It is the year 1628. In the west, the Thirty Years' War between the adherents of the traditional ways of Roman Catholicism, and the adherents of the new, radical Protestant doctrine had been tearing apart Europe for a decade by now, and would continue to engulf the continent in a crimson tide for two decades more. In the new world, the first permanent English settlement of Jamestown had come into existence ten years prior, thrusting the nation of England into the colonization game. This would set off the efforts that would lead to future nations such as the United States and Canada, yet for now, these nations were still in their infancy – not independent countries, as much as extensions of their home countries on a new, distant soil.
In the nation of Japan, however, thirteen years had passed since the century of violence and chaos that had gripped the country for so long had come to an end. Over two centuries of peace, prosperity, and cultural isolation were to come under the still-young Tokugawa Shogunate. For the time being, however, many of the laws that would come to pass under the current Shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu – such as restricting trade with the western world to the Dutch East India Company in the man-made port city of Nagasaki, and the expulsion of all non-Japanese nationals from the country – had not seen the light of day. Japan was, in theory, still an open nation, and one that was on the precipice of a cultural renaissance of art, theater, music, and cultural achievement under this peace that the land had finally found at that.
And for the past eleven years, a walled and moated twenty acre compound, gated off and shut away from what could be considered normal society, lay near the heart of the city of Edo, the newly established seat of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
It was formally known as Yoshiwara – a licensed sector where certain laws designed to typically enforce social morality need not apply. Today we'd refer to it as a "Red Light District," but what it was most often referred to in its own time was Ukiyo – or, "The Floating World."
Edo itself had been a small fishing village when the Tokugawa claimed it as the seat from which they would administrate the realm. Since then, it had rapidly grown into a bustling urban center, expanding quickly with new residency and commercial districts in order to house the fast-growing population of the city. The aforementioned Yoshiwara had been constructed in hopes of giving a place for the authorities to control and contain certain activities the new urban populace sought to indulge in – those which would not necessarily be curtailed via official legal ordinance. Thus, it served as a barrier, to try to keep these elements from finding their way outside of its walls.
Upon being granted entry through the gates of Yoshiwara, one would find a variety of teahouses, shops, snack vendors and brothels placed in a rectangular grid, made readily accessible for the pleasure of those who were willing to pay the price to partake. A sense of stylishness and extravagance decorated every corner, with colors, crests, and ornate outfits being visible as far as the eye could see. The streets would fill up in the morning, with entrants ready to shirk society for a day's worth of pleasure and indulgence that this small city within a city could offer them, and the compound would be crowded with potential customers by nightfall.
The nickname of "The Floating World" stemmed from how nothing within its walls was anything like what could normally be found outside of them, instead seemingly being more akin to a fantasy than the reality of the mundane day-to-day routines that had begun to define the early years of the Pax Tokugawa for many merchants, artisans, farmers and samurai alike.
One could enter the gates and see those they knew from the outside act nothing like the neighbors and acquaintances they had come to know, allowing a new side of them to come out and flourish in an environment that nurtured these behaviors for the sake of turning a profit. Furthermore, non-existent were things such as the strict segregation of the samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant and animal classes that were seen within the residency districts of the main city – while the samurai class was officially prohibited from entering by law, many of them opted to enter incognito, checking their weapons and status symbols outside of the walls in lieu of posturing as one of the lesser classes to gain entry. Thus, by necessity, there was considerable equity displayed in the services offered; those who could pay like a samurai would be treated as if they were so, regardless of actual social status.
It was a place of pure escapism, beckoning the citizens of Edo to enter the gates with a bag full of coin, and seek a moment's reprise.
Promotional materials such as woodblock prints and guidebooks had begun making their way out of the gates, in order to display some of the things that could be seen within the compound. The populace outside of Edo began feverishly collecting and purchasing these amenities, as if they vicariously allowed those who could not make the pilgrimage to Edo and through the gates of Yoshiwara to vicariously gaze through them from a distance. This also led to the citizens of Edo themselves becoming the subject of fascination amongst many of their rural peers, in absolutely no small part due to their access to the stylish and glamorous lifestyle of this fabled compound. Such was the extent of the grip the floating world had on the entire populace's imagination after word had spread of its existence.
