h i R o 0 9 1 1

Fists and Lipsticks: Cross

2011-07-08T02:16:00.000-07:00

Good news for my dearest F&L readers. At last, I'm 95% done with the .DOC/PDF version of Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent. In a turtle's pace, yes, but at least we're moving and getting there. Contrary to what I've promised, however (and also to my deepest regret), I haven't been able to thoroughly brush up the PDF Version 4.0 of BOOK 1 to re-write my chapters into a more 'novel-like' manner (instead of the current manga format with the cute onion emoticons). That means I wouldn't be able to release Version 5.0 of BOOK 1 with BOOK 2 within 2011. But I will TRY my best to accomplish it as well after releasing BOOK 2 PDF, hoping that my greatest enemy, Time, will permit.

Making final touches on the PDF version of Book 2 is also the main reason behind the temporary hiatus of Vena Cava. I sincerely apologize to those people patiently waiting for Sen and Sue's next mishap. The free time I have lately could only allow me to accomplish one particular writing task at a time. For now, I'd like that task to be the PDF of Book 2. I didn't want to mix Ayane's world with Sue's and I felt that I needed that great amount of concentration to finish this task. Thank God for this little free time - better than none at all.

And with this, I think this is the best time to announce a little surprise I've been keeping from you guys all these months.

Hehe *hyena grin*

Fists and Lipsticks: Cross will ONLY be available in PDF format. This is to promote downloading ONLY of the OFFICIAL Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent PDF. Unfortunately, despite my strong plead, various .doc/.pdf versions of BOOK 2 had been circulating on file hosting sites, presumably copy-pasted from Fictionpress or Soompi Forums. To those posting my story, I request that you take them down. After revising, I realized that BOOK 2 had A LOT of errors, both spelling/grammar and plot inconsistencies. Uh, please don't spread my mistakes further. It's kinda embarrassing, hehe... But yeah, seriously speaking, please don't upload .doc/.pdf versions of Book 2 other than the one I will upload within this month.

What is Fists and Lipsticks: Cross about? Well, aren't you curious about what happened to Crosse Williams during the the 8 years gap between Book 1 and 2? *hyena grin*. It's just a short one, something like a 'retcon'. But it's gonna be pretty cool with LOTS of brain frying stuff. The story would be told in first-person by no other than Crosse Williams himself.

Despite the fact that the events in this installment happened between Book 1 and Book 2, IF YOU HAVE NOT READ BOOK 2, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS! AGAIN, DO NOT READ Fists and Lipsticks: Cross BEFORE READING BOOK 2!!! YOU WILL BE BIG-TIME SPOILED!!!

To my readers and to those who continuously support Meia and I, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the love. Writing stories is exciting. Sharing them with you is priceless.

-Mark

Vena Cava Movie Trailer

2011-06-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

So I've been suffering from a massive lack of motivation to write these past couple of months. This should be my worst 'writer's block' if you may call it. Not that I didn't know how my story would take it's course from where it left off. It's just that it's so hard for me to simply pick up my laptop and do the job. Writing takes so much time and, being the busy person I've become due to my preparations for my wedding, I couldn't really pull things together as easier as I did before.

But...

That was until Meia and Pamie came up with this awesomeness. Jesus Christ, it's like suddenly turning to Super Saiyan mode! Now my fingers are tingling to write the next chapter.

By the way, I'm nearing completion of the F&L Book 2 .PDF version. I'll get it up here once it's ready for grabs.

Thank you so much for the overwhelming support! I still can't believe that until now people are still reading and appreciating my stories.

Delay again

2011-01-06T02:12:00.000-08:00

Thank you for everyone's tremendous patience. I apologize for not being able to post the next chapter as promised (again). I left the US and flew to the Philippines for Christmas and I failed to bring my external hard drive with the chapter of Vena Cava. Also, after re-reading the chapter, I felt not satisfied with the way it was written. It was a little too draggy for me and it didn't meet my personal expectations. Until then that I get things done well that I will be able to post the chapter as soon as I can. For now I choose to hold it until I make the revisions.

Yes, I am quite obsessive-compulsive. It's my new disease apart from my broken arm, hehe.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

-Mark

Another Vena Cava Chapter 9 Teaser

2010-12-01T04:15:00.000-08:00

Credits to Vincent Leung and Lemon Splash.

Vena Cava - Chapter 9 Teaser

2010-11-28T05:39:00.001-08:00

"What do you do in your spare time?"

Chapter 09: Sue's Hobby

COMING THIS DECEMBER on Fictionpress and Soompi Forums.

Thank you for the continuous support!

-Hiro

Vena Cava - Author Notes for the past 8 chapters

2010-10-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

I'd like to express my utmost thanks to those who continue to support and read not only Vena Cava but also Fists and Lipsticks and Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent. Although the latter two stories have been finished a year or more ago, the support, e-mails, and messages have been pouring in non-stop to this day and they all leave me very ecstatic and overwhelmed. I truly am blessed to have such readers who, despite my shortcomings (like not being able to update as often because I couldn't type on the keyboard as quickly as I do before, not being able to complete the long-overdue & promised .doc version of Book 2 of The Silver Crescent yet (*hides from flying frying pans*)), are still there to cheer me on. For the time I have not logged in to Soompi (because my mobile browser couldn't open the page for some reason since the 'upgrade'), I have received many pms (whic

h I only got to read today, sorry for the late replies, hehe) and I'm very touched that most of them were inquiring not only about my updates but about my arm injury. Thank you all for your concern. Regarding my arm, I'm still going through rehabilitation and electrotherapy. I can already fully move my arm all the way to my fingers and my wrist drop has improved markedly. Right now, I'm having strength and dexterity exercises and I'm doing pretty much well.

So, here goes my long-overdue Author Notes for my story Vena Cava.

**DO NOT READ THIS PART IF YOU HAVEN'T READ CHAPTER 1 - 8 YET!**

**SPOILERS AHEAD!**

Q: What is a HEART device? Is it the purple sphere with the letters 'VC' on it or the transplanted organ itself? - naizz from Fictionpress

^ The HEART device is the purple sphere...

(See picture above)

...and this device (which comes in different sizes according to where it is placed) is implanted to an organ, whether viable or not. For example, Albert Einstein despite having mental retardation has a fairly viable brain, so the HEART is simply implanted into his cerebrum (Chapter 08: Sue's Vision). Kato Kenta's legs, however, had to be replaced because of muscle atrophy secondary to his paraplegia secondary to his spinal cord injury secondary to trauma (car accident). His transplanted legs were 'manufactured' by the Vena Cava Corporation (Chapter 07: Sue's Risk) and to these legs, the HEART devices are later implanted.

A HEART practically works like how it is named: Human Energy Amplifying and Re-constructive Transplant device, which, in the most understandable explanation, 'powers up' an organ to perform superhuman abilities. Humans who have a HEART are called 'Vectors'.

For instance, let's have the Vector named Kato Kenta, the paraplegic. After having a HEART, he can now run so fast, even climb up and down buildings at ease (Chapter 05: Sue's Classmate). Albert Einstein, who was born with an IQ of 70, after receiving a HEART could memorize an entire encyclopedia and dictionary in less than an hour (Chapter 08: Sue's Vision). Takashi Ayase, the female tattoo artist working with the Black Sigma, who cannot move her fingers due to an acquired paralysis when she was born, became ambidextrous and can paint jaw-dropping artworks using both her hands. Kawakami Masao, born with pituitary dwarfism, can extend/grow his arms and legs to more than thirty meters (Chapter 07: Sue's Risk). Of course, who would forget Nogase Mami, the woman with cancer of the uterus? After getting her uterus transplant and a HEART implant, she can now give birth to a child everyday! In the latest chapter, Sen's HEART is confirmed - his eyes. Yes, he was blind. In fact, clues regarding his HEART were all over Chapter 06: Sue's Ego if you guys happened to catch that, but whether his blindness was caused by Vitamin A deficiency too? Hmm. What do you guys think?

Q: I wonder what happened to him (Sen) losing his eyes? Acid? Birth defect?
- ladyb from Soompi Forums

I'll leave this question hanging for now. This is one of the major mysteries to be uncovered in Vena Cava. Any more guesses?

Sen left a clue in the latest chapter, though --

"Care to tell me all about it?" my eyes were bright with interest. "About how you lost your sight?"

He shook his head, "I don't really like talking about it."

"Was the story behind it that bad? Too scary that it still freaks you just by thinking about it?" I paused, suddenly not sure whether asking him about his HEART straightforwardly was a good idea to begin with.

"It's not because it scares me," he suddenly said in a softer voice, leaning towards me until his face was mere inches away from mine.

"It's because it will scare you."

So let's assume it's really something 'scary'.

Hehe. *hyena grin*.

Q: What was the purpose of that glasses? Is that how Sen could see colors?
- chyne22 from Soompi Forums

Very good observation. I will let the unfolding of the plot in the next chapters explain more about this.

If you want clues regarding this part, let me give you one: re-read Chapter 04: Sue's Stalker. What was Sen doing in that chapter again? Driving? *cough* stoplight *cough*. Not unless he cares the least about Japan road rules like Miyazawa Aya does, well... And I think he was wearing something while driving... :-)

Q: So Sen's HEART is 'taking other people's heart' kind of HEART? - silvernecklaces from Soompi Forums

In Chapter 08: Sue's Vision, Sen revealed the nature of his job in the Black Sigma. He called himself a 'Confiscator', which pretty much explains what he does - confiscates HEARTS of those who abuse it.

How he does it? Don't worry, you'll see more of his 'confiscations' in the next chapters.

Again, Sen's HEART is his eyes. But maybe, just maybe, those blue-black-turning-purple eyes has something to do with his confiscations after all.

Q: - Why did Sen say that Sue was his girlfriend? Does he like her?? And did her heart stop temporarily or for good (when Sue and Sen jumped off the VC Corp building)? - beef taco from Soompi Forums

The conversation between Sen and Shouhei Lascaux during their visit in the VC Corp headquarters dropped some vital clues, the most obvious one is Sen's rather peculiar hostile attitude towards his 'boss' and protectiveness towards Sue (Chapter 07: Sue's Risk). Going back to the previous chapters (Chapter 05: Sue's Classmate), Sen tells Sue - "Little word of advice from me to you, Sue: If I were you, I'd stay away from him."

Or was it really protectiveness? Does Sen like Sue or does he have any ulterior motives?

Regarding the question about Sue's heartbeat, which for some reason stopped again when Sen made her jump off the building with him, it 'suddenly' came back in Chapter 08: Sue's Vision. It wasn't said exactly what happened, whether the heartbeats came back spontaneously or not? This would remain a mystery for now.

On the other hand, Sen said something to her while he was teasing her on the tree. What did he say again? That could be a clue :-). And if we go back a little further back (to Chapter 03: Sue's Revival), there was a time when Sue's heart was about to 'stop' then 're-started'. Who was with her that time and what happened? *cough* something NOT stimulating *cough*.

Q: I remember that Kenta was also caught by VC, but for what purpose? - chyne22 from Soompi Forums

Going back to Chapter 05: Sue's Classmate, the part where Kato Kenta enters the story - he was in an on-going chase running for his life. But why? Good question.

I cannot reveal this part yet because I have a chapter that will answer precisely this- Kato Kenta's 'side story'. But I will drop a big clue regarding this one - What was Kato Kenta holding at that time? And if you have answered this question, I'll ask you another one - Do you remember a similar scenario that happened some chapters back back back back? It just might have something to do with that. *wink*.

Q: I'm confused. Shouhei is part of VC but why is he with Black Sigma? Are they the same? Do they work together or something? - xxSanityx from Soompi Forums

Vena Cava Corporation (or VC) is a company that manufactures medical tools and machines and does nanotechnology research - or at least that's what the others know. In secret, it also happens to be the manufacturer of the HEART devices. Shouhei Lascaux is the heir of this VC corporation, but apparently he had been put on-charge because his father 'got ill' (as mentioned by Oshima Shiori in Chapter 04: Sue's Stalker). And again, I said 'got ill'.

Now who 'goes ill' in the VC corporation anyway? Now your detective imagination is working. Are you brain-fried yet? Hehe.

Regarding the Black Sigma, heavenfalling from Soompi Forums is right. It is indeed a group of Vectors who work for the Vena Cava Corporation tasked to hunt down HEART abusers. Going back to xxSanityx's question, NO they're not the same, but YES - they work together.

And they will be working more and more together in the coming chapters.

Q: Sue first met Sen when he's with the Black Sigma, why don't she reported him to Kojima or other SAT? - lullabunny from Soompi Forums

Because Sue is very, very curious about her 'heart-stopping abilities'. Apparently, the only person who claimed to know about her peculiarity is no other than Sen. He offered to answer all her questions in the condition that Sue 'gives him her heart' a.k.a. 'joins the Black Sigma'. That's the reason why she isn't turning him in. Yet.

Which leads us to this next question too...

Q: Why did Sen lie to Shouhei about why Sue was suddenly recruited into the Black Sigma? - madenloui from Fictionpress

Now this is the confusing part.

For now, just stay confused... and get ready for a bomb, hehe.

Q: If Sen is Oshima Shiori's younger brother and his family owns the university hospital and the school, why does he have to work? - kc_chua from Soompi Forums

Who doesn't ask this question at this point of the story? A gangster, a ramen waiter, a pizza delivery boy, a photographer, an ohagi vendor, a Confiscator - Sen's always seen running around doing random jobs. He seems very enthusiastic about earning money above anything else. Is there any particular reason behind this? Is he just an impulsive workaholic or is he hiding something?

For now, just stay confused too... and get ready for another bomb, hehe.

Also, I'm answering another question unrelated to Vena Cava. I like this question, hehe ----

Q: Let me ask you Hiro, are you more of the Kosu-kun or Crosse-kun type? or let me rephrase the question (your honor), who's character in F&L 1 and 2 do you most likely see yourself? is Aya-chan the characterization of Meia? hmmm... just wondering - jia_kickass from Soompi Forums

Meia and I?

Oh boy, we are like Akio and Lin. Imagine it, hehe.

My brief Q&A would end here for the mean time as my hands aren't cooperating anymore having typed so much text.

Actually, I've brainstormed about the plot of Vena Cava again for the nth time and I'm made some changes in the plot, some minor ones and some major ones. Looking at where this story would go, I'm beginning to think that Vena Cava, though shorter, has the potential of overthrowing Fists and Lipsticks off in terms of plot twists. Oh, this story's gonna be so crooked.

I'm very excited to fry some brains, hehe. Are you too?

Thank you for reading my writing blog. Until the next update!

-Mark

Chapter 08: Sue's Vision - will be out in a while

2010-10-24T23:55:00.000-07:00

I will be posting Chapter 08: Sue's Vision today. Please give me a few more minutes for the final edits.

Thank you for the patience.

-Mark

Vena Cava Character Chart and New Poster for Chapter 8

2010-09-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

Meia, Pamie, and Vincent came up with a really cool character chart. The aim is to aid brain-fried readers who are not used to Japanese names (especially readers from Soompi). Visuals like this could help readers take note of the 'who's-who's in the story better.

Note: The actors/models in this character chart are not, in any way, associated with the story and/or the author of Vena Cava. We are willing to take down this graphic if ever such related conflicts arise. No copyright infringement intended.

Next chapter is on the way. Just some pending finishing touches, a couple of grammar and spelling errors to be fixed and Chapter 08: Sue's Vision will be up.

Thank you for your continued support!

-Mark

PMs and PM list pending

2010-09-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

For Soompi Readers:

PMs / PM list is temporarily on-hold. Meia is currently not feeling well. We will resume sending PMs soon. We do apologize for the inconvenience.

-Mark

Did last minute revisions

2010-09-05T11:12:00.001-07:00

I did some last minute revisions on Chapter 7: Sue's Risk which took me 3 days to complete. I spotted some inconsistencies that may affect the plot later in the story and so I found it necessary to do the remedy while the injury's still fresh. I do apologize for the delay it caused.

I will be uploading the final version within 24-hours Thank you for the patience.

Quick updates ahead

2010-09-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Chapter 07: Sue's Risk will be up on Friday, September 3, 2010. It's actually done, but I'm spacing out the updates.

I can't wait to get this particular chapter out actually. From here on, the real plot of Vena Cava finally starts. Here starts the puzzles, brain-frying questions, and build-up of the plot. There are lots of revelations in this chapter too, and if you are smart enough to spot the gazillion clues I dropped in the past 6 chapters, you'd be able to connect a good number of what has been revealed so far at this early point of the story.

New characters come in too. There's a guy who's barely 4 feet, a girl who smokes cigarette like a chimney, a popular TV star,... of course the already-revealed characters like Albert Einstein, Kato Kenta, and Shouhei Lascaux.

For some reason, I think I'm beginning to enjoy building up the Sue-Sen relationship, in fact much more than I enjoyed doing Kosuke and Ayane's. I personally think that Sue and Sen are more flexible to control. As the author of the story and given the personality I assigned to them (lesser angst, hilarious and sarcastic rolled into one), I find it easier to create scenes involving the two of them compared to doing Kosuke and Ayane (I mean, imagine Kosuke and Ayane doing the ramen house scene of Sue and Sen in Chapter 4: Stalker? Weird huh?).

Regarding the PM list, unfortunately the links have been broken. It's been a while since we last dropped by Soompi Forums and I think the maintenance done on the site has something to do with it. Meia's currently re-doing the PM list. I would be updated on the installment of Chapter 7. Until then, just send her or me a PM if you intend to join/remain/be removed from the PM list.

Thank you for all the support and thanks for reading Vena Cava.

Chapter 06: Sue's Ego now up

2010-08-29T05:03:00.000-07:00

Chapter 6: Sue's Ego now posted on Fictionpress and Soompi Forums. New poster from Vincent too.

I'm very excited about going back to writing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed (as usual) to having constant (if not frequent) updates for Vena Cava. I'm also very excited to unfold the plot from here on. Introduction had been quite long and now I'm ready to introduce you to many characters I have yet to reveal. I'm also looking forward to presenting the twists in this story which, although I have not put into writing yet, have been mapped out in my mind for the time interval I've 'vanished' from Fictionpress/Soompi.

I'm also working on the .doc version of Fists and Lipsticks. In fact, I'm half-way done. Here's a sneak peak of how it would look like in the final version:

Pretty cool huh?

Thanks for reading the latest chapter!

Will resume writing mid-August

2010-08-11T05:37:00.000-07:00

As the title says, I will be resuming Vena Cava on Monday. For all the readers who have been waiting ages for the next chapter, thank you very much for your patience. Too much things are happening in the real world for me lately and it was really difficult putting things up according to schedule. I've been busy with my rehab and wedding plans as I've been fixing my immigration papers here and also my transcripts, completion of requirements, etc... you guys get the picture. For the past few months, I've been like a messenger running to places with stacks of documents. I barely got the time to sit down in front of my computer to continue my stories for God knows how long.

Thank you also for the e-mails I received regarding Fists and Lipsticks. A lot of people have been asking me for a PDF/doc version of F&L2. For this, I would like to announce that yes, I WILL be coming up with a PDF/doc version of Fists and Lipsticks for both Book 1 and Book 2 compatible with the iTouch/iPhone. At this moment, I'm still working on the revisions. F&L is a story comprising over 500,000 words and because I am re-writing some parts, mostly scenes from Book 1, I am taking really long. I am asking everyone to please bear with me with this. Thank you for everyone's patience. For now, you are free to copy-paste the story to your MS Word for your OWN reading pleasure. DO NOT DISTRIBUTE YET IN DOC VERSION.

Thank you everyone. I miss you all!

-Mark

Thanks for everyone's birthday greetings

2010-05-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

Hey F&L and VC readers, thank you so much for the birthday greetings and e-Cards. I'm trying my best to respond to every email as much as my hand would permit me to.

Take care everyone.

-Hiro

Still alive

2010-05-10T04:05:00.000-07:00

Just dropped by to say that I'm still alive, hehe. I receive everyone's mail and messages via e-mail (although I have yet to check Soompi for messages there - I couldn't access the site via Blackberry for some reason).

For the past weeks I've been very busy not only with my rehab but my make-up classes for the sessions I missed in school. Also, we've been laying out the plans for my wedding. Thank you for all the messages showing support not only to my stories but also to Meia and me. We truly appreciate the kind words and the boost of confidence you give us with your enthusiasm and expression of gratitude in whatever means.

I've been finding time to post the next chapter for Vena Cava. Actually, the chapter's finished many weeks ago, but I decided to change some scenes in the last minute, which would be quite crucial in the plot because it would involve not only one but two new characters. I would post it as soon as I polish the chapter to my liking and when time allows me too.

Again, thanks for all the support. For any messages you need reply for, you can reach me faster via e-mail - hlarucea@hotmail.com

New Rehab "exercise"

2010-03-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

My physical therapist gave me a brand new hand and finger dexterity "exercise".

^ Now that's what I call exercise!

Everyone, play this game, seriously. If Fists and Lipsticks fried your brains, this one will eat it! Haha.

Chapter 5 - Sue's Stalker now posted

2010-02-16T17:04:00.000-08:00

The long overdue update of Vena Cava - Chapter 5 - Sue's Stalker is now up in Fictionpress.

Will be posting on Soompi later this day.

-------------------------

Copy-pasted note:

A/N: Thank you for reading the latest chapter of Vena Cava. This is way overdue again and I apologize for the delay again. Aside from the faulty internet connection, I actually left for a couple of weeks to visit my mom back in Beijing. Also, I made a couple of changes in the sequence of events. The chapter is also longer now from the previous 20 pages now up to 24. This is not only to compensate for the long update interval but I decided to sprinkle a lot of clues in this chapter. If you are observant, you’ll be able to catch them.

I won’t post when my next update will be. I don’t know why it had become a jinx. Each time I announce my updates, they always get delayed (unlike in F&L). So for Vena Cava, just expect surprise updates.

I just found out today that Vena Cava had been nominated in Fictionpress for Most Creative Plot – Incomplete. The contest is called ‘Some Kind of Romance’ or simply 'SKoW' (pretty cool name for a contest, in my opinion. It reminds me of a movie someway back). Thank you to whomever that person was who nominated my story.

For any questions or inquiries, please e-mail them to me directly at hlarucea@hotmail.com. I usually open my emails via my mobile phone so I get to access it more often that FP & Soompi. If that won’t be possible, you can post here or e-mail Meia. She goes online more often that I do.

God bless you all and I hope you liked he chapter. Any criticism is welcomed, especially constructive ones. Please inform me of any spelling and/or grammar errors I might have missed. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

- Hiro

Still no internet

2010-01-21T17:19:00.001-08:00

It's still freezing here where I am.

To worsen things up, my internet connection has not been restored yet (until now). Hence I couldn't go online to upload my new chapters - I am using my mobile phone right now to update this blog.

I apologize for the delay. You know, I think it would be a really good thing if I refrain from posting when I would update from now on. For some funny reason, the world does some weird things to stop me from doing so, hehe.

But to give you some little spoilers, the next chapter's going to have lots of Sen and Sue scenes. As I have said, the title's going to be Sue's Classmate. So, who is Sue's Classmate? Compared to the latest chapter, Chapter 5's going to be quite a run. Also, a big revelation about Sen would be revealed.

Little delay on Chapter 5

2010-01-18T01:54:00.000-08:00

I couldn't log-in to Fictionpress and Soompi due to internet connection issues since Friday night (I'm using my mobile phone to update this blog). Due to unavoidable circumstance, there would be a little delay on Chapter 5: Sue's Classmate. But the folks said that they're working double time to resolve the issue. They said connections would be up in a few more hours so stay tuned guys.

I'll upload the chapter right away once connections are stabilized. That would be very soon. Thank you for the patience and sorry for the inconvenience.

-Mark

Vena Cava Chapter 5 - will be out on Sunday

2010-01-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

I'll be uploading Chapter 5: Sue's Classmate hopefully this weekend. It's actually done but I'm spacing out the updates to give room for proofreading. I'm trying to bring my old quick update pace back now that my arm is doing pretty well.

I missed writing a lot... and I'm very excited about VC's plot. After revising Chapter 1-3, I also made a rough outline of the plot from beginning to end just like what I did to F&L. My target finishing date would be September or October of 2010. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hehe.

Thank you for reading. Expect more update news exclusively posted here in my blog.

-Mark

Vena Cava Chapter 4 posted

2010-01-10T05:46:00.000-08:00

I have posted Vena Cava's Chapter 4: Sue's Stalker in Fictionpress and Soompi. Thank you for reading! And I've revised Chapter 1 - 3 too if you still haven't heard, so feel free to re-read from the start if you want to refreshen the plot on your minds.

