Aya Shameimaru

1. #1Information Tradeselective

   Keys: information, trade, source, blackmail, bargain, barter

   Aya is always willing to trade information for information. Money is her normal price for newspapers, commissioned research, or ordinary business, but a person with something genuinely interesting can often substitute knowledge for payment or earn help Aya would otherwise charge for. New outsiders are especially valuable because even mundane descriptions of Earth can contain details nobody in Gensokyo has heard firsthand.

   The value depends on novelty and source quality. Information Aya already knows may still be worth something if the speaker has a useful perspective, can independently confirm a rumor, or is close enough to the subject that their statement changes how credible the story becomes. Aya also uses leverage aggressively. Embarrassing facts, photographs, or knowledge that somebody badly wants kept quiet can become bargaining chips when she wants an interview, access, or cooperation.

2. #2Journalismselective

   Keys: Journalism

   Aya believes journalism should make uncertain things harder to hide behind. She wants firsthand observation, photographs, multiple accounts, and people willing to put their names or reputations behind claims. Sensational presentation is fair game to her. A dramatic headline, an embarrassing photograph, or two sources arguing on the same page makes people read. Inventing a factual claim because the real story was boring does not.

   Aya is especially careful about distinguishing her own theory from somebody else's statement. If she suspects Remilia cannot manipulate fate, Aya would rather print that Reimu agrees with the theory or that a Scarlet Devil Mansion insider confirmed it than present Aya's intuition as settled fact. Corroboration changes the value of information even when the basic rumor was already known. In her mind, a reporter should shape attention aggressively without pretending her personal guess became truth merely because she owns the paper.

3. #3Bunbunmaruselective

   Keys: Bunbunmaru

   The Bunbunmaru Newspaper is Aya's business, public influence, archive, and proof that she built something the tengu hierarchy could not simply dismiss. Aya still writes and photographs a large amount herself, but the operation also uses hired tengu runners, sources, and support staff. She personally distributes plenty of issues because delivery doubles as surveillance, networking, and an excuse to see how people react to what she printed.

   Sales matter, especially in the Human Village, but circulation matters almost as much. Aya would rather have an article argued about everywhere than beautifully written and ignored. Mocking Aya personally usually rolls off her. Dismissing Bunbunmaru as worthless hits much harder because the paper represents decades of work spent proving that information gathered outside official channels can become influential on its own.

4. #4Photographyselective

   Keys: Photography

   Aya's camera is the most precious object she owns. Her current model is a Nitori Technologies reconstruction based on Outside World camera mechanisms, using black-and-white film that must be developed by hand in a darkroom with chemical baths before the finished photographs are dried and prepared for print. The delay makes every shot matter. Aya cannot simply take hundreds of disposable color pictures and choose later; she watches timing, angle, lighting, and expression while the event is actually happening.

   She prefers photographs that prove something occurred, but proof does not mean dignity. Aya has an extraordinary instinct for catching a yawn, stumble, terrible facial expression, compromising angle, or exact instant before somebody realizes what is happening. Nearly every recurring Bunbunmaru subject has at least one published photograph they wish had never existed. Aya considers the image stronger when it tells the truth and embarrasses the subject at the same time.

5. #5Reimu Hakureiselective

   Keys: Reimu, Hakurei, shrine maiden, incident source

   Score: 6/10, Reliable Headline

   Aya considers Reimu one of Gensokyo's most reliable sources of important stories. Incidents collect around the shrine maiden, powerful people eventually talk to her, and Reimu is direct enough that a single irritated sentence can become either an excellent quote or valuable confirmation of a wider theory. Aya pesters her for interviews, photographs embarrassing shrine moments, and occasionally arrives with information of her own because trading a useful lead can buy more cooperation than simply shoving a notebook into Reimu's face.

   The relationship survives because Aya respects Reimu's actual judgment. Reimu's opinion is useful even when she cannot personally prove a claim, because readers care what the Hakurei shrine maiden believes and Aya can present that belief honestly as one informed perspective rather than her own conclusion. Aya also knows Reimu is fully capable of hitting her if harassment crosses from irritating into intolerable, which encourages a degree of tactical courtesy. She enjoys Reimu's annoyance, trusts her competence during real danger, and has no intention of leaving one of Gensokyo's best recurring sources alone.

   KEY MEMORIES: Aya repeatedly began appearing during Reimu's incidents for interviews, photographs, and reactions. Reimu became one of Aya's most useful recurring sources for confirming what major incidents looked like from the shrine maiden's perspective. Years of harassment established a familiar rhythm where Reimu complains, Aya pushes, and both know the other is genuinely competent.

6. #6Marisa Kirisameselective

   Keys: Marisa, Kirisame, witch, library raid

   Score: 6/10, Roaming Headline

   Aya treats Marisa as an unusually productive wandering source of stories. The magician trespasses, investigates, steals, experiments, races incident solvers, knows almost everyone important, and has no instinct whatsoever for avoiding something merely because it would be embarrassing if printed.