It was through this that Kabuki actors and – in 1628, at least, actresses – would make a name for themselves across all of Japan. Kabuki theater itself featured acting, singing, and dancing, spread across segmented acts spanning the entire day's time, putting on various shows and plays for the audiences who showed up in droves to witness the performances, making use of various extravagant, fantastic costumes and props to augment the acts that they were putting on.
The most talented and highest ranked actors and actresses in the world of Kabuki theater were the celebrities of their time, and often wanted for very little, living deep within the halls of fame and luxury. Some of the females, while they were still allowed to partake as actresses, may have been left wanting to be freed of one of the stipulations that the fine print on their contracts had a tendency to outline, however.
Said fine print was very often easily overlooked, however, due to being buried deep within the lengthy contracts they were made to sign. And it was precisely this fine print that Amy Rose had overlooked that was the foundation of all of her irritation at this moment.
Amy had made her way to Yoshiwara in an attempt to achieve stardom. However, becoming famous in the world of Kabuki theater was merely going to be a means to an end for her – she wanted her face on the material that flowed out of the gates of the floating world, but not necessarily due to dreams for stardom and recognition from the masses. She had other reasons for wanting the celebrity-like status.
Thus, she had spent time tirelessly honing her abilities in song, dance, and theater, and had managed to secure an audition for earlier this day. She had passed it with flying colors, and now her place in a Kabuki theater's future performances was set in stone. She had thought that, if this did not work out and that her goal needed to be achieved through other means, that she would be able simply walk out.
The reality that she was not exactly aware of prior, however – largely due to her not looking enough into the situation before diving headfirst into it, given that this wasn't exactly one of Yoshiwara's best kept secrets – was that Kabuki actresses often worked double as prostitutes, for whoever was willing to shell out the coin for their services. This was actually quite common practice at this point in the floating world's history, albeit one that she was only made aware of earlier that day, shortly after passing her audition.
While those of considerable worth were often treated as elite courtesans, costing a considerable fee and even being granted preliminary meetings with the offering clientele, those young females who had come to Yoshiwara with stars in their eyes were often placed in the latticed showrooms that lay within distracts situated further within the compound, waiting for a buyer to come and purchase their rights to a night with in solitude with the worker.
A small amount of solace could be found in this situation, however - or at least she could attempt to find one, being ever the optimist.
She – along with the others working alongside her – had been granted very elegant and ornate robes to wear, for one, despite the ruling being that the prostitutes within Yoshiwara were only allowed to wear simple blue garments. She herself had been given a striking red garment with a white gradient towards the bottom that bled upwards, with small images of pure white birds seemingly arose from white brilliance that formed around the hem of her robes, flying into the brighter red above her waist. In combination with this were long, draping sleeves, the hems of which drooped quite a ways downwards from her wrists, forming spaces large enough for her to be able to rest either of her hands within the opposite sleeve. These also possessed a matching white gradient working its way upwards from their hem, cutting off around her elbows into the pure red that dominated the color scheme and upper half of her garment. The birds, however, were absent from the sleeve portion of her garment.
On her head rest a red hairband that kept her quills down, reaching across the surface of her head from side to side, and attached to the hairband was the tip of a brilliant white flower that appeared as if it were tucked away behind her right ear. From the base of the flower dangled two sets of thin, oval-shaped pearl beads – one longer than the other – extending downwards, creating an appearance as if they were floating beside her head. The lights of the showroom she stood in would sometimes reflect off of them, causing the beads to create a shimmering, lustrous appearance under the bright lights. It was not necessarily comfortable or practical, but she had found it to be elegant in a way.
The fancy dress-up didn't make the situation itself any less irritating, though, and she did ultimately reach the conclusion that this irritation overwhelmed the positive she had found. She was currently standing in the only barred showroom that lay within in the animal district of Yoshiwara, a district that was tucked away against the walls of the upper westernmost area of the compound, with the back end of the floating world being visible to all of those who passed through it. The shops and teahouses in this district were both primarily operated and frequented by animal class citizens of various species, all of which lay surrounding the perimeter of the primary Kabuki theater, the very one where she was now employed.
