The path hadn't gotten any nicer in the past week. But the sun was getting low, and whatever of it that passed through the branches had been ripped bloody by them. They trudged forward as fast as they could. Kenji and Yuuko both had one of their hands on Misha's shoulders. The lord had pulled a similar trick in the story, so they were hoping they could get away with it as well. Of course, Larena already knew that Misha had help, but hopefully she wouldn't know what the plan was. Mutou hadn't seen Yuuko's book, and they only had talked about it after they had dispatched of him. But Misha could tell from the way their hands were sliding from their trembles that they didn't have much faith that Larena didn't know everything.

That wasn't going to stop them. Part of it was because they had stepped beyond the point of no return, but only a part. The idea still didn't sit too well with Misha. Of course, the situation was more than a bit ridiculous, but Misha never, ever, thought that she would not only plot someone's death, but actually try to go through with it, with or without magic powers. It was the only thing in her stomach, and unfortunately, it seemed like it was trying to climb out. The occasional squeeze form her companions would reassure her, but only so much. There was a very good chance that this would be the last time she would see either one of them. It was weird enough when you outgrew old clothes, an old stuffed animal, or old habits. There would be a void, where that thing would be, but over time you would fit something else there to make yourself whole again. When that thing was something that talked to you, that had parents, had dreams, had a face, there wasn't a void. There was only them, and the world around them became a void, and it could take weeks before you pulled yourself away and back into the real world. And of course, it wasn't really over then, either. That person took a bit of you with them, and it made you more vulnerable to the breeze, like a gash that never heals.

Yuuko whispered, her eyes darting upwards at the canopy, "How much further?"

Misha swallowed, "It wasn't much further past that bush we pushed through. I think it's taking a while because we are walking so slow."

Yuuko didn't have a response for that, so she went back to toying with the book, double checking the slips of yellow paper she had stuck in. The idea was she could read off sections on the fly, and hopefully they had one for every possible scenario.

Finally, the trees parted. The smooth dirt clearing stretched out in front of them, but this time, the trees were all bent backwards, to make room for the tower.

None of them had a closed mouth. Even Kenji, with his sight, could make out how tall it was. It was a haphazard thing, slapped together from the stalls that Misha and Shizune had been building from the festival, the extra building materials, and even from the forest itself. It looked as if several trees had suddenly grown at the base then curled their way to the around the tower as supports, and peeking through, Misha could see signs for cheap udon and the prizes for the pitch-till-you-win.

"I swear to God, if that bitch used that sign I was painting in class...," Kenji growled. Yuuko gave him a blink, and he retorted, "Hey, I spent an entire week painting that thing."

Misha shrugged to get his attention back to where it belonged. "Come on." She started towards the tower.

There wasn't a single sound, not even from their footsteps. Had they been standing still, you wouldn't even think they were real living people, their breaths were that small.

Yuuko broke the silence after several agonizing moments, "This isn't right. There's no way that she would just let us in."

Misha nodded, "I know."

"Well then, this must be a trap!"

"Yeah, I know."

"But..."

"I know. We'll deal with it as it..."

Several branches peeled off the tower, and swung right at them. The three of them dove to the ground, then frantically rolled away from the branches as they lashed at them. Misha jumped up, got her bat ready to swing, but then had a terrible realization.

The three of them had rolled in three different directions in their panic.

They weren't holding her anymore.

She pounded the ground with everything she had, "Yuuko! Kenji!"

Kenji was standing alone, somewhat close to the tower, clutching the nine-iron and standing with the head pointed towards the sky. He didn't move a single muscle, and his face showed no emotion. He was smart enough not to start swinging away. Two branches were creeping at him. He swallowed, but he kept his uneasiness in check. One of them suddenly snapped at him, and he ducked, barely missing it. The other then darted at him while he was off balance, but Misha slammed into his side, the both of them tumbling out of the way.

