"Er—your owner?"

"You said the girl in the picture was your ancestor, right?" Kogasa asked hopefully.

"Well, yes, but..."

"Then that must mean I'm your umbrella now!"

"I'm not sure if that's how it works..."

"Do you have an umbrella stand?" Kogasa glanced toward Reimu's actual, mundane umbrella, leaning by the door.

"... er, hold on."

"Th-this is so exciting! I've been looking for, wow, pretty much forever!"

"Kogasa!"

"I hope it rains soon!" Beaming, Kogasa reached forward to clasp Reimu's hands, and only then seemed to notice the frown on the shrine maiden's face. Her own smile faltered, but she didn't relax her grip just yet. "Um, is something wrong...?"

"I only asked you here to take a look at the picture." Kogasa's expression instantly wilted even further, but if Reimu were so easily swayed by pouting youkai, she'd never get anything done. "I just wanted to know if you knew anything about my ancestor."

"Well... okay, but, um..."

"And I don't need an umbrella."

"B-but it might rain sometime, a-and...!"

"Especially not an umbrella with a youkai attached to it. This is a youkai extermination shrine. I can't have youkai living here. Do you understand?" The karakasa nodded glumly in response. At this understanding, Reimu allowed herself to soften her expression a little. Any more sternness would just be like kicking a sad puppy. "Good. … I'm sorry."

"I understand..." Kogasa mumbled. She gave the photo one last lingering look before carefully sitting it on the table. She rose to standing shakily, somehow without looking up from the floor. "B-but... I'm your umbrella. If you, um, ever need me..."

"I won't."

Kogasa was barely out the door before she started bawling. Barely an hour later, it started raining, and did not stop.

"D'you think you might have been a little rough on her?"

Marisa was gazing absently out the open doorway as she spoke, but even though there was nobody in sight, Reimu didn't wonder who she was talking about for a second. Kogasa. She might have said that she understood the need to keep the shrine youkai free, but she was still lingering around the place. Practically every time Reimu stepped outside, there she was, moping on a tree branch or sniffling just around a corner. She was lurking far enough out of sight that Reimu couldn't really accuse her of driving off visitors, especially since it had been pouring for days, but it was still annoying.

And, perhaps, just a little guilt-inducing. Reimu had been staying inside for the past few days. Her conscience was far more comfortable if she didn't have to see the karakasa pouting at her every five minutes, and besides... "She'll get bored sooner or later. In a week, she'll forget the whole thing. Youkai are like that."

The draft through the door made her shiver, and Reimu took a sip of tea to counter it. The chilly downpour was just another good reason to stay inside... especially considering who was outside right now.

"I don't see what the big deal is." Marisa yawned and leaned back, seeming quite unashamed that she'd stripped off most of her clothes to let them dry. "Having a youkai umbrella seems like it'd be pretty cool. Like a pet!"

"If you want her so much, you can have her," Reimu said, without looking up from her drink.

"... hmm. Nah. I've still got Alice's umbrella laying around somewhere. She'd probably get jealous."

"Take her anyway."

"Heh. I'll think about it." Marisa turned to check her clothes' progress in drying, and frowned thoughtfully at the trees outside the door. "Still, it's kinda weird, y'know? Every other tsukumogami I've seen has kinda moved on. She's the only one who seems all wrapped up about being useful to humans."

"Mmh."

"It's not raining anywhere else, y'know."

Reimu opened her mouth to respond, but found herself without words. A quick glance out the doorway confirmed that it was still raining. "... what do you mean?"

"The rain. It's only around the shrine. It actually looks pretty weird from everywhere else. Just this big cloud, right over the shrine and nowhere else. Probably not gonna help convince anybody that this place isn't youkai-infested."

"It's been raining for days."

"Heh. Yeah. Pretty weird, huh?" Marisa's glance turned back toward the doorway. "I mean, it's got to be her, right? I dunno if she even knows she's doing it. Maybe she's so upset that it's turning her into something scarier, or she's kinda blowin' her load. You wouldn't expect a pipsqueak like her to have enough power to keep this up, right? Give it a few days and, uh..."

"... and?"

"Poof." Marisa mimed a wimpy explosion with her fingers. "Like when a god runs out of faith, you know?"

"Self-exterminating youkai would be convenient." Without looking up, Reimu grabbed the pot and poured herself another cup of tea.

Marisa studied Reimu's expression for a moment, then chuckled to herself. "As expected of the Hakurei shrine maiden, huh? Well, since the rain's not gonna let up any time soon, I guess there's no point waiting around." She pushed herself to standing and lifted her outfit, giving it a single flick of the wrist to air it out a little. "I've got experiments waiting on me anyway."

"Goodbye, Marisa. Could you shut the door on your way out?"

"Sure, sure."

As soon as the door closed behind Marisa, Reimu slumped back to lay on the floor. There was no sound throughout the shrine except the rain beating down steadily on the roof.

It was the fourth day of Reimu's self-imposed exile.

She was so bored. Living alone in the shrine had taught her to appreciate solitude, but without stepping outside, there was only so much she could do to entertain herself for the better part of a week. She'd exhausted the few reserves of food that she had. And now, the roof was leaking, a steady drip of water in the middle of the living area. After two hours of listlessly watching it drip into a pot, she'd had enough.

Why am I doing this? she asked herself as she got ready to go out. She didn't have a good answer, and yet there she was, tucking her coin pouch into a sleeve and straightening the bow in her hair. Let's just get it over with, I guess.

