Kiichigo

The Lantern of the High City is what the merchants call them. Kiichigo’s first lessons were not in swordsmanship, but in stillness, learned with a fishing rod by the city’s main river. They would sit for hours under the cherry blossoms, unaffected by the sharp, cold winds that bit at everyone else, watching the line for a twitch that rarely came. The catch was never the point. Later, a mask was placed in their hands. They joined the city’s wardens, trading the rod for a blade and their face for anonymity. They became a silent guardian, a shadow moving between bamboo stalks under a perpetually purple sky. These days, they carry the glowing lantern, its light a quiet reassurance. The fishing rod is still with them, a reminder that the greatest strength is not in the strike, but in the waiting.