Kokia

Kokia remembers the first time Shitsue braided a cherry blossom into their baggy sweater. They were just a trainee then, sitting by the river as the city’s purple glow painted the water, fumbling through practice negotiations. The mountain winds were sharp, but Shitsue’s presence was a quiet warmth against the chill. When Kokia’s evolution came, it wasn’t a thunderous surge of power but a gentle expansion of that same warmth, a sudden, serene clarity. The unspoken needs behind every merchant’s barter became as clear as the scent of blossoms on the breeze. These days, they can broker peace between warring guilds with a well-placed phrase, their dapper cap a famous sight. But to Shitsue, they are still just the chimp who gets lost in the bamboo-lined streets on the way home.