From the main theater itself extended a brothel, which included the showroom she had been placed in. The showroom had been enclosed by the bars to allow potential customers to gaze through it and see which of the girls they wanted to purchase, if any had caught their eye. The remainder of the showroom had white wooden walls on either side, matching the main building, and the entryway to the brothel itself sit in the back, the bars themselves existing only from the front, creating a structure resembling that of a prison cell.
It was spacious enough to be able to have many workers stationed in it without them having to constantly rub elbows, but not wide enough for it to not become a bit cramped and claustrophobic at times, as she had experienced at points throughout the day when workers were escorted from the showroom to the main theater and vice versa.
Despite almost immediately being placed in this predicament after passing her audition, she was quick to assemble her master plan – get as close to the bars as possible whenever potential customers approached, and then make funny faces to try to scare off potential buyers. They could range from a grimace and a scowl to make her appear unattractive and rude, to something rather immature like she planned on doing next time that this was called for – her index fingers being used to stretch her cheeks as far as they could possibly stretch, with her tongue stuck out in a way reminiscent of childish mocking.
The two hired hands that stood on either side of the space directly outside of the showroom's bars were humans, which were (ostensibly) a rare sight in the animal district. They were both lightly armored in the chest and hands and wielded spears of considerable length, but had either been too ignorant to notice or too lazy to care that she'd been harassing the few potential customers that had approached the showroom throughout the day thus far. They were likely just here for a paycheck, after all, and weren't likely to do more than was necessary to ensure they received as much.
Night had long since fallen after a day's success in scaring off customers, however, and the primary sources of light for most of Yoshiwara were either from the open businesses, or from the lamps that had been strung across the air above the streets that were nosier than they had been at any point during the day.
The showroom had its sources of light too, of course, both from the lights flowing into the showroom from sources beyond the bars as well as from within the showroom itself, in the form of candlelit red paper lamps dangling above their heads, the ceiling itself being an extension of the brothel's upper floor. A slight breeze would enter from time to time and cause the lamps to sway in the wind, flickering for a moment, but only once so far causing one to go out entirely. It had yet to be re-lit, likely due to visibility being only marginally impacted by the loss of one lamp.
Some Floating World this turned out to be. Amy, at the very least, wanted to be able to explore the fabled walled compound a little bit, to see what it was like and what it had to offer. She wasn't allowed to step outside of the showroom, though, the only exit being a door at the back end of the cell, which had led into the brothel itself. She would be escorted both to and from by one of the hired hands if she needed to go through it and was not granted free passage.
Even then, if she could get out and explore her surroundings a little, it cannot be stressed enough that mere fascination with the compound wasn't why she was here at all. She hadn't wanted to become a Onnakabuki in a self-absorbed quest of seeking fame and recognition across the land, that was going to be a mere bonus to the primary goal which she sought. Fame and fortune and everything that came with it was only secondary in her pursuit.
She sought the blue hedgehog, the one she knew that she loved. He was going to recognize her on the woodblock paintings and the other materials that found their way outside of the floating world after she had achieved fame in Kabuki theater, and then he was to come seek her out within the walls and whisk her away with him, thus allowing their fairytale romance between the hero and the Kabuki starlett to come into bloom.
He had achieved a near-mythical status at this point, though, never staying in one place for too long. She knew of the tales they told of his exploits, of his heroism and of his valor. But he moved fast, and he never stayed in one place for too long, living the nomadic lifestyle that most hedgehogs in Japan traditionally adhered to in an extremity. Few had been able to claim to see him in one place, and even fewer were the ones who knew his name.
In truth, though, the circumstances here was that she had written herself off to pre-determination. She had been taught in the ways of fortune-telling and other mediums to determine the fates of others since she was a child, and based on this skill she had developed, had reached the conclusion that the fates of both her and this mythical blue hedgehog were set to intertwine. She simply needed to find the ends to her means – the lines fate tossed her way.
In her eyes, this was what the future had planned for her. She simply needed to catch the lines fate would bring her way. Yoshiwara and the rising prominence of Kabuki theater was that line, or so she had thought prior to that day.
