In Inazuma, Sara was an important person, but she definitely wasn't a celebrity.

Having all eyes on her, however, was quite the new experience for her.

All the tengu of the district flocked to ask Sara questions, show her articles, take a selfie with her, or just touch her, to see if she was real or not. Even the little kids approached her to ask questions for their first articles.

Not even the writers and artists Sara knew or heard of at home, not even the Shogun had that level of attention.

Journalism was serious business among the tengu. From what she heard, all crow tengu either had their own newspaper or worked in one, always on the lookout for new things to write about. And, currently, she was the biggest novelty in that place.

Meanwhile, Aya and Hatate guided her through the long line of tengu wanting to interview her, helping her to filter and organize the constant questions. At least they were experienced.

Even so, she felt she spent hours answering questions. Questions about her life, her favorite foods, her opinions on…salmon sushi versus catfish sushi, which evolved into a fight, before some different tengu appeared, wearing masks that resembled long sheets with symbols painted on them – Aya and Hatate explained those were the village's enforcers; after ending the fight and giving the offenders tickets, they disappeared with the wind.

Some did ask her about Inazuma: what made it different from Gensokyo, her Shogun, the state of journalism there and so on. She always found a way to omit she was a general, saying she just worked with security. They got sad when she said she was the last tengu there. The thing that confused them most, however, was how Inazuma was so different and yet so similar to the Japan they knew.

She was no scholar, so she couldn't help them there. In a way, however, the tengu were glad of that: the debates on why Inazuma and Japan were so different could fuel the presses for months, even years.

"So, Sara," Aya asked, "How does it feel being a celebrity?"

"Exhausting." She said, while parting the ohagi in front of her with chopsticks. Sara had just ended answering questions and they took her to a restaurant to recharge. It was late summer, so it was the perfect time for ohagi.

"You have to believe me, this ohagi is a specialty from Mount Iizuna," Hatate said, "It tastes like home."

Sara sighed, before taking the ohagi piece to her mouth. She had to admit she liked sweet things – she always made sure to put sugar in her egg rolls – but, out of discipline, she refused to indulge in them. It would definitely be impolite to refuse, but would they be alright? Tengu must be disciplined youkai, being mindful of their manners.

Glancing at Aya and Hatate, they were gorging into a second serving of ohagi.

Well, discipline could take a vacation, then.

"This is so delicious!" Sara said, after chewing it.

The owner of the restaurant was a wolf tengu, so he didn't care much about journalism. But still, when the tengu of the Outside World gave her opinion, he had a proud smile under his neck-long mustache.

"You speak like Inazuma doesn't have good food." Aya said, as the owner sent another serving of ohagi.

"Inazuma has some really good cooks, but…" Sara said, remembering that, before they entered the domain, the Traveler prepared them garlic baguettes – he learned when he was in Fontaine and it was equally delicious, as it was simple to prepare. She could try and learn how to do it, since she liked austere dishes. She could subsist on eggs and onigiri for days and never complain; and if that wasn't available, she knew how to forage and hunt anyway. After all, a soldier had no need for luxury, only duty.

"But?"

"Huh?"

"Weren't you going to finish that flock of thought?"

Sara didn't even realize her attention was drifting away.

"Ah, it's always good to eat different things," she glanced again at her ohagi and took another bite, "I…I'm a simple woman. I only eat fancy in rare occasions."

"Ohagi isn't the kind of food I'd call fancy," Aya laughed off, "But even rice with furikake can be fancy if you're having fun."

Sara nodded. In reality, she didn't know how to react to that.

Fun wasn't something people associated with her. None of her soldiers ever said to her face, but she knew the rumors: "fun dies when the general arrives", "colder than the general stare." There were, of course, less than charitable insults, like a weird one to decipher as "boneless chicken" and others were more direct like "frigid bitch" or "unlovable monster."

Those insults were below her. One of her duties was shaping recruits into soldiers capable of returning home. Fun wasn't something that belong to the training camp, much less in the battlefield – if they wanted fun, they should have hired a clown.

She frowned.

She did nothing wrong.

She only did what the Kujous taught her, while using her tengu nature to protect eternity, ever since she was first brought to the Kujou household.

She took an angry bite out of her ohagi.

She didn't need stuff like "happy childhood" – those were for human children, that's what she fought for; she didn't need frivolous things like "teenage love" – she was above that, nor that any man or woman would ever look at her that way; she didn't need to think of the future – all she had to do was to preserve her Shogun's eternity.

Maybe they were right, she was an unlovable monster. But a monster that worked for their good. She didn't need their thanks, only their lives safe.

All she trained for was to protect the Shogun's vision for Inazuma.

Then, why did she change it? Why wasn't she the ruthless, efficient and rational Shogun she's always knew? Why was she visiting her commoners so more often? Why was she smiling when seeing people like the Traveler or that annoying fox?

