Tekken Short Stories

Deepavali

Shasha woke up early and staggered her way out of the room.
"Shasha, can you do the prayers?" Sugie asked while Shasha felt the table for her glasses.
"Yeah, sure, Mommy," Shasha said with a yawn.
"Do it without bathing," Sugie said again.
"I know, Mommy..." Shasha said again, putting her glasses on. "I'll have breakfast first."
She brushed her teeth and had a simple breakfast of cheese with bread. She was a little dismayed that there was no special breakfast, especially since it was Deepavali, the Festival of Lights.
Shasha then went to the altar and started performing the prayers before going off to shower. After that, she sat in the room and didn't come out till the guests left.

Shasha finally made her way to the living room, tired of sitting in the room all day because of guests. People say that Deepavali meant celebrating and stuff, but to her and her family, it seemed more like cleaning, cleaning, more cleaning, and then hiding in the room when came the guests. There was still good food, though.
"Mommy, no more guests, right?" Shasha asked, leaning back with a groan.
"Nope," Sugie shook her head. "Your aunt already came and went, so yeah. No one else."
Shasha heaved a sigh of relief and took her phone out to play some music on the tv. Then she opened the reading app to do a spot of reading. All of a sudden, her phone vibrated with a notification, together with the tone that came with it.
Steve Fox...
Shasha smirked and opened it. Turns out, it was a Deepavali wish from Steve.
Steve: Happy Deepavali!
Shasha: Thanks!
Steve: You guys are at home right?
Shasha: Yeah...?
Shasha: Why?
Steve: Nah just asking
There was a honk outside all of a sudden.
Sugie got off the couch and looked out the sliding glass to see who it was.
A few headfuls of blond hair got out of an SUV.
"Shasha, I think it's your friends..." Sugie frowned, turning to her.
"My friends?" Shasha repeated, confused. "Mommy, I didn't even invite anyone."
Her phone started vibrating in her hand again, playing Authentic Sky. Steve's profile picture filled the screen.
"Hello?" Shasha said as soon as she picked up.
"Yo, open the gate!" Steve said, much to her surprise. "We're outside!"
"What...?" She stood up and looked outside too. To her surprise, Steve and his parents, together with Hwoarang, were standing in front of the house gate, grinning. "The heck...?"
"Go open the gate for them," Sugie sighed.
Shasha grabbed the keys from the coffee table and opened the sliding glass and grille. She went towards the gate and opened let them in.
"Wait," Steve smirked. "There's more to come."
"What...?" Shasha said, confused.
To her shock, two more cars drove up towards her house and parked by the side of the road.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Shasha sighed under her breath.
The whole of the Mishima family, as in Jin's gang and Lee's gang, walked up towards her house, smiling.
"Hi!" Everyone greeted, waving cheerfully.
"H-How did you guys even find my house?!" Was the first thing that Shasha blurted.
"We have our sources," Nina smirked.
"I don't even want to know..." Shasha sighed.
"Hey, Shasha!" Someone suddenly exclaimed.
It was Xiaoyu. Not only did the Mishima clan's extended family come, turns out, Hwoarang and Xiaoyu tagged along too.
'Do we even have enough food for all of them...?' Shasha wondered with a gulp.
She let them in anyway.
"Have a seat," Shasha smiled, pointing towards the armchairs and sofas. "I'll go get some drinks."
Shasha rushed to her mom and asked her to bring fifteen glasses and two jugs of drinks.
"Why so much for just four people?" Sugie asked in surprise. "Are they that thirsty?"
"Mommy, just go and see how many people are sitting in the hall?" Shasha sighed.
Sugie took a peek and gasped. "Oh my god..."
"Yes..." Shasha sighed. "You think there's enough food?"
Sugie shrugged, a worried look on her face. "I'm not sure... depends on how much these people are gonna eat..."
Shasha remembered how Lars always complained about the reason he didn't like nabemono and gulped.
"I'll go get the snacks..." Shasha finally said, making her way towards the room. "Can you get the drinks?"
Shasha got the snack container and topped it up with muruku, ghee balls, and pineapple jam tarts. She also put some of her family's signature kuih gunting. She wasn't sure if they would like it since it was quite spicy.
She went back to the living room and smiled as she went towards the coffee table to put the snack tray down. To her surprise, the table was filled with tote bags. Bulging tote bags full of stuff.
"Hey, what's this?" Shasha asked, putting the tray of snacks down on the table.
"Just a little something we got for you and your family," Jun smiled. "You like taiyaki, don't you?"
