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Being recruited meant Shu wasn't as young as Melvin had perceived. Despite of the innocence and small figure, she was at least seventeen. Withal, she learned impishness from her sister who enjoyed playing tricks on people. That side of her was well shown in the dream of Wonderland, when she was a white rabbit.

Shu didn't know Melvin's spark of thoughts about her, she tilted her head to contemplate his enquires. "Hmm, I think - she won't mind that. I don't want to be assertive, but most girls should love cute things like cute puppies, kittens or babies. Of course beautiful is a compliment every girl would love to hear, but -" she tilted her head more, "- for me, if someone use 'cute' on me, which can be used to describe things that are lovable to me, I would be happy." She said slowly as her mind operated. "In your girlfriend's case, I believe when one spend time with their loved one, they would act differently than in public. That is something I'd call 'cute'. If you think cute is not suitable, adorable is a good replacement."

"Compliment is always nice, but it's not a bad idea to use varied words. Beautiful usually associated with good appearance, you've to tell her she's more than that. Charming, smart, warm and sweet etc." She raised up and waggled her forefinger even she was holding things.

Eyes blinking, Shu seemed like she had no idea of the flashlight station. "More like can't take a bath at ease. I feel shy for others to see me naked, maybe it's the culture difference. Besides camping, I seldom need to use the public shower." She explained, face warmed. "You know the basement was once a dungeon, refurbished right? The shared bathrooms of it have showers full of rust. When you turned it on, it gives out creepy thuds, rattles, resounding shrills, malfunctioned parts alike. If you are lucky, the water is fine. If not, it might be rusty red liquids. I'm not the Blood Countess, I don't like to bath in red liquid." Her face winced. "The only option is therefore go upstairs." she sighed.

"What kind of games you used to play and what sort of books? My hobbies are more indoor, computer and video games, manga and fan frictions, and anime. I did go out with my sister sometimes for badminton or short run from time to time but not swimming, that's the only sports she's not good at." Reminiscing her sister, Shu chortled with delight. "For music, I mainly listen to pop music. I do like movies! Adventure and fantasty genre are my favourite, but I will watch those with great popularity as well like Indiana Jones, Harry Potter series, Pacific Rim or Warm Bodies."

She paused, "Yup, it's hard but Mr. Dwight had borrowed his notebook to me for anime once, and he said if I want to, I can go and watch Disney movies with him, isn't he super nice?" The petite girl beamed, hoping for agreement.

They encountered others on their way, some came out for night snacks, some ready for night shift while some just doing nothing, smoking and mingling. Two men looked at them, one nudged another and both snickered, ridiculing.

"Hmm huh," she nodded, "I'm not your girlfriend so I dunno. P-Patronizzzzzze? I-I don't mean that." She'd whispered softly, "Did I say something wrong?" while Melvin was busy in his reminiscence. <I don't know silly, I'd avoid using cute on my ladies.>

She blinked in surprise at the Life hunter's suggestion, "How can one makes it dirty? Wait, that's not the point. Thanks for that, Melvin. I hope you don't mind someone humming and singing in your future bathroom." She honestly took the offer, somehow the petite Asian enjoyed taking a shower. It was a time of relaxation, because of her small figure, she could put herself in a bubble bath in the past. It felt refreshing after a bath or shower as if it helped to wash the unhappiness all away.

"Who knows when it will be useful one day? As long as your girlfriend likes your body, muscles won't be a big problem." She mused for a while. "Hmm...a good mother wants her kids have a healthy life, that's great." She'd spent a few seconds to recall her own mother, while musing and restored listening to what he said. "Your childhood sounds so healthy and meaning." She might have blushed for such an indoor kid she was, but it wasn't obvious. "ICE! Melvin, Melvin, let me tell you, the leave I took last Christmas was the time I first saw the snow! I come from where it doesn't snow, though we've indoor skating centre and I've played a minor hockey without ice, the feeling would be so different. Melvin, are you good at skating?" She'd tried more new things she didn't in the past, before her time ended.

Shu had a feeling, one day she will die. It wasn't just a truth to her, but a belief and an coming ending of a story. "Isn't it? I was so excited throughout the movie!" She had forgotten the part of books because of the shared emotions over the nice movie. "I agree with you. I'd like to know about the An-An-Anteverse, they have the portal concept as well, just looks different from ours. And-the Precursors, do t hey have scientists like us? What's in their minds - it has too many potentials, so many things left to be explored!" Her eyes brightened up. "Did you get any of the Kaiju figurines? I think they're pretty cool." She'd closed her eyes for while, recalling some scenes from the great movie.

The steps of the girl became bouncy with her raising excitement, even the plushies hop with her as if they approved her cheerfulness. Melvin, in the short walk should realize how much she love talking, she chirped like a bird.

