So, Yu has confirmed that Chai will appear in Shenmue 3 but I'm a little confused how and why he's returning to the series. Unless it's a via a flashback, which kind of makes sense since we know that Yu will incorporate the use of flashbacks in s3. Then again, that seems like a troll move and I have my doubts that's what Yu meant when he said Chai will return in the third installment.
Many moons ago, on my first playthrough of Shenmue 2, every time the camera panned out to the highest point in cutscenes in Shenmue 2, I thought that was the cue for Chai's grand return. When I heard the Japanese voice of the Myna bird on the casette tape, I thought "Oh God, it's Chai". Even when Ryo and Shenhua took shelter in that cave in Guilin for a night and Shenhua said that another person must have stayed in the cave very recently (because of the leftover firewood), I immediately thought of Chai.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on why he's being reintroduced into the story and speculate on how he'll make his comeback.