Just, what was going on? She was the first to step in to defend her Shogun against La Signora. She still remembered her Shogun's expression before passing out: neutral disappointment, as expected. She failed her and deserved punishment.

But when she opened her eyes, her Shogun waited for her. There was concern in her eyes; her voice sounded soft; she asked her if she was feeling well. When did she become so…undivine?

Why did she feel the entire universe was a massive joke with her as the punchline?

"Wow, you're hungry, Sara!" Aya said, smiling to her.

The ohagi had disappeared and she didn't even notice.

The wolf tengu served her one more portion.

Not being able to refuse, she started eating. Feeling awkward, she decided to ask some questions.

"My apologies," she said, trying to think of something, "I told you that I worked with security, right?" Both Aya and Hatate nodded, "My role is… a bit more important than I'm letting people know."

"Yeah, we noticed," Aya said, winking at her, "But, don't worry, that's a detail that can be ignored."

"I started at an early age. Do the child tengu…do they…how?"

She really had difficulty in forming words. The children that talked to her seemed so…normal? Almost indistinguishable from the human children in Inazuma that she saw running in the streets, save for the interest in journalism or geography (in the wolves' case). The only thing different were some of them telling her they were going to scare humans that night.

"Oh, yeah, like, you likely never met other tengu children." Hatate said.

"Since we're so long-lived, there is only three or four new hatchlings every year. They spent their childhood doing childish things, like…"

"Weapons training?"

"Uh, haha, not really. We teach them about life. After the Moriya Shrine landed, they helped us to reform our schools."

"What is the Moriya Shrine?"

"It's on the top of the mountain. Our gods stay there. They also came from the Outside World."

"What are your gods like?"

"To be honest, most of us only go when we need it, but they're always willing to hear us. Lady Yasaka acts like a yakuza," Sara stared at her, "A mafiosi," she kept staring, "Let's just say she really wants the faith here and will do anything to get it. And Lady Moriya is all fun and games, but I bet she can rip a man in half like a sheet of paper while still doing that 'teehee' smile. Lady Kochiya is cool, tho'. She even organized a Mario Kart tournament last winter, who won again, Hatate?"

"Why do you ask if you know the answer?" Hatate scoffed.

"You're still upset because you got second place, huh? Huh? Huh?"

"It was a matter of a second! Damn Shojiro nerd!"

Gods that mingle so casually with their follower was…not something Sara was willing to hear right now, especially after that string of thoughts. Still, their gods were nothing like the Shogun.

"Are the children happy?"

"Uh?" Both Aya and Hatate stared at her, somewhat unsure of why she asked that.

"Yeah," Aya said, "We're really living in a period of peace. There was a time the tengu raised children to be warriors."

"Did they?" Sara's eyes widened.

"Yeah. We stopped that because…what were we doing? We just made them sad tengu, half of them died in the wars."

Sad.

Was she sad herself?

"We can make a little trip to the archives, but," Aya stopped to sigh, "but it turns out giving a bunch of lethal weapons to kids wasn't a good idea."

That ought to be common knowledge.

Then, why did Takayuki teach that to her? Wasn't it normal for tengu like her?

From the corner of her eyes, she could see a nearby kindergarten for tengu children. They were giving a bit of trouble for their teachers, but they were there, being carefree while trying to learn on their own pace. Why did her childhood revolve about surviving alone in the forest or being trained to be the perfect soldier?

Was that envy? Did she envy those tengu?

Again, why wouldn't her?

"To be honest," Aya said, while looking at the sky, "All my batch-mates have kids, some of them already teenagers. I think I'll start thinking about marriage next century, and having a little hatchling running around my house."

"Good luck with that," Hatate said, "I'm not one for child-rearing." She said in a firm tone.

"I haven't thought of that as well." Sara said, a bit embarrassed. Enforcing eternity was her duty, a child would be an obstacle to it.

And yet, a deep part of her thought completely giving up marriage and motherhood for eternity was an extremely unfair idea. But, first, she would need to find someone that would…accept her.

She really didn't want to think about that right now.

That should've been a human concern. That was another belief that Gensokyo shattered as well. She had been interviewed by a married tengu couple, who ran a newspaper together. After they were finished, Sara glanced at them in their corner: they were hugging and kissing each other, and kept blabbing how much a big scoop they had.

She wondered if tengu could love, even if she the answer had been right in front of her eyes.

Why did she have those expectations in first place? She expected them to be lawful, serious, graceful and deadly warriors. In reality, they were…normal? She wasn't sure if that word was the most appropriate – they had their lives, they went to school, married, had kids, while being youkai. Given their excitable and carefree nature, it was like the tengu were an entire nation of Ittos.

She coughed.

"Are you ok, Sara?" Hatate asked.

"I just choked on saliva." She coughed a bit.

PERISH. THAT. THOUGHT.

A.N.: I almost titled this chapter Saralebrity.