Who is Mamoru Chiba?

Who is Mamoru Chiba?
Date of Scene:	22 October 2015
Location:	Fruits Parlor Crown
Synopsis:	Ami Mizuno has some questions for the guy. Namely, who and what is he, really?
Cast of Characters:	Ami Mizuno, Mamoru Chiba

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's another day after school at the arcade -- more and more frequently, the girls have been studying upstairs after school, at Fruits Parlor Crown. Lately, Mamoru has taken to helping Usagi with her homework, too. He just hasn't been in all week. (He HAS been texting Usagi stupid emojis so she wouldn't worry about him and come looking, but he hasn't been in.)

It's now almost the end of the week, and there he is, sitting at a different table from usual with his books spread out because what's starting to become the 'usual table' is currently occupied. Usagi won't be out of detention for a while. It also looks like he came straight here from school, because he's still in uniform; the light reflecting off his glasses currently hides his eyes, and therefore a lot of where information about how tired or injured he still may be would show.

As ever, a cup of black coffee keeps him company.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"--yes, but I am more interested in the how," comes Ami's voice from the stairwell as the girl makes her way up. "It's not very common, even among our kind." Who, exactly, the blue-haired teen is talking to is a mystery to most observers. She emerges from the stairwell dressed in her school uniform, a bag in one hand, and a black cat tucked into the crook of her other arm.

When she reaches the upper floor, Ami makes a quick scan of the room, and then stops. "Ah," she says faintly. "Well, this will be interesting," she notes. The cat in her arms makes an unhappy meowling noise, but Ami doesn't pay it any mind. Instead, she approaches Mamoru's table and sets Luna down atop it. "Hello, Chiba-san," she greets him as she settles into a chair across the way.

Luna pads across the table to inspect Mamoru's homework as Ami pulls out her books. The cat steps right onto the page he's reading and glares up at Mamoru, almost angrily.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Ugh, Luna, what did I do now?" Mamoru asks, glaring right back at the moon cat on his homework and taking his glasses off.

He looks considerably better than one might expect, given his general absence from the public eye since last weekend, but he's still a little paler than normal. He gives Ami an apologetic smile whilst attempting to move Luna off his calculus without getting bitten or clawed. "Ami-san. I take it I'm in trouble with you, too."

He gives up trying to move Luna, and in fact, gives up on the calculus for now, picking up his coffee and cupping the hot mug in his hands. "How is Usagi-chan? She should be almost, if not all better by now."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Moving the cat without getting clawed is a relatively fruitless effort. Luna looks intent to stay right there on his homework; in fact, all his efforts manage to achieve are the cat sitting on his book, still glaring at him. Ami smiles amusedly at Luna's antics, but doesn't save Mamoru from them.

Instead, she turns her attention to Mamoru as she spreads out her own books. It is not, he might note, her homework. One is a library book on witchcraft and other ancient magics, and another is a notepad with dolphins etched on the cover. "You saved my best friend from a terrible injury," Ami tells Mamoru carefully. "You are not in trouble with me. But I hope you will understand that I am not entirely certain just how I feel about you, right now. I am very grateful to you for taking care of Usagi-chan. Luna thinks that you are responsible for her injury, but why would you be so careful to ensure she was safe if you were?"

Ami flips her notebook open to a page not too far from the front. Written in big, bold letters, underlined twice, is the question, "Who is Mamoru Chiba?" Ami allows him to see the page before moving past it.

"You have to understand," she explains quietly, "that this has left me with many questions."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Why indeed?" murmurs Mamoru after Ami's question as to his ensuring Usagi's safety, as he sits back with his coffee, leaning away from Luna regretfully. He looks over the angry cat at Ami's notebook as she holds it up, and his expression turns wry, perhaps inappropriately.

"The twenty billion yen question," he observes, then finishes his coffee all in one go and reaches away from Luna, further around the table, to set the empty cup down. He continues more quietly, expression serious as he loosely crosses his arms and rests his ankle on his knee. "If I knew, I'd tell you. I can tell you what I remember about that night, though. A friend of mine, Kyouko Sakura, is a retired magical girl-- retired because she was gravely injured and lost her ability to transform. She vanished a couple of weeks ago, and I had as much of Virtue as I could get hold of searching for her. Then -- and Usagi-chan was there, as were Akemi-san and a few others -- she showed up in the park with someone she identified as Kunzite, and he was wearing the same uniform as Nephrite. She's now calling herself Apatite and seems to have been brainwashed. On Friday, something happened to Tuxedo Kamen, and Usagi-chan brought him to my home. Apatite followed them and attacked her just as I got home, and Tuxedo Kamen left, presumably to chase her. I did what I could and called Rei-san, who brought her to the clinic."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
That hadn't been anywhere near Ami's list of questions, but she's not about to turn down free information. Instead, she merely sits back in her chair thoughtfully listening to him explain the situation without interruption. When he's threw, she inclines her head just faintly. "I'm glad you called Rei-chan. I should give you my number, as well, in case you cannot get a hold of one of the others."

