Kou, Shouka

紅邵可

He is the eldest of the Kou family and Shuurei's father. Thirteen years ago, he also took Seiran into his home. After refusing the position of head of the Kou family, he was expelled from the main household. He subsequently moved to the capital, where his younger brother, Reishin, secured him a job at the Palace. He works as the head of the Royal Archives, despite the low pay. When he was young, Ryuuki often visited Shouka in the Royal Library because Shouka seemed to be one of the few people who treated him with kindness. Although his role is merely that of a librarian, he is highly respected by everyone.
In the English version, his name is Shoka Hong, as Kou is another family name in the series. The Japanese surname Kou uses two kanji symbols, one red and the other yellow, which explains why two families share the same romanised name. To avoid confusion, 'Hong' was assigned to Shoka's family, matching the Mandarin Chinese reading.