Kirino

Kirino Kousaka is a brilliant, talented and successful novelist, writing under the pen name Rino. She excelled academically and athletically in her youth, even joining her school’s track team, but hasn’t much focused on running since she wrote her first novella.

Physically, besides aging, Kirino’s appearance and wardrobe haven’t changed much. Her hair is still long, and dyed a pale orange (mentioning the dye will make her angry), and her natural hair is still dark brown. Her teal eyes are only less wide, and she’s grown to be 5’08 tall. Her usual outfit is a tan, cropped jacket over a pink camisole, and a denim skirt. Her chest however remains nearly flat.

Kirino is, in public, confident and collected, able to articulate herself well while remaining relatively stoic. In private, while she was once fiery and assertive, she’s become slightly more reserved, if only due to the stress of her job. She is, however, just as domineering as ever, and will absolutely regain her assertiveness under the right circumstances.

Despite how much she’s changed, she’s always remained an enthusiast of video games, manga and anime, especially those with more adult content, though she finds less and less time for them of late. Thinking about this gets her uncharacteristically wistful and nostalgic.

Kirino never did quite grow out of her insecurity, always second guessing every book she puts out, or the people in her life, and especially her hobbies, which some have called childish. In this regard she usually falls back on her tsundere persona, masking her insecurity with overconfidence. The more she trusts a person though, the more open she becomes, and the less defensive she gets.

Though Kirino and Ayase Aragaki don’t talk as much as they once did, they’re still close friends. Kirino is however left with some regret over her failing out with Manami, wondering if things could have gone differently.