She walked up closer to two of the bars and gripped one in either hand before heaving out a sigh that caught the attention of a white fox who had positioned herself in the back corner of the showroom. She had been watching the new girl from a distance up until that point, and decided to playfully chime in upon witnessing the act of dejection.
"Y'know, sweetie, if you keep making faces like you have been all day, it'll end up stuck like one of them sooner or later."
Amy did not know this fox, albeit she had noticed her prior due to the simple fact they had been occupying this space for the majority of the day, and either had yet to be called on.
This was potentially the first meaningful interaction she would've had with any of the other girls in the showroom, now that she thought of it – she had discovered rather early on that they were quite stiff and unapproachable, not only towards her, but towards each other as well. She couldn't quite understand the reasoning for this, past the potential for feelings of competitiveness.
The fox's tone came off as chiding to her, however, and she certainly was in no mood for as much, in spite of the claim's lack of realistic substance. She turned around and put her fists on her hips in a rather standoffish manner, making an irritated and confrontational expression to match the bodacious claim she planned on making.
"I'm going to be out of here before that happens!"
Amy readjusted her pose, to one of confidence, with one hand remaining on her hip with the other left dangling open in front of her chest – her eyes shut, her nose upturned and her mouth being formed into a cocky smile.
"Hmph. I'm going to become the most famous actress Kabuki theater has ever seen. My face is going to be on all of the material that ships out of this place, and then he'll come to save me!"
The fox merely smirked at this claim, however, and began slowly moving towards her, before getting close enough to start to using her index finger to twirl around the uppermost of Amy's three tufts of quill that stuck out facing forwards. The fox patronizingly gazed downwards as she did so, denoting her height advantage in the process.
"I'm sure your man is going to come. And by the time he does so, he's going to find you down by the moat, right beside all of the others who came here to get their faces printed on woodblocks and live in the lap of wealth but just didn't have what it takes to make it there and couldn't sell outside of the theater."
Amy closed her eyes and gritted her teeth together, thrusting her fists down by her side and making an irritated growl in the process. This fox woman's taunt was infuriating. While the pink hedgehog hadn't been working in Yoshiwara for long, she had been here long enough to know that the moat was not the place she wanted to be.
"The Moat" wasn't literal in the location of the district it was referring to – it was, in actuality, referencing being stationed inside of the showrooms close to the entry gates, given that the moat was situated beyond the walls and prostitution wasn't exactly legal outside of Yoshiwara. Why they referred to it as "the moat" instead of something more sensible like "the gate" was lost on Amy, but the fact of the matter was that the workers at the moat had to work the cheapest and most indiscriminate services out of anyone who worked in this field. Animal-class workers were rarely sent down there due to their aforementioned niche appeal – often at the exchange of having a much steeper incline in terms of working their way towards the top – but it was still very much within the realm of possibility for them all of the same. Not that her current station was given things such as the multiple preliminary meetings of the established, elite courtesans, but all the same, it was definitely better than the moat.
The potential she had of being sent there for failing to be profitable had not yet dawned on her, at least not until it was brought up just now.
The small verbal squabble that had begun to break out was interrupted by the sound of one of the hired hands snapping his fingers. This was not meant as a means of mediation between the two, however – it was to denote that a potential customer was approaching the showroom.
The rest of the girls in the showroom quickly crowded the bars. Some knelt down in the front, with Amy among those kneeling, while the rest stood up straight in the back, hands-in-sleeves, as was the common protocol. Amy herself had the unfortunate station of kneeling in the far leftmost corner, and one of the other girls from the showroom that had rushed to her position had drive her knee directly in between Amy's shoulder blades in their haste, knocking the breath out of the pink hedgehog for a moment.
This, when mixed with the confrontation with the fox and the general circumstances she was in, completely tanked her mood, and the playful-yet-immature face she had planned on making this time quickly was tossed out for a face that radiated with a sense of frustration and contempt. She'd had enough of all of this already, and her rather genuine anger had begun to seep through, creating a certain aura around her that would be a complete mood-killer at a party.
