11 THE SPARRING MATCH
Choe Yong-gon took a cigarette out – an expensive local brand named "7.27", Shinsou noted – and lit it with a sleek, black lighter.
"Good evening, Yeonha-ya," he said through a cloud of smoke, glancing at them as they got into the elevator.
"Abeonim," Yeonha greeted him.
"Who's this?" enquired Choe, looking at Shinsou.
"He's the son of Eomma's old friend from Japan who came to visit," said Yeonha, nervously.
The elevator reached the tenth floor, and they got out.
"Old friend?" said Choe, looking appraisingly at Shinsou, "Where's this old friend, then?"
"He and Eomma are in the apartment," said Yeonha, eyes downcast.
"Ah, she sent you out, did she?" said Choe. He blew out another cloud of cigarette smoke.
"No, I brought oppa here to have a look at the jangmadang," said Yeonha, quickly.
"Well, let's go in, then, shall we?" said Choe, expansively.
Nakajima and Park Soojin were sitting in the living room, talking. The latter went pale when she saw Choe.
"Yong-gon oppa," she said, rising.
"I see you have company, Soojin-ya," said Choe smoothly, "Why don't you introduce us?"
"This is an old friend from Japan, Han Kyung-ju," said Park Soojin nervously, "He's a sailor. His ship the Kirogi has docked here, and he and his son came to pay a visit."
Choe Yong-gon bowed, and so did Nakajima. Shinsou was wondering whether Choe would see through Nakajima's disguise.
"Kirogi, eh?" said Choe, "Now, that comes from Niigata City, doesn't it?"
"It does," said Nakajima, calmly.
"You must be a Zainichi Korean too, then," said Choe, "I was in Japan, long ago, with Soojin here. We must have met. I'm sure I'll be able to recall who you are, after a while."
"Unlikely," said Nakajima, "we probably moved in quite different circles, there."
"You remind me of someone I used to spar with, there," remarked Choe, looking carefully at him, "I can recall it clearly, although it was many years ago."
"Perhaps that must be because the outcome of the matches was not as desired?" said Nakajima, quietly.
Choe's face darkened.
"I won," he snapped, "I always win. Do you know martial arts, Kyungju-ssi?"
Yeonha was listening, her eyes wide. Park Soojin was looking tense.
"I know a little," said Nakajima, smiling slightly, "I would be happy to help you relive those sparring days, if you wish."
"Then no doubt your son here is also well-versed in those arts," purred Choe, looking at Shinsou.
"Yong-gon oppa, please – " Park Soojin began, looking worried.
"Yeonha here has been learning taekwondo for the last two years," said Choe smoothly, ignoring her, "I arranged the lessons specially for her. Perhaps she and your son can have a little match, now."
"Oh, abeonim, I'm sure that's not necessary," said Yeonha softly, looking distressed.
"Come, Yeonha-ya, you know that is my criterion for all the boys I see you with," said Choe, "I always make them spar with you. If they lose, they're not worthy of you."
"But I'm not dating Youngjae, or anything," protested Yeonha, flushing pink, "He came to visit, that's all. And besides, it's such an unfair criterion. Many people here have not learned martial arts. I'm sure Youngjae-oppa here hasn't."
"I haven't," agreed Shinsou.
"He has," said Nakajima, at the same time.
He and Shinsou looked at each other. Shinsou had been thinking that an ignorance of martial arts might lower Yeonha's opinion of him, and that this was a chance to resurrect his vapid strategy.
Nakajima, on the other hand, was interested to see how well his daughter could fight. He didn't seem terribly concerned that his trainee might get beaten up.
"Well!" said Choe, his eyes glittering unpleasantly, "One says he has, one says he hasn't. Which is it?"
"I know a little," admitted Shinsou. He decided that losing to Yeonha would do for his strategy, as well. He wondered whether this would displease Nakajima. But surely, he reasoned, his supervisor wouldn't mind seeing his daughter win.
All of a sudden, the surroundings around them blurred. Shinsou was startled; he had a slight feeling of disorientation. When things came into focus again, they were standing in semi-darkness. There was enough light filtering in from the street outside to show that they were no longer in the apartment, but in what looked like a shabby indoor sports hall.
"My apologies if I've startled our guests," said Choe in his smooth manner, "I happen to have a Warp Gate Quirk, and this is the training hall of a school not too far from Soojin's apartment. It should be a suitable place for sparring."
He walked to a light switch nearby and flicked it, so that the hall was dimly illuminated by several bare, flickering light bulbs.
