It's well-known that tools acquire souls over time, though there's no bright line about when. It's best to treat all your tools with respect in any event.

Once, there was a Japanese taiko drum. Like any drum, she liked to be played; maybe from the moment of her creation, but certainly by the time she was decades old.

She was never a particularly active spirit. Usually, it's resentment that accelerates the independence of a tsukumogami, and our drum was never mistreated. It's hazy exactly who played her, or when, but it was a satisfying enough pre-life.

But today, something unprecedented is happening.