VS. Special Fire Force Company 5 arc

The arc is the second story arc of the Fire Brigade of Flames series. It follows the confrontation between the 5th and 8th Special Fire Brigades. The arc takes place from Chapter 12 to present.

The Confrontation
As Setsuo is restrained and gets taken away by the 5th Brigade, Princess Hibana glares at Shinra, causing him to collapse to the ground. She tells her subordinates to hold him down while she lectures the officer on how to be respectful towards superiors. The woman orders Shinra to lick her shoe as Shinra acknowledges that what he had done was rude and apologises, however, the woman refuses to listen and repeats her order. When a member from the 5th Brigade pushes a passerby away, Shinra, infuriated, is provoked to kick his opponents away with a twirling fire kick. He stands up and challenges the 5th Brigade to a fight as the 8th Special Fire Brigade arrives at the scene. Hibana explains that she wishes to capture the Flame Human for research, to which Akitaru responds by asking whether the information will be shared. Hibana smiles and agrees, though Akitaru sees through her deceit. As a member from the 5th Brigade mocks Akitaru for not having fire manipulation abilities, Shinra and Arthur jump in to pick a fight with the boy, they are stopped. Maki then approaches him and delivers a corkscrew punch straight to his gut, followed by Akitaru thanking his squad. After Hibana confronts Akitaru on the fact that he doesn't have any Ignition Abilities, he claims that no matter what he's opposed with, the flames of his squad will never be extinguished.

After the two squads square off, both Iris and Hibana give one lasting look to each other, and they return to their headquarters. The next day, Shinra meets with Akitaru and Takehisa, and they discuss the roles of what a Fire Officer in a Special Fire Brigade represents, what their goals are, and what their personal goals are as a squad: to investigate each of the individual Special Fire Brigades as they could be hiding information about the Human Body Ignition Phenomenon. Arthur, Maki and Iris later join, and after joking around when they were supposed to be having a meeting, Takehisa shoots Shinra in the leg with a pistol to call attention to the meeting. Thinking he was in immediate danger, Shinra was found surprised when he realised no damage had been done. Takehisa explained his ability as a Second Generation, which allows him to weaken the explosion of a bullet firing from a pistol, and to use this knowledge to remember that the 8th will be facing opponents with never-before-seen and unusual abilities; to keep their wits about them. The Fire Officers and Takehisa then go up to the roof to do some training. While Maki and Arthur spar, Takehisa and Shinra discuss Hibana's background about how she became the Battalion Commander of the 5th Special Fire Brigade. As time went on, and Arthur left exhausted and easily defeated by Maki, she asks for Shinra to spar with, only to find out that he had went back downstairs at the same time Iris was performing her purifying ritual. Shinra walks by and notices Iris in just a wet towel, exciting a large grin on his face. Iris begins to cry as she reminisces about the times she was at The Holy Sol Temple with Hibana.

As Iris puts on a dressing gown, Shinra apologises for disturbing her. Seeming a bit shakier than usual, Shinra asks how she is, in which she puts on a fake smile and ensures him that she is. Shinra lays in bed thinking about Iris as she seems to be having a problem, and asks Arthur's opinion on it, but he doesn't think she's acting any different. Maki bursts through their dorm, telling them both that Iris has gone missing from the church, much to Shinra's confusion. Iris appears at the 5th Special Fire Fighting Industrial Complex wanting to speak to Princess Hibana directly. As she's let in, she tries to tell Hibana what she is doing, referring to the illegal research on Flame Humans, is a violation of the sun god that they both worshiped at The Holy Sol Temple. Hibana doesn't listen, and instead rips off Iris' habit, exclaiming she isn't worthy of wearing it. Gripping Iris' face in her hands and with an intimidating smile, she calls Iris' position as a sister in the Special Fire Brigade trivial and simply a decoration rather than anything important in the organisation, and says that the only real thing that exists in this world are demons, comparing herself to that of one. As she suggests that they use Iris as bait for the 8th to come, Hibana hears a loud noise outside the Industrial Complex. Shinra appears and claims he is going to save Iris.