. He was a whole 20 centimeters taller than me. His muscles were toned to such perfection it seemed like he might rip his shirt anytime he moved.

I relaxed into his chest more feeling as if I could fall through his pecs. I took a deep breath to take in the scent of his cologne sandalwood with a little hint of mint. I felt his arms relax around me, one hand fell to my lower back and the touch brought me back into reality. My body tightened instinctively as I grew a bit shy again. I slowly lifted my head up, not expecting to be caught in Jin's gaze. But his eyes held me in place and made me forget what I wanted to say. I lightly pushed on his chest, to create some distance between us and averted my eyes to help gain back my concentration. "Umm, I think they're gone now," I managed to choke out of nervousness.

Jin stepped forward, closing the distance again and brushed a little bit of my bangs out of my face. The palm of his hand softly cupped my left cheek as he turned my face towards him again. Our noses were touching at the tip. Time felt as if it was standing still. No ticking clock, no voices, just the rays of the setting sun here to keep us company. He lightly brushed his nose against mine and then closed the distance and brought his lips to mine.

We walked from the school gate silently together. I kept replying our kiss in my mind, and the visual kept me from saying anything to him now. Maybe, I was the only one feeling awkward. It was hard to tell exactly what the heir of the Mishima Zaibatsu was thinking. One minute he's seems burdened like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. The next minute, he's the level-headed popular boy all the girls love. Then he's the night-brawler for fun. And now… which one am I getting now.

"Something wrong?" Jin stopped looking back at me.

"Nothing, I was just thinking," I nervously answered trying to keep my cool.

"About…?"

"That…"I pondered for a moment, trying to put my words into feelings, "That, I'm not quite ready to go home."

Jin was silent for a moment and walked up to me. He probably thought I was being silly just like the girls he ran away from earlier.

He reached out and softly touched my pigtail surprising me by the sudden contact, "Do you wanna hang out? I've got time today."

My heart skipped a beat at Jim's offer. I was sure he had something better to do than to hang around me. Of course I wanna hangout, but what does he even like to do? Besides fighting of course.

"Yeah, of course. Any place you wanna go?"

"We can do whatever you want to do."

Why was he always so cool? I don't even know what he likes. What if he doesn't like anything I suggest, "How about the arcade?"

Jin shrugged his shoulders at the suggestion, "Lead the way then."

The Sega arcade was noisy, with the faint smell of cigarette smoke in the air. But there wasn't as many people here today as there normally would be. "Let's do this one first." I dragged Jin over to a hand rhythm game, one of my favorites here at the arcade. Jin was undoubtedly uncomfortable at the game, losing to me by exactly 1,000,000 points. It's probably the only thing I'll ever be able to beat him at. Next, we played a few rounds of the motorcycle racing game. He was of course much better at this one, able to come in first place every single time.

As we were about to leave, we walked past the crane machines to check out some of the prizes. "Oh look!" I exclaimed while looking at a crane game prize. "Isn't it cute?"

"The cactus thing…?" Jin was confused by my interest in the toy.

"It's not just a cactus. It's cactuar, from one of my favorite games. This plushie is ultra rare and it's right here, for only 200 zen." I continued staring at the plushie through the glass yearning for it, "If only I was good at playing crane games."

Jin put in 200 zen in the machine and started moving the game stick over the toy. The crane goes down grabs the toy and he's able to win the toy on one single try.

"Woah, how did you do that?" I asked in disbelief.

Jin shrugged his shoulders, "Just strategy, if you know how to play one crane game, you can play them all." He grabs the toy from the slot and hands it to me. "Here, this is for you."

I grab the toy hugging it tightly to my chest, "You know, I never took you for an expert in crane games. Or any game for that matter.."

Jin chuckled at the comment, "I don't really have any interest in them. But I spent a month shadowing my grandpa's at Mishima FunLand last year. And I had to spend a lot of time in the arcade."

"The arcade, for what?"

"It was my intro to business and economics internship. For my project I had to figure out how to get more people to visit the arcade while reducing labor costs."

"And what did you come up with?"

"Simple. Get more quality prizes, but make the crane games harder so customers pay more money."

"So it's your fault, they're so hard to win!"

"The one's at Mishima FunLand, sure. This one though," Jin tapped the control panel. "I think you're just bad at this one." Jin continued laughing at my expense and there it is. His big smile. I think this version is actually the real him. The only thing I want to do is capture this feeling with him forever.