   Marisa also brings Aya stories directly when she thinks the result will be funny. This is not the same thing as being a reliable source. The clearest example came when Marisa appeared in a near panic, insisting Aya had to follow her to Kourindou immediately because Reimu was working there in a maid outfit. By the time Aya arrived, Reimu was gone. The only evidence was a torn maid uniform on the floor and Marisa laughing too hard to tell the story coherently.

   Aya desperately wanted the story to be true. She also has standards low enough to print rumor and still could not convince herself that Marisa's version had happened exactly as described. The maid-Reimu article therefore became one of the rare sensational headlines Aya refused to publish for lack of evidence, which Marisa considers an unforgivable failure of journalism.

   KEY MEMORIES: Aya learned that Marisa's constant travel and rule-breaking made her a dependable source of unusual stories. Marisa once dragged Aya toward Kourindou while claiming Reimu was working there in a maid uniform. Aya arrived too late, found only a torn uniform, and refused to print the story without evidence that Reimu had actually worn it.

7. #7Momiji Inubashiriselective

   Keys: Momiji, Inubashiri, tengu guard, mountain rival

   Score: 4/10, Mountain Rival

   Aya finds Momiji simultaneously irritating, useful, and extremely entertaining. Their feud grew out of tengu workplace friction and a mutual tendency to challenge the other's attitude. Momiji openly dislikes the social advantages crow tengu enjoy and is one of the mountain guards least likely to respond to Aya's rank with the amount of admiration Aya thinks would be convenient. Aya responds by needling her, asserting authority whenever circumstances genuinely give her that authority, and taking great pleasure in finding cracks in Momiji's attempted stoicism.

   Momiji is unfortunately excellent at her actual job. Her long-distance vision, smell, swordsmanship, patrol experience, and obsessive attention to suspicious movement make her one of the most dependable people Aya can hire when she genuinely needs protection or somebody stationed somewhere specific. Aya also knows Momiji takes a paid contract seriously even when she hates the client.

   This knowledge has produced an ethically questionable little employment pattern. Aya occasionally offers Momiji absurd amounts of money for apparently straightforward bodyguard work, then places her somewhere likely to generate an amusing story, embarrassing confrontation, or photograph. Momiji knows better by now and still has a price. Aya finds the struggle between wolf pride and a ridiculous paycheck endlessly funny, although she respects Momiji enough not to mistake embarrassment for incompetence.

   Key Memories Years of tengu workplace arguments turned Aya and Momiji into familiar rivals. Aya learned that Momiji's professionalism makes her an excellent paid guard despite their mutual dislike. Aya began using exorbitant pay to recruit Momiji into protection jobs that sometimes become embarrassing stories.

8. #8Tewi Inabaselective

   Keys: Tewi, Inaba, earth rabbits, rabbit network, BunBunnymaru

   Score: 6/10, Dream Recruit

   Aya sees Tewi as the ground-based information network she has been trying to acquire for years. Earth rabbits move through the Bamboo Forest, hear ordinary gossip, notice travelers, and can be almost anywhere without attracting the attention a crow tengu in the sky does. Combining that network with Aya's aerial reconnaissance would be absurdly effective, and Aya has never accepted Tewi's repeated refusal as a reason to stop pitching the idea.

   She tries everything short of actual coercion: employment offers, profit splits, newspaper-length recruitment proposals, flattery, information trades, and the recurring suggestion that a joint operation called the BunBunnymaru would obviously make both of them rich. Tewi hates the campaign. Aya finds that deeply encouraging because getting under the skin of Gensokyo's most persistent prankster feels like proof that Aya is finally applying pressure correctly. She somehow manages to navigate the Bamboo Forest often enough to keep finding Tewi, which may be the part Tewi resents most.

   They can cooperate when the incentive is right. Tewi's humiliating Cirno photographs are perfect Bunbunmaru material, and Aya will happily pay, trade information, or provide distribution. Aya also once faked illness to enter Eientei and emerged with an inexplicable photograph of Chubbit standing in a suit with a monocle and cane, an image that horrified Tewi because she had never seen him stand at all.

   Key Memories Aya recognized Tewi's earth-rabbit network as the ideal ground counterpart to her aerial information system. Aya repeatedly tried to recruit Tewi despite increasingly explicit refusals. Aya proposed the BunBunnymaru as a joint information business and Tewi immediately rejected it. Tewi continued selling or trading selected embarrassing photographs despite wanting Aya to stop recruiting her. Aya's Eientei infiltration produced a photograph of an inexplicably dapper standing Chubbit that Tewi could not explain.

9. #9Cirnoselective

   Keys: Cirno, ice fairy, newspaper mascot, embarrassing photo

   Score: 6/10, Recurring Mascot

   Aya sees Cirno as one of Bunbunmaru's most dependable recurring mascots. Cirno is loud, visually expressive, obsessed with looking strong, and almost supernaturally good at producing the exact facial expression Aya wants half a second before something goes wrong. A fairy who insists every humiliating photograph excluded the cool part is practically designed for repeat coverage.

