She clenched her hands around Toraichi and glanced at Nanae.
A mistake.
The Asano puppet was quick to react and aggressive. It chattered at them, making her flinch at its fake-out. Its jaw rattled, and its spindly hands twisted the swords dangerously.
Hisako clenched her jaw. The puppet was menacing them. It knew they weren't even going to try to beat it yet.
She changed stance, ready to run and block if need be, and the puppet jumped into action.
Not at Hisako, who initially lurched toward the structure protectively, but toward Nanae, armed with only one sai. Hisako snapped on her ankles, racing after the puppet.
Nanae folded underneath the initial attack—the swing of a single katana. The puppet followed up with two more, trying to force Nanae into checkmate. She twisted out of it, sai stabbing into the wood of the puppet's leg to launch out of its circle of attack.
Its body wheeled on the knees crookedly, pinwheeling once more with the blades in the top attack. Nanae just had to curl around the puppet's leg, half-crawling up the puppet. The blades sliced up the ground for only a moment before they began to close in around Nanae. Stinger swung around two of the arms, but it did little to hinder the puppet.
Hisako finally arrived, swinging Toraichi.
The puppet blocked her blow with three swords, but Hisako twisted, performing her own spin attack and throwing as much of her power behind it as she could. It took the puppet's attention away from Nanae long enough for her to escape.
Nanae twisted out of the puppet's attack and disengaged, keeping a distance close enough to flee or intervene at the blink of an eye.
Hisako would rather flee. She kept Toraichi between her and the puppet and, when it attacked, she parried, using her ability to help guide her blade along the motion. As its attack was brushed aside, she speared Toraichi forward, and it dodged.
By twisting its body out of the way of her blade, folding at the hip and twisting its Stinger-laden arms around to avoid being nicked, it couldn't attack yet. She pushed her at her power once more and jumped back, out of range like Nanae had.
The two of them circled the puppet, not letting it engage either of them without being prodded at by the other. Eiji used Stinger to hinder attacks at the last moment, slowing swings and tangling limbs together. Against a weaker opponent, it would've worn them down, perhaps even frustrated them, but the puppet was far stronger.
It learned with each pinch attack and didn't tire. It got smarter and stayed strong as they got nervous and tired.
Someone had to break first.
It was Nanae.
She was covering Hisako, attempting to backstab while four of the arms were busy with Hisako. The other two arms had been waiting, lashing out to grab Nanae first by the wrist holding her sai, then the throat once the first arm had reeled her in.
Stinger spun around the puppet's throat, and two hands reached up to grab the line. Hisako dashed forward with Toraichi, intent on taking a chunk out of the puppet one way or another. Nanae struggled in the grip, lifting her body to the arm to form a vice-like hold around it with her knees—a hold meant for a being with normal joints, so useless.
Hisako swung her blade down diagonally, forcing the puppet to block with its remaining two arms. It crossed its katana to stop her; she used her power to weigh Toraichi down and lower them, then clambered over her blade.
She grabbed Stinger's kunai and pulled the chain tighter to give herself slack to use the knife. The arms on Stinger's chain pulled as well, yanking Eiji onto the battlefield. For a moment, her heart leaped into her throat, but she steeled herself when she saw he'd left the radar unit with Kohaku.
Hisako steadied the kunai, then stabbed into one of the shoulders holding Nanae, digging at the socket as if the ball of the arm joint was a rock stuck in the ground.
It was to little avail. The arm twitched horribly, but the grip on Nanae looked no less loose, and the blades focused on Hisako were threatening again.
She did the only thing she could do—she held onto the end of Stinger tight and switched her "up" and "down."
She rose quickly, as fast as she could. The chain went taut, and Eiji yelped in surprise as they both tugged against the puppet from opposite ends.
Wood creaked loud enough to be heard a meter above where she hovered. The puppet threw Nanae to the ground and grabbed out with the hands holding her, trying to tug Hisako down.
With four arms, it was enough to slowly pull Hisako down. Nanae was still on the ground, trying to catch her breath, and Eiji was busy with his own end of the tug-of-war with the puppet.
The thunk of something piercing wood made her flinch, then blink. A sliver of something shiny had appeared in one of the puppet's elbows—a through-and-through.
A needle? It looked like a long, thin needle.
Another appeared at the wrist—another thunk. The needle wasn't metal—it looked more like fine glass, semi-transparent and reflective.
The puppet swiveled its head best it could, and Hisako did the same, heart fluttering.
"Okumura-san!"
Kohaku's cry spoiled the reveal before Hisako's head could turn around.
Okumura sprinted up the road, Yasu in tow. With the yukata billowing behind them and the countryside in the distance, she almost laughed—it was like they were in a historical drama.
"Try him now!"
An animal shout bubbled up from her heart, and she smiled at the sound of her own excited voice. Hisako veered, yanking the arm in a new direction. Instead of bending as it should've, the needles jammed the joints, and they creaked and struggled but wouldn't budge.
Its jaw snapped and rattled, arms swinging around as it collected itself. The locked-up arm dropped to its waist, baring a katana. Two arms were dedicated to Stinger—one on Hisako's end and one on Eiji's. The others also held katana, joints held carefully as the head spun to watch Okumura and the recovering Nanae.
"You're the best chance we have, Okumura-san!" Nanae croaked.
Hisako watched her attack. It was unique. She didn't summon needles from her Door like Kumagai did knives; she made them. She drew her delicate fingers through the air, fingertips alight with flames, and smelted a line of matter into a fine needle.
