[Hayata Saotome Arc 4] I heard it

Kaname slowly stepped forward and leaned in toward the uniformed officer.

“Hey, sorry—mind if I borrow him for a second?”

“Huh? Oh, um, sure… Wait, who are you?”

While the officers looked on in confusion, Kaname gave the boy a light tap on the shoulder.

“—Come with me for a sec.”

With his hands still stuffed in his pockets, he led Hayata away with a lazy, relaxed gait.

Hayata hesitated for a moment, but then gave a small nod.

The two of them headed for a corner of the station, toward an old bench placed in front of an unused bulletin board.

Kaname gestured for Hayata to sit, then unfolded a pipe chair that had been leaning against the wall and sat down himself with a click.

“All right. Try telling me again—what you were just saying.”

Though still nervous, Hayata began to speak, carefully choosing his words.

“Um… at the secondhand store… they said next time they’d just go for designer brands… in the middle of the night…”

His words were scattered and hesitant, but he was doing his best to get the story across.

Kaname listened without moving a muscle.

Only his eyes were sharp.

“…So? How do you know all this?”

Hayata fell silent.

After a pause, he mumbled quietly:

“…I heard it.”

“You heard it?”

“…Yeah. From outside. Voices coming from inside the building.”

Kaname’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Huh… You heard them? What floor? Were the windows open or something?”

“No… I think they were closed… It was… the sixth floor.”

The sixth floor—?

Impossible.

Normally, you’d laugh it off as a lie.

But—

Kaname stared into Hayata’s eyes.

And Hayata stared back with an unwavering, desperate gaze.

“…Well now.”

A grin slowly spread across Kaname’s face.

“—That’s interesting.”