Chapter 4 is much lighter compared to the previous 3. But clues are stealthily scattered everywhere. Can you catch all of them? Hehe.

Fictionpress:

http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2665826/1/Vena_Cava

Soompi:

http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=288564

-Mark

It's the most wonderful time of the year

2009-12-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

We'd like to take this opportunity
to greet our Fictionpress & Soompi friends a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

God bless you all and your families!

~ Greetings from Hiro L & Meia L

* Hey everyone, how have you all been? I'm very sorry for the lack of replies to your outpouring e-mails and messages, including questions and constructive criticism. But I've read each and every one of them (with my handy-dandy BlackB) and now that my wrist drop isn't killing my hand as much as it did before, I would reply to them as soon as I can.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the support to F&L, most especially for the get-well messages and E-cards you guys sent. I hate being dramatic but yeah, they really mean a lot to me not only as a writer but as a person.

It's been a long time since I last dropped by Soompi. I could say that I did miss the forums a lot. Hehe.

Your "BFF" (Brain-Frying Friend),
Hiro

P.S.
Please do not distribute Fists and Lipsticks 1+2 yet in .doc version. It isn't fully proof-read yet. Please keep my creepy grammar and spelling mistakes exclusive to Fictionpress and Soompi for the mean time, hehe.

I have received several requests for proofreading in Fictionpress. I'd attend to them when I get back to the US on January 2010. Though my hand is pretty functional now after they took off the brace, the holidays kept me moving from place to place; thus, I can't attend to requests yet.

Back to do something I missed

2009-12-04T01:18:00.000-08:00

It's good to be back in Boston and except for the brace stuck on my arm for about a month now, I've been doing pretty good as far as my rehab sessions are concerned. In Detroit, I got to meet many oldies (because people who go to rehab are usually old people who suffered from stroke) and I can write again.

It's amazing how I've learned how to write with my left hand too now. That made me remember something that Dr. Young told me - that the body is able to adapt to disabilities by amplifying other parts to compensate for what it is not capable of doing. For example, sightless people do have increased senses just as much as deaf people could read the lips of the persons they talk to.

Proves that there's a genius called 'God' hanging around somewhere.

Anyway, regarding Vena Cava, I'm pretty excited to get back to it as soon as I can. I would be posting new chapters within this month and I am filled with so much inspiration in writing something new this time.

Thanks by the way for all the kind e-mails and reviews you guys sent regarding Fists and Lipsticks. There's so much editing to be done, grammar and spelling errors to be fixed, scene inconsistencies, and also pulling the whole bulk together in a single PDF file for the final manuscript... I still haven't posted my long overdue thank you notes and in-depth analysis of scenes including the answers to the questions previously posted. I still haven't dropped by Soompi yet, but Meia had kept me informed of the PMs you guys sent and it warms my heart to have read all of them.

I've received e-mails regarding the broken YouTube link to the F&L Trailer of combined Book 1 and 2. I already asked Pamie about it and she said that she would be re-uploading it to a site where the audio won't be taken down. Apparently, the Multiply.com video link isn't working anymore too. Also, Pamie and Meia are planning to make a trailer for Vena Cava too and I'm pretty excited about that too. I don't know how they'd do it, but with Pamie's editing talent I think it's gonna be great!

Thank you guys! See you around.

-Mark

DONE!

2009-11-01T00:18:00.001-07:00

DONE!

*collapses*

Rehab and wedding plans

2009-10-27T00:34:00.000-07:00

My next round of rehab would start on the first week of November and it take longer than the previous sessions. After that, I would be away to plan for my upcoming wedding. It's going to be so busy, so I might not be able to log-in for a while to answer your inquiries and questions regarding F&L.

I wanted to avoid another lengthy hiatus. Because of this, I have decided to upload ALL six pending chapters of F&L before this month ends.

My request, however, is to hold any unofficial distribution of a .doc version after all chapters are posted. I wanted to make final revisions to BOTH book 1 and book 2 before I release the final pdf. Please do not copy-paste Book 2 and share them via file-sharing networks without my permission.

Thank you and God bless everyone,

Hiro

Chapter 59 will be posted soon

2009-10-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

I'm doing one last round of checks before uploading Chapter 59. It would be a short "transition chapter". Nevertheless, it would be quite interesting. Chapter 59 will be available within 24 hours.

Thank you for everyone's patience and your overwhelming support.

-hiro

Next rehab session... -#-sigh-#-

2009-10-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

My fifth rehab session is up this week and although I've been having a lot of progress as far as my arm's motor skills are concerned, I've been experiencing some recurrence of the numbness. I'm praying that things would work out well pretty soon.

Boys and girls, please take care of your radial nerves.

I've received your inquiries and will be replying to them very soon. For those who can't download Book 1 of F&L, you can go instead to our thread in Soompi or the Fictionpress site. Half of the chapters in the Fictionpress version, however, has not been proof-checked as much as the Soompi version so if you couldn't stand massive grammar and spelling errors I have left uncorrected, I suggest you guys visit our Soompi thread.

Regarding the next chapter, it's actually done. It's some sort of 'transition chapter', but a lot will happen nevertheless. It's quite cool and I can't wait to share it with you guys. I just have to find time to do the [TAG]s and some final spell checks. I'm just not so sure when I could post it. It depends on my arm if it can stand work or not, hehe.

New readers, welcome to F&L and Vena Cava!

Regarding the PM list, you can either ask to be added to the list or better yet FOLLOW us in Soompi by subscribing to either Meia or me. We found out that the subscription feature had been added in the new Soompi so yeah, that would be cool if we use new technology.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers.

-Mark

No Facebook and Twitter

2009-10-01T05:35:00.000-07:00

Again, I'd like to say that I don't have a Facebook or Twitter account. So whoever that "Hiro" is that adds you up in Facebook or Twitter isn't me. Come on guys, I'm not a Hollywood actor. Although I have movie offers coming left and right, I'm not someone worthy of being impersonated.
(Hehe... kidding).

Due to insistent public demand, yes I will be updating F&L very soon. Actually it's done but I'm doing some major revisions to the sequence of the scenes.

The next chapter's going to be very sinful. -#-evil grin-#-

-hiro

Philippine storm

2009-09-27T05:18:00.000-07:00

I saw the deluge and massive flood in Manila, Philippines in CNN earlier. I had no idea it was that serious! I'm blessed that my relatives in Makati aren't seriously affected except for the leaking ceiling and ankle-deep flood on adjacent streets.

My Filipina crush Cristine Reyes was affected by the flood too! I wanna fly there to Marikina to personally rescue her, but Richard got in my way so... yeah. Hehe.

Kidding aside, please help by sending your donations via
Philippine National Red Cross - http://www.redcross.org.ph/Site/PNRC/wtd.aspx

RP: PHILIPPINES IN A STATE OF CALAMITY...To all my willing and abled friends and family who live in US & CANADA who wish to help in the rescue and relief operations, you may donate through the American Red Cross. Call 1-800-435-7669. Please pray for everyone affected.

Fourth wave of rehab almost done

2009-09-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

I'm glad that I'd be finishing my fourth wave of rehab sessions this week. I could type again (although I prefer using one hand because my right gets strained easily) and I could move my wrist again with careful movements. In fact, I'm trying to type this blog entry with both hands and I'm quite proud of the fact that I could sustain holding my arms forward for more than 10 seconds without straining.

I'm excited to post the few remaining chapters of F&L and Chapter 3 of Vena Cava soon. Thank you everyone for your patience and your kind get-well-soon messages. Thank you for the reviews and constructive crits you've left via Fictionpress and Soompi. I checked Soompi a while ago and wow, some new stuff going on there. I like the new layout and features, although it still kinda confuses me, hehe.

I miss writing badly, both for the newsletter editorials and my personal fictional works. I have the feeling that I'd go into binge-writing when I get back. So many ideas in my head dying to go out in the open to cause an explosion. I like being a writing arsonist.

Hope the hand would permit. Bad nerve. Really bad nerve.

New laptop, lots of re-writing

2009-08-25T02:46:00.002-07:00

Crap happens.

My laptop was stolen last week - THE laptop that contains the unedited, remaining chapters of F&L. Some thugs on motorcycles whacked the windows of my car while parked in front of a fastfood stall and got the laptop bag along with my cousin's iPhone and purse containing some IDs and credit cards.

Meaning, I have to REWRITE them. ALL of them. ALL remaining chapters. Crap happens, but at least I didn't break my other arm by getting into an unecessary brawl. Thank god for that at least.

I got a new laptop last Saturday. Pretty cool, but I'm not yet used to Mac.

For those waiting for the next chapter of F&L, I'll have it posted on Sunday or Monday. Rewrite is a good thing. I actually think I improved the story a bit compared to the old one. Starting from scratch gets things going and I'm pretty much getting the hang of using the laptop with just one hand. I type pretty fast now compared to before.

Vena Cava will be up too soon. I may post it with F&L or earlier. I'm just tweaking things up. Good thing I got the chapter saved in my mobile phone.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go... HOME!

2009-07-24T17:57:00.001-07:00

It's great to be discharged from the hospital today. I'd still be continuing rehab (NOT 'drug' rehab but a rehab for people with broken bones and weak muscles, hehe - people freak out when I send them a message of me being in a 'rehab') but I'll be having it back in Boston. I haven't seen Meia in a long time and I haven't gone online except through my handy-dandy mobile phone. But yeah, going home feels nice. A breath of fresh air, guilt foods, and seeing again crazy friends. Not bad, eh?

My arm still has stitches and screws but I can twitch my fingers now. Doing really better compared to before. For a while, I thought they were going to amputate my arm. There's still swelling and my fingernails are somewhat bluish, but the doctor said that it's perfectly fine and it will go back to how it was before. Again, for readers of F&L and VC who sent their get well messages, thank you so much. The hundreds of emails really warmed my heart and I can't help but go 'wow, there's a God that loves me!' along with all the concerned people.

In line with this, expect an update for F&L soon. I'd go to it once I arrive in Boston. No promises about the exact date of posting though. It's going to be doubly hard doing the [TAG]s with only my left hand working on the mouse and the keys, so thank you so much for your understanding and patience.

-Hiro

Sliced arm and back again

2009-07-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

I'm now three days post-surgery and it feels good now that the anesthetic has worn off with all my arm's numbness alleviated. Still hurts, but not as much as before and now I can move my fingers again. Big thanks to Dr. Young and co. of the orthopedic dept here in Michigan and of course Dondon, my physical therapist. He's a crazy Naruto and Bleach fan like me, so we get along well.

I'm making this blog via mobile phone by the way. But hey, I can hold my phone again with my right but with the metal still attached to my bone, still lots of recovering to do. Thank God the big thorny road has been passed by. Will take me a long time to go back to basketball and PS2 but I'm pretty excited to go back to writing... not in a few more days, but getting there.

Regarding the unposted chapter 57, sorry for not posting it in the day promised. It's because Meia is in Florida right now. She hadn't dropped by to Bayback so she hasn't gotten hold of my laptop with the Chapter 57 word .doc yet. Things are pretty crazy right now, so thank you very much for your patience. Life's getting in the brain-frying way too much hehe.

Thank you for all the get well soon messages and prayers. I'm getting well and doing good. Just a little bit of rest and I'd be back with Vena Cava and Fists and Lipsticks soon. Again, thanks for your care and patience.

I miss hoops

2009-06-27T06:13:00.000-07:00

For a series of physical therapy sessions for my radial nerve injury, I had to go to Detroit. The hospital here is a lot better in terms of PT facilities. Pretty cool that I had a Filipino PT because I hadn't practiced speaking Tagalog in a long time. I could only access the internet via mobile phone (which sucks, but goes well with my one-handedness hehe). Couldn't fully use my arm yet, but the pain's half gone. Improving, getting there... couldn't wait to go back to Boston and see my pals and of course Meia. Haven't seen her in... three weeks. Life sucks that way.

I realized that it has been a year since I posted Book 2 of Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent. Wow, it has been a long journey. Thanks for the messages and emails, especially those notifying me of errors and those unending get well soon messages. I'd have them fixed once I get back to Fictionpress/Soompi. I could only access Yahoo! and Blogspot through my mobile phone with a page that loads and looks 'normal'.

Meia's going to my place later and I asked her to bring my laptop along with her so that she can be the one to upload the next chapter while I'm not yet around. Most probably, Chapter 57 will be up late in the evening of June 27 or early dawn of June 28. Sorry for the errors that you might see spreading doom in Chapter 57. I haven't edited it and I don't want to post unedited chapters as much as possible, so please bear with me. I'd have the errors fixed when I get back after two more weeks.

I'd say that Chapter 57 will show a 'different' side of Crosse. Also, it would include the narration of what transpired right after the events in Book 1. Remember how Crosse disappeared mysteriously in Book 1? Chapter 57 will be the much-awaited narration of how he was able to escape from the Spectra Gang in Book 1. Aside from this, more revelations about Kaoru Hiro and Kaoru Saori will be 'hinted' in this chapter, so stay tuned.

As warning also, Chapter 57 will have an 'adult' scene. To Soompi readers, please refer to the Fictionpress version if you wish to read the uncut version.

Once again, THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE PATIENCE AND THE AMAZING SUPPORT.

^ Where am I? Hehe.

Being sick is stressful. Ah, I miss playing hoops.

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

2009-05-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-14T02:58:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

(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

Anti-Confusion for the Brain-Fried

2009-04-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Anti-confusion for the Brain-Fried
by Hiro, the Brain Fryer

Hello F&L Readers!

Fists and Lipsticks is mainly a mystery story, and so it was intentionally made to be ‘confusing’. However, after reading the feedback both from Soompi, Fictionpress, even including Meia herself, I realized that I might have gone a little overboard regarding the manner by which I narrated the events for the past few chapters.

I apologize to the readers if F&L became a little TOO confusing for you lately. I appreciate everyone’s honesty in pointing out their feelings about the story.

It is for this reason that instead of posting a new chapter, I decided to write this Author note first to clarify the events that have transpired so far. I hope that by doing so, you, readers, would be properly guided and at least lessen whatever confusion you have in mind.

I also posted this author note in my blog – http://hiro-0911.blogspot.com so that readers from Fictionpress.com can read it too.

**SPOILERS AHEAD!
If you haven’t read Book 1 and the posted chapters for Book 2,
DO NOT continue reading this author note**

Firstly, let’s have a recap of the cast of characters. Watching the F&L Book1+Book2 trailer made by Pamie (in YouTube) may help you recall them too. Regarding the requests for a character chart, we couldn’t provide you with one because it isn’t allowed here in Soompi (as far as stories listed under the original fiction section are concerned – thanks to the forum mod, miss iridescent, for clarifying this rule for us).

Of course, who wouldn’t know Yoshida Ayane. In Book 1, Ayane decided to act as Miyazawa Aya’s decoy to save her life (Chapter 61: Backseat) after she apparently fell into a coma after a bullet hit her head as told in Chapter 60: Reminiscence – Dénouement. As a ‘decoy’, Ayane had to move around a lot, and so as told by rumors (Chapter 1: Transfer Student), she had enrolled in many schools to ‘lure around’ the Spectra. One of these schools is the Tsuzuya Academy, where she coincidentally met Yamazaki Kosuke, the son of the renowned Justice Yamazaki Daisuke (who becomes the prime minister later in Book 2).

To cut the long story short, the cliché happens: Kosuke, who once thought of Ayane as his ‘rival’, eventually falls madly in-love with her.

We all know who Kosuke is, of course, so let’s skip him. Let’s get to know his ‘gang’.

Sato Yuken is Kosuke’s best friend – a computer genius, son of a renowned physician and hospital owner, Okamoto Shizuki’s biggest crush in Book 1 and “boyfriend” in Book 2, becomes a photographer in Book 2. After a series of events, we learn that he’s not just a photographer but actually a physician (Chapter 44 of Book 2: Solution), specifically a neurotoxicologist (an expert on the effects of drugs to the human nervous system). In the same chapter, it was revealed that he has a certain ‘link’ to a female hacker only known by the codename ‘Black Widow’. This mystery is still yet to be revealed. Also in the same chapter, it was revealed that Yuken was the one responsible for everyone’s apparent immunity to the Oblivion Vapor’s amnesic (memory erasing – “amnesia”) effects through the Silver Laudanum (a chemical substance disguised as ‘tea’ Yuken gave to everyone as a Christmas gift). I will explain again the Silver Laudanum later in this author note.

Tomohiko Kagure or simply Tomo is a band vocalist from Book 1 and a popular rock star in Book 2. He is Nagahara Makiko’s boyfriend in Book 2. So far, no detailed explanation had to be done for him at this point of the story, so let’s just leave him first in this author note for now... again, for now.

Suzuki Akio! I doubt it if anyone has forgotten who this crazy dude is. He’s the weird one. Yeah, you know him of course. His stupidity is natural, in-born, innate, and self-explanatory. He’s the one who found the battered and gas-shackled Lin Chen/Siren floating around a lake in Kyoto. He brought her to the hospital and while he examined Lin’s shackles out of curiosity, he passes out in the hospital because of the amnesic gas emitted by the shackles. Good thing Yuken and Shizuki came just in time to save both him and Lin.

Yamada Hidemi had a couple of important appearances lately. Again, he’s the owner of the coffee shop, the Concorde, where Kosuke’s high school gang usually hangs-out in. We remember him as the sports prodigy in Book 1 and he has already wrecked 2 cars in the story – a one in book 1 and another in book 2 (courtesy of Yuken’s Gundam Wing driving skills, hehe.)

Ayanami Fuuko suddenly came out in the story and began showing interest not only in Hidemi but on Lin Chen’s gas-shackles. Ayanami Fuuko, again, is Tsuzuya Academy’s female bully we met in the very first chapter of Book 1. She stopped being a brat (or at least became a lesser brat) when her mother was indirectly killed by the Spectra during the hospital power failure incident in Yuken’s family hospital, which cost Miyazawa Aya’s life as well (Chapter 66: Aftermath). Take note that she also gave a video tape of the attempted murder of her mother to Ayane (also in Chapter 66). She came back to the story in Book 2 as an architect.

Okamoto Shizuki is Ayane’s nerdy female classmate in Book 1. She wears thick-framed glasses (which Fuuko slammed a bag on) and is in-love with Sato Yuken. In Book 2, her role is very important – as Yoshida Ayane’s psychiatrist. Chapters written with the title ‘Sessions’ are told by Shizuki in first person, narrating Ayane’s condition.

Nagahara Makiko is Tomo’s girlfriend and manager. We remember Makiko as the ‘money thief’ in Book 1, where she stole the money the students made during the school festival to pay for her tuition fee. Ayane helped her with her financial problem by joining a motorcycle race, where she won 250 grand in the bets (Chapter 30: Speed for Need). Also, when Ayane and Kosuke went out for their first REAL date (Chapter 63: Real Gangster Date), Makiko and Tomo were the ones left in the hospital to watch over Miyazawa Aya.

Now, for clarifications of the other essential characters and facts:

To remind everyone who Yamazaki Daisuke is – he is Kosuke’s father, who turns out to be the Grand Lord of the Spectra Gang (Chapter 71: Slaughter).

When I say 'Grand Lord' or Kumichō (in Japanese), it means that the person referred to is the ‘Big Boss’ or the ‘Primary Leader’ of the mafia organization. The Grand Lord controls ALL affiliates all over the world. Remember that the Spectra isn’t just a rival bike ‘gang’ or a random street ‘gang’. It’s a ‘mafia’ organization or a ‘Yakuza’, meaning it is run by a family for generations.

When it was told in the beginning of Book 2 that Kosuke was the ‘new leader’ of the Spectra, it meant that he was in charge of only the Spectra Gang faction in Japan. Daisuke, his father, remains as the Grand Lord, although his identity is kept top-secret, especially now that he is the current prime minister of Japan.

Kosuke’s position as the Spectra leader of the Japan faction tantamount to being Daisuke’s ‘right hand’, but he was ousted (Chapter 24 of Book 2: Locked Doors and Promises) and replaced by Dmitri Williams, Crosse’s father.

Now, as we go forward to the latter chapters (Chapter 50 of Book 2: Fixed), we read a scene where Crosse is asking for the position of his father in the Spectra Gang as ‘right hand’ in exchange for the Vault keys. The reason will be explained later in the story. The explanation about the Vaults will come later in this author note.

Going back to the explanation for the gang titles – we recall that the men in pink suits referred to Yoshifumi Rei as the 'Grand Lord' when he proclaimed himself as the new leader of the Silver Crescent Gang in Book 2 (Chapter 42 of Book 2: Probabilities and Commandments). Same principle applies as the Spectra Gang. Before Rei’s self-proclamation, however, Ayane was the leader of the Silver Crescent Gang.

In the Silver Crescent Gang, a female leader isn’t called a ‘Grand Lord’ but rather as ‘Empress.’

To remind everyone again, the new Silver Crescent Gang is Yoshida Ayane’s newly-formed gang during her mysterious disappearance for eight years. She came back to Japan with a new identity as the rich and glamorous Chinese hotelier, Lady Nu Huang. The old Silver Crescent Gang was the one led by Lily Akiyama thirty years ago (or in Book 2, make that 38 years ago). Lily Akiyama (as revealed in Chapter 73: Keiko’s Secret) is no other than Miyazawa Keiko, Miyazawa Aya’s blind stepmother, who coincidentally turned out to be Kosuke’s ‘biological mother’.

You can think about the Crescent Gang as the ‘Father organization’ – the original mafia organization that has run for generations. The last known leader of the Crescent Gang before it separated into two factions (for a reason that would be explained in detail later in the story) is a man named Yanagisawa Gendou, who is actually Kosuke’s biological father. In Book 1, Miyazawa Keiko mentioned that Daisuke killed Gendou and took over the Crescent Gang – changing the gang’s name to Spectra (Chapter 74: Bloodstains).

An allegoric (symbolic) narration of the story behind the tragedy that befell the Crescent Gang was told by Ayane in Chapter 38: Fairy Tale – the story of how the “Emperor ran away with the Empress”. The tale in Chapter 38 may be vague for you at this point in time, but if you’re vigilant for clues, you can get what the allegories mean for sure. Again, a more understandable narration about the original Crescent Gang will be told later.

For now, I made a table of the factions of the Crescent Gang below.

If you’re not really in the mood for some clue hunting, all you needed to know and remember for now to be properly guided is just this table above. ^

Also, there’s confusion about the real names of who is who so here are some clarifications:

(name they are known) = (their real name) (description/alias)

Miyazawa Keiko = Lily Akiyama (Empress)
Yamazaki Daisuke = Toriyama Zakuro (Kosuke’s stepfather, current Japanese prime minister, and Grand Lord of the Spectra Gang)
Yoshida Akira = Hoshiyomi Taka (Ayane’s genius father)
Chris Glasgow = Dwayne Lindstrom (Spider)
Kim Yoon Jae = Choi Woo Seok (Smoke)

Let’s get to know the new Silver Crescent Gang members again:

QUOTE
Quote from Chapter 43:

“Choi Woo Seok – 21 years old from Seoul, Korea – Codename: Smoke; bomb expert,” she started. “Originally coming from a poor family in South Gyeongsang Province, he changed his name to Kim Yoon Jae after murdering hundreds of people, including the Korean godfather himself – Han Ji Won, with a self-made time-bomb. He disguises himself as a transfer student in Fuyu University majoring in Physics and works part-time as a bar tender in a club called The Decks.”

“Lin Chen – 26 years old from Beijing, China – Codename: Siren; poison sniper. She came from a family of cultural performers. She’s the daughter of a famous pipa manufacturer that was involved in smuggling and importing illegal drugs in and out of the country. She killed the Chinese godfather Yang Zhou with a bullet aimed on the center of his forehead. She disguises herself as a concierge in the Empire Hotel.”

“Chris Glasgow – 31 years old from the New York, United States of America – Codename: Spider; hacker. We tried looking for other information about him but found nothing.”

“Why is that so?” Dmitri Williams spoke from the crowd.

“It seems that information regarding him have been obliterated for some unknown reason,” the spokesperson replied.

“I’ve already ordered an investigating team to see through this further,” Crosse added.

“Ah,” Dmitri was pleased with his son’s enthusiasm. “Well done. Well done.”

“We are currently in the process of investigating why his details are missing in the data bank. Rest assured that the intelligence team will report any new information found ASAP,” the spokesperson said.

“Proceed,” Dmitri gestured.

