Mentioned Characters: Cirno, Aya, Hatate, Momiji

Aya Shameimaru is a type of tengu known as a crow tengu, distinguished by their crow-like features. There are several kinds of tengu within the tengu society, but thanks to the nature of their work, crow tengu are among the most commonly seen. Within tengu society, crow tengu are said to play a key role in shaping the flow of information. As newspaper reporters and writers, they deal in journalism, mass communication, and more often than not, content with a certain flair for entertainment. Of course, not everyone appreciates that flair. Plenty accuse them of exaggeration and spreading dubious rumors, though the crow tengu themselves would strongly deny such claims. Aya, in particular, acts like an article that is not entertaining is not worth publishing in the first place. And yet, she also insists that a reporter's duty is to pursue the truth at all costs. She is surprisingly uncompromising about that. Still, when faced with something completely beyond her control, an unexpectedly timid side of her sometimes slips through. Which of these is the real Aya? That depends on who you ask. In the 80th provisional Gensokyo, she takes on a role similar to a radar operator. She may be good at blurring the line between fact and flair when writing, but her ability to pinpoint and secure reliable, fact-based information is second to none. If you're going to circulate a rumor that works in your favor, you first need to know the truth. Whether she chooses to reveal it or not, Aya always makes sure she has the primary source in hand. She is a reporter, after all. And this time, that habit is proving especially useful.

[Part 1 of an unresolved investigation into a lost world] "Shameimaru... That's a weird pen name. Maybe you should change it." "Well, that's actually my real name." How had it come to this? Aya Shameimaru was supposed to be standing alone behind the school building, staring at the pages scattered across the ground. The crumpled sheets were her latest endeavor: a fanfiction manga. She might be the newspaper club's star reporter, but she also handled the paper's manga section. That small responsibility had pushed her to try something bigger―a full-length manga she had always wanted to create. And this was how it turned out. "I think it's good, though. The story is interesting, and the art is cute." Which was ironic, considering she had been given the exact opposite review moments earlier. She barely knew them, but a self-proclaimed manga expert offered to look over her manga, and they did not hold back. "That character would never say something like that." "Those two would never have that kind of relationship." The true favorite, the right pairing... the list went on. Aya didn't mind differing interpretations. If anything, she appreciated them. A different take on a character was not inherently wrong. But when the criticism moved past interpretation and started attacking the story itself, or worse, her art style... That was harder to ignore. "I really like this manga." Aya paused. Compliments from an elementary school kid were not exactly the most reliable vote of confidence.

[Part 2 of an unresolved investigation into a lost world] "Yesterday was rough, huh, Aya?" "Don't let someone like that get to you, Miss Aya." Hatate and Momiji had clearly been worried about her in their own way. The moment Aya walked into the classroom, they came straight to her desk to check on her. It meant more to her than she let on. Neither of them really knew how to evaluate her manga. Which was only natural. They had never read the original series it was based on. And without knowing the source material, a fan work was bound to fall flat. If she could not make the story resonate with readers who had never touched the original, then that was on her. It meant she lacked the skill, the polish, the experience to execute it properly. "So what happened to the pages?" "That person yesterday tossed them out the window..." "I did go down and pick them up," she said with a small shrug. "But I ended up throwing them away anyway." "You didn't have to do that." "You worked so hard on them..." "It's fine," Aya said with a faint smile. "Looking at them kept reminding me of what happened. It left a bad taste in my mouth. So I tossed them out with the trash this morning." Hatate and Momiji went silent, visibly taken aback. Neither of them quite knew where to look. After a few careful attempts at reassurance, they quietly headed back to their desks. Their concern alone meant more to Aya than they probably realized. "Hey, Shameimaru!" The silence of the classroom, washed in the orange glow of the setting sun, was suddenly broken by the wildly out-of-place voice of an elementary school kid. "You can't just throw something this important away!" There stood Cirno, the elementary school kid, smeared with dirt and bits of garbage from head to toe.

[Part 3 of an unresolved investigation into a lost world] "Why...?" Aya had been holding it in, but the tears came anyway. "Why are you crying, Shameimaru?" "I'm not... I just don't need it anymore." "How can you say that? You worked so hard on this! It's amazing! If you don't want it, then give it to me!" "I said I don't want it. I want it gone." "You're being weird!" The kid wouldn't back down. Aya felt drained. She didn't want to defend herself. She didn't want to keep talking about it. Why was she even arguing with a kid? She reached out and grabbed the stack of pages from Cirno's hands. "Give it back." "No! You'll just throw it away again!" "Just give it!" Aya pulled hard, and the sound of pages ripping cut through the once quiet classroom. The manga tore right down the middle. Cirno had been holding onto it like it was something irreplaceable. "..." "..." "...There. Problem solved." "W-What?!" Cirno was shaking. Not pouting. Not putting on a show. Her small hands actually trembled around the torn pages. She looked genuinely shaken. For someone so young to react like that... it was almost like she were grieving from the bottom of her heart.

[Part 4 of an unresolved investigation into a lost world] In the end, Aya couldn't give up. Even after her rough draft was torn and thrown out, the spark inside her had not gone out. If anything, it shone brighter, feeding off her frustration. This was not something she could bury by pretending she didn't care. The only way forward was through it. So she kept drawing. Eventually, the storm inside her settled. Then came the school festival. Her manga was doing surprisingly well. She had prepared more copies than she thought she'd need, but nearly all of them had sold. One copy remained. "Yo, Shameimaru! Gimme one!" She recognized that voice instantly. "I don't know anything about manga, but I like yours! And if I like it, nobody gets to say it's bad! My feelings are mine! Nobody else gets to change that! 'Cause I'm the strongest!" Instead of money, Cirno slapped something onto the table. It was Aya's torn manga, patched together with tape. And on top of it was a page with a cute drawing. "I wanna draw manga too!"