Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent

CHAPTER 50: Fixed

 CHAPTER 50: FIXED

Life isn’t like a box of chocolates.

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fix [fiks]

verb (past and past participle fixed, present participle fixing, 3rd person present singular fixes)

1. transitive verb - to repair, mend, or correct something

 "Whoah!"

 Yamazaki Kosuke could not believe the sight that welcomed him the moment he stepped out of Kaoru Saori's bedroom that morning. The previous night, he made sure that he locked the door before going to sleep, grabbing at last the one-in-a-million opportunity to drift off on a decent bed. The sofa on Saori's living room had been the culprit for his aching spine that has persisted for more than a month now. The fact that he was surrounded by thousands of bottles illuminated by some eerie blue backlight did not help either. He remembered one time when he had a nightmare about himself starring as some sort of 'Wine Deity' worshiped inside a shrine by a horde of frantic Saori clones. Pulling himself out of the dream world, he leaped out of the sofa and screamed wildly while panting.

As if daunting and, at the same time, bloodcurdlingly seducing him, Saori stood by her bedroom door, saying –

"Kosu-kun, I told you!

Just stay here inside my room and sleep beside me instead.

And oh yesss… We're gonna play many, many games together!

What are you waiting for? Come here, my pretty boy! Puahahaha!"

And whenever Kaoru Saori's voice would start echoing in his mind, Kosuke would instantly develop goose bumps, making every strand of his hair stand erect as if he were some kind of human porcupine in a matter of milliseconds. This was despite the fact that he was aware of the reason behind Saori's peculiar mania and bipolar attitude – the side effect of the drug she chronically took admixed with champagne, the Silver Laudanum.

Between 'aching spine' and 'making babies', Kosuke would choose 'aching spine' any day.

Kosuke would not admit it, but he found himself wondering about Saori's whereabouts the previous day. It was already surprising that she left without saying a word, instead merely leaving a scrawled note saying that she had an important 'job' to do and that it was top-secret, for 'super-detectives-only' kind of business. He found it rather odd that Saori was out the whole time and that she did not come home at the hour expected. The good news was that the soft bed was all his that night. The bad news was that despite this, he was not able to sleep either because of too much speculating.

But what welcomed him the next morning was too much of a surprise.

"No way!" Kosuke exclaimed, pointing towards the item on Saori's reach. "You… did that?"

Paying no attention to the grease that had stained her white sleeveless top and plaid shorts and the sweat profusely rolling down her forehead and neck, Kaoru Saori tightened the last remaining screws with a stainless wrench before turning around to face Kosuke, whose eyes were fixed upon the precious item before him in utter disbelief.

"Good morning, Kosu-kun!" Saori was ready to throw herself to Kosuke's arms. Good thing Kosuke's reflexes were quick even at the morning, enabling him to dodge Saori's jelly-fishy clutch in an instant.

"Yuck, you stink!" Kosuke grimaced, pointing towards the grease all over her arms and legs combined with sweat. "Don't touch me!"

"What 'stink'? I don't stink, excuse me! Here, here… try smelling my armpits!"