Hisako came to abruptly the moment a familiar warmth passed over her. She jerked up as her eyes opened, nearly braining Eiji.
"Whoa!" he choked, jerking back.
When he did, it disrupted the healing, and the pain lanced back through her, making her squirm and let out a low noise of agony.
"Sorry!" he cried, returning to healing her.
She dug her fingers into the dirt and grass, forcing herself to lie still as the glow returned. "No, no. I'm sorry."
She took a deep breath as her body relaxed and feeling began to return to her limbs.
"What happened?"
"Well, what's the last thing you remember?"
She blinked a few times, and the orchard canopy sharpened. "The sky."
"You fell."
"And Hideki? He fell, too?"
"He didn't splat, if that's what you're asking."
Hisako exhaled in relief. "He's okay then?"
"More than okay. He's fighting the others right now."
Hisako flexed her fingers, testing her strength. Pleased, she summoned Toraichi back.
"Done?" she asked.
"Almost." He was focusing on her shoulder. "What happened here? Everything was out of place."
"That's what his hammer can do."
He inhaled sharply and shook his head. "Goodness." He looked up at her, a touch of embarrassment in his gaze. "When you lent Rao-san and me your sword, did it feel wrong?"
Hisako shrugged, recalling the awful feeling. "It's… It wasn't the worst."
His face fell. "I'm really sorry."
"It wasn't so odd," she breathed. She closed her eyes, recalling the final fight in Vice Captain Strömberg's world. "It felt like walking on top of a building with only a coworker belaying to keep me safe. A trust fall with your eyes closed and hands bound."
"That's… a good description of it." He finished healing and helped her stand sheepishly. "I left Hachi Stinger."
"You trust him."
"I do."
"Then it's fine, no? Do you still feel the nerves?"
"Yes, but I know it's fine."
"I'd hand you Toraichi in a heartbeat if you asked for it."
"Thank you."
"Thank you for healing me."
"Of course."
"Shall we?" She gestured back to where she could hear the battle ensuing.
He chuckled. "Beauty before age."
"More like armed before unarmed," she teased.
Just past the small clearing they were in, Nanae stood guard, tense and wired.
"Nanae," Hisako said gently.
She jerked, then whirled around, arms flying around Hisako's shoulders.
"You're okay," she breathed.
"You've seen how Eiji's ability works," Hisako soothed. She spun Toraichi once just to show off for Nanae. "I'm good as new."
"I seem to remember 'new' getting beaten up by a cartoon dragon and an overgrown housecat," she replied dryly.
"'Good as new' from a few minutes ago," Hisako replied with a smile. "The 'good as new' that beat your cousin."
She sighed, and her smirk wilted. "Yasuko is a fraction of the Doorkeeper my father is."
Hisako frowned. "There's no use overthinking all this. We're a team, and we're gonna take a shot at him."
"Our job is to stop the escort," Eiji said. "Shouhei-san and his allies have already accomplished that—an escort, one man does not make."
"This is just a sidequest," Hisako added. "Besides, he's human. He bleeds."
"If he bleeds, he can be beaten," Eiji said.
Hisako nodded and began the walk back, Toraichi ready. Eiji was behind her, just far enough to avoid the widest of swings she might throw, and Nanae was behind him, even further back.
When they broke through the tree line, Hisako took a moment to analyze the status of the fight.
Hachi and Hideki were yanking each other about the clearing with Stinger's chain. Miyu and Amajiki were launching long-range attacks at every opportunity, but they were being blocked more often than not.
With one well-timed yank, Hideki threw Hachi between him and Amajiki, and Hachi took an arrow to his shoulder with a shout. He faded quickly before their eyes, adrenaline burning to embers, and his body sagging against the continuing fight.
"Goodness," Eiji sighed.
"Tag me in, Hachi!" Hisako shouted.
Hachi glanced over and then pulled at Stinger with what remained of his might, freeing the chain from Hideki's grasp. Hisako ran forward to intercept Hideki as Hachi retreated to Eiji.
Hideki met her sooner than she was prepared, but she was ready. He swung out at her head. If she blocked, the force would still send her or Toraichi flying, so she dodged. With a gentle pull on her power, the hammer whipped past her nose.
He always threw his whole weight into his swings and followed through even if he missed. It was his dance—fluid and proper.
She knew that the best way to beat such a straight-laced fighter was to fight dirty. If he were the person she thought he was, he wouldn't stoop to her level.
She swung Toraichi in a wide arc, hiding behind the flat to duck down and touch the ground. When he struck the blade, she released it and grabbed a handful of loose orchard soil and the remains of dead greenery.
She couldn't help but grin when his eyes widened seeing her below him. She let the soaring blade fade away before it caused any trouble for the others and launched herself up.
