[i]"I beg of you, don't lose this. No matter what,"

Hibiki was on her way home from working at the bookstore when a man in a brown trench coat and hat that hid his features well, approached her and shoved a brooch in her hands. The stranger's voice was extremely quiet, but she just barely managed to make out what he said. Before she could ask, the man ran away. She called after him, "Huh?! W-Wait!" but the stranger didn't seem to listen, and he was clearly too fast for her to even try and follow. She blinked and she asked "What just happened...?" She looked down at the brooch. It was gold in color, and this brooch had a music note engraved on it with a single jewel in the center as a decoration. She shrugged and she held onto the brooch, figuring that if she ran into the stranger again, she'll be able to hand it back to him.[/i]

That was two days ago. Ever since that time, Hibiki's hearing improved greatly, to the point that the improvement was somewhat painful. She could hear everything around her, even if a particular was some miles away from her. She was also able to notice small sounds that everybody else may miss. At first she wore headphones to try and dull the sounds and the pain that came with them, but she found that it didn't help. Thankfully today, the pain wasn't as bad as it was yesterday. Now, it was just a peaceful and yet a not-so-quiet Saturday, the only free day in Hibiki's schedule between high school and work. As of now, she was strolling through town. They just got out of the movie theater, where a new and highly anticipated movie was released. 

Hibiki's friends spoke amongst themselves about how great the movie was, while Hibiki was left in her thoughts. She couldn't help but think about the news she heard of a slasher that was out and about, and how many people were murdered by this elusive slasher. Now that she thought about it, she had heard that the crime rate was on a surprising and unusual rise in this once peaceful city. She also couldn't help but think about the brooch she had. She snapped out of her thoughts when the three of them reached the place where they split up to go back to their homes. Her friends said to HIbiki 
"OK, see you on Monday!"
"And remember Hibiki! Don't sing those awesome songs on your way back! You may cause somebody's ears to bleed!"
Hibiki rolled her eyes and laughed somewhat sarcastically, "Yeah, yeah. I know. I'll be sure not to. See you guys!" She hated that she liked to sing whenever she could, but she was apparently considered too tone deaf to even try without hurting everyone's ears.

She walked alone, heading for her home, and as she did she couldn't help but hear everything around her once again. As she walked on, she couldn't help but notice that the street she walked was quieter than usual. She shrugged it off thinking that nothing was wrong and that she may just be paranoid. As she walked past the bookstore she worked at, she started humming one of the songs she heard from the movie, and it soon turned into quiet singing. She never noticed that her singing had greatly improved...and it caught something's attention.