Volume 10's POV: Third Person POV

Five weeks had passed since Miyuki's first day of training. The wounds she had often sustained in her daily sparring had become much smaller than they used to be. Today she was feeling especially good for that very reason. Sora's training was unbearably harsh, but by just hanging on a little longer, she was able to see the fruits of that work beginning to sprout.

This day passed by much like the rest: Miyuki woke up, straightened her hair (which she had recently cut short under Sora's suggestion), ate breakfast, then waited the rest of her morning lounging around in wait for the arrival of the group.

The afternoon was then spent eating lunch and interacting with the group members who stopped by. Usually Miyuki liked to join in with two others who shared her interest in magical girl animes. The three would put on their favorite shows, pop some popcorn, and lounge around. It was times like these where Miyuki could get a sigh of relief and a break from the outside stressors. While she didn't want to ignore her problems entirely now, there was a line that had to be drawn where dwelling on misery became too much.

When dinner time came around, the group stuck together and had their dinner whilst discussing serious topics. Dinner time was when all of the workers in the shelter were turning their full attention to providing, cleaning, and caring for the rest of members of the shelter. With the shelter members occupied and workers having 'all hands on deck', this gave Sora's group the perfect time frame to privately discuss the plans for their rebellion against I-35.

During the meeting today, Miyuki sat to the far right of Sora. She had just finished eating her dinner and was trying to rub off some of that remaining soup stain on her shirt. That attention would be quickly broken by the chime of their leader's voice, who stood up tall so everyone could see him. Sora then took out a crumpled sheet of notebook paper. This sheet of paper was then unfolded and read off in front of everyone. This notebook paper was the roll call, containing every name of all eleven members of Sora's Rebellion.

Miyuki, being the most recent to join, was the last one to be read. Once her name was called, Sora then shifted to today's topic of discussion. It was a heavy one too... one that they've been discussing since Miyuki first officially became a part of this group.

"Good to see everyone here today! I've been needing to finish up some points in our plan. As you all know, due to our accumulated strength and rapid growth from training, we've decided to ambush these Barricades as opposed to waiting for them to come to us" Sora started, then looking around the room to see group members nodding in acknowledgement.

"Has anyone come up with ideas for whereabouts?"

Once he asked that question, the room fell into silence. The answer was an obvious no, which made Sora give a disappointed sigh, rubbing his face slowly.

"Do any of you guys actually look?"

One of the group members then spoke up after another moment of silence: "I'd do it, but wouldn't it be too dangerous to look alone?". The member that spoke would be quick to silence themselves when they caught the venomous glare of Sora.

"Too dangerous? Are you kidding me? You all trained in Ki daily to combat the world's evil and you're worrying about safety? This is a school-based gang we're talking about! Every Ki wielder of I-35 meets at the school at night just before sunset. Hell, they're meeting right now! What we ruled out was meeting all of them at once when they're with The Boss like they are now, because that would mean a pretty large inconvenience when we don't even know what most of them can do..."

Another one of the members would speak up, pointing out: "That's why we said ambushing, right? If they have half of the amount of people we have, then we can take 'em all on! Two of us for every one of them!"

Miyuki during this was sitting and paying attention to the plots being brought up by the members. It was her idea that they were discussing, which she felt bad that not even she could contribute. Everything the leader and the other members have said so far were rehashed statements from previous meetings. It was often that Sora liked to spend a long time reviewing, but this was so the group's plans were engraved into each member's memory so when the time of need comes, they don't forget.

"You're right! But I say this every time: What is the point of trying when there are no promises? You can say all day that this plan will work. You can say all day that you will climb Mount Everest. You can scream at the top of your lungs in the middle of Maguro High's campus that you're gonna make a perfect score on the exam! You can promise yourself all day that you are going to do something, but what's the point of promising when you don't try?

It works the same the other way around! What is the point of coming up with a plan when no one will work with it? I can't be the only one to fight five guys! I might as well call myself dead! If you want to try your hardest to reclaim the land that is rightfully ours, then make yourself that promise and stick to it! Aim for it! Go for it! Don't just try for two seconds and then not dedicate yourself to it, because I wouldn't even call that 'trying'!"

