At last non-hospital FRESH air in my lungs...

I just came out of the hospital today and the doctor told me that I'd be getting the results sometime tomorrow. I may be able to update three days from now (F&L and VC) but I don't want to make definite promises. I'm not really sure but the chapter's ready and I just have to do the [TAG]s stuff.

Thanks for the endless e-mails and PMs. I really appreciate it.

-Hiro

Update about Delayed Updates

To readers of F&L and VC:

I've updated Vena Cava recently and for those who have read it, thanks for dropping by. Hope you liked the little glimpse I gave you about Sue's 'special ability'. I've read very intelligent guesses from Soompi Forums and I'm glad some had actually hit the jackpot. But that's just a little taste of her 'powers'. The plot itself will be a bit crazier than that, hehe.

Regarding F&L2, I'm suppose to post an update within the week but I don't think I would be able to do so. With this, I apologize to the readers who are anticipating Chapter 56. I made this blog entry with Meia's help because my whole arm is numb. I had a CT scan yesterday to see if the numbness has anything to do with my past injury or if it neurological (I'm praying its not). Because of this, I'm taking a temporary one week (or two) break from gradschool and the computer so I apologize if I can't put up the chapter this week as expected.

But Chapter 56 is going to be cool. I'll post it up as soon as I can get by ass back to work up the final edits. Not this week though... hopefully next week.

Thank you for the patience and continued support :)

Chapter 55: Camera

Chapter 55 was originally 50 pages long, but after about three rounds of editing, I made a decision to cut the chapter to 6,000+ words, keeping it as 'less brain-frying' as it could be. My decision to place Chapter 55: Camera where it should be is to keep the plot sequence at balance. So many puzzles, revelations, and bombs have been launched in the past couple of chapters. Because of this, I believe that this is the best time to insert a 'lighter' chapter and at the same time re-enforce, mend, and strengthen relationships between the characters. I hope it worked, hehe.

Don't ask where I got the jokes. (But if you want more, I can tell you MORE. E-mail me? Haha.)

From here on, I'm going to intensify things a bit. Hold on to your seats. It's going to be one hell of a ride. I'm pretty excited about it.

Thanks for the amazing support.


-The Author

For Hiro's Fried Friends, hehe...

(This post was copy-pasted from Soompi Forums)

Hey there, F&L reader. Hope your brain is still okay, hehe.

We’re getting to the end… slowly and bombing and frying, but getting there. As early as now, I wanna bow down to you guys to thank you for your amazing support.

I thought that it would be good if I post these replies first before releasing the next chapter. This would help to ease the confusion you may have in mind. If you have any more questions or if there is something I missed, feel free to post/PM/email me and I’d be more than happy to reply.

Plot-related questions

[nganrinat0r]
The inside story about chris shocked crosse, is he just playing along or does he not really know about chris. So, crosse knows that the vault is empty and wasn’t it revealed in the previous chapter that the other vault was in China, so why is he still questioning ayane about the whereabouts. Unless ayane transfer the rest of the money somewhere else as well as the stuff in the china vault.

x3_b3b3
The place where Kosuke's mother trained at...did Crosse train there too? Since in the other chapter, Yuken told Ayane that he met Crosse in China. && Crosse was Spectra's assassin right?

Remember that during those eight years between Book 1 and Book 2, Crosse and Ayane were away from each other. Crosse was in China (as revealed in the chapter ‘Wits, Words, Weapons, and Wine’ – now can it be possible that this will answer miss x3_b3b3’s question above?), while Ayane stayed with Yoshifumi Rei in Switzerland. Although it has already been revealed that Crosse planned a ‘grand revenge plan’ (which are now being revealed in the past few chapters, mostly in Sessions Part 8), Crosse has NOT been aware of several things regarding the Silver Crescent Gang – Chris Glasgow’s identity and the Silver Crescent Vault’s partitioning, for instance.

About the money transfer, it has been revealed in Chapter 51 too that Ayane partitioned the wealth inside the Silver Crescent Vault in Switzerland. For purpose of recall about the Vault, you may read my old author note (Anti-confusion for the Brain-Fried – see my blog http://hiro-0911.blogspot.com).

The China/Great Wall Vault (Golden Crescent Vault) is different from the Swiss Vault (Silver Crescent Vault) and is also different from the Japan/Tsuzuya Academy Vault (Crescent Vault).

The Vault that Hiro and Kosuke visited in the previous chapter in China is the Golden Crescent Vault.

The one owned by Ayane in Switzerland is the Silver Crescent Vault.

The Vault in Japan underneath Tsuzuya Academy is the Crescent Vault, which is also the one that Yamazaki Daisuke (Kosuke’s prime minister father) seized several years ago when he took over the Crescent and established the Spectra.

