The man crouched down against the oak tree, knees touching the long grass, and put a chubby finger on his earpiece. Upon activating the device, it released a crackle before his boss's voice buzzed into hearing.

"What? Did you find something useful this time, you worthless pig?" Despite the sound quality of the machinery being quite low in lieu of its low price, the harsh and brusque nature of the booming voice from the other side was all too clear.

"I believe so boss." He heard his own voice squeak. "I found Y/N." Technically, he found someone who was being called Y/N, as he recalled the purple-haired boy using that name to refer to the girl he was talking to. He also knew that Y/N was a reporter and their discussion earlier was about writing an article, indicating that the girl was also a reporter.

Silence followed until his boss whispered, almost in disbelief. "You...someone like you actually found Y/N L/N?" Another silence arose before bellowing laughter rung through the man's head. "YOU?! FATSO BOB?! Ahhh, this is priceless!"

Although he had only worked for two months so far under his boss, Wellington Gray, Bob had already gotten used to the incessant fat jokes that had nothing to do with his capability as a worker. In fact, the connotations behind such scathing remarks were nowhere near synonymous to his resourcefulness and hard-working attitude. He could say with full confidence that he was more dedicated to finishing a given job compared to any of his fellow co-workers.

These would have been admirable traits if it weren't for his current occupation as a debt collector.

With his laughter dying down to a few chuckles, Wellington spoke again. "Alright alright, I apologise." Like hell you mean that, asshole. "Describe what she looks like and I'll get on to her too."

Bob shifted his heavy body and peeked from the side of the oak tree to where he last saw the pair going. He scanned the area yet could not find a trace of where you had headed. Returning to his original position, he sighed.

"I remember a few details so I hope it's enough. Uhh...she wore a light orange dress that reached about an inch above her knees under her beige coat, which had its buttons undone. She wore thick dark orange stockings and uhm...a brown scarf around her neck which looked quite warm and snug. She also had black boots and I'm pretty sure she had a woollen beret tilted to the side-"

"I don't need a description that sounds like it came from the first chapter of some stupid romance story. What I was asking for- wait did you say a woollen beret?"

"Mmm yes, boss."

Another period of silence, where Bob could merely hear his own loud breathing through his nose and his boss's quieter breaths through his earpiece.

The interlude of peace was broken by Wellington's shrieks.

"WHAT?! That girl with the silly beret is Y/N L/N?" Bob cringed at the high-pitched feedback from his earpiece that ensued after his boss's shouts. "Bob, you don't understand. She was right next to me on the train. She was the bitch who took the coin from me. It was because of her that I experienced so much fucking pain. When I met her again, it almost seemed like she would break into a chase after me. I...I can't believe that, even for a moment, I was scared of that brat's sister! Tch, if only I had a closer look at her face, then I would've recognised her from the photos I found in her room."

Bob didn't know what else to say, except for the fact that he felt a smidgen of admiration and pity for a girl who could even make his boss feel fear. Admiration because his boss hardly felt fear. Pity because he knew that when his boss was like this, in spite of Wellington's usually poised self, he would morph into something inhuman. Something that can be capable of atrocities unimaginable.

Already, their group had done something diabolical. Although, it was Bob's co-workers who physically had done the deed after Bob and his boss left Waverley station. Bob was more than glad to have not been there in person to observe the eyes of the three tied-up people go red with tears. To hear the screams and wails muffled by each of their gag's. To see the reflection of his own loving parents and older brother in their glassy orbs.

He could only imagine the stifled cries of Y/N's family in vivid detail. Guilt severed his mind as he bit his lip, gulping down the intense feeling that lodged in his throat.

If not for his desperation in finding work and gathering the money to pay for his ailing father's medicine, he would have much rather killed himself than be in this filthy business. This business which thrived on the torment of countless of individuals, each with their own situations but boiling down to the same problem: money.

"Anyway..." Bob jumped at the return of the sudden booming voice. "...we'll both track her down and snatch her away when no one is looking, ya hear? When we catch her, I'll keep a recording of our log which describes our mission so that we can continue our job even with our lost memories."

Bob hesitated before asking the question that was looming over his head. "What if...they don't have the money right now? Sure we gave them ample time to gather $800,000 but that doesn't mean that....that we should kill them...right boss-"

"-Wait a sec, I'm getting a call from the goons in Y/N's apartment. I'll put you on hold."

A crackle spurred in Bob's ear and was followed by light jazz music. He awkwardly stayed sitting down, listening to the boring soundtrack for a few minutes before he heard his boss's voice again.

"Heh, you know what just happened now?" His voice croaked through huffs and puffs.

"...What?"

"Crash took the gag off the girl's older brother and, according to him, Y/N doesn't even know about the massive debt that he is responsible for! She only knows that her brother had gone bankrupt and came here to write an article about this town, which apparently comes with a hefty paycheck. Even better, her brother was only told that she'd be going to someplace far away and didn't know that she was specifically coming to The 28th Stop. Apparently the mere mention of the town's name caused a priceless reaction. Quite cute, ain't it?"

