Little delay on Chapter 5

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

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

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

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

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!

DONE!

*collapses*

Rehab and wedding plans

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

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-#-

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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...

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

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

-Hiro

Update about Delayed Updates

To readers of F&L and VC:

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

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

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

Thank you for the patience and continued support :)

Chapter 55: Camera

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

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

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

Thanks for the amazing support.


-The Author

For Hiro's Fried Friends, hehe...

(This post was copy-pasted from Soompi Forums)

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

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

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

Plot-related questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now this leads us to this question:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now, let’s go the other common questions:

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

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

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

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

Here are questions about Ayane’s pregnancy:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rei will be up for a nasty comeback soon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Random stuff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Either way, expect an update very soon.

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

Again, THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE SUPPORT.

-The Author