With her last bit of strength, she pulled the hilt from the mail flap, and out came a blade.
It was heavy–so heavy that the act of freeing in sent her and her swarm falling back, loosening her from her attackers. Their bones crackled beneath her, and the sword pulled her down.
She got her first glimpse of it then, on her back with one arm outstretched to hold it. One hand was not enough. She pulled herself to her hands and knees, getting both hands on the long hilt.
It was a two-handed great sword with a wide, flat blade. It was ripped from a fantasy–no real human would willingly swing the thing, it was so long and big. It had to be about her height and heavier than a stack of planks.
The hilt and guard were a cool silver wrapped in leather. It all seemed worn and a bit scuffed already, but it felt like home. The blade itself was the same silver, but it was engraved with a pattern of black roses along the fuller.
She pushed herself to her feet, using the blade as a lever to right herself. The walkers were shoving over their fallen brethren to get to her. She could not see Kohaku.
She gritted her teeth and lifted the blade. She was sure her arms would rip off, but they didn't. She reared back, nearly toppling over before she could brace herself in a wider stance.
Then, with all her strength, she swung it in a wide arc.
The flat blade cut through the walkers like butter. They split at her slash and toppled, oozing decaying matter and flailing, but unable to get back up.
Once her arc was done, the sword clanged against the roof, scraping horribly. She was sure that it couldn't be good for the blade, but she didn't have the strength to hold it aloft.
That didn't stop her from swinging it, though.
"Kohaku!" she screamed. "Call out!"
She heard their muffled shout from below a mass. All the masses looked the same, and they were getting larger as more walkers arrived. She swung again and again.
If she kept her head down and focused, her body kept responding to her. The pain became a low buzz she could forget about.
After a few swings, she could see Kohaku, curled up on the ground and bleeding. They looked okay enough. She reached out and pulled them to her side, shoving the sword out around them to clear a path to the wall.
If she could make it to the wall, she wouldn't have to defend their back.
The big walker complicated that. The massive form finally dove in, knocking the smaller walkers off the roof as it barged through a cloud of them. Its arms lashed out, churning like the cylinders in a motor, perfectly in sync.
She was able to lift the blade enough to catch the first strike. With the momentum of the slash and the weight of the blade, she caught the hand by the meat of the palm. Even without strength on her part, the metal slipped through the hand completely, severing the fingers.
The creature roared but didn't relent in its follow-up attacks. The other left hand lashed out and hit the wall next to her, showering them in biting concrete debris and dusting their lungs with heavy powder.
She pushed Koharu behind her, and they slid to the ground to curl up again, shaking.
"Aghh!" she screamed, flinging the blade out.
She caught the thing again, in the right forearm as it jabbed at her. The blade caught it solidly, biting through flesh but catching on the thick bones of its lanky arm.
The walker's swing was aborted–it jerked back, taking her sword and Hisako with it. She was smart enough to let go as soon as she could, but she was still yanked from Kohaku and thrown onto the ground meters away.
She was only lucky that the walker's reckless attacks had cleared out any smaller walkers nearby.
She didn't recover quickly. By the time she got to her hands and knees again, the next attack was already on its way.
An open palm as big as her rib cage slammed down on her back.
The bites before had been nothing, she thought, as her face smashed against the concrete roof. The bites were flesh wounds.
The pain that burned her body now was internal and external, and whatever was in between. Something inside had gone outside, and something outside had gone inside.
Blood flooded her mouth and nose, and she couldn't see. Was she still lying on the ground? She felt warm and wet; she was bleeding all over herself.
Had she let go of the sword?
She couldn't make her body move.
Magic? Do I have magic? Please, door, give me something to survive. I don't want to die here. I don't want Kohaku to die. I want to keep going.
The next hit didn't come. She was sure that time because if it did, she wouldn't still be in pain.
Something pulled her up, and she saw the roof again. Had her eyes been open the whole time?
Hands gently tugged her back and laid her down on her side. She could see everything before her with lidded, tired eyes.
Shoes she didn't immediately recognize were standing in the corner of her vision. The small walkers were falling in flashes of light. She squinted against the burn of the flashes.
"Hisako?"
Kohaku?
Blood burbled at her lips. When she breathed, everything hurt more, and she coughed as she inhaled blood.
"Hisako, it's okay."
Hisako couldn't nod, but she knew Kohaku was holding her.
"Don't move her, kid."
Amajiki.
Her heart squeezed, and her vision blurred with tears. He was alive. He would save them. If he'd gotten up the building and through the mob, he could handle the rooftop.
He stepped into her sight, the dress shoes giving way to pants, then a torso, and finally his calm face. He dropped his scythe, and for a moment, her heart stopped.
But then his doors appeared again, and the roulette wheel did too, towering behind him.
The big walker lashed out. Amajiki was going to cause heart failure in Hisako.
But once more, he was fine. Instead of pummeling the defenseless man, the hit stopped against the glow of his door, struggling against an invisible barrier that separated them.
Amajiki snapped, and the ball began to roll. He glanced at Hisako casually as it did.
"Sorry about being so late. You know, I'm not sure what I expected when I left you, but it wasn't this."
Hisako tried to speak. Her mouth opened and closed uselessly.
"You did well, miss."
The ball stopped rolling, landing somewhere Hisako wasn't able to see, but it made Amajiki grin. He stretched out both hands.
