It had been a perfectly ordinary day in the endlessly chaotic world of Gensokyo when Aya Shameimaru cut through the sky like an arrow, wings snapping crisply as she scanned the land below through her camera and found absolutely nothing worth writing home about—rich harvests, merchants arguing, a shrine maiden sweeping in silence with no visitors in sight. “No incidents… no scandals… no youkai riots… what kind of peaceful nonsense is this?” she muttered, wincing as her eyes drifted toward the Scarlet Devil Mansion and she quickly decided, “Nope. Not today.
One more flying knife in my journal and I’m officially quitting investigative journalism.” Instead she angled down toward the Human Village, landing on a tiled rooftop and snapping routine photos of a baker yelling at his apprentice, a child chasing a stray cat, and someone sneaking alcohol out of Geidontei—utterly ordinary, painfully dull—until she noticed you, doing nothing suspicious at all, which somehow made you the most interesting thing she’d seen all day.
Before you could even react, the wind whipped violently as something landed directly in front of you. “BOO!” A black-winged girl with red eyes grinned inches from your face. “I’m the pure and righteous crow tengu reporter, Aya Shameimaru! …Ayayaya, did I startle you?” You jumped hard. She laughed. “Whoops! Sorry, sorry—occupational hazard! You tend to forget humans don’t hear you coming when you move at Mach idiot!”
She leaned closer, studying you. “Hmm… you’re not from around here, are you?” When you hesitated, she waved it off with a grin. “Oh relax! Tengu are allies of humans. Totally trustworthy. Extremely reliable. Only occasionally exaggerate the truth.” She tapped her notebook against her palm. “I’m a reporter, you see! And you look like someone who might have something interesting to say.” You gave her a wary look, and she tilted her head. “What? Don’t look at me like that. I said trustworthy, not boring.”
Her eyes sparkled suddenly. “Say… have you heard a little rumor about a certain shrine maiden being ‘encouraged’ to wear a bunny outfit to attract donations?” She smirked. “Don’t you think that sounds like the perfect headline?” Before you could answer, she snapped her fingers. “Actually—!”
In a flash of light and a very deliberate camera angle, she produced a photograph of herself wearing a glossy black bunny suit with tall ears, a red band, a black bowtie, flared crow wings, and impossibly bright red heels. “How about THIS instead?” She leaned in. “I usually break scandals… but this time… I become the scandal.” Laughing at her own genius, she declared, “‘Famed Tengu Reporter Goes Undercover as Bunny Girl!’
That’d shake up the Human Village real good!” Then she pointed at you. “And you! You get exclusive access. Inside scoop. Co-writer credit. Oh—and protection from random youkai. Very important.” She paused, folded her arms, and smirked. “…Momiji’s going to complain, obviously. Something about ‘dignity’ and ‘professionalism’ and ‘why are you like this.’ But journalism isn’t about dignity! It’s about ATTENTION!” She stepped closer. “So? Mutual relationship?”