She created and threw the needle all in one clean movement, like firing a bow. She drew the needle from the air with two hands, refined it with one as she pulled it back, then threw it with the other.
A katana blocked the needle, shattering it against the blade and sending shards of glass everywhere. A few pieces caught Hisako, and the burn alongside surprised her—she ought to have known a freshly forged shard of glass might burn.
Okumura produced an onslaught. Hisako did her best to put strain on the puppet, yanking about every which way, rattling the arm holding her back and making it an easy target. Nanae joined as well on Eiji's side, helping him yank the puppet around from the ground.
It took a few tries, but Okumura eventually needled the joints of Hisako's offending arm. Hisako landed back on the ground and swung the chain around the arm. With a sharp pull, dragging herself back with the help of her ability, the arm groaned, then broke.
"One down!" Nanae cried.
Nanae took the puppet's brief moment of recovery to collect the other sai, re-arming herself and attacking to give Okumura openings. Instead of continuing the assault with the katana, the puppet moved all its arms to grab at Eiji's side of the chain.
It pulled, wrenching Eiji to its side. Hisako yanked with all her might, but the puppet had dug its heels in.
Unfortunately, with five remaining arms, it was all too easy for the puppet to clothesline Eiji so hard he momentarily passed out. His side of Stinger fell limply to the ground, and the puppet cast it from its neck.
It lost an arm to take out Eiji, though—Nanae twisted an arm up between her sai and held it out long enough for Okumura to take out the wrist. After that, breaking the hand off was easy for Nanae.
"Four left!" Nanae shouted.
Hisako lashed out, swinging Toraichi at the legs and blocking a line of blades stabbing down at Eiji's prone form. With Okumura and Nanae splitting the puppet's attention, it couldn't make a full effort to block her.
Its katana dinged off Toraichi's flat, and the blade's edge finally bit into the puppet's left leg, rattling its stance with the force of it.
Okumura was on it in a second, and Nanae pulled back, dragging Eiji with her to open up space.
In her longer-range attack, she drew the arrows from the air. In close combat, they formed in blazing palms, tucked between each knuckle, and she struck, pincushioning her targets.
Hisako twirled Toraichi about herself, acting as a shield for each of the puppet's counterattacks. It was a different kind of dance, to contort herself to shield another so relentlessly. More tiring than anything before, but each satisfying ring of a katana against Toraichi was followed by the gratifying thunk of a needle meeting its mark.
Okumura drew back when she was done, and Hisako followed.
The puppet rattled, limbs creaking as they tried to move with needles piercing the joints. Even the face had been stuck—needles lined a cheekbone, wood singing dark at the heat of their production.
The katana were useless. It could hardly even hold them, and its damaged left leg was constantly re-shifted to hold its weight without causing further damage, making the whole puppet totter dangerously.
It stared.
Perhaps, if it were a real man, it'd glower and bare furious teeth.
Instead, it was a ghoulish doll dressed up like a pincushion.
Yasu emerged from where he'd been taking shelter with Kohaku. His dark eyes were wide, and he was frozen yet shaking like a leaf.
The puppet had to wobble and turn to look at him, neck too cracked from Stinger and their attacks to turn. Eiji shivered at the movement at Nanae's side. Nanae clenched her sai, Hisako readied herself to jump in.
The puppet's mouth crookedly jawed off, silently, then it lunged at Yasu.
They all moved.
Kohaku pulled Yasu back as he flinched so hard he staggered. Eiji and Nanae dashed forward, Stinger flying out. Hisako pushed herself up into a tackle.
Okumura only had to gesture with a semi-closed hand.
Hisako saw it in the corner of her eye.
A burst of flame, caged and flash-nurtured in the crook of Okumura's palm, then launched through the opening between her thumb and curled fingers. The first lick touched the puppet, then Okumura's palms both opened wide, and the fire exploded, consuming the puppet in a howling roar that made the path briefly feel like an oven.
The puppet was reduced to crisp kindling in a few short moments, collapsing into a heap after twitching uselessly. For a moment, Hisako saw it try to buckle to the ground, but the left leg wouldn't have it.
"You couldn't have done that in the first place?" Kohaku asked curiosly.
They stood over Yasu, who was staring at what remained of the puppet on his hands and knees, face pale.
"And have an angry inferno running at us?" Okumura replied, not unkindly. "No, we needed to weaken it first."
Nanae nodded slowly. "It's done now. Eiji… can you heal us, please?"
Eiji's hands immediately hovered around Nanae's neck, hurriedly reversing the heavy bruising around her throat.
"Is everyone doing alright?" he asked, eyes glancing around quickly.
"Minor wounds," Hisako reported.
"We're all good here," Kohaku said.
Okumura jabbed a thumb back up the mountain. "Morimoto-san and I are going back to the hotel. You've got everyone and everything you need to get down the Door and shut it."
"Alone?" Hisako asked.
Okumura glanced at Yasu, who was shamefaced as he stood up and joined them. "You have him."
Nanae spoke gently but factually. "He doesn't have control over his Door."
Okumura raised a brow at her. "Neither do you."
"We'll figure it out, right?" Eiji said. "We have Kimura-san now."
Yasu managed a weak smile, and Okumura took it as a sign to heft the other guest over a shoulder and lead Kohaku away.
"See you soon," Kohaku said, waving before scampering off after her. "You've got this, Yasu."
Yasu waved back meekly. Hisako watched him and thought about her promise to Kohaku.
Saving people who didn't think they could be saved was hard, she thought, but she'd done it before.
Besides, those were the people who needed it the most.