Chapter 14: Calm...

After startling my friend for a bit. I introduced her to Kevin and Su after classes. As you guessed, being an introvert really hampers your social skills. She was awkward as hell and quiet, staring at them then looked at me like she was asking for help. Of course, the rather astute me, ignored her silent plea.

"Oh, by the way Mei-chan here is a bit shy. So don't startle her alright." I gave Kevin a look.

Kevin: "Hey! Why are you looking at me like that." He huffed

Su: "You can be quite a bit too enthusiastic Kevin. Ein will warn you of course." Mocking him a bit.

Kevin: "Alright, alright, geez." He shrugs "You guys are too much."

Me and Su laughed.

"Ehem, let's do this again. Mei-chan, this guy with light gray hair is Su, he's an aspiring doctor. This white haired guy, is Kevin, he wants to be an elite athlete."

Kevin: "Yo." He raised his hand "Kevin, at your service. Ein's talked about you a bit, nice to meet you for the 1st time though Mei." He gave a smile.

Su: "Hello Mei, nice to meet you as well. I'm Su, it's a pleasure seeing you in person."

Mei: "Hi, I'm Mei, It's nice to meet you guys as well." she said quietly.

"Now that introductions are over. Why don't we talk more while having lunch?" I proposed

Trio: "Yeah."

As we walked to get a meal, I silently whispered to Mei "Hey, don't worry. They're good people, I think they'll be good friends with you too. Especially Su, We might get to work with him too."

She silently nodded and we arrived to a fast food chain. We ordered some food then we sat down, my portion is huge though. People gave me looks because I'm carrying a mountain of burgers on a tray.

Ein: Hey Su, you told me that you'll be a trainee at the place your parents work at? That's a pretty big hospital, you're gonna learn a lot there. Share some of your findings with me and Mei okay? She's quite interested in learning a lot after all." I tried to add her to the conversation.

Mei: "Oh, so Su will be working for atleast 2 years in the hospital? At such a big hospital too, honkai irradiated patients go there right? Do you think you can give us some papers from the research department there Su?" Then she panicked because that was a pretty tall order. "O-of course when you start to work there and if you can." She then looks at the ground embarrased.

Su: "Mei, don't worry, we still don't know if I can get some research papers there after all. But if I can access them and I can't take them home, maybe I'll make some copies." Su told the shy Mei.

Kevin: "Oh yeah, major athletes go to that hospital right? When you get in can you get me some about sports science if there are any? I think that will help me increase my times in track."

Ein: "Good idea guys, us helping each other would surely make our lives easier. You too Su, if you're stuck on something, make sure to contact us alright?"

Mei chuckles then smiles "Just like when we were little kids right Ein? But in your case you weren't little at all."

Kevin: "Yeah, he was always tall, a head taller than almost everyone I saw that was at our age."

Mei: "Right? The kids at our class were intimidated by him as well when he looks at them because he's literally looking down on the poor kids."

"What? Not easy being tall you know. Everybody looks at you and some even ask how's the weather." I grumble. "we still got some classes, we should go." Our group then left and went back to campus.

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(I'll be doing some upgrades on the stat screen, putting levels on skills, now that I have thought about it. Will possibly reflect on stats, specifically some of them like the int one. This isn't the gamer after all.)

Speaking of my development, I am now at superhuman levels.

Stats:

STR: 133

END: 142

INT: 321

DEX: 122

STA: 151

Skills:

natural elements resistance

-tolerance type skill that resist stimuli i.e. heat, cold, toxins, chemical irritants, electricity, diseases, etc.

resist physical damage

-tolerance type skill that resist physical types of damage to the body. i.e. blunt force, slashing, piercing damage, etc.

neural signal acceleration

-enhancing type skill that lets neural pathways be more efficient and faster due to increase in synaptic activity, neurotransmitter production, dendritic spines for more neuron connections, and increase myelin in axons for faster electrical signals. Gives more calculating power to the brain and increase to reflexes.

Eidetic memory

-Mental type skill that can perfectly store any information in the brain with perfect recall

Metabolic Control

-Physical type skill that can control the metabolic processes of the body i.e. hunger, hormones, heart rate, healing, anabolism and catabolism, etc.

(Basic explanation on catabolism: muscles, sugars, and fat turn to energy. anabolism: protein, sugars, minerals turn to tissue, fat, bones.)

Enhanced body

-enhancing type skill that increases the body's durability, flexibility, senses, elasticity etc. Gives: harder and denser muscles, bones. flexible joints, elastic tendons, etc.