Now this leads us to this question:

fuuko-chan
If the Golden Crescent necklace that Daisuke have obtained when he "killed" Gendou is fake, how did he access the vault in Tsuzuya? What's weirder is that, he didn't have the Silver Crescent necklace nor the Silver Disk, right? So... how did he...D: And that was also the necklace given to Kosuke, that he gave to Ayane when they were in high school. So, she also managed to open the Swiss (and probably China too) Vault with a fake Golden Crescent necklace? The fake ones aren't supposed to work, right? @__@ Or they function the same as the original?

This is a very good question, but if you look more closely, the answer is also very simple. I’ll give some clues, but I won’t spill it out because it’s cooler if you guys figure it out on your own, hehe.

For the first question: If the necklace Daisuke got from the ‘killed’ Gendou is fake, how did he access the Crescent Vault in Japan/Tsuzuya 25 years ago?

To give clues for this question, let me ask you this:

Who are the ‘authorized’ people that can access the Vault again?

Okay, now that you’ve answered that question in your mind, what if that person ‘accompanied’ Daisuke to the Vault? Now by answering that question, I give you the biggest clue as to how Daisuke was able to access the Vault.

The other question is: If Ayane got the ‘fake’ necklace from Kosuke, how did she open the Vault in Switzerland then?

To answer this question, I’ll ask you the same question: Who are the ‘authorized’ people that can access the Vault again? And I’ll ask you another question along with this: How do you access the Silver Crescent Vault from the upper floor?

Look back to the chapter when Rei went there to acquire it himself (the chapter entitled ‘Foxed’). What if Ayane was ‘assisted’ by a Vault keeper too?

Hehe, see? It’s cooler if you’re the one figuring it out.

Okay, now let’s go to the common question:

fuuko-chan
But how the heck did Gendou live... Didn't Daisuke point the gun to his heart? And it bang-ed for like six times. Either he was wearing a bulletproof vest or he's immortal, etc. >__>
redbutterflytree
But...I'm a little confused by that, since Zakuro/Daisuke shot him so many times and slashed his face, but I believe that you have a good explanation for that...however, it's still very confusing and disorienting.
1shinhwa
but how did he survive?? i thought he was dead cuz there was plenty of bullets and plenty of scars on his face??? and so much blood??
pearllovestop
But then how did Gendou survive? Zakuro clearly shot him several times in the heart:
shar0nsaurus
But that's impossible, how did he escape all the gunshots? the BANG BANG BANG.
fairy~dream
How did he survive those gunshots then? Shouldn't he be dead?
kc_chua
how was Gendou able to survive the gunshots?
linnienguyen
gendou is one lucky guy.. with all of those bang bang bangs i thought he would have died for sure

I see that a lot of people are questioning Gendou’s mysterious resurrection. I won’t answer this yet, but I promise to give you sensible and shocking reasons behind this survival.

However, believe me when I say that the clues to answer this big question is already scattered all over the past chapters. If you’re keen enough to link them altogether, you’ll get it, hehe.

Now, let’s go the other common questions:

mangoes-dbsk
Then... since Aya's Keiko's fake daughter... she'll considered to be Hiro's fake daughter as well... so why didn't Hiro try to save her that time she was in the hospital unconscious? I mean... it is his fake daughter. Why wouldn't he try saving her, just for Keiko's sake?
emfkrx
then where the hell has gendou been for 25 years?!?
stalking lilly? planning the demise of the Spectra Gang?
lady_luv
where has gendou been hiding all these years?
benchi101
How did they know that Ayane was still alive though?
fuuko-chan
this makes Saori's identity a mystery. Is she really Gendou's sister?
babiiphatt
If they were all part of spectra, doesnt it make them ayane and kosuke enemy?
sentuhmentalfo0l
i feel like people keep peeling off masks in this story haha

I’m glad that the readers have pointed these out, especially Gendou’s disappearance and the relevance of the ‘masks’. I see the heightening speculations regarding Kaoru Saori’s identity too.

I won’t answer these questions YET. I have chapters that would answer these questions. For now, just remember these questions WELL, because the answers to these questions comprise the ‘bigger’ bombs I was talking about.

Now I’ll answer some questions that have been posted in the past. Sorry for the late replies.

Here are questions about Ayane’s pregnancy:

morphine99
Somebody correct me if I am wrong but as far as I know (because my younger sister takes drugs for obsessive-compulsive disorder which quite similar to the ones prescribed for PTSD), those types of drugs cause malformations in the baby. In the leaflet of her medicines, the drug is contraindicated in pregnant women. It says that it could cause the baby to have soft nails and end up with no arms...?

So maybe that is why Yuken said he was going to prescribe new drugs for Ayane.

Yes, exactly. That’s the reason why Yuken withdrew the drugs Shizuki previously prescribed for Ayane. Drugs used to cure post traumatic stress disorder may harm a baby inside the womb.

