Author Fangirling: The inevitable omake... because it needed it. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! Bye bye!
Another month later. There were mysterious things about Kourin I now knew that made her make so much more sense.
"So now people refer to you as 'Nuriko'?" I asked. It turns out that when she met the emperor and the priestess, she revealed that she was a celestial warrior of Suzaku. That explains her superhuman strength. Kourin told me about the priestess, another one of the warriors named Tamahome, and wonderful things about Emperor Saihitei, who also turned out to be one of the warriors, Hotohori. It was certainly entertaining to hear everything she had to talk about.
"So, Kourin, with all that time you spent with His Majesty as a fellow warrior of Suzaku," I nudged her, "surely you must have won some of his favor."
"Not really," she pouted. "It wasn't even going that well before he found out I was man. But he's still letting me stay in the harem, so--"
"You're a man!?"
"You didn't know?" she-- or rather, he-- became surprised. "I thought for sure you would have found out when I was drunk."
"Kourin, please tell me you're joking!"
"I'm not," he opened his dress to reveal a flat chest, not shy at all. I turned away with my face covered in shock. "Houki, dear, are you alright? I'm still a woman on the inside."
That explained a lot of he--his behavior. Wanting to take baths alone, being defensive about people entering his room unannounced, and being so alarmed when he saw me asleep in bed with him.
"Hey, that's right!" Kourin gasped. "Then nothing must have happened that night! Oh, what a relief! Ha ha ha! Ha… seriously, are you okay, Houki?"
"I think so. Just a little taken aback… you certainly do keep your secrets well."
"You bet I do," he smiled and hugged me around the shoulders. "But we're still friends, right?"
"Coming this far, I couldn't see it any other way, Kourin."