The Devil's Feather (Book One in the Clock Tower Duology)

The Clock Strikes Midnight

Song Information:

This will make more sense the more you read the story.

~Halsey Megamix- Badlands~

Haunting: Natalya Braginskaya

Ghost: Jackson Phillips

Colors: Arthur Kirkland

New Americana: Kyoko Sakura

Strange Love: MacKinnon Carlett

Coming Down: Pia Undo

Gasoline: Yuuri Asuka

Castle: Sayaka Miki

I Walk the Line: Feliciano Vargas

Drive: Niko Kanna/Alfred Jones

Young God: Madoka Kaname/Nagisa Momoe

Hurricane: Sydney Scarlett

Control: Homura Akemi

Hold Me Down: Kirika Kure

Roman Holiday: Oriko Mikuni

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Now, onto the story 

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"If you stare long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."

-Friedrich Nietzsche

The pitch black feather twirled around in the wind, it was the early dawn. The stars still shone brightly in the sky, and under the horizon was the ever so slightest mark of gold, signaling the day would start shortly.

However, Kiku was awake at the time, listening to music on his headphones. While everyone else slept soundly in their warm beds, the sleep-deprived Kiku was lying restlessly, tossing and turning through the covers, letting his brain interpret every beat and note.

"This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race!"

He hummed the song quietly. Thanks to his close American friend Alfred, Kiku had recently gotten into American music. Kiku, like most people in Japan, was multilingual, and understood each word perfectly, so he didn't have to go through an English class just to understand one song he listened to.

He sighed, and just gave up on trying to get a single moment of sleep. He tore off the covers, about to change the song, but something caught his eye.

"Huh?" He said to himself as he took a closer look, squinting his amber eyes. He wasn't sure what he saw out the window, but he wanted to figure out what it was. He managed to open the window and he removed his headphones. The only feature he remembered on the thing he saw was a sky blue top, and after searching the scene to locate it, he saw it again, and gasped.

It was a young girl with short blue hair, a bag slung over her shoulder. She was wearing the Mitakihara Middle School uniform, she seemed really familiar. Sure, Kiku had seen countless girls wearing the beige uniform frolicking around during the day, but this one stood out. What was she doing out so late?

Kiku, being a boy of nineteen, had recently graduated high school and was staying with his family for a week or so before he would depart to America to visit his friends there. He had no reason to worry about academics, but he sure was worrying for this girl. What was she doing, why was she here in the time where any kidnapper could strike?

Kiku whistled, trying to get her attention. She continued walking down the street, bowing her colorful head. Is she sad? Kiku thought. Maybe he should actually call out to her, so he cleared his throat and whisper-yelled, "Hey! Everything okay?"