Crash was one of the most ruthless goons that their debt collecting group hired. Considering his level of brutality and sadistic nature, Bob had a feeling that there was more to merely taking off a gag and gaining information. "Did Crash hurt him in any way?"

"...You don't need to know the details. Though, I did order Crash to slap him hard. Oh boy, the sound of his slap resonating through my earpiece gave me chills."

"Why did you let Crash slap him?"

"...Because the brat called me a cruel and arrogant bastard."

He couldn't be any closer to the truth.

"Anyway, I'll talk to you later. In the meantime, follow Y/N regardless of wherever she goes and whoever she's with. If you do manage to catch her, bring her to me alive."

The line cut, leaving Bob to resume his dreadful task. Sighing, he hoisted himself up with the trunk's support and started trotting towards where he last saw Y/N and that other guy walk off.

"Woah...and I thought the hotel where I met you was super fancy building..." you said as you craned your neck upwards, mouth agape. Your [e/c] eyes admired the vintage front. Large windows were arranged neatly in rows above your head, that revealed bookshelves inside, and between them were serpentine vines.

Asher murmured, "Well...let's see how it is on the inside."

He opened the door and let you in first. Closing it behind him, the smell of old books bombarded his nose from every angle. Instinctively, he lifted his hand and squeezed the bridge of it, blocking the airway from the overwhelming aroma.

"So, Y/N." He cringed at his nasal voice. He sounded like Squidward. "Want to look at the history section first or...?"

His voice quietened when he noticed you weren't listening to him. Rather, your head was tilted upwards as you rotated your body in a circle. Curious, Asher followed your gaze.

A wave of shock struck him just like they had struck gold.

Above their heads were several floors, each holding countless bookshelves and tall piles of books, thick and thin. Most books were held by a person sitting comfortably on a loveseat and some books hung over the edge of the balconies.

Tears welled up and one streamed down his cheek. His eyes were blessed.

Noticing his subtle expression of emotion, you beamed. At least you weren't the only one overly excited by the wistful atmosphere of 'vintage' libraries and older books. The coffee pages, the dusty front cover and the smell.

You coughed, shaking yourself from your weird obsession when something caught the corner of your eye. You lifted your head towards the object's directions and, for the third time that day, your mouth fell ajar.

Hanging on the far wall of the library were two gigantic analogue clocks, both with Roman numerals and the same 'vintage' style. Their thick golden borders were embellished with jewels and strewn with hypnotic patterns. The only differences between them were the time their hands showed, with a small AM or PM box on the bottom, and the date which was shown above each clock.

The right clock was ticking away, showing 6:45 AM and May 27, with the date above it. However, the other one was left unmoving at exactly 12:00 AM and, above it, showed...

...

...

'What?' You furrowed your brows and rubbed your eyes, refocusing on the left clock. Your mouth parted as you tugged on Asher's sleeve.

"Hey Ash, look!"

Catching his attention, you pointed towards the left clock. After a few seconds, his own expression changed to look similar to yours. Taken aback, he blinked profusely and spoke in a voice much louder than what is suited for a library.

"February 30?!"

You strode towards the librarian desk, ringing the bell once. An antique door behind the desk opened, revealing a middle-aged woman whose grimace formed into a sweet smile. Until she looked you and Asher over.

Her thin painted lips instantly fell into a scowl as she subsequently rolling her eyes. "What do you want?"

Ignoring her rude tone, you asked about the two clocks on the wall.

She clicked her tongue. "The left one is incorrect while the right one is...is literally the right one." She giggled softly at her lame pun, her face softening until she realised she was in the presence of two outsiders.

At once, she cleared her throat and returned to her stoic stance. "As far as I know, something happened long ago and now the left clock is like...that. Some say that it shows the time the town is stuck in, considering that it's always night time, but no one can explain the date above it. But it's probably just broken and no one bothered to fix it or change the batteries. Hmm...what does it matter to you anyway?" She narrowed her eyes. "Barely anyone even cares about that thing anymore, including the townspeople. It's nothing important. Now scurry off."

You bit your tongue hard, awaiting the metallic taste that would eventually swirl down your throat.

"Y/N," Asher' voice, surprisingly gentle, reached your ears. You turned around, meeting his gaze as he gestured to back off from the rude lady. Giving the lady a last look, to which she replied with a menacing glare, you reluctantly complied.

As soon as you went over to him, something caught your eye.

You tilted your head to the side to see a row of unoccupied old-fashioned computers against the wall. Each had a thick grey frame around the low-resolution screen and the back of the monitor protruded outwards.

"If this lady isn't going to tell us, we'll just find it out for ourselves," you said in a low voice.

You two walked over to a computer and sat down on wooden chairs, edging closer to the white screen. Your hand reached for the mouse and clicked it, whereby a large window popped up.

'Welcome to the 28th Stop Library', it said in bold letters at the top. You navigated the cursor to the search bar underneath when Asher stopped you.

"Wait a minute, Y/N. Rather than looking through the library database, check if we can use an internet browser."

