Makinosuke

Makinosuke is the kindest soul in The Heart of the Forest. The younger locals will tell you that, pointing to their gentle eyes and the way they share sweet sap from their carved cane. They insist the paint on their face is just for festivals, a silly game. But the hunters who patrol the wilder, greener edges tell a different story. They remember when a dark energy, the same that consumed Inparusu, bled into the woods. Makinosuke vanished into it. When they returned, they were wrinkled with an age that wasn't there before, and the paint was etched on their skin like a permanent warning. The cane isn't for walking. It's for keeping the silence.