She'd said 'Here you're saying it, good start Melvin" but the topics of skating and Pacific Rims took top priorities. No help that she was a nerd literally.

"If you don't mind a clumsy student, we can go skating on leave." Swimming was one of her sporty sister's weaknesses, skating is another. Shu reminisced watching video of she falling on her butt, if she knew she could skate better than her, what she would say. The girl smiled tenderly, musing that her sister would grudgingly give her a thumb up.

Melvin's words brought her back, "oh ice fishing. So where were you living? A cold place similar to Russia?" Thanks to a certain anime, Russia came into mind first. "I come from a subtropical place, so the island feels like a never ending summer to me."

She pouted at his words, "Don't tease me, I do notice my hoarding is not commonly seen." The girl hearing the question scampered and called back, "Just a few steps. Here's it is." She stopped at a door scattered with glowing stickers.

"I did my best to decorate it, what do you think?" The basement revamped from a dungeon fitted words like dull, scary or boring. Although some hunters were working hard to make it more lovely, it didn't stop her from making it more. Shu opened the door widely and went to put her plushies comfortably on her small bed. It doesn't feel like a dungeon room, it felt like a normal girl's room ignoring the wall, ceiling and floor.

She ran back to take over the plushies in Melvin's laundry basket with both of her hands, hugging and piling so that her face completely hid behind them. Through the plushies, the girl asked, "Thank you Melvin, do you want to come in and rest a bit?"

The small room smelt sweet, as if it was soaked with a candy perfume but it was clean and tidy. Melvin would find the girl sat on her bed and beckoning, welcomed his entry. There were two options obviously: sit on the bed with her or sit on the chair next to a small desk. On the desk, several pencils in a small cylindrical container and a multi-layer drawer, several books that looked like from the library. If Melvin was observant, he would see a bookmark in between pages of one of them.

"Hmm, won't be as nice as your room, but please make yourself at home."

The head tilt gave Melvin the answer, she closed her eyes and pictured what Maine would look like. Lighthouse! On the shore, a nice tall white lighthouse had its lights on, guiding the ships to come back safely, a girl in a white dress stood there and looked at the sea, she seemed waiting for someone - She busily wove her own story while listening. Melvin was helpful and sincere, she was glad to meet with him. She believed they would hang out in a nice way, she was more than willing to be his company for time-killing and entertainment.

It was necessary to collect tiny bits of happiness due to the nature of their job, or they would lose themselves or get crazy. Shu worried about her friends all the time, she would be the clown if they can give her a smile. She felt painful to hear they are hurt, people around the igirl influenced her a lot.

She watched with interest when his eyes looked through from corner to corner, with a hint of uneasiness. "Sub-tropical. I lived in China, southern part of it. It has distinct four seasons but temperature in winter never drop below zero, thus we got no snow but at times hails." She grabbed a cushion and swung her dainty legs very relaxed, the number of cushion pillows were able to make a fort, or even bury herself in an ocean of them.

Age or gender didn't matter in Shu's way of making friends, she'd treated everyone equally. She peeked at Melvin, she felt like he was older than her for at least three to four years. She wasn't as worried and awkward as he did, what Melvin was thinking was excluded from her simple mind. Moreover, She never consider herself a little girl that would cause ***** problem. In reverse cases, she was used to walk in her brother's room, rolled on it and occupied it for reading purpose.

Relax Melvin, you won't commit a crime there.

"Nope, my family was super strict." A terse reply. Maybe she realized how awkward the dead air was or maybe her nerd mode was called up, the honey color in her eyes brightened up. "LONDOooooooooOooN! That-That's where the Harry Potter films were mostly shot at! The Big Ben, London Eye, Tower Bridge, the beautiful Duke Humfrey’s Library and the Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station!!!"

Shu's eyes shone like stars in amber colors, there were so many places to visit and reminisce in London. "I love the series so much. When my sisters were working on weekends, ah, their jobs are busy - I will go to the Central Library, the biggest library in my city. I will pick up a tower of books and find a quiet corner and sit for the whole day reading. Ah, Harry Potter series is extremely popular so I've to reserve the book in advance and wait for my turn to get the book." The grin on the petite Asian's face was bright and sweet as she recalled the happy moments, the beam even reached her eyes.

"Hmmm, thanks to the external missions, I got the chance to visit different places, though no time for sight-seeing usually. China.....it's very very big - so- it depends on what you want to see: scenery, historical stuff, etc. Among all, The Great Wall's always on the the must-go list. It's crawling like a giant dragon and visible from the Moon. The entire fortifications, counting all of its branches measured to be 21,196 km, it was an essential military defense against the nomadic groups from the far North." She said, shortly went on. "There's a well-known Chinese saying of 不到长城非好汉, in English it means 'He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man.' Yet, it doesn't mean what it means from the words, it was originally a metaphor meaning if you can't overcome difficulties and reach your target, then you are not a hero. It shows the upward-climbing spirit of the Chinese culture. Now, it can also be a metaphor meaning the Great Wall is somewhere you mustn't miss in life, it's one of the World Heritage, I believe you hear of it at least once?"

