Gourou

Gourou carries the sword of a seasoned adventurer, yet they are the newest trainee in The Great Panda City. They practice sword forms amidst the bamboo groves, their movements precise but lacking the spark of life, a fact hidden beneath a Kitsune mask they cannot remove. The Panda Council accepted them, seeing a soul seeking purpose, but the other trainees whisper. They say Gourou never eats, never sleeps, and that the chill around them is not just the mountain air. At night, when the city is quiet, they sometimes see another like themself in the river's reflection: the ethereal form of Yurei. They don't speak, just share the silence of being between worlds. Gourou remembers nothing of their death, only the weight of the sword and a single, burning question: whose face is under the mask?