Momotarou

Momotarou remembers the smell of burnt bamboo and the feeling of a smaller hand slipping from their grasp. For years, that was all they had—a ghost memory carried through high-altitude streets where cherry blossoms fell on cold stone and the wind bit hard. They learned to fight because no one else would fight for them, their only family the echo of a promise they couldn't keep. Then they found the tunnels. The Mystic Cats didn't offer comfort; they offered knowledge. They taught Momotarou how a city has two faces: the one everyone sees, and the one you feel in the dark. The Meow Cap was their graduation gift. The defiant grin is their own.