"Hmm, other historical sites include Terracotta Army in Xi'an and Forbidden City in Beijing. As-for-scenery, Gulin nicknamed Watery Wonder, Yellow Mountain National Park for its grotesque rock pillars, sun rises, seas of clouds, and hot springs; Hangzhou's West Lake: famous for its garden-style parks for recreation, a very relaxing tranquil place to visit. She counted her fingers as she contemplated the information in her mind, "Other places like - PANDA, the Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Centre and the night view in Hong Kong are great too!"

Shu clapped her hands, those she listed were the places she wanted to visit, her eyes as sparkle as stars in the night sky. "How about you Melvin? What have you done in Scotland and London? Scotland, hmm, I only know the castles and Loch Ness Monster myth for it, tell me more?" She turned her body aside, looking at the hunter with intensity and curiosity.

"Hehe," she blushed faintly for the compliment, "Yup~ We don't need vehicles to travel around, we've portals, they are the best transportation for us." Shu loves information, all kind of it. "Though I love slow vehicles like trams, they're the best for you to look around a place. Keeping pictures as memory store-up is a great idea, Melvin!" The petite girl approved a lot.

She chin-handed as he told the Valentines date story, it was just a few sentences, but her imagination carried her too far away. "Awww that's so romantic~" She felt like tasting honey sweet just hearing. "A Roof Top Garden! I bet it's so wonderful, imagine the warm yellow lights lit up at night and have a dinner in that ambience, It would be such a great date." She sighed dreamily, as if she was melting. Best for Melvin that she was too busy in the romance to pick up the last part, love bubbles emitted from the little head, unseen.

"J-Jail? You and Rep went to visit the medial jail?" Her face was a bit confused for men's choice of places to visit. "Can you tell me what you find it attracting?"

The discontinuation of eye contact made her follow his hands, "You enjoy tidying up things?" She spotted the plushies lined up in a way that their height ascended from the left to right very neatly. "Hmm, Japan I guess, it's the homeland of cosplay and anime culture. I would be happy to death playing new games in the game centres. As for China, those I listed are place I want to visit one day, for my curious heart."

Nonetheless, in her heart, those places were not the place she'd desperate to go to. It was her home with the cold parents and full of warm memories with her sisters as well as the hospital her brother was at she most wanted to go to but not allowed.

People said plushies had the power to calm one's mind when one cuddled or buried by a basket of them. It might be true, Shu thought while quietly observing Melvin's idle action, didn't interrupt with his reminiscence.

The petite girl didn't know his girlfriend was no longer there, in her cognition, Rin was alive and only in another base for some reasons. She hoped the fluffiness would wash away Melvin's sadness, even temporarily. If he didn't heavily aware of his manliness, she would give him one to put in his room, for mind pacifying and psychotherapy. She collected them but she didn't mind sharing them with her friends as each of them was so adorable and nice. A peek and smiled - Melvin seemed to enjoy the hand feel of it even though he didn't speak out.

Dealing with girl friends and boy friends were very different, she could just give Noemi a big suffocating hug to cheer her up, as for boys like Jordan, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Ever, Roland, Dylon or even Melvin, she couldn't shove a big fluffy plushie to their faces, it would be more like a humiliation to the man pride. Spacing out, she frowned lightly at the matter she had no idea of and not sure how to deal with.

Melvin was right, the petite Asian had the mindset of a tourist, their jails were different because of the culture. Thus, jail can be a tourist spot to visit, it felt nothing wrong to her. "Oh. Ohohoh, we would be arrested if we fight on street, but not put into jail simply for that.....um....the one you and Rep fought with was/were severely injured?" He was too busy explaining to her, she understood and put her small hand on his lap, like when a cat showed its care.

"Calm down, Melvin, no-no one says that. You're a good person and you're nice." His comment, however, made she burst in small giggles. "It's quite small in regard to your size and I share it with my arpakasso. I got a giant bear recently, about my height!" Suddenly thought of Jorb, she smiled with childish sweet glee, ah, and also Duffy, how can she forgot it. "Is it not comfortable? I know it can't be compared to the room at upper floors." She asked, slightly worried, she'd tried her best to make it less dungeon alike.

Shu looked around her small room, and mused. "Maybe....maybe I can have a on-wall shelf to put some of them?" She put her fist onto her lips, thumb pressing against the lower lip.