Reimu opened the door and stepped outside. She left her umbrella leaning against the wall.

The rain was still pouring down. After days of this, the clearing around the shrine was mottled with large puddles. The sky overhead was a solid, lifeless gray... but now that she looked for it, she could see that blue sky did peek through the trees closer to the horizon. The cloud itself traced out a nearly perfect circle above the shrine.

That wasn't weird at all.

For a moment, Reimu thought that she might actually be alone—the memory of Marisa saying 'poof' flashed into her head—but then she noticed Kogasa's feet overhead, dangling from the awning. As casually as she could, she stepped out into the rain and looked up.

Kogasa, predictably, looked like a mess. She was seated on the edge of the shrine's roof, with her umbrella tilted low enough that it did nothing to shield herself from the rain. Her clothes were thoroughly soaked. From the glimpse that Reimu got through her sodden hair, she could see the karakasa's eyes slowly turn up to focus on her. Slumped over and barely moving, she looked like a marionette with its strings cut.

Reimu shifted in uncomfortable silence, as rain continued to beat down on both of them. "Um, hi," she said. No response. "I need to go into the village..." Still nothing. Reimu sighed and lowered her eyes. "If you want, I could use an umbrella."

For several seconds, Kogasa remained still, and Reimu worried that she'd come too late. Very slowly, though, the karakasa nodded, then started climbing down from the roof.

The walk was a quiet, awkward one. Reimu sensed Kogasa stealing hesitant glances at her now and then, but every time she turned to look at her, the karakasa averted her gaze, shying away like a whipped dog. Reimu's few, halting attempts to start conversations got only mumbled responses, which were drowned out by the rain.

When they passed into a tract of forest, the sound of the rain on the trees overhead was a dull roar, drowning out all attempts at conversation. By the time they passed out the other side, the clouds had already preceded them. Throughout the entire walk down the hill to the village, Reimu could see humans below scrambling to get inside and out of the sudden rain. Kogasa hesitated as they approached, then scrambled to catch up as Reimu continued walking.

The villagers' dash to get out of the rain had its advantages. It didn't leave many people outside to see the shrine maiden's walk down the main street, with a youkai umbrella tagging uncertainly by her side. She knew this probably wasn't doing a thing for her already-spotty reputation, but... well. She would deal with that later.

Fortunately, her meager funds didn't make for much of a shopping trip. A single stop at a farmer's stall—weeks of donations traded for days of food, while the man shot uncertain glances at Kogasa the entire time—and she turned around to lead the way back out of the village. She took the opportunity to steal a glance at Kogasa's face. The trip seemed to have shaken her out of her earlier stupor. Her movements were more purposeful now, and she was no longer staring at the ground as they walked.

It was progress, maybe. As they passed through the gate out of the village, Reimu started working up her resolve to attempt conversation again.

Kogasa beat her to it. "I'm sorry..." she said, sounding rather hoarse. "Um, about the other day, I mean. It's just... been a really long time..."

Reimu now found herself unable to look toward the karakasa. She shrugged as well as she could with the bags in her hands. "Don't worry about it."

As she stepped into the rain, Reimu quickly realized that Kogasa had stopped walking. She hurried back under the shelter of the umbrella, just in time to hear her mumble, "Do you know why she left me...?"

"The—my, um, ancestor?" Kogasa nodded in response. "... well, I just learned her name a few days ago, so I don't think I'm going to ever find out anything like that..."

Kogasa nodded again, but seemed to be rooted to the spot. "I know I'm not very pretty or fashionable... and some people make fun of my color..." Her eyes turned up toward the umbrella, and she ran a pair of fingertips along the pole thoughtfully. "But. Um. I'm still good at blocking the rain, right?"

"... sure, I guess."

"I am," Kogasa said. A smile tugged at her lips for just a moment, then she faltered. "I don't think I'm very good at surprising people, either. I just want to be nice and useful, but... I'm clumsy, and not very smart, and, um, humans don't want a youkai around..."

There were tears glistening in Kogasa's eyes again. Reimu sighed internally. I guess one more youkai hanging around the shrine won't hurt too much... She reached up, and her hand closed around the handle of the umbrella. The wood felt slightly cold, and oily under her fingers. It was still a youkai, after all. Kogasa's eyes went wide as Reimu's fingers brushed against hers, and she quickly turned away to look down the path. "Jeez, I can't stand out here all day. I'm going to get a cold at this rate. As my umbrella, you should be doing your best to prevent that kind of thing, right?"

"Your...?" Kogasa froze. When several seconds passed without Reimu changing her mind, her expression spread into a broad grin, and she leapt forward, squeezing Reimu with one arm and excitedly raising the umbrella higher with the other. "R-right! I'm on it! I'm not gonna let any water at all land on you! I-if I do, you can yell at me, and, um, I'll clean your shrine for a whole week...!"

"That really isn't necessary..."

But Kogasa wasn't listening. She tripped over her words as she rushed to make a dozen offers at once. "D-do you want me to carry the bags? I can! U-um, hmm, I guess it's more important to get you home fast, actually... let's go!" Without warning, Kogasa took off dashing down the path; caught by surprise, Reimu ended up stumbling along behind her, dragged by the hand holding the umbrella and getting splashed by the mud kicked up by the karakasa's stomping feet.

By the time they passed out the other side of the forest, the rain had dried up and the clouds were gone. Fortunately, Kogasa made a pretty good parasol, too.