Hisako threw the handful of dirt first. It was more gravelly than fine, but he instinctively closed his eyes all the same. She spun on her heel, rising and twisting her elbows around to hit him square across the jaw.
She followed through, then reared back for another whirl of blows. She would give him no quarter while he recovered. His hand was already flying up to clear his eyes.
Stinger flew in and wrapped around his hammer-bearing wrist. It yanked his weapon back, and she sprang again, this time pushing her power into her momentum. She slammed into him and threw her ankles at his knees, locking his legs up and knocking him to the ground.
"Clear!" Hachi howled.
Hisako hurried to untangle herself and pull back with her ability, re-summoning Toraichi as she did.
Hachi rained down like a professional wrestler, the end of Stinger's chains wrapped around his knuckles again. Hisako forced herself to watch the hit, though she cringed at even the idea of taking such a hit.
Hachi landed knees-first on Hideki's ribs. She saw the man cringe, teeth bared, then cough wetly, eyes rolling into the back of his head for a moment.
Hisako made the mistake of squinting to blur the sight of Hachi raining down follow-up punches to his uncle's head. After taking a few of them, red began to splatter the orchard ground, and Hideki regained enough control to swing a messy punch.
It would've been weak and useless—an uncoordinated, ungrounded attack with no force behind it—but his power gave him the strength to overwhelm Hachi and send him sailing again.
Hisako jumped into action. Eiji was still holding back his hammer-wielding hand with Stinger, but the man was rising to his feet, face bloodied and dirty. The chilling sound of Hachi slamming a tree down with him made her teeth rattle.
She swung the blade at his restrained forearm, entering the danger zone of his unrestrained hand.
The moment she made impact, boosted to close the gap with her power, his other hand closed on her collar, fingers caging the bone that lay beneath. It only stopped half the strength of her attack, enough to keep his arm attached.
Everything slowed. Her eyes darted around where Toraichi had bitten down to the bone in his forearm. His hands were weakly clinging to the hammer, hamstrung, and he was bleeding profusely.
She looked to his face next as the pressure on her collar increased. He was going to break her collarbone, and she couldn't so much as move. She twisted in his grasp, pulling her legs up to push against his wounded arm, and clawed at the offending arm with one hand.
"You know," she panted. "We don't really have to fight."
He narrowed his dark eyes. She wanted to lash out at him, but she wasn't strong enough yet; did he really think everything would go well for him after today? His whole plan was to dig his heels into the past and blind himself to the inevitable future.
She clenched her teeth as she pushed uselessly to free herself. His wounded arm was jerked around, but he yanked it free to casually block one of Amajiki's arrows.
She yelped when she was used as a body shield against one of Miyu's attacks; a sharp pain burst through her collar—he'd already fractured the bone.
She struggled, sweating bullets, until he finally snapped it in two, and he dropped her. The scream caught in her throat, and she ground her teeth against the ground as it escaped by means of her writhing.
It could've been easy, but it never was, she thought bitterly.
Hachi re-engaged, backed by the careful back and forth of Amajiki and Miyu's support. Hisako, still on the ground, timed a careful kick to the back of Hideki's leg that had the man nearly fall onto Hachi's waiting knee.
Instead, Hideki fell languidly into a spin. Instead of sweeping Hachi off his feet, Hisako shuddered when she heard his ankle snap, dropping him to the ground with a shocked holler.
Hiskao let out a shaky breath and tried to push herself up. She only made it to her knees before a bubble of light formed around her just in time for Hideki to swing the hammer with his left hand. She threw her hands up instinctively, even though her body spasmed in pain as she did.
The hard light shattered instantly, sending painful shards scaping across her side before they could dissipate. The hammer struck her raised forearm, shattering the bone and sending her tumbling away.
The tumble saved her but put Hachi in danger until Amajiki abandoned the bow and activated Between Rounds. Hisako could only tremble on the ground, clutching her rapidly bruising arm and staying as still as possible to soothe the burn of pain spreading across her body.
"Ready to tap out?" Hideki panted. His chest heaved as he stalked Hachi.
Hachi had gotten back to his feet somehow, though he was putting nearly all his weight on the right leg. Miyu had tendrils of light following Hideki, ready for the ability to end. Unfortunately, Eiji was on the opposite side of Hideki to Hisako and Hachi, and Hideki's movement countered every step Eiji took to change that.
"Don't laugh at me," Hachi hissed. "I don't give up."
Hideki closed his eyes and chuckled, like Hachi was a predictable, cute child.
Between Rounds fell, and Hisako held her breath.
In a flash, the hard light waiting at Hideki's feet sprang out, grabbing at his swinging arm and Hachi as well, slowing Hideki and pulling Hachi back. Stinger spun around Hideki's back ankle, but Eiji couldn't stagger him when he was targeting Hachi.
