Summary
With nothing better to do, a group of girls listen to their friend tell them a special story that only exists in their district about Kasako-san; who is not a rip-off of Hanako-san. She explains that Kasako-san only comes out on rainy days and approaches those she finds and requests they locate her missing red umbrella. If the person refuses or fails by the time she returns, she kills them.
Suddenly a girl yells out and startles the girls, chastising their laziness. Miharu understands that its been raining but it will clear up soon, so they should be preparing for the approaching Sports Festival. The girls admire her dedication as Youko approaches them, leading Miharu to think about their relationship as eternal rivals and good friends. As the school Sports Stars they are evenly matched no matter where they compete.
Upon arrival at home, Miharu sits down to dinner and tries to fill her parents in on how the day went, with good news to share- but they couldn't care less and turn attention to the sporting event. She isn't surprised by their competitive spirit as they tell her that she has to beat Youko and work harder to ensure first place. She doesn't really respond and seems depressed by this, with her saddened mood remaining the following day as she prepares to leave for school. Seeing as its still raining, she notes that she can't be expected to reach her full potential like this. At this rate it's going to be hard to defeat Youko.
Youko shows up to ask Miharu if she's alright noticing her sour mood but they hear a strange sound within the distance. To their shock they see a young girl approaching them and they fill with dread realizing its Kasako-san. She warns them that they have four days to locate her umbrella, then she vanishes.
At school everyone sees their distress and they recall what happened to their alarmed and skeptical classmates. They think its a prank until the girls reveal she scratched each of their arm's and this makes them worry. One girl believes she may be able to help out however, and she leads everyone to a computer to look up Kasako-san. They find out she was a girl who died back in 1999 while searching for the umbrella some bullies stole from her and hid. During her search she was hit by a vehicle and in the process her arm was amputated.
With this information, the group is able to narrow down the possible locations of the umbrella, and those eager to help convince the less-than thrilled students to lend the duo a hand in finding it. But after three days they haven't been able to find anything yet, and several students have stopped due to prior obligations; such as club activities. Miharu is shocked by their priorities and begins feeling worried with less help, to the point she begins to cry until Youko can calm her down by making conversation. She asks what she wants to do once they find the umbrella, and Miharu tells her of how she wishes things could return to normal, back when they had fun playing sports and didn't have the stresses that came with it. Youko agrees and manages to raise her spirits by reminding her that they need to focus on overcoming this challenge.
Despite their scary situation, Youko has never once worried about herself. Miharu admires her bravery and agrees to keep looking with her determination restored. Unfortunately they find nothing, and by now very few of their search team remains.
On the fourth and final day to locate the umbrella, Miharu is about to leave for school when her parents join her to reveal they managed to book the Stadium for training later. They show their support for her to do her best and she anxiously leaves, unable to respond with thoughts of Kasako-san looming over her.
Resigned to their fate, the girls reunite to wait for Kasako-san's arrival. Youko brings up how she didn't bother telling her parents about what happened since they didn't seem to care all that much. Uneasily Miharu agrees, surprised to find out how alike they are, and they begin to openly weep as they recall how they met back in fourth grade. They were chosen to run against each other in the 50m, and it shocked everyone when they finished at the exact same time. They quickly befriended each other during break following this, and since then they have spent every day together enjoying sports and competing. Both of them wish more than anything life would return to the way it was before sports became their only thing in life they could focus on. Back when they actually enjoyed it and could still do other things to make their parents happy.
Suddenly, something catches Miharu's eye and she observes some men collecting incombustible waste from the nearby trash bins. As she points this out to Youko they quickly begin digging through it, ignoring the annoyed men who try to get their attention, and Miharu locates the red umbrella. She grabs it after Youko searches elsewhere and the bewildered men take off, and she checks the umbrella to confirm it belongs to Kasako-san. She prepares to call out to Youko when something dons on her.
If Youko was to disappear then wouldn't things go back to how they were before?
With her being the only sport star at school her parents wouldn't pressure her so much, and she would be able to enjoy it again.
Miharu attempts to stash away the umbrella but Youko's sharp eyes catch her in the process and she coldly asks her what she is trying to hide from her. Miharu stays quiet, expressing shock after Youko effortlessly pulls it away with bitter amusement. She isn't surprise how alike they are; in fact she recently considered doing the exact same thing. After all, they both wish to escape from the pressures of competition and want to enjoy their favorite hobby again. If one of them was gone then it would all just go away.
Miharu is stunned realizing that someone like Youko would do this and as her words sink in she begins to recall what led to her making this decision. It was within the past few days while she was by herself, patching up her sore feet in the locker room. She heard some girls nearby discussing their opinions on who would win the upcoming event and none of them showed her any support- bringing up how dedicated Youko was and how she spent the weekend training in the Stadium. Soon Youko would most-likely be the only sports star of the school.
The girls remain silent until the familiar hiss of Kasako-san's arrival catches their attention. They begin fighting over the umbrella, unwilling to share it now that they know the other wants them to disappear and how they both want the pressure to go away. In the process of their tussle, the umbrella flies over the nearby banister and they make a mad dash to it as Kasako-san gets closer. With a burst of adrenaline, Miharu shoves Youko hard enough to push her down and she embraces the umbrella with no remorse.
Since that day, a year has passed.
Now a middle school student, Miharu is preparing to leave for school when she admirers the sporting trophy she won. Her parents compliment the hard-earned victory and she happily takes off, recalling how great things have been lately. But seeing as its cloudy and is starting to rain, she starts thinking about the day Youko vanished. After she grabbed the umbrella she turned around to find her and Kasako-san gone.
As Miharu expresses confusion over the poor weather, she hears a familiar blood chilling hiss of Kasako-san's arrival. But to her alarm, she turns to find the blood drenched spirit of Youko.
She asks Miharu for the umbrella.
Tropes:
- An Arm and a Leg: Kasako lost her arm after being hit by the oncoming truck and carries it with her. She makes her victims emulate this by ripping off one of their arms.
- Dead Person Conversation: Kasako-san briefly speaks with her victims about her umbrella and their time limit to find it.
- Death of a Child: Kasako-san and Youko, who were both elementary school students.
- Karmic Twist Ending: It isn't Kasako-san who returns a year after the incident...
- Not Now, Kiddo: Both girls have overbearing, competitive parents. Unless it was about sports and competition they don't seem to care about anything else.
- With Friends Like These...: The first story focused on this. Driven by stress and others lack of faith in her, Miharu chose to sacrifice her friendship with Youko if it meant being the best and enjoying herself again. She wasn't even remorseful for it.
- However, Youko isn't exactly a saint either. After realizing Miharu was planning to backstab her, she revealed that she was considering doing the same thing. It's unknown if she would have if Miharu didn't make the first move.