You moved the cursor to the bottom right corner of the screen, clicking an arrow which revealed that Wi-Fi was indeed available. You hovered over the Wi-Fi symbol and a small textbox appeared.

"'The Glass Kingdom'? What kind of a Wi-Fi name is that?" Asher snickered. "It's stupid."

"Your face is stupid," you murmured, as you found an internet browser and readied your fingers on the ancient keyboard. "Before we look up the clocks, let's see what this 'Glass Kingdom' is."

You typed in the letters and struck the 'Enter' button. You were met with a typical search page.

Almost immediately afterwards, the entire screen's hue tinted to an alarming red as 'CLASSIFIED' blinked across the width.

Asher jolted. "Heh, surprised that a loud beeping sound didn't- oh wait, it's the library."

Panic flourished in your chest as the bright flashes were catching more and more attention from bystanders. The cursor moved wildly around the screen as you clicked in random places until you accidentally clicked the minuscule cross in the corner.

Raging red was replaced with a calmer white as the internet browser closed and the crowd gradually dissipated behind you. You put a hand on your chest and eased your anxious breaths. Turning your eye to Asher without moving your head, you were mildly satisfied to see the flash of horror on his face. Both of you turned around to check if you caught the attention of that librarian, or if anyone had reported you, but thankfully it didn't seem so.

Turning back to the desktop, you both sighed in unison.

Hurriedly, you took out your book and made a note to yourself to look up this 'Glass Kingdom' later. Putting it back in your pocket, you placed your hand on the mouse and commenced your research once again. Finding an interesting fact, you ushered the boy to take a look. Said boy stood up, walked to the spot behind your chair and crouched his head right next to yours as you pointed to an area on the screen.

Absorbed by the continuous influx of new information in the form of text boxes and pictures, you failed to notice the unmoving closeness of the presence behind you and their hazel orbs intently staring into your own from the side. Watching every blink, every rapid movement of your irises and every time they lit up when you found intriguing data.

He couldn't understand why, but looking at your face up close and observing every small detail did something, an unexplainable something, to his heart.

A peculiar yet fleeting sensation.

In the midst of your research, you suddenly notice the warm puffs of air on your cheek. You turned around to see Asher being so close to you and staring into your eyes. Even now as you looked at him, he seemed to be in a daze. You snapped your fingers over his nose and he jumped out of his stupor, blinking rapidly until his gaze focused on you, once again. This time, with a bit more consciousness.

"I was being a creep again, right?"

"Weren't you always a creep from the beginning?" You returned your attention to the computer, furiously scribbling down notes.

"...Sorry, I...I didn't know what got into me."

"No no, it's quite alright," you said, distracted by the bright screen.

Asher bit his lip harder. Why weren't you getting it? Wasn't it bothering you too? Was it only him who had such an odd feeling in his mid-section right now? Why don't you seem affected? He leaned closer to check you over, for any change in body language, but to no avail.

The image of your face up close whirred in his mind, and the sensation returned.

Was this a medical condition?

Was he going to die?

He mentally shook his head. No, this must be a side-effect of coming to this town. Maybe this was a part of getting his supposedly negative feelings out of his system. But if it were that, then Y/N wouldn't be as composed as he was acting now. She couldn't be that good at hiding it, could she?

'No, don't stress Asher, it's nothing. It's nothing. Snap out of it.'

"Ah! Look over here." Your mouth stretched into a dazzling smile as you pointed to the screen once again. "I found an obscure and slightly suspicious page which talks about magic and the town's origins. I'll put this down in case we don't find a more reliable looking source. Don't know whether it's legitimate, but at least it's something, eh?"

"..."

That lost expression again. You blinked and decided not to question him further on that matter. "I'll read it out to you-"

At that moment, you heard a gruff "SHH!". You accordingly lowered your voice to a soft whisper. "Hmm, maybe it's better if I write this down in summaries and read it out later."

'Or you could print it, Einstein.' Seeing your affinity with writing in your notebook made him fought back the temptation to retort.

"In the meantime, Ash, you can find relevant books and take notes. Or perhaps, if we're lucky, borrow them out."

Asher nodded. Heaving himself upright, he stretched the appendages above his head and walked towards the nearest aisle of books.

After spending a good two hours going through each shelf, and distracting himself from thoughts of you, he had managed to collect a pile of books in his arms that almost reached his head. From their titles, most were recounts of life in town decades ago, biographies of the town's Founder and gossip magazines about Gael and his family. Asher was hesitant about collecting the last type of book. However, he relented in the end since they were an important resource which communicated the townspeople's opinion of the authoritative figures.

"Steady, Asher." His legs wobbled, the weight of the pile almost unbearable. Scanning a new aisle of books, he spotted one that looked mildly interesting and carefully reached an arm towards its spine. He grabbed onto it and slowly pulled it out to half its width until he heard a dull thud.

Flinching, he manoeuvered his body to see that he had knocked over another book, which now laid on the ground. He tightened his grip on the books in his arms and crouched down. He squinted and, after skimming over its title, his breath hitched.

'Enigma 28: A Guide to Spells, Summoning and Other Uses of Black Magic'