Yeonha glanced helplessly at Shinsou; it was obvious that she didn't want to fight.
Shinsou nodded at her, and took his jacket and shoes off, although it was cold. She did the same, and they then faced each other. He was wondering how quickly he should lose to her, and whether he could do it without making it too obvious, when he felt that peculiar surge of emotion well up within him again.
He glanced at Park Soojin. Shinsou didn't realise it, but because his own Quirk involved the mind, he was more receptive to her thoughts and feelings than the others were.
Park Soojin was looking at Choe and Nakajima, and was thinking about how she had left Japan suddenly without telling the latter, and how much she had regretted it in the end. She was reliving all the hurt and disappointment she had experienced ever since she had come to North Korea.
As Soojin looked at Choe, Shinsou realised that she feared and also hated him. She was observing Yeonha and Shinsou preparing to spar, and she did not see them, but Choe and Nakajima instead. Yeonha represented Choe, who was rooting for her, and Shinsou embodied Nakajima. Park Soojin wanted Shinsou to win, so that Choe would be beaten.
Shinsou felt all these thoughts within a split second. In that moment, he felt Soojin's pain, and he pitied her. He hesitated suddenly, wondering whether he should to try to win, for her.
Yeonha was looking at Shinsou, her eyes wide. They began circling each other. He decided to test her first, to see what her skills were like. She had been training much longer than he had, and perhaps she would defeat him right away. But if she didn't, perhaps he might be able to win one or two rounds for her mother.
However, in the end there was basically no fight. Shinsou might not have been learning martial arts as long as Yeonha had, but he had been spending the last few months sparring intensively with black belts almost daily. Not only that, but his experiences in Yuuei and his hero training had conditioned him to fight.
He blocked and dodged her kicks and strikes fairly easily, and he discovered that the best time to attack was when she had completed her kick but had not yet recovered from her attacking momentum. A simple foot sweep then sufficed to send her to the ground.
He did this twice, and Yeonha's eyes widened as she gradually realised that he was more than a match for her. She began to look tense, and started to attack more aggressively.
Shinsou kept calm and focused. To him, this was no more than another sparring session, like the hundreds he'd had with the Shinagawa group or with Kaneshiro. It made no difference to him if he won or not. If he won, it was for Park Soojin. If he lost, it would be in line with his strategy to appear weak.
He avoided attacking Yeonha with any of the more aggressive punches or kicks, and instead focused on knocking her off her feet. After the fifth time, however, she began to look really frightened, and although it was cold, sweat began to trickle down her face. Shinsou saw her glance at Choe.
He turned to look, as well. Choe was looking absolutely furious.
Shinsou glanced at Nakajima and Park Soojin. Yeonha's mother was no longer projecting her feelings onto him. She was looking anxious, and her face mirrored the fear in her daughter's. Nakajima had taken in the entire situation and, looking at Shinsou, gave a slight shake of the head.
Shinsou realised that both Park Soojin and Yeonha were afraid of Choe, and that if Yeonha lost in the sparring, she was going to have to face his anger. He realised belatedly too that Choe was not going to let the sparring end until she had won at least one round; and that the more she lost to Shinsou, the worse her punishment was going to be.
He was going to have to let her win.
His eyes met Yeonha's, and he gave a slight nod, as if telling her to make her move. He let her kick take him, so that in a second he was lying on the ground.
He lay there for a few seconds, and then sat up.
Choe had come over, his face set in anger. Yeonha stood, looking at him in trepidation.
"Do you think I am stupid?" he said furiously, "He let you win!"
Yeonha was trembling. Choe's eyes flashed. "You are going to have to work harder! Much, much harder!"
"Yes, abeonim," she whispered.
"Youngjae," Shinsou heard Nakajima calling, "it's time for us to go."
Shinsou picked his jacket up and put it on, and his shoes as well, and then walked over to his supervisor, not looking at Yeonha or the livid Choe.
Nakajima nodded to Soojin and said softly, "I'll see you," and then made his way over to the exit nearby. The door was locked, but he took some sort of tool from his pocket, and picked it without much difficulty. They then went out into the cold night.
They made their way out of the school grounds and onto the road. Nakajima looked around, evidently searching for a place where he could make them both invisible. He started heading for the nearest alley.
"Was it wise, picking the lock so easily?" asked Shinsou, quietly.