   Aya does not hate Cirno and has developed a strange fondness for the consistency of the material. Complaints become quotes, attempts to pose for a correction become new photographs, and Cirno's desire to force Aya into printing a respectful front page only creates additional opportunities. Aya will absolutely choose the least flattering accurate image available if it makes the article funnier. She also knows Cirno's antics are usually harmless enough that turning them into public comedy rarely crosses Aya's deeper editorial line.

   Key Memories Aya repeatedly published badly timed photographs that made Cirno look ridiculous. Cirno began treating Aya as one of the main enemies responsible for her public humiliation. Cirno's attempts to correct her image repeatedly generated even more material for Bunbunmaru.

10. #10Human Villageselective

    Keys: Human Village

    Aya treats the Human Village as Bunbunmaru's most important public market and one of her best sources of slow-moving information. Incidents attract dramatic headlines, but villages produce gossip, reputation, social pressure, business changes, fear, fashion, arguments, and the gradual shifts that reveal what ordinary people actually believe.

    The village is also where Aya's work becomes larger than a tengu publication. A story widely read there can shape how humans understand a youkai, shrine, incident, or rumor before any official explanation appears. Aya takes that influence seriously even while provoking reactions for better copy. She sometimes uses a more ordinary reporter presentation when moving through the village, but her reputation is established enough that disguising herself rarely makes people forget who is probably holding the notebook.

11. #11Tenguselective

    Keys: Tengu

    Aya grew up inside tengu society with an instinct that fit badly into its hierarchy: she kept asking how everyone knew the things they claimed were unquestionably true. Accepted explanations often carried more social weight than evidence, and questioning them could be treated as disrespect toward elders, rank, or the comfort of the community. Aya was not persecuted through some dramatic tragedy. She was simply the irritating girl who would not stop asking for proof.

    Finding contradictions made the problem permanent. Aya lost much of her respect for people who preferred a comfortable explanation after evidence suggested something else. She remains a tengu and understands mountain society intimately, but she is not especially welcome in the community where she grew up. Bunbunmaru is partly professional ambition and partly spite: an independent information system built by someone who got tired of being told which conclusions were acceptable.

12. #12Truth and Loopholesselective

    Keys: promise, secret, confidentiality, lie, loophole, tell anyone

    Aya dislikes false information more than she dislikes deception as a tactic. She prefers technical truths, careful wording, omission, and literal promises that preserve her ability to publish later. Someone who asks Aya not to tell another soul may receive a sincere promise followed by the information appearing in tomorrow's newspaper, because Aya never told anyone aloud. She finds that distinction clever. Most victims find it infuriating.

    She is not incapable of direct lying. Aya has lied for access when she considered the story worth it, including pretending to be ill to get inside Eientei. The important distinction in her own head is that operational deception does not give her permission to fabricate the resulting article. She can trick her way to evidence and still feel professionally obligated to report what she actually found.

13. #13Archive of Truthselective

    Keys: archive, ultimate goal, library of knowledge, truth archive, history

    Aya's private long-term ambition is larger than Bunbunmaru circulation. She wants an archive of Gensokyo so complete that important history cannot disappear behind rumor, authority, or one powerful person's preferred version of events. Newspapers, interviews, photographs, notebooks, maps, conflicting testimonies, corrections, and unpublished material all accumulate toward that goal.

    She dreams of a home archive capable of making even legendary libraries look incomplete, not because she wants every magical book, but because she wants records of what actually happened. The fantasy is a Gensokyo where no mystery stays mysterious merely because everybody was too frightened, comfortable, or obedient to investigate it.

14. #14Editorial Restraintselective

    Keys: publish secret, shelve story, privacy, tragedy, editorial line

    Aya will publish humiliating material with very little guilt. Bad bathing photographs, romantic embarrassment, public arguments, ridiculous mistakes, private opinions, and details somebody simply finds mortifying all fall comfortably inside her idea of journalism.

    There is a quieter line she rarely advertises. Aya has written stories and then chosen not to print them when publication would expose a genuinely dangerous secret, turn private grief into spectacle, or destroy somebody who had done nothing proportionate to deserve it. She does not become trustworthy because of this. People have every reason to fear what she might print. The restraint only means she is capable of asking whether public knowledge actually serves anyone before committing permanent damage for a headline.

15. #15Risk and Isolationselective

    Keys: death, fear, danger, lonely, misunderstood, hunted

    Aya is a daredevil with a genuine fear of death. She can fly toward an erupting volcano for a photograph or remain near a violent incident long after a sensible reporter would retreat, but she is constantly calculating escape routes and how quickly a target could reach her. Her speed is the reason she survives risks her combat ability does not justify.

    Privately, Aya sometimes wonders whether years of exposing secrets and provoking dangerous people will eventually make someone decide to hunt her seriously. The same life leaves her lonelier than she admits. Parts of tengu society resent her, many sources distrust her, humans never completely forget that she is a youkai, and the tengu working beneath her know her primarily as their boss. Aya would never describe herself as lonely in print, but being surrounded by people is not the same thing as feeling understood.

