Volume 9

"Hey, Aila," Yosuke said into the phone, "I was just callin' ya. Wanted to make sure you didn't forget our movie night, so…yeah. Just, give me a call, I guess." He snapped his cell shut and gave a sigh. He wouldn't admit that he was worried about her. He wouldn't. Even if she seemed more adamant than usual about finding her lost friend….

Okay, maybe he was a little concerned…or a lot. Though the past month had been fairly calm, in the TV World and the normal one, Yosuke have been feeling uneasy. Ever since that magician's trick with the Shadow-wolf, Aila hadn't been the same. She interrogated her friends constantly about their investigations into the TV World, asking if they'd seen or heard from Mina. She rarely even returned any of Yosuke's calls if it wasn't about Shadows. He wondered now if that creepy old Mr. Top had magically pushed her into the TV World. Maybe she'd gotten eaten by that rabbit Nanako was always coming over to see. Maybe…

Yosuke plopped onto his father's couch, holding his head.

"Man, I've gotta calm down," he muttered to himself. "I'm gonna lose it." He leaned back, lazily picking up the TV remote. "Guess I'll just start the movie without her. Might calm me down…." It occurred to him then that he had no idea when he'd started talking to himself so often.

A knock at the door startled the boy. Yosuke slowly stood up and went to open it; a rain-drenched Aila Sonnel was pulling her jacket hood down over her face. She gave him an apologetic smile.

"Hey, Yosuke!" She greeted. His chest jumped, as though her voice had made it realize that she wasn't just some apparition.

"Hey," he muttered. He stepped aside to let her in. Shivering, she shrugged out of her shoes and jacket and headed for the couch.

"Sorry I'm late."

"Where were you?"

Aila looked up at him cautiously; she must've heard the urgent concern he was trying to repress. He head suddenly went down.

"I went out with Yuu and Nanako again. When we took Nanako home, I ended up sticking around for a while and lost track of the time."

When Yosuke heard her say that, he felt a sharp stab inside his chest.

"So you were just off playing around in the dark?!" Aila flinched at his tone.

"It was an accident," she insisted. "I didn't mean to-"

"You were too busy flirting to even give me a call?!"

"What are you implying?" Now Aila stood up and gained a frightening scowl. "That I like Yuu? Is this a jealousy thing?" She'd nearly hit the nail on the mark. His words held jealousy, yes, but also something else. Something more prominent.

"Forget it," he mumbled. His voice had softened as he turned away from Aila's gaze. He didn't want to fight with her anymore; he hated arguing with her at all. He almost wished he'd never snapped at her.

"No, Yosuke. Why are you acting so weird, lately? What's been making you so pissy?"

"I thought that you might have gotten eaten or something by that Shadow-werewolf, thing!" The outburst stopped Aila in her tracks. "I was worried, okay?!"

"Yosuke…"

"My imagination just got ahead of me, I guess…"

Aila approached him, lightly patting his arm. "I'm sorry I worried you."

He sighed. "It's okay. I'm just relieved that you're okay."

There was a long silence between the two. Yosuke stared down at Aila's fingers on his arm. They weren't warm and comforting; they were frozen to the bone and the chill was reaching through his long-sleeved shirt. Yet, it still gave him a great relief that she was there, safe and where he could keep an eye on her.

"Hey," Aila muttered, bringing his gaze up to her small smile. "How about we start that movie?" Yosuke, too, gave a small smirk.

"Yeah, sure."

… …

"Aila…."

Yosuke awoke to the buzz of TV static. He opened his eyes to look down at the girl on his shoulder. She was fast asleep and snuggling into him. Her body's chill had all but vanished and she was now as warm as a newborn puppy in his lap. Yosuke's eyes wandered down to her lips. They were creamy and vibrant, very enticing. The boy turned away swiftly and tried to control his beating heart. His muddled feelings were getting out of hand.

When he caught view of his TV, he realized that it was midnight. Mina's face was still cut off at the bottom-her eyes weren't visible. Yosuke sat up and glared into the screen, trying to see past the obnoxious gray pixels that clouded around the brunette.

Suddenly, Mina slid away from the camera. There was actual visual of background where the girl waited. Yosuke tumbled off of the couch to get a look at it. He vaguely captured views of a dozen electronics and soundboards…was Mina in a recording studio? Yosuke fought to get a better view, but something got in his way.

"Aila," Mina's lips muttered, tears leaking into the corners of her mouth. "Please help me. Please! I need you!"

"Mina…?"

Oh, shit.

Yosuke whirled around. Aila was sitting up on the couch, staring wide-eyed at the TV before them. She had one hand outstretched, trembling as the voice coming from the small box got louder.

"Aila! Aila please help me! I'm so scared!" It was almost as if the girl knew that Aila could hear her. Yosuke went to block the TV from his friend's view, but the image had already faded away.

Yosuke and Aila both stared at the blank screen for some time, unable to speak. The brown-haired boy tried not to imagine what was coming. However, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before he'd find out how she'd react….

Aila slowly rose from the couch, eyes on Yosuke now. "What was that?"

Yosuke inhaled sharply. "Aila, listen-"

"You knew that she's been there the whole time, haven't you? That's why you've been distracting me. That's why you've kept me out of the TV World, haven't you?!" Aila pressed her hands through her hair, attempting to keep her breathing steady enough to talk. "You've all been lying to me. You've been lying to me, Yosuke! You, of all people…"

Yosuke stood up, advancing to the girl's side. "We did it so you wouldn't do anything reckless. We didn't want you to get hurt again."

"So you don't trust me, right? None of you do!"