"There are people around enough who know how to open locks," said Nakajima, "and anyway, Choe guessed who I am. Wasn't it obvious? Fortunately, he's as out of shape as I am, which is why he didn't accept the offer to spar with me. He could report me, of course – a Japanese agent, caught on North Korean soil! I'd be executed publicly in the blink of an eye. But I know him – he wants to prove he still has the upper hand with Soojin over me, and show her that he's better than me. He's lost the first round, with this sparring match. He'll be planning how to win the next. I don't think he'll give me away for the time being."
"He seems to know about the Kirogi," commented Shinsou, "He knew where it sailed from, and that the crew are Zainichi Koreans."
"I noticed that, too," admitted Nakajima, "I'd wager he's the one teleporting those crates from the ship away. Warp Gate Quirks are rare, and I'd be surprised if there was another person in the country with one. It seems very odd, though – I can't imagine why Choe would be interested in something as menial as bottled water. He'd be into bigger things. I'd better get down to the bottom of this the next time the ship comes into port."
At this moment, they heard soft, running steps, and then Yeonha suddenly materialised in front of them.
"Yeonha?" said Nakajima. There was a curious expression on his face, seeing his daughter displaying his own Quirk.
"Abeonim, oppa, will you be coming to see us again?" she asked, sounding out of breath.
Shinsou looked at Nakajima.
"We will, the next time our ship comes here," replied Nakajima, "in about a month's time."
She smiled, then.
"I'm glad," she said, sincerely, "Thank you for coming. Abeonim, thank you for the book."
"Yeonha-ya," said Nakajima sternly, "You shouldn't be showing us your Quirk. It's dangerous!"
"But you know about my Quirk," said Yeonha, still breathing hard from catching up with them, "Eomma said she told you!"
"Well, make sure you don't tell others, and don't let people see you using it!" said Nakajima.
"Yes, abeonim," she said, obediently.
She cast a shy glance at Shinsou. "Oppa, thank you for the jacket." She then gave a small wave of farewell, and before he could reply, she disappeared again.
A few seconds later, Shinsou felt something small and hard being pressed into his pocket. He felt Yeonha's invisible self brush past him, and then she was gone.
Nakajima shook his head at his daughter's reckless use of her invisibility, and seeing Shinsou looking back, turned to look as well, even though neither of them could see her.
"She should be more careful," he said.
Shinsou waited until they had returned to the Kirogi and he was back in his cabin, before taking the object out of his pocket. It was a black cigarette lighter, and it looked exactly like the one that Choe had been using.
He turned it around in his hands, puzzled. Had Yeonha stolen it from Choe's pocket after becoming invisible? Why would she want to give it to him? Shinsou didn't have the faintest clue. To show him that she didn't mind him beating her, and that she was on his side, not Choe's? Or did she think that he looked like someone who smoked?
It wasn't until he tried to give the lighter to Kaneshiro, back in Tokyo, that any sort of answer came to him.
.
.
The weather during the journey back to Japan was unsettled, and the ship rolled a fair bit. Shinsou, bringing bottled water to the galley as usual, was transfixed to see Lee, the assistant cook, following a flustered and seasick Ryoko around, talking at full speed, with various pots and utensils hovering about them in the air.
"What's happening?" he asked Ryoko, when she had joined him in the side room where the water was kept, looking rather green.
"It turns out he has a telekinetic Quirk," she said, looking as if she didn't know whether to be pleased or not, "he told me he can't move very heavy things, the most perhaps a fat person; but he's been helping me whenever I drop something, by making it hover before it hits the ground." She looked embarrassed.
"Considering how clumsy you are, that sounds exactly like what you need," Shinsou pointed out, "in which case, this guy certainly seems ideal for you!"
"Miaow, don't even suggest it, I can't stand him!" said Ryoko, indignantly. Then she remembered something. "How did things go, with Nakajima's daughter?"
"Nothing much happened," said Shinsou shortly, and promptly changed the subject. "Stop saying 'miaow'; you don't even have a cat's head at the moment. And have you been taking your seasick pills? You're looking awful."
"I know," she moaned, "I feel awful." Then she clapped her hand over her mouth, and ran outside to throw up.
Otherwise, the journey back to Niigata City was uneventful. Hwang, under cover of darkness, again transformed the ship from the Kirogi back into the white Shiramine, and as it sailed into the port of Niigata, Shinsou was able to reflect that they had managed to survive the first trip intact, at any rate.
.
.
He and Ryoko eventually found themselves back at the Directorate, attending training sessions again.
