Makitarou

The merchants in The Great Panda City claim Makitarou simply appeared one morning by the river, smelling of salt and carrying an octopus that shivered in the high-altitude chill. They wear the crisp Seifuku of a trainee, but everything else about them feels borrowed from another world. The small octopus, their only companion, lives in a specially warmed jar, a constant, tentacled reminder of the ocean they left behind. A fine, shimmering powder, like the light of Daiyamondo, dusts their back. When asked about the faded scar across their cheek, they only smile and adjust their companion's jar. They study the sway of bamboo with the same quiet patience others might give to the tides, a soul of the deep learning the rhythms of the peak.