Volume 6

"Big Bro!" A little girl called to Narukami. The kids saw Nanako jogging up to their group, Dojima close behind. She pounced Narukami with a loving hug. Narukami returned it.

"Hey, Nanako!" He greeted. "Hey, Uncle."

"Hey, kids," Dojima said. His usual five o'clock shadow was a bit longer than usual, but at least his brown hair was neatly combed. The other kids greeted him back. They made meaningless conversation while Aila bent down with Narukami to get a better view of Nanako.

"Heya," she said to the little girl. Nanako gave her a big grin.

"Hey, Aila!" Nanako wrapped her arms around Aila's neck. "I've missed you! How come you don't come over anymore?" Aila hugged her, too, and then pulled back to look at the girl's chocolate eyes.

"I'm sorry. I've just been busy with my dad," she explained. "He's been helping your daddy out with the newest case, so I've been taking care of the house while he's been gone." Nanako nodded understandingly.

"Hey! Can I come play with you guys?"

"What about your dad?" Narukami asked.

"He's fun, but I want to play with you guys, too!"

"I could use a bit of a rest from that carnival pie earlier," Dojima chimed in. "You kids go ahead and have some fun."

"Yay!" Nanako cheered, taking both Aila and Narukami's hands. She started pulling them along the road and the two being dragged by her started laughing. Yosuke and the others smiled and stalked close behind them.

…

When they returned, Dojima was staring off into a crowd of people. They were gathered around a cart with signs all over. The kids couldn't really read it, but whatever they said got people excited.

"What's that?" Nanako asked.

"I dunno," Narukami replied.

"Looks like some kind of magic show," Dojima said.

"Magic? Can we go see it?" Nanako started jumping up and down, shaking Aila and Narukami's sweating hands with her.

"Let's go!" Aila said enthusiastically. They were swarmed into the crowd as they awaited the man on stage to continue to his next trick.

"What lame tricks do you think he'll do?" Yosuke asked Aila as he squeezed next to her.

"Shh!" Aila scolded. "Just let Nanako watch!"

The man on stage had a very round body with sticky, slender legs. He wore black skin-tight pants and a red tail coat over a white button-up. His posters, now within readable distance, said "Mr. Top". The curvy black moustache under his long nose and his chin's goatee made him look rather sinister, but everyone seemed to love him.

"Now, for my next trick!" Mr. Top announced. He picked up a lovely, fluffy white rabbit. "I'll shall put this rabbit in my hat, then make it disappear!"

"Well, that's original," Chie muttered sarcastically, but all of the littler kids were cheering excitedly. Mr. Top went on to put the rabbit in a hat on a table, then, after a wave of his wand, flipped it upside down. When nothing came out, everyone cheered.

"Now to make him reappear!" He reached into his hat and, after a few moments, he got an uncertain look and put his whole face into the hat. "Well, children, it looks like Magic the Rabbit has gone off somewhere. Oh well, let's get onto the next trick."

He smiled, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I'll need a volunteer from the audience. How about you, little girl?" He pointed down to Nanako. The brunette jumped excitedly, but Dojima got an uncertain look.

Aila felt something dark bubble up inside her and her hand shot up.

"I'd like to volunteer in her place!" She insisted. Her friends looked at her in surprise. Aila ignored them and looked down at Nanako. "Sorry, sweetie. Just trust me on this one." Nanako felt the seriousness in her voice and nodded, letting Aila's hand go.

Mr. Top didn't even bat an eye and ushered her up to the stage. "Very well! Any lovely young lady will do!" He put his arm around her tiny shoulders and pulled her in close, putting a microphone to her lips. "What's your name, dear?"

"Aila."

"What a lovely name! Well, Aila, I'll now tell you what I need you to do." He opened a curtain behind them, revealing a purple, full body-length levitating box with white and blue stars decorating it. "Now, ladies and gentleman, please notice that this box is not being held up by any strings or other attachments." He ran a long magic staff above and beneath it to prove his point. "I will ask Aila to please step into the box where I will make her disappear and then reappear-for real, this time."

