Prologue
Prologue
“HNGH… Finally, I can go home…”
By the time I finished the day’s work, it was almost midnight. I couldn’t remember the last time I got to go home at a decent hour. I’d been putting in unpaid overtime almost daily for the past two years, without being afforded so much as a single day off. I knew they were exploiting me, but since I didn’t have the time to find a new job, I had no choice but to keep slaving away.
“Ugh, why won’t my head stop spinning?”
Once, after three straight months of what felt like nonstop work, I ended up blacking out at home. I woke up soon enough afterwards, but I took the next day off to see a doctor just in case. I still remember that, when I’d arrived back at the office the day after, not only were my superiors furious with me, even my coworkers had iced me out. I didn’t feel as bad now as I had then, but I could tell I wasn’t walking in a straight line.
I hadn’t been drinking, of course. Despite technically being old enough to, I didn’t find the taste of alcohol all that pleasant. On the days when I worked relatively little overtime, my superiors would coax me out for drinks, and I had vivid memories of forcing down beer after beer to keep up with them and bolting to the bathroom whenever I saw an opening.
“Seriously… What’s with those jerks?” I mumbled, stumbling out of the station in the direction of my apartment. “Wait, gotta stop by the convenience store first. I’d better eat something today. Maybe I should grab something for her while I’m at it…”
After dully realizing how hungry I was, I stopped at a convenience store to pick up a random boxed lunch and a pack of sausages. I felt bad for leaving my girl alone so often. She deserved the occasional treat for all the waiting I put her through.
I lurched out of the store and back onto the street, then continued trudging home. After about ten minutes, I arrived at my apartment. I stopped in front of the nameplate engraved TAKUMI HIROOKA, fished my keys out of my pocket, shakily unlocked it, and pushed the door open with a creak.
“I’m home,” I called out as I stepped inside the small corridor-like foyer. Behind the door at the far end, I could hear her begin to scratch at it enthusiastically, as if she believed she could open it through sheer excitement.
“Sounds like someone’s full of energy today! Hold on, I’m coming.”
I took off my shoes and opened the inner door. The second I cracked it open, a little white bundle of energy bounced out at me.
“Arf! Arf!”
“Hahaha, there you are! Were you a good girl?”
My little Maltese, Leo, looked up at me. I’d found her several years ago, abandoned in a cardboard box as a puppy. I was a college student then and I’d just moved out on my own. But, thanks to her, I never felt too lonely. The little pup had struck me as a “Leo” from the moment I saw her, and I’d only realized later that she was, well, a she.
Sorry, Leo. I wish I’d given you a more feminine name.
“Look, I’ve got your favorite sausages!”
“Aroo!”
As soon as she laid eyes on the pack of meat, she began pumping her little tail back and forth through the air. I brought it closer to give her a smell and she reached out to clamp her teeth around it.
“Haha, hold on, there! Let me unwrap them first. Okay…go get ’em!”
“Arf arf!”
As soon as I put the open package on the floor, she began to scarf the sausages down with gusto. I decided to follow her lead, taking the still-warm boxed lunch out of the plastic bag and placing it on the coffee table. I popped the lid off and brought a mouthful to my lips.
Huh… They must’ve changed their recipe. I can barely taste this.
I kept on eating nonetheless, my empty stomach urging every bite along. Leo finished a little before me and she popped up beside me where I sat.
“Arf! *Whine*…”
“What’s up? You wanna play? Just give me a minute. I’m almost done.”
“Ruff!”
After patting her head, I polished off the last of the rice. I gathered the trash in the plastic bag then left it in the corner of the room.
Tomorrow’s the day they pick up the non-combustible trash… I’ll put it out when I leave for work.
“C’mere, Leo!”
“Arf arf?”
“What, don’t you want to play?”
“*Whine*…”
She proceeded to nuzzle and lick my face even more than usual.
Maybe she knows I’m not feeling so well.
She was acting a little odd, but I didn’t have the energy to think about it. I only wanted to sleep.
“No, wait… I guess a bath comes first.”
Even I knew better than to just crawl into bed.
At the word “bath,” Leo shied away from me. I smiled thinly.
She sure hates baths, huh?
I stood up to start the water, only to have the world around me start swimming.
“This an earthquake…?”
Why is everything shaking? No… It’s just me?
“Bark! Bark! Bark!”
Leo barked at me from out of the corner of my blurry vision, but before I could do anything, I realized I was on the ground.
“Bark, bark, bark! *Whine, Whine*!”
I could clearly make out Leo scampering up closer to my face. But, unable to even respond to her, I blacked out.
🐾🐾🐾
“HUH…?”
“Ruff! Ruuuff!”
I awoke, feeling a light breeze caressing my body.
Wait… I don’t remember falling asleep. And is this fluffy thing on my face Leo?
“Sorry, Leo, I need you to get off… Jeez, when’d you get this heavy?”
“Ruuuff!”
Her bark sounded a few octaves deeper than I remembered…
I opened my eyes…to find a forest all around me.
“I guess I must still be asleep.”
“Ruuuff!”
I was definitely in my room. I remember eating dinner, but nothing after that. I can’t imagine that I’ve somehow gone from there to the middle of some forest.
I pinched my cheek, thinking that I must be dreaming. It hurt.
“So…this isn’t a dream? But how…?”
“RUFF! RUFF!”
And wait…isn’t Leo’s bark way louder than usual?
She seemed determined to get my attention, so I finally turned to face her.
I froze in shock.
“Wait, what?! You’re not Leo!”
“Ruuuuff!”
Sitting there beside me—head cocked slightly to the side curiously as it stared down at me—was the biggest wolf I’d ever seen in my life.
“Holy crap!”
I tried to scramble to my feet to run away. But, as it’d just woken up, my body refused to cooperate. As I fumbled and flailed, the behemoth brought its massive mouth up to my face. I clamped my eyes shut.
I’m dead! It’s gonna eat me…!
“*Whine*…”
A moment later, I heard a familiar whimper and felt a massive tongue run itself across my face.
Wait… it can’t be…
“You… You are Leo?”
“Ruff! Ruff, ruff!”
That’s right! she seemed to say, nodding as she barked.
“But how are you so…big?”
The first thing I’d seen after opening my eyes in this strange new place was my precious little puppy—now several times bigger than me!
