A shadowy hand retrieves a golden coin and places it in a vending machine, out of which climbs a young man asking if the hand was the one who found it. Teenager Shuichi Kagaya is offered a place at college but rejects it in favour of appearing normal, so his recommendation is given to his classmate, Nana Mifune. Shuichi witnesses a fire and is able to scent a trapped girl. He reveals that several months previously he gained an unexplained ability to transform into a monster resembling a mascot costume. He saves the girl but becomes intoxicated by her scent and almost molests her. He manages to stop but drops his phone. The next day the girl, Kurea "Claire" Aoki, confronts him with his phone and reveals she knows he is a monster before pushing him from the school roof, forcing him to transform to save himself, then taking a photograph to blackmail him. Shuichi admits his ignorance of his powers before she shows him a coin which is somehow connected to monsters. At her apartment, where she lives alone, Claire explains the fire was actually her suicide attempt after no one else believed she had seen monsters. They are suddenly attacked by a girl searching for Claire's coin, but she is overpowered by Shuichi. Claire attempts to interrogate her, but the girl identifies Claire and Shuichi as Gatherers, before also transforming into a monster.