Shortly afterwards, a small entourage appeared before the bars, formed with several taller men surrounding one central, far shorter man, distinct for not only his diminished stature – one that was perhaps not too much taller than Amy herself – but also his rounded, pudgy shape, his glistening bald head that the lights of Yoshiwara were gleaming off of, and the small rounded spectacles he wore, which were fogged up and obscuring his eyes. His attire was also distinct – a deeper shade of blue marked with the image of a wave forming a band around the waist of his robe. A penciled in mustache sit between his upper lip and his nose, resembling a squiggly line more than actual facial hair.
Both the posse that seemed followed him around every corner and the fact that he was able to afford corrective eye wear – a major rarity in Japan at this point in time – made it obvious that this was a man of power, even if there was a dichotomy that could be found between his rather outlandish appearance and the typical, more dashingly masculine aesthetic associated with men of higher social status. Whether he was a wealthy merchant or perhaps even some kind of nobility was not exactly clear, however, due to the shedding of rank that played a role in their environment.
Either way, he had to be here to purchase. A man like this could likely afford an elite courtesan if he was willing to dish out the coin for it, but he had made a conscious decision to browse around the animal district. The teahouses and theaters were largely animal owned, operated, and occupied, and the primary reason a human would wander into this part of Yoshiwara was either if they were hired guardsmen, or if they filled that aforementioned niche demographic of human consumers. It was simply too far out of the way, and passing through it was not necessary to reach other districts of the compound.
One of the hired hands greeted the short man, and the short man returned the gesture with a nod and a smile before quickly turning his attention towards the showroom itself. He began working his way from right to left, inspecting the inhabitants of the showroom. Some of the girls shot warm smiles with half closed eyelids, and some opted for the approach of staying stoic in an attempt to appear elegant.
In spite of this, most of them were passed over after a brief look. His interest didn't seem to pique until he made his way to the end of the line they had formed, where a very, very angry looking pink hedgehog sit kneeling, her gaze cast downwards, seemingly cursing to herself.
"This one! I want this one! Whatever the cost may be, I'll pay it!"
Her head jerked up and she winced back. The anger she had been feeling seconds prior had dissipated into confusion, and her eyes widened as she began trying to process what exactly the situation was and how it could affect her. She had not been paying attention to her surroundings, and hadn't even realized the potential client had made it over to her.
His voice was screechy, resembling a squawking bird moreso than anything else, in stark contrast to his stumpy physical appearance.
She herself hadn't quite noticed him, at least not until he leapt back and started huffing and shouting in a rather excited fashion. His finger was pointing directly at her, bobbling up-and-down in front of her, in total sync with the fast, jig-like movements his feet were making as he jumped up and down.
The hired hand nodded and held his hand out, in which a bag of coin was exchanged and the guard began his way inside the brothel. The client stayed in his position outside of the bars, where he was to stay until he was granted access by the maiden who oversaw and managed this aspect of the business itself.
Amy pointed at herself, as if to question if he had actually meant her, her eyes only widening. "Eh?"
He leaned in closer, gripping the bars with his rounded, stubby, fingertips, and breathed out heavily.
"Yes, you! You're perfect!~ Oh, have you ever thought about how wonderful it must be for a cute, soft-quilled hedgehog such as yourself to gaze down upon you with a look of disgust like that while stepping on you?"
He stepped back from the showroom's bars and clasped his fist together over his chest, swooning. "It must simply be delightful!~ Not a day goes by where I don't think of such things, and you're absolutely gorgeous to top it all off!~ It's so perfect!~~"
Amy was still not quite sure what to make of this man and his strange fetishes, nor was she quite sure of this situation she was suddenly being thrust into. She looked over towards the other girls that were kneeling in the front row for some kind of confirmation, but they sat still, their eyes shut and gazes turned downwards. As opposed to the normal quiet sympathy she might've expected, the others radiated a sense of jealousy and irritation, if anything, which only added to her confusion.
The manager of the showroom made her way outside and began speaking in whispers. She was a fox-faced – albeit still human – woman, dressed in elegant robes herself, and her face having been caked with make-up in what came off as a desperate attempt to appear younger than she was. She and the short man began exchanging whispers – he still seemed ecstatic, and she was making polite gestures to him before holding both of her hands to lead him and his entourage through the doorway.
