Shouehei clashed his spear and shield together, and heads rose throughout the crowd as the music crashed to life.
Some clearly heard it. Some clearly didn't. More people heard it than didn't, but they all reacted to one thing or another.
The ones who did hear it moved first, before Hisako could detect friend from foe. A Sasaki, two Doorkeepers down from her, grabbed their neighbor and wrestled them down to the floor with a tangle of their weapon, some kind of Chinese chain whip.
From there, everything devolved into chaos, and it became even more unclear. She pulled off the red kimono top and simply fought anyone who swung at her, making her way to Amajiki.
Amajiki had begun to fight as well. Between Rounds washed over her as he rolled for his weapon, and she used the moment of invulnerability to slip halfway through the crowd.
The moment Between Rounds ended, she jumped up over the rest of the crowd to Amajiki's side.
He had a thin katana in his hands and was already engaging Hideki, who wielded a one-handed warhammer.
Sasakis went in and out of their duel, attacking both Hideki and Amajiki, only to be swatted away. Where Amajiki used the blunt end of his blade to dispatch his attackers, Hideki showed no mercy and only seemed to be getting more unforgiving with his strikes.
Hisako hovered around their fight, watching and learning while she swung Toraichi around at the people who tried to attack Amijiki.
Swinging Toraichi had become easy, just as Amajiki had initially promised. She swung over her head and upward in massive swipes—sometimes singlehandedly if she had the momentum—, twisting the blade at the last second to bat her enemies away.
While the blade was on one side of her body, people tried to attack the other and met her fists or boots in a quick punch or kick. It was a whirlwind of battle, and she felt in control.
A stray attack caught her attention, and she flipped Toraichi around her to block it.
A nunchaku, she noted, just before it hit the flat of the sword.
In a blink, she was sent flying into Amajiki, and they both went soaring into a persimmon tree. Hisako coughed against the tightness of her chest and slumped to the ground before her body returned to her.
"Sorry," she wheezed as she pushed herself up against the tree, off of Amajiki.
She offered a hand to Amajiki, who took it and stood with her help.
"No worries," he rasped. "What in the world hit you so hard?"
She blinked away the spots in her eyes. "A nunchaku, I think."
A twig cracked nearby, and Amajiki threw his katana up. It disappeared, and the roulette wheel reappeared.
Hideki and the young woman from the main house appeared from the outskirts of the grove, prowling. The offending nunchaku spun in the woman's grasp.
"Yasuko Sasaki," Amajiki said quietly. "Captain Sasaki's daughter."
Hisako nodded minutely and summoned Toraichi to her. "She hits even harder than Nanae."
"I'm telling her you said that," Amajiki whispered.
With a small smile, Hisako stomped on his foot and readied Toraichi.
"Infighting already?" Yasuko taunted.
Hisako snorted. "Projecting much?"
"Enough," Hideki snapped. "We'll finish this mess and go to your father's side."
Yasuko nodded to her uncle politely. She didn't have the same bitterness in her obedience as her father did. Hisako wondered what was so different about them—did the father not pass on his fury? It was a soft but poisonous thought; he'd kept his hatred to himself, but his ideal stayed as well.
Perhaps Masashi was purely motivated by the hatred he fostered for his brother. How sad, Hisako thought, to be fuelled by nothing but spite.
What did someone get, once the spite was fulfilled? Satisfaction?
Yasuko lunged, and this time Hisako dodged the swing of the nunchaku. It hit the persimmon, but instead of obliterating the tree as she'd expected, it didn't so much as ding it.
She blinked in surprise, but didn't let it put a hitch in her step. She swung out with Toraichi. She didn't twist the blade, but she did aim for the limbs, not the body.
The nunchaku spun and hit Toraichi, hitting with that explosive power from before, but far less. Still, it was nearly enough to knock her weapon from her grasp. It jerked her shoulder painfully, but she held on and spun into another swing.
Hisako was distantly aware that Amajiki and Hideki were fighting again, slowly separating from her battle, deeper into the persimmons.
Yasuko deflected each attack with a flash of her weapon, but Hisako was sensing an exponential decrease in the strength she was able to fend off the attacks.
"Running out of power?" Hisako asked.
Yasuko's clenched jaw and enforced silence were enough of an answer.
"I've learned something," Hisako puffed between attacks. "The Sasaki Clan is all about power. The Sano have their big fancy abilities, and you have power. Raw power.
"Nanae has her ramping attacks, Hachi has his overclocking power, Shouhei has that power-song, and you can… store power, is it?
"When you hit me first, you had a lot stored, but now you're using it all up. It's not something you gain over time, though, is it? You have to sacrifice power elsewhere, like when you hit the tree," Hisako thought aloud. "You absorb and dish out, but if you absorb the power of your own attacks, it'd be like tapping me."
Yasuko swung more furiously but kept her mouth shut.
"In a battle of raw strength," Hisako said, "I'll beat you eventually. And if you think you can recharge your stores during our fight, you need to have a better plan than continuing this."
"Shut up!" Yasuko hissed.
Yasuko drew one arm back and started snapping the nanchuku against itself, generating energy. It left one side open, so Hisako attacked it.
Her back hand flew forward, swinging the nunchaku out. It smashed against Toraichi with the same force as a few minutes earlier, but it wasn't enough to stop Hisako.
The name of Yasuko's game was time—the time to recharge and the time to attack. Hisako wouldn't give her enough time for both.
Hisako released Toraichi and advanced in a series of blistering melee attacks. She threw a combo of elbows, knees, and fists she'd seen Nanae employ.