“Yoshifumi Rei – 29 years old from Zürich, Switzerland – Codename: Sting; katana wielder. He’s the son of Yoshifumi Shigeo, member of the original Silver Crescent Gang led by Lily Akiyama. Originally from Tokyo, he and his father left Japan after his mother’s brutal death. He disguises himself as a hotel chef in the Empire Hotel.”

“The leader of the Silver Crescent – Lady Nu Huang – 25 years old from…”

Of course, we all know who Lady Nu Huang is, so let’s skip her.

Yoshifumi Rei / “Sting” is the son of Yoshifumi Shigeo. Remember that Yoshifumi Shigeo was the plane pilot who brought Ayane from Japan to Switzerland to escape from the Spectra during the airport bombing incident 8 years ago (Chapter 75: The Escape). Rei, his son, is a culinary student in Switzerland when Ayane first met him. He was the one who trained Ayane to use weapons (Chapter 15 of Book 2: Sessions (Part 3)). Lately, he took over Ayane as Grand Lord of the Silver Crescent Gang (Chapter 42 of Book 2: Probabilities and Commandments). Now, he’s stuck in Switzerland with his father after the Japanese prime minister’s suspension of all flights from Europe to Japan (Chapter 50 of Book 2: Fixed).

Kim Yoon Jae / “Smoke” is that Korean guy who always smiles, remember? He joined the Silver Crescent to get revenge for his slaughtered family back in Korea. His side story was told in Chapter 36 of Book 2: Lullaby, where he was sexually-abused by the pedophile Spectra leader of the Korean faction. He’s a bomb expert and works as a part-time bartender in the Decks. Also, remember that he was the one who took that scandalous picture of Yuken and drunken Ayane kissing.

Lin Chen / “Siren” is the Chinese girl Akio became obsessed with after he found her floating on the lake and shackled in Kyoto. She uses the melting darts as weapon. She was the one who threw a dart towards Kosuke while he was on the Concorde café with Saori – and she ended up being chased by Saori (Chapter 6 of Book 2: Champagne). She played the pipa during the Cultural Festival in the scene where Kosuke first saw Ayane in Book 2 (Chapter 19 of Book 2: Perfection). She was also that girl who rescued Kosuke in the Empire Hotel (Chapter 40 of Book 2: Save the Queen). Now, after she was nearly killed by Rei for treachery by injecting a drug on her (Chapter 42 of Book 2: Probabilities and Commandments) and thrown to the lake unconscious, she was saved by Suzuki Akio, who was there in Kyoto coincidentally for a girl-hunting escapade.

Because of the injected drug, Lin has lost her ability to feel emotions – a “zombie-like state”. Later in Chapter 44 of Book 2: Solutions, Yuken revealed himself to be a doctor and presented a cure to this zombie-like state in the form of the Silver Laudanum.

The Silver Laudanum is a drug in tisane/powder form. That’s why Yuken managed to guise it as a tea, which he gave to almost everyone during the Christmas season (Chapter 32 of Book 2: Christmas Presents). If given as tea, it renders immunity to the ‘zombiefying’ effect of the Oblivion Vapors.

*The Oblivion Vapors is a more detrimental variety of the Lethal Lily Vapors. These two are both smoke bombs (used primarily by Yoon) – but they also come in liquid form and can be injected to produce more adverse effect, just like what happened to Lin.

The Lethal Lily Vapors can erase one’s short term memory. It was used by Yoon on Yuken when he stole his camera to erase Ayane’s picture (Chapter 8 of Book 2: Bomb Out), used by Ayane on Kosuke during the Nakashima Business Tower scene (Chapter 14 of Book 2: Lost Memories), and used by Kaoru Hiro lately on Rei (Chapter 49 of Book 2: Foxed) . The extent of the amnesic effect of this drug only reaches up to one’s last sleep. So for example, I last woke up from sleep at 3pm and I inhaled the drug at 6pm. When the drug wears off and I wake up, I would remember everything except for those events that happened between 3-6pm.

The Oblivion Vapors can erase one’s emotions. This was the drug injected into Lin, that’s why she would ‘phase out’ and act as though she can’t see, hear, or feel anything. This same drug, this time in gaseous form, is incorporated inside Lin’s shackles. This is why when Akio snooped around and accidentally pushed a button on the shackle, it emitted gas.

But because Akio drank the ‘tea’ Yuken gave before he inhaled the gas from the shackle, he was immune to its effects. Now, this leads us back to the explanation regarding the Silver Laudanum.

To explain the mechanism of action of this antidote in layman’s terms, the Silver Laudanum is a “drug to make someone depressed become not depressed”. The drug Rei injected into Lin’s neck was a depressive drug – the only way to counter it is by administering a euphoric drug. The problem is that the Silver Laudanum has a side effect – and that side effect is excessive euphoria.

However, for this substance to work as a CURE (and not like a vaccine for prevention as the ‘tea’ is per se), it had to be ‘amplified’ to increase its effect 100 fold. This is done by mixing the powder form of the Silver Laudanum to an alcohol – specifically to champagne. This is the reason why Lin has become one champagne addict too and ended up having weird Akio-like behavior.

Like Lin, Kaoru Saori is a Silver Laudanum-dependent person too. The next chapters would explain more about the mystery behind Kaoru Saori’s past.

Chris Glasgow (not Chris Brown, hehe) / “Spider” is the Silver Crescent Gang’s African-American computer hacker. He is the guy manning the Spider Web, the supercomputer/hacking program created by Yoshida Akira (Ayane’s father).

I have received feedback from readers expressing confusion about who Chris is, especially after Chapter 51. It’s like this: Chris’ real name is Dwayne Lindstrom. He is actually a prisoner. He was imprisoned in New York when he was 15 years old because he hacked a big time international bank. He is good at hacking because he was actually Yoshida Akira’s apprentice. So, he spent 9 years in jail and when he was 24 years old, Ayane and Rei came to visit him in jail, asking for his help to fix the Silver Disk.

Readers still are confused about the Silver Disk, so let me explain once again. If you would look at it, there is only ONE Silver Disk, but it has two parts: 1) Disk; 2) Reader. The disk doesn’t work without the reader, meaning the ‘real’ Silver Disk is the disk + reader.

The one under Ayane’s possession in Book 1 which was in constant pursuit by the Spectra is the disk. It was only later in Book 1 when Ayane found out that the reader was actually there inside her Circa Constellation all along (Chapter 68: Silver Secrets).

The Silver Disk is a silver device that looks pretty much like an external hard drive of a PC. No, it’s not a CD. Aside from the important data inside of it, the Silver Disk also is a key to the Vault.

Now, about the Vault – As told in the chapters that have been written so far, we have heard not just one but TWO Vaults. One Vault is actually the Silver Crescent Vault, which is hidden in Switzerland (Chapter 49 of Book 2: Foxed). Now, if you would read Chapter 50: Fixed, Yamazaki Daisuke (Kosuke’s prime minister stepfather and Grand Lord of the Spectra Gang) mentions a second Vault, the Golden Crescent Vault in China.

Now, Crosse is offering Daisuke the Keys in exchange for being his new ‘right hand’ in the Spectra Gang. Meaning, Crosse is offering to give Daisuke the keys to open the Golden Crescent Vault, NOT the Silver Crescent Vault, which is now empty.

Is the Golden Crescent Vault empty too? If not, what is inside the Golden Crescent Vault in China? Why is Crosse giving Daisuke this suspicious offer? These questions are still bound to be answered in the next chapters.

Also, there’s confusion that arose regarding Chapter 51 about Ayane opening the Vault in Switzerland. To re-explain it, it’s like this:

Ayane attempted to open the Vault three times.

FIRST ATTEMPT TO OPEN THE SWISS VAULT: The attempt failed because the Silver Disk didn’t work. Remember that part in Book 1 where Yuken and Shizuki cracked the Silver Disk open in Tsuzuya Academy (Chapter 68: Silver Secrets)?

To understand it better, look at it this way: the Silver Disk works like a cellular phone where you need to input a code to unlock it. If you input the code incorrectly for a certain number of times, the cellular phone with lock automatically.

Now, what happened to the Silver Disk that time is that Yuken and Shizuki used a conventional unlocking device used by the police – but Yoshida Akira’s inventions just couldn’t be cracked by an ordinary means that easily, right? It’s Yoshida Akira after all. They may access the information inside the disk, but the disk’s ability to open the Vault had been locked the moment Yuken and Shizuki cracked it. It’s the Silver Disk’s security mechanism.

Now, in order to access the Vault, the Silver Disk had to be restored/reformatted back to its original, uncracked state. Only one person can do this – that’s the reason why Ayane and Rei sought Chris Glasgow’s (Spider) help.

SECOND ATTEMPT TO OPEN THE SWISS VAULT: The attempt was successful and happened 1 year after the first attempt (Ayane was 18 years old that time. Remember that she left Japan at 17 years old and stayed with the Yoshifumis for a couple of months before the first attempt to access the Vault). Ayane was able to open the Vault. However, Chris stopped Ayane from reporting to Rei about it. While Ayane was accessing the Vault, Chris overheard Rei and Shigeo’s (his father) conversation where they are actually plotting to seize the Vault from Ayane.

THIRD ATTEMPT TO OPEN THE SWISS VAULT: Another successful attempt, but this time Ayane didn’t let anyone know about this visit. This is when she partitioned the wealth inside the Vault, informing Rei about only half of the Vault contents (¼ of the wealth allocated for re-establishing the Silver Crescent and ¼ deposited in Japan, which she used later to purchase hotels and businesses as Lady Nu Huang).

The other half of the wealth – Ayane hid them somewhere. We are only reaching this part of the story so far. This is where the latest chapter, Chapter 51 ,ends.

If you have any more questions regarding the Vaults or about anything just in case I missed explaining something, feel free to send me an e-mail.

Regarding the peculiar conversation between Fuuko and Kaoru Hiro in the start of Chapter 51, the next chapters would explain why they acted as such. For now, the important thing to take note of is that Fuuko admitted that she is a part of the Spectra Gang. Kaoru Hiro, based on his communication with Crosse in Chapter 49 of Book 2: Foxed, hints to us that Hiro is also part of the Spectra Gang. So the common question as to why they had to ‘stage an act’ at the first part of Chapter 51 would be revealed in the next chapters. These explanations would also include why Fuuko needed those hotel blueprints.

Now, if you want me to give a clue regarding the relevance of the blueprints, I’ll give you one BIG clue - Read Chapter 17 of Book 2: Cookies - Just read the first part of the chapter. The clue is very obvious and you’d probably be so surprised why you didn’t catch it early on, hehe.

Yeah, that’s it. Told ya.

Now, link what you discovered to Fuuko. What was she again? An architect? Good at floor plans?

Floor plans look cool on paper, but they look cooler when they’re on something more hi-tech, eh?

Now you’re grinning.

Hehe. Welcome to the hyena club.

See, the clues scattered around F&L can be hidden discreetly (like the ‘tea’) or can be as bright as day… you just have to have the eye to catch them, hehe.

Now, if you want more clues, this is my suggestion: read the posts of the readers in our thread, especially those with analysis. Who knows, some, if not most of them, have hit the jackpot?

Again, I apologize to the readers if the information I have given off for the past chapters overloaded you. This is the reason why I am controlling the chapter lengths to the best I could and updating as often as possible (in addition to placing Akio scenes to balance out the chapters). I hope that this author note at least helped you one way or another into putting the fact fragments together to reconstruct the story in your mind fittingly.

The next chapter wouldn’t have so much ‘brain frying’ by the way, but it would be… crazy.

Also, expect me to post a side-story chapter starring Hidemi-Fuuko, Yuken-Shizuki, Tomo-Makiko, and Akio-Lin. These side stories won’t be listed in the index as one of the numbered chapters and reading them will be completely OPTIONAL. For Fictionpress, I would be posting them as a separate story (thus, not included in the chapter list of the F&L2 thread). I’m posting these side stories to fill in plot holes, but the events in the side stories WILL NOT contain clues to the mysteries in the main story, thus they are optional reads.

I am flying to the Philippines 6 hours from now for my annual Holy Week vacation in my grandma’s place in Makati. Then, I’d be on Hongkong and Macau on Sunday till Tuesday. I would be away until Tuesday just to let you guys know. I’m not so sure if I would be able to answer your emails once I’m there because we’re going to the beach (where I’d flaunt my non-existent abs replaced by adiposity. Boston hamburgers are triglyceride builders!).

I’d be back NEXT WEEK with an update plus the first few chapters of my new story, Vena Cava.

I’ve said this a million times but THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT NOT ONLY FOR THIS STORY, FISTS AND LIPSTICKS, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY TO MEIA, AND I. The support we’ve been getting, the thousands of posts, the numerous emails I’ve been receiving everyday showing their respect and support, EVERYTHING down to the littlest gestures of encouragement that drive this story to where it is today (more than 100 chapters and ongoing) – thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Just a few more chapters and brain-frying and we’re getting there to the finish line. Actually, I have finished writing Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent last night and when I typed in the last word, I couldn’t explain what I felt. It was like running a marathon for almost 3 years that seemed to never end but on my last turn, I finally saw that finish line. Lots of revisions to be done, though – including Book 1, which I am in the process of re-writing. I have to re-read everything I’ve written from the start to edit out inconsistencies and add to the story parts that I’ve missed explaining or scenes that have plot holes.

Again, there would be no Book 3, but I’d be hanging around longer in Soompi for Vena Cava. It has a lighter plot in terms of the mystery/brain-frying aspect but it’s gonna be fun and different.

Regarding translations requests, again I would give you guys the go signal AFTER I finish the revisions. Thank you so much for the offers (Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean) and thank you for the courtesy you showed by asking my permission first before taking this story out of Soompi and Fictionpress. I really appreciate it.

After I come back from my Holy Week vacation, expect faster updates (it would depend on my revision time, though). If not twice a week, expect an update at least once a week.

Sincerely,
Your official Hyena-Grinning-Brain-Frier,
Mark

P.S. I realized that this Author note is about a chapter long! Hehe.

PS again – to Miss Alice: Meia made me read your PM about the Baby Names! Hehe. Now you made me realize that it’s about time to think about baby names, right Meia?

I want to have Chinese babies like Akio

Vena Cava - to be launched this April

2009-03-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

Yup, it's finally here.

Since I'm now tweaking the final chapters of Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent, I have decided to have my new full-length fic launched this April.

Credits to Vincent Leung for the poster

As I've said, Vena Cava (coming this April 2009) will be completely different from Fists and Lipsticks. Although still under the MYSTERY genre, I will blend it this time to SUPERNATURAL. I've started constructing the plot and twists from start to end but I have to admit that I'm a little bit unsure with the other details at this point in time, including the volume of characters I would include for this project. I will be posting it as some sort of "jumpstart" and by experiment (which hopefully will work just as much as F&L did). While my other story is still being posted in Fictionpress and Soompi Forums, I may not be able to update this as often as F&L.

Also, I made a decision to revamp the names of the characters and YES, once again use Japanese names for this story. I am more comfortable writing with Japanese names and the dialogues, scenes, and setting is pretty much similar to F&L so the transition wasn't that difficult as I thought it would be. Initially, the plan was to set it up in the United States, but for some reason I am not 'feeling' the fic just as much as I do whenever I write F&L. We'll go with Japanese, and yes, I've decided to put it up in Soompi as well.

Again for a sneak preview, Vena Cava is about a female medical student who has a peculiar "talent". I don't want to spoil it yet. It's a mystery fic with a supernatural twist, with action, drama (although to a lesser degree compared to F&L), comedy (this will have more of comedy since the lead character is quirky like Kaoru Saori, hehe), and suspense. Point of clarification = NO, VC is NOT about vampires. It will also have badass gangsters, crazy twists, and love webs.

I'm very excited to share this one with you guys. It's going to be fun and it's going to be different, hehe.

To the Fists and Lipsticks readers - Thank you so much for your continued support. We still have a couple of chapters more to go before F&L ends (estimated on May/June). Also, I'm planning to re-write Book 1 of F&L in an attempt to fix and refurbish my horrible writing and dense, high-schoolish descriptions, hehe. I will finish the revision of Book 1 before releasing the final complete .doc/PDF version of Fists and Lipsticks Book 1 + Book 2 combined.

Author Notes from Chapter 49

2009-03-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

Copy pasted from our Soompi Thread:

REPLIES FOR CHAPTER 49
(A/N: I highly recommend that readers going to Chapter 50 ahead would take time to read this first
so that you'll be properly guided of who's who and what has happened, especially to those who are tad confused.)

Hi F&L readers! Hehe...

First up, I'm sorry if there has been a delay on posting Chapter 50. This chapter was supposed to be up 2 days ago but unfortunately my internet connection was intermittent so I couldn't post the chapter properly without being disconnected midway. Thank you for your patience and continued support.

I read all your replies, including those sent via e-mail and PMs and I'd like to say thank you for sending them in because I'm very happy to answer them. Actually, I was so amazed of the replies that came in for this chapter. A great number of them were intelligent and analytic to the point that somewhere in the way I kinda felt threatened, hehe. I thought my trail of bombs was bound to be detonated by the guesses, yikes...

Anyway, here are some of your points/inquiries that I'd like to put emphasis on at this point of the story:

I. FUUKO & HIDEMI = COUPLE?

akito&agito
Fuuko! I am shocked. She wants to go on a date with Hidemi!?
Did see it, but didn't expect it. Man... speechless here.
lil^jenniie
WOW. that is something new.
myxlove101
This chapter was too awesome. Fuuko + Hidemi = Date?
Woah. Big twist there.. Wonder if they are gonna be a couple.
VOV
Aww Fuuko makes a comeback!
I like how you make everything tie together so well.
leebabe007
Fuuko wants a date with Hidemi? Aww how cute. I couldn't help but to gush like a crazy fangirl.
5imply_5wt
Fukko & Hidemi = cuteness aah~
paola_grace_27
fuuka has interest with yamada? hmmm... that is something, you know...
did she already recovered from her heartbreak with kosuke? lol

For purpose of recall, Yamada Hidemi is one of Kosuke's high school friend. He's the Tsuzuya Super Athlete if you would remember, the one who drives a car to school, the captain of all the sports team blah blah blah. Also, Hidemi is also that guy who would always be spotted in his coffee shop, the Concorde (think about the Concorde as the real-world Starbucks, you get the idea). Another thing we can recall about Hidemi is that he was the one who saved Kimura Ruriko (one of Ayane's friends) when she was attacked by a group of motorcycle-riding gangsters in Book 1 too.

Ayanami Fuuko, on the other hand, is Tsuzuya Academy's notorious female bully. If you have read Book 1, she's the b*tchy character you hated. She bullied Makiko, Shizuki, and Ayane too (at least she attempted to).

Now, why is Ayanami Fuuko back suddenly back in the story? For a purpose, most likely huh? She suddenly showed up, saying that she knows of a way to remove Lin Chen's gas shackles. Also, she suddenly shows interest on Hidemi.

benchi101
Why does she want to go on a date with Hidemi? o.o

Good question. Maybe it's because Fuuko suddenly realized that she 'likes' Hidemi...

... or maybe there's something else?

You can try continue and read Chapter 50 for a sneak peak of the 'answer' for this question.

II. SECOND BOMB REGARDING KAORU HIRO'S IDENTITY

Again, for purposes of recall, Kaoru Hiro is Kaoru Saori's older brother. We first met them in the earlier chapters when Saori was whining about handling the Dasera Bombing investigation case herself. In one chapter also, we could recall that Kosuke contacted Hiro ordering him to search for his biological mother.

undeniablystubborn
finally...
kaoru hiro's identity is finally revealed...
simpleangel
so it was actually kaoru hiro.
vivi_dee
Wait... what????? The guy was Hiro?
sentuhmentalfo0l
it all makes sense now! haha
no wonder hiro and saori were weird and suspicious
sweet_rose_20
so kauro-san was part of the spectra gang o_O
muchLove
Hiro is the Vault Man, never expected that.
iced_
Kaoru-san is actually part of the spectre...

Bomb number two detonated for Kaoru Hiro - Yes, he is a 'part' of the Spectra Gang.

And because he was talking to Crosse during the Vault siege, then the next one is pretty obvious:

theLOSER
Hiro is working for Crosse? WOW! Didnt see that coming but
wow!
akito&agito
And Kaoru Hiro, he's working with Crosse?!

Yes, Hiro and Crosse are on one boat.

But of course, there's still the question of Hiro's suspicious profound knowledge:

Silent Serenity
His actions are very suspicious too, especially the fact that he seems to know so much. If he is in Crosse's side and he's also trying to help Kosuke (assuming that Saori is keeping Kosuke to keep him safe), does that mean that the Spectra is actually helping Kosuke??? But isn't the Spectra trying to kill Kosuke???

^ Above is a very good observation. Sorry if I can't elaborate about this at this point in time because if I did I would end up spoiling big time info, but I wanted to emphasize this one.

Now, this leads us to one short but very good question:

nha93
how did they do it so easily?

By 'they', Miss nha93 meant the Spectra Gang. How did the Spectra Gang make their way into the Vault too easily?

Other similar observations, some going into subtle details that I am happy that people were actually able to point out:

x3_b3b3
if Kauro Hiro was pretending to be the vault keeper...how did he manage to get to the vault if he had to use a fingerprint scanner? did he use some kind of glove thingy or something?
OR OR was HIS parents part of the Silver Cresent too? so he too, has access to the vault?
shinexshine
Wait a sec, I was wondering how come Kaoru Hiro was able to go in and out of the Vault with such ease? The fingerprinting security system, how was he able to bypass them if he was only there to ambush Rei? Was it the doing of the Spider Web or is it because Kaoru Hiro is affiliated with the original Crescent Gang too? His parents maybe? Or he himself?
stephieyeung
After reading shinexshine's post, that had me wondering too. Rei had to wait for one month for them to come up with measures to access the Vault. But apparently, Crosse, Kaoru Hiro, and the Spectra gang was able to access the Vault too easily. Kaoru Hiro's role is beginning to intrigue me more and more. Also, he knows too much about the Crescent Gang. He could fight damn well too that he was able to take down Rei in a single slam!

Take note of these observations. All I could say now is that they may come REALLY handy in the next couple of chapters.

Hehe, I love mysteries.

fairy~dream
Hiro is a part of the Spectra, but I am doubtful of their true intentions, especially that Hiro seems to know a lot of secrets Rei had no idea about. Hiro's existence in this story makes my head hurt from all these brain storming.
shar0nsaurus
Hiro dude huh? Totally wasn't expecting that. What is he really? Every time he appears he always surprises me with things. How does he know so much and capable of all these things?
syndryx
so, Kaoru Hiro’s position was high enough since he knows about this secret? But Hiro was only in his, what, thirty’s? So how did he come across this secret? Maybe passed? But who really is Hiro? What’s his real role here aside from being a fraudulent senior police investigator, masked Vault Keeper, Crosse’ subordinate, and a member of the Spectra?

Who is Kaoru Hiro?

BIG questions have BIG answers.

Stay tuned for the bombs, hehe.

Again, take note of the reviews I noted here, especially the ones I tagged in bold characters

III. CONNECTIONS?

Now, for a little break down of the possible connections. Brilliant guesses from you guys, hehe.

Let's see what you guys have:

ronicabeee
Now that it is revealed, then Crosse must know Saori too!
And by that means Crosse knows where Kosuke is!
And by that means Crosse is hiding both Kosuke and Ayane!
And by that means Crosse and Hiro and Saori are all members of the Spectra!
And by that means the Black Widow is working for Crosse
And by that means Yuken is working for Crosse because the Black Widow helped Yuken before!
akito&agito
then Crosse knows where Kosuke is?!
Is Yuken working with Crosse?
redbutterflytree
Unless Black Widow knows both of them separately, Yuken and Crosse must be working together, right? So then, is Yuken part of the Spectra? And with Kaoru Hiro & Saori! Hiro must be working for Crosse, ergo, Saori is connected to Crosse, and Crosse has something to do with Kosuke (unless Saori and Hiro acted on their own to save him). OR WAIT! Crosse could be protecting BOTH Ayane and Kosuke
shelleybeans
If Crosse and Hiro (and the Black Widow) are in contact, then it must mean that they are all in the same side... the Spectra!
HYPERGURLY^^
is the black widow ..saori? and yuken is a part of spectra huh? so is fuuko...... omg... all of these people.... WOW.... crazy

I see that you guys have found the puzzle pieces yourself. The only question left now is that if these pieces fit with each other.

Once again, take note of the ones I tagged in bold characters. I'm not saying that they're all confirmed to be correct, but I'm not saying they're wrong either...

Maybe there's just one or two puzzle pieces lurking around that no one was able to notice, unfortunately.

