Part 3 ~ Fire
Already injured, yet an attempt to save Taketo, Salsa changed into a form of human!!

Toshifumi (Taketo's brother) was too busy with the recent continuous fire case to even stay at home for dinner which was in a way a relief since he was so afraid of dogs. And Salsa, knowing that, made things worst by going near him whenever he had the chance. When Taketo told him not to do that, Salsa threw a tantrum complaining how he didn't have to listen to him since he was just a stray dog living in his house not his pet and how he hated carrots and yet Taketo still put them in his meal. Needless to say, Salsa end up leaving the house.

Salsa went on with his detective job. This time the client was a lady who suspected that her husband was the one continuously burning up abandoned houses. She pleaded 'WildHalf' to help save her husband before he committed a bigger mistake. Salsa excepted the case and went investigating alone (since he had quarreled with Taketo). While following the suspect, Salsa had to save a little girl from a car accident and injured himself by doing so.
As night approached, Taketo started to worry about Salsa and went searching for him. Someone told him that Salsa was behind an abandoned factory. He ran there and accidentally witnessed the suspect setting a fire to the factory. The man realized that Taketo had seen him and tried to capture him. Salsa jumped to the rescue but he was beaten off easily. Taketo then saw that Salsa's severe injury which was why he was too weak to fight off the man like he usually could. The man tied up Taketo and threw him into the burning factory along with Salsa. The ceiling was going to collapse yet Salsa was too injured to pull Taketo to safety. And while all that was happening, Taketo was yelling for Salsa to run and save himself. Salsa could sense that he was sincere and how Taketo didn''t want to be separated from him. Salsa too didn't want to see Taketo die...
The ceiling fell... and there was a flash of light. Someone punched the ceiling into pieces. When Taketo looked up, he saw a human-like person with dog ears and tail standing before him. The person quickly brought him out from the burning factory.

"Salsa... You are Salsa, aren't you?" Taketo asked.

"Yeah, I am. In this form, my wounds are healed and my powers are five times stronger. "He paused for a moment. Then added. "Scary huh?"

It was then the police arrived. Toshifumi and his men put out the fire. Salsa disappeared after the criminal but not after being glimpsed by Toshifumi. After that the criminal was brought to the police station by a person called 'WildHalf'. Toshifumi started to wonder if the person he saw at the scene was him.

Salsa didn't came back after that incident. Taketo remembered how Salsa had said the word "scary" and disagreed with it. It was not scary... he was just amazed. Somehow, he had already sensed that Salsa was different, even with a human touch or something. No matter what, Salsa is Salsa, no matter if he's a dog or human. Taketo focused on his thoughts calling for Salsa to come back.

Salsa's voice than appeared in his head. "'WildHalf' is a kind of animal-human tribe which is something like the werewolf, which is why I could talk in human language and changed into human form. But umlike the werewolf, y our source of transformation is not the full moon. It is 'relationship'... The human 'relationship'... the feeling. You have given that to me and when it reaches its limit, I'll change. I haven't change since I've lost my last master, and never thought that I'll met one like that again. It's so good to meet you. I won't let you be in danger again. Goodbye..."

"No! Don't go! Stay! I'll feed you meat bones everyday!"

"Really?" Salsa asked. He was actually just behind the sofa Taketo was sitting!
1