Hide and Seek

Ahli's distance from the Pleasure Palace was less than 50 meters. He knew if he went back there, he would surely face trouble from both sides, as clearly the establishment manager would still be remembering him, and if that guy bickered a lot, his current disguise would surely be exposed to his two pursuers.

"HEY! OUT OF THE WAY!"

A voice from behind him, made him instinctively step to the side. As he turned to check who gave the order, a few men, around 8 of them were carrying a giant litter, a traditional form of transportation that was usually found in ancient Asia. Seeing that, Ahli was quite surprised, as he thought that the world he entered would be fully medieval Europe style, based on what he had experienced. But, with the appearance of the litter, he thought to himself if there are other Asian-inspired in this world as well.

The litter that was coming at him was ornamented with gold paintings. It has a shape similar to the Chinese one, with two poles on each side. However, the shape was not the usual one, where it is longer to the back instead of the usual sitting-room shape. To have eight men carrying it means that the object they carry would be quite heavy, and looking at how the litter itself was not wide, Ahli wondered if it was possible to carry two people at the same time in this.

The litter carrier stopped in front of Pleasure Palace and put down the litter on the ground. A few moments later, the manager of the establishment came out of the building.

[Nah, he's too small for this big thing.]

And what Ahli thought was correct. A few moments after the manager stood in front of the litter, a man came out. Two of the ladies that Ahli saw before were accompanying him and walked toward the litter. Well, accompanying might not be the correct word, but more of helping him, as the man had a very fat body, one that was so large, Ahli could not imagine, what would happen if he fell onto one of those ladies.

But, somehow, what he wondered came true. As they were carrying him, the lady that was carrying him on his left seemed to trip. What happened then was the balance can be seen as broken with the fat man's body suddenly falling to the left, following the shift. Everyone around was so surprised and Ahli could see how they all became panicked at the same time. Yet, they were too late to do anything and the lady on the fat man left hit the ground first before then followed by the fat man as his body pressed on her.

[Poor girl, man, that surely would be painful.]

As everyone there helped the fat man to stand, Ahli saw how his pursuer was closing on him, with less than 30 meters from his position. He looked again at the people that were still helping the fat man, and they were still struggling to raise him up. However, it was the perfect situation for Ahli to blend in, even though his two pursuers seemed to notice the fallen fat man incident as well. Ahli decided to take a bet again and approached the fat man and his entourage.

He rushed toward the fat man and took a position near his head. As he was struggling to get up, and his subordinates were trying to pull and push him, every movement they made was hurting the lady that the fat man landed on. She cried and shouted for help as both of her hands were pulled by the establishment manager as well as the other girl that was on the right side of the fat man.

Ahli grabbed the fat man by the collar and following the counting of one of the fat man's subordinates, he pulled him with them in unison. With just one pull, he quickly understood why these people had a hard time cleaning up the mess. Aside from that, the loud cry of the lady underneath the man was making it hard for Ahli to concentrate as well. He checked on his two pursuers in between the pull and saw that they were also started to rush toward the crowd that was gathering.

"ONE, TWO, THREE! PULL!"

The command from one of the fat man's men, made Ahli realize that he had to pull. This time, Ahli used all his strength as he had to finish this matter in a hurry so he can sneak out along with the fat man's entourage.

Everyone that worked together there was doing their best, and this time they were seeing a good result. At that moment then, they were finally able to lift the fat man and made him stand on his feet again. The lady underneath him was also able to be pulled out.

"Hey, someone take Anne inside quickly!"

Seeing his pursuer was only less than ten meters from him, he quickly volunteered and while the manager of Pleasure Palace was not looking, he put the wounded lady on his back and quickly carried her inside. His eyes took a glance at his pursuer who was observing the fat man and his men, and with that, it was clear that they did not notice where he just left to.

"Ah, thank you, young man. Let us carry her."

What Ahli did not expect was the other girls in the establishment would take her away from him. With this, Ahli did not have any other reason to go deeper inside Pleasure Palace nor even stay inside it.

He hesitantly leave the wounded lady to her peers, and slowly walked toward the entrance again. This situation was bad for him and the chances of him getting caught this time had raised.

"Hey, how was Anne?"

When the manager of the establishment suddenly entered and passed in front of Ahli, his heart almost stopped. Luckily he turned his body quickly, so the manager did not realize that he was there. As he seemed not going to be back soon, Ahli took a peek at the situation outside and saw the fat man was entering his litter, helped by his men. As for his pursuer, Ahli saw them standing around the area behind the litter, so therefore, if he could sneak out, he might not be noticed by them.

"Treat Anne well, I have to greet farewell to Mr. Donovan! Understood?"

The manager with his skinny body surely was fast and sneaky, as without Ahli realizing it, was already near him and came to the door again, surprising Ahli, who quickly faced another direction. Luckily, even though his incoming was untraceable, he was not aware of his surroundings, making Ahli unnoticed again.

That opportunity was also used by Ahli to go out while lowering his body behind the big robe of the manager. He was so sure that his pursuer did not catch him, and when the manager stopped to give his greeting, Ahli moved away in the opposite direction than his pursuer for a safer hiding place.

"Well, then sir. Hoping to see you again as soon as possible."

With that final greeting, Mr. Donovan's men lifted the litter in unison. They then stepped to the side in a circular movement, turning the litter facing toward the opposite direction. As the litter was big enough, it took up the entire width of the street, making everyone that was watching stood back, so they did not disturb the process.

Seeing everyone preoccupied with the litter, Ahli saw it as a good opportunity to go unnoticed. He calculate the movement and positioned himself, following the blind spot of the litter's movement. His tactic worked as he could not see his pursuer and they were supposedly unable to see him as well. As the litter started to move, he also moved along with it, staying on the side for a while until he fasten his steps to position himself slightly at the front.

He looked back in a glance and saw how his pursuer had not noticed him as they were entering Pleasure Palace. Ahli used that chance to start running, quickly distancing himself from that place and the men who chased him. Then, at the intersection, he took a left turn toward the path that he was supposed to take in the beginning.