Haha. -#-grins in glory-#-

crossroadblues
So, Sato was working for Crosse the whole time?
Does he know he is working for crosse? No, Sato probably thinks he is working for spider web.
Is spider web Hiro's sister? I got too many questions that I need to be answered lol.
So the new gang consist of Crosse, Hiro, Saori, Fuuko, and Sato.....

You might mean 'Black Widow', not 'Spider Web'.

For purposes of recall, the Spider Web is the supercomputer/hacking program used by the Silver Crescent. It was created by Yoshida Akira for the original Crescent Gang, but it was never used by the Crescent Gang. Chris Glasgow a.k.a. Spider controls this program for the Silver Crescent's use, but it was stolen by the Spectra.

'Black Widow' is the mysterious female hacker in Crosse's team. I will discuss further in the next section of my review replies.

yannie_nguyen
Hir0 and Cr0sse are allies! C0uld it be that they were the 0nes t0gether
during th0se eight years?

It could be.

Now, this is an interesting observation by Miss loveme100x:

loveme100x
Hiro is working for Crosse, so therefore Hiro is protecting Kosuke. Crosse and Hiro are said to be working for Spectra. Fuuko (just cause I think she's the Black Widow ) and Yuken are affiliated with Crosse and so therefore Hiro as well. So if Yuken and Fuuko and affiliated with Crosse and Hiro, they're with Spectra. Fuuko and Yuken's families were ruined by Spectra. Crosse also despised his father, his brother, and Spectra in book 1. It just doesn't make sense that they'd turn around to side with the one group they want dead. And it doesn't make sense that Spectra would willingly let them join after all the bad blood. Unless this is one of those situations where they join the enemy to kill them from the inside? Spectra aint that dumb right?

Lots of speculations about the suspicious affiliation of Crosse to the Spectra. He hated the Spectra, right? Same with Fuuko. So why work for the Spectra? They join the enemy to kill them from the inside - that's a very likely possibility. The Spectra isn't dumb, true. Also, Daisuke is aware of who Crosse is, obviously. Why does he take him in the gang?

I'd give a little bit of clue by throwing a question:
--- What if Crosse had something all along that the Spectra wanted all these times that made even Daisuke unable to refuse his joining-in?

Read between the lines, hehe.

IV. WHO IS THE 'BLACK WIDOW'?

Diverse votes coming in for who the infamous Black Widow is.

debbiex33
who is black widow?
i think i've heard of her before but i cant remember who she is.

Recall that Black Widow first came out in the story during the Kyoto siege - the scene where Yuken and Shizuki went to Kyoto to fetch Akio and Lin then they were chased down by Rei's men. To find their way out, Yuken was helped by a so-called 'Black Widow', whose voice sounded from his hi-tech SLR camera. You can read back to the chapter called "Solution".

Now, Black Widow revealed herself to be actually a girl. The big question is, who is she?

The votes/guesses were diverse, but with only two prominent suspects:

littlemisstiny
black widow is either fuuko or saori xD !!!!
akito&agito
And the Black Widow, who is she?
Can't be Fuuko...
RHAINE
i reread that part where the black widow asked for swiss choco LOL
can't be saori cause the hacker called him "kaoro-san" hmm, who is that?
fairy~dream
The Black Widow sounds somewhat "childish". Is Saori the Black Widow? Her character seems to fit, but Fuuko's entry to the story gives us an option number 2.
AsianL0ve
haha is saori the black widow?
or uhh Ayanami Fuuko
patty412
I'm going with the guess that Fuuko is the Black Widow. It has not been revealed yet but I think several clues pointed to her, like the mention of "steel" in this chapter for instance.
nganrinat0r
the mystery with the Black Widow. Saori had crossed my mine when Hiro revealed himself but her comments exchanged with Rei were too 'normal' that, that guess seemed unrealistic.
renchew
FUUKO is so suspicious... she seems most fit to be Black Widow except.. the way the Black Widow talks seems to be like Saori.
maizakichi
i think Fuuko is Black Widow. like her being an architect...so she knows the structure of the buildings
and it would be easy for her to study the blue prints and all..hehehe
mangoes-dbsk
Maybe the black widow is Saori... (that's her name, right? I forgot. Hiro's sis or something. The one that locked Kosuke in the bottle room) since her brother is also in the Spectra, it's possible that she's in it too. And she's a police person or something. She should know how to do all these cool technology stuffs.
benchi101
I'm only guessing but sounds like the famous Black Widow is Saori. At first I thought it was Fuuko but then you know at the part when she told Hiro to buy her white chocolates or whatever to her when he gets home sounded what Saori would say.
dreamer88
i'm almost sure that annoying saori is the black
widow she's doing something good thank the lord
VietHoney
I think the black widow is Saori... o.o;
She asked for Swiss white chocolates which reminds me of when she asked Kosuke to buy her all that champagne. =T
aνєc aмσυr
So, does that mean Saori is also part of spectra...is she the black widow?????? Because the black widow did ask Hiro for Swiss white choclates on his way home. I think that was a pretty big clue.
linnienguyen
i think the black widow might be saori too! the cheese cake part really seems like something she would say.
loveme100x
the choices are limited to Saori and Fuuko. But I crossed
Saori off cause if it was her on the other end of that line, she would have asked Hiro to bring wine, not white chocolate. Fuuko's timely appearance, as well as her being possibly able to open that god damn gas shackle just kind of screams Black Widow.
xradiostarx
omg is black widow.. saori? ;D
but ohmy.gif haha i love how the begging went for fuuko xD haha or is she the black widow? o.o
~Tropical.Mists
at first I thought it was Fuuko, I mean COME ON! introducing her again at such a pivotal moment? and the fact that she knows about the shackles and is reintroducing herself to Akio and Hidemi? So well... point proven. But then I thought it could be Saori too cuz of well... *coughHiro*cough haha =P Considering how the black widow talks and reacts? It SOUNDS like something that Saori would say or react to.... and maybe I'm thinking on a different timeline.... but if Rei is at the Vault at the same time that Hidemi and Akio are with Fuuko in the coffe shop, then wouldn't that mean that Fuuko CAN'T be the black widow? o_O She can't be at two places at once? Unless of course it's hours later? >_>
MarieY
I think Black Widow is Saori. She sounds so childish and she reminds me of Saori a lot.
mabelinda
there's black widow too, who I am
thinking is most likely to be Saori because of how he asks for swiss chocolates in the end it is so like Saori!
syndryx
Black Widow is really a girl… and a jolly-sounding girl, in that case, like Saori….but I’m really having doubts if that’s really Saori….
jaja13
i think that the black widow is either fuuko or kaori.

So, Saori or Fuuko?

Again, Kaoru Saori is Kaoru Hiro's weird younger sister. She's the champagne addict, Kosuke's annoying stalker who proclaims that she's the best detective in the world. She also owns that bottle-filled house where Kosuke is currently staying.

Fuuko is the Tsuzuya bully who asked Hidemi out on a date in exchange for removing Lin's gas shackles.

Very good guesses up there, especially those presented with evidences. For a recap of the common observations, it can be Kaoru Saori. Black Widow sounds 'childish' and a little bit 'whiny'. She played Rei like a sarcastic wicked kid. She also asked Hiro to bring home Swiss chocolates for her.

But on the other side, she referred to Hiro as 'Kaoru-san' rather than 'onii-chan' (what Saori usually calls Hiro). Also, Saori is presumed to be with Kosuke when the Vault scene happened (take note that I said 'presumed'... This information may change in the next chapter, you know, hehe...). So if it wasn't Saori, then it could be Fuuko.

Fuuko entered the story in a 'pivotal moment' (as Miss ~Tropical.Mists mentioned). She appear to know a lot and became interested when she heard about Lin's shackles. Is there a possibility that the shackles, the Spider Web, and the Spectra all had something to do with her? It could be her. In fact, there's a big chance that it might be her after all. But then again, will someone like Fuuko be likely to work with Yuken? They are unlikely to be allies, but if Yuken is indeed affiliated with the Spectra, this is a possibility.

But there's an interesting outlier among the guessers:

kc_chua
I'm going to try to be different from the rest of the readers by saying that I don't think that Black Widow is either of the two. It is either a new character or someone we simply missed.

Who knows? Maybe you're right, Miss kc_chua

Black Widow could be a character everyone just missed.

V. 'STEEL?'

RHAINE
who is in rei's team whos in charge of making the silver slayer?
its a male & steel and all is his business. i seriously have no idea i think. dmitri? nuhhh, he made motors but not steel.
Silent Serenity
Kaoru said in the first quoted text -- "HE". Meaning, the person knowledgeable about this steel that apparently is similar to Lin's shackles is a male. And he said that the metal was used in making the katana? Aren't the Silver weapons made by Yoshida Akira? Then he said next that the metal is used in motorcycle detailing - therefore, more evidence to point to Yoshida Akira! Fuuko said that she can help Lin, right? Then Fuuko must know something about this steel! Hiro knows about this steel too, so Fuuko and Kaoru Hiro must know each other???
VietHoney
and Fuuko... Does she have access to that special steel or something...? o.o;
or is there another way to break through the shackles...? ;O

I highly recommend that everyone would take note of the conversation Rei and Hiro had inside the Vault regarding the so-called 'steel'.

I will quote it so that you guys wouldn't have to find it:

QUOTE

Rei gasped upon seeing the Vault Keeper standing by the lift, holding his katana that was extended to its full length.

“Did you know that this kind of steel has been manufactured only for three purposes?” the Vault keeper swung the sword in a manner that did not, in any aspect, look amateurish.

As Rei witnessed this, he felt a lump form on his throat. His previously flushed face turned white in an instant. His eyes widened in disbelief.

“One, for this sword… lightweight, sharp, retractable, unbreakable… Two, for detailing… Detailing of what, you might ask?” the Vault keeper continued, retracting the sword back and putting it inside his pocket. “Are you curious?”

“Why don’t you ask me more?”

“D… D-Detailing… of w-what?” Rei began stuttering.

The man smiled, “Circa Motorcycles.”

“W… What?!”

“And number three? Do you want to know it? Are you so curious now?” His voice was beginning to become more and more provocative

“Why don’t you ask me more?”

“W…What is… n-number three?”

“Gas Shackles,” the man replied. “You know what I am talking about, don’t you?”

Now, for this point raised by Miss fuuko-chan

fuuko-chan
Fuuko knows how to take off Lin's shackles... how? Maybe she'll be using something similar to Rei's katana?

By the principle of 'diamonds-cut-diamonds', above is a brilliant guess. Let's see how things would work in the future chapters.

How will Fuuko remove Lin's shackles? The clues above are brilliant guesses, but I'll make sure that after you read that revelation, you'd all be dead shocked how it will go, hehe.

VI. WHAT HAPPENED TO REI?

crossroadblues
Is Rei really "gone"?

Nope, Rei just passed out. He's a rather important character and he couldn't just die in a lame way...

Not that I'm saying that he'll die but... he might, he might not, hehe.

mygurl mia
So Rei wouldn't be able to remember what transpired inside the Vault then?
Just like how Akio forgot about the hotel receptionist in the past chapter?
Why didn't Hiro just kill Rei off?
Rin Li
What happened to Rei after he was drugged out? Will he be amnesic like Lin and Saori are? But he just "inhaled" the fumes right? Not injected, so he wont end up as a "zombie"?

Yes, glad that you guys still have the facts straight. The vapor Hiro used is that kind Kim Yoon Jae usually uses. Remember that Hiro asked Rei what time his last sleep was. It is because the Lethal Lily Vapor could only erase recent memory from the victim's last sleep.

We recall that incident when Yoon used the smoke bomb on Suzuki Akio in the earlier chapters. When Shizuki woke Akio up, he could still remember who Shizuki and Makiko were, but NOT the hotel receptionist. Why? Because he just met the hotel receptionist that day. His memory of the receptionist is recent - after his last sleep, therefore vulnerable to the drug's effect.

teddybear01
so... rei's emotions and memories are wiped?

The Lethal Lily Vapor (which erases recent memory from the victim's last sleep) is different from the Oblivion Vapor (which can 'deactivate' a person's ability to feel emotions), which Rei used on Lin to "zombiefy" her. Apparently, Saori has been affected by the same drug too, making her and Lin dependent now on the 'antidote' - the Silver Laudanum.

The question is, will Rei still be able to remember everything that happened inside the Vault?

Well, you'll find out in the next chapter.

debbiex33
did they just leave rei there after he fainted?

You'll find out what became of him in the next chapter.

VII. THE SWISS VAULT

PSiloveyu
I KNEW THERE WAS GNA BE NOTHING IN THE VAULT !
I JUST KNEW IT !
mygurl_mia
I'm curious = If the Vault is now empty, where are the contents?
Are they with Ayane? Where did she keep them?
shinexshine
One more thing, it was mentioned before that there are a bunch of money and weapons
inside the vault right? If Ayane was the one who moved the contents to some other place, when and how did she do it?
Kathy88
Of course, the Spectra had their nose on the Vault even before Rei could lay a finger on it.
Speaking of the Vault, where did the money and the weapons go?
The last person to access it was Ayane, right? So was she the one who transferred the contents
to some other place without Rei's knowledge?

Another big mystery revealed here - The infamous Swiss Vault is actually empty. Where are the contents? Of course, judging with how the things had gone since Chapter 1, we are aware the Ayane HAS the Vault. If she didn't have the Vault, she would have all the money and power to buy off hotel and run big time businesses in Japan, can she?

I can't give a clue, but if you would re-read some of the previous chapter (or even JUST this chapter 49 or 48 - you'll actually catch a very subtle but VAST clue to HOW Ayane was able to transfer the contents to some other place.

Another question is that where is that 'other place' that Ayane moved the Vault contents into?

Well folks, that's for the next chapters, hehe.

loveme100x
Assuming that Spectra's main man, Daisuke, never gained access to the vault, and has never been to
the vault, just how on Earth would Spectra be able to gain that much access and power?

^ Very, very good observation. Another point that I couldn't elaborate on but I would greatly emphasize.

mabelinda
But but but but but.......... what will happen now that the vault keys are with Crosse? Is he planning to get the vault himself?
fuuko-chan
I think the Vault in this chapter is a fake and the real one is somewhere... out there. O.o And the Spectra knows where it is... I guess. Will Crosse really give the keys to his father despite knowing it's Ayane who's supposed to own the Vault? ):

Regarding Crosse's 'plans' with the Vault keys, I'd leave the answers in the next chapter.

syndryx
The protection still lingers up to this moment, and the existence of that protection serves as a warning to all those who are interested in taking the riches of Crescent gang…but then again, how come that that protection is still existent? And for it to serve as a warning….is it possible that though the Crescent has been disbanded, its members still protect the Vault? Or something like that? I mean, for the protection to still linger for the last sixty years with the Crescent already gone, there should be someone or a group of someones still doing the protecting part, right?

This is a another very good observation. Can't elaborate, but at this point, bear this in mind, especially the ones I tagged in bold characters ^.

VIII. SPECTRA vs. SILVER CRESCENT

emfkrx
now crosse and the spectra seems like the "good" guyyys!
maizakichi
it's as if Spectra is ruling everything now. hehehe
chng234
kinda surprised that crooses is capable to take down rei.

That's my plan - a reversal of protagonist-antagonist roles...

But then again, that reversal may not be permanent.

loveme100x
I have yet to see Yamazaki Daisuke
make his official appearance in F&L2 as Spectra's leader. Unless he's dead? O.o But that's some-what
impossible. I just find his non-appearance a bit too suspicious.

Very good point. In fact, coincidentally, the next chapter would cater to this little request, hehe.

~Tropical.Mists
So that leads up to the whole Cross/Hiro/Black Widow tie issue with Spectra >_> Are they really WITH the Spectra? Haha =P I HIGHLY doubt it....
I love Cross and I refuse to believe that he is evil >=( Like I REFUSE with a PASSION to believe that he's into gangs and killing people and working with his good-for-nothing father =S ugh! So yes.... I'd like to secretly think that ALL 3 of them are good =) They're good because they're going AGAINST the Spectra and what better way to beat them than to join them? and destroy them from the inside >=) wakakaka! That's what I WOULD like to think =) Of course I could be wrong...
kc_chua
Reading between the lines, Crosse's so-called "grand revenge plan" must include teaming up with his father Dmitri Williams in double both the Spectra and the Silver Crescent. Is that the reason why Crosse is "working" for the Spectra?
syndryx
I mean, if Crosse will really tell Dmitri about the keys and the Spectra will go and check the Vault and see it empty, won’t they think that someone (Crosse) might have hidden its contents from them?
cambochinkanese
I wonder what Crosse's motive is o_o

Well as I've said, we've yet to see what Crosse has in mind. I promise to not let you guys be disappointed (or at least I'd try to.)

But this I can say: Heck, it's gonna be cool.

IX. The SPIDER WEB

kc_chua
That leads me back to think about that incident back in the Nakashima Tower (yup, that part where Kosuke jumped off the building to rescue Ayane!!! <3).>That was the Black Widow's doing, right! I suddenly had this mindboggling question in my head. That time, the Spider Web wasn't stolen yet, but the Black Widow was able to interecept their system. This leads me to the assumption that maybe there is a pre-existing computer system more powerful than the Spider Web? The Spectra probably stole the Spider Web later on in the story, but to access the Swiss Vault security system, they MIGHT be using another hacking program powerful enough to infiltrate. Because if the Spider Web was powerful enough to do that job, then Chris and Rei wouldn't have to wait too long just to find the perfect moment and opportunity to steal the Vault away from Ayane, would they? Then again, this theory might be going too overboard. I may be wrong. But... I MAY be right too, right? ;p

I won't comment on this yet but wow...

I never expected that someone would actually catch this one as early as this point of the story. Good job, kc_chua.

X. OTHER QUESTIONS / ASPECTS / RANDOM STUFF

morphine99
Believe it or not, while reading the part where Rei was being chased, the scene played on my mind with matching sound effects and background music

Haha.

fairy~dream
What's up with 'Hiro's being brain friers anyway? Both inside and outside this story, 'Hiro's TWISTS minds. YOU KILLER AUTHOR!!! L0L

Errr... another haha.

curiousitykills
I feel pity for Crosse-kun but why can't he just let go in order to get rid off the pain in his heart? how long can you hold on and wait Crosse-kun if Ayane's heart belongs to Kosuke? arggh....
xherodbskx
I demand aya and kosuke back together!!
noona
i'm really happy that ayane and kosokue loves each other....
poor crosse, but i really want ayane and kosokue to be together
amandahs
good chapter but also sad at the same time

Like I said, I'm not a fan of sad endings.

nganrinat0r
did Saori also have shackles? if yes this story is further twisted @.@

No, she didn't. It's much more than shackles.

benchi101
I'm now wondering again of how Crosse got out of his trap 8 years ago. Did somebody help him out?

One of the biggest mysteries in both Book 1 and 2 of F&L. I have a chapter that would narrate this in full detail.

loveme100x
Why would Crosse escape from Spectra only to return as their assassin?

Another big question. This would be included in the narration just like what I've said to Miss benchi101 ^.

VietHoney
YEESS. DIVORCE PLEASE! ;D lmao.

Let's see how Rei would be pushed to do this voluntarily.

5imply_5wt
such an amazing description of the swiss bank. makes me want to go there someday ^^

I wanna go there too someday, hehe. I haven't been there. I wanted to but man, the plane ticket it heck expensive!!!

new_faith
I'm missing Tomo and Makiko! Where are they?

They'll be back very soon... with important roles.

genna
There were too many clues for my head to handle though. lol, thinking at this hour gives me a headache...

Welcome to the Brain Frying F&L Adventure, hehe.

silent_regrets
i just came across you story today i finished the first one and here i am reading the second one
can i just say OH MY FREAKING HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!! I LOVE YOUR STORY!!!!I cant believe i didnt read your story till now *slaps herself*
i love you story so intense i was practically on the edge of my seat throughout the whole two stories....
xxcoco_puffxx96
*Silent reader that JUST turned into active reader*
HI! I must say that your story is absolutely amazing! So fiery and exciting. It keeps me wanting more and more. Keep up the hard work and I'll be waiting!
maya16
i've been a silent reader for a while now and i just wanna say WOW x 3!
you're a great writer and you're fanfix is one in which i can't wait to read

Hey miss silent_regrets, xxcoco_puffxx96, and maya16 - - Welcome to F&L! Thank you for reading and hope you have a wonderful brain frying adventure with us, hehe.

To Mey Pazela, xxx Queen Of Slayers xxx, Rife, Snowy_angel, and the rest of the new readers from Fictionpress, welcome to F&L and thank you for your kind words, PMs, and e-mails. To the old readers in Fictionpress, especially to CLOUDSTRIFELOVER4ever, Benozir, and the rest who have stayed with us from Chapter 1, thank you very much for the continued support.

Thank you for your continued support to me, Meia, and F&L!
Thank you for being with us in this journey, hehe (turning into a drama king).

-Hiro

Chapter 48 and previous chapter replies

2009-03-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

This was copy-pasted from our F&L2 thread in Soompi Forums. To Fictionpress readers, if you have other inquiries, feel free to e-mail me as usual. I also do individualized replies via e-mail.

New readers, welcome!

========================

Replies for Chapter 48
(+ replies for other previous chapters)

A/N regarding the "Crosse Overload" chapters
We now officially end the Crosse Overload chapters, but it doesn't mean that you'll see less of Crosse now. Remember that he is Crosse after all, therefore a significant part of the main plot (and the big bombs).

With Crosse-Ayane's relationship, I've read in some of the comments / PMs / emails saying that they are going "tired" of this same 'Crosse-loves-Ayane-but-Ayane-doesn't-love-him-but-Kosuke' aspect. I kept on repeating and emphasizing this to the point that it has become quite "tiresome" (although some romance fanatics loved it). I wrote these chapters precisely because of this intention - to stress it to the point that even the readers will grow tired of it. Why? Other than the fact that the story has to move on, I wanted the readers to grab exactly this feeling: that everyone's tired of this merry-go-round relationship except Crosse - to stress that he is persistent, stress that he has gone quite desperate, and stress his unhappiness. With the years lost and years of feeling sorry for his cowardliness more than eight years ago, he needs to experience this transition with utmost intensity.

Now that we finally end these 'Crosse chapters', you'll soon witness his 'moving on'. This is the importance of the transition - to put a bold line between his past and the actions he would do next, both regarding his relationship with Ayane and with his role as a 'Spectra' assassin.

On Yoshifumi Rei

ronicabeee
I swear to god Rei is the baddest, meanest, cruelest, and hottest villain ever made in fanfic history!
sweet_rose_20
omg rei is so evil
xherodbskx
stupid rei i just want to bash him on the head
noona
rei is soooo evil....
jusplainmeh
Stupid a-hole. I hope Crosse kills him...

The outrage, hehe. I know... as expected. I am quite fond of late-bloomer villains, hehe. (Remember that I said this well... very well.)

Silent Serenity
I'm thinking that maybe Rei and Shigeo had been planning this from the very start, from adopting Ayane after Akira got killed in Book 1, to Rei falling in love with Ayane, to Rei arranging their marriage in secret, even to call for Shizuki to be Ayane's psychiatrist! He is using every person he could to get what he wanted: the VAULT above everything else! His grand scheme is becoming evident little by little and his true color is being revealed!

^ Very good observation. Let's see how his schemes would progress in the next chapters. Will his plans be successful? Or a failure?

K.I.M
What?! He is married to her?
jemilah
WHAT? They're married???? OH.MY.GOD!
s2naomii
THEYRE MARRIED? WTHECK!?
sentuhmentalfo0l
i can't believe he has a marriage certificate
and ayane has no idea about it.. i can't believe they've been 'married' for 5 years!
linnienguyen
when did rei make the marriage documents?! o-o
debbiex33
how can he just marry her lik that w/o her knowing?
emfkrx
how did he get aya to marry him, and theyve been married for 5 year? WHAT THEEEE??
lil^jenniie
WHAT? how did rei make papers saying ayane his wife.
sooo much drama. i dont know what too think anymore

Yes, they have been married for 5 years. How did it happen? I'll explain this one by flashbacks to scenes during those eight years Ayane spent with Rei in Switzerland (and in some other place I'll reveal later).

syndryx
the Crosse chapters already ended but there are still a lot of questions bugging me…you said that we’ll know what happened to Crosse when he left in Book1…but all I got was that he went to China to train and become an assassin! There wasn’t even any info about how he came to meet his father again!
*sigh*

^ And I'll include this one too in those flashbacks.

aashtivijh
I'm a little confused, are the marriage certificates real?
5imply_5wt
or is the document fake??
myxlove101
Pathetic Rei. Making FAKE marriage contract. bleh.
muchLove
Rei, what a loser making a FAKE marriage contract.
loveme100x
But those marriage papers are fake, right?

