Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent

CHAPTER 44: Solution

CHAPTER 44: SOLUTION

For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
- H. L. Mencken

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"This is outlandish!"

 Left completely exhausted after inspecting every wall of the room bordered with stacks of champagne bottles, Kosuke heaved a hopeless sigh as he plopped down on the sofa. He grabbed a face towel and wiped the sweat off his face, neck, and chest. Then, he reached for the nearest unconsumed wine he could grab, twisting its cap open and thirstily guzzling the alcohol straight from the bottle. He drank the contents all the way down, not minding the excess dribbling out of his lips which stained the newly-changed bandage around his chest.

Throwing his emptied wine bottle on the floor, Kosuke slouched on the lounger, closed his eyes, and rested his nape against the recliner. A few seconds later, he slowly opened his strained eyes and found himself looking at the ceiling studded with chandeliers made from empty bottles. He had been staying in Kaoru Saori's 400-square meter condominium unit that looked more like a 'bottle museum' than a typical home. The so-called 'bottle home' proved to be a lot more peculiar than it already was. Kosuke spent the whole afternoon trying to figure out how to escape from Saori, who had not come out of her room since the time she teased him about 'defiling her innocence'.

No one else was there to stop him from escaping. It was supposed to be an easy task, an easy escape – only if he knew the way out.

"What kind of house is this?" Kosuke gasped in disbelief. "It doesn't even have an exit door!"

He picked up his white cotton polo sprawled on the floor and put it on, buttoning it up only halfway. Then, he stood up again for his hundredth attempt to find the exit. The door should be hidden somewhere behind these bottles, he repeatedly convinced himself. He desperately wanted to get away from Saori's weirdness that was starting to spook him out. The fact that the living room was only illuminated by the dim chandeliers did not help him in his search either.

"I knew it!" Kosuke grumbled as he started crawling on the floor, looking through the narrow spaces between the bottles in hopes of finding the much-sought exit door. "She’s a psycho!"

He knew that his theories were illogical, but one thing he was sure – he was not the only one making no sense. The fact that he was imprisoned inside a 'bottle cage' did not make sense. Saori was not making any sense (not that she ever did). Ayane being the leader of the group plotting to kill him did not make sense. Crosse siding with the Spectra Gang did not make sense. The whole situation did not make sense. Everything around him did not make sense.

"Damn it, this is hopeless," Kosuke stood up, left with no other choice but to go back into the room to face Saori once and for all. "I'll just use 'force' if I needed to."

Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the bedroom door.

Knock.

Knock.

"Hey Kaoru Saori, open up…"

Knock.

Knock.

No answer.

"Kaoru-san, open up…"

Knock.

Knock.

Again, no answer.

"Kaoru… open up…"