"Master Spark!"

A hot, dry wind blew whipped Marisa's hair back and threatened to snatch her hat off, but it was nothing compared to the beam of energy in front of her. It eclipsed the rest of the world in light and rainbow stars. It made the very air rumble. Most importantly, it blasted through the formation of dolls that had been advancing on her, sending them tumbling across the ground.

Alice staggered back under this onslaught, shielded by a shimmering magical barrier. Arcs of energy crackled across its surface. A few stars bounced off of it, with a hollow poing. As the last of the energy boiled away into glowing wisps, she banished the shield with a flick of her wrist. "You know, Marisa, I suspect that we'd learn more from these sparring sessions if you tried other strategies besides 'shoot a big laser at it.'"

"I mean..." Marisa lowered the mini-hakkero, blowing a lingering puff of smoke from its aperture. "It worked, didn't it?"

"What if you encounter a fight where it isn't appropriate? What will you do then?"

"Hey, I can still do bigger lasers. Kourin says the mini-hakkero'll blow up if I push it too much harder, but I'm pretty sure he's just bluffin'."

"Mmh, I see. Well, regardless..." Alice surveyed their surroundings. Her dolls had been scattered across the clearing, and most of them were still standing back up. Here and there, tiny lances and swords gleamed in the grass. "... I should stop there, I'm afraid. I don't have enough kaolinite on hand to do many repairs."

"Concedin' that you lost, huh?"

"'Making a tactical withdraw,' perhaps. Next time, I'll come prepared to punish you for such excessive attacks." Alice shot Marisa a competitive smirk, then turned to the disarrayed legion of dolls and clapped her hands, rousing them to attention. "That's it for tonight, everyone. Thank you for your performance, as always. Please gather your weapons and any lost body parts, and—you, the Shanghai three from the left. Your hair is on fire. Yes, there you go."

Marisa watched with idle curiosity as the dolls shuffled up to present themselves. "So, uh. Same time next week?"

"It's a date."

With a final, teasing glance, Alice took into the air. The dolls floated up behind her, flanking her in a v-shaped formation. Within seconds, they'd disappeared past the treetops.

Marisa yawned and stretched, working some soreness out of her muscles. Alice had never been one for firepower, but she knew how to keep an opponent on their toes. She'd be aching for a day or two, but that was fine. It felt like a lazy kind of evening anyway. Maybe she'd stop by the shrine and see what Reimu was up to, or swing by the village for a few drinks. If she could find that shopkeeper who still owed her five thousand yen from a lucky bet on the religious wars, she'd have a heck of a night on her hands, and—

As she strolled across the clearing, her foot bumped into something.

She paused. The grass in the clearing was weedy and unkempt, growing in big tufts. She had to crouch and dig through it, and even then it took a few seconds to spot navy blue cloth peeking through below. Pushing the bulk of the grass aside, she snatched the edge of the cloth and tugged it free.

It was a tiny dress. A tiny dress that was, not surprisingly, wrapped around a doll.

Marisa couldn't even pretend to know all of Alice's different doll designs, but this one looked pretty normal. Its blonde hair was tied up in a tidy bow, and it was clasping a sword in its tiny hand.

Its dress was singed, though, probably from the Master Spark. More importantly, it wasn't moving. She turned it over in her hands and gave it a few pokes, but it didn't react. It didn't take long to find an explanation—it had apparently experienced a pretty rough fall. A hole near the small of its back showed where a rock or something had pierced into its body, and a hairline fracture extended all the way to the doll's shoulder.

A pang of guilt flashed through her head. Sure, Alice was known to stuff her dolls with gunpowder and blow them up, and they didn't seem like much more than magical automata, but they were still dolls. They looked like tiny people. Plus, they were cute. That had to count for something.

"Dang. Sorry." Marisa traced the crack with a fingertip, considering her next course of action. She had no idea how to fix this. The appropriate thing would probably be to return it to Alice, but...

