"Find anything good, Toka?" Mana called out over her shoulder, twirling her megaphone around her fingers, a nervous habit. Or rather, as she would say, pent up energy. She wasn't nervous! She just needed something to do! She wasn't made for the quiet life, that was why she was the Ultimate Announcer, after all. Lucky for her, her fellow DJ was a little more levelheaded, quiet, and calm.

"W-well, that K1-B0 fellow has been in close contact with me. It sounds as though his Killing Game has access to the Neo World Program, or at least part of it," Toka replied, eyes glued to her laptop, the light reflecting off her glasses and turning them pure white.

Thank God Shano isn't here, the Ultimate Announcer thought dryly as she watched Toka's fingers fly across the keyboard. Despite being the producer of Photon Maiden—a DJ unit with a spacey, futuristic aesthetic—their poor, beloved backup vocalist and dancer was surprisingly bad with technology. She's like a boomer grandma that way, hehe! No doubt, that's why she and Airi are holding down the fort elsewhere…

What a long and storied history the quartet had. Feels like it was a lifetime ago… Were we once students of this academy too?

Yes they were, the Ultimate Vocalist, the Ultimate Hydrologist, the Ultimate Announcer, and the Ultimate Producer. And Mana remembered classmates like Kyosuke Munakata, Chisa Yukizome, and Juzo Sakakura. From one group of four, to two groups of two, back to one group of four, back to two groups of two. Although, slightly remixed this time, Mana chuckled to herself.

They were attacking on two fronts, technology being the first and foremost, and that was exactly why Shano wasn't part of their equation. It was a task better left to the two DJs and one VJ of the unit, Toka and Mana.

"Oh! Oops…" As if tempting fate, as Toka shifted in her seat, still typing furiously, her elbow bumped the water glass sitting beside her.

"Toka Takao!" Mana lunged and stopped the glass from falling off the table, but she was not quick enough to prevent some of it from spilling.

"S-sorry," Toka grinned sheepishly, the barest blush spreading across her pale face.

"You're so absentminded sometimes!" Mana sighed and clicked her tongue, shaking her head chidingly. But the smile on her face and the playful, affectionate tone in her voice made her true opinions clear. If anything, Toka was the opposite of absentminded (sometimes). She was brilliant, clever, sharp as a whip, and equally razor-focused… which sometimes meant she lacked in other areas.

When she wasn't too busy balancing communications with the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, which had gone under after Hope's Peak, she was also in charge of purifying the water supply, not just to the academies, but the surrounding areas as well. She wasn't the Ultimate Hydrologist for nothing, after all. Without her, their quartet would've never survived the weeks-long blockade inside the Hope's Peak staff building! Though eventually, they managed to bust and sneak their way out, Shano and Airi headed off together while Toka and Mana remained.

"Though, you'll want to work on your water waste," Mana teased, but Toka never got the chance to reply before her laptop began shrilling.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! "Wh-what?! But none of the water got on the laptop, did it?" Mana fretted, nearly dropping the water glass again.

"N-no, it's… K1-B0!"

"H-hello! Attention! Attention! Could I please have your attention?"

"Yes, K1-B0, yes, we hear you!" Toka's razor-sharp focus became even sharper, and so did her expression.

"Miu Iruma has given me some of the source coding for the Neo World Program. I do not know if it will be beneficial to your cause, but…"

"No, K1-B0, it's wonderful!" Toka's glasses flashed as she raised her head. "Send it over, quick!" Hydrology was not electricity, but perfectionist Toka was working double duty in the absence of countless other staff and teachers of Hope's Peak.

The connection and wi-fi across all the academies, including the campus in America, was spotty. But the Neo World Program's software might've been powerful enough to restore it all. The only problem, it was a highly exclusive network. There was no way around or through the firewalls, they simply needed part of the access code. If they could replicate that and send it out like a virus, they could restore power and internet to countless locations. They could override the countless hijackings the Tragedy had brought fourth, at long, long last!

"Sending it over now, ma'am," K1-B0 said politely, eyes starting to glow.

What a nice boy, Toka thought with a small smile. It pained her to think of the situation he and his classmates were in, though she was infinitely relieved that he, at least, was able to reach out to them through what little Hope's Peak wi-fi there was left.

"Woah! That's so COOL!" Mana gasped at his glowing eyes. "Can you do other tricks?!"

"Tricks?" K1-B0's voice box tightened. "Ms. Kase, was that a robophobic remark?"

But for a second time, before anyone could utter a reply, Toka's laptop sparked again.

"More water troubles?" Mana sighed in exasperation, but this time, the lights of the room went out as well.

"What's happen—?" K1-B0 was cut off midsentence. The next time the lights came on, Toka's laptop did not.

Someone hid behind the other side of the screen. I am sorry, but trust me, it is all part of the plan. I could not allow Its' plans to continue any longer.

To some degree, it was some of the water from Toka's glass that caused her laptop to short-circuit, but someone else was messing with the control board. Time to do the dive, she thought sardonically, then she, too, took leave of Toka's fried laptop.

ooo

"Shano…"

"What?"

"Shano."

"What?"

Their voices switched. In the first exchange, Airi's was full of compassion and empathy, and Shano spoke as if she did not understand, faced away from the Ultimate Voice Teacher, staring at the sun setting over the sea. But Airi wasn't the Ultimate Voice Teacher for nothing. In her younger days, she was just an Ultimate Vocalist, but a massive life change happened for her during the final finals, and she found her Talent better suited towards teaching than merely singing (though of course, in order to be a good voice teacher, one had to be a good singer first).

