[Ch. 15] A Lovely Night

Ryu was suddenly overcome by depression from the realization that Panzram had left. Although he was happy Panzram had broken out of the prison successfully, he was upset that Panzram was gone.

Should he try to find him? Of course, he could easily find him if he wanted to… That charm was basically his essence. All he needed to do was track it…

But no, he shouldn't act so overbearing towards Panzram.

Ryu decided he should just return back to his room at the brothel to relax. As soon as he arrived, he walked straight into the kitchen and shoved anything edible into his mouth. The cooks all looked at each other with worried expressions as they watched him nearly choke on the food. Frightened for his safety, one went off to go alert the Madame.

The Madame rushed into the kitchen and started pulling on him, "Ryu darling... Don't do that. You will choke."

Pulled away from his food, he made a troubled expression. "Madame..."

She smiled reassuringly at him and slapped his cheeks lovingly, "Go play the biwa for the girls. I know you like it."

He made a face, "But we are opening soon... The girls are too busy to hear it."

She chuckled, "That may be true, but you should go check on Su. Su was trying to recite a poem in her room earlier because she has a scholar coming to see her tonight and she wants to impress him. It was almost embarrassing to hear."

His eyes finally lit back up, "A poem?"

She nodded, "That's right. I think she needs some help."

Without wasting another second, Ryu rushed off to go spread some knowledge on the unexpecting Su. However, Su quickly understood by the crumbs around Ryu's mouth as to what had happened, so she grit her teeth and forced herself to sit through the poetry lesson.

Unable to bear the lesson any longer, she asked Ryu to go pick her up some more makeup and perfume. It was already dark out so only those looking for a fun time in the red light district were on the street. As he walked down the dark street now lit up by lanterns, someone reached out of the alley and pulled him in. Ryu's body was thrown against a wall violently by the unknown perpetrator.

A large thud sounded as he gasped for air at the sudden and unexpected toss. He looked straight ahead and was unsurprised to see Panzram staring into his eyes with unrestrained ferocity. Panzram spoke through a clenched jaw, "Who are you."

Ryu could only sigh in response, "I've told you. My name is Ryu."

Panzram grabbed onto Ryu's shoulder and dug his fingers into his skin. Ryu let out a small gasp at the sudden pain, but he was more surprised by it than anything else. Panzram was actually touching his naked shoulder!! Certainly this means that Panzram didn't find him too disgusting as someone who was disgusted would never touch him so intimately.

Panzram could see the strange elation in Ryu's eyes and was a bit off-put by it. He had dealt with many strange men, but never one as strange as this. Panzram spoke, interrupting Ryu's thoughts, "I still have that wicked charm on me. So how can you see me when others can't?"

Ryu's face lit up, "You kept the charm?!"

Panzram was speechless. He didn't mean for Ryu to get excited at this. He had expected him to feel threatened or even hurt by how little he thought about it. Panzram quickly snatched the charm out of his pocket and threw it on the ground.

"I don't give a damn about this stupid charm!" He shouted as he stomped on it violently.

Ryu deflated, "Ah… It won't work if you stomp on it like that… I worked hard on that too… I even gave it a cute design."

Panzram really wanted to hit this shameless man. Suddenly two more people appeared in the alley. They were both city guardsmen that patrolled the street. One spoke, "We felt bloodlust and heard shouting. Just what is going on?! Reveal yourself!"

Ryu clicked his tongue in resentment of the guardsmen ruining his and Panzram's conversation. Panzram tensed his muscles preparing to fight but was stopped as Ryu stood in front of him. Ryu smiled at the two men, "Now now~ You probably just heard a lovers quarrel. No need to get involved."

This wasn't 'technically' a lie since Ryu didn't say that Panzram and he were the ones having the quarrel. He merely offered a possible scenario for a reason as to why yelling could be heard on the streets.

Of course, that didn't stop Panzram from glaring as he heard Ryu's shameless words. The men frowned as they too didn't like the response, "Show us your identification."

Ryu continued to smile at him with his usual flirtatious grin, "Why should we do that? Are we in some sort of trouble? All we were doing was having a nice conversation in an alley so we wouldn't disturb anyone else."

Truth: Ryu honestly believed it to be a nice conversation.

Fact: Panzram was trying to threaten and scare Ryu.

The other guardsman spoke, "Let's just leave it be. I'm getting strange vibes from this shameless man."

The other answered, "Didn't you hear the alarms? A prisoner has escaped. That's why they called us to patrol so early. Although this flamboyant idiot doesn't match the description, that one behind him certainly does."

His eyes narrowed, "He looks like he's wearing prison garbs as well!"

Panzram had taken off his identification number in order to hide better, but the prison garbs were still obvious if one took notice of it. Ryu worried a scene might happen, so he quickly shoved his identification slab into the guard's face.

"This man is a dignified acquaintance of mine. Don't call him an escaped prisoner."

Truth: Yes, Ryu honestly believed Panzram to be a dignified gentleman.

Fact: Panzram was closer to being the ultimate scum of the Earth than to being a dignified gentleman.

The guardsmen shrunk back after reading the slab, "You- Are you sure this isn't fake?!"

The other snatched it out of his hand and looked at it closely. He gulped, "It's definitely real."

They both bowed instantaneously, "Please forgive our transgressions. We have wronged you greatly."

Ryu crossed his arms in a haughty fashion, "You definitely did. I believe you called me an idiot?"

They gulped, "Please forgive us… B-But we were only doing our jobs. Hopefully, the Fourth Young Master understands."

Panzram's glare at Ryu turned sinister after seeing the actions of the two guardsmen. Their attitude had undergone a complete reversal, not to mention they just called Ryu the fourth young master.

"Please forgive us, but we still need to see his identification in order to verify his identity. He's just too similar to the description of the criminal."

Ryu snatched back his identification tablet and glared, "You dare question me?!"

They both flinched and bowed lower, "P-Please Young Master... It is our job..."

Ryu's glare was then replaced by a chilling smile, "Perhaps I should have my fun with you since I'm in such a bad mood."

The two guards shrank back, "N-No Fourth Young Master! It's fine! We believe you! W-We will be taking our leave now…. Please be careful on the streets tonight."

They bowed respectfully and turned around, running off quickly.