But Alice sometimes filled her dolls with gunpowder, which required ingredients that the kappa guarded jealously. And Alice's dolls weren't just ordinary dolls, but magical constructs in their own right. She had no idea how they worked or what was inside of this one, but there was no way she wouldn't learn something by studying it.

She shot a quick glance toward the sky. Alice was long gone.

It still paid to be careful. "Well," she announced to the empty clearing, as she tucked the doll into her pocket. "Guess I'd better hold onto this until I can give it back."

THUMP.

Marisa had been too tired to do much after she got home. The sparring match had taken more out of her than she'd expected. She'd gone right to bed, and barely lasted five minutes before she passed out.

Except now, a sound had jolted her awake again.

She pushed herself up to sitting and squinted into the darkness, but no immediate explanation showed itself. The moon was filtering in through her bedroom window. For a few seconds, everything was still, and she wondered if she might have imagined it. Then, another THUMP echoed up the stairwell.

It was the middle of the night, and something was moving around inside her cottage.

Muttering a few choice swears, Marisa snatched up the mini-hakkero from its usual spot on her nightstand, pulled some clothes on, and vaulted out of bed. "Hey!" she shouted down the stairs. "I dunno if ya missed the sign, but the Kirisame Magic Shop is closed!"

THUMP.

Whatever was causing the noise, it wasn't deterred by her shout. It was the exact same noise she'd heard before, though, and it was happening at regular intervals. It didn't seem like the kind of sound she'd expect if a youkai was looting the place. At the very least, if there was a youkai looting her house, they were very hard of hearing.

She lowered the mini-hakkero a little, and dared to summon a small flame for light as she crept down the stairs. The thumping noise continued. It sounded like it was coming from the front room. As she drew closer, she could make out a bit more depth to it—something was smacking against a window, making it rattle in its frame.

She peeked around the corner, extending the hakkero for a little light. She caught a glimpse of movement. Whatever it was, it was small. It was flying.

It smacked against the window with a THUMP.

As it drew back, Marisa stoked the flame higher, filling the room with light. She was only a little surprised to see Alice's doll, hovering backward as it prepared for another charge at the window.

"Guess ya weren't busted after all, huh?"

The doll didn't respond. It didn't even seem to notice her presence.

"Still prefer it if you didn't smash my window."

Still ignoring her, the doll kept floating back until it was against the far wall. It leaned forward and set its shoulders. And, it charged at the window. THUMP. The window rattled in its frame, and the doll rebounded from the impact.

"Tryin' to get home, huh?"

The doll didn't respond, of course. Marisa reached out for it... and the moment her hand rested on its shoulder, the doll darted away. It spun around and slashed its little sword at her in a warning swipe.

"I'm trying to help you, dummy!"

She made another grab for the doll. This time, it slashed too quickly to avoid. The blade sliced a thin line across the back of her finger—nothing too dangerous, but it still stung like the world's harshest paper cut.

"Ow!" Marisa stuck the finger in her mouth, sucking on it and glaring at the doll. "You really aren't making this easy, you know."

With her good hand, she snatched her hat from its peg near the door, then lunged forward, trying to scoop the doll up in it. The doll darted back, taking up a defensive position behind a stack of books.

"Come...!" Marisa raised the hat overhead, and shoved the books aside with her other hand.

"Here!" She slammed it down.

The doll zipped away, and somehow found the time to slice the brim in the process.

"Alright, shortstuff." Marisa sighed and pulled back for another swipe. "You asked for it."

Whap.

Whap.

Whap.

It had taken the better part of fifteen minutes, but Marisa had managed to imprison the doll. Barely. The second she'd slammed the hat down over it, it had started slashing its way free. Only now, with a wicker basket over it and a pile of books weighing that down, was she satisfied that it was contained.

She'd miss the hat, but she had a spare laying around somewhere.

The doll barely seemed aware that it was imprisoned. It launched itself straight toward the window, for the thousandth time, and stopped only when it smacked face-first into the wall of the basket.

Whap.

"Not too bright, are ya?" Not that she expected a response at this point. She crouched down and peeked into the basket anyway.