At that moment, the hired hand that the man had first spoken with returned to his station, and a new one opened the door in the back of the showroom that led into the main building, motioning for Amy to come with him. She stood up, her face clearly indicating her bafflement with the situation, and put her hands up and gently waved them front of her as she backed up a short distance to put her back up against the showroom's bars.
"W-wait just a minute now, let's not be hasty, I don't think he actually meant – OOF."
The hired hand, not being paid to listen to her or deal with such matters, simply walked over to her and quickly yanked her up, causing her to let out a quick yelp. He began carrying her beneath his arm and back through the showroom door.
Things were moving fast now.
Amy began kicking and flailing her arms along around, trying to worm herself free of his grip.
"H-Hey! Put me down right now! I mean it! You'll be sorry if you keep this up!" she barked out. Oh yes, how the blue hero was going to make them all sorry for this whenever he found his way to her.
Her words did not reach the hired hand, however. He continued moving towards their destination, undeterred by her threats.
The pink hedgehog stopped thrashing around, given that it wasn't working, and turned her gaze upwards to try to meet him in the eyes, which he did not return her look. She tried thinking of things she could say to try, perhaps to curry his favor and win him over to her side, or perhaps whether or not she should bite at his arms – in spite of him possessing actual armaments.
She looked around as she was being carried and noticed the presence of a couple more hired hands standing in of the brothel's lounge, as well as the short man's entourage who were beginning to seat themselves around a small table to be served tea as they waited. Running back through the door and attempting to escape that way was not an option. She had no means of adequately defending herself, and her wooden sandals were not made for a speedy escape. It should be noted that she was not given the option to take them off, given the circumstances of how she was granted entry into the main building itself.
So be it. She certainly wasn't going to allow herself to be manhandled and ignored like this without getting at least a little retribution.
Thus, after the guard had made it up the stairway to the second floor of the brothel, while it was unfortunate that they had already made it to the doorway, she turned her head and gnawed deeply into his upper forearm before he could place her back on the ground. She felt her upper and lower teeth through the cloth and the flesh she had managed to catch.
"AAAAAARGH!" he let out a loud yell and dropped her, causing her to land on her knees. She picked herself up and dusted herself off, smirking all the while. She was quite pleased with her small act of vengeance.
The hired hand did not share these feelings, however, and was swift in his own act retribution. She felt a quick hand place itself on her back, which was followed with a powerful shove. She let out another quick yelp as she landed on the floor of the room she was to be escorted to, the door behind her slamming shut before she could reorient herself.
The room itself was rather basic – traditional-styled, or, as per the time, was the usual setup. Tatami mats adorned the floors, on top of which lay a futon in the center of the room. A table with two pillows on either side of it sit in front of the futon, with a bottle of sake and two small cups for drinking resting on top of it. Two paper lamps hung from the ceiling, albeit these were larger and were white in color compared to the ones from the showroom's ceiling. A large Chinese vase that was about half the size of Amy herself – colored a deep red with painted golden dragons going around the circumference of it – sit against the wall found left of the futon, somewhat close to the door leading into the brothel's main room. On the opposite side of that was a shoji sliding door that led out to a balcony, opened and letting the gentle night breeze find its way inside. On the wall behind the futon was a painting of a two colorful birds sitting on a branch that had leaves colored the shades of autumn decorating it.
She picked herself up and dusted herself off for a second time, taking off her wooden sandals and setting them beside the exit in the process. This chain of events only causing her to have grown more frustrated than she had been in the showroom. From across the room, an already-too-familiar voice called out to her.
"Oh ho ho, you're feisty even with the guards, it seems~"
The stubby man could be found on the far side of the small table, his clumpy body sprawled out on the side with one knee up on the air, the leg it was attached to having been crossed over, and his head resting on his hand, his elbow being used to prop himself up on the side. His voice had seemed satisfied, as if he was reassured in his financial investment.
