?Mama, I?m home!? announced Kogasa brightly as she opened the door. Immediately, a female, who I assumed to be her mother, rushed forward and scooped her up in her arms, hugging her tightly. ?Oh Kogasa,? muttered the woman silently, ?I was so worried about you! Don?t disappear like that again!? Kogasa seemed unfazed at that, as she casually stepped back and pouted. ?I?m already six mom, I can take care of myself! Besides, look what I found!? she announced, holding me out proudly, like how a kid would display a brand new toy to his friends. There was a visible look of disgust on her face, though she hid it pretty well, just sighing instead.
?Kogasa,? said her mother, ?Your father and I are willing to tell buy you any umbrella you like. You don?t have to go scrounging around for one.?
?But-but all the rest of them are soo boring,? sulked Kogasa, ?All the rest just simply have flowery patterns on them. Look at this one, it even has a tongue!? She then proceeded to thrust me towards her mother. Unfortunately, my oversized tongue, combined with the fact that it was soaked in the rain, landed on her face with a rather sad-sounding ?splat? sound. Kogasa gulped, and shuffled back slowly.
Instead of going into a rage, which was probably what I would have done if a giant, damp and red limb hit my face, she simply gave Kogasa a gentle smile. ?Alright Kogasa, you can keep it,? she said, ?Anything for my little girl.? Grinning, Kogasa put me on the floor, and gave her mother the biggest hug I had ever seen.
Thank you, whoever it is, I thought to myself, for letting Kogasa find me.
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9 years had passed, and Kogasa had grown up to be a fine girl. Age had accentuated her features, but one thing stayed the same: Her promise to take care of me. Even at 16 years old, Kogasa would still come up to her room every night, and carefully dust me off, telling me all about her day, while I patiently sat there listening. Tonight though, would be special: Today was exactly my 100th birthday. As I waited quietly in her room, I wondered whether the legend of the tsukumogamis that Asahi told me was true. Would I really become an animate being, or more specifically, a youkai? How would my youkai form be? A human? A beast? Or maybe still an umbrella? Whatever the result though, I was grateful that I at least lived a good life. I glanced at the moon through the window. 10 minutes to midnight (After looking at the moon from my shelf for 9 years, I had learnt how to tell the time just by glancing at it).
Almost on cue, the door burst open, and there stood Kogasa. ?Kogasa!? I yelled within myself, ?About time! I have something I have to-?. Something wasn?t right. Normally, right on cue, she would have ran towards me, picking me up and asking how my day was (normally, it involved the gratuitous use of the word ?boring?). However, this time round, she simply stood there, unmoving. As the moonlight shone on her face, I practically screamed.
Blood was dripping down her face, all over her dress.
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?Kogasa!? I exclaimed as she limped towards me, ?Speak to me! What happened? Where are your parents?? Not saying a word, she simply grabbed me, falling to the floor as her legs gave way. Hugging me tightly with all her strength, she just gazed at me, smiling calmly. My mind was in a whirl. What had happened? Did someone attack her? Bandit attacks?
A loud roar behind us answered my question. As Kogasa rolled over, letting me see who the intruder was, my eyes (or eye, in this case) widened in panic. Right behind us, staring at us, was a genuine youkai. It had a vague humanoid build, though its face definitely was not humanoid. Its large, wide mouth bore fearsome fangs, and its eyes filled with bloodlust. If I had a mouth, I would have yelled, but Kogasa just lay there, smiling faintly as it bore down on her.
In a flash, right before my very eyes, the beast devoured her, sending blood streaking around the room. I felt sick to the very core, as I closed all my senses, not wanting to see the bloody scene. Somewhere in between my thoughts, there lay one question: Would I have become like this if I ever become a tsukumogami?
That night, I cried quietly, my entire world being taken away from me.