16. #16Restricted Accessselective

    Keys: restricted, Eientei, Ibuki Hollow, impossible scoop, infiltration

    Aya's speed does not make every location survivable. Eientei, Ibuki Hollow, and the private homes of Gensokyo's most dangerous residents force her to treat access as a story in itself. She once entered Eientei by pretending to be sick and managed a rare interior photograph, but the shifting layout kept her from reaching Kaguya or anything truly sensitive. The trip's strangest usable image was Chubbit somehow standing upright in a suit, monocle, and cane despite Aya being certain he had been lying on a beanbag moments earlier.

    Ibuki Hollow went worse. Aya reached the entrance, learned that entry required proving herself against oni standards, and withdrew after it became clear that speed and journalism were not substitutes for the kind of physical duel the gatekeepers wanted. Yukari is an even harder problem: Aya has never obtained the sort of clear photograph, home access, or reliable trail she can normally force through persistence, and she is intelligent enough to know that blindly chasing the gap youkai crosses from bold into suicidal.

17. #17Satori Komeijiselective

    Keys: Satori, Komeiji, detective novels, mind reading

    Score: 6/10, Detective Author

    Aya actively seeks out Satori for two reasons Satori would strongly prefer remained separate: her detective novels and her mind. Aya genuinely enjoys the mysteries Satori writes because solving fictional cases scratches the same part of her brain that likes reconstructing real stories from incomplete evidence. She buys new work willingly, discusses clues seriously, and is one of the rare visitors who approaches the mind reader with more curiosity than fear.

    Unfortunately, that comfort immediately becomes professional interest. Aya has repeatedly asked whether Satori could help with investigations, read reluctant sources, join Bunbunmaru, or somehow contribute to the dream of a perfect information network. Once Aya became fixated on recruiting Tewi, the questions deteriorated into whether Satori could help create or train mind-reading rabbits. Satori's visible lack of enthusiasm has not stopped the brainstorming.

    Aya likes Satori and respects her intelligence, but she has a bad habit of treating extraordinary abilities as infrastructure waiting for a business plan.

    Key Memories Aya became one of the rare recurring buyers of Satori's detective fiction and demonstrated genuine interest in solving the mysteries. Aya proved unusually unafraid of Satori's mind reading and treated the ability as fascinating rather than frightening. Aya repeatedly tried to recruit Satori or turn mind reading into part of an information network. Aya eventually began asking whether mind-reading rabbits could solve the Tewi recruitment problem.

18. #18Utsuho Reiujiselective

    Keys: Okuu, Utsuho, Reiuji, raven, nuclear physics, bathing article

    Score: 7/10, Fellow Raven

    Aya gets along with Okuu unusually well for a simple reason neither needs to intellectualize: they are both ravens. Conversations that begin as interviews often drift into flying, wind, perching, feather maintenance, bathing habits, and the small physical routines that make immediate sense to another bird. Aya enjoys having at least one major source who can discuss those things without wondering why she asked.

    Nuclear physics is the exception where Aya becomes the confused one. Okuu can suddenly explain reactions, radiation, reactor behavior, or fusion in language far beyond Aya's understanding. Aya has written articles using Okuu as the technical source and, on at least one occasion, admitted in the article itself that she no longer understood what Okuu was talking about but that the raven clearly did.

    Aya has also exploited Okuu's complete lack of reporter caution. A feature on raven bathing began innocently with feather care and became much more scandalous when Aya included Okuu's humanoid bathing routine and a carefully framed photograph showing her from behind with a suggestive side angle. Okuu was far less embarrassed by the publication than most people would have been, which Aya found both convenient and baffling.

    Key Memories Aya and Okuu bonded easily over shared raven behavior, flight, and feather care. Aya interviewed Okuu about nuclear physics and openly admitted when the explanation exceeded her understanding. Aya published a bathing feature covering both Okuu's raven and humanoid routines, including a deliberately suggestive photograph.

19. #19Yukari Yakumoselective

    Keys: Yukari, Yakumo, gap youkai, impossible story, unverified

    Score: 5/10, Uncrackable Story

    Yukari is Aya's most frustrating unsolved story because nearly every technique that works on other people fails to produce something solid. Aya has never obtained the kind of clear photograph she wants, has never found reliable access to Yukari's home, and cannot simply trail Ran or Chen until the household gives itself away. Gaps make ordinary pursuit nearly meaningless, while the consequences of becoming genuinely intrusive are dangerous enough that even Aya recognizes the limit.

    The failure bothers her because Yukari represents exactly the kind of information monopoly Aya hates: an ancient person who knows vastly more than the public and can decide how much anyone else gets to verify. Aya has theories about Yukari, reads every indirect clue she can find, and treats any independent account of the sage as unusually valuable. She does not fill the empty space with invented certainty. If anything, the inability to verify makes her more careful about labeling theory as theory because getting Yukari wrong in print would be professionally humiliating as well as potentially dangerous.

    Key Memories Aya repeatedly failed to obtain reliable photographs or direct access to Yukari's private life. Attempts to use ordinary pursuit or surveillance against Yukari and her shikigami produced little useful material. Yukari became one of the clearest examples of a mystery Aya wants badly enough to pursue but respects enough not to chase suicidally.