He sat up and reached out to the bottle in order to pour them both a cup, but he was rather hasty in doing so – quick about it, but not quick enough as to make a mess of things – giving off an aura of someone who'd rather skip the formalities and get down to business. After having filled the second cup, he held it out to her as an offering, but she put her hand up to decline. She wasn't the type to drink, and she certainly wasn't in the mood for the kind of politesse involved in accepting one.
This further satisfied the pudgy man, naturally. A flash crossed his eyes for a brief moment, as if he was taking her declining the drink as a signal, and he was fast to stand up in response. His arms stretched outwards, his hands set to grab, and a devious smile plastered itself across his face. He let out a snicker and began slowly leering towards her.
Amy began growing more and more agitated, and she was the type to wear her emotions on her sleeve, making it all the more visible to the pudgy man. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with this– Onnakabuki be damned, she'd find the one she sought some other way – and given that she knew that finding him was her destiny, she had the utmost confidence that fate would toss her another thread to cling onto.
She had to find a way out for that to happen, though, and fast.
He was getting closer, almost within touching distance by this point. The clock was ticking. Her eyes darted around the room, looking for the line that fate would toss her this time.
From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse the Chinese vase. It was big, it was heavy, and most importantly, it was close. This vase, being here at this moment in time, was the thread that fate was tossing her way.
He had gotten close enough and excitedly leaped in her direction, but she quickly steered to the side so she could position herself closer to the vase. She grasped it, and with a heave, lifted it up off of the ground and dropped it onto his head before he could pick himself up.
THONK.
The vase bounced off of the top of the pudgy man's head and slammed itself sideways on the floor, making a loud, hollow sound in the process. He rolled over on his back and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before falling unconscious, his hand on his chest and his robe falling open. He mouth stood agape, still smiling, indicating that he wasn't necessarily displeased with the outcome.
Light from the lamps above bounced off of a pointy green shard that rest in the inner pocket of the man's robe, which caught Amy's attention.
The moment did not last for long, however. The resounding pitter-patter of many footsteps running up the stairway did not hesitate to make its presence known - the sound from the vase hitting the floor must've alerted the guards and the pudgy man's entourage, and they were running to the room to check-in on him.
This caused her to start feeling more worried and nervous than she had when the man was leering towards her. This was bad. This was very bad. As just as she believed her reason for doing so was, the bottom line that they'd be more concerned with was that she had assaulted a paying customer, and the brothel's manager wasn't likely to look down on this transgression with much sympathy or understanding. She could end up at the moat – or, worse, they might want to have some stronger punishment done to her before sending her down there in order to save face and make it clear they don't tolerate this sort of behavior from their workers.
Her hand reached down and took the green shard from the pudgy man's inner robe – she felt she had deserved some form of compensation from him due to how he had put her in this situation – and tucked it away inside her own robe. She then proceeded to grab her wooden sandals in her other hand. She quickly made her way over to the sliding door, opening it with a sense of haste and making her way over to the balcony's wooden railing.
From here she could see the floating world's nightlife at its fullest, going on without a care, laughing and gawking amongst themselves, gorging themselves on fanciful snacks the street vendors sold. Lights from lamps and operating businesses lay strewn out before her.
A series of heavy knocks echoed from the other side of the main door, and a man's voice barked out from behind it. "Sir, is everything alright in there?"
She placed her hand on the balcony's railing and hurdled over it, falling down onto the streets of the floating world. Her knees absorbed the shock of landing on the ground, making them feel weak for a moment, but she was quick to take off running down the street, shard in pocket and sandals in hand. She didn't have time to waste to take in the sights, nor could she breathe in the first fresh air of freedom that she had been deprived from ever since that day's morning. She needed to move quickly, onwards to the next thread of fate, as destiny clearly had nothing for her here. Her life - or more accurately, her day - as an Onnakabuki had come to an end.
The guards knocked again before slamming the door open to find the pudgy man laying on the floor with a giant bruise on the top of his shiny bald head, the vase turned to its side, and the breeze blowing through the now-opened balcony.
It didn't take much effort on their end to piece together what had happened, and the hired hand she had dealt with earlier called out his orders.
"She's escaped! After her!" Thus, the pudgy man's entourage and the brothel's hired hands began their pursuit of the now-fugitive pink hedgehog.