Kyuugorou

The chocolate stick was halfway to their lips when the flicker came—not a full memory, but the echo of one. It tasted of ozone and cold metal, a world far from the rustling amber leaves of The Heart of the Forest. They paused, pole resting against a tree, and listened to a silence that wasn't there. Some whispered their fractured sense of self was a curse, a splinter from whatever shattered Kiti's past across the realms. But Kyuugorou found a different truth in the gaps. With no yesterday to mourn, today was everything. They grinned, a genuinely gleeful expression, and took a deliberate bite. Let the ghosts have their cold echoes. Kyuugorou had a forest to guard, and this perfect moment was delicious.