Unfortunately, they are REAL. Again, I'll get into details with the next chapters.

Quoting what Rei said in Chapter 48:

QUOTE

“Those documents are authentic,” Rei said confidently. “Go ahead and check the registry if you wish.”

So again, yes they are real.

But this is the one I wanted to point out. I'm happy that a lot of people actually noticed this subtle detail:

On the Vault

amandahs
Wow, that was pretty much easy to get into the vault.
nha93
they are actualy letting him in?????
pie.x3
i hope he doesn't get into the vault. or i hope something happens in the vault.
maybe like ayane actually cleaned the place (the vault) of weapons and money
and put it somewhere else or something >D
dudeilovefood
HIS VAULT?? NOOOO.
Twixxie
Reading through that scene, however, something tells me that he is accessing the Vault way too easier than expected. I mean, if the employees alone panic at the sound of the Silver Crescent Vault, why would the Swiss Bank allow access to a complete stranger just because he presented documents that however authentic should not be suffice in any way to allow passage to such top secret facility? Something tells me that something is wrong. The break-in is just suspiciously "easy" IMO. I don't know if I'm overanalyzing but by the way things are, hmm... I sense something is wrong.
morphine99
The access was too easy that it is suspicious.
chng234
rei is going to open the vault!!! what is inside it?
littleazntuyet
OMG DON'T LET HIM GET THE VAULT!!

Too easy? Well, maybe it is too easy. Remember this.

shinexshine
Who was that man from the Swiss Bank?

He protects the Vault. Why? He just protects it... quite too well.

On Ayane and Yuken's picture

crossroadblues
Rei just had to steal Yoon camera and saw the picture of Sato & Aya kissing, now he is gonna do somethng stupid again.
VietHoney
what is Rei planning to do with that "scandalous" picture of Ayane and Yuken..? o.o
HYPERGURLY^^
now rei is going to use those pics against ayane!?!!?
HollaBack1588
wonder what rei is going to do now that he knows that yuken and ayane kissed...
jealous and outraged maybe ?

Good guesses on where this picture would come handy.

The question is, will this picture make things turn really bad for Ayane, Kosuke, and Yuken?

... or maybe... just maybe... to some other person.

I love writing mysteries. Exciting.

On Ayanami Fuuko

silentmeteor
yep, fuuko's comeback!
she seems more matured than before. dont she?
benchi101
She knows how to open the shackles on Lin? How?
What part does she plays in this story now? o.o
syndryx
I believe Fuuko knows a lot of things…she knows things and she doesn’t want to tell them…that incident was purely a slip of the tongue so she made up an alibi….they say that to make a lie sound convincing, it should at least contain some truth in it….heheh…so I guess, that’s what she did….and I’m still nailing her to be the architect of the Saragossa Hotel, and other hotels of the Empire group in that case…that’s how she knew Ayane to be alive…
teddybear01
since her mom was killed by spectra, maybe she was working under Rei and Aya?
Or she is some freaky metal collector, i mean she IS weird.
mangoes-dbsk
Fuuko seems really nice. Maybe she has something up her sleeve. And since they're rich, can't they buy diamond or something and use it to cut that metal since diamond is the strongest material ever? It can't be stronger than diamond.
fairy~dream
Fuuko is actually back! She's the one who gave Ayane the video tape in book 1 if I remember right???

Yes, Ayanami Fuuko is the infamous Tsuzuya bully from F&L Book 1. She's also the one who bought the Circa Constellation from the a Toute Vitesse (Saburo) and gave the video tape of her mom's murder to Ayane. Take note of these facts.

She knows of a way to take off Lin's shackles. Obviously, I can't reveal how she would do it yet. What's the purpose of writing the chapter if I did? Maybe it's a diamond? Maybe it's not.

Be surprised for a bomb though, hehe.

Silent Serenity
is Fuuko...... by any means....... the "Black Widow" that assisted Yuken with directions during the chase in Kyoto?
kc_chua
Fuuko just might be the Black Widow! (Is she?)
renchew
architect who wouldve thought of that ! and she sure noes alot of things.. i wonder who her connections are
paola_grace_27
you know, i feel something fishy about her... maybe sh'e a member os the spectra or the silver crescent? lol... just guessing..

Very good guesses. Maybe she IS the Black Widow we're all curious about... but again, maybe she's not.

Silver Crescent or Spectra? Or an independent?

But most certainly, yes, she does have another significance in the story.

Other questions / random things

RHAINE
do i get cookies for correcting your german kuya hiro ?

^ How about these? Star-shaped cookies, hehe.

They don't glow in the dark though...

curiousitykills
at last!
i want an update for kosuke and aya! Wahhhhh...please.
A!LOVE.
man, when are you gna make a chapter with ayane and kosuke,
theLOSER
I can't wait til Kosuke and Ayane meet again
iced_
I want kosuke and aya to meet again
undeniablystubborn
i want an update of kosu and aya!!!!

We'll get to that soon, don't worry. Allow me to make some significant transitions though. We can't all be romance and fluff all the time, hehe (-#- scratches head-#-). Errr... definitely they'll meet again pretty much soon.

aνєc aмσυr
In the midst of a crisis thats unfolding, Akio never fails to brighten up the mood.
redbutterflytree
Akio is such a good character. Whenever the story gets dark and gloomy, he pops in with all his hilarity and makes me smile.
PSiloveyu
AKIO IS HILARIOUS MAN !

That's his purpose in this fic. He's the 'balancer'... but that doesn't mean that Akio's significance ends there. Remember this.

simpleangel
Ayane, where is she?! still locked up?!

Ayane's still with Crosse in the beach house. They've been there for a month now.

~Tropical.Mists
I hope you read my reply on F&L1 or else you're gonna think I'm some sorta crazy person posting on your thread T___T lol

Haha, I surely did and you got me grinning like a hyena. I think that has been the longest review I've ever received so far for this story (or at least the longest one for 'publicly posted reviews' as far as Soompi is concerned).

Welcome to Fists and Lipsticks Miss ~Tropical.Mists and I hope you have a great time in this Brain Frying adventure, hehe. Glad to have you here. Meia waves and says 'Hi' too. She's with me right now.

genna
I love about this story is the development and changes of the characters from F&L1 to now, it's very natural and just real.

Glad to hear that, hehe. I'm relieved that I'm imparting the message well. You now see why Book 1 has been written as 'lightly' and 'corny' / 'innocent' as it is. I wanted to draw that bold line and kinda mold the transitions / changes as we pass events in Book 2.

jaja13
i have a feeling this fic isn't going to end anytime soon! haha.

I'm targeting chapter 65 - 70. Yeah, isn't going to end anytime soon, but I'm targeting mid 2009 to finish everything and until September for final touches and editing/re-writing, Book 1 included to make the combined Book 1 + Book 2 PDF/.doc version.

mabelinda
But what about Rei's feelings for Ayane? Were they ever true?

Hmm... you'll find out in the next chapters.

Rin Li
Book 1 shocked me to bits. Book 2 is about to shock me to death.

Haha. Not really... -#-hyena grin-#-

vivi_dee
Big thanks for replying to my crazy email too. Did I sound like a crazy fan / freak? Sorry huh? Like my sister, I can talk about this story the whole day long nonstop! This is a drug! An addicting drug!

No problem. E-mail me anytime if you have more questions.

~Tropical.Mists
Hey hiro! I was wondering if you watch Heroes?

Yeah! Hiro Nakamura happens to be my favorite character too, next to the kid who can repair stuff by touching them? I forgot his name...

xradiostarx
your fan fic helps me in history! LOL the other day we were learning about world war 2 and my teacher asked us why germany didnt attack switzerland. and it was because of their banks.. xD haha. when he told us that. i totally remembered this fan fic xD so cool ahha

Yes, Swiss Banks are known for the the tight secrecy laws all over the world. Notorious for keeping secret bank accounts too by corrupt officials.

showstopper
This story makes the readers think and that is what attracted me to this story because I like reading stuff that do not only make me smile from sweet scenes and drool from handsome male leads but a story that would make me use my mind, intelligence, imagination, and something that would fill my heart with emotions.

Welcome to Fists and Lipsticks, Miss showstopper... I appreciate your kind remarks.

stephieyeung
Brain Bomber's gonna be your new nickname, Hiro! Fire it up! Lol!

Hehe, you guys are fond of giving me nicknames. Well they're better than the ones Meia gives me though.

Don't ask what Meia calls me. You'll probably die laughing, hehe.

akito&agito
thanks for the update at 4.30 AM.
patty412
How come you always update during off-peak hours?

It's a strategy, hehe. So that if I have mistakes in the first posting attempt, I can easily redo them with less people catching my mistakes.

And I'm a shy person, hehe.

If you have other questions, feel free to PM me or to email me.
See my signature for links.
Drop by my writing blog too if you have some time to spare.

THANK YOU FOR READING F&L
and
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT.

-The Author

Chapter 48: Interrogations

2009-03-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

Before posting this chapter (which has been written long ago) I couldn't believe the number of grammatical mistakes, hehe. Even after I posted the chapter, I realized that I missed correcting a number of them. Thank you to Miss RHAINE and akito&agito from Soompi Forums for pointing them out, especially the German parts. Yeah, I know. It's not good to edit chapters at 3 in the morning with an empty stomach, a really bad sore throat, and a terrible migraine for 2 days now.

Anyway, I'm happy to start dropping bombs once again. The next chapters I'm very excited to reveal. I love writing mysteries. They're... exciting, hehe.

Take note of some subtle and obvious clues I left in the previous chapters, even here in Chapter 48. Ayanami Fuuko is back in the story and Yoshifumi Rei is ready to claim the Vault. The question is, will he be able to claim it?

And if he does, what is inside the Vault?

Folks, welcome and prepare for one hell of a ride.

Back and more editing to do...

2009-02-24T16:42:00.000-08:00

Man, I just had the best three weeks of my life. It's good to be back.

Vacation is a healthy thing, especially a vacation in your home town. It's the best way to de-stress. It's even better when you have the dearest people around you too like your family and girlfriend.

Enough reminiscing anyway. Not that I'm being too secretive but... I'm too shy to share extensively my personal life, hehe. And besides, this is my writing blog so I should write about my works.

Aside from the obvious reason of my Valentines/Birthday treat for Meia, I personally chose to go to China for another reason. Yes, I did the craziest thing for the sake of writing Fists and Lipsticks. I just felt that need to see the Great Wall of China and Gobi Desert personally. I don't think I could write the future critical scenes as efficiently as I could if I couldn't experience them first hand. Now that I'm back, I realized that a lot of editing needs to be done to wrap up information and description inconsistencies. I'm excited to get the job done, hehe.

Sorry for the long wait. Good thing Chapter 47 is quite long. I hope it can compensate for the long interval. It's basically the last part of my promised Crosse Williams overload, so enjoy. The next chapters are going to be quite inclined to the action-mystery side.

Thanks for your continued support to Fists and Lipsticks.

-The Author

Chapter 45 and 46 last minute switch for F&L 2

2009-01-25T04:20:00.000-08:00

The original update plan was to post Chapter 45 three days ago, but then I made a last minute decision to redo the sequence of a couple of events. Instead of uploading Chapter 46: ?????, I opted to upload chapter 45 first. This was to balance out the events. We had an action-overload for the past few chapters. There's a comedy part (courtesy of Suzuki Akio parts) and some significant side stories like Shizuki-Yuken scenes. Putting 'Cross' as chapter 45 was a wise decision, in my opinion. This is the best time to insert in the drama part. Otherwise, it would drag if I placed it in the latter parts.

Writing Chapter 45 was harder than I expected it to be. I think I revised it more than ten times. I deleted two full pages of unecessary reminiscences and left out only the significant ones. I was struggling to control the length of the chapter because as much as possible, I wanted to keep my chapters as concise as it could be but packed with scenes and fast transitions. I wanted to keep the conversations as brief as they could be, but overflowing with substance, meaning, and emotions. Writing drama was a challenge, because I need to carefully pick out the words I had to use to bring out the exact kind of emotion I wanted to impart to the reader. The goal was not to make the reader cry, but to make the reader symphatize with the characters or even bring themselves to imagine that they were in Ayane/Crosse's shoes. Meia did both though... (cried and symphatized).

I wanted the Ayane-Crosse scene to be cliche but powerful. The original plan was to make them walk/tour around the beach house. It was the cliche I was looking for, but then, if I were to locate their conversation in a beach, it would not be as significant. I wanted a location that would remind them of their past (and back in the United States, Ayane and Crosse did not have a memorable past located in a beach). Upon brainstorming, I ended up with things like rain, park, night, flickering lamp, and telephone booth. A phone booth sounded like a good option. It had a small space inside - very good place for cuddling? Hehe. So yeah, phone booth that is...

So how was Chapter 45? Hope that the drama didn't make you too depressed. Don't worry, the next chapters wouldn't be depressing ones.

Have your "shock absorbers" ready though, hehe.

I came to drop by our thread in Soompi Forums a while ago and I'm quite amazed of the thoughts and comments of the readers there, especially regarding Chapter 44. The long in-depth analysis got me going 'whoah!' (and yeah, followed by a hyena grin of course, hehe). Many great guesses! Miss syndryx was even able to guess about my big bomb regarding Yuken's real profession. Miss esther_hia was able to decipher the secret behind the Christmas tea. Miss pinkslippers was able to give a very good analysis regarding the difference between Crosse and Kosuke that made Ayane choose Kosuke in the end. There were many more brilliant replies (from Miss dreamagain, kc_chua, Silent Serenity, Twixxie, Rin Li, Stephanie, Jasmine, aRia, loveme100x, and many others). It makes me happy that people actually take the time to see between the words along the story for clues then pull the fragments together and see if they make any sense. After all, that's the purpose of a mystery fic. I'm relieved that at least, we're going to the right direction, hehe.

Again, regarding the Soompi FOTY, thank you very much again for the congratulation messages. I really do appreciate them. As I have expressed before, F&L wouldn't be participating in the FOTY this year. We are grateful for the support we've been receiving and that alone is priceless.

And regarding the plagiarism issue in India-Forum... errr... I contacted the forum moderator but so far I haven't gotten any feedback yet. The thread has been shut down long ago, so maybe it is as good as resolved I guess. I hope it doesn't happen again. Please, don't plagiarize F&L.

Fists and Lipsticks wins Soompi Fic of the Year 2008 (FOTY) for Most Original Plot

2009-01-12T05:28:00.000-08:00

They say it's hard work paid off, but I say we still have a long way to go.

I learned that the results were posted after receiving a number of e-mails from Soompi and Fictionpress readers congratulating me for Fists and Lipsticks winning the FOTY this year for the Most Original Plot (with 65 votes).

My first reaction was the infamous "hyena grin" of course, hehe. The feeling was like winning the lottery or something, honestly.

EDIT: Hey, Miss Diana (Username: fairy~dream) from Soompi, thanks for giving me a cool banner ^ as a congratulations gift, hehe. Meia and I laughed out loud upon receiving it.

Knowing that people actually come and spend time to download and read your stuff of course makes me feel great, I mean who wouldn't? Apparently, the Mediafire downloads of the PDF version of Book 1 increased hundreds since the announcement for FOTY has been made in the forums, that is still excluding readers who gain access through Shoebox (meaning more people seeing my careless grammar mistakes, tsk tsk tsk).

As a prize for winning, Meia treated me out to dinner - a date in McDonalds, hehe.

I'm actually considering making a Version 5.0 PDF of Book 1 - rewriting it all over again to correct these errors after Book 2 finishes probably by the end of April or May this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Currently, I'm already in Chapter 54 of Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent (I've posted only up to Chapter 43 though because I write in advance before posting and at the same time spacing out updates to let readers catch up) and I'm estimating it to be finished at around chapter 60 or 65. If I'm going for 60 though, the chapters are going to be quite long that it may overwhelm, so I'm thinking 65 is a better number.

I've been receiving reply posts and emails asking whether F&L2 will be finished before the next round of FOTY 2009 starts "so that they can nominate it again". To answer this question, YES, F&L2 would definitely be finished before October 2009, but to have F&L2 enter AGAIN in the 2009 FOTY in ANY category, I think I have to think it over first... or better yet, completely avoid thinking about it at this point in time. One year win is already an honor.

Just maybe, one year is already enough...

I'm afraid that by thinking about FOTY 2009 this prematurely, especially now that the contest results are still fresh and still lingering at the headlines, it just might affect how I write this story. I am more than thankful to those who continue to support this story - moreover, taking the time to actually vote and make Book 1 of F&L win. It's just that I wanted my PRIMARY goal in completing the second book to be the SAME as my goal in Book 1 and that is to be able to write and successfully complete my very first novel dedicated to Meia. If an award comes along with that, well, that's a big bonus. It's like getting a free toy along with your favorite McDonalds meal - and everytime you look at that toy in your bedroom at night, you're reminded of your McDonalds dinner (not the other way around - not remembering the toy instead of the dinner whenever you eat in McDonalds).

Am I making sense?

I want another burger, hehe.

My elbow was semi-cracked... just a little (but it hurts)

2009-01-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

I got all high from a basketball 3 on 3 match with my classmates in BU. I was making a lay-up when Kevin accidentally clashed against me midair while attempting a rebound. The bad thing was that I fell to the ground with my right elbow first. I was taken to Brigham to have some x-rays and pain assessment exams (thanks to Dr. Chiodo of Orthopedics Dept). Lucky that there's nothing wrong with the bone, just a big hematoma / bruise but it hurts like hell especially when you move it when it's unavoidable (like taking a bath or even now as I type on the computer keyboard). There was a minute, minor joint dislocation which was easily corrected by the physical therapist and some support bandages they provided. Kevin treated me with some really good macchiatto from Starbucks, that's the best part, hehe.

I recently uploaded Chapter 42 of F&L2 (which was overdue by the way, thanks to my injury). The chapter was considerable long, but not overwhelming nevertheless - a transition chapter, to be specific. I had a good time editing it (since the chapter has been finished days back) while I stayed in Brigham until around 2 in the morning waiting for my PEs and X-ray results to come out. I added a little bit more of drama AND Meia's requested shower scene (which I did really, really carefully). Imagine how awkward it is to write about a "hot guy" when you're a guy... -#- frown -#-. Feels so gay, man... hehe. It is precisely that big barrier of awkwardness that keeps me from going into concrete details especially when describing male bodies (as opposed to a considerable amounts of stories in Soompi which Meia reads EVERY NIGHT where the descriptions men's bodies are... juicily bloodcurling - at least to me).

"If you were female, you could have done something more descriptive!" Meia kidded.

Frowning, I replied, "If I were female, you'll be the earth's loneliest female coz you wouldn't get the chance to meet someone like me."

Oh, have I told you that I have better pick-up lines compared to Yamazaki Kosuke?

-#-hyena grin-#-

My girlfriend bursted into cute chuckles and we laughed together like fools. For a moment, I completely forgot about the elbow injury I had.

You know, I wouldn't mind describing female breasts in full, juicy detail though (not that I'm perverted but come on, honestly, guys are 'naturals' when it comes to breast assessment, hehe.) Kidding aside, I was wondering - is it the same for female writers who write about "hot girls" too? Do they ever feel awkward? I don't think so... or do they? Judging from the response of readers, I think they enjoyed the Crosse shower scene just as much as Meia did. Meia just gained more and more friends because of it, hehe. I opened my inbox to see 25 emails from readers, saying that Meia's the bomb because of the Crosse shower and forced-kiss scene!

Now that we're talking, has anyone ever wondered why I started writing Fists and Lipsticks? hiro0911 - a writer of fantasy, manga-based stories with swords, dragons, magic, knights, and castles in Fictionpress.com suddenly writing a cheesy high school fic with hot guys and corniness? If you're right in your guess, yes - it's because of Meia. You see, Meia loves reading books, especially love stories. She's also addicted to romance animes, manga, and TV dramas (she has watched the Korean Drama Full House ten times and the Japanese drama Hana Kimi probably a hundred million times, hehe.).

I know that many writers say that authors should write for 'themselves', but in my case, it has always been for Meia. I started writing Fists and Lipsticks as a gift to her more than two years ago (and still running to the present) and she promised me that I'll always be her all-time favorite author.

I worked hard and did my very best to satisfy that criteria.

So, I formulated a kind of plot that would satisfy her romance addiction and, at the same, time blending in one of my favorite genres - mystery. The rest is... a miracle I guess. The story's still surviving and still on the right track. No writers block whatsoever and the scenes are concretely embedded on my mind until the end so there's no room for hiatus or discontinuing.

I received a feedback in a form of private message in Soompi. She told me that she absolutely loved the story, but it could have been better if I used Korean references such as for the names of the characters, the setting, the addresses, the expressions - with this, for sure it would be a 'hit' and would 'gain more popularity' in the forums... I replied to her like this - If I made Fists and Lipsticks 'Korean-ized', then it wouldn't be Fists and Lipsticks anymore (Kosuke-'oppa' sounds weird IMO, hehe). Again, kidding aside, as I was saying, I couldn't imagine this story to be completely something else. It should just be as is. A slight change in the names or even in the way the characters move, talk, and express themselves just wouldn't feel right. This is why I'm hesitant to agree to translation offers, especially if they're planning to change the names (Come to think of it, Crosse-oppa sounds even weirder, hehe). Japanese culture appeals more to Meia and I (because we both love Naruto and sushi), and so even despite my lack of detailed knowledge about Japan, I prefered F&L to be set in Japan.

Regarding what she said about being a 'hit' or 'gaining more popularity', I told her this story about writing FOR Meia... that even I am left with only a reader or two or none at all, I will still continue this story because I know that Meia WILL be there to read it. That prize is more satisfying than ANY amount of recognition, award, or praise this fic could get.

Fists and Lipsticks has been posted from the very start in Fictionpress. It has been posted in Soompi upon Meia's suggestion, to which I approved later on, hoping to share my gift to her to the rest of the world.

With all the readers' warm support, I have always been surprised, overwhelmed, and thankful.

This story has become dear to us. Meia and I would talk about Kosuke and Ayane and the rest of the cast while munching hamburgers and fries in Mc Donalds or in the middle of watching a movie together. Most of the things I add in the story stem from real-life inspiration (eg. the Tsuzuya Ball scene where Kosuke and Ayane strolls around the city wearing clothes that look like wedding attires - I did that scene after Meia and I walked around the malls, checking out wedding gowns to grab ideas for our wedding on 2010; The Chapter in F&L2 entitled Santa Clause when we rode an elevator, where the small stereo played a chipmunk version of Santa Clause is Coming to Town... etc.). To Meia and I, Fists and Lipsticks is more than a story to tell. It is not just all about a complicated plot with gazillion problems, emo characters, corny jokes, and crazy twists. It has grown along with how our relationship has grown. And whenever I see her smile or squeal or frown or laugh out loud or cry from the scenes ranging from cliche to intense, I am happy because I knew I was making her happy.

To the readers both in Fictionpress and Soompi, thank you so much for joining us in this long journey. I will work hard and do my best to make this story even better.

And to Meia, Happy 7th Anniversary . I love you more than anything else in the universe. You know that.

Enough cheesiness and on to the announcements - yes, as I've said the plot will be crazier from here on. We've reached the point where it's about time to pull out the sad reminiscences and 'emo' moments and soliloquy for some hardcore twists and action. Updates will be regular, if not fast. I wanted to finish F&L2 as soon as I could because Meia and I would be busy in the following months to prepare for our "big day in white".

To answer some of your questions - yes, Kosuke is with Kaoru Saori right now and Hidemi and the rest of the gang does not know where he is. Rei has gone crazy, but you haven't seen the peak of his craziness yet. Will he be the enemy? Will the Silver Crescent be the enemy? Well, we'll find out as the plot unfolds.

Did Ayane lose her memories and emotions?
Then, why does she act 'normal' in the latest chapters?
Does it have something to do with bloodtypes (as one of the readers guessed)?
Is Ayane immune to the Oblivion Vapor?
If so, how did it happen?
How about Lin, who was given the drug intravenously?
Will she be okay?
Who is Kaoru Saori?
Who is Kaoru Hiro?
Why is Crosse with the Spectra?
Why is Yoshifumi Shigeo back?
Who stole the Spider Web?
What's going to happen in the war between the Spectra and the Silver Crescent?

