Tsukimaro

When the great bell of Waterfall City last rang for a raid, Tsukimaro was already moving. The fishers on the lower docks claim they saw only a blur of charcoal and white paint, a ghost who sent three raiders tumbling into the rapids without a sound. To the merchants in the main plaza, they are the 'Painted Wall,' a silent guardian who accepts payment in steamed fish and asks no questions, their face an unreadable slate. Only Fumika, their student, sees the person behind the mask. Fumika knows the paint is applied each morning not as a threat, but as a penance. They were the first to learn that the symbol on their master's head isn't a word, but a name—a promise to the person they couldn't save. It is Fumika who sees the tremor in their hands after the fighting is done.