Misha pulled him up, but she fell back to the ground after her feet were pulled out from under her. She whipped her head around, and started to swing at the branch that had wrapped around her ankle. The bat was doing damage, but it wasn't going to cut it. Kenji had her underneath her shoulders, and he was heaving with everything he had. His feet left ruts in the ground as the both of them started to get dragged towards the tower. This close, another branch was able to snake its way behind Kenji, and it lashed at him. He screamed in pain and fell, but he didn't let go of Misha. She fell on top of him, and Kenji shot his legs out to the sides and dug his heels in. The strike had left a long cut in his back, and the friction was tearing it wider, with dirt was finding its way inside.

More branches started to peel away from the tower. Misha looked away and back towards the clearing, and saw Yuuko running as fast as she could towards them. A few branches turned towards her, and without warning, lanced straight at her. She made to dive, but at the last minute spun to her side, and they all rushed past her and stuck in the ground. She didn't stop to congratulate herself, but instead kept running, pulling open the cover to the book as she did so. She stopped and gave herself a wide stance, making an evil eye with her fingers, but Misha turned back to Kenji, and started to use the bat to swing at other branches trying to strike at him. She kept her priorities on anything going for his forehead; she hadn't forgotten what had happened to Mutou in the office. The result was cuts appearing on his arms and legs, and Misha screaming louder and louder as her frustration grew.

Then, the branches suddenly backed away. Her ankle was free, and she spun around and helped Kenji to his feet. Yuuko rushed up to them, "Don't stop! I can only ward them for a few seconds at a time, I don't have any real powers or anything!"

Right on cue, the branches launched a second attack, but this time spit into a few different groups. Yuuko pointed at one, repeating the ward and stopping them, but the others were free from it. Kenji had a hand on Misha's shoulder, using her as a guide as she bobbed and weaved towards the tower, swinging her bat all the while, and he had his other arm around Yuuko's waist, pulling her along as she repeated the ward over and over again. It was painfully slow progress, and despite their best efforts, the three of them were getting scratched up badly. The wounds weren't deep, but quantity was trumping quality.

Misha then spotted something through the mass of branches, "A door! There's a door not far from here!"

They pushed harder. Their spirits had been recharged. They were only ten feet from the tower now. Misha didn't know what was waiting for them inside, but they still needed...

The was a sudden burst of earth right in front of them, and they were separated again. As she rolled on the ground, Misha's mind thought of land mines.

She was such a silly girl.

Trees have roots.

She was back up before any of them could claim her, swinging hard and fast enough crack a brick wall. She screamed for the others, and saw that Yuuko was right next to her, sending out the ward towards Kenji, who was still struggling to his feet. His glasses were gone, but he still had the club, and he moved towards the sound of Yuuko's voice.

Unfortunately, Yuuko's voice was drowning out Misha's, "I can't get them all! Kenji, run! Yuuko, I need your... Yuuko behind you!"

Misha swung and missed. The branch darted at Yuuko's back, and punched a hole right through her left shoulder. The wards stopped, and the screams started. The branch started to lift her off the ground, but Misha slammed it with everything she had left, and managed to snap it. Kenji stumbled forward, trying to get his arms around Yuuko and push her through the door, but without the wards, the branches launched at him. Yuuko composed herself, and through her sobs, started the wards again. Kenji's face hardened, and he ran at Yuuko, pulling out the wriggling branch still sticking out her front. But the roots started grabbing at them too.

Yuuko spun herself and Kenji around, putting the book in his arms. She then grabbed at the page with the wards, and pushed him into Misha, sending them both towards the door. She tore the page free while doing this. The push was hard enough to send Kenji and Misha stumbling the last few feet into the door. Misha looked on with horror as the roots and branches started to close in on Yuuko. She was standing as tall as she could, determination on her face, and she kept casting the ward. But she was slowly getting closed off from view.

Kenji reached for her, "YUUKO!"

Misha felt something tickling her ankles, and saw that the roots were reaching for them again. She wrenched the door open, and dragged in a kicking, screaming, and sobbing Kenji Setou.