Ah, ALL these questions... I bet chapter 43 onwards are going to be one hell of a ride. -#-grins-#-

Will update in two to three days. The next chapter is done but I'm spacing out intervals to give time for readers to catch up.

Thank you for the continued support and welcome to all new readers. Enjoy your stay with us!

-Mark (Hiro0911/HiroLovesMeia)

Year End Note & Author Note for Chapter 41

2008-12-31T16:51:00.000-08:00

Year-End Note from Hiro & Meia

"We'd like to take this opportunity to THANK YOU for your continued support to Fists and Lipsticks! This hard work won't be possible without readers like you who never ceased to give us the boost and the moral support to continue writing this story. Intricate planning, late night dates with Mr. Laptop to finish a chapter, tedious grammar, spelling, and inconsistency checks... they wouldn't be worth it without YOU. So again, thanks!"

From Meia:
Hi guys! Thanks for the support to F&L! 2009 is going to be so great! God bless and merry merry holidays! Kisses!

A short Author Note regarding Chapter 41

I don't want an overall depressing chapter, so yeah, best time for Saori and her 'weirdness' to come in. This brings us to another question - Why is Saori damn weird? First, she acts like a euphoric drunkard with some sort of champagne/bottle fetish. She sometimes act like a kindergarten, but then there are times where she kicks some ass. She even went as far as taking a bullet for Kosuke. She's in great pain considering her bullet wound on her left flank, yet in front of Kosuke, she acted so happy-go-luckily and cheerful. She told Kosuke that she saved his life, but she didn't tell him that she was seriously wounded in the process of doing so. With this, I'd like you to notice her peculiar actions not just in this chapter but also in the previous chapters. Who knows, you might just catch my little clues, hehe.

As for Ayane and Crosse, I'm actually glad that someone has noticed it (great job, Miss Jasmine). My plan is to actually make Ayane and Crosse communicate without using words. They conversed with each of their own reminiscences to their childhood, which they simultaneously recalled with the similar 'haircut incident'.

If you would imagine what was going on inside his mind during that time he was cutting Ayane's hair and recalling their good times together, even without words you will be able to understand fully why he cried in the end of the chapter.

And as you may have realized by now, yes, the Crosse Overload chapters would be composed of several reminiscence of their childhood and teenage years BEFORE they met again in Book 1. It's going to be one hell of a dramatic ride.

And remember when someone asked whether Ayane's going to have two wedding proposals? And I said 'Why not three?'. This is what I'm pertaining to. The truth is that long before Yoshifumi Rei proposed to Ayane, someone has already asked her the same question in the past. That makes Kosuke the 3rd wedding 'proposer'. The very first one is... Crosse Williams .

I'm actually happy with how this chapter turned out compared to the older version (before my laptop fell from the staircase and the motherboard just flew straight away to the puddle of mud). The old title was actually 'Silent Reminiscences', but then the new inspiration came from the fact that we have lots of champagne bottles right now at my aunt's home (which would be given away for New Years Eve). Yeah, the den looks like a bottle museum IMO, hehe.

F&L in 2009

One thing I can guarantee is that F&L2 WILL BE ENDED in 2009. We're half-way done already and with this, I'm now ready to drop the BIG plot twists in the next few chapters. As usual, expect constant updates (you know how much I dislike long update intervals. Works good for both the author and the readers to keep readability, I believe). Long intervals are a no-no for mystery genre fics, hence the fast updates.

The PM list will NEVER be taken down - it is 'public service' according to Meia, hehe. It keeps the readers updated of new chapters without giving the readers the hassle of clicking on our thread every single day expecting a chapter when there's actually none. Same old and simple rule apply for the PM list : You ask, you're in. You ask, you're out. See the index page for the note made by Meia.

Also, after numerous requests, I'm coming up with a .DOC version of F&L2 from Chapter 1 - 40 pretty soon. I'll do another round of massive revisions (grammar, spelling, and inconsistency check) for the uploaded chapters so far.

For the inquiries regarding translating F&L to Korean and Vietnamese, at this point in time, I would have to deny these requests because F&L is not finished yet. Thank you for the offers and for the understanding. Regarding the Chinese/Mandarin version, I MAY come up with one myself AFTER I finish the English version.

Again, regarding questions about my nationality. Yes, I'm a FILIPINO. Pinoy ako, pero kalahati lang. (I'm Filipino but I'm a half-breed). My mother's pure Chinese.

Future projects

I am actually starting to make the skeleton for a new fic I'm planning to write January of 2009. However, since it would be set in America and the characters would have English names instead of Japanese/Korean, I still have to decide whether I'll be putting it up in Soompi or not. Definitely it would be up in Fictionpress.com, though. Target release date is May 2009.

As I've mentioned in my blog, it's actually another mystery story, but with a supernatural twist. The protagonist is a female who one day discovers her 'unusual' ability. What is that ability? I'll keep it a secret for now, but I guarantee you that it's something new and, as far as I know, has never been done before. And no, it's NOT a vampire fic. I'm very excited about writing it. It's going to be cool (and I hope you'll find it cool too).

AGAIN, THANKS FOR THE GREAT 2008! THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT, READERS BOTH SIGNED AND SILENT. THANKS FOR THE COUNTLESS EMAILS, REPLIES, AND MORAL SUPPORT.

-Mark (a.k.a. hiro0911/HiroLovesMeia)

Welcoming 2009 with a NEW fiction project

2008-12-27T21:59:00.000-08:00

Since Fists and Lipsticks 2 is already half-way to ~fin, I think that this is the best time to start writing a brand new story. For sure I would be posting it in Fictionpress, but for Soompi Forums, I have yet to think about it. The setting would be in the United States this time with characters having English names instead of Japanese.

I'm still in the process of choosing the best title for it (I don't want the title to be similar to any movie or book currently existing). Last week, I've started constructing the skeleton of the plot and scribbling possible issues, conflicts, and scenes. I'm actually very excited about writing it.

It would be another mystery fic, but adding a supernatural twist this time. Nope, not a vampire fic but it would definitely be something different... and interesting.

For a sneak peak, the protagonist would be a female who one day discovers her 'unusual ability'. What is this unusual ability?

Well, that's a secret for now.

I wouldn't be posting in anytime soon, but after I finish around 25 to 30 chapters and after I outline the plot with satisfying details, I will be posting it . Target release would be May 2009.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

F&L Author Note for Chapter 37-40

2008-12-27T21:55:00.000-08:00

This has been copy-pasted from Soompi Forums for the Fictionpress readers to view.

I actually promised a review reply for chapter 37-40. After reading the comments you've left and after giving it much thought, I think it would be best if I leave some of the questions unanswered for them to be unraveled soon in the plot. That way, I think I could maximize the suspense factor, hehe.

But I'd like to answer some questions you have that needed clarifications:

Who is Kaoru Hiro again?

Kaoru Hiro is Saori's older brother. He's the chief/boss of the Tokyo police investigating team. Recall him from Chapter 4: Good-For-Nothing

The man slammed an ID on top of his desk, glaring at Saori with a disappointed expression. Pointing his finger towards the female investigator, the man said, “You squeezed yourself into a case that isn’t yours, made a counterfeit ID saying false information and rank, and presented such irresponsible, tentative, and unproven ‘kitchen fire’ theory for the media to feast on! Now tell me, Junior Newbie Kaoru Saori… TELL ME WHY I SHOULDN’T FIRE YOU?”

“But…”

“Why shouldn’t I fire you?!”

“You can’t fire me because I’m your baby sister, huhuhu…” Saori frowned, faking a sob resembling that of a little girl whose ice cream has accidentally spilled on the floor.

“AISSSSH!” the man said, thumping his skull onto his desk. As he lifted his head to face Kosuke once again, he heaved a sigh and said, “I apologize for my sister’s… foolishness. I’ll send for a new investigating team right away, Attorney Yamazaki.”

“And make sure you clean this mess with the media,” Kosuke said.

Then, his eyes fell upon Saori, whom he caught making faces while he was not looking. Saori immediately looked towards the other direction when she noticed that Kosuke was now glaring at her.

“Yes, yes, very well…” the man answered.

“Till we meet again then, Senior Investigator Kaoru Hiro-san…”

also in Chapter 17: Cookies

“ONII-CHANNNNN!!”

“AISHHH! Get off me!”

The pestered Senior Investigator Kaoru Hiro pushed back Saori, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, flung herself onto his aching back, and clasped her arms tightly around his neck. For a moment, he felt as if he was trampled down by either an Amazon or a gigantic leech, her exasperating 'clinginess' aggravating his already-stressful state. Before him were piles of documents, most of them unsorted and misfiled. The three telephones on his desk have been ringing almost every thirty seconds and e-mails have been arriving non-stop since the time he arrived in his work place, and so he pulled out all networking cables going to and from his office. The cappuccino on his table brought earlier by his secretary has become cold and the cookies that came along with it have not been touched either.

Frowning, Saori released her older brother’s nearly-choked neck.

“Psh. Couldn’t you act a little bit sweeter to your little sister even for once? Huhuhu…”

“Sweeter?!” Hiro groaned, holding his strained back in pain. “And couldn’t you treat your older brother like a human being? Saori-chan, I’m not an elephant! My goodness… Aghhh… I think you broke my spine…”

“OH! Does it still hurt?!” she shrieked, attempting to reach for Hiro’s shoulder.

“DON’T TOUCH!”

“Okaaay! Fine!” Saori said, putting both her arms up.

For emphasis' sake, I'd like to quote another important appearance of Kaoru Hiro that you might have forgotten.

From Chapter 18: Costumes

Instead of listening to the report from one of his men on the other line, Kosuke snapped his mobile phone close and stared blankly at the ceiling of his bedroom, studded with glow-in-the-dark stars.

After a few seconds though, he picked up his phone and dialed a number.

Senior Inspector Kaoru speaking…

Can I help you, Attorney Yamazaki?

“Kaoru-san, I need you to find someone for me…”

Hiro rubbed his eyes as he pulled himself up to sit on his bed, “The person must be someone important, eh? It’s 1:30 in the morning…”

“Very important indeed,” Kosuke answered. “I need you to find a woman named ‘Lily Akiyama’. Acquire all information you can find…”

“Find her ASAP…”

“…dead or alive.”

Ah, this is what I don't like from long update intervals, especially for a mystery story. I think it's my bad making Kaoru Hiro's appearance rather too subtle. But surely for the next chapters he'll be more active in the scene.

Why is the title of Spectra Boss/Grand Lord being passed around too much? It's rather confusing now who really is the boss of the rival gang?

For the mean time, I'll outline the given facts:
1) Yamazaki Daisuke is the Spectra Godfather/Big Boss.
2) But under him, there are also other 'bosses'. Hmm, think of a company. There's a CEO, then there are the presidents from different countries, then managers, then supervisors. Don't worry though, for I allotted a chapter to explain this gang hierarchy. As much as possible, I avoided discussing these 'gang rules' too prematurely in the story because it would drag the plot.
3) Having said that, think of Dmitri as the boss of the Spectra for Japan. It used to be Kosuke, but remember he got 'kicked out' because he's 'slacking off' during those romance chapters with Ayane, remember?
4) But those Spectra guys in Chapter 40 called Crosse the 'Grand Lord' instead of Dmitri

Well, for #4, we have to read on to find out what, why, and how it happened, hehe.

What are the three items Rei found sprawled on the floor when Crosse escaped with Ayane?

If you read Chapter 39 carefully, you'll find out what these three VERY IMPORTANT items were. Some people have figured it out correctly. Scan through the reviews.

Yes, that's it.

Big mess for the Silver Crescent?

And there's the other problem with the stolen data from the Spider Web.

Well, the bad stuff merely started.

Will Ayane really wake up like a zombie? With all her emotions erased, including her love for Kosuke?

Chapter 41 onwards would be one hell of a ride. There would be a lot of twists in the story so stay alert for clues. I advice re-reading some chapters where I've dropped these subtle but vital clues.

Regarding the question above, let's say... we've gotten enough of cliches -#-wink-#-

What would Chapter 41 and beyond be about?

To answer this question: if Chapter 21-30 is the so-called 'Ayane-Kosuke Romance Overload', then I'd say Chapter 41-50 is the 'Crosse Williams Overload'.

Ah, pat my head for spoiling you, Crosse fans.

Aside from this, prepare for a dose of twists and revelations. As I've said, it's about time for us to go deeper into the plot.

Expect some comebacks from old characters from F&L too. I know you've been missing Tomo, Akio, Hidemi, and Yuken too. Yes, they're coming in for some action, especially now that Kosuke needs them the most.

And with the common question to who Kaoru Saori is, we'll get to know more about her in the next chapters.

To the readers, I know I've said this a million times but really geez... thanks, hehe. The Soompi community is really... wow, I couldn't describe how nice and accommodating you guys have been, especially for a newcomer like me. I've only been here for merely a year, but the support you've been showering F&L is really EXPLOSIVE. Drives me to work harder and harder to meet your reading satisfaction.

Will update New Years Eve.

Thanks again and Seasons Greetings to all!

-The Author

P.S. Before I forget, thanks by the way to those who cast their votes for F&L in that story of the year contest here in Soompi. For a mere newcomer to be nominated alongside the pioneer authors here is already a big honor. Meia said that a great fraction of those who placed their votes are actually silent readers, so thanks if ever you read this.

Author Notes form F&L2 Chapter 34, 35, and 36

2008-11-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

This is copy-pasted from Soompi Forums for Fictionpress readers to read too. Hope the clarifications help... - The Author

===================

Author note & Review replies for
Chapter 34 – Smears

This chapter came a little difficult for me to write. For one, I wanted it to come out as a ‘hybrid’ of themes – silliness of Saori + flirty but sweet Kosuke scene + cascade of betrayal + overwhelming rage + sadness = Chapter 34 --- that kind of pattern. I hope it didn’t turn out so bad, hehe.

Now, for the shock pans, shall we?

Regarding Ayane’s rampage...

iLOVEyunho=)
whoa shes gone insane?
fuuko-chan
It was expected that Ayane might just lose control suddenly but how she lost it scared me. And yes, she felt scared of herself too...
ningmeng
she went insane.and that was scary.
noona
she's gone crazyyyy..
puppaluppa
Somehow i know Aya is going to break down eventually but hjshdjkshkjs that was intense!
fangirlism
it was kind of about time for her to explode. She kinda needed it.
azn_chick91
woah that was intense
whohungjen?
holy mini cooper that was pretty scary it was so emotional
blah.blah.blah
OH MY!!! So powerful...
x3_b3b3
woahhh Ayane totally lost it O_O she sorta scared me for abit..but I could feel her anger, her hate, and her sadness
anokakoolio
omg O.o This chapter was so emotional. She finally cracked
macdoox3
she's gone INSANE. In a crazy psychotic way.
renchew
Amazing, this side of Ayane. She mustve been waiting to release all her emotions for a long time but that was pretty insane sigh shes gone a bittttt crazy =(
angielyn;s2
omgggggg! she went crazy there for a minute, i was like brooooo wthhh
jaja13
omg, she totally went ballistic.
rufflezz
Wow. Her rage is out of control.
bby-aye
but waddah angry child! she sounded really really mad! better not mess with her..
babii_peach
whoaa hectic!!! wat the hell happened there she went crazy!!!
5imply_5wt
i never knew she was capable to do all of that..
rufflezz
Nothing can really calm her down now, although she thought that love could.
sweet_rose_20
poor girl, she had so much inside of her
PSiloveyu
I'm speechless completely and utterly speechless....................
x__nga
woah, this is crazy. you really did mean it when you said its going to be action now.
Denied86
Perhaps that was how you were trying to depict her as; crazy, if so, you totally succeeded lol!

^ Exactly. And not just ‘crazy’ but scary and freakish crazy.

Why?

I wrote this chapter to emphasize a couple of things: (And I’m happy that people actually pointed out exactly the things I’m trying to portray.)

EMPHASIS # 1: Ayane is powerful. Not just rich-powerful or pretty-powerful, but physically powerful. Among the members of the Silver Crescent, she can fight the best. She took down all those hitmen all by herself, even took down the higher council of the gang themselves (Rei and the others). The fight scene was not merely created to spice things up or created just to abide with the action genre consistently.

jinx1791
No one could ever replace the Empress.

^ It was to show WHO IS in-charge – “in the Silver Crescent’s face!”

EMPHASIS # 2: Ayane is angry. Not just plain angry but hellish, freakish angry.

lollipop517
I cnt believe they tried to replace her! Wtf?!
LoveItLiveIt
Whoa! What a big mess!! >< Everything..Ohh gosh..I can't believe the gang..
? ENN ?
I never expected for them to try and get Rei to be the new boss!

She is angry because she felt betrayed by the gang when they tried to oust her without her knowing. Remember that, somehow, being the almighty Lady Nu Huang built up her pride into something soaring high. She is angry because the Silver Crescent seems to not understand her feelings - of being torn between her duty and Kosuke. Above all, she is angry because she felt as if everything is going against her ‘being’ with Kosuke, not just the people who wanted them to separate but the circumstance/scenario itself. She thinks that people and the events had not been fair at all.

EMPHASIS # 3: Ayane refuses to listen. Notice that the rest of the Silver Crescent Gang, especially Rei and Lin were ‘trying’ to wake her up – ‘trying’ to remind her that “Hey, you have a duty to do!”. They told her of the past, of how many people sacrificed their lives under the cruel hands of the Spectra gang, of how much she craved for that revenge. But what did she do? She seemingly shut her ears to their pleas and had that ‘as-long-as-I’m-with-Kosuke-I’m-good-so-no-one-gives-a-damn’ attitude. Yes, she’s too blinded and deafened by love, and that brings us to #4…

EMPHASIS # 4:

lenaaa._
She hid away her emotions so good and now that she broke out I realized she loves Kosuke soooo much.

chng234
ayane must be very upset at this point.
but i believe she made the correct decision for choosing kosuke.

And her love for Kosuke was so strong that it leads us to # 5…

EMPHASIS # 5: Ayane admitted that she is selfish.

QUOTE

“Maybe Rei was right…
I have become selfish…
Because all I wanted to do right now was to be with you…”

Not only did Ayane admit that she’s crazy. Let’s see this one - -

QUOTE

“Let them say that I am selfish for all I care. I could go on and on, enumerating the number of instances I have lived for other people in the past. It is only fair that I claim my desires this time around…”

From the Yoshida Ayane in Book 1 who is willing to go too far for other people without asking anything in return, this time, she has begun ‘calculating’ her good deeds to justify her actions and mistakes. Though you can say that…

jusplainmeh
it's obvious that the b*tch is crazy.
1shinhwa
omg! that F*kin b*tch!

… and that Ayane is being too irrational with her actions, decisions, and emotions… that…

chocoberryjam*
…Aya overreacted
bee21192
if u make aya feel so self conscientious for being so emotional i think it'd be the typical protagonist's under-confidence that u find everywhere..
myxlove101
I think she needs another session. ^^;
Maybe a chill pill?

… we should remember # 6 - -

EMPHASIS # 6: Ayane is suffering from a psychiatric disorder.

I like this review by miss Silent Serenity - -

Silent Serenity
I just wanna add that probably Ayane, because of her psychological issues, tend to feel the extremes of emotions. Meaning, if she's sad, she's really sad. If she's happy, she's really happy. If she's angry, she's REALLY REALLY angry. She is unable to moderate her feelings and that's precisely what Shizuki has to fix.

^ Exactly. Although it does not occur in all post-traumatic stress disorder patients, sometimes they present with signs of being quite ‘bipolar’ at times. She bursts out not because she is overacting but because she simply isn’t mentally and emotionally capable of controlling her feelings.

But…

xradiostarx
shes uncontrollable unless shes with kosuke.

Very good opinion. As narrated in the romance overload chapters (a.k.a. Chapter 20-31), during that time she was with Kosuke, she seemingly warped back to that Ayane from eight years ago.

However, we can also look at this in a different dimension - - - that the thought of losing Kosuke’s love is precisely the thing that drives her mad and uncontrollable.

pie.x3
i wonder how she'll be able to keep track of the gang AND keep kosuke..
rikuu
huh why not.? I thought love heals everything ):
MRS.CHANGMIN(:
i still believe that love and revenge can both be had.

It’s a double-edged sword, and so, how does she pull out the balance so that she won’t falter both in her mission and love?

Well, that’s why this story’s still ongoing, hehe…

Anyway.

EMPHASIS # 7: Well-said by miss pinkslippers and meOz –

pinkslippers
Ayane was overpowered by her rage, by her desperation to protect Kosuke, to protect her only reason for living.i think it's just normal for Ayane to have her heart smeared with things other than love. Like hate. Like revenge. Because whoever undergoes what she has experienced in the whole duration of her existence would, i think, be having the same kind of heart too. or worse, much more tainted. Hate and revenge would always be part of Yoshida Ayane.

me0z
Holy moly your writing was so pro that it really painted a picture of the story. and man i felt lucky i wasn't actually there when Aya blew up cause that was just scary. it was unexpected, unpredictable and you could say not like aya at all. truly it is tragic to see a heroine falter just when all the things was brightening up for her. The rage was just overpowering.

EMPHASIS # 7: Well-said by miss loveme100x

loveme100x
In my honest opinion, every character in this story is selfish. They place greed and revenge above love, happiness and the well being of others. But I guess... in a selfish world, only the most selfish would succeed right? Ayane is in many ways wrong. But in other ways, she's right. They obviously don't know her if they went to that length to keep her from Kosuke and to even attempt to replace her.

If perfection was one of the major themes for Book 1, the counterpart for Book 2 is ‘selfishness’. We see how much Ayane and Lin seemed to scream “Look at me! I’m miserable, so feel sorry for me. It’s your duty to understand me!”. And it is precisely this self-pity and selfishness that makes them all the more broken (and precisely the thing that irks the readers).

maizakichi
ayane's so emotional now T_T
i don't know if i should hate her or love her atm~
kawaii999
I absolutely despise Ayane.
Chiiikk
And Lin .. Feel like she really hate aya-chan ..
sentuhmentalfo0l
and lin.. i thought she was her friend but she seems the most eager to get rid of ayane

And yes, I’m irking you guys on purpose, hehe…

However, there is someone in the group who does not bother lamenting about his dreadful past at all. You’ll find out who he is in the next chapters – and you’ll be shocked. This would actually change and fix things a little as far as the Silver Crescent is concerned.

EMPHASIS # 8: EVERYONE in the Silver Crescent hates EVERYONE in the Spectra… except Ayane and Kosuke.

mangoes-dbsk
She (Ayane) should realize that she is the only one who likes Kosuke here. All the rest of them hate him, even though whatever happened wasn't of his own fault. They hate the Spectra, they hate the people associated with the Spectra, and they hate the most, the people who is working in the Spectra. She should realize that, since she created the gang formed with ... antis? Haters, of the Spectra.

And so, the same question as before - -

shamansha
If these people wanted revenge then they should just go for Yamasaki Daisuke and leave Kosuke out of this...he was innocent ever since he was a child... he was brought up to be like this...poor kosuke...
jaeyoungg
think the Silver Crescent shld jus plan to kill yamazaki daisuke and dimitri Williams since they hv the most power and daisuke is nt kosuke's real father it shouldnt matter right? haha

Big secret for now… But if you’re good enough to catch the big yet discreet clues I’ve dropped both in Book 1 and Book 2, you’ll find out why they can’t just target Yamazaki Daisuke or why they can’t leave Kosuke alone in this mess – especially now that he angered Rei… a LOT.

EMPHASIS # 9 :

miss a??c a?s?r
The gang for the first time saw Ayane crying, to me it shows how much they really don't know about her then they think they do.

^ Self-explanatory.

EMPHASIS # 10: Ayane and Kosuke are going through similar dilemmas in relation to their gangs.

MINisVIP
why do kosuke and ayane have the same fate? T__T
being replaced..

^ Precisely.

Others questions / inquiries / random stuff

dreamer88
god that was
exciting like imagining an action film you´ve
put my imagination to work

Hehe, thanks.

jvang_07
If it were me, I would have had her kill Lin.

Couldn’t kill Lin because she had to serve ‘some other purpose’ in the story.

RHAINE
i personally think that saori should back off.
sure she gets teased a lot and wants to show kosu-kun that shes something better but jeez
she acts like a highschooler not a 25y/o chrr.

^ Very good observation. Take note of this. May come handy, who knows?

sARAnghae_oppa
Wow I never thought I would be so into the characters... But the story really does draw you in=)

Thanks, glad you feel that way. As much as possible, I’m trying to develop both the plot and the characters in every possible way.

simpleangel
I still want to see what would happen when Ayane meets with Crosse. Will Crosse still like Ayane?