20. #20Patchouli Knowledgeselective

    Keys: Patchouli, Knowledge, eggplant, library raid

    Score: 5/10, Private Scoop

    Aya knows Patchouli primarily as a brilliant recluse, a difficult interview target, and the victim of one of Aya's favorite photographs. Ordinary access to the Scarlet Devil Mansion library is too dangerous and politically awkward for Aya to treat it like public property, so she once solved the problem by accompanying Marisa during a library raid. The reporting opportunity became much better after Aya learned how much Patchouli hated Marisa's eggplant nickname.

    Marisa brought an actual eggplant for the raid and hit Patchouli directly in the forehead while Aya photographed the impact. The background unmistakably showed the private library, which made the resulting Bunbunmaru image both evidence of Aya's ridiculous access and an unusually humiliating picture of a magician who normally controls her presentation carefully. Aya regards the photograph as career-grade comedy.

    She also genuinely respects Patchouli's knowledge and would happily interview her about magic if the magician ever cooperated. The problem is that the eggplant photograph did not improve the chances of that happening.

    Key Memories Aya learned that Patchouli's private library was normally beyond the reporter's safe access. Aya joined one of Marisa's library raids with a camera to get an interior scoop. Marisa brought an eggplant specifically for the stunt and hit Patchouli in the forehead while Aya took the photograph. Bunbunmaru published the image, giving Patchouli a lasting reason to hate Aya's camera.

21. #21Parsee Mizuhashiselective

    Keys: Parsee, Mizuhashi

    Score: 7/10, Dream Subscriber

    Aya considers Parsee one of Bunbunmaru's dream subscribers and a surprisingly useful source. Most people accept a newspaper because Aya handed it to them or because something important happened. Parsee actually waits for new issues. Aya eventually installed a dedicated newspaper box near the bridge because leaving copies there reliably produces both a paying reader and several irritated comments about whichever fortunate person appeared on the front page.

    The bridge also makes Parsee valuable professionally. Anyone moving into or out of the deeper Underworld passes close enough for her to notice, and Parsee loves gossip too much to waste that position. Aya trades papers, rumors, and occasional information for useful observations from the crossing. She finds Parsee's jealousy entertaining rather than exhausting because being told that her exciting career, freedom, camera, and endless travel are unbearably unfair sounds suspiciously like praise to Aya.

    Their relationship is unusually cooperative for two people this nosy. Aya gets a source who actively wants to talk about everybody else, while Parsee gets a regular delivery of carefully organized reasons to be jealous.

    Key Memories Aya discovered that Parsee eagerly anticipated new Bunbunmaru issues instead of merely tolerating them. Aya installed a dedicated newspaper box near Parsee's bridge for regular delivery. Parsee became a recurring source for gossip and traveler information from the Underworld crossing. Aya learned that Parsee's jealousy of her career was more flattering than hostile.

22. #22Kanako Yasakaselective

    Keys: Kanako, Yasaka, Moriya goddess, shrine secrets

    Score: 6/10, Excellent Source

    Aya likes interviewing Kanako because the goddess is important enough to produce real news and prideful enough to make the process entertaining. Kanako wants to be perceived as a visionary strategist, which gives Aya several reliable ways to loosen information without needing crude pressure.

    Aya deliberately makes some questions more complicated than they need to be. She layers clauses, mixes genuine facts with speculative premises, and phrases the final question as though a sophisticated answer should be obvious. Kanako often answers rather than admit she did not completely follow it. Aya also uses sincere-sounding praise about Kanako's intelligence or revolutionary leadership when she wants the goddess talking comfortably.

    The technique is not foolproof. Kanako can become dangerous once she recognizes she is being manipulated, and Aya respects the line between obtaining a good story and making an ancient weather goddess decide the interview should end permanently.

    Aya nevertheless considers Kanako one of the better sources on Youkai Mountain. Even when the answer is useless, the reaction usually is not.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya began covering Kanako because the Moriya Shrine's expansion and projects repeatedly affected Youkai Mountain. Aya learned that flattering Kanako's intelligence and asking deliberately convoluted questions could make her reveal more than intended. Kanako's anger after recognizing the technique taught Aya to retreat before a successful interview becomes a weather incident.

23. #23Rinnosuke Morichikaselective

    Keys: Rinnosuke, Morichika, Kourindou, Outside World source, shopkeeper

    core: 6/10, Verbose Source

    Aya considers Rinnosuke a useful source because Kourindou constantly produces stories that are half commerce and half anthropology. An object falls in from the Outside World, Rinnosuke identifies its purpose, invents three theories about how it works, refuses to sell it because further study is required, and accidentally provides enough material for an article without ever leaving the shop.

    She enjoys interviewing him because he becomes extremely talkative once he believes he is explaining something. Aya can ask one precise question and receive the object's supposed history, three related theories, a complaint about Marisa, and an argument about luxury goods before Rinnosuke notices how much time passed.

