[Hayata Saotome Arc 1] Don’t go crawling into places like that anymore.

The nights in this city are just too loud for these ears.

Music playing from every corner, people chatting on the street, the clatter of discarded cans rolling on the pavement.

And yet, I can still hear it—a faint, faint little voice.

The sound of something struggling, tucked in the narrow space behind a dimly lit vending machine.

“You got yourself stuck in there, huh?”

Muttering, “Here we go,” I gently pulled the source of the voice out.

“Don’t go crawling into places like that anymore.”

After releasing the cat, Hayata Saotome quietly took off his earmuffs and crouched down, tuning in.

In the stillness of the night, he focused—catching each subtle sound as if plucking them out of the city’s fabric, one by one.

The air’s still clear. I can hear pretty far tonight.

But maybe winter’s coming to an end.

I’ve done this so many times, again and again.

As if something were calling me.

But the first time I ever really did something… that was on that day.

“…Maybe I can do something too!”

He stood up, stretched with a big “Mmmmmm!” and started walking, his steps lighter than before.

Even these noisy nights…

He felt like he could grow to like them—just a little.

—A few days earlier.

“Look, you hanging around all the time is a bit of a problem, okay?”

That was the day he got brushed off with a bothered look at the police station reception desk.