You’ll go crazy from Chapter 40-50 -#-evil grin-#-

cambochinkanese
Hahaha, Kosuke, even if he's in pain he still had the energy to be flirtatious.

Hehe, Ijust thought of adding some mushiness so that the chapter wouldn’t be all that depressing.

.luckii.
AND SAORI!! CAN YOU JUST FRACKIN KILL HER??
cause...im guessing that none of the characdters will end up with the ones they love...

Give Saori a chance, trust me. Just forgive her… st*pidity for now.

sayuri ko
if her watch responds to gun wave lengths, then why didn't it detonate when rei shot lin's arm right before she revealed her watch?

It’s because Ayane activated/turned ON the wristwatch-bomb AFTER Rei pulled the trigger.

Denied86
What if she finds out that Kosuke was hurt by Crosse?!
HYPERGURLY^^
i wonder when kosuke is going to tell her that crosse did this to him!

The question is, would he?

lil^jenniie
Fuuko, wasnt there this tape that she aya
and isnt kosuke building or place built but her coompay, she is an architeture isnt she.???

Yes, Ayanami Fuuko (the resident female bully of Tsuzuya Academy in Book 1) is the one who gave her the tape. When will the tape come handy here in Book 2? What is the significance of her being an architect? Good observations and points to consider, but I can’t reveal that part yet.

kc_chua
her exterior was ninja-hot with those slamming moves with her nunchaku (cool weapon choice by the way!)

Hehe, I got the idea of the nunchaku while re-playing Suikoden II on the Playstation.

silently_solitude
I guess there'll be many more traitors and drama going on.

We barely got to that part, hehe.

benchi101
I hope that the explanation about Crosse's disappearance update soon.

Errrr… not too soon yet, I guess.

milk-o
The fight scene was a bit vague...I was hoping the action parts would be something that would make me wanna say, "god I missed every f*cking inch of that!"
I know that you're just starting to introduce the deception chapters along with the bloodier, action-packed ones... So maybe I'm just expecting things too soon? Its hard to say, I don't want to ruin the fun...

^ Hehe… *cough cough* Chapter 39 *cough cough*

yamaki_LOVE
Yoon & Chris doesn't hate Ayane or mad at her eh??

Chapter 36 will answer that.

syndryx
they all have their points and it's quite difficult siding with anybody...not that i really intend to do it, but as readers, you let us know a hell lot of things about what the characters are thinkin...and it's really difficult to see them all troubled and wild because of misunderstanding...

You yourself said it before right, syndryx? I remember it well when you said that there’s no one in the world that is pure evil.

Everyone has a story once you hear it… probably even Yamazaki Daisuke himself ?

MisoSoupOfKpop
I AM SO SORRY THAT I HAVENT COMMENTED AS MUCH AS I SHOULD HAVE. I blame school.

School first before F&L!

kc_chua
I nominated Fists and Lipsticks for Original Fic & Most Original Plot category for Fic of the Year!

Geez, thanks hehe. I actually thought that that thing was for fanfics only.

To those who placed their nominations, thanks a lot for the support… although there’s still no greater price than the experience of having to interact dynamically like this to you readers. You know, you guys throwing in your opinions and views of the story, posts that do not solely contain praises but intelligent exchange of information and criticism. I really appreciate it.

Author Notes & Review Replies for
Chapter 35 – Sessions (Part 7)

This chapter took me long to make, not because it was hard writing the plot but because this required me to do some research. I got to learn some basics on how actual psychiatrists do their psychiatric interviews. I came across an interesting article where in a violent, uncooperative patient was placed under some sort of ‘drug-interview’. The procedure makes use of drugs like barbiturates and sedatives to make the patient not just calm but, as said as miss milk-o - -

milk-o
5% intravenous sodium amobarbital at rate no more than 1ml per minute<= she isn't just letting her relaxed! Sodium Amobarbital has both sedative-hypnotic and analgesic compounds. Though it's an anti-anxiety drug, the rate of 1ml per minute might induce the patient to partial hypnosis, thus Ayane's 'readiness' to answer Shizu-chan's questions...

^ Precisely. It’s ---

kc_chua
…like a Veritaserum in Harry Potter! L0l

Yeah, pretty much like it, but it is actually used in real-life, although in rare and special instances.

me0z
Because Aya is kinda relaxed or just numb lost between feelings, her words were really simple, what really stood out, her simple statements "i'm angry'and 'sadness'.

That’s the purpose of the drug-assisted interview. The patient is able to define her thoughts and feelings more directly – more focused and easily relayed.

bloo
Wow you did a lot of research huh? Although I was expecting more psycho-analysis

Regarding the psychoanalysis, it would come later in the story. For those who do not know what a psychoanalysis is, think of it as a ‘psychiatric medication/treatment’ not using drugs or surgery but using psychiatric techniques. Right now, Shizuki is still in the interviewing/history taking phase. And yes, she is going tad slow.

whohungjen?
only a tad slow? its going soooooooo slow

^ Why? Well, hehe… Can’t tell yet.

simpleangel
-Gasp- Voice recorder?

Sometimes psychiatrists use voice recorders to record their sessions because patients do not like it when the doctor is scribbling and scribbling too much during the interview, indicating lack of sympathy in what the patient is saying and just after the information he/she is saying. Some doctors say that this is unethical though, but yeah… who knows? This voice recorder just might be handy in the future? Good way to point out.

MisoSoupOfKpop
I love the "Sessions" chapters. They provide insight into Aya's raw emotions and feelings
silently_solitude
I'm glad that Aya is able to cry now, and in front of Shizuki!
5imply_5wt
it's really good to get to know more about ayane and all the things she's going through right now.
sweet_rose_20
poor aya-chan......she has so many things inside of her to deal with.
? ENN ?
Aya's pasts is makes me wanna cry.
a??c a?s?r
It helps us know how ayane is feeling as well as giving us tiny clues
jaeyoungg
i feel so sad for ayane, hving an internal conflict
PSiloveyu
aya...the poor thing =(
rikuu
SO SAD! omg. poor her. poor shizu-chan. POOR EVERYONE.
Chiiikk
poor aya .. after all she is still a woman .. >...<

As I’ve said before, instead of writing ‘Reminiscence’ chapters for Book 2, I decided to make the flashback chapters in a form of a psychiatric session to make things a little different from the usual.

aya_fantasy17
nice research u've done on psychiatric interview.
chocoberryjam*
i liked the intro to the session, it sounded so professional .
kc_chua
Very few authors in Soompi, Winglin, & Fiction Press (or almost close to none) go through the pain of looking up complicated medical books for the sake of making realistic clinical diagnosis or treatments if they're necessary in the story.
I've seen fics (and even movies) where in the characters, for some reason, are brought to the hospital and the doctor in the story explains the condition of the patient, saying info that are not even realistic when you make a real doctor check it up (not that I'm ranting...). But that precisely makes your fic stand out. The fight scenes here may be quite towards the unrealistic side, but that is understandable because it was meant to be like that. However, when it comes to things like medicine/surgery related issues, you bring to us a case that is actually seen in real hospitals. That makes it authentic, and coming from someone who isn't in the medical field, being able to write like this is impressive. Excellent job!

Geez, thanks. I’m happy to hear that I sounded convincing, hehe.

Regarding the research, you’re correct miss kc_chua. I just thought that the fighting scenes of F&L are quite unrealistic – but I wanted it to be like that because I am inspired by movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Matrix, Kill Bill, So Close, and kung fu movies. To make a little diversion from the ‘unrealistic’ fight scenes, I thought that putting realistic elements like the psychiatric sessions, for instance. I wanted to make the diagnosis and treatment as real as possible. I have a pet-peeve regarding unreliable medical information in novels and movies too (There’s a TV show in the Philippines where the lead character is some sort of mermaid. I think she was shot and the freakin’ mermaid was brought to the hospital, and there they performed CPR and blood transfusion ON THE MERMAID. I was… stupefied, hehe. Sweet Jesus, do mermaids have blood-types?).

And now, regarding Crosse Williams - -

RHAINE
their first meeting was sooo kyoot. crosse was such a shy kid.
dreamer88
it was a nice memory of how she met
crosse oh i feel sad now.....
.luckii.
the tearless me is still crying out to crosse. why is his life so sad? WHY DID YOU MAKE IT SO SAD?!
panguyfm
IT WAS SO SWEET HOW THEY MET FOR THE FIRST TIME
HE WAS HER FIRST CRUCH A GOOD FRIEND & COULD HELP HER HEAL HER WOUNDS
s2naomii
i tear up at the name of crosse williams T_T
and aya T_T
chocoberryjam*
i feel sorry for crosse and aya now... their lives have become so twisted. . . Im still waiting on more CROSSE ! !
azn_chick91
how she met CW is soooo cute ^^
x__nga
aww, cute meeting. childhood is an very important factor in psych. i think your doing a great job with the reports, seem real enough for me, although i never seen one before lol. but i took psychology last year, and everything sounds pinpoint.
rufflezz
It's cute the way that Ayane had met Crosse
yamaki_LOVE
0MG awhhh lil Crosse & whaa too cute!!
babii_peach
i love how ayane and crosse met . its totally adorable!
x3_b3b3
its soo cute how Crosse and Aya became friends!
sentuhmentalfo0l
aw the crosse flashback makes me miss him
sweetgirl_121
Hiro u make it hard to hate anyone, don't u? aya and cross first meeting was cute, i still they are more meant for each other.
pie.x3
oh so crosse is mentioned in this session chapter huh? he sounds really sweet as a little boy
iLOVEyunho=)
thats so cute aww!! i reckon shes better off with crosse
bby-aye
so thats how crosse and her met.
MINisVIP
crosse sounds so cute when he was younger, lol.
xradiostarx
i loved the flashback! poor crossee!

I started the narration of Ayane’s childhood with Crosse in the cutest way possible. And yes, it is not just to make you go “Aww, how cute” but to emphasize this fact - -

jaja13
i didn't know that a simple high school love story could turn into THIS!
fuuko-chan
I feel so sad for Ayane. T__T And the flashback of her and Crosse as children made me feel worse. D: Who would've thought that those two innocent kids would end up having so much problems as they grew.

And so, now for the common clamor:

macdoox3
i seriously can't wait when Crosse will meet Ayane face to face.
lenaaa._
I long for the day Crosse and Aya will meet again.
It seems like centuries ..
mangoes-dbsk
I want him to come out now! I want! I want!!
myxlove101
And have more Crosse time, kk? :]
lollipop517
Cant wait for him 2 be more involved in the present!
HYPERGURLY^^
i like kosuke and all but crosse.. he needs some loving too.

Hehe, cough *chapter 40 - * cough

xherodbskx
but I cant believe crosse is evil now T_T
renchew
But crosse's changed so much now =(
qiianer
Actually, I don't believe that Crosse has turned bad. I believe that he's somewhat planning a get back plan too.
cambochinkanese
Things are becoming unfortunate as things get going

Whether he has something in mind or not, that would be revealed later in the story.

Have your ‘shock meters’ ready, hehe.

Other stuff / questions / randomness:

~*BaeSeulGi*~
lin doesnt sound nice......don really like her alot

Chapter 36 would rationalize that part.

anokakoolio
Rei's threat was pretty scaring especially his implying on how people died because of her.

Things people do when they’re angry… and jealous. Yeah, the craziest things…

lil^jenniie
The gang are pushin her to hard I reckon because ... what she been through is more devasting than the others she was on the run most of her teenage years, not be able to be herself. Being portrayed as someone else.

The Silver Crescent has such high expectations for Ayane. Why wouldn’t they? She’s the leader after all – the high and mighty Lady Nu Huang. If you would look back to Book 1, Ayane worked hard to portray a role she wasn’t. The same thing is happening right now, but in a much greater scale.

Things in the gang would get a little crazier in the next chapters. Hold on to your seats, hehe.

pinkslippers
little did she know though, her impending meeting with Kosuke was actually the one driving her forward. each day. each minute. each second. Not to kill as she had always been telling herself, but to finally quench that longing to, at least, see her high school sweetheart. which she had always denied to herself.

Yes, precisely - - as would be emphasized in the next chapter.

W0z13
wait.
so crosse is his son?
waaaaaah? >-<;;
iim so confused = =;;

Crosse is Dmitri Williams’ son. Dmitri Williams is the CEO of the motorcycle corporation in Book 1. And Dmitri Williams is also the same guy whom Lady Nu blackmailed in the earlier chapters of Book 2.

Don’t hesitate to ask if you guys are confused with some parts. I’ll be more than glad to clear things up. *thumbs up*

dreamandlove
OMG!! I love the story...it's just soooo awesome!!!
I read the first part and I'm truly hooked

Hey, welcome to F&L and enjoy your stay!

amandahs
i just realized that you update pretty fast, and your chapter are all fully detailed and are interesting.You must be really good. I guess researching on the topic helps as well.

It helps writing at least 5 chapters in advance. It helps me come up with constant updates without compromising the quality and length.

milk-o
I was just a bit too happy getting to top 5. The retention policy of our school was too high! Did you know that in our 5-unit subject, out of 48 students in the second year, only eight of us passed the required grade quota?! Oh, and add the fact I am running a business and stalking my fave threads here in fanfix (that includes your thread mister)... So it was really such a pleasure to see that all my slacking hardwork paid off... We are now actually down to twenty-two this second semester, so I hope I could maintain things as it is...

Geez, you’re awesome. Law school must be really hard huh? I just had a conversation with my friend via YM (he’s in Ateneo de Manila) and he said that it’s hellish hard, especially Taxation.

sARAnghae_oppa
Their love could have been a great one if it weren't for so many misunderstandings along the way...

But come to think of it, it is because of these trials that fortifies their bond.

gule2
i like both Kosuke and Crosse. I don't want any of them to die or end up hurt. Hiro, please give F&L2 a happy ending!!

Well, we have a long way to go before this story ends. Let’s savor the moments for now, hehe.

littlemisstiny
want to apologise for not being around lately but my exams finished
snowy_life
OMMMGGG~~
SOORRII FOR NOTT REPPLLYYINNGGG FOR ALOOTT
didi-anime
SORRY for my late reply ><
i've just had heaps of work, my yearlies and everything crammed together so didn't have much time but im back now
cuti3gurl
wow i'm VERY late haha. i haven't read the past three chapters until now. the story has gotten SOOOOOO GOOD!

Like I’ve always said, school and real-life matters first before the Internet! Hehe. We never (and will never) require readers to reply chapter after chapter. The fact that you spend a fraction of your time to visit our thread is more than enough for me to appreciate your support. The kind words you leave give me the extra hyena-smile factor though. Man, how I dig them.

Author Notes & Review Replies for
Chapter 36 - Lullaby

This chapter for me was kind of disturbing to write. I'm a self-proclaimed homophobic and I do not enjoy stories with homos on it. It's a choice thing, so no offense to any particular person or fic around here in Soompi. All of us have our own likes and dislikes in this world, you know .

But somehow, perhaps this ‘dislike’ is precisely the reason why I made Yoon's story like this.

littlemisstiny
but even worse that people like this probably do exist in the real world taking advantage of children

^ What could be worse than a gay pedophile molesting 9-year-old male kids?

fuuko-chan
THAT WAS JUST SO NASTY! STUPID PERVERTED PEDOPHILE!
maizakichi
darn..yoon's past is troublesome too~
.luckii.
OMGG~ PEDOPHILIC CHILD, MUCH? THATS FRICKIN DISGUSTING
5imply_5wt
perverted old bastard.. i can't believe he did that to yoon.. * cries in a corner*
xKANA
That perverted old man! >:O He's so disgusting, thank god Kim Yoon Jae took care of him.
azn_chick91
poor yoon jae T.T he had to go through so much
didi-anime
yoon's story is so sad
HYPERGURLY^^
poor yoon!! his past was so sad and sickening.
sweet_rose_20
omg poor kim yoon jae..........had to go through all that
myxlove101
That's disgusting. That pedophile. Should have died years ago~
~~PuhPuhMuh~~
poor yoon
cambochinkanese
Yoon seriously has been through too much hardships; it's a good thing he's started fresh with Spectra.
silently_solitude
Goodness gracious!!!! What a scary yucky man!! And that poor Yoon! Ugh. The Spectra is really pissing me off!
qiianer
That Mr Han is a sick man okay!
Forget the fact that he's gay, but did he have to attack CHILDREN?!
PSiloveyu
this chapter put me in massive shock mode. the sick, disgusting, perverted, pedophile ==" poor pooor poorr yoon TT_____TT"
iLOVEyunho=)
poor yoon
babii_peach
who would hav thought. eurghh pedos man. seriously how could they?
amandahs
we got to know more about yoon
benchi101
NO! Yoon was harassed by a pervy ugly pedophile!!! TT^TT I feel so bad for him! I want to murder Mr. Han!!!!!!!
s2naomii
disgusting pedophile . . and aweeeeeeeeeeee yoon jae
Denied86
That was just depressing...
Chiiikk
wow .. yoon >..< poor him
fangirlism
IT was like an episode of Law & Order: SVU! Holy crap. D: <
~*BaeSeulGi*~
that Han guy is pure disgusting..........ewwwwwwww

Disgusting, true. Not only that, I’d like to emphasize. He came from a poor family, sold to a stranger at age six, molested at nine, witnessed the death of SangHun (the 14 year old kid who tried to save him and the other kids when they were nine), murdered a lot of people (including Mr. Han) in the bomb explosion and joined the Silver Crescent at age seventeen.

A little too much?

yamaki_LOVE
Poor Yoon his story is the saddest T-T I'm glad Lin realizes what she said to Yoon! & gosh he is smart!!
macdoox3
Yoon's past is truly one filled with pain. It makes me said thinking about it.
jusplainmeh
I don't care about any other of the silver crescent member's history. None of them can be as heartwretching as Yoon's...
kc_chua
I actually think that Yoon's past is a lot more brutal than Ayane's, given the fact that he was molested by a gay pedophile!

^ I’m happy that a number of people pointed this fact out, because this is precisely what I was trying to unveil through this chapter. Although Chapter 36 seemed to be merely one of those flashback chapters regarding a ‘minor’ character’s past, this narration aims to stress out a few facts:

1) Yoon’s past is dreadful… perhaps even more dreadful than the rest of the Silver Crescent, including Ayane herself.
2) Yoon never once showed he was bothered
3) Yoon never once ‘bragged’ about his past

And so…

RHAINE
i still hate Lin. its not like shes the only one who has been through all that shi*. i bet the others wouldnt have joined if they didnt have a reason. its not like they think lifes meaningless and they just want to jeopardize it for fun. dur. think lin THINK. LOLOL. im overreacting xD
w00dchild.jnR
I don't like Lin. She's selfish and spoiled and she thinks she's the only one that is hurt. Doesn't she realise that all the Silver Crescent are scarred? She's so bitter and unreasonable. She might be good at fighting, and maybe her mother was killed by Spectra, but everyone else also experienced terrible things. It's so unreasonable. That's so sad... I feel bad for Yoon ><
rufflezz
Lin shouldn't accuse her friends like that ):
But I guess now she knows the stories behind them all, or most of them.
sweetgirl_121
and here were Iam thinking that yoon was annoying that poor kid, I'm seeing him in very different light. now both lin and aya should be a shame, throwing all the fits like nobody was hurt as them when some were hurt really beyond their imagination.

Now, with Lin knowing this fact, Yoon somehow indirectly became her ‘means’ of re-assessing her actions and realizing her own mistakes.

noona
good that lin and ayane made up^^
sentuhmentalfo0l
i'm glad that lin apologized. i feel like she was being selfish
x3_b3b3
and its a good thing that Lin and Ayane made up. AND IT WAS SOO CUTE THAT LIN RAN OUT!~ keke
bee21192
even though a greater part was about yoon, lin is the one that really touched my heart.. i'm glad to see that the silver crescent gang knows when to get together and stand up for, or better, WITH each other..
renchew
Its good that lin understands everything now !
blah.blah.blah
Yay! Aya is forgiven!
puppaluppa
auw how cute Lin just ran out like that haha
xradiostarx
im glad that lin had understood things and hopefully everything will work out
macdoox3
I'm so happy that Lin apologized to Aya-chan. Finally I can see the friendship they share on a deeper level. And I'm sure Aya-chan can figure something out where ALMOST everybody is happy. She's smart, she can figure things out. ^^

By looking not only at the plot but the ‘motive’ behind the plot, we would see that this chapter aimed to show not just how characters commit mistakes but how they struggle to ‘rebuild broken bridges’. In this case, Lin realized her mistake of being too harsh with her judgment towards other people and her ‘crying over spilled milks’. True that her past was horrible too, but she finally realized that she’s not the only person shattered in the gang - everyone is, including the person alongside her who does nothing but smile.

Ayane also has almost the same flaw as Lin for Book 2 now that she has begun ‘calculating’ her good deeds to justify her actions in the present. She would find herself thinking about how good things would be with Kosuke as if totally forgetting about the task set on her shoulders. She is torn between playing heroine and playing the girl-in-love. This is to be fixed not only by Shizuki, but also by herself.

I like this comment by miss nganrinat0r:

nganrinat0r
it seems that the Silver Crescent is made up of exceptional people yet the most unexpected; aya, inititally the daughter of someone who manufactures cars while Yoon is the son of a poor family. their challenges in life made them the exceptional people they are. they are also strong due to barriers that they can relate and created; Yoon and his smile while aya and her fake identities.

^ Precisely. Ayane’s fake identities as Miyazawa Aya and Lady Nu Huang (and as Mei Lee) and Choi Woo Seok (Yoon)’s new name and smile are their self-made defenses.

simpleangel
I liked how he creeped Mr. Han out with his smile.
strawberrylova79
cant imagine that he was *shiver* the story for his never ending smiles/giggles is so sad
supergeek;3
Yoon's past made me go O____O he had such a terrible, and hard life yet he's still able to smile like that.
dreamer88
that´s why he smiles all the time it made me cry
renchew
Ahh i love yoon and his smile =)
bloo
...his smiles and goofy attitude definitely concealed his dark past well.
chocoberryjam*
WAHH!! what a sad story... hidden behind a smile i never knew Yoon would have such a . . . X_X past...
MINisVIP
and the fact that he smiles all the time to cover up his sadness/anger/upset is so.. i don't know how to say it, but it's kinda sad. WHY IS EVERYONE'S PAST SO COMPLICATED?!?!?!??!!?!?
jaeyoungg
i love this chpt though it's suppose to be sad =x cos i get to know better abt yoon, and i think he is becoming one of my fav char in F&L2 ;DDD
lollipop517
I've always loved him and now i love him even more! Bless! He's had such a hard time! Atleast it's made him stronger tho!

These uncanny defense-mechanisms may make them seem insane and frail at times, but these defenses show that they are human, desperately struggling to survive/escape from their own traumas

gule2
It's something that finally bring me closer to Silver Cresent's members.
pinkslippers
i hope Silver Crescent would be one again--one in friendship, one in taking revenge.
bby-aye
it seems like the crescent gang is coming back together.

Seems like it… but there’s still someone to worry about - - Rei.

This leads us to this:

macdoox3
I think, the complicated past that everyone in the crescent gang is what connects them, bind them and somehow divide them. The division, i think, is because of the different views.

I’m glad with the fact that you pointed out how the gang members have such diverse views and priorities when it comes to revenge. For Lin, revenge is getting rid of the Spectra in the soonest time possible. For Rei, he initially wanted to get rid of the Spectra to avenge her mother, but somehow his new anger towards Kosuke overrides this previous motive. Now, he wants to exterminate the Spectra including Kosuke so that he can have Ayane for himself. For Yoon, he wanted revenge against the Spectra because of the abuse he got when he was still a child, but he doesn’t take things as seriously as he ought to be because his defense-mechanism of smiling seemingly mask his true feelings. And so, he is misunderstood. For Ayane, she wanted to get rid of the Spectra, but at the same time protect Kosuke.

What about Chris?

milk-o
How about Chris? I think I'd wanna know about him too.
lil^jenniie
Chris sounds like a nice guy. I havent heard of him much since this chapter.
pie.x3
oh and chris seems to have alot of trust in ayane and it makes me feel like she's gonna have a comeback with this super awesome plan XD i'm looking forward to it
jinx1791
..go chris!!..woot!!..woot!!..
..such a nice man..a very transparent person..
..he didn't take any sides..he even makes things better and let them realize bout the situation..
..he's so smart..i started to like him and i know more if him now..
linnienguyen
i wonder what chris's past is too

Can’t say much about Chris at this point. But definitely you’ll read about his story soon.