He offered Aila his hand and she glanced over to Narukami and Yosuke, an uncertain look in her eyes. She hid it well in her face, though, and mustered up the courage to take Mr. Top's hand to help her into the box. Suddenly, the boys and their friends got a bit nervous, but weren't yet sure why.

Mr. Top closed the door to the box. "Now, I shall spin the box THREE times. One…two…three." The hovering case wobbly spun in the air. "Now, let's see if our young lady is inside…" He opened the door, and Aila was gone. The audience clapped.

"Alright, alright, let's bring her back to us. One…two…and THREE!" On the third spin, he opened the door.

It was empty.

The audience started to murmur. Narukami and the others started to panic.

"Wh-where is she?" Chie asked as Mr. Top made a big show to look all over the inside of the box.

"What the hell kind of trick is this?!" Yosuke hissed.

"Something's not right," Narukami concluded, starting to push his way through the crowd with the others.

"Well now," Mr. Top went on. "I must be losing my marbles-or at least all of my participants! Let's try this one more time." He started spinning the box. "One…two…THREE!"

He barely had his hand on the door when something burst its way out. It was a large, gnarly creature that was like a werewolf, standing on two hind legs and growling at the audience with an elongated snout. Its black fur shimmered in the sunlight. Everyone started to scream and Narukami's friends stopped in there tracks. The werewolf's too-long ears perked up at the sight of them and its throat rumbled again.

"Do you feel that?" Yukiko asked the group.

"It's-" Rise gasped. "A Shadow!"

"Woah!" Mr. Top said, exaggerating a surprised expression. "Where did you come from?" He gestured a hand to the audience that was backing away slowly. "Don't worry, my friends! I'll take care of this!" He rose his wand over the beast and called out, "ALAKAZAM!"

The Shadow shivered, then exploded outward. Black liquid spurted all over the place and Aila's body came from beneath it all. She collapsed to the ground, sucking in a large gulp of air as if she'd been drowning in that wolf's body.

"Ah-ha!" Mr. Top said. "And the beauty has been saved from the beast!" The black liquid swiftly started evaporating into small clouds around Aila. Most everyone else erupted into applause, but Narukami and Yosuke both ran up to the stage to help Aila up. She choked out a few more drops of black blood and clung to Narukami's arms with her shaking fingers.

"I'm sorry if that startled you, my dear," Mr. Top said, trying to help her up as well. He spoke loud enough for everyone else to hear. "But you were a good sport! Thank you for helping out Mr. Top!"

Yosuke held his tongue, though many unkind words sprung to his mind.

They helped Aila off of the stage where Nanako was waiting. Her face had gone pale and she was at Aila's side in an instant.

"Are you okay?!" She asked panicked.

Aila coughed again. "It-it was so dark in there. I couldn't see or move or breathe or hear anything." She saw Nanako's bright, concerned eyes and regained her composure. "But I'm fine. It was just a trick. I'm alright."

Dojima approached. "Thank you for taking Nanako's place," he told Aila softly. "I think I would've started a panic had that been her instead."

"No problem." Aila leaned against Yosuke for support. He kept her up enough to make her look like she was standing in her own.

"I think we should get you home, Nanako," Dojima said suddenly. "It's been a long day."

"We'll stay a bit longer until Aila rests up," Narukami said. Dojima nodded.

"We'll see you later, then."

Nanako gave Aila a quick hug before she and her dad left.

"I think we should go talk to that Mr. Top," Narukami said when his family was out of hearing distance. "We need to find out how he summoned that Shadow."

"Right," Yosuke agreed. "The fact that he summoned it outside of the TV World makes this too strange."

"Let's go after Aila's rested a bit," Chie suggested.

"No, I'm fine." Aila stood shakily, trying to hide it from the others. "We need to question him right away, before he has too much time to hide the truth."

...

Volume 6! A shorter chapter, but moves straight to the point.

Shadows outside the TV World can be troublesome. What does this mean for our friends?