Shinsou decided that he'd had enough of Kim seon-saeng-nim, and brainwashed the teacher for one and a half hours while he did his own self-study. He only woke Teacher Kim up for the last half hour. This was too obvious for the Korean tutor to miss noticing, and realising what his student was doing, he lost his temper and dragged Shinsou to see Kaneshiro, declaring that he wasn't going to teach him any more.
Kaneshiro seemed to have been expecting that this would happen. He listened to Teacher Kim's diatribe politely, and when the teacher had stormed off, simply told a defiant-looking Shinsou that he might as well discontinue the Korean language sessions, since they obviously weren't doing him any good. Nakajima had mentioned that if Shinsou was going to blend in with the locals in Wonsan, he was going to have to acquire a North Korean accent. In place of his lessons with Teacher Kim, therefore, he was to have extra sessions with Makeover Girl. It might have been good if Shinsou had acquired the accent from the beginning, but it hadn't been possible to find a Korean language tutor that could teach in it.
Shinsou didn't mind having to do a bit of unlearning. It would have been very confusing interacting with the church Kims if he'd been learning Korean with a northern accent. He was going to have to learn how to switch between a South Korean and North Korean accent, though, if he wanted to continue going to the church basement on Sundays.
Makeover Girl's Quirk was not disguises, but one that enabled her to speak any and every language, which included dialects and different accents. She had trained most of the agents in the Directorate who were based overseas and required speech training in foreign languages. She had a discussion with Shinsou as to whether he should learn the Wonsan accent, for within North Korea, as anywhere else, people from different regions spoke differently. In the end they decided that he should try speaking like someone from Pyongyang, because Makeover Girl felt it would be more practical.
"If you're based in North Korea you'll probably end up in the capital, sooner or later," she said, "and since Wonsan is a tourist resort, plenty of people from Pyongyang go there. You can start off with this, and then branch off to other accents if you have to."
For homework, she recorded several sets of tapes of herself speaking in that accent for him, and told him that the more he listened to them, the easier it would be for him to imitate it.
She shook her head. "We've got plenty of work to do," she said, "there are quite a lot of differences in vocabulary as well, between the North and South. Tell Kaneshiro to speak like a North Korean when he talks to you in Korean from now on. He's quite good at it."
Kaneshiro had, of course, asked Shinsou for a debrief, and said that they might as well incorporate it into one of their Korean-speaking sessions. If it had not been for this, Shinsou would probably have given a far shorter account of the trip to his supervisor. But because this was their topic of conversation for the Korean-speaking session, he found himself telling Kaneshiro about the journey in detail.
Besides describing the Shiramine and his impressions of Wonsan, Shinsou admitted that the experience had changed his opinion of Nakajima. Not only had his supervisor been totally sober throughout the entire trip, but he had also shown himself to be a competent and professional operative. He had immediately familiarised himself thoroughly with the ship and everyone on board, and later in Wonsan he had been alert and observant.
How observant, Shinsou had only realised from the conversation between the other two agents during the walk around Wonsan. At Dongmyong Hotel, Shinsou had thought that Nakajima would have been preoccupied with getting along with Park Soojin; but he had later commented to Watanabe about the hotel, comparing it in detail to what he remembered of it years ago, and he had also taken note of every single customer in the restaurant and estimated where they hailed from.
It was the same throughout the day. Nakajima and Watanabe might be having some conversation, but they were also constantly taking note of their surroundings and the people around them. They would quietly comment later on the way people had behaved and what they had been wearing, down to small details like whether someone had dirty fingernails, the brand of shoes being worn or how the South Korean style of hanbok – or Korean traditional dress – was appearing more frequently in the North now (the North's hanbok jacket had a narrow 'dongjeong', or collar, and was of a single colour; South Korean hanboks had wider dongjeong and were of multiple colours). They did this not because they were interested in fashion, but because it was necessary that they stay up to date if they were to put together a good disguise.
Nakajima could speak like a North Korean as well, and he had shown Shinsou that he could impersonate someone local to Wonsan, or someone from the capital Pyongyang (including the slightly more haughty bearing) or a farmer from the rural areas. He had invisibly "borrowed" a yangbok from a clothes stall in the jangmadang and acted as a Pyongyangite, buying drinks from a kiosk using the correct accent and bearing; and he had later changed into the shabby clothes of a country bumpkin, and done likewise.
He could also change disguises while invisible, applying the makeup and prosthetics even when he couldn't see himself. Competent agents, he informed Shinsou, most of whom couldn't make themselves invisible, should be able to put on a new disguise even in the dark.
