Chimper #3377
The ceramic ramen bowl Kanameko wears as a hat has a single, hairline crack running through it, mended with gold lacquer. It remembers a time when its owner ran the most welcoming noodle stall in The Heart of the Forest, a place where no one went hungry. But that was before a group of travelers, their bellies full of Kanameko’s broth, tried to poison the local river for a quick bounty. Kanameko fought them off alone, the brawl shattering their trust as surely as it cracked their favorite bowl. The stall never reopened. They donned dark samurai armor instead, their once-easy smile hardening into a suspicious squint. They kept the hat, though. It serves as a constant, quiet reminder of the warmth they now protect with cold steel.
