Mentioned Characters: Kogasa, Sekibanki

Kogasa Tatara was once an ordinary umbrella, but she became a youkai after her owner stopped using her. Now, she loves to surprise humans. Sadly, though, her scares tend to fall flat, so she rarely gets the reaction she's hoping for. At least the children in the village really seem to like her.

Sekibanki is a rokurokubi youkai who lives in the Human Village. Unlike regular rokurokubi youkai, whose necks can stretch, Sekibanki is instead able to detach her head and send it flying. While Kogasa enjoys socializing with the villagers, Sekibanki keeps her distance, opting to live a quiet, solitary life. She's just not very good at opening up to others.

One day, Kogasa set out for the Human Village like always. She slipped into a dark corner, scouting for someone to surprise. Eventually, she spotted someone small walking alone, separated from the rest of the villagers. Kogasa locked onto her target and leapt out of the shadows with a loud "Boo!" "Is that you, Kogasa? What's going on?" "Huh?! Sekibanki?!" Realizing her target was none other than her friend Sekibanki, Kogasa was the one who ended up surprised. "How did you not notice it was me?" "I couldn't really see your face. My umbrella was in the way!" "You should really put it down before you try and surprise someone..."

"You're so lucky, Sekibanki. Being able to send your head flying must make scaring people so easy," said Kogasa with a hint of jealousy as she and Sekibanki walked through the village. Before long, they arrived at a park. Suddenly, Kogasa began making odd stretching motions with her neck while Sekibanki watched on in confusion. "Uh... What are you doing?" "Hnggh! What does it look like? I'm trying to extend my neck! I can't detach my head like you can... but maybe I can make it a little longer!" Kogasa kept stretching her neck, but eventually, she gave up. "Aww... my neck's the exact same size as before. If only I could make it longer, I'd be able to scare people." Sekibanki let out a long, exasperated sigh. "You admitted you can't detach your head... but what made you think you could extend your neck?" "Maybe if I become a bigger tsukumogami, my neck will get longer." "That's not how it works." "If I grow by three inches, maybe I can put all of that into my neck." "I seriously doubt that..."

As Kogasa and Sekibanki continued to chat away, a group of children ran up to them. Sekibanki usually kept a low profile in the village, avoiding contact with humans as much as possible, so naturally, she tried to distance herself from the kids. Kogasa, on the other hand, immediately started playing with them. Watching from afar, Sekibanki suddenly heard Kogasa call out to her. "Hey, Sekibanki, come play with us!" At first, Sekibanki refused. But Kogasa's persistence wore her down, and in the end, she joined the circle of children and Kogasa. Playing with them turned out to be a lot more fun than she expected. "Kogasa might not be very good at surprising people―even I could do a better job than her―but she's great at making them happy," she thought to herself. Sekibanki couldn't help but be a little jealous of Kogasa's talents. Perhaps the two of them were just longing for what the other had... Or so Sekibanki found herself thinking.