The hotel was an obvious target, but for those already there when the rumblings of the mob started to approach, there wasn't a great deal of time to think about where else to go. Hijikata was used to making tough decisions on the fly, with having to live with the consequences later no matter how bad they were. It wasn't difficult for him to weigh the options, consider the relative risk elsewhere versus the possibility of fortifying the hotel versus whether going out rather than holing up might invite more aggressive action from whoever did catch up to him first.

Making decisions was almost always easier than living with the results.

There was enough furniture in the lobby and enough hands around to start moving it, at least, and he'd gone into command mode quickly, getting the others who were close at hand to start pushing the couches up to the door and pulling anything else from the other rooms that might help them block off the windows. But the possibility of leaving anyone else stuck out there didn't sit well, and so he'd held off on having the last of the furniture slid into place - not until he'd opened the door, stepped outside, yelled at anyone close by to get the hell in there before it was too late.

And when he saw the woman sprinting towards the door, he knew that keeping it open long enough for her to get inside was going to be risky.

(But when had "risky" ever been enough to make a Wolf of Mibu back down?)

"Get the hell in here!" he bellowed, waving his arm in a motion as vehement as it was inviting. There was time. She could make it, if she was fast.

But if she wasn't, there were a lot of people inside that he couldn't afford to keep the door open on, either.