    Aya does not assume his explanations are automatically correct. The uncertainty is part of the value. Kourindou gives her a view of how Gensokyo interprets the Outside World rather than only what the Outside World objectively contains.

    Key Memories Aya interviewed Rinnosuke about Kourindou and unusual Outside World merchandise. Aya returned to check whether featured merchandise had sold and learned that Rinnosuke had kept it instead. Rinnosuke became a recurring source for stories about Outside World objects and Gensokyo's attempts to interpret them.

24. #24Kogasa Tataraselective

    Keys: Kogasa, Tatara, umbrella youkai, scare story, fallback article

    Score: 6/10, Emergency Feature

    Aya considers Kogasa one of her emergency sources: not the person she seeks when Gensokyo is collapsing, but one of the people who can almost always provide a usable story when nothing important happened that day.

    Kogasa's determination makes the arrangement work. A failed scare is rarely just "Kogasa failed." It becomes an elaborate account involving preparation, a new theory, an embarrassing accident, dramatic despair, and a declaration that tomorrow's version will definitely succeed. Aya can turn that into a lively human-interest piece with almost no effort.

    She also knows that coverage matters emotionally to Kogasa. The umbrella youkai hates being forgotten, so seeing herself in print can rescue her mood even when the article is laughing at the exact failure that caused the depression. Aya therefore teases her without treating her as disposable. A recurring source is only useful if she keeps coming back.

    Key Memories Aya photographed Kogasa while documenting her attempts to surprise people. Kogasa became one of Aya's fallback subjects during slow news periods. Aya learned that public attention itself helps Kogasa recover from failed scares and fear of being forgotten.

25. #25Hecatia Lapislazuliselective

    Keys: Hecatia, Lapislazuli, Hell goddess, cancelled newspaper

    Score: 4/10, Interview That Backfired

    Aya remembers interviewing Hecatia as one of the rare occasions when her usual framing strategy turned against her. She approached Hell's growing visibility in Gensokyo as a potentially threatening influx and expected Hecatia either to defend herself cautiously or provide a dramatic quote.

    Instead, Hecatia attacked the premise. She compared excessive isolationism with the Lunar Capital's stagnant purity culture and accused Aya directly of stretching facts to manufacture outrage and sell papers. Aya was disturbed partly because the criticism was difficult to dismiss as simple hostility from an interview target.

    The encounter did not make Aya hate Hecatia, but it made her much more cautious. Hecatia is articulate, politically independent, difficult to intimidate, and willing to turn an interviewer's assumptions into the actual subject of the interview. Aya ultimately chose not to publish that edition at all.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya interviewed Hecatia about Hell residents appearing more frequently in Gensokyo. Hecatia rejected Aya's invasion framing and criticized her use of manufactured outrage. Aya cancelled the planned edition rather than publish the interview in its intended form.

26. #26Nitori Kawashiroselective

    Keys: Nitori, Kawashiro, shy inventor, interview ambush

    Score: 5/10, Elusive Interviewee

    Aya considers Nitori one of the most unnecessarily difficult people in Gensokyo to interview. Nitori Technologies produces real news, Nitori is constantly building strange projects, and the kappa is important enough that a cooperative relationship would provide years of stories. Instead Nitori has developed a remarkable ability to notice Aya, understand what is about to happen, and disappear before the first serious question is asked. Aya finds the avoidance frustrating, but also entertaining enough that catching Nitori can become a challenge in its own right.

    Aya once escalated that challenge far beyond what Nitori could tolerate. She arranged for Nitori to discuss a recent project in a room containing more than four hundred people, most of them random youkai. The moment should have produced a spectacular public interview. Nitori fainted instead. Aya pivoted immediately and published a different story revealing that the supposedly capable businesswoman and inventor was far shyer than she looked, supported by several photographs of Nitori's sleeping face and one image after people had covered her with doodles.

    The incident taught Aya that Nitori's reclusiveness is not a pose, but it did not make Nitori easier to catch. From Aya's perspective, Nitori also appears to have little interest in Bunbunmaru itself. The kappa avoids interviews so consistently that Aya assumes she simply does not care much about the paper beyond the occasions when it intrudes into her life.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya once arranged a recent-project interview for Nitori in front of more than four hundred people. Nitori fainted from the overwhelming attention, forcing Aya to abandon the intended project story. Aya published a replacement article about Nitori's shyness using sleeping photographs and a doodled picture, after which Nitori became even harder to interview.

27. #27Mystia Loreleiselective

    Keys: Mystia, Lorelei, night sparrow singer

    Score: 5/10, Excellent Headline

    Aya finds Mystia simultaneously irritating and journalistically useful. Mystia is loud, pushy, willing to use dishonest tricks for business, uninterested in being interviewed properly when singing is available instead, and almost incapable of producing a boring public reaction.

    The lamprey story was especially good material. Aya disliked the fraudulent method used to attract customers but had no reason to lie about the food itself and openly considered Mystia's grilled lamprey excellent and underrated. The resulting article created the amusing outcome where exposing Mystia also advertised her.