Part of being a teacher meant that she had to be good with people, even those who hid behind stoicism and logic like Shano. And so, in the second exchange, her tone was sharper, more commanding, and even Shano Himegami could not hide behind feigned ignorance forever.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"You miss her…"

Shano's back and shoulders stiffened, and Airi caught it. How long had it been since their beloved pupils vanished off the face of the earth? For Shano, it was the unit she helped create, Photon Maiden. In a way, they were like her children, her successors, a new version of the old Call of Artemis, representing everything Shano had lost when her original DJ unit disbanded. Now Photon was lost as well.

For Airi, it was Kyoko and Tsubaki, her favorite vocal students. And although it was a fact none of the rest of her unit wanted to confront—not that Airi blamed them—she was certain that at least some—if not all—of them were dead. And she was not one to beat around the bush about that, even if the others did not wish to hear it. No good teacher lied to their students, and no good friend lied to their equals, at least, that was Airi's creed. And she was no stranger to death either, and not just because of the Tragedy. It was her own personal Tragedy from years ago…

I also do not merely speak out of intuition… There was a reason their unit was called the Call of Artemis, after all. One of their grandest adventures at Hope's Peak, and the very one that helped their unit form and fly, involved communing with the famed Greek goddess herself. Airi was at the heart of it all, with Shano, and she couldn't help but reminisce with a small smile of how scared to death Shano had been when what began as a simple, girlish ritual of fun actually sprung into something real. She'd screeched and tumbled backward away from where the ritual was being held, a goofy and most un-Shano-like behavior. And then there she was, Artemis.

Their connection to her had weakened over the years as the unit disbanded, but in light of the Tragedy, the four staff of Hope's Peak united again once more, and were trying to regain that lost connection to their patron deity.

I do not believe I made contact with her, not yet at least, but I have made contact with someone… A spirit, perhaps? There was someone in particular that Airi had hoped it would be, but she was not sure. But what she was sure of was that Saki Izumo, Ibuki Niijima, and Noa Fukushima… were dead. I did not sense or hear of Towa Hanamaki, or my two students, but… She gazed mournfully at her backup vocalist and dancer.

She could sense the restlessness radiating off of Shano in waves. She was always a woman of thought and action, that was how she'd molded Photon into her image. Perhaps she lacked the futuristic and technological know-how, but she had drive and determination, and she was quite physically strong, and mentally stalwart. She was like a tiger trapped in a cage.

Being trapped on the ruins and remains of the uninhabited Jabberwock Island was not easy for her, but there was no better place to try to summon a deity of the wilds and of nature. There was just far too much going on back at the academy, or even in Towa City, which had been overrun by the so-called Monokubz, Monokitz, and Monokidz. Only Jabberwock was a safe haven enough for their summoning ritual.

There was another island—the closest one to Jabberwock—but it was inhabited, and nearly every islander there worshipped a mysterious other deity named Atua. Dalia Matsuyama, a student both Shano and Airi remembered from Hope's Peak, hailed from that island, alongside another third-year named Angie Yonaga, the Ultimate Artist and leader of the island, as well as the one with the strongest connection to Atua. Out of respect for them, although the island was inhabited, Shano and Airi were not going to try calling Artemis on Atua's holy ground.

"Well, are you ready, shall we get to work, Amano?" Shano's tone was curt, almost demanding, but Airi knew better.

"I miss Aria," she said, casting Shano a sad, knowing look. Shano stiffed again. That was a name she hadn't heard since Call of Artemis disbanded. She, this mysterious Aria, was one of the reasons why, as well as creative and ambition differences between the rest of Coa.

Aria, as her name implied, was a world-famous singer, hailing from America. Airi met her on one of her trips to America, long before Hope's Peak ever reached the star-spangled shores. Aria became like Airi's older sister and mentor, the very same one who inspired Airi to become a vocal teacher in her own right.

But then one day, Aria died, and it was such a crushing blow to Airi that she left the music scene entirely, becoming a bartender at Hope's Peak's biggest café, alongside Ryujin Kofune of the DJ unit LMO. He, too, had suffered from the disbandment of his unit, and it was likewise caused by creative and ambition differences, but this time from someone inside the unit: Sho Mitsuhashi.

Sho had a son whom he also left behind when he left LMO. I know Aria had a daughter. I wish I could've met her… Oh, Artemis, I pray that she is safe, that she is still alive. Perhaps we can meet someday?

No good friend lied to their equals, at least, that was Airi's creed, but not every truth needed to be spoken out loud. She was reluctant to talk about her still-painful past. Perhaps it was hypocritical of her to try to coax the same out of Shano, even though Airi had known the Photon four as well.

"That is why we are summoning her, is it not?" Shano asked, a rare flash of gentleness entering her face and voice. She finally turned away from the setting sun and rested a hand on Airi's arm. For Aria, for Photon, and for the entire world. A bit of… divine intervention. I refuse to believe that it is too late for Photon! We WILL find them and we WILL rescue them! Even if we have to bully a goddess into it to do so.

"Right." Some of Airi's confidence was restored and she gave Shano a determined nod. Let's get it done! It's time to do the dive and plunge right in! They had the entire island to themselves, after all. It was time to make some magic! They had students to locate and rescue! Maybe some of them were gone, but not all, and Airi and Shano weren't going to rest until as many of them were as safe as possible. Including Aria's child…