Shinsou didn't bother to tell Kaneshiro about Park Soojin or Yeonha, since in his opinion Nakajima's personal affairs didn't constitute work. However, since he didn't smoke, he did try to unload Yeonha's cigarette lighter onto his supervisor.
"Oh, and by the way, I don't suppose you want a lighter," he said to Kaneshiro, taking Choe Yong-gon's lighter out, "Nakajima's daughter pinched it from his rival and gave it to me when we left."
To Shinsou's astonishment, Kaneshiro laughed.
"She gave you a lighter, eh?" he said.
"Yes," Shinsou admitted cautiously, "what about it?"
"It may not mean anything, of course," said Kaneshiro, looking amused, "but the women there sometimes like getting a lighter as a present for their boyfriends, even if the boyfriend doesn't smoke. It's supposed to symbolize the burning love that they have for each other."
"Oh," said Shinsou. He didn't know what else to say.
"You must have hit it off with her," remarked Kaneshiro.
"I don't think so," said Shinsou, trying to think back on what had happened. "I only visited for about two hours."
"Well, what did you do?" asked Kaneshiro.
Shinsou briefly recounted what had happened.
"So, first you loaned her your jacket, enduring the cold yourself, and then you bought her a stylish and expensive jacket, used your Quirk to find seats so that you could have a drink together, and sparred with her, making it obvious that you let her win when you could have beaten her," Kaneshiro summarised. "I don't suppose you know that that's what courting couples often do over there – go shopping at the jangmadang. If the girl sees something she likes, the boy may buy it for her."
"It seemed like such a cheap market compared to the stores here, it didn't occur to me," said Shinsou, subdued. He would never have brought Ayumi on a date to a market like that. "And I didn't have much choice in the matter. Nakajima indicated he wanted me to buy her a jacket, and to let her win in the sparring."
"You could have bought her a cheap jacket, and kept her standing while having the drinks," said Kaneshiro, "You could also have stood in bored silence while having drinks, but it sounds as if you had a fairly interesting conversation with her."
Shinsou looked at his supervisor for a few moments.
"I guess I'm not a very good actor," he said, at last.
"Possibly not," said Kaneshiro. He looked at Shinsou. "Why don't you just give up and be friends with her, and do what Nakajima wants?"
"The lighter may not mean anything," Shinsou stubbornly insisted, avoiding the question, "It did seem as if she doesn't like Choe very much."
"Perhaps," said Kaneshiro, "but it could also be that she's telling you that you light her fire." He soon left the room, still looking amused, and Shinsou had the distinct feeling that his supervisor was laughing at him.
.
.
The remainder of the month flew past, and before everyone knew it, it was time to board the Shiramine again.
The second journey was similar to the first, in that there was only bottled water in the hold. It was colder, however, for winter was setting in. The sea was choppy, and the ship's rolling motion resulted in severe seasickness for Ryoko.
Shinsou had lookout duty from eight to midnight again, and was still being paired with a senior watchstander who allowed him to occasionally take a break. Since the weather was cold, he decided to walk around the lower deck instead of wandering out to the bow of the ship as he normally might.
It was eleven at night, so no one was around, and the deck was almost in darkness. Even so, Shinsou had a feeling that someone was there.
"Youngjae," he heard Nakajima's voice, "anything to report?"
"Nothing," answered Shinsou, "I've brainwashed all the crew again, just like last time, and no one knows of any hidden cargo."
"All right," said Nakajima, "I'm off, then. But you'd better stay a few minutes more. You're going to have a visitor."
"Visitor?" said Shinsou, surprised.
"That pesky assistant cook," said Nakajima, sounding amused, "he's concealed himself in a garbage bin and has been muttering to himself all night, wondering whether to go up near the bridge to look for you. He sounds as if he wants to ask you for Hirano's hand in marriage."
"What?!" said Shinsou, wondering if he had heard aright.
Nakajima chuckled.
"You'll see," he said, "He certainly breathes new life into the word 'peculiar'. I'm beginning to think that he and Hirano are made for each other. Enjoy the sight while you can. How often do you see a levitating garbage bin that talks to itself?"
"Levitating garbage bin?" said Shinsou, nonplussed. But Nakajima was gone.
Shinsou paced around for another minute, and sure enough, in the distance he thought he saw a little bit of darkness detach itself from its surroundings and make its way toward him.