The doll was rather worse for wear. The chase had taken them all around the room, and it showed. Its dress was covered in a mixture of dust and ground-in dirt. There was a fleck of Marisa's blood staining its apron. Its outfit was still lightly charred from the battle. Sometime during all of its frantic slashing, it had managed to slice a hole in its own dress.

This changed things. The doll didn't seem likely to let her experiment on it like this. Plus, well, it was moving. Taking apart a busted doll to figure out how it worked was one thing. She wasn't sure that she was prepared to commit dollicide and dissect her victim.

She got the feeling, though, that if she returned the doll in this state, Alice would never let her hear the end of it.

Marisa sighed. She'd intended this as a fun little project to mess with between real experiments, but it was turning into a lot of work. But, if it'd make Alice happy...

Whap.

Whap.

Whap.

"Alright, alright, calm down. Almost gotcha home."

No restraint that Marisa had found was more effective than the wicker basket. So, that's where the doll was, trapped beneath the basket, with some kind of outside world road sign slipped beneath it for a floor. Occasionally, the doll managed to ram into the wall of the basket with enough force to almost rip it out of her hands, forcing her to keep a tight grip.

So, rather than risk using a hand to knock, she gave the door to Alice's cottage a few firm thumps with the hell of her shoe. She figured it would get the message across.

It still took a minute or two to get a response. Footsteps approached the door. It swung open, revealing Alice and a small escort of dolls.

"Marisa? This is a surprise. If you—" Alice trailed off, her gaze drifting down to the basket and its tiny prisoner. "... ah. I'd been wondering where you got off to."

"Hey, I didn't steal it or nothin'!" Marisa lied, preemptively defensive. "Just, I found it after our match yesterday, and it was pretty roughed up, so I didn't wanna just turn it loose and hope for the best."

"I'm surprised it let you handle it. If they get lost, they're supposed to go into a defensive stance and try to return to my cottage."

"Hey, this is me we're talking about. I've got a way with the ladies." Marisa shifted her hand to hide her bandage-wrapped finger. "Anyway, here."

She lifted the basket. The doll had been preparing for another dash toward freedom, and showed no awareness that its one obstacle had been removed. It sped forward, out from beneath the basket and into the open air.

It came to a stop in front of Alice, standing at attention and awaiting orders.

Alice stared down at it. The corner of her mouth twitched.

"Marisa... what... what did you...?"

She couldn't hold herself back any longer. Her expression sort of melted. She gave a short, stifled snicker before hiding her lips behind a hand.

Marisa wasn't sure, but it might have been the first time she'd ever heard Alice laugh. She pouted. "What? It isn't that bad, is it?"

She had done her best to make a replacement dress for the doll. It was just that her sewing skills didn't extend very far past patching up tears in her clothes. It was, undeniably, a dress. It had holes for the head and arms, and the part dangling around the doll's legs was definitely some sort of skirt. Or, well, it was skirt-like. The whole outfit was baggy, so it was bunched up under the ribbon she'd tied around the doll's waist. Above the ribbon, it was too big altogether, leaving it puffed out around the doll's body. Below, she hadn't bothered to hem the skirt, and its edges were already fraying from the doll's continued escape attempts.

It looked like the kind of outfit one might make if they were trapped on an island with nothing but a pile of old towels and a stapler.

"It's... well, I appreciate the effort," Alice finally said, her voice still shaky from laughing.

"Its old dress was all burnt and stuff from the fight. I mean, I can give it back if you'd rather have that."

"No, no. I like this one. It's very thoughtful of you." Alice leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Marisa's cheek. Marisa's resulting embarrassment only seemed to amuse her more, since Alice was smiling when she pulled back. "Would you like to come in and tell me about it? I think you've more than earned some refreshments."

Marisa lightly rubbed at the spot where Alice had kissed her, but didn't want to be seen dwelling on it for too long. "D'you got those long little cookies?"

"Ladyfingers, yes. I'll have the dolls bring some out." Alice turned and slipped back through the doorway, then glanced teasingly over her shoulder. "After all, it's the least I can do for the heroine of the hour."