Kiriri

Kiriri remembered the rooftop tiles under their feet, cold and slick with dew, on the night they were sent to silence Jitsuko. The target wasn't waiting with a blade drawn, but with a ledger open on a table. Jitsuko didn't offer a fight, only a choice: see the proof of the Empire's corruption—the laboratories, the secret dungeons—or strike them down in ignorance. In the blinding gold-and-crimson light of The Teikodian Empire's dawn, Kiriri lowered their weapon. They had been trained for any combat, any deception, but not for this. Not for the quiet horror of the truth. They walked away from the city, the mission, and the chimp they were supposed to be. These days, Kiriri wanders, the memory of that ledger a constant weight behind their eyes. They are no longer Jitsuko’s enemy, but they are not yet their own friend.