Awakening with the greeting of the standard foul odor of the shelter, Miyuki was wide awake with a decent amount of rest. Usually every morning Miyuki wakes with a strong appetite and an even stronger will to never miss breakfast, but today was different. Her mind was too filled with thought to feel a need to eat. To regain that missing feeling of hunger, she needed to put her mind at ease from the jumbled number of ideas, questions, fears, and stressors that flooded her mind.

Miyuki's biggest area of concern was not her lack of hunger, rather the lack of people her age. At every direction and every angle, older people filled her line of sight. Elderly were the group that suffered the highest amount of poverty and homelessness in New Tako, which explains why so many come here. Though she understood that, Miyuki had hoped there was at least one person who was her age, but from where she looked, there was not even one to give.

("Yeah... this sucks.")

She continued to look around anyway. Nearly half an hour would be spent just moving up and down the shelter to find someone. At last though, she felt her long search had finally paid off when she spotted a young boy who couldn't be more than a year or two older than her. He had a fair light hair and a calm, natural smile he wore. From where she stood, she couldn't help but gaze upon this man, and feeling an immense wash of relief.

It wouldn't be long before this man noticed her staring, not hesitating to wave his hand in a friendly greeting. This greeting shook Miyuki back to her senses, who then shuffled one foot after the other to meet this person. He would greet her warmly, his cheery smile welcoming her to his spot in the shelter. "Hello there, I haven't seen you around here. Are you new?"

"Y-yes, I'm new..." Miyuki quietly muttered

"Ahhh. I'm sorry. You look like you've been hit by a truck, are you feeling okay?"

"H-hit by a truck?"

"O-oh, my bad, it's just an expression. It means that you look like you're miserable."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. These past days have been pretty rough."

"I see. Mine were just as bad, you know? Don't let those days take your mood down, though."

How could he say 'just as bad' when he didn't even know what she had been through these last few days? There was no way someone could have it worse off than her, right? That was what she thought at least. "I can try, but no promises."

"What good is trying when there are no promises, huh?" the boy would playfully tease, giving Miyuki a small nudge. "Come on, I've been here for ten weeks and I've gotten adjusted. What are you in here for anyways? I know you don't have a home, but is there something else going on?"

"Yeah... a lot of things." Miyuki muttered again, holding her head from the new migraine that was beginning to surface.

The boy tilted his head, then folded his hands in his lap. "If you don't want to talk about it, I understand. It may seem like I am being tone deaf to what you are feeling, and that's what I am told a lot when I try to keep the peace.

"A bit of a reality check though: Everyone who walks through these doors are suffering too; and all they can bear to think about are the negatives that brought them to this shit hole. Personally, I wouldn't like to dwell on my problems for too long... it can't be healthy, can it?"

"I guess not... but that's easy for you to say..." Miyuki trailed off in thought, continuing to rub her aching head slowly. "Are you the only one?"

"Only one? No, there are tons of other people here!" the boy chuckled, gesturing to everyone else that surrounded them.

"No-, I mean people our age."

"Oh! Well yes, but actually no"

"W-What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It seems like we're the only ones that live here, but I have a group of friends that like to stop by every day. If you're looking for some people to talk to, why not join us?"

A group of friends that visit him daily? ("I'm never able to make a single lasting friend, but a group? Is he even human? ") Miyuki would pout to herself, not realizing that she also appeared like she was pouting in front of the boy.

"H-hey, uh, did I say something?"

The boy's question snapped the zoning out Miyuki back, who then tried answering in a nervous jumble of words before she could think straight: "N-no, w-well, you did say something but n-not anything baaaad, it's j-just that-" the boy just calmly placed his hand on her shoulder, a small smile on his face as he looked at the nervous Miyuki in her eyes.

"I never got your name. Tell me, what is it?"

"I-i-iiiits S-Sekken! Sekken Miyuki-" she would frantically answer in a red-faced blush. When this boy she met looked at her in the eyes, it began to remind her of that first day. The first time she met Erin Seijo, Seijo made her feel like she was falling apart at the seams when they talked. Miyuki wasn't blushing because she was infatuated with him, rather because she was nervous about him and that is how she reacts when she suffers from discomfort. Something didn't feel right to her, but she couldn't place her finger on what, but she needed space to think and breathe. To escape him and his gaze, Miyuki then made her way to the shelter's door.

"Wait, wait! Sekken, where are you going?!"

"I-i'm uh- going to get some air! Air, yeah, I'm gonna go outside for a little bit!". Before the boy could offer her his company, she was already at the door, leaving without another word spoken.

Freedom at last...

-.-

At the time she went outside, it was the morning rush hour, so the sidewalks were just as crowded as they were last evening. Miyuki had hoped to do her daily exercises, but to even get to a free space to do her stretches, the teen had to throw her back against the shelter's walls and scoot by until she could reach the neighboring alleyways. Those alleys still had a good amount of people in it, but not as nearly as congested as the sidewalks were.

