Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent

CHAPTER 19: Perfection

CHAPTER 19: PERFECTION

The Emperor ran away with the Empress

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 I call this the 'Dance of Ardor'.

My robe was perfect. I loved the way the red silk touched my skin, how the fabric humbly followed to where I waved my arms upward. I moved along with each strum of the lute with perfect timing, with stunning elegance, with absolute splendor. Blinding lights were upon me, the rays bouncing off from the gems and gold that embellished my Chinese empress hanfu. My feet traced the stage like the earth's revolution, slow but encompassing. For a moment, I felt as if I were a dancing jewel, shimmering, twirling, costly yet frail.

From a person once thought as 'perfect', untainted, pure – with a heart overflowing with kindness, a willful soul that welcomed no distress, a mind seemingly capable of holding all the knowledge the world has to offer... Yes, perfection. They say I was perfect.

I was the perfect jewel – beautiful, unblemished, an object of envy. Perhaps, they were right.

How this superficial 'perfection' masked my true self – my frailty.

I am a jewel – a perfect example of an entity vulnerable to being crushed.

I have mastered this display of elegance for almost eight years, every intricate movement down to the finest twitch of my fingertips. I met Lin Chen this way. After acquiring the Silver Crescent Vault from Switzerland, I flew to China with Rei in my quest of preparing this perfect revenge. In his diary, my father mentioned that the Empress was a great dancer herself. For Lily Akiyama, dance transcends art per se. Neither was it simply something appealing to watch, nor was it simply something graceful to perform. It required discipline, freedom, execution, and character. When mastered, it was something to be honed to perfection.

Rei taught me how to make these fists powerful, but it was not enough. And so, I opted to boost my agility and dexterity with this different approach.

Lin Chen came from a family of performers – her mother, a dancer, and her father, a pipa maker. For generations, they had been performing in cultural events such as this one, where they showcased the rich Chinese culture before hundreds if not thousands of people, mostly those coming from other countries. Lin was a great dancer, but her ability to play the lute proved to be much more exceptional and captivating – so alluring that people often thought of her as a nymph, as a Siren.

One day, her father was requested to manufacture hundreds of pipas to be exported to Japan. Thinking that it was a good deal, a mass production of these lutes commenced. Six months later, Lin's father was arrested by the police. Apparently, the pipas he made were being used as 'drug crates' to smuggle illegal substances in and out of China. In jail, he was beaten up to death. He was never given proper burial or even an investigation. Her mother, on the other hand, was forced to work as a female escort to Yang Zhou – a member of the Spectra based in China. After three months, Lin watched how the Spectra killed her mother by strangling her to death after being falsely suspected of robbery.

That was the first time Lin stained her hands with blood. Picking up a stray gun on the floor, she pulled the trigger and killed Yang Zhou. From that day, she swore to claim her revenge. At the summit of her anger, I arrived in China just in time to meet her.

Both of us were hungry for vengeance. Together, we learned how to perform the 'Dance of Death'. She taught me all she knew about dance. In return, Rei and I taught her how to wield the sword, but her swiftness and precision just weren't fitting for the blade. And so, I entrusted to her the use of one of my father's creation – the Lethal Lily Melting Darts. She mastered using it amazingly well, just like how I learned how to gracefully execute these movements within a short span of time. I began liking dance, just like how okaa-san once upon a time made it her own hobby too.