Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent

CHAPTER 15: Sessions (Part 3)

CHAPTER 15: SESSIONS (Part 3)

Now, you know how it feels...here.

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Her room was a mess. Shattered wine glasses and bottles were strewn on the floor. Piles of cigarette butts were stacked on all four ashtrays. Yoshifumi Rei led me to where she was, sitting bare-footed on the floor with uncombed hair, a panic-stricken face, and a blank stare. She was wearing a black night gown that reached only up to her thigh, its straps falling down from her shoulders. Around her were empty liquor bottles and cigarette boxes. On her grasp was a half-empty bottle of rum, between her lips a newly-lighted cigarette.

"She hasn't eaten for two days," Rei shook his head. "Doctor Okamoto, call me right away if anything goes wrong during the session." After one last anxious glance, he headed towards the exit and shut the door.

I sat down on the floor next to her. As if not noticing my arrival, she did not turn her head to look at me.

To my surprise, however, she began to speak even before I was able to open my mouth.

"Do you know... how it feels?" she said.

I opted not to interrupt. There was a long silence after her inquiry. There were too many things that I would like to ask from her, but I chose to set them aside for now. For this session, Yoshida-chan did not need a doctor, but simply someone that would listen to her.

"Do you know... hic... how it feels..." she repeated. Then, she tapped her chest with her fist, "...here?"

She let out a sad chuckle as she continued, "Bah... hic... I'm not gonna waste your time with drama. You're here to hear about my past, huh? Hic... So lemme' tell you. Listen carefully. When I left Japan, I swore to do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths. I held them... hic... as they breathed their last. I was there... hic... to feel their warm skin turn rigid and cold... and now, each time I close my eyes, those memories... hic... continue to haunt me. I tried my best to suppress those memories, even if the price... hic... was forgetting about the beautiful ones too. Little by little, I was able... hic... to shut the doors to these memories in order for me to concentrate on my goal. But there are things... hic... things... hic... that no matter how hard I push them away, they'll continue to linger..."

I watched her as she picked up her liquor bottle and drank from it.

"No, Yoshida-chan. That's not good for you," I said as I reached for the liquor bottle. However, she pushed me away.

"Nothing... hic..." she retorted. "... nothing... hic... has been good..."

"Yoshida-chan..."

"Don't touch me... hic... Just listen... Listen to me..."

And she continued to narrate...

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"Father, is she mute?"

"No," Yoshifumi Shigeo answered as he placed down his pipe onto the ashtray. Blowing out smoke, he looked towards my direction. I was sitting on a tall chair right beside the tall window of the Yoshifumi residence in Switzerland, a blank stare painted on my pale face.

Shigeo tapped his son on the back, "She is Hoshiyomi Taka's daughter. I'd like you to keep a close watch on her."

"Hoshiyomi Taka's daughter," the young man answered, looking at me from head to foot. "Then he must be..."

"The Spectra killed him. Now, the poor girl has nowhere to go," Shigeo replied. "And so I brought her here. She's going to stay with us now."