I really like Yuushun and Rin they make a cute couple.

Kokujun is so sweet!!!

The gaidan seems very interesting.

As for Riou the elder, apparently not. His sister (Ruka) seems to be the one with the big ideas, while Riou can be stirred to go and do things in a somewhat lackadaisical manner.

Eigetsu would seem to have up to the events in book 8 no knowledge of the Hyou clan, so I don’t think he does.

Sa Clan: Er…. the whole reason why Ensei became governor was that the Sa Clan was threatening the lives of all the previous ones, and managed to get rid of them all. And the whole reason why Yuushun locked himself in the tower was so that the Sa clan wouldn’t be able to get at him. So, I don’t think the Sa clan should be underestimated. They weren’t worried about Sakujun, because no one, including Yuushun or Ensei, knew that Sakujun was murderous. They simply thought he was a lazy playboy. The ones they were worried about were the grandfather and the other members of the clan. The Kou clan is exceedingly powerful, more so than the Sa clan, which was why Shuurei was safe.

Yeah, Sai Rin does do stuff later, although I’m not sure what her position with the Merchant’s Guild is now.

Well, it’s a cute story. It would be better if I knew more Japanese so I could read it quickly.

Re: the emperor’s deceased love: Irritatingly, this is addressed in one of the stories that isn’t compiled! Grr. So all I have is secondhand info. -_-

XD. I’m now envisioning the mute Shunki making rude hand gestures, and Kokujun totally misinterpreting her and reflecting on how honest, pure, innocent, etc she is.

Actually, the fortuneteller is actually Hyou Riou Sr. in disguise

*dies* Isn’t he the head of the clan? Doesn’t he have better things to do than play dress-up?

Yougetsu recalls, at the time Eigetsu’s village was destroyed by the plague, that the Hyou clan minions destroyed the letters sent so that no aid arrived

o_O Does Eigetsu know this? I bet he doesn’t.

The Rious retreat, and Riou Jr. is impressed that Eiki was able to keep the Hyou clan’s technicians(?)

Technicians = magic users, maybe?

Ensei later explains the reason Yuushun continued to reject her advances was that he didn’t want to involve her in the dispute with the Sa clan

I don’t understannnnnnnd, what does the Sa clan have to do with anything? I mean, granted, it was a precarious situation, with Sakujun secretly drugging & controlling his grandfather and random purges taking place left and right, but other than being in physical danger as the wife of the governor…well, okay, maybe I can understand why Yuushun wouldn’t want to bring her into that. Though doesn’t it sort of seem like she should have been safe, as the twin sister of the leader of the merchants’ alliance? (Assuming she even resigned her position as co-leader.) Is it only the children of powerful clans who are safe in that way? Surely in Sa province, the merchant’s alliance is just as powerful? Was it just that Sakujun was crazy and couldn’t be trusted to behave rationally? I don’t know, whenever a character sites “the situation with the Sa clan!” as the reason for some action, I always feel dissatisfied with the explanation.

In the main storyline, it’s just really abrupt how Sai Rin shows up after Shuurei and Eigetsu become governors…In the anime this is somewhat of a bizarre detail.

It comes out of nowhere, but it’s not that bizarre, since it allows Sai Rin to give her “I’m retiring as co-leader of the Merchant’s Alliance, but only so I can pursue a career as an inventor! See, women don’t have to give up their dreams when they marry!” speech. I always just figured she was there as a sort of example of the career-minded woman (like Shuurei) who marries but doesn’t give up her career (though she sort of does).

The other five places turn out to be similarly not supernatural at all, and I won’t really describe them in detail.

So it’s like a ghost tour. Man, this story sounds so boring. At least it’s Ryuuren? (I wonder if Ryuuren knows his family has been making offers for Shuurei’s hand on his behalf. I bet he does, XD.)

However, this woman is now dead.

Oooooh, mysterious.