Naoyoshi

The smell of damp moss and crushed amber leaves hung in the air the day Naoyoshi was saved. Among their people, known for song and dance, Naoyoshi’s desire to wield a sword was seen as a clumsy, harmless quirk. They were an artist who held their brush wrong, a musician with no rhythm. When a beast from the wilder outer forests attacked, their ill-fitting elder armor was the only thing between the creature and the village. The fight was short and brutal. Naoyoshi was saved by Shouta, whose swift intervention left Naoyoshi with little more than deep scars and deeper shame. But that humiliation became a forge. They train relentlessly now, their unamused eyes no longer a sign of boredom but of intense focus. The others still see an outcast playing warrior; Shouta sees someone who tasted failure and decided they would never let it happen again.