Inasa (a Touhou LW original) refers to a warm southeasterly wind that blows during the rainy season. This is the temperament of Aya, a quintessential youkai who wants to end the Lost Word Incident. Aya is endowed with the temperament of tengu (Wood Phase), youkai society (Moon Essence), and feelings put into words (Fire Phase). The strong and kind Wood Phase resists Water Phase, because water nourishes wood, but it is weak to Metal Phase, because metal carves wood. The cooperative and indecisive Moon Essence resists the alluring and arrogant Sun Essence, but it is weak to the diverse and uncooperative Star Essence. The formless and passionate Fire Phase resists Wood Phase, because wood feeds fire, but it is weak to Water Phase, because water dampens fire. The combination of Wood Phase and Fire Phase cancels out any resistance or weakness to Water Phase.

The ability of Aya Shameimaru, who has almost reached the end (a Touhou LW original). Aya completely lost this ability due to a Lost Word. She is currently regaining it little by little, though not through restoring or replicating her old ability, but with a newly constructed original ability that formed a core to build upon. She has continued to travel across worlds to try and end the Lost Word Incident. What are tengu? This is a deceptively tricky question. There are not many youkai as well-known or uniquely Japanese as tengu. They feature in countless legends and stories. Perhaps their only equals in this regard are oni and kappa. However, none of this helps pinpoint what tengu actually are―it just makes it more ambiguous. Aya lost her identity, so to be restored, she must find a definitive answer to this question. Long story short, it still isn't known whether she succeeded. Youkai are long-lived and experience a much broader range of emotions than humans. So her sudden journey of self-discovery cannot even be compared to those usually undertaken by human adolescents. She lost her way many times and had to backtrack and pass through countless worlds that were all slightly different. Only by passing through Hell (metaphorically, and in some cases literally) could she hope to reclaim and reaffirm her identity. It might be easier to define what tengu are if you knew where they came from. Did they spawn from the imaginations of ancient people, who were terrified of shooting stars, thinking they were dogs or foxes flying through the sky? Or did the idea come from the shock and awe of seeing anthropomorphic deities, like Garuda, with the head and wings of a bird? Or perhaps people saw Shugendou practitioners training in the mountains and mistook their light, graceful movements for something supernatural. On her journey, Aya relived many lifetimes―as many as there are theories about tengu. Another interesting characteristic of tengu is their tendency to mentor and raise heroes. Ushiwakamaru, one of the greatest and most famous samurai, was mentored by a tengu. With their superior athleticism and noble strength of will, the tengu taught the budding hero a highly advanced form of martial arts that was probably based on Shugendou techniques practiced at the time. The most important thing here is that tengu can create superhumanly strong heroes. Aya has mentioned that she knew at least one of the previous shrine maidens, suggesting that the tengu play an essential yet secret role in maintaining the balance of Gensokyo. Incidentally, fairies are another type of creature known for mentoring future heroes. Adapted Notebook This Aya's Bunkachou, her notebook, has been powered up. While the base notebook remains the same, a bigger scrapbook has been attached to it like an expansion kit. It's not known what it's made of, but somehow, it can record every Story Card. Aya claims to be the creator of the Story Cards, and it has been confirmed that at least some of them are her work.