The rain had stopped. Somewhere below, a dog barked, a baby cried, a vending machine hummed its eternal fluorescent song. Mamoru descended the fire escape, silent as a ghost, and walked home to the only people in the world who didn’t know they were being protected.

Mamoru leaned closer. “The ledger. The key. Give them to me, and I walk away. You’ll still be on the Ministry’s list, but I won’t be the one who collects you. Someone else will. Maybe in a week. Maybe in a month. But not tonight.”

The title itself is a perfect pun: Kage means shadow, kara means from, and Mamoru means "to protect," while also being the protagonist’s name. Thus, Mamoru from the Shadows is also Protect from the Shadows .