There were some neat upgrades on my skills and stats, now I can lift 600 kgs pretty easily. (1300+ lbs for freedom units) my endurance scales with strength of course, newton's 3rd law. As for my speed, currently I can run 100 km/h casually, (60mph) upping my adrenaline and energy stores with metabolic control, I can probably double that based on my calculations, drag is a pain in the ass after all. Although, I can't keep that up for too long 15 minutes tops, my body won't be able to, for now. Not until maybe I get a skill for regeneration.

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The days go by and all 4 of us have been hanging out, playing games, studying, going out to eat, karaoke. You know? The usual, for some high schoolers. At 1st Mei was quite reluctant to play around and she insisted on staying at the dorms to study. With a bit of coaxing from me and Kevin, she did relent. I argued that her mental fatigue will catch up to her and decrease her efficiency giving some meta analyses papers about the topic. Kevin though, kept on pestering her and said that she should have fun in life by exploring things that's around us.

Damn, Kevin with the talk no jutsu. I can't believe that it worked, well I did help but still. Well he is kind of the mood maker of the group, being a charmer and all, little devil. I'm the bridge maker and adaptable type, while Su is the calm, and always cool one. Mei is quite the restrained friend always thinking 1st before making a decision. At least she started to warm up to Kevin and Su.

But a couple of times when we were together, I noticed something. Kevin was giving attention to Mei a bit more than usual, sure he's quite the busybody and he might have wanted to get along with Mei better. But I just felt like something was fishy.

At 1st he was asking Mei a lot of questions. Like what's her likes, dislikes, favorite foods, books and the like. Typical probing, then he stood near her every time, he was like a leech. He then gave Mei compliments when he thought they were alone, I led Su away from them a bit and with my acute hearing, caught him red handed.

I then talked about this to Su.

"Hey, Su, don't you think that Kevin is acting differently? Like suspicious different?"

Su: "Of course Ein, he's been trying to butter up Mei for some time now."

Ein: "And Mei doesn't know any better, she might as well be dumb as a brick in these kinds of matters." I laugh.

Ein: "Hey Su, I'm going to talk to Kevin. This might be his 1st love after all, I'm gonna talk to him and ascertain his feelings."

Su: "Sure, I'm going to distract Mei for a bit then."

As we returned to the duo, Su then started talking to Mei and distract her. I quickly take away Kevin after saying that we're gonna go to the vending machine.

Ein: "Kevin, you do know that you're pretty obvious right? Mei might not notice but we do." I raise a brow

Kevin: He gave a wry smile, he then spoke "Yeah, I know, I wasn't really trying to hide it ya know? I really like her Ein, she's just... Different, you know that all our time in even back then from middle school that girls are all over us. She's the exact opposite of those girls. Very intelligent, not frivolous, and she doesn't really care about my face."

Ein: "Hm, you gotta give me more than that."

Kevin: "Well, I like it when she thinks, looking all serious. When she's nose deep reading, she sometimes tilt her head cutely. When I tease her she pouts looking like a cute pet. And when she gives one of her rare smiles, I just feel happy." he says, all smiles.

Ein: "Okay, now that I know you're really down bad." I deadpan stare. "Me and Su will help you have time to talk to her from time to time. Make it count lover boy." I laugh

Kevin: "Thanks man, I appreciate it."

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At April 13th we planned on throwing Mei a birthday party, I booked a private room in a restaurant for a small party and I told them to set up a birthday type one.

As we wait for Mei to show up at the venue, Kevin is pretty much like a kid on a sugar rush. Saying he was excited was an understatement. He kept on pacing back and forth and fidget. It's only natural, he's planning to make his big reveal on Mei today. I just wish this doesn't blow up on his face or it'll be pretty awkward. Welp, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Mei opened the door and we immediately pop the party confetti.

Trio: "Happy birthday Mei!"

Ein: "Did you like our surprise? If I'm not wrong, you'll just skip your birthday and just go study or something." I teased.

Mei: She was shocked a bit, then it dawned on her that today was her birthday. She then chuckled and said "I suppose, thanks guys. This means a lot to me." She then smiled brightly.

Elbowing Kevin, He then quickly gets a box from the back and gave it to her.

Kevin: "We know that you won't really use conventional gifts, so we made this."

Mei received the gift and then carefully opened it. Inside, there was a framed picture and a scrap book. It was a picture of the four of them standing at the front gates of Senba. She then took the scrap book and opened it, inside were more pictures with a time and place indicated just above it. Looking below she saw some text that says what they were doing at the time.