"Yeah..." Shasha nodded. "But this is a little much, don't you think?"
"Oh come on, you know the Japanese custom, right?" Anna chimed in. "You have to bring a gift when visiting someone."
"That goes for us Indians too, actually," Shasha shrugged. "And all Malaysians."
"It's the Asian custom," Hwoarang chimed in proudly. "Koreans do that too."
"No one even asked you..." Jin smirked.
"Ah!" Hwoarang scowled in surprise.
Shasha chuckled. "Just give us a second, we're bringing drinks. Take some of the snacks in that container. If it isn't enough, I'll get some more. There's more where they came from."
She hurried to the dining hall and looked at the food. "Mommy, you think this is enough for all of them?"
"Take some from under the cloche," her grandmother chimed in suddenly.
Shasha nodded and went to the kitchen to add more food to the table. It was a good thing she and the rest of her family had already eaten.
She made her way back to the living room and smiled, seating herself on an extra chair since there was no space left.
"I thought you guys were Indian?" Kazuya suddenly said, crunching his teeth into the murukku. "If that's the case, then why is one JPOP song after another playing on your tv?"
He received a sharp nudge from both Jun. Lee, who sat on the armchair next to him, stepped on his foot.
"Because you're not the only one in this world who likes City Pop, Spiky," Lee pointed out with a grin. "By the way, I like this song too."
"Thanks," Shasha chuckled. "Couldn't help it."
"Can we bring some of these things home?" Adam piped up. "They're really good."
"Sure thing," Shasha nodded with a shrug. "I can't send you guys away empty-handed now, can I?"
Sugie finally came out with the drinks. She was a little bewildered to see that everyone had come, even Xiaoyu and Hwoarang.
"You guys wanna eat now?" Shasha asked, standing up. "Come on, there's biryani and rendang chicken with pepper mutton and prawn sambal."
It was a miracle that there was enough food for the big gang that came in. Shasha and her family heaved a sigh of relief. They were thinking about ordering some outside food if there wasn't enough.
"Whatever this thing is, it's really good," Hwoarang said, adding more of a red sour curry-like dish onto his plate. "What is it? Looks a little like kimchi, but doesn't taste like it."
"Nah, it isn't kimchi," Steve said. "Your kimchi is not this tasty. This one's spicy."
"That's achar," Shasha explained with a smile. "Picked vegetables. It's my grandmother's secret recipe."
"Can you pack some of that for us too?" Anna asked. "And can I have the recipe?"
"No." Shasha, her mother, and her grandmother said at once.
"It's our family recipe," her grandmother said with a smile. "I'll pack some for you guys later. How many jars?"
They started counting.
"Four," Amber said.
"Make that five," Hwoarang said. "I want one too."
"Then where does the other one fit?" Shasha asked in surprise. "You said three, so one for Auntie Jun and family, one for Anna, one for Nina and gang, one for Hwoarang then one more? Xiao?"
"No, I'll eat with auntie," Xiaoyu grinned.
"She practically has every meal in our place, so why bother?" Jin shrugged. "Two jars for us."
Shasha shook her head with a smile. "Sure, go ahead then."
"They really like the achar," Shasha's grandmother said with a grin.
And so they ate, ended up talking about something stupid that Hwoarang and Adam did, then about how much they had to beg Jin to fly to Malaysia to visit Shasha for Deepavali. It was actually quite fun, considering this was the first time Shasha ever brought in guests, even when she didn't.
At the end of the day, Shasha handed them the bags of food, together with the snacks, and bid them farewell.
They literally stayed for hours.
She returned to the living room, and to her surprise, her mother and grandmother were raiding the mass of bags that their guests brought in.
"That's a lot of stuff..." Shasha said, her eyes widening at whatever that was spread on the living room carpet. "They didn't have to be so generous..."
"Ah, we gave them a lot of food too," Shasha's grandmother said, swatting her hand at her. "They licked everything clean."
"I know," Shasha nodded. "Then they asked for the snacks and achar too."
It was a long, but fun and merry Deepavali that year. And Shasha's family got a lot of free stuff, mostly snacks, and fruits. Anna even went ahead bought her and Sugie a new dress.
They thought they were gonna keep the snacks for weeks, but it sadly didn't even last the week.

Hey guys! Deepavali is a festival celebrated by Hindus all around the world. And so, I decided to write a chapter in honour of the beautiful Festival of Lights. I want to wish everyone a Happy Deepavali to whoever who's celebrating!

ShashaMeow