Luna lets out a yowl of disapproval, but Ami ignores it. "The twenty billion yen question, however, can be broken down into a number of much smaller ones," Ami says thoughtfully. "Such as, 'Where did he come from?' and 'How old is he?' But the most important on my mind, right now, is, 'How did he heal her?'" Ami arches a brow at Mamoru challengingly. "A stomach wound should be far worse than what Usagi has. Stitches, at the least, should have been required. And yet, she lives and has very little injury for all of that. So Chiba-san, how did you do it?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'd appreciate that, if you'd rather I contacted you directly," Mamoru says, then eyes Luna and points out, "I can contact the lot of you through the devices Virtue was kind enough to provide, and both Rei-san and Mako-chan have stressed to me that I should call them if I run into trouble. I'm honestly not sure what your problem is with me, unless it's whatever Rei-san and Mako-chan won't tell me."

He's obviously talking to her as though he expects her to whisper-hiss back at him any time now. His arms remain folded, his expression somewhat cool toward the cat, but warming up very slightly when he redirects it toward Ami once more.

"There are records. You're welcome to look into them, but I can't confirm their veracity," he cautions, but it's mild and somewhat self-amused. And then he looks away, all amusement and lightness vanishing from his face as if they were never there. "It was far worse. I've been thinking of going into medicine, for all I hate hospitals, so I've been doing preliminary studies on anatomy and physiology for the past year."

His arms close a little more tightly across his chest and his eyes close. "So I knew what should go where. And I could see where things were wrong... so I put her insides back together as fast and as well as I could and slowed the bleeding, but--"

Now Mamoru looks across at Ami and sits up a little, expression fierce and sharp. "Don't tell Usagi-chan, she worries too much anyway. I used everything I had and I still couldn't get everything. That's why I've been going home after school instead of coming here. I didn't want her to see me still recovering from giving her my energy."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
The cat lets out a low-voiced growl, but it cuts off abruptly as Ami leans forward to pick her up. She draws Luna into her arms and gently pets the cats ears, silencing Luna's irritation in light of the cuddles. "My mother is a doctor," Ami replies to Mamoru thoughtfully. "I hope to follow in her footsteps, when I'm old enough. Perhaps we'll both go into medicine together," she considers thoughtfully.

"More important for the moment," Ami says, redirecting the conversation back to the immediate topic, "is how you managed to perform major surgery with your hands and energy alone. Do you have a wand, Chiba-san? How do you have this magical power?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I-- what?" Mamoru asks blankly, turning back and opening his eyes to stare at Ami. "I can't fight like you all do. I don't know how or why I can do anything I can do. I always figured I belonged on the X-Files." Without even realizing he's doing it, he unfolds his arms and looks down at his hands. "I dream true dreams. I try not to touch people, because there's feedback if I do. Sometimes if I touch something, I can tell where it's been. I can tell how people are feeling. I've always been able to heal myself, and ever since I met Usagi-chan, I've been able to actually give people my energy if they need it, help speed their own healing..."

He looks up. "But I've never done anything like this before. I was praying. I was just throwing everything I had into looking, into regenerating, into keeping her here. I was begging her not to die. Everyone needs her. She's the most important person, Ami-san. All of you are so important -- you're meant to protect the princess, and what could be more important than that? But I don't-- I can't think of a world without her smile in it."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami's response is perhaps not encouraging. She frowns, quietly, and stops petting the cat, who looks entirely put out by the sudden cease of pettings. The blue-haired girl studies Mamor thoughtfully for several heartbeats, then gently places Luna on the table, stroking the cat's fur before diverting her attention to her notepad.

Ami draws out her pen and begins scribbling hasty notes. After a moment, she puts the book on witchcraft back in her bag, followed by her notepad, and pulls out her maths book, instead. "You were studying calculus?" she asks him, leaning forward to inspect his book as she places her own on the table. Trigonometry, rather than calculus. Apparently she's done pressing him on the issue of magic, for now.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's relief is palpable. He reaches for his glasses on the table and puts them back on, a faint red tinge to his cheeks. A moment later and he's smoothing the page back down, glancing at his work to remind himself of where he'd left off. "Yes, I was..."

Then he glances across to Ami's own books, eyes bright. "Oh, you're at the part where it really starts getting fun. I keep forgetting you're in the same class as Usagi-chan; you should have seen her face when I explained why irrational numbers are called irrational -- I think she's making progress, she said something like 'oh they're not actually out to get me, they're just crazy?'"

He's grinning now, and they'll undoubtedly be neck-deep in proofs by the time Usagi actually gets there.

Provided Luna doesn't kill Mamoru on the sly.