Divas of the Reef

Inkopolis Bay

"Aaaaalright! Listen up, squidkids. This is a veeeerry important announcement!"

"Huh? What is it, Riva?"

"We've thought of good themes for tonight's Splatfest!"

"Cool! What's the theme?"

"Cue the teleprompter, Lumi!"

"Our final Splatfest, Riva (woo!) or Lumi! (ehh.)"

"Well, isn't that disappointing."

"Whatever! The fun has to end SOMETIME."

"Anyways. Pick a team shortly after this announcement."

Cosmo sat on a metal chair writing to her friend, Rikka, who lived back in Inkopolis Square.

Dear Rikka,

It's me, Cosmo, from Inkopolis Bay. CoralStar just announced our final Splatfest. I know, it's sad. But you had your final Splatfest a while ago! Anyways, bring me a Seanwich from the Square! Inkmail it over to Riva's apartment and tell her it's from me. Actually, while you're at it, inkmail one to me, too!

~ Much love,
Cosmo

Cosmo sighed as she slid the note into the envelope. A squid stepped over.

"Hey, Kao. Mind sending this to Rikka again?"

Kao toddled over, snatched the envelope, and squid-jumped away. Cosmo did a little wave before sighing in disappointment at Riva and Lumi.

They were chatting as usual, with Riva's legs crossed and her on a stool, and Lumi on a blue beanie.

But something was off about them.

Instead of laughing or having their heads bounce around, CoralStar only gave off a slight nod.

Cosmo stood up and walked over to the barrier that split CoralStar and her fans off.

She could make out a few words.

Splatfest, retire, split, Salmonia, before, Aiva...

Cosmo could understand the first three words.
But what about the last two? What was Salmonia? What happened to them?

And... who was Aiva?

Cosmo sat down on a metal chair near the barrier and pressed her fingers on her head, thinking about the words that poked into her mind.

"Oh no... Riva and Lumi will retire after the last Splatfest! One of them will split apart and live in Salmonia!"

Cosmo slumped down to face the table.

"What does this mean? Who's Aiva?!" Cosmo groaned from the table.

Cosmo heard some chuckling coming from CoralStar.

"Phewww.... it's all a joke." Cosmo sighed.

"EEEEEEEEE!"

Cosmo saw an orange haired squid helplessy watch as her lime-tentacled squid was squidnapped!

Cosmo dashed over to the orange squid. "Did you see that? Someone just took my friend!"

"I'll get her back! Don't worry." Cosmo said as she sped over to the squidnapper.

"You're late for work!" the squidnapper huffed. "I had to drag you here."

"What?! But I don't work here! I work with the jellyfish at Oarfish Cafe!" the squid sobbed.

"Rikka, I thought you were kicked out for eating the Galactic Nyabars." the squidnapper replied.

"No I wasn't! That was Aiva!" Rikka yelled.

"Wait a minute... Rikka?!" Cosmo revealed herself through the shadows of the store.

"Cosmo?!" Rikka screamed. "But I thought-"

"You're at Inkopolis Bay, Rikka." the squidnapper retorted.

"Oh, sorry. This is Jizu, the owner of Fishvalley Florist in Inkopolis Island." Rikka explained. "She and I clearly don't belong here."

"Oh yeah! Who's Aiva?" Cosmo asked.

Rikka and Jizu widened their eyes in shock. "Uhh... she used to work at Oarfish Cafe before being kicked out for eating the Galactic Nyabars." Jizu replied.

"We don't know what happened to her." Rikka sighed. "But Aiva probably didn't mean to eat them. She was probably framed."

"I'll go outside and tell my friend I'm okay." Rikka replied, heading out the door. "Hey- she's gone!"

Cosmo followed outside and stared across the Bay, to see that Lumi had disappeared too!

"Lumi's gone too!"

"Lumi?! From CoralStar?" Jizu replied.

The beanie was empty.