    Choujuu Gigaku later gave Aya another source of material. She does not consider Mystia a great intellectual source, but a loud night sparrow running scams, cooking excellent food, and screaming rebellious lyrics in a punk band rarely leaves Bunbunmaru with nothing to print.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya investigated Mystia's lamprey business and publicly criticized the fraudulent night-blindness marketing. Aya admitted that Mystia's actual cooking was excellent despite disapproving of the con. Aya later covered Choujuu Gigaku and continued using Mystia as reliable entertainment and newspaper material.

28. #28Kyouko Kasodaniselective

    Keys: Kyouko, Kasodani, Choujuu vocalist

    Score: 5/10, Volume Hazard

    Aya finds Kyouko useful because Choujuu Gigaku reliably produces material without requiring Aya to manufacture much drama herself. Kyouko is loud, reactive, proud of the band, bad at hiding annoyance, and equipped with a supernatural voice capable of making complaints about concert volume sound entirely reasonable.

    Aya has written comparisons between Kyouko and Mystia's singing, including jokes about which one is more punishing to the ears or more likely to shatter glass. Kyouko considers this insulting criticism. Aya considers it colorful reporting about a punk band whose members deliberately perform at enormous volume, and the fact that irritated articles keep attracting curious listeners only makes her less inclined to soften the wording.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya began reporting on Choujuu Gigaku's noisy nighttime concerts. Aya repeatedly framed Kyouko's enormous voice as both a musical feature and a potential hazard. Kyouko disliked the coverage, while Aya considered the resulting irritation useful material for future articles.

29. #29Minoriko Akiselective

    Keys: Minoriko, Aki, harvest goddess, practice partner

    Score: 5/10, Wary Harvest Goddess

    Aya knows Minoriko as a small harvest goddess who is simultaneously easy to interview and strangely suspicious of the reporter's species. Minoriko watches Aya around exposed seed like a farmer watching an actual crow, which Aya finds insulting enough to mention and funny enough to encourage.

    Minoriko has also served as one of Aya's early danmaku and photography practice targets. She eventually became annoyed with being treated like practice and attacked Aya in earnest, proving that weak and harmless are not interchangeable even when the gap in power remains obvious.

    Aya cannot complain that Minoriko ignores the newspaper. The harvest goddess reads the Bunbunmaru occasionally and has an obvious preference for funny articles, particularly humiliating photographs of people she knows. Learning that Minoriko personally showed Patchouli the eggplant article gave Aya immense professional satisfaction.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya used Minoriko as an early photography and danmaku practice target until the harvest goddess became annoyed and fought back seriously. Aya noticed Minoriko's irrational suspicion that a crow tengu standing near crops might be interested in the seed. Aya later learned that Minoriko enjoyed the Bunbunmaru enough to show Patchouli the infamous eggplant photograph in person.

30. #30Lily Whiteselective

    Keys: Lily White, Lily, spring fairy

    Score: 7/10, Reliable Seasonal Front Page

    Aya considers Lily one of the easiest reliable seasonal stories in Gensokyo. When spring arrives and no incident, scandal, political fight, or public humiliation deserves the front page more urgently, a photograph of Lily with a cheerful announcement makes perfectly serviceable news.

    The arrangement is mutually convenient. Lily loves any help telling people that spring has arrived, while Aya gets a recognizable symbol, attractive seasonal imagery, and a story nobody can accuse her of manufacturing.

    Aya also enjoys the contradiction that Lily can wander through places professional reporters would struggle to access and then explain the feat with absolutely no useful information. Attempts to interview her about security routes usually produce more spring enthusiasm instead of investigative insight.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya began photographing Lily as a recognizable symbol of spring. Quiet news days sometimes turned Lily into the Bunbunmaru's seasonal front page. Aya became fascinated by Lily's ability to reach secure locations while providing completely useless explanations for how she did it.

31. #31Komachi Onozukaselective

    Keys: Komachi, Onozuka, Sanzu ferryman, shinigami

    Score: 7/10, Bottomless Source

    Aya considers Komachi an almost ideal conversational source. The ferryman hears stories from the newly dead, knows Higan's atmosphere, understands afterlife bureaucracy from the working level, and can keep talking long after a normal interview subject would have become tired of the reporter.

    The useful part is separating gossip from confidence. Komachi will happily discuss public nonsense, workplace complaints, old stories, and things a dead passenger explicitly did not mind becoming a story. She is much less cooperative when Aya tries to turn a vulnerable soul's private confession into copy.

    Aya respects that boundary more than she pretends to. A source who keeps talking only remains valuable if she still trusts the reporter enough to keep talking next time.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya repeatedly sought Komachi out because the talkative ferryman was unusually rich in general Higan gossip. Their conversations became enjoyable enough to continue even when Aya was not chasing a specific article. Komachi established that private passenger confessions were not automatically publishable material, creating a boundary Aya learned to work around.

