Sea of the Wind, Shore of the Maze, Prologue

The beast lowered his head a little bit, which had been held high, and turned to look  at Taiki.
    He still had those purple eyes, and that golden hair, no, mane. His neck was not as long as that of a  giraffe, and his legs were like those a deer, more slender than those of a horse. There were a few warmly  yellow stripes upon his body, but only on his back. Also, it would be better to call them stripes, than to say  that it was an interweaving pattern in his fur that appeared to change colors when looked at from different  angles.
    "Kirin..."
    Taiki finally understood that he and a giraffe had nothing in common. They were, in fact, completely  different creatures. His face was more similar to a deer's than the long face of a horse. On his forehead was a  diverging horn, which made him feel even more like a deer, except that he only had one horn and it was  shorter than any deer's. His color was white and it was as if he radiated a pearly white metallic luster. Under  the twilight, he emanated a muted red light.
    A golden mane rested in a line upon his beautiful neck. Taiki remembered that Keiki's hair had grown  all the way down to his knees, but it had obviously become much shorter after it changed into a mane.
    Besides becoming shorter, it had also become finer. The fluttering golden mane looked like a burning golden  flame.
    His hooves resembled a horse's, and his tail was longer than a deer's. The portion of the tail that was  connected to the body was very thin. Again, it was not quite like a horse's tail; its length and thickness felt  like it was somewhere between that of a cow and a horse.
    "Kei Taiho... Is this...a kirin?"
    "Yes."
    He was not originally expecting the kirin to reply to him, but he heard the reply in Keiki's voice.
    "It's not like I thought at all."
    "Really?"
    He walked closer to get a better look and realized that the kirin was a big animal. Even though it  looked thin, it was probably a little smaller than a horse. He wanted to reach out and touch the kirin's soft  sparkling fur, but when he recalled that this was Keiki, he couldn't help but hesitate.
    "I had no idea that the kirin was such a beautiful creature."
    Taiki just stood and stared, whereupon Keiki lowered his head so that it was closer to Taiki's nose.
    "Do you like it?"
    "I do!"
    Taiki felt his face becoming red.
    "Will I transform in this too?"
    "You are a black kirin, so your color will probably be different."
    "Right..."
    He didn't know what it felt like to change into the form of a beast.
    "Do your forelegs feel like arms?"
    "No, the forelegs are just forelegs. After you've transformed, you will no longer feel like a person."
    "The horn and tail don't feel especially different or anything?"
    "The tail does not have much feeling. As for the horn...the base of the horn feels like a fire burning. It  should be because your consciousness is all concentrated in this portion. Yes... When you transform, your  entire consciousness comes together in your forehead."
    Taiki tried to imitate Keiki and closed his eyes, as he tried to bring his consciousness into his forehead.
    Unfortunately, nothing happened. Taiki heaved a sigh.

    "I don't think this is something I can learn very quickly."
    "You don't need to worry."
    "Yes. When you transform into this, you must be able to run really quickly, right?"
    "Right. Also, kirin can gallop about in the Yellow Sea. If we ride the wind, we are faster than any sort  of bird. As long as we're happy, we can even circle the entire world."
    "Can you go to Hourai too? I heard that Hourai was at the most eastern edge of the world."
    "We can, as long as you want to."
    Taiki blinked his eyes.
    To turn into such a beautiful beast and gallop across the entire world in the air, that must be a very  satisfying experience. As long as he learned how to transform, whenever his loneliness was too hard to bear,  he could secretly return home to look around!
    "If you will consent to it, tomorrow morning I can let you ride on my back for a stroll."
    "Really?"
    "Yes. All right, you should go back to the palace first. Lady Gyokuyou is probably waiting for you. I  will arrive shortly."
    "Okay!"
    Taiki bowed deeply.
    "Kei Taiho, thank you very very much."

Chapter 6
    "Originally, I was really worried..." Youka stopped her needlework. Since Taiki had arrived at Mt.  Hou, he had grown a little bit. All his clothes had to be redone or lengthened.
    "He's so close with Kei Taiho right now. It's so