Zenkurou

Zenkurou can name seventy-three ways to end a life, a grim knowledge inherited from the time of Kodai, yet their instructors in The Great Panda City are more concerned with their clumsy tea-pouring technique. They wear a trainee's uniform and a jaunty captain's hat, the very image of a novice eager to please. Their peers see a friendly, if overly intense, student. They do not see the ancient warrior behind Zenkurou's eyes, the one who silently practices fatal sword forms while sweeping bamboo leaves from the temple steps. Every polite bow is a struggle against an instinct to strike. They accept critique on their calligraphy with a quiet nod, all while their mind rehearses a blade dance that once leveled armies. The sabre on their back is a secret they carry in plain sight.