Kou will continue to fall behind. As such, the King of Kou secretly supports the false queen , the younger sister of Joukaku who seized the throne without being chosen by Keiki, and makes various efforts to capture and kill Youko. In the anime, these efforts include manipulating Yuka Sugimoto so that Youko will be unable to attain the throne of Kei. After his eventual death as a result of Kourin sacrificing herself, the King of Kou is posthumously known as . Kourin is the Kirin of Kou. She attempts to dissuade the King of Kou from attacking Youko and from losing faith in his own ability as a ruler by constantly comparing himself to the Kings of En and Sou. As a kirin, she is bound to obey his orders, regardless of her willingness to do so; under his orders, she reluctantly captures Keiki when he tries to bring Youko to the Twelve Kingdoms and orders her shirei and the demons they command to pursue and attack Youko. In the anime, she sacrifices herself to stop the King of Kou from attacking Youko. With the death of his kirin, the King of Kou will die within a year. Rakushun is a Hanjyuu with the form of a twenty-two-year-old mouse who is a citizen of the Kingdom of Kou. Rakushun is proud of being a hanjyuu and is somewhat uncomfortable in his human form; Youko only learns that he could appear as a human after quite some time. Though Youko is initially distrustful of him, he becomes her first good friend in the Twelve Kingdoms. He is very intelligent and knowledgeable, teaching Youko essential skills on how to live in the Twelve Kingdoms as well as politics and customs. He travels with Youko from Kou to En in hopes of being able to further his education since hanjyu are prohibited from higher levels of education in Kou. Rakushun eventually deduces that Youko is the rightful ruler of the Kingdom of Kei based on the unusual circumstances that have surrounded her since coming to his world; upon this discovery, he reassures Youko that he has faith in her and wishes to see what sort of country she will build when she doubts her ability to become Kei's new monarch. After Youko ascends the throne of Kei, Rakushun remains in En and enrolls in the country's Daigaku. During his tenure at school,