Hypothetical

Crickets were annoying, (and slightly terrifying,) but thoughts were still worse, he thinks. Not by much, but still. At least crickets weren't loud (they were sometimes) and constant (that would be horrible) and overlapping (luckily he'd only seen one at a time). The crickets' chirping was clear and well-defined-- and absolutely horrifying.

They're all around me and I can't even see them.

But he was armed. A large stick was a handy tool, if you knew how to wield it. It wasn't safe to roam the streets at night without some kind of weaponry. Maybe if he poked it enough, it would jump back into the grass and leave him alone.

The sidewalk is for humans, you little...

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that man made buildings and sidewalks and houses and bugs still wouldn't stick to their territory. They had all of the "great outdoors" and they still insisted on bothering people.

Maybe the "great outdoors" would be a little greater if it didn't have bugs in it.

"Kusuo-kun? Are you alright?"

Akechi approached him slowly. Saiki wasn't sure if he was seeing things wrong, since it was dark, but he looked as if he hadn't been sleeping well-- presumably for several days.

'Why wouldn't I be?'

"You, um, you seem to be staring quite intently at the sidewalk. I don't think I've ever seen you so deeply concentrated."

...

'Oh. There's a bug.'

Akechi chuckled.

"Is that all?" He kneeled and carefully flicked the bug into the grass. "Go on, shoo. There we go," he said, standing. "It's gone; you can relax now."

Saiki's shoulders slumped.

'Thanks.'

"I'm happy to help a friend," he said, smiling. "Oh, by the way, what are you doing out so late? I can't imagine what business you would have on the sidewalk at two in the morning on a Friday. Well, it's past midnight, so technically it's Saturday."

'I could ask you the same thing. You don't even live around here.'

He didn't. His house was about a fifteen minute walk from Saiki's, and stumbling around in the dark half-asleep wasn't going to help get him there any faster.

"Ah, I suppose my being here is a bit unusual as well. I must admit, it wasn't my intention to wander this far from home. My original plan was to go out for a brief walk to clear my head, perhaps five minutes, but I wasn't feeling up to going back home and lying awake for another few hours. After all, it wasn't much more of a productive activity than roaming the streets at night," he said, chuckling. "That makes me sound like a stray cat, no? I find that amusing for some reason. It's rather absurd to think about, but I-"

'Akechi. You're rambling again.'

"Oh. I'm-I'm sorry. Although, if I walked with you, I could talk to you, and you could talk to me, and instead of my one-sided ramblings, we could have a conversation that we can both participate in. And then I'd get to enjoy your company for a little while," he said, smiling and awaiting a response before he went on. "Oh! And I could get rid of any future bugs."

Free bug protection and a walk with a friend sounds alright to me.

'Well, I guess I can't argue with that.'

Akechi smiled and started to walk beside him.

It was only one cricket before, but who knows how many more were lurking in the grass, in the dead of night, watching, waiting for the right moment to strike?