"Towa. I swear. You're going to get us all killed someday!" Noa sighed as Towa shoved the gym doors wide open with a big BANG!

"Whaaaat? I was just trying to assert dominance!" Towa's arms were still outstretched in a T-pose.

"You also gave away our element of surprise," Ibuki deadpanned, smirking slightly.

"Well, look, nobody else is even here yet!" Towa gestured to the empty room. Despite the message they received, commanding them to come to the gym, there was no one else there.

"Or so it appears." Ibuki wasn't convinced, crossing her arms and shaking her head. If someone has the power to bring us all here, to this unfamiliar location, then surely they have the power to hide from us for as long as they want.

"To be fair, that's what we get for trusting the girl who trusted a crepe wrapper," Noa deadpanned.

Just as the other units before them, Photon woke in separate rooms in the same wing of the school. They slowly coalesced in the cafeteria where Towa was already seated, chomping into a giant crepe, the wrapper discarded to the side. The wrapper was what contained the message commanding them to go to the gym.

"And that crepe totally could've been poisoned!" Noa cried, but Towa shrugged.

"I was hungry!" she whined through her mouthful of crepe.

After much deliberation, and failing to find any other way out, the unit agreed to go to the gym. Ibuki took the lead, wishing to protect her unit-mates from any potential harm that could befall them. The moment they reached the large double doors, however, Towa shoved Ibuki aside.

"Outta my way, Runner, let the Ultimate Idol take this!" She threw the doors open herself, throwing any chance they had at stealth out the window.

"Uhhh, yeah… It's totally not like you don't have an Ultimate Theatre Actress right here?" Noa gestured to herself.

"Yeah, but I'm the more captivating, charismatic, charming one!" Towa puffed out her chest and grinned.

"Plays are far more emotionally dynamic than idol shows!" Noa looked offended that Towa would even dare speak them in the same breath.

"Oh, blah, blah, blah, Fukushakespeare!" Towa held up a hand, opening and closing her fingers, mimicking Noa. "You can make people cry at the drop of a hat, but I can bring anyone together with my vast knowledge of idol culture and techniques!"

"Uh… um… uhh… c-c-can't we perhaps… combine the two? I can see that both approaches have merit…" Saki struggled to meet their eyes. As soft as her voice was, the other two instantly shut up. Ibuki smiled encouragingly at Saki while Towa smiled embarrassedly. Noa, meanwhile, looked seconds away from swooning, all of her anger instantaneously changed into affection.

"Oh, Saki, you're right! Of course, you're right! We shouldn't fight! And you, our Ultimate Astronomer, will be Polaris, brighter than Sirius, and—!"

"Noa," Ibuki whispered out of the corner of her mouth. "You're scaring her."

Noa shut up immediately while Towa snickered under her breath. "Dumbass." Ibuki shot her a death glare, and so did Noa, but Noa managed to restrain herself from offering up a witty comeback, focusing on Saki instead. She was gazing up at the gym's shadowy rafters now. Just as Noa began to wonder what was going on inside her head, her silver eyes went wide and she cried out in horror, pointing up.

"What is that?!" she yelped. Ibuki and Towa's heads jerked up and Towa and Noa leapt into one another's arms, cowering behind Ibuki.

"What? What is it? What did you see, Saki?" Ibuki commanded, scowling up at the ceiling.

"This… wispy, silvery-gray color…!" Saki gasped.

"WOAHMYGOD!" Towa and Noa howled, and even Ibuki jumped back, as a pair of feet suddenly dropped down over the stage in front of them at the far end of the gym. Then legs. Then a torso. Then…

"Yuka?!" Ibuki recognized her first. Something red, black, and white was wrapped around her mouth, stifling her screams as she thrashed.

The gym door banged open a second later, and the rest of Peaky and Hapiara came rushing in. "YUKA!"

"Wait … Photon?!"

"Hang on, what are you guys doing here?"

"What are YOU guys doing here?!"

"Oh my God, Yuka!"

Suddenly, the rope thing wrapped around her mouth ripped itself away. She didn't even have time to scream as she plummeted towards the stage. It was only thanks to the Ultimate Runner's lightning reflexes and powerful legs that she was able to lunge all the way across the gym and catch Yuka seconds before she collided with the stage. She clung to the front of Ibuki's shirt as if it was a lifeline.

"Thank you, Ibuki! Thank you!" she gasped, shaking violently.

"What was that thing?" Ibuki was panting too. Every head in the room peered into the shadowy rafters. The tense silence seemed to last for an eternity, then a high-pitched, gender-ambiguous voice sang out from the darkness above.

"Ultimaaaates… ASSEMBLE! The others should be here shortly! Feel free to hang tight until they arrive! Nyahahaha!" And there it was again, the silvery gray-white haze. The color was every bit as unnatural and unsettling as the laugh that produced it. Saki shivered.

When Noa noticed, she was quick to wrap her arms around the smaller, younger girl. "Don't worry, Saki! I'll protect you!" she promised.

"Hey! What about me?!" Towa crossed her arms and pouted.

"You're still standing behind me, aren't you?" Noa shot back. Towa chuckled sheepishly and looked away, scratching her face.

Saki's eyes were still glued to the ceiling. Others…?