Hitoshi, Tarou, and Sei spared no pleasantries as they re-entered Ant Town. Although they'd managed to procure the shard of the crystal, as planned, they were only really worried about one thing: Izoku. They all rushed back to the back room, where they'd spoken to the professors earlier. They were hoping that, when they got there, they'd be able to hear news that Izoku had come back to Ant Town or wandered off elsewhere. Anything to tell them he'd managed to get away from the encounter with Shiori's foot.

When they got there, however, they didn't have as much luck as they had hoped for. As soon as they asked about him, Houjo spoke up, confirming that they hadn't seen Izoku at all. “I'm afraid Izoku hasn't come around here since you left.” he said, bringing the bad news to the three students. “We were, honestly, expecting him to come back with the three of you. Why do you ask? Don't tell me a tough guy like that ended up falling behind...” Houjo clearly had no idea what had happened. How could he have? It's not like Zuika's Tree was anywhere close to Ant Town.

The three of them confirmed that Izoku did, indeed, fall behind. They didn't, however, go into the details about what had really happened. Tarou simply said that he fell behind. Sei added onto this. “He said he'd catch up with us. When we didn't run into him again at the tree, we figured that he ended up coming back here.” They all had gloom looks on their faces, which made it impossible to hide what they were thinking, along with the guilt they were feeling from him doing what he did for them.

The details would be coming out, even though they didn't want them to. Houjo continued the conversation, asking them what happened. It seemed they didn't have a choice in the matter of discussing everything that happened. Or, perhaps, they did have a choice. Hitoshi, being the leader, spoke up and kept them all from talking about the incident with Shiori. “It...doesn't matter. He will turn up. He's been at this for much too long to be beaten here, and now.” He kept his optimism high, despite the slim chances that Izoku was actually able to get out of the way from that predicament he'd been in. Still, they had to keep their hopes up. Optimism is almost all they had, in their current plight.

Some of them had to, anyways. Sei didn't share all of the optimism that his friends had. He went back to the topic of the crystal shard they'd just scaled a tree to procure. “...but without him here, this crystal shard may as well be a clod of dirt to us. I don't know what his plan was for using it as a weapon, but I'm sure that none of us have the power to do it.” His negativity was pouring out into the room. Houjo looked to the table for a moment, as if he were in deep thought about what he said. They were lost without Izoku. They didn't know what his plan was. All they knew was that he wanted to turn the crystal shards into some sort of weapon, or weapons.

Houjo thought of an idea, though. Maybe not an idea to solve all of their problems, but something that would be better than standing around Ant Town, moping all day. “Hmm...an old friend of mine once said that when you lose your way, the best thing to do is make a new one. Hitoshi. Earlier, you spoke of trying to get Ayuka's help in this matter. Right?” He was talking about what Hitoshi wanted to do earlier, before they went towards the tree. Hitoshi agreed, but the negativity in the air caused him to sound hopeless, as if they couldn't do anything without having Izoku around.


“Be quiet” he said, shutting Hitoshi and his ranting of negativity up. “If you three were able to get that crystal shard without his aid, there is much more that you can do. I can tell you've grown quite strong since you stumbled into my hut on the beach, lad.” Even if they were stronger, they still didn't know about the plan Izoku had about using the crystal against the Red Queen. Tarou interrupted Houjo to express this concern. Not even he knew how to do what Izoku had suggested.

“The plan is not lost.” said Houjo, seemingly the only optimist in the room. “You're just putting that on hold, for now. Let's focus on what we CAN do, instead of what we can't. You know, what you wanted to set out to do from the start of all this.” Houjo's speech was getting through to Sei, who thought and mentioned Izoku telling them that they had the potential to do great things. Even if Houjo was just some drunk they met at the beach, his words, at the moment, were wise.

Hitoshi hadn't been struck, completely, yet, though. He still had that negativity in his head. He was trying to think logically, viewing the fact that Izoku had fallen behind so easily. “Listen, Houjo-san. I know I talked big, made a big scene about finding the principal and carrying out our mission. I really do, but seeing how easily Izoku fell behind. I just...I'm not sure if...” The negativity was starting to grow, yet again. They had reason to feel that way. They were the size of ants, their friends were towering titanesses who could snuff them out of existence with a brief step, or even a soft wiggling of their toes.

Yet, there was still hope. Houjo interrupted him again, talking about how Izoku would not want to see them moping around. He expressed that Izoku was impressed by the determination the three of them held. After this, the three of them started to think a little straighter, realizing that they did have to go forward. If they didn't keep going, then what did Izoku's plight even mean? If they gave in, their efforts to stop this would be for nothing. The optimism was starting to return, especially inside Hitoshi. Houjo was finally able to get through to them.

“Okay! Our mission, now, is to head into the academy!” said Hitoshi. “There will be massive, stomping feet left and right. We may not survive, but we will get help from them. Somehow, we will!” The others agreed, also sparking the possibility of Umi helping them, if Ayuka can't, and that as long as they still could breathe, they still had a chance for getting their attention and their help.

Houjo shook his head at their rapid improvement. “You kids and your mood swings...Ah well. Be careful out there! You are no use to anyone if you get stuck to the bottom of someone's shoe.” He was right. This was a dangerous situation. Inside the academy, they could easily get stomped to death, have something dropped on them, sat on, eaten, or things they didn't even wish to think about. They acknowledged his concern and set off to stock up on some supplies, and head into the academy...