I read another post (I believe it is by miss Denied) saying why Shizuki didn’t know about Ayane’s condition right away – it’s because Ayane still wasn’t symptomatic during Sessions Part 7.

jusplainmeh
What?! She's pregnant and still kicking butt?

At six weeks of pregnancy (according to my research by the way, not Meia’s personal experience, hehe…), the baby inside the womb is no more than an inch big. It’s about a size of a pea, so you can still move around like Jackie Chan pretty much.

tusoo
wait...so who is on who's side?
Team 1: crosse, hiro, saori, the architect(i'm bad with names), the doctor, the manager
Team 2: aya full stop
ahahah...ahh....gosh...i think i am totally lost..ahaha

Don’t worry, it’s okay to be lost at this point. You’ll get the answers on the next chapters. Welcome back to our thread by the way, hehe. For Fictionpress readers, I put the replies in my Blogspot page instead because I wanted the word count there to count the total for chapters excluding the author notes.

redbutterflytree
So now Rei knows about the picture, huh? Oh, goodness. He's really mad now...seems like he's going to go on a rampage. Or not. I'm not sure. Somehow, I feel like he's rather unpredictable. But, I find it very possible that Rei will NOT hesitate to get his revenge on Ayane (whatever that may mean), especially since it's VERY likely that the baby isn't his...then again, that all depends on if he finds out.

Rei will be up for a nasty comeback soon.

mangoes-dbsk
And by the way, where has Stream gone to? I think I asked this question before... but I forgot if you replied / mentioned it in one of the chapters. I mean, there are so many chapters, so much studying, for my occasionally good but mostly bad memory, I don't think I'd be able to remember. Is he planning some tricks or something? -.-

I guess I won’t be spoiling anything by saying now that Stream Williams (Crosse’s older brother) died in that airport bombing in Book 1 with Kato Saburo – for real.

benchi101
To be honest, Kosuke's the slowest character in the story now. He's so behind while everybody knows this and that.
kawaii999
Im sad to say this Hiro.. I think Ayane has lost her touch. She was the reason
I started reading Fists And Lipsticks.. but now that shes ill,pregnant, head over heals
in love, prisioner to Crosse, and finding out that so many people fooled the Empress
.. I don't see Ayane the same anymore. I really wish this story goes back with the old
Ayane. But now that shes pregnant I doubt that huh?

I’d have to say that this is one of the best observations so far spanning the entire Book 2 because this is precisely the reason why I chose to break Fists and Lipsticks into two parts.

In Book 1, the themes included perfection, innocence, cliché, cheesiness, immature love…

In Book 2, however, you saw Ayane at her weakest, Kosuke at his weakest, and Crosse at his weakest. Book 2 is about flaws, brokenness, passionate love, jealousy, and transcending the threshold of sanity.

If there would be a ‘reversal’ to these weaknesses, the remaining unposted chapters would answer that.

Random stuff

Silent Serenity
What about you, Hiro? Are you gonna have eleven Chinese kids too?
Meia, get your womb ready! Lol
Hey Mr. Brain Fryer, I saw that your birthday's near!

Hey Meia, hear that? -#-evil grin-#-

ronicabeee
It's bigger than my shock with Ricky Hatton's 2nd round knock down by Manny Pacquiao! Hahahaha.

I saw that match! Man, Hatton was 7-minute pawned by Pacquiao!

anniiepoo
Hehe Feb 13th!!! That's my birthday tooooo !!! Yay!!! Valentines Eve ^^
Silent Serenity
Hey Meia, isn't your birthday February 13?

The reason why I made Ayane’s birthday Feb 13.

jaycee725
i just finished reading fists and lipsticks 1
now im starting my first chapter now....though its long story.
but i cant just stopped reading....im enjoying myself.

Welcome to F&L miss jaycee725. Welcome to the other new readers too, both signed and silent. Thank you for your support.

loveme100x
I wish you'd update faster... like 2x a week perhaps? XD Once per week is killing me.

Hehe, that was my plan but the [TAG] stuff here in Soompi takes me a lot of time to do. Don’t worry though because updates will be regular, although I would avoid posting warnings/update schedules from now on because every I do, the updates get delayed so yeah… just expect regular surprise updates as usual.

Right now, I am struggling to cut down the length of Chapter 55. It is 50 pages long (20,000+ words -- sigh, yeah I know…), so I’m still editing it to cut it down.

If I can’t cut it down, well, F&L 2 may extend to Chapter 70.

Either way, expect an update very soon.

Vena Cava has been posted too, so if you have time to spare, I invite you to check it out. The link is on my signature. It's something different from F&L, but I'm excited about it myself.

Again, THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE SUPPORT.

-The Author