Chapter 1-1: Nick of Time
One day in Night Raven College, Deuce is running down the Exterior Hallway in a panic.
Deuce continues running as he cries out, "I'm LATE! Or at least I WILL be if I don't hurry. Not good! Not good at all! I'm never gonna make the morning homeroom in time! I can kiss my honor student dreams goodbye for sure…" But soon notices he's not the only one who's running late, "Huh?"
What he sees are Briar and the others, running down the hall as well.
"Oh it's Briar and the others!" Deuce says.
"Yo, Deuce!" Deuce says.
"Morning!" Briar says.
"Morning! I wish we could've had a nice, leisurely chat in the classroom, but here we are," Deuce says.
"Yeah. We're running late as well," Tanzanite says.
Trinket agrees.
"I see you all are flirting with tardiness as well. Overslept?" Deuce asks.
"Yeah. We all somehow overslept a bit," Briar says.
"Mainly Gim overslept," Jasper says.
"Nothin' like a good night's sleep to cure what ails ya, myahaha!" Grim says.
"I overslept as well. Pretty shameful behavior for an honor student…" Deuce says.
"Eh, don't worry. I've never thought of you as an honor student," Grim says.
"Ugh…" Deuce responds, annoyed,
"Grim, that's not nice," Sereia says.
"Can we worry about that later?" Briar asks.
"You're right! We don't have time for this! Homeroom is about to start!" Deuce says.
"We'll make it if we all run together," Jasper says.
"Then let's hurry!" Briar says.
With that, everyone runs down the hall to get to their homeroom.
Sometime later, it's lunch, Deuce is now in the cafeteria, getting something to eat.
"Whew... I've definitely worked up an appetite after running around all morning," Deuce says, exhausted from the morning run.
Soon, Epel calls out, "Deuce! Care to eat lunch with us?"
"Sure, why not," Deuce says, and walks to the table to see the others, "I see Briar, Grim, Sereia, Tanzanite, Jasper, Trinket, and Ortho are with you as well."
"Yes, we ran into each other in the hall," Epel says.
Then Ortho says, "Jasper, Tanzanite, Grim, and I were chatting about a comic that's really popular right now. We thought Epel Felmier might enjoy it too, so we joined up with him."
"That reminds me, Briar mentioned that you overslept this morning and were late to class?" Epel replies.
"A-actually I made it in the nick of time!" Deuce says.
"Crewel walked in five seconds after we did. The look on his face gave me chills…" Grim says, and shivers in response.
"He was really scary," Sereia says.
"Oof, I don't even want to imagine it," Epel says.
Then Ortho asks, "Why would you oversleep? School starts at the same time every day. All you have to do is back calculate based on how long it takes you to get to class, and that's when you wake up."
"I'm aware, thanks," Deuce says, annoyed. He then says, "Thing is, I didn't get to sleep on time last night."
"You slept late?" Briar questions.
"Hittin' the books?" Grim questions before he laughs it off, "AS IF! What were ya doin'?"
"I was on the phone with my mom," Deuce says.
"Your mom," Jasper questions.
"Yeah. I'm heading home to Clock Town this Sunday, so we had a lot to talk about," Deuce says.
"Clock Town?" Sereia questions.
"That's a small town in the south of the Queendom of Roses, right?" Ortho asks.
"It must have been hard to get permission to go. What's happening on Sunday?" Epel asks.
"It's White Rabbit Fest," Deuce says.
"The what?" Jasper questions.
"White Rabbit Fest?" Briar questions.
"Did you say fest?!" Grim asks, getting excited.
"Calm down. It's not really a big deal. Just a bit of a fun thing for the locals. It's been years since the last time I went, but after Mom reached out… I decided it's been long enough," Deuce says.
"Fest? Event? FUN? There's bound to be tons of good grub!" Grim shouts in excitement.
"Sure. The local businesses set up stalls, and the restaurants make special food," Deuce says.
And Grim quickly asks, "I wanna go! Take me with you, Deuce!"
"Grim, don't ask that out of the blue," Briar calmly says.
"He'll never agree to that. It'd be too much of a hassle," Epel says.
But then Deuce says, "Okay."
"Wait, really?!" Epel asks, shocked.
"Sure! It's a festival, so the more the merrier, as my mom would say. You're absolutely welcome to come with, Grim," Deuce says.
This has Grim excited, "Aw yeah, sweet!"
Then Deuce turns to the others, "What about you guys?"
"I don't mind. It sounds," Jasper says.
"Me too," Tanzanite says.
"Us too," Sereia says.
Trinket tinks.
"Are you okay with it?" Briar asks.
"Of course! C'mon, no need to walk on eggshells," Deuce answers.
Briar then smiles, "I'll be happy to go. It will be nice to get to visit another town here."
"I'd love to come!" Epel says.
"Me too. Going to a festival with school friends sounds just like what a normal student would do!" Ortho says.
"I've heard a lot about the fest from my relatives who live near Clock Town. I always hoped I'd get the chance to go," Epel says.
"Whoa, I didn't know that! But maybe that's on me for never really mentioning my hometown before. Anyway, I'll let Mom know I'm bringing eight friends with me," Deuce says.
Suddenly, Silver speaks up from behind Deuce, "Deuce."
Deuce yelps, "Whoa!" and turns around to see Silver, "Wh-where'd you come from?!"
Deuce calms himself and says, "H-hi there, Silver. What's up?"
"I couldn't help but overhear…" Silver says.
Deuce quickly apologizes, "Oh, sorry! Were we being too loud?"
But Silver says, "No, it's not that. I have a request. Would you mind bringing back an alarm clock for me?
"...An alarm clock?" Everyone replies, confused.