It was enough to delay him, though; Miyu got Hachi all the way to their backline safely, and Amajiki pushed forward, now bearing a long polearm.
Amajiki and Hideki clashed: Amajiki blocked the hammer with the shaft of the polearm, locking them in a near-equal battle of strength. Hideki clearly didn't hold as much disdain for Amajiki as he did for the others. Hisako's heart hit a snag of hope.
The hope didn't have the chance to bloom. Hideki stepped forward, shifting his weight so that the polearm and Amajiki's weight slipped to his injured shoulder.
He took the hit, wincing, and he made eye contact with Hisako. He stepped through, the polearm nicking his hip as he charged past Amajiki.
Hisako pushed up frantically, reaching her legs only for them to fail to turn and run. She couldn't lift Toraichi, weakened, with just one arm, and no momentum.
She let the sword go and raised her hand out of sheer survival instinct—a useless knee-jerk reaction she was too burnt out to stop.
Behind Hideki, she saw the blur of Miyu trying to reach them, and the taut line of Stinger still held by Eiji.
She closed her eyes as the hammer neared with a reflexive, raw gasp.
"It's enough."
Nanae.
Her eyes flew open to see Nanae before her. She'd caught her father's hammer with ease and was overpowering him, slowly pushing him to his knees.
Hisako fell to the ground, legs finally failing her, with a ragged gasp. She got onto her left arm and crawled away, trying to clear the battlefield if the fight continued.
"What are you doing?" Nanae asked her father. Her voice was cold and venomous, like how she'd first spoken to Hisako.
Hideki was not unaffected. Hisako stared at him. He was beaten, bloodied, and too exhausted to stand proud like earlier. His wrist shook as Nanae fought him down, and his eyes stared up at his daughter with something akin to disbelief.
Hisako wondered, without either of their abilities at their fingertips, if Nanae would win in a contest of raw strength against a healthy Hideki.
Hideki fought her all the way to the ground; when he was being pushed to his heels, she kicked his legs out from under him, and he fell. His wrist wrenched in Nanae's iron grip, then she pried his hammer from his hands.
It dissipated then, his eyes wide and shaky as Nanae towered over him. She kicked him once, sending him sprawling on the ground. He twitched, moving to sit up—it made primal fear lurch through Hisako's shot nerves.
Nanae stopped him, holding him down with her foot on his sternum. Hachi tossed her his cuffs, and she restrained him.
"You…" The fight had left Hideki. He was just a man. "You don't even have your Door."
Nanae stepped away from him. Amajiki pulled him to his feet and corralled him to the side, pulling out his phone.
Eiji hurried to Hisako's side, and Miyu helped carefully move Hachi next to Hisako. Nanae sank to the ground between, watching them carefully.
Hisako finally relaxed and breathed under the glow of Eiji's ability. She could tell he was tired—the healing light was weaker, and it took longer for the wounds to heal. Sweat beaded from his brow; Nanae blotted at it with the sleeve of her kimono.
Once the pain became an ignorable ache, Hisako pushed his hands away. "Hachi—Hachi needs you more than I do now. I'm fine."
She pushed herself up, testing the pain and strain of her body. Once she was sure she was fine, she sat up. Nanae tugged her to lean against her, relieving the burn in her back to keep upright.
"Job done?" Hisako sighed.
Amajiki looked up from his phone. "Job done. Shouhei is wrapping up at the gate, and Akabane's people will be here soon to haul everyone away."
"Mm," Hisako groaned. "My door—Yasuko is still inside."
"Just close it when they get here," Nanae said. "Rest for now."
Hisako rolled her head to look at Nanae. Hachi was perking up past her as Eiji wilted enough that he needed Miyu to help him sit as well. She sat back-to-back with him, resting her eyes and relishing in the refreshing, cool breeze.
"How are you?"
"I should be asking you that," she replied. Her voice was tight, and she was making an effort to focus her eyes solely on Hisako.
"Almost good as new," Hisako replied.
Nanae gave Hisako a weak, broken smile. "Same here, then."
"What will you do next?" Hisako asked.
Nanae took a deep breath, letting her eyes wander over their team. Shouhei appeared at the tree line, staring at Hideki with a solemn expression. Enforcement Division Doorkeepers that Hisako didn't recognize stood beside him.
"I think I'll go for sushi with you all," she finally replied.
"There's a pretty good conveyor place in Pacchi," Hisako said. "Eiji and I pass it all the time, but we've never been."
"Are you all up for that?" Nanae asked.
"Maybe after a nap," Eiji wheezed.
"Who's paying?" Miyu asked.
"Clan head pays," Hachi said.
Hisako looked at Nanae, scanning her closely for her reaction.
Something soft and pained, but not hateful.
Resignation.
Hisako reached for her hand. Still looking at the others, Nanae squeezed her hand.
Hisako squeezed back.