("This sucks... there is nowhere I can work out in private!) She looked down the damp, dark, and cold alleys. Just the sight of it gave her goosebumps that traveled down her spine. Miyuki recalls the last evening when those robbers broke a shop's windows and ran off. With mass crowding comes mass crime; and alleyways were notorious spots in New Tako for people to get jumped, robbed, or even disappear and never be seen again.

Miyuki slowly dragged a foot forward to the corner of the alley, continuing to look deeper inside. Then, she dragged another foot forward. Her third step took a bit less time to drag then the others, then her fourth was done at a normal pace. Soon enough, she was halfway down the alleyway.

The first year tried to keep her head low so she didn't draw any attention. No matter if she tried to draw attention away from herself or not, the jittery feeling of being an exhibit all came the same.

Voices of two began to chime a short distance beside her. Snickering, laughing, teasing, and other not-so-pleasant ideas were casually being tossed by these two.

"Wow, they really left you like that?"

"Talk about cowardly, they're too scared of us."

"I can't wait to kick the snot out of 'em! I wonder where they're hiding. They can't keep from us forever, right?"

Miyuki's feet lifted off of the ground the moment she heard those voices, suddenly making a sprint down the alleyway. The two wouldn't not acknowledge the sound of running, so they turned their head towards Miyuki's general direction. Fortunately for her however, she was lucky enough to find an empty dumpster bin to jump inside so she would disappear from their line of sight.

"Huh? What was that?"

"Beats me. Maybe it's them, wanna take a look?"

"Nah, it isn't worth it. Besides, Sora wants us to continue training. We shouldn't get distracted."

The two then turned around and began to slowly walk away. The only way Miyuki would truly know that they had left would be by opening the lid to the large trash bin and looking out. Carefully, she would lift the lid and take a peek outside...

("Phew... they're gone.") she sighed with relief before throwing open the lid.

("SHIT!") Miyuki cursed to herself, inhaling sharply through her teeth when she took the sight of one of the two friends who hadn't fully left the scene. That very person locked eyes with her before giving a sly smirk, then turned back around and quickly headed inside the homeless shelter.

Miyuki felt like her heart had stopped. How could she be so careless?! Now she knew she was about to be in huge trouble. There was no way around it, she was dead! ("Curse me and my poor stealth abilities. How did I seriously think hiding in a big, stinky, old, and metallic dumpster would be a good idea?! I didn't think that one through...") in a panic, Miyuki then hopped out of the bin then frantically running away from the shelter. There was no end destination in her mind, she just needed to escape from whatever fate that was waiting for her. Around the corner she went, nearly reaching the exit of the alley and to into the city...

"Ayyyy, Slippy! Where are you going?" she would suddenly hear. One of the two people from earlier then dropped from the top of one of the neighboring buildings and swiftly landing onto their feet. Sekken's eyes widened with intimidation, backing away slowly from the person.

"U-uuuuuh, t-to the city!" Miyuki replied, then instantly turned around and made a dash for another exit to the alleyway. Waiting for her at that exit would be the other one of the two, who looked at her like she had said something strange. Sekken froze dead in her tracks with all options of escape taken from her.

"Actually, it's a town, not a city." the second one corrected with a soft chuckle, then began to slowly pace towards Miyuki with a sinister grin growing on his face.

"R-riiiiight, my baaaad. You see, I-I gotta go somewhere and–" Miyuki would start, though her very apparent lie got interrupted by the first guy who was now standing behind her.

"What were you hiding in the trash can for, huh?"

"Uhhhhhh....."

"Eavesdroppin' on us? That's not very smart, is it?" the second guy said while cracking his knuckles, then slowly approached Miyuki from the front.

"I-I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO AND I GOT SCARED AND--AND--AND-" Miyuki yelled in a frantic panic. By now she was just pulling strings for words to say so she could save herself from a beat down... even if she knew saving herself, let alone people, was something she had no luck in.

"Yeesh chief, you really scared 'er good. I always knew you was' an intimidating one" the first guy snorted with a small laugh. The first guy's sinister smirk then eased off into... a friendly smile? The boy rested his hand on Miyuki's shoulder and calmly explaining: "Boss wants to talk to you. He's in a pretty good mood, so you're lucky I'm not gonna be the one to sending you into the wall." He woud then spin around, and then gesturing to the direction of the homeless shelter. "But I do have permission to if ya don't oblige... and that's not gonna be pretty. So, After you, my lady."

"...j-just call me Sekken..." Miyuki despairingly mumbled, her arms hung limply as she was escorted to the shelter. ("Boss? Shelter? No... could it be?")