Sora, on the verge of snapping in anger, took a minute to pause and take a few deep breaths in. Though he was within moments of pulling out his hair, to most he still seemed as 'chill' as he usually was. It was a rare sight to see Sora in a fuss, but these last few days were surely stressful for him. Miyuki, having been his sole sparring partner for the last few weeks, was the only one who knew he was on the verge of snapping. In the middle of their sparring session a few weeks ago, Miyuki thought it would be a good idea to try some sarcastic taunts to get to Sora's head. All it ended up doing was shortening her sparring session and left her walking with her arm in a sling for a few days.

The thought of seeing this calm man turn into a stress-induced behemoth was something she did not wish to be around for. Miyuki slowly began to stand up, dismissing herself outside so she could throw away her trash and perhaps make a bathroom visit.

Dinner was served in the main lobby of the homeless shelter. Anyone could walk up to the front desk, where right across it was a table sat up with plastic bags covering it. In these plastic bags were the contents of today's cheap dinner. Not many were a fan of the cold soup and stale crackers, so most of the plastic bags ended up in the trash can that was next to the table.

Once Miyuki reached the trash can, the teen's attention would be steered away. The room was a little 'mistier' than she remembered. It was like a thin fog was beginning to ease inside. Spotting the oddity, Miyuki had stopped where she was at the trash can to get a better look at the fog. She wanted to make sure she wasn't just seeing things.

Then the fog began to grow. Followed by the growing fog was a growing sensation of warmth. Then the warmth was followed by a cough.

"FIRE! FIRE! EVERYONE OUT! EVERYONE OUT NOW!"

Miyuki dropped her trash at the announcement, her stomach suddenly churning from anxiety. Fire? The place was on fire?! The place was on fire...

Miyuki's attention then shot towards the door that was just a few feet away from her. If she didn't act, this very door within a few short moments would be filled with people.

What about her friends? Did they know about the fire?

Miyuki, instead of running for the door to make her escape, ran deeper inside of the shelter, pushing through the masses of people to reach the back.

It seemed like she was too late though, because amidst all of the smoke, heat, and crowds, the door to the meeting room was open, the room empty of people.

Miyuki peered inside of the room with shock, her legs freezing up at the thought that her friends had just left her. Of course they would! They needed to get out too, but just where did they go?! Sora had to be somewhere!

"G-GUYS?!!" Miyuki yelled from where she stood, looking frantically left and right. She waited a few moments for a response.

From where she stood, she could see flames from the front of the building where she was previously. The wall closest to her was now covered in a bright ember, which progressively grew every second.

Miyuki hopped a few meters to the left to look down the hallway, calling out again in a panicked voice: "GUYS! WHERE ARE YOU!?" When she got no response there, she repeated by hopping to the right and doing the same.

"HELLOOOOOO?! DID YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY LEAVE ME?!"

Her voice continued to echo down the now empty homeless shelter. There was no answer by any of the friends she knew, so Miyuki wasted no time to think on her own. Sekken slowly hung her head low, her eyes beginning to slowly close. The next moment, the door in front of her would have been torn off of its hinges, then punted across the outside parking lot with a swift soccer kick. Her body had a soft glow to it, which would then ease off the moment she escaped.

"...oh." Miyuki muttered to herself after she opened her eyes to scan her surroundings. What stood in front of her were the exact people she was looking for. Every single one of them was just standing there and staring silently at her, even some giggles could be heard among the group.

"That was a little dramatic, don't you think, Miyuki?" Sora chimed with amusement.

"Y-yeah, my bad. I thought you guys didn't know about the fire-"

"Fire alarms are useful..." Sora interrupted with a small smile, then turned away from Miyuki and spoke up to everyone in the group. "Everyone! Have your power on the ready. The fire may not be our only company..."

Then one after another, the members of Sora's Rebellion began to light up. It wouldn't take much more than a few seconds for everyone to get prepared, and once they were, the group started towards the alleyway.

Everyone then began to walk together closely. Miyuki was in the back of the pack, trying not to get lost by keeping very close. The closer they moved to the alleyway, the closer they were to the distant familiar chants. They were standing right there... all four of them?

"Hot Tamale, Hot Tamale.

Cook it once.

Cook it twice.

Cook it until it is done.

Hot Tamale, Hot Tamale.

Cook it in a boiler.

Cook it in an oven.

Cook it in a piece of tinfoil under the sun.

Hot Tamale, Hot Tamale.

All hail I-35"