"That's not it, and you know it, Aila." Yosuke's voice started rising as hers did.

"It is, though. You all think that I'm going to endanger us again by going to look for Mina on my own!"

"Aila." Yosuke reached for Aila's arm; she'd started pacing and he needed to look her straight on. He needed her to listen to him.

Aila threw him off of her, meeting Yosuke toe-to-toe. Her blue eyes had turned icy with rage. "You kept me in the dark about my own cousin! I have the right to know where she is!"

Yosuke choked. "Wait, your cousin?" Aila jolted back in surprise at her own words. He'd caught her in a lie, and it pissed him off. "You never told us that she was your family!"

Aila tried her best not to back down. "She is. And other than dad, she's the only real family I have left!"

"Who's keeping secrets now?! Did you not trust us?"

"It's not a big deal. Who Mina is to me doesn't change the fact that she needs to be saved."

Yosuke guffawed. "Um, that's the kind of detail that does make it a big deal! You've said nothing all of this time."

"I-I didn't…"

"And you're calling us the liars. Hilarious"

Aila scoffed. "You're being an ass."

"What else have you been hiding from us?"

"I could ask the same of you."

"Quit trying to change the subject! You know, friends don't ask for much, but we do have some expectations of each other. We expect each other to be honest about who we are."

"And I thought that friends were also expected to trust one another." Aila faced Yosuke at an angle, as though taking a stance for battle-or for running away. "I didn't tell you these things on purpose, Yosuke. Is it too much for me to ask you to trust me on these matters, to trust that I'm withholding information for good reason?"

Yosuke's comeback rose instantly from his lungs and out of his mouth. "Isn't that what I'm trying to tell you we did? If you expect us to trust you when you're not telling us something, then don't be such a hypocrite and distrust us when we do the same thing."

Aila was at a loss for words; he'd turned her own words against her. Her frozen gaze melted into soft tears. She tried to hide them from Yosuke, turning her back on him.

"You…you ass." She hurried to the door and slipped her shoes on. "I'm leaving. And don't worry-I'll stay home. I won't try to go into the TV World for Mina." She threw open the door and burst into the rain, sprinting through the watery curtain with all of the strength she could muster.

"Aila!" Yosuke yelled into the storm. He started running after her in his socks, but was too weighed down by the downpour to get very far. He looked towards the haze that Aila had disappeared into. The guilt in his chest swarmed his lungs and heart. Her heartbroken face smeared itself over his entire mind, making everything else inside a jumbled mess. "Aila…."

The boy hurried back home, grabbing his cell and dialing Narukami's number. As he tried to wait past the ring back, he caught sight of Aila's jacket flopped beside the door; in her haste to escape, she'd forgotten to take it out with her.

"Dammit," he muttered.

"Hello?" Narukami answered at last. He sounded awake; he must've been watching the Midnight Channel.

"Dude, something happened…I think I screwed up."

… …

The weekend came and went, and no one was able to get a hold of Aila. Finally, Yosuke and the others couldn't take the suspense anymore and they all ventured to their friend's house.

"I feel kinda bad," Chie mused as they paced. Everyone's stride was very slow as they tried to think of what to say to their friend.

"Me too," Yukiko agreed, tugging on a piece of her black hair nervously.

"I don't see why we should," Yosuke muttered. "We did it to protect her from herself. We all know she would've gone into the TV World to get Mina. Then where would we have been?" Rise gave a scoff.

"You're the one who said that you 'screwed up', aren't you?" She asked. "Maybe she wouldn't have taken it so badly if you hadn't yelled at her!" Yosuke flinched.

"Maybe we were wrong to not say anything," Narukami muttered, mostly to himself.

"We just wanted to protect her, man," Kanji interjected. "We didn't mean to lie or nothin'…."

"Perhaps Senpai is right, though." Naoto gave each of them a long look before going on. "Perhaps we were wrong to assume that she'd act so brash before we decided not to tell her about this." The others went silent the rest of the way to Aila's home. Had they been wrong? Or did Aila's reaction mean that they were right not to tell her what was going on?"

"Look!" Rise yelled when they had arrived. Several vehicles were in front of the Sonnel residence, all with blue and red lights flashing. Dozens of officers wandered outside of the building, and even more scoured the inside. The group could see them through the open door.

"No," Yosuke breathed. He and Narukami were the first to burst into a sprint towards the home. They ran past the restraining officers and crashed into the scene. Officer Kenta was sunk into the front room couch, elbows on his knees and face buried into his hands. Yosuke stared at him, his ears starting to deafen with the buzz of a hospital flat line. He almost too afraid to take a glance at the mess around them. Furniture was tossed around-some broken, some just tipped over. Long gashes and tears were dug into the walls, and blood streamed over demolished vases and carpet strands.

An officer pulled on Yosuke's arm and tried to lead him out of the area. The boy tried to shake him off. He could vaguely hear his best friend and leader calling out to him as he tried to deflect his own restrainer. Kenta looked up at the boys, his pale face revitalizing only slightly.

"Wait, these kids are with me," he muttered, waving off his subordinates. Yosuke and Narukami were released.

"What…" Yosuke took in the scene once more. "What happened here?" Kenta's shoulders went heavier-which didn't seem possible, since he acted as though a mountainous boulder was secured to his back.

"It happened last night while I was out," Kenta explained. "Aila…has gone missing."

... ...

DUN DUN DUN!

That's right. I just dropped this bomb. Shame, isn't it?

Anyway. I've been trying to catch up to what I've missed these past few months. How sad that I got so behind.

Reviews appreciated!