The bit of darkness eventually revealed itself to be a floating garbage bin. It silently made its way over to Shinsou, and landed with a soft *plonk* on the floor. Lee's head presently emerged from its depths.
"Youngjae-ssi!" he hissed, in a penetrating whisper.
"What are you doing inside that bin?" demanded Shinsou.
"Shh!" whispered Lee, peering around as if he was afraid he would be seen. "I wanted to do this discreetly, so I hid myself in here and telekinetically moved the bin around!"
"A floating dustbin is going to attract more attention than if you'd simply moved around like a normal human being," Shinsou pointed out, wondering if Lee was mad.
"Youngjae-ssi, I need to talk to you," whispered Lee, looking around in a furtive manner.
"What about?" said Shinsou, not too pleased, "I'll need to get back to the bridge soon. I'm supposed to be on watch."
"It's about Jiyeon," said Lee, in a bashful tone of voice.
"Well, what about her?" asked Shinsou.
"I know that there's something going on between the two of you," announced Lee.
"You do, do you?" said Shinsou, amused, "Well, what about it?"
"I've got to let you know," whispered Lee in a conspiratorial tone, "you're being deceived!"
"Am I?" said Shinsou indifferently, "in what way?"
"She's not what you think she is!" hissed Lee, looking around again as if afraid they would be overheard, "in reality, she has the head of a cat!"
Shinsou groaned inwardly. That little nitwit, he thought furiously, she forgot to take her hairs!
"How do you know?" he asked.
"She can shapeshift!" hissed Lee, "She's been eating someone's hair to impersonate that person, but she forgot this afternoon and transformed back into her real self!"
"Was anyone else around when it happened?" asked Shinsou, privately deciding that he was going to strangle Ryoko.
"No," said Lee, "and she was horrified when she realised that I had seen her true self, but I assured her, on my honour, that I would keep her secret!"
"Good of you," remarked Shinsou, "Did she tell you why she was disguising herself?"
"No," said Lee commiseratingly, "but I guessed right away. She thinks she looks ugly as a cat, and so she's chosen to hide her true appearance!"
"Hm," said Shinsou, relieved that at least Lee, at any rate, had found a story to cover things up.
"I think she looks prettier as a cat," said Lee passionately, "and I told her so. But she continued looking distraught. Anyway, I know not everyone might think like me, so I decided I had better let you know."
"Well, you're quite right," agreed Shinsou, "I don't think I'd be interested in anyone who has a cat's head."
"You mean, you'll let me have her?" said Lee, in disbelief.
"Certainly," said Shinsou, glancing at his watch, "she's all yours."
"Oh, thank you, thank you, Youngjae-ssi!" said Lee, sounding overjoyed, "I can't believe this is happening!"
"Neither can I," said Shinsou, eyeing the garbage bin.
"But, Youngjae-ssi, she likes you," added Lee despairingly, "What shall I do? I just can't compete with you. You're tall and hunky. I'm just a puny little runt – "
"You'll do fine," Shinsou assured him, "just stop spouting politics to her. Flatter her instead. Tell her she's beautiful, clever, talented … even if you don't think it's true."
Lee was listening earnestly.
"Beautiful, clever, talented," he ticked them off on his fingers. "I'll remember that."
"Her dream is to run her own ryokan, so maybe you could buy her one," said Shinsou, who obviously wasn't taking the issue very seriously.
"Ryokan," said Lee, ticking off another finger, his eyes bulging slightly.
"Oh, and when you finally do propose, do it at the summit of Mt Fuji," added Shinsou.
"Mt Fuji," said Lee fervently, ticking off a final finger.
Shinsou looked at him, wondering if this conversation was really happening.
"What do you see in her?" he was unable to resist asking.
Lee clasped his hands.
"I don't know," he whispered ecstatically, "it's one of those things you can't explain. When I first saw her, I knew she was the one for me!"
"I've really got to get back to the bridge," said Shinsou, deciding that he'd heard enough.
"Yes, yes, time for me to make a triumphant and stealthy exit as well," whispered Lee, dramatically.
He disappeared back inside the bin, and it presently rose up and, hovering about a foot or so above the ground, started floating away into the darkness.
As he watched the dim silhouette of the bin making its furtive way back along the deck, Shinsou couldn't help agreeing that Lee gave new meaning to the word 'peculiar'. And, although he knew that the cat girl wouldn't thank him for it, he couldn't help also concurring with Nakajima that Ryoko and Lee were each so eccentric in their own ways, that they probably deserved each other.