Mei then slowly flipped page after page and she then becomes silent, looking at the ground. We then heard sniffles and before we can ask if she was ok she said. "You guys, I'll treasure this forever." She then looked at us with gratitude.

I laughed and said "Now, why don't we take another picture? Then we'll add it later to the rest." We took a picture and we proceeded with the party.

I gave a look to Su and Kevin.

"Su, let's go outside for a bit and ask about the cake." I then gave Kevin a thumbs up as we went out. "Hah, I just wish that Kevin will succeed. He's been trying to get closer to Mei for a few months now, that will probably bump up his success."

Su: "Yeah, try not to worry. He won't go on with this if he feels like he'll fail, have some confidence in him and his charm." Su smiled.

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Kevin Pov

Alright, Ein and Su gave me the chance, It's show time.

"Hey Mei, happy birthday again! I'm glad that you really liked our gift." He gave a starter.

Mei: "Un, my past birthdays were pretty boring after all, or my parents forgot about it and just gave me some books after the next few days." She gives a wry smile.

Kevin: "Well, at least you have us now to celebrate your birthdays." he said with a toothy smile, lightening the mood.

Mei: "Yeah, thanks for cheering me up Kevin."

Kevin: "Hey, just curious. When we met, you told me that your dream was to get into fire moth and be researchers with Ein. Do you have any others?"

Mei: After pondering for a bit. She says "Well, I think I do have another one now too." She smiles "Maybe I'll try discover and enjoy more things in life just like what you told me back then. Life has been so colorful and fun when you guys came. I then thought that there's so much more out there besides reading and researching."

Kevin became silent for a bit, steeling his resolve he then says. "Why don't we have fun and enjoy life more with me, We'll find it all, have a fulfilling life." He smiles brightly at her.

Mei: "I don't quite understand. What do you mean Kevin, why are you excluding Su and Ein." she frowned.

Kevin: "No!" he exclaimed with panic "I don't mean it like that. I just wanna tell you that... That I love you, I want to spend more time with you, just the two of us. I'd like to know more about you. Talk with you, listen to your scientific advances even though I don't understand most of it. See your absolutely stunning smile. I'd love to be with you, for a long, long time." He looked at Mei's eyes full of affection.

Mei then got startled and looked at him with her mouth agape. She quietly thought for a minute all the things they've been doing the past few months, his bright and cheery attitude, his passion about the things that he likes, his teasing that irritates her to no end. And the smile on his face that oozes joy and positivity.

She then looked at him, her mind made up.

"Kevin." She pauses and he silently waits. "Sorry." She says, the light in his immediately dimmed and his shoulders slumped as he looked down. "But you'll have to take me on a date first before you get together with me mister." She smirks at him.

Kevin suddenly props up instantly and looks at Mei, then he smiled so widely it almost reached his ears. He bolted up and hugged Mei quickly "Yeah! we'll be going on a date you'll never forget! Believe it!" (cough cough, I just couldn't resist.) He then took a quick kiss on her forehead, making her blush instantly. "Heh, I see that little Mei is still a bit shy." He said sounding smug with a shit eating grin

Mei: "Hmph! You bastard! Go and fall in a ditch somewhere, see if I care." She glared

Kevin: "Hahaha, sorry, sorry. I was just so happy I can't resist." He then stared at her eyes, "I promise Mei, I'll make you the happiest girl ever."

Mei blushed "Un, you better!"

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With Ein and Su

"Hey Su, let's go back. We've been gone for 30 minutes, Kevin Isn't the type that will go blank to a confession and stutter all over the place."

Su: Nodding "Yeah, come on. Let's go see the good news." He said smiling, thinking of Kevin's confidence and social skills.

As we returned with the cake in the room, we saw them sitting next to each other and talking animatedly. I can see that their hands are under the table. Ooh, Kevin going in for the kill huh.

Ein: "Yo, we got the cake birthday girl, now make a wish and blow the candles."

Su: "Come on Mei, make a wish now."

Mei closed her eyes for a bit and then blew the candles. She then looked at us one by one. "Thanks again guys. I really enjoyed today, You guys are the best, love you guys." She said with appreciation. We then all hugged her and we end the party on a positive note.

Ein: "By the way, what did you wish for?"

Mei: "That every day would be as happy as today." She then gave a beautiful smile.

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Hi guys! Thanks for reading, 1st of all, I changed the skills and removed levels. I was painstakingly thinking on what to do with the percentage boosts, but then I realized that this isn't a gamer fic sooo.

Kevin and Mei's romance sails! I hope you guys don't think it's forced or anything. I don't really read romance novels so I think I'm not specialized in writing it.

Thanks for the support!