Yasuko chose offense over recovery, striking Hisako. Even without all the force of Yasuko's ability behind them, they hurt. They bruised deeply, but without much room to swing, they didn't break anything, so Hisako tanked the attacks.
Yasuko wasn't built to endure an unrelenting storm of attacks—nobody really was, especially with Hisako throwing herself around with her ability.
Knee, elbow, fist, fist, another elbow—Yasuko fell, and Hisako slammed down on her, putting her in a pin.
She summoned her door and rolled up onto her feet, bodily tossing Yasuko into her door. She mentally asked the tiger not to maul her friend's cousin, and collected herself as the door slammed shut behind Yasuko.
Amaijiki and Hideki were gone. She mentally scolded herself for not keeping better track of them. She looked back toward the gate, where she could hear the battle raging, then turned to seek out Amajiki.
Even so far from the gate, the battle tempo danced in her head, but it was as quiet as she was far from Shouhei.
A flicker of movement had her raising Toraichi and snapping her attention to a persimmon nearby.
Nanae slipped out from behind the tree, a weary smile on her face. "You defeated my cousin."
"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this," Hisako panted. "And figuring out how all you Sasakis work."
"The exponential increase of power output," Nanae explained hurriedly. "The signature Sasaki ability. It varies in what triggers the growth, though. Mine is in chaining attacks together. The more hits in each run, the stronger they get. It resets with each failure to connect."
Hisako nodded, absorbing the information. "Yasuko's was about storing it and using it in bursts."
"Listen. My father—his ability is not like ours. It's based on his perception. You can't do anything to stop it."
"His perception? Of what?" Hisako asked.
She nervously smiled, just a quirk of her lips. "Morals and rule-breaking. His morals, his rules. His judgement."
Hisako felt her skin break out in goosebumps. Somewhere, deeper in the orchard, Amajiki was fighting a man who got stronger when fighting his ideological enemies—Amajiki easily being one of them.
"You can't do anything?"
"It's mental. You'd have to change his mind."
Hisako smiled nervously. "I've been doing that recently," she said, "but I think your father may not like me as much as you do."
She laughed—a surprised, genuine bubble of laughter. "I'd really hope not," she sighed. "I—I'll get help, okay? You can go ahead. Just…"
Hisako held her gaze gently.
"I don't know," Nanae finally said.
"Your dad will be okay," Hisako promised. The "we won't kill him" was better left unsaid. "This will be one bad day, and then everything will start moving forward."
"It won't be better," Nanae said darkly, exposing an emotional wound on herself.
Hisako grabbed her hand briefly, already starting to slip toward the battle. "Ups and downs, Nanae. But always forward."
She pulled back. Nanae squeezed her hand as she did, and then they were separate again. Nanae withdrew to the gate, and Hisako went deeper into the persimmons.
It would be hard to miss the two duking it out. Amajiki had to take rolling dives to escape the swing of Hideki's hammer. The hammer struck the trees just as Yasuko had—without any added strength—but the attacks punched holes in the tree.
His ability required a proper target, then, Hisako surmised. He didn't judge trees, so they didn't take additional damage. That meant Hisako had no idea how strong he was until he hit one of them.
"Amajiki-san!" Hisako cried as she drew Toraichi and entered the battle.
"Mochizuki-san!" he called, efforted but cheery. "You defeated your girl!"
"Yep! And reinforcements are on the way," she replied.
"Very nice," he huffed, dodging another attack.
As he made space between himself and Hideki, Hisako struck. She launched herself forward and swung Toraichi at the man's wrists.
With a surprising burst of speed, Hideki twisted his hands, redirecting his hammer toward her. It was too quick to parry, she realized immediately. She pulled on her power, slamming herself to the floor.
The hammer whipped overhead, nearly clipping Toraichi. It carried enough strength that she felt the turbulence of the hammer affect Toraichi, making the blade wobble before it hit the deck with her.
She sprang up as he followed through on his swing, headbutt flying at him. He dodged and swung again, but this time she launched herself up, vaulting over the blow with Toraichi. His hammer slammed against the flat of the blade, and she felt his power for the first time.
Toraichi flew out of her grip and into a tree several meters away, nearly cleaving it in two. The force and the depth of the cut felled the tree anyway, making the thunderous noise of a network of branches and the trunk collapsing echo through the grove.
Hisako fell to the ground without her footing, but she swung about and spun right back onto her feet, first flying.
Hideki's smaller weapon allowed him to engage in close combat with her with his hammer. Her punch was swatted aside by his hammer, and she felt something snap in her wrist, but she kept the momentum of her attacks.
Her other fist flew out, and she glanced his jaw before he could parry with his hammer again. She quick-stepped back and threw her foreleg out in a spin-kick. He used the handle to stop the kick, then twisted to send her staggering. She felt her ankle click painfully out of position.
She stumbled back with a gasp, near-limping from his range and clutching her wrist, which pinched in pain.
"Mochizuki-san!" Amajiki shouted.
He was by her side in a heartbeat, katana raised at Hideki to keep him back.
"If I'd known he'd hit you that hard," he chuckled, "I would've been by your side the whole time."
She clutched at her wrist and gave a weak laugh back. "Pretty much, the more he thinks you're in his way, the stronger he hits," she replied. "I guess I'm beating you in that contest."
"I knew you'd beat me one day," he joked. "I guess you'll be my backup until reinforcements arrive."
She flexed her other wrist and pulled Toraichi to her good hand. "I can throw and give you boosts," she offered.
"Any help is good here," he breathed, carefully watching Hideki circle them. "This could be a long fight."