Instead of the scythe forming like last time, a kurasigama appeared. As soon as it stopped glowing, he was in action.
Hisako must've blinked slowly, because one moment he was there, and the next he was behind the big walker. The chain glistened around its arms, which were suddenly wrenched behind its back.
The chain spun again, from his hand, and the scythe flew through the air in an arc, cutting down the walkers around him. It gave him space to heave the big walker down, onto its back with a hoarse, hair-raising shriek.
Amajiki looked up to meet Hisako's wide eyes. He had that smug smile on his face again.
"Do you want to become a Doorkeeper yet?"
Hisako struggled to move her mouth.
Yes! Yes. I want to protect! I want to help, I do.
He nodded despite the silence, and then the scythe flew out again, impaling the big walker through the head.
Instead of collapsing and writhing like many of the others had, the creature exploded into black ash and faded away. The other walkers wailed and shrank back, slithering away from Amajiki to press against what remained of the fence.
Amajiki approached, weapon fading once more, but it inspired a feeling of safety this time.
"The worst darkness, once you defeat it, makes the smaller ones look even smaller," he explained gently as he crouched down next to her.
He reached out, brushing the edges of her dark hair from her eyes. He looked up at Kohaku.
"It's not so hard to kill your demons, is it?" he asked them.
Kohaku nodded–she could feel their jerky movement.
"Y-you made it look easy."
Amajiki gave a sympathetic smile. "It's always easier looking in from the outside."
It didn't feel like Amajiki was talking about monsters anymore.
"Sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith, like you did. It gives perspective, doesn't it? The worst thing you can face isn't the people telling you you're nothing, it's you believing it."
Kohaku froze behind her, then hung their head. A tear landed on Hisako's torn shoulder.
"Yeah," Kohaku agreed. "I forgot who I was–what I am."
"An explorer," Amajiki said. "A trailblazer. Someone who goes where nobody else is brave enough to."
Kohaku nodded. "Of course." They sounded stronger than before.
"Let's get her home, yeah? She looks a little worn out."
They helped her to her feet. The only way she knew she was standing upright was because she was parallel to the buildings. She had no way of feeling the ground beneath her or the two others holding her up.
"Where's the door out?" Kohaku asked quietly.
Amajiki spun slowly, humming thoughtfully. Hisako's shoulder twinged as Kohaku hurried to match his motion.
Amajiki pointed at the roof door. "How about this one?" He kicked it shut again. "Try it."
Kohaku shuffled forward, struggling to keep Hisako level, and reached for the door. Before they could touch the simple roof access door's handle, it morphed into the door.
Kohaku jerked back. "How–"
Hisako found her voice and used it. She laughed. She laughed so hard that the pain became a blanket of numb agony. She laughed until she coughed, and her vision went spotty.
Kohaku looked at her with big, worried eyes. Amajiki opened the door.
Hisako finally stopped laughing when they went through, back to the alley, and she felt the warm air of spring and the darkness of not ominous clouds but the night.
She could hear the bustle of people and the cruising of cars. The stores were busy with people, not scavengers, and the alleys didn't yawn wide to accommodate secrets and monsters.
They were back.
She cried quietly, throat too hoarse to sob. They set her down on an empty crate left for the trash, and Kohaku slid to the ground beside her. The door shattered, and the small bits of it burned up, twisting into ash and then nothingness.
"I'll call my people and get you two some medical attention." He fiddled with his smartphone, then looked up after a moment. "You both did well."
"Well?" Kohaku echoed. Their exhaustion and stress were beyond evident, especially in the paleness of their face.
"For civilians," Amajiki amended. "Usually, when one of you goes through a door, I'm stuck in their world for days, trying to find their big bad darkness. They're usually dead in the first hour."
Kohaku chuckled emptily. "It was close."
"Ehh," Amajiki said. "Not really. Mochizuki-san found you within an hour, and from there, I could've handled things."
"But you didn't," Hisako said. "You were testing me, like you tested me at my door."
Kohaku's eyes jumped to her with a glint of fear at the mention of a door of her own.
Amajiki smiled apologetically. "I wouldn't let you die. Doorkeepers aren't evil. I… underestimated how brave you'd be, though. You keep surprising me, don't you?"
"I do my best," she wheezed.
"You do," Amajiki agreed quietly. "It's admirable."
"I–" She broke off to inhale deeply. "I made you a promise earlier. And you made me an offer."
He smiled widely. "Well, it wasn't exactly an offer, was it?"
"I'll go through my door, and then you can make it an offer," she said.
He couldn't beam any wider. "Yeah?"
"I keep my promises." She looked at Kohaku. "When we get out of the hospital, will you let the forewoman know I'm quitting?"
Kohaku laughed. "She might fire me just for telling her that."
Amajiki smiled gently. "I don't think she will. You're a brand-new person. You're practically glowing."
Kohaku smiled back. "I guess. You're not, though. You're the opposite of glowing right now. Shadowing? You're bleeding–that's what I'm trying to say. You look all messed up. Like the whole site fell on you at once."
"Don't make me laugh," Hisako wheezed, clutching her sides.
"Medical will be here soon," Amajiki reminded them. "Don't kill her before then. She has a promise to keep."
Hisako nodded and rested her eyes.
Yes, I do.