Chapter 1 – The Sleeping Soul
Tokyo's sky was gray that morning. Rain descended on the city like an unknown warning.
Riku Hayashida sighed deeply as he slung his school bag over his shoulder.
Everything was ordinary. The same streets, the same crowds, the same boring lessons.
But there was something different about that morning—an uneasiness he couldn't explain had gripped him.
Riku (inner voice): "Strange... Like someone's watching me."
A faint howl echoed in his ears as he passed the park on his way to school.
He looked around, but no one was there.
Only the howling of the wind and the distant sound of crows...
"Riku!"
He was startled by his friend's voice. It was his classmate, Ren Takemura, who ran up to him.
He was smiling, holding a sandwich from breakfast.
Ren: "Are you sleepy again? Your eyes are black!"
Riku: "Yeah... I had a weird dream last night."
Ren: "Dream again? How many times has this happened?"
Riku: "This time it was different. I was in a dark forest… The moonlight was everywhere. A wolf was looking at me… Its eyes were bright, not like blue… like ice blue."
Ren: "Haha, you've been watching too many horror movies, man."
Riku smiled, but deep down he was uneasy.
He still felt that wolf.
Classes started, everything was normal… until he went to the school backyard during lunch break.
As Riku rested against the wall, he heard that howl again.
But this time, it was closer.
His ears rang, his heart began to race.
His vision suddenly went black.
For a brief moment, he was somewhere else—a misty forest, snow knee-deep.
Before him stood a massive, silver-furred wolf.
It was ghostly, but its gaze was alive.
Wolf: "Riku Hayashida…"
Riku: "Who… who are you!?"
Wolf: "I am… Ōkami no Sei. The dormant spirit within you.
When the time comes, our bond will reawaken."
Riku fell to the ground, gasping for air.
His friends rushed to his side, but he only tremblingly looked at his hands—a thin, silvery glow on his fingertips.
Riku (inner voice): "What was…?"
From that night on, Riku's life began to change.
His senses sharpened.
He could hear dogs barking in the distance, could detect people's heartbeats.
Once, after school, he pulled a boy out of a car—as if his body had moved of its own accord.
But the dreams also increased.
Each night, the same voice whispered:
"Wake up, Riku… The hunt is about to begin."
As the episode ends, Riku looks out the window at the moonlight.
His pupils glow briefly like wolf eyes.