Episode 1

"Act 1: Rikyuu Mouse" is the first episode of We Rent Tsukumogami.

Summary
A rental shop called Izumo-ya sells items imbued with spirits. It is ran by a pair of siblings named Oko and Seiji. Okino comes in, thanking Oko and Seiji for the item they rented to her. She comes with a friend, Katsusaburo who tells of a netsuke that grew legs and ran away. When he compares tsukumogami to yokai, one of the items in the shop pipe up in offense to such a comparison. The siblings play this off, however they are very aware they are lending deities to unsuspecting buyers.

The netsuke that grew legs came from a family that passed the item down for generations, but the eldest son passed away and they were left without an heir for the item. When one of the daughters married, the netsuke was given to her husband, who then lost the item. They allege that a thief broke in the manor and allowed the netsuke to escape.

Oko and Seiji theorize that they can lend one of their own tsukumogami to collect secrets at the manor and find out where the mouse netsuke might be hiding. The tsukumogami learn that the daughter of the family is in love with someone other than her betrothed. The netsuke turns up in the hands of a prostitute who got it from a customer. Oko encourages Seiji to investigate who that customer was in the red light district, but he declines. The tsukumogami mock him for not having enough courage and even bring up that he can't even bring himself to compliment Oko. Oko and Seiji are not blood related.

Notetsu goes to the red light district and brings back the mouse named Rikkyu. They learn that there was no thief at all and it is a sibling squabble. Turns out Katsusaburo has a tough relationship with his brother and he does not want to marry the girl his family has arranged for him.