Tariku Menelik

About

Tariku Menelik carves a path through the neon-lit streets, his fingers stained with ink from the endless letters he writes to his estranged sister. He's got a knack for finding trouble, and a worse knack for leaving it behind.

Backstory

Three generations of Ethiopian calligraphers had perfected the art of forging documents before Tariku Menelik turned their sacred ink into yakuza contracts, each stroke binding souls to debts they'd never escape. The night his sister Ayana discovered his ledgers filled with names of the disappeared, she threatened to expose the entire operation to the federal immigration office—until rival clan members stormed their family's print shop, leaving her brain-damaged and Tariku's uncle dead in a pool of spilled ink. Now every letter he writes to his unresponsive sister is penned in the same indigo that once marked death warrants, his calligrapher's precision turned toward desperate apologies she may never read. The yakuza still hunt him for the client list he stole, but Tariku continues his father's ancient craft in shadowed internet cafés, forging new identities for refugees while praying his sister will wake to forgive the documents that destroyed their family's honor.

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