Given these facts, this leads us to another reason behind writing Chapter 36 as it is - -

blurr
this adds a whole new meaning to "Spectra"
kawaii999
My disgust for spectra has been taken to a whole other level.
shamansha
Ughh stupid spectra! they do nothing but ruin everyones lives!

Yes, it is to again emphasize how POWERFUL the Spectra Gang is. They have a faction in Korea, meaning they have even more groups all over the world. They run drug laboratories, manufacture and sell illegal drugs and weapons, runs wh*re houses and casinos, host illegal street racing, and now even buy and abuse children. The Spectra gang is not just about dealing with an exchange of immature and petty deals or arguments like “This is my territory” or “I’ll beat you down because you beat my men”. They’re powerful, they’re rich, and they’re evil.

But then again, there are still LOTS of things about the Spectra that have not been written yet.

Hang on to your seats, hehe.

Other questions / stuff / randomness:

Sungminnnie
I was wondering, how old Yoon is right now?

Yoon is 21 right now. He joined the Silver Crescent when he was 17 years old. Chris recruited him in via the command of Ayane.

sweetgirl_121
i reread the chapter, am I missing something? weren't the Silver Crescent in for replacing aya with rei? how come Chris is rooting for ayane and asking for lin to understand her? so she is still the boss?

Ayane is still the boss. Remember how he kicked the ass*s of those people who tried to oust her? She threatened them all in Chapter 34 –

QUOTE

“If any of you wishes to be the new boss of the Silver Crescent,” I declaimed. “I suggest you come and try…”
“… that is IF anyone of you would dare to stop me.”

I placed my nunchaku back into my pocket, “Otherwise, no other person will lead the Silver Crescent except ME.”

anokakoolio
The Sae-ya Sae-ya song was song haunting. ONe of the people who sang that song had such a haunting voice that it was scary but beautiful.
Silent Serenity
And I tried playing the song in YouTube too and omg the song is creepy..... in a sense, lol.

I tried looking for a song that had that 'eerie effect'. Hehe, it’s probably inspired by the Hotel 626 game scene where you sing a lullaby to the baby. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can click on my sig. Freaky, hell.

sarw
this fic ROOCKS

Geez, thanks… Hehe.

sARAnghae_oppa
I was wondering how you came up with this story. The plot is very complicated and none of the conflicts repeat themselves even when there was a prequel. I think you're so awesomely talented as an author. Ook That's it=)

It’s hard to describe exactly how I came up with Fists and Lipsticks. Probably it’s the way I could draw out inspiration out of anything under the sun (glow-in-the-dark stars because I really have them in my room since I was a kid, cookies because I was eating cookies when I made that chapter, Santa Clause because Christmas is coming pretty soon, wedding gowns because I happened to pass by a really beautiful one when I was strolling around a shopping mall, locked doors (hehe, I’d leave that to your imagination), lipsticks (because Zhang ZiYi is the model of Maybelline),… etc) and twist them into something that would fit the story.

A specific technique I do in order to string the events is to center the plot of each chapter around the chapter title. So you’ll notice that the chapters of F&L2 individually seem like a series of interconnected one-shots. I don’t cut the chapters just because another scene is about to start or just because I think that the chapter is getting too long or just because I wanted to leave a cliffhanger.

Another specific thing I do is that I make some sort of flowchart of events. Helps me track which scene comes next. If a new idea pops in my head, I insert them wherever they fit.

I also pre-write chapters before posting so that I can still change some parts where some inconsistencies may ensue.

eternal_bliss
anyone care to tell me if Crosse came back yet? It seems like I missed a lot....

Yup, he’s back.

jenibeth
it takes me almost a month to catch up with this fic, im glad i finally did!heheh
well, i love everything about your story, its kinda different from the other stories i have read!

Hey, welcome miss jenibeth. Enjoy your stay with us!

mangoes-dbsk
And, you changed your signature? Funny for me to notice. I don't remember your signature to be like that last time. And about that Hotel 626 thingy... isn't it on the soompi humor section? I go around that section a lot. I told my sister to play it. My sis thinks that we have to take photos of ghost? We can't play bcuz we have no webcam. Mind telling me what it's about?

Yeah, you have to take a picture of a drifting ghost and sing a zombie baby a lullaby. Freaky but cool, that’s why I’m recommending it.

Funny that I received PMs asking me if I started a new fic, hehe. Hotel 626 isn’t a new story by me. It’s a Flash game brought by Doritos.

Linnsterr
sorry lately alot been going on & i don't have time to comment
or read. but after this week -- i will catch up then ima leave you a really really long COMMENT =D

Hehe, it’s okay. Take your time.

kc_chua
More and more people should try reading something NEW here in Soompi and this is the story to read!

Thanks miss kc_chua. Although it could be really hard to gain new readers nowadays, especially when they find out that we still have a prequel and that I use Japanese names instead of Korean. Add to it the fact that F&L is quite different from Soompi fics. Let's admit that a greater fraction of readers like the ‘cliché ones’ more than the ‘weird ones’.

And yes, F&L is one of the weird ones, hehe.

That’s why I’m especially thankful to the new readers. I really appreciate how you spent a fraction of your time to give this ‘weird fic’ a shot.

milk-o
Hiro, kapag tinanggal ako ni Meia sa PM list, babalatan kita! Wahahaha! Kidding!

WAAAAAA! Wag po…………

Speaking of...

This brings us again to the common question / PM:

ARE YOU REALLY FILIPINO HIRO?!

Yes, I'm Filipino hehe.

I'm not a pure blood, though. I'm half-Chinese. But I'm a US Citizen.

Author Note for Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent: Chapter 32 onwards

2008-11-03T03:08:00.000-08:00

Author Note for Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent:
Chapter 32 onwards

It’s time to push the story forward…

… and as we end the “Romance Overload Chapters” a.k.a Chapter 21-31, we now go deeper into the story – to uncover secrets of the Silver Crescent & Spectra Gang, re-meet ‘old characters’ (*cough* earrings *cough*), and develop the characters either positively or negatively.

From here on, things may get a little bloodier, little confusing, and a little towards the mystery side of the fic. Not that I will completely remove the comedy and romance, but I find it necessary to put the mystery/action/drama side of F&L to the top of the list as far as this section of the story is concerned.

Upon reading the reviews left by the readers so far, I think I’m getting just about the right feedback I was expecting. I’m glad that people actually noted the drastic change in Ayane (some have actually started ‘hating’ her at this point of the story… ‘hating’ even Kosuke for his perseverance… while some are ‘hating’ Rei for his excessive jealousy and rage to the point of calling Ayane selfish… ‘hating’ Yuken for his excessive stealth… ‘hating’ Saori for her annoying attitude… ‘hating’ Prime Minister Yamazaki Daisuke for his evil doings as the Spectra Lord).

Now, I believe that this would be the part where you could actually look back to Book 1 of Fists and Lipsticks, where Ayane was once introduced as the ‘kind-hearted, almost-perfect, beautiful, courageous, self-giving/selfless’ girl – so good at everything, so nice, so pure… This is where she starts to ascend to her ‘breaking point’, some sort of ‘release’ to crush each of these sweet seeds one by one. And yes, this is part of the character’s so-called ‘negative development’.

Same goes for the opposite. Remember that point in time when you used to hate Crosse Williams and Ayanami Fuuko in Book 1? -#-evil grin-#-

But Ayane would not be the only one trapped between the raging wars between the two powerful gangs. Mistakes would be made, jealousy would start the fire in its summit, wide smiles would turn into tears, and remorse and guilt would be sowed all over again. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.

I have actually written five chapters in advance (like I always do) and looking at the plot from where it is right now, I would see to it that every event that would unfold would not be unjustifiably “too much” for Ayane and Kosuke. Like in F&L 1, as much as possible, I make sure that there is a reason behind each event, and so, if the events become too much, chase me down with a frying pan, hehe… No seriously, if things go overboard, tell me what you think and I MAY consider it – not unless ‘that’ event is linked to something else I have in mind that has yet to be revealed. If they do, just forgive me for a while. Hehe.

I’m really grateful for all the support you readers have been giving this humble fic, especially the old loyal readers. I’m also very thankful for the new readers (the fact that there’s a Book 1 prior to Book 2 so it’s quite unusual/rare nowadays to gain new readers because of the burden of having to read a 600+ page Book 1 just to catch up with the story). Despite having gone through that burden, the warm welcome and appreciation and the boost you’ve been giving me to finish this story had been beyond overwhelming. Geez, I could only scratch my head and say thanks. I wanted to send you all some Tootsie Rolls, but Yoon might tease me so yeah… maybe not. Perhaps you can all come to my wedding? Haha.

Regarding Chapter 32, I consider this as one of my ‘transition chapters’, although I’ve dropped some really good clues here that MAY be useful in the future chapters. Definitively not going to anyone’s list of favorite chapters, but hey… as I said, we need to push the story from here on – and this chapter offers that ‘initial’ push.

Also, I’d like to take this chance to thank Miss Rebekah (from LA Youth Newspaper), Miss Andy (from the Mirror – CSA School Publication), Miss Polly9 (from LiveJournal), and Miss Megan (from AZ Teen Magazine) for their kind mention of Fists and Lipsticks in their newspaper/magazine/blog reviews.

Big thanks!

-Hiro

Chapter 21 - 31 a.k.a. "Romance Overload Chapters" Uploaded

2008-10-30T04:08:00.000-07:00

Well guys, we just reached the end of the Romance Overload chapters. I hope it wasn't bad and didn't bore you to death from cheesiness, hehe.

The plan was to build up the Kosuke-Ayane relationship in a whole new level in merely a month's span. The process came difficult for me, coz I had to squeeze the events in merely ten chapters. I wanted to write it in a manner that would not seem rushed, for I aim for that "beautiful" character development and transition as far as the two characters are concerned.

In contrast to Book 1 of F&L where the romance chapters were mainly composed of 'cuteness' and 'high schooly' love, I created this in a way that catered to all aspects of love -
cuteness + corniness + hilarity + clever/witty + sexy + passionate. Again, this process did not come easy as well. I had some of the chapters re-done several times as to create the perfect balance and chemistry. I also had to go to a real hotel to picture out the setting (with Meia? Hehe, I'll leave that to your imagination).

And the *cough cough* sex scenes *cough cough* were the most difficult to do, hehe. I had Chapter 30 and 31 revised more than 5 times. I wanted it to turn out in such a way that the readers would end up smiling with the unfolding of events, not laughing at the way it was written. Above all, as much as possible I wanted to avoid writing them "by the fluid" (a.k.a. no unnecessary mention of human organs, 'burning rods', 'red flowers', and 'goo' - those shit, hehe... sorry to other authors...)

Well, we now proceed to the deeper parts of the story. The old folks are going to make a come back, new secrets to discover, new problems, new love teams, and more more more action.

To the readers, thank you for your continued support! I guess I couldn't possibly come up with this story without your honest feedback and encouragement.

-hiro

Fists and Lipsticks PDF Version 4.0 Released

2008-10-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

Due to insistent public demand, here's the long overdue COMPLETE downloadable version of Fists and Lipsticks Book 1.

Here's the download link - http://www.mediafire.com/?y2iwx0mqmy0

This PDF can only be downloaded through this link. Any other link or re-uploads in other website is considered an unauthorized copy, therefore illegal distribution. Inform us right away if you've seen this story somewhere else.

This file is shared and archived in Soompi and Shoebox. Feel free to spread the link, but again, no re-uploads please.

DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. The sky shall punish he who defies this law with death... -#-evil laughter-#-

===========
A/N on F&L2:

"Romance overload" chapters are about to end... Well, time for some action folks! Thanks for your continued support

-The Author

What's up with Lady Nu's "Emo-ness" ?

2008-09-01T03:37:00.001-07:00

I've been receiving tons of emails, PMs, signed & unsigned reviews both from Fictionpress & Soompi regarding the 'terrible things' I've been doing to Ayane and Kosuke. Guys, I still wanted to do so many things in my life like get married, have kids, become an astronaut... so please don't kill me yet! AHHH!

Anyway, kidding aside...

Regarding the question about why Ayane was acting the way she was - Why was she acting so "emo"? Why can't she just get over it and be with Kosuke and forget everything else? Why does she have to make her life and love-life so overly-dramatic with the way she acts? Why does she have to react that way? Why does she have to deny that she was Ayane? Why can't she just blurt out that "Hey, I'm your Aya-chan!". If she wanted revenge, why can't she just kill Daisuke? Why is Kosuke on the kill list?

Lots of questions, huh? Told you, I'm the Brain Fryer, hehe.

I couldn't answer those questions straight up, but instead, let me point out several things to you that may answer your confusion a bit - -

Fact # 1
If Ayane told Kosuke as early as now that she is Ayane and just live happily ever after, F&L2 will be over before it even reaches the climax! Before killing me, please let me have the opportunity to bring out the stuff I have on my 'secret box' gradually. Besides, if I came up with such 'rushed' ending/conclusion to F&L as early as now, you would surely be left hanging with all the questions unanswered.

Fact # 2
Remember that Ayane is currently suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. In the reader's perspective, her reasons may seem 'dense' - - I understand that it may make readers think that "...she's so stupid... Why does she have to go emo like that when she can just tell him that she's Ayane and live happily ever after...". But if you would consider this fact along with those terrible things that have happened to her in the past, it is only logical that her fear and guilt affects her ability to make decisions. That's why if you have noticed, I emphasize that each time she and Kosuke meets, she kinda goes 'out of her mind'. Her 'assassination mission' was going well in Chapter 14: Lost Memories, but when Kosuke appeared, she suddenly goes *blamm!*.

Fact # 3
Remember that Yamazaki Daisuke is now the Prime Minister of Japan. Meaning, he's now more powerful - - a lot more powerful than before. The Spectra is under Kosuke's command now, but even though this is the case, Daisuke is still the 'big guy' over the gang <---- WHY? I can't reveal the reason for now. I can't elaborate because it may spoil some things that should be revealed on the pending chapters, but here's the thing - Daisuke is still 'technically' the Grand Boss of the Spectra gang... and at the same time, he is also the leader of the entire Japan.

That makes him twice or even thrice as powerful.

And as I've mentioned in the chapter where Nami finally confessed that she is not Kosuke's real mother, she told Kosuke that Daisuke made him take over the gang because it was part of his revenge - to make Kosuke the leader of the very gang his real parents started, meaning:

1) He has to undergo the pressure of being the leader
2) It was in his job description to kill - to transform into a person he's not
3) He was made to take over despite his unwillingness
4) He had to suffer by going through all these ^
5) Daisuke has just successfully made his ultimate revenge upon Gendou and Lily Akiyama (Kosuke's real parents) - - making their own son suffer.

And knowing these, this brings us to Fact # 4 . . .

Fact # 4
Because Yamazaki Daisuke is twice or thrice as powerful than before, even the Silver Crescent couldn't just jump onto him and kill him that easily. And so, as the leader of the Silver Crescent, Ayane formulated a 'grand scheme' to take down the Spectra as stealthily as they could. If you have noticed, they have been doing things gradually - killing important affiliates first, raiding storages, assassinating more affiliates, hacking into their computer systems... all these rather than going straight to Daisuke to kill him, because she knows that doing so would not be as easy as it seems even though she can fight better than Bruce Lee, Jet Li, or Lara Croft. This way, it would be like taking down the foundations of a building first rather than bringing the whole structure down in one blow, which was basically impossible, granted that they were battling against another big gang.

I do hope you get the picture... Makes it more realistic, eh?

But the other big question is... Why is Kosuke on the 'kill list' of the Silver Crescent?

Fact # 5
Kosuke IS the NEW leader of the Spectra Gang. Even though he seems like a puppet of Daisuke, he is where he is. I couldn't expound on this yet because it would be another major spoiler if I say as early as now the reason why Ayane 'had' to include him in the kill list.

But hey, if Kosuke has been in the 'kill list' for such a long time now, why aren't the Silver Crescent killing him yet when they all have their chances? Besides, he's been out in the open too often, unguarded and leisurely going around... For the reason, let's just say that it has something to do with Fact # 4 ^ (doing the revenge plan 'gradually').

Not satisfied with the reasoning in Fact # 4?

Hehe.

Well, if you're good, that alone gives you a clue...

Next stuff - - Why can't Ayane just tell Kosuke that she IS Ayane?

Fact # 6
One symptom of someone suffering from post-traumatic disorder is 'denial' and 'diversion from self'. If you have noticed, Ayane has gone through a drastic personality change. She has transformed into a completely different person, yet somewhere inside her was longing to find her true self.

I read an almost similar psychological case from a medical journal from my research and I kind of applied it to Ayane's case - that because of her sudden 'shift' to a persona that she isn't, she begins to become confused of who she really is. The result is that she has been acting as different personas ("multiple/split personalities") - sometimes she act as a really cruel gang leader. One time, she acted like a child at such daze during the "glow-in-the-dark-stars" Sessions chapter. Then on one chapter, she was drinking and drinking while willfully telling Shizuki of her past. One chapter, she was dancing so gracefully that no one would think that she's the same person as the gang leader, that she's the same person that was at daze with the glow-in-the-dark stars chapter, that she was that drunken girl...

This psychiatric condition + her guilt + her sadness + her hatred + her grand revenge plan = FACT # 2

You could imagine the overwhelming emotions swarming inside her.

Now, I ask you - - Who wouldn't go insane?

And that's why she couldn't tell Kosuke that she's Ayane. It's not because she's emo, or because she's being too dramatic... She could not tell him because she wasn't mentally capable of doing so, even though inside her, she was screaming "I AM AYANE!".

And Shizuki's role in this story is to fix this mess ^ .

And besides, if she did tell him that she is indeed Ayane, there would be no need for me to write Chapter 21-30 - the much awaited romance chapters, hehehe...

^ So there, I hope those things I've written spared my life, hehe.

Thank you for your continuous support! If you have more questions, don't hesitate to PM/e-mail/message me in Fictionpress, Hotmail, or Soompi.

-hiro

Chapter 19: Perfection

2008-08-30T01:07:00.000-07:00

Meeting number 2 up! No room for the good old amnesia bombs this time...

Chapter 19 in Fictionpress and Soompi

I'm happy to have completed the 'emo' part of the stories (well, nearly complete - there's still Sessions Part 4).

As much as possible, in this chapter, I'd like to emphasize the overwhelming emotions of guilt, hatred, helplessness, frailty, and imperfection of Yoshida Ayane. This is part of the contrast between F&L 1 and 2. This is sort of like an ascend to how things have gotten complicated, then later as we go on, we'll fix these things little by little by revelations left and right. I think that writing the chapter in first person really made it work, although I am still having a hard time doing so. I did not want her to sound whiny or 'incessantly miserable'. I wanted Ayane to tell her thoughts in such a way that she sounds 'tough', yet once you read between the lines, you'll actually see that she's very much shattered inside.

Now, time to lighten things up a bit for chapter 21-30. I have bad news for Crosse fans though... I don't think he'll be coming out in 21-30 yet.

-hiro

Chapter 18: Costumes uploaded

2008-08-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

The Olympic season has finally come to an end, hehe.

I brought Meia to the airport an hour ago. Geez, talk about a massive crowd. I've never seen the airport as crowded as that. But everyone, you have to see the Chinese Airport. Gotta be one of the best airports around the globe.

Anyway, regarding Chapter 18 - tons of revelations up for grabs for Kosuke, although most of these have been exposed already in F&L 1; however, I revealed something here in this chap - another 'branch of the family tree'. Yep, they're siblings...

It has been revealed here also what Ayane and Lin have been practicing for... and for the next chaps - I bet romance fans would love the next bunch of chapters, hehe. I've done angst, action, drama, and bits of comedy for the earlier chapters. So, time for some thrilling romance, I guess (Don't tell me I didn't warn you) ... The next chapters (after Sessions Part 4) would be something that Ayane-Kosuke fans would enjoy.

And holy crap, my internet is like doomed in deep sh*t. Yahoo takes around a minute to download. You can imagine how long it takes for Hotmail / Fictionpress / Soompi to open. Maybe those massive fireworks zoomed to some communication wire or something...

Oh, thanks for dropping by... and thanks for reading F&L.

-hiro

Chapter 17: Cookies & New Chapter 3-5 for F&L 1 uploaded

2008-08-17T04:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, the chapter is entitled 'Cookies' because I'm eating cookies right now. The original title was supposed to be 'Revelation' but I thought that it was too big of a word for the chapter, so yeah, cookies, that is...

And another yes, this is another transition chapter, but if you would notice, I dropped quite a number of clues in this chapter. Clues to what? Well, look closely, hehe.

Kosuke gets to hear a big shock in this chapter too. What is the reason behind Yamazaki Nami's involvement? That would be revealed in the latter chapters when Ayane talks about the contents of the Silver Disk in the next Sessions chapters, specifically the account written on Yoshida Akira's diary.

Chapter 3 - 5 of Fists and Lipsticks 1 has been re-written. It was a hard work, really... Revising stuff that was too long and horrendous upon second read... I remedied the chapters into better ones, but it would be perfect still. More revisions needed!

Cheers and enjoy!

-hiro

Prologue for Fists and Lipsticks Book 1 Uploaded

2008-08-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

As I've said, I'm currently doing massive revisions in Fists and Lipsticks Book 1, specifically Chapter 1-30 (which, upon re-reading it... I found abhorrently horrendous...)

I also added a prologue. Feel free to check it out both in Fictionpress and Soompi.

I've also uploaded the 'new' Chapter 1, but still I'm not fully satisfied with it. Maybe it WILL undergo another round of revisions. I don't know... The whole thing just does NOT sound right for me.

Also, I'm pulling out the .DOC version from Soompi temporarily until further notice. It has something to do with the massive revisions, so yeah, the next DOC version I'd upload would be the COMPLETE one. My target is within the next two weeks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Chapter 16: Loyalty

2008-08-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

For me, honestly, this was supposed to be a boring transition chapter. To avoid such utterly horrendous and boring transition chapter, I added up some Yoon bits into it to make it rather amusing at some point.

Nothing much to say, except that I thank you for reading F&L and for your continuous support ^_^. Sorry if I give poorly-written author replies compared to other writers in Fictionpress and Soompi. It's just that after reading your comments, I end up grinning like a hyena, and then I would totally go blank, speechless... -_-

Meia was telling me - "Hiro, you should give author replies to each one! If I were your reader, I would love to see you responding to my posts and will continue reading your work!"

I need an anti-hyena-grin pill. Someone give me a anti-hyena-grin pill!

Anyway, regarding F&L1 by the way, I am re-writing Chapter 1-30 of Book 1 of Fists and Lipsticks. This is to make the first part of the fic more captivating to read, less on the 'anime-ish' side and a little more to a type that is acceptable in 'book standards', if you know what I mean. After rereading the first few chapters, I really wasn't satisfied. It felt like reading a monotonous comic book... I dunno, all of a sudden I am not satisfied with it. I got bored reading my own work, hehe... So I'm doing a massive revision, yeah... The plot will be the same still, same with the events, but some speaking lines and the descriptions may be changed a little. I'm still thinking whether to pull out or to leave the Onion Emoticons on, or maybe lessen them a bit... But after writing Chapter 16, I think it's more hilarious letting them stay at some point... I have to think about that.

Anyway, thanks again for reading F&L...

-hiro

F&L Chapter 15 - Sessions

2008-08-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

A chapter spanning 3000+ words...

And yes, the 'love-web' is now complete.

I told you...

You wouldn't be able to guess it was HIM, hehe.

So yeah, things would be rather twisted from this point on... really twisted, but I'll do my best to make sense out of everything.

The question is why Yuken? Well... you have to read on. The other question is how Yuken was able to 'make it out' of the Lethal Lily amnesic effect that time Yoon attacked him? Well... I can't reveal that yet either.

And I decided to show the 'serious, gangster-ish' side of the goofy little Korean bomber: Yoon ^_^

And why did I update? It's because I just got home from the Olympics opening ceremony and heck whoah omfg combined really...

(Sorry for the quality of the two pictures above ^.
They were taken via mobile phone)

I haven't witnessed anything as marvelous as that! It was awesome, especially the mandolin players (who were directly below our seat btw) and the lighting of the torch. It was one of those moments when you just can't help but drop your jaw in awe and feel the goosebumps from head to toe.

In case you're wondering, I have the habit of pre-writing 5 chapters in advance, that's why sometimes updates are too fast and sometimes not too fast. I've already finished up to Chapter 18 though, just 3 chapters in advance for today since I was too eager to post a chapter today. It must have been the Olympic spirit, hehe.

-hiro