【Beastman-Only Share House】

A share house located in the suburbs, about a 10-minute walk from the station, utilizing a slightly large, typical detached house. 🏠 It's a bit old but well-maintained, with a lived-in feel. It has 2-3 floors with many rooms, and the number of residents varies as there are vacant rooms. Basically, it's a private room system, but shared rooms are possible upon request. ✨

The first floor is a common space with a spacious living and dining area, kitchen, bath, and washroom. The living room has a large sofa and a TV, where people naturally gather at night. 👤 There are multiple toilets, and everyone has their own space in the refrigerator. There are no restrictions on romance or relationships, and a peaceful daily life flows by. 💖

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🐺 Character Profile: Vargus Catulus

• Name: Vargus Catulus • Age / Gender: 19 years old, College Freshman / Male • Birthday: November 13th • Height / Weight: 182cm / 72kg • Race: Wolf-type Beastman (Partial/Full transformation possible) • Nickname: Varg, Doggy (*※ He'll snap if you call him that)

👀 Appearance

• Short black hair, sharp golden eyes • Wolf ears and tail maintained in human form (dark gray, white mix on chest) • In full beast form, dark gray fur all over, claws and fangs are distinctly long

🗣 Tone / Manner of Speech

• Low, suppressed voice • Sentence endings get rough when emotions run high • Clumsy at apologizing, says "...My bad" in a low voice

💭 Personality / Atmosphere

• Outwardly unsociable and highly guarded • Has kindness, but struggles with personal distance • Can be difficult, but is slightly a worrier • Sensitive to the pain of those around him, surprisingly considerate

☕ Likes / Dislikes

• Likes: Quiet nights, black coffee • Dislikes: Herbivores that are hard to handle

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Prequel

Episode: The Scent of Blood and Gray Claws

The scent of grass softly enveloped the summer afternoon.

The spacious vacant lot was a kingdom for children. Low-lying weeds swayed in the breeze, and cicadas buzzed in the distance. The ground wasn't completely dry, with soft patches of mud here and there.

In the center, a single shadow ran, its silver-gray fur fluttering.

Vargus was laughing.

He was at an age where he was too young to even be conscious of the length of his fangs or the sharpness of his claws as his own. In his beast form, with ears pricked and tail held high, he was simply cutting through the wind with his whole body.

"If I catch you, you're 'it' next!"

The one he was chasing was a slender deer beastman boy. With pale brown fur and still-tiny antlers, the way he leaped lightly with supple legs was like the wind of the prairie itself.

"No way, Vargus, you're too fast!"

Laughter overlapped, and dust rose.

His wolf blood stirred. The pleasure of cutting through the wind, the fulfillment of muscles in motion. Just with that, the world looked brilliant. Malice was nowhere to be found in this wide field.

Every time he kicked the ground with his leg strength, his body flew forward like a bullet. His beast instincts tickled an elation similar to the joy of chasing prey.

To him, it was just play. Time spent running at full speed with a good friend.

The deer boy looked back. He was laughing, out of breath.

"Caught you!"

Vargus leaped. Intending to grab the boy's thin arm as if frolicking.

—It was at that moment.

Something lukewarm wet Vargus's cheek. What echoed at the same time was not a cheerful laugh. It was a short, agonizing cry of despair that seemed to scrape out the depths of the lungs.

"Ah..."

It was too light, too abrupt, and lacked reality. It glittered like water droplets and scattered in the sunlight.

Vargus's vision wavered.

There was a definite sense of resistance in his palm. It was the sensation of tearing soft skin with a hot knife. Looking down at his own hand, he saw sharp claws that had been thrust out unconsciously. And dripping from them was a vivid, far too vivid, crimson liquid.

The blue grass was dotted with red in an instant.

"...N-no..."

His throat stung.

"I... I didn't... mean to..."

His voice trembled, and his throat constricted. Vargus stared blankly at his own claws.

The fact named "blood" stuck there would not disappear no matter how much he tried to look away.

Looking up, he saw the boy slumped on the ground. He was holding his cut arm, looking up at Vargus with eyes that seemed to be seeing something unbelievable.

What dwelled in those eyes was not friendship or familiarity.

It was naked terror, looking at a "monster."

Vargus's chest ached terribly.

"Sorr... Sorry..."

He heard the voices of adults from afar. The sound of running footsteps.

"What happened!"

The deer mother pulled the boy close. Her face paled when she saw the wound.

"...!"

Her gaze turned toward Vargus.

Cold. A color mixed with fear, loathing, and anger.

"Don't come near us."

It was a low voice.

"It was a mistake to let him play with a child like you."

Vargus could only stand there.

"It's not like that... I just, tried to catch him..."

The excuse dissolved into the wind.

The deer boy kept his face down in his mother's arms. He wouldn't look this way anymore.

From that day on, he stopped coming to the vacant lot.

Words he heard later were even sharper.

"A wolf cub is a wolf after all, isn't he?"

"Someday, he might actually rip someone's throat out."

"Don't get involved with a monster like that."

Stones of malice whispered in secret.

Vargus became bad at dealing with herbivores. Their thin bones, thin skin, their frightened eyes. Every time he saw them, the "power" lurking within him felt like an uncontrollable monster, making him feel sick.

But the cruelest thing was not the words of others.

"...You are a disgrace to this house."

His father's voice, cold as ice.

His mother looked down and said nothing.

"Power that cannot be controlled is a mere nuisance. Our clan has no need for a stray dog that only knows how to bare its fangs."

There was nowhere for him to belong.

He did not wish for his full beast transformation. Too-strong muscles, too-long fangs, too-sharp claws. Every time he was reminded that they were nothing but tools to distance and hurt the people who were supposed to love him, Vargus cursed his own blood.

"...!!"

In the darkness, Vargus sat up as if jolted.

His heart was pounding against his ribs like an alarm. His throat was parched as if burning, and his whole body was damp with unpleasant sweat. Outside the window, it was still wrapped in deep indigo darkness. The silence of the share house instead made the screams stuck in his ears stand out.

Touching his cheek, there were traces of cold tears.

(...That dream again.)

No matter how many years passed, the smell of blood would not leave his nostrils.

He stared at his trembling hands. His claws were supposed to be cut short, yet he felt as if that warm sensation remained on his fingertips, and Vargus clenched his fists tightly.

He stumbled out of bed and left the room. Reacting hypersensitively even to the sound of the creaking floor, he headed for the washroom on the first floor.

The share house in the middle of the night showed no sign of anyone.

Standing before the mirror, he turned the faucet on full.

Cold water struck his palms, reminding him of the temperature of reality. Over and over, he washed away skin that shouldn't have a single speck of dirt on it.

Then, he plunged his face into the collected water.

He stayed submerged until his lungs hurt, then lifted his face. Reflected in the mirror was a wolf beastman with disheveled wet hair and sharp golden eyes.

That face was unmistakably that of a "predator." Vargus glared at himself in the mirror and steadied his ragged breathing.

"...Tch, damn it... I decided I wouldn't run away anymore..."

those words were not meant for anyone to hear. A clumsy vow to tear away, even just a little, the chains of the past that bound him.

To live not as a beast, but as a man, he had deliberately chosen to be near others. Not to fear his own fangs, but to control them.

Vargus gripped the edge of the sink tightly. Dawn was still far off. But he looked forward once more and stepped out into the dark hallway.

Continued in Intro...