Kasaki

Kasaki remembers the precise weight of two red ribbons, one for their hair, one for their training partner's. They were inseparable trainees in The Teikodian Empire, their matching bows a silent promise to rise through the ranks together, their futures as bright as the palace's gold spires. But their partner was chosen for a 'specialized assignment' in the shadowed laboratories beneath the capital and never returned. The official story was a transfer; the truth was in the cold, dismissive glance from the mind-scientist, Isha. Kasaki’s youthful ambition curdled into something sharper, a disciplined fury. They still wear the bow. To others, it's a charming affectation. To Kasaki, it is a debt ledger, a splash of defiant color against the Empire’s sterile white marble.