YAHIKO MYOJIN

Eleven years old, son of a samurai family fallen into poverty, working off his parents' debt before Kenshin and Kaoru intervene. Trains under Kaoru, spars with Kenshin, wants more than anything to be taken seriously by people who keep being right not to yet. Yahiko is the show's growth engine. His arc from indebted street kid to genuine fighter runs quietly underneath the main narrative across 94 episodes and lands harder than it announces.