~Booted Out~
Meiling went out after a storm to check the garden. Halfway through a deep puddle on the path, she screamed.
"Five months and you're already leaking?! Get off my feet!" Meiling hurled her wellies over the wall and ran back inside for some better footwear.
Meiling emerged in brown work-boots, accompanied by a maid. She watched bemusedly as Sakuya hopped the wall. "I don't know why you're bothering..."
"It's such a waste!" Sakuya cried, alighting beside the forlorn green boots among the weeds. "Wellies are for life, not just for Hinamatsuri. There must be something better to do with these..."
Next morning, Kogasa found a woman slumped against the wall, dressed in green with pink flowers in her hair.
Kogasa sat down. The woman's teary eyes darted up at her. "Who are you?!"
"Kogasa. I was an umbrella once," said Kogasa, attempting an encouraging smile. "What's your name? What happened?"
"I started leaking. Meiling abandoned me," the woman sniffled. "Then I lay for a hundred years overnight... My name? It's probably Ayumi Takao."
"Oh..." Kogasa sighed. "You were boots, right?"
"Yes." Ayumi's expression soured. "She called me comfy, you know. But the moment I let her down, that was it."