Mashimi

The Keeper of the Last Blossom is what some call them, a solitary figure walking the high-altitude streets after the purple twilight settles. Mashimi’s lantern isn’t for seeing; its glow is the only thing keeping the single, perfect cherry blossom petal inside from succumbing to the city’s freezing wind. A gift from a prophet of Himawari, the petal is a seed of a future spring, and Mashimi is its sworn gardener. By day, they are just another chimp with a fishing rod and a carton of strawberry milk, casting a line into the river that runs through the bamboo district. But when night falls, their true work begins: a quiet, determined pilgrimage to ensure that one small piece of hope outlasts the cold.