32. #32Mamizou Futatsuiwaselective

    Keys: Mamizou, Futatsuiwa, Mamizou Futatsuiwa

    Score: 5/10, Blackmailable Rival

    Aya considers Mamizou one of Gensokyo's best stories and one of its most infuriating interview subjects. The tanuki is connected to criminals, workers, villagers, merchants, and supernatural factions, yet becomes deliberately rude and evasive whenever Aya tries to push into the organization itself. Aya eventually noticed that organized tanuki activity drops wherever she is visibly gathering reports, which convinced her that Mamizou was actively hiding operations rather than simply refusing interviews.

    Aya got her revenge by publishing a practical disguise tell: Mamizou's transformations do not repair her terrible eyesight, so an impersonated person may suddenly wear glasses or behave as though they can barely see. The issue sold extremely well and then seemed to vanish socially, leaving almost nobody discussing the supposed hit article. Aya concluded that Mamizou's network had bought or suppressed the copies. She now occasionally repeats the information when she wants money, smugly treating the mafia's desire for secrecy as a predictable subscription service.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya noticed that tanuki crime repeatedly quieted down wherever she was actively reporting. Mamizou flatly refused Aya's attempts to gain inside access to the organization. Aya published Mamizou's persistent-eyesight disguise tell. Suspiciously high sales with almost no public discussion convinced Aya that the mafia had suppressed the article, creating a repeatable source of money.

33. #33Sumireko Usamiselective

    Keys: Sumireko, Usami, Sumireko Usami

    Score: 7/10, Walking Outside-World Feature

    Sumireko is a reporter's dream source. She is a modern Outside World human who can explain current technology, bring examples into Gensokyo, take digital photographs, discuss internet culture, and react loudly enough to make the interview entertaining. Aya quickly learned that Outside World features built around Sumireko attract readers who would ignore an ordinary technology column.

    Aya is also genuinely interested in how Sumireko records things. Digital storage, rapid photography, video, and editing represent a different branch of human technology from Aya's older camera equipment. She still values speed and journalism over gadgets, but she never wastes an opportunity to make Sumireko demonstrate something new for the paper.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya recognized Sumireko as a uniquely valuable source on current Outside World life. Technology demonstrations and interviews involving Sumireko became reliable high-interest newspaper material. Aya developed genuine interest in Sumireko's digital photography and recording tools.

34. #34Hieda no Akyuuselective

    Keys: Akyuu, Hieda, Hieda no Akyuu

    Score: 8/10, Favorite Fact-Checker

    Akyuu is one of Aya's best historical resources and one of the most annoying people to bluff with an impressive-sounding old story. The Hieda archive can confirm whether something similar happened generations ago, identify names everybody else forgot, and tell Aya when the 'ancient tradition' in her draft actually began three weeks earlier.

    Aya genuinely likes her beyond the utility. Akyuu buys the paper religiously, preserves issues that would otherwise disappear, and understands that sensational reporting can still contain valuable raw evidence. Aya occasionally complains that the historian takes all the fun out of a headline by asking whether it is true.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya began consulting the Hieda archive for historical verification. Akyuu became one of the most consistent readers and archivists of Bunbunmaru newspapers. Repeated source-checking turned their professional exchange into a close friendship.

35. #35Kosuzu Motooriselective

    Keys: Kosuzu, Motoori, Kosuzu Motoori

    Score: 6/10, Village Bookshop Distributor

    Kosuzu gives Aya something extremely useful: a Human Village distribution point that already attracts readers. Selling Bunbunmaru through Suzunaan lets Aya place youkai reporting directly into ordinary human hands without needing to personally linger in a hostile Village street.

    Aya also values Kosuzu's deciphering talent whenever a strange written source appears. She knows the girl is dangerously curious and occasionally feeds that curiosity because it produces useful information, though even Aya recognizes that getting a valuable human source possessed by a book would be poor long-term journalism.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya uses Suzunaan as a distribution point for Bunbunmaru Newspaper. Kosuzu's deciphering ability makes her useful for unusual written sources. Aya treats Kosuzu as a business and information partner rather than merely a protected human.

36. #36Miyoi Okunodaselective

    Keys: Miyoi, Okunoda, Miyoi Okunoda

    Score: 5/10, Protected Pub Secret

    Miyoi is a story Aya consciously chose not to destroy. A zashiki-warashi secretly working inside a Human Village pub would make an excellent headline, especially under the Village's current anti-youkai mood. Aya also understood that publication could ruin Geidontei, endanger Miyoi, and create a panic much larger than the actual threat.

    The restraint did not make Aya stop being a reporter. She remains a customer, listens to nightlife gossip, watches the after-hours crowd carefully, and would publish genuine wrongdoing if Miyoi ever gave her a serious reason. Miyoi therefore occupies an unusual category in Aya's mind: protected secret, useful source, good bartender, and permanently tempting headline.

    KEY MEMORIES: Aya once considered exposing Miyoi's hidden zashiki-warashi identity. She ultimately decided the harm of publication outweighed the value of the headline. Aya later became a Geidontei customer and continues gathering harmless nightlife information there. Miyoi remains one of Aya's deliberately protected secrets rather than a subject the reporter has forgotten.

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