Aftermath

Monday 10:30am
        They stood in the middle of a large square that was otherwise known as the Kiyomori Square, or the Main Square.  Each of them looking extremely perplexed at the thought that they would soon be separating in a strange place, even though they would be meeting in less than 3 hours’ time.  “Are you sure you all know the way?”  Mamoru asked one final time as he corrected Minako - who had been holding her map the wrong way.
        “Sort of,” came Minako’s reply.
        “Uhuh,” was Makoto’s nod.
        “Yes mother duck!” Rei said.
        And of course… “it’s not fair, Ami gets you to bring her to class!” as Usagi began her overused powers of wailing and crying.
        “We’re meeting in that” Mamoru pointed to the café on his right, completely ignoring Usagi’s cries, “café over there at 1:10pm, and if you don’t know how to come back here, ask, its called the Sakana.  Aww… Usako,” he hugged her and gave her a kiss on the forehead, despite the embarrassment he was feeling due to the gazes he got from passersby, “you will be fine, you’re all heading in the same direction, and you get dropped off first according to the route I drew out for you.”
        Finally, after their tearful goodbyes, Rei, Minako, Makoto and Usagi headed off in the same general direction, whilst Ami and Mamoru went towards the faculty of medicine together.  “Alright,” Mamoru began as he turned towards Ami and said for the hundredth time, “so you have Biomedical Science first, if you’re lucky, you’ll get…”

        The girls gasped as they saw the huge buildings that had tiny obscure signs on them, they had been walking around the same building twice before they found the name of the building in order to make sure they were walking in the right direction.  “Oh no!” Usagi suddenly exclaimed, “Mamoru’s still holding my book bag!”
        “Fantastic odango-dama!  Now we have to go back to where we started and try to find them,” Rei glared at her friend with her hands at her hips.

        “…and of course, I have to introduce you to the technician down at the labs, its very important that you get on their good side, especially when you want to go in there for some after hour work, get extra lab results, or even an extension - not that you will need it.  Oh, and this side,” he stopped and pointed, “is where we have all the tutorials for any extra help you need during lunch time, or you can just use them as study rooms…”
        “Urr… Mamoru, is that Usagi-chan’s satchel you are still carrying?”
        He looked at the bags that he was still carrying over his shoulder and sighed, “great, we have to go and find them, why don’t you lead the way, just to make sure that you don’t get lost when we meet up again later on?”
        “Okay,” Ami nodded as she turned around and walked of in the direction that they had come from confidently, “this way I think.”

        First day of university, he thought, he looked at all the people around him, all fresh and enthusiastic, like he had once been too.  Suddenly, he felt old and somewhat out of touch, he didn’t know anybody around him, he could already imagine walking into the lecture theatres and see those younger faces sniggering at him for his comparatively old age.  In Japan, he was already considered a mature-age student at 23.  He was different from everybody else, for the past year, he had been spending his time in the countryside, recovering from his illness, he had no physical contact with the real world.  During all the time that he had lost, he had lost contact with his friends, and when he now tried to contact them, the friendship had sounded strained and awkward… well, except a few especially close friends.  Most of them had given him the impression as though he had the plague, something that could be transmitted over the telephone, but no; anyone could have told them that amnesia could not be transmitted, especially by phone! - not to mention when it wasn’t really amnesia, but pretend amnesia.
        So now, first day back into the city since having enrolled into his course, he had not yet contacted his friends, ex-friends.  Maybe there were a few that he wanted so talk to, but there was also part of him that wanted to surprise them, pop up where they worked later on in the afternoon, or their old hangouts, just to show them that he was back, normal and healthy.  But as he stepped out of his limousine today, he had felt apprehension, almost as though he knew that something was going to happen, or even a sense of deja-vu… and now, as he exited the car park, walking into the main square, he knew why.  In the distance, he spotted his old friend, Mamoru, talking with a girl with blue hair holding a map trying to figure out where to go, Mamoru was laughing as he touched her shoulder and steered them towards the commerce/arts section of the university.  As the girl turned, he froze, he had seen that girl before, it was like a dream as he pushed people out of the way, running towards the pair…

        “Mamoru Chiba!”  Ami and Mamoru halted immediately, and as they turned they found themselves face to face with another tall young man with short sandy brown, almost blond hair and emerald green eyes.
        Both Mamoru and Ami’s jaws dropped as soon as they saw him, “oh my…” Mamoru stuttered, taking a step backwards to eye the person.
        He grinned with a glint in his eye, “caught you in the act huh?  Your girlfriend?  I always thought that you were more of a blond person.”
        “Urr… this is urr…”
        “MAMORU!!”  Yelled four girls from across the main square of the university, as they ran towards him, however, at the sight of the young man standing face to face with Mamoru and Ami, and Ami shrinking away, they came to an immediate stop about two meters away from them.
        Mamoru came towards Usagi and handed her her school satchel, holding her hand, he smiled, “this is my girlfriend, Tsukino Usagi.”
        “Nice to meet you,” he said as he approached the group with an easy stride, standing approximately a meter away from her, he bowed.  His eyes averted however, to the now lone figure that had taken several steps backwards, away from them.
        “And these are our friends,” Mamoru continued, seemingly not noticing Ami’s reaction, “Hino Rei, Kino Makoto, Aino Minako and…” he pointed at the direction which he had left Ami, who had melting into the crowd as she ran off towards the medical facility… “that was Mizuno Ami.”
        “Ami?  You mean…” he trailed off as he stared at mass of blue that was fast disappearing from his sight, “Mizuno Ami, the daughter of the doctor Mizuno Mewagi?”
        Mamoru gave his old friend an odd gaze and said, “yes, and girls, that is…” as he turned to look at the girls, they found them giving him a look of pure dread.  “He is my old friend…” as he turned to point at his friend, he shook his head when he realized that he was also disappearing into the crowd.
        Usagi squeezed his hand as she looked into his eyes and he noticed that the rest of the girls had already run off in the same direction that his friend and Ami had gone to.  She spoke in a shocked whisper that traveled through the noise of the congregation, “do you realize who he is?”
        “Of course I do!” Mamoru exploded, “I don’t know what is going on, but he was one of my best friends when I was in high school, his name is Kunki Saito-Sato, the person who disappeared five years ago, the same person that Ami had once named as a childhood friend as well!  What I want to know is what on earth everyone is doing, why is everyone running away like they’ve seen a ghost.”
        “Kunki Saito-Sato is supposed to be dead,” Usagi whispered softly, “Ami killed him by mistake when we knew him to be Avarice – Ami killed Avarice to stay alive.  He’s not supposed to be here, alive, not to mention that the person just then was not Avarice, when we met him, he was…”
        Mamoru was dumbfounded as he struggled to speak, hardly hearing the end of her sentence as he cut her off, “he… he came… he called me… about a month ago, in his family condo out in the countryside… he didn’t know what had happened, just that he had lost a few years of his life… I… I had no idea… you never… you never told me that he was supposed to be dead, you never even told me what happened there.”
        The older and wiser Usagi gave him a perplexed look and said, “well now you do, and what we have find out is who he really is and why he is here.”
        Hesitantly, Mamoru ventured, “do you think that he might be a fake?”
        “No matter who he claims to be, he’s supposed to be dead.”
        “So you do think he is a fake…?”
        “Well if he is, then we’d better stop him from getting to Ami.”  Usagi pulled on his hand and dragged him through the crowd.

        “AMI!” His long legs and determination caught up to her in a second, grabbing her shoulders in a firm grip, he spun her around to face him, “stop running, do you even know who you are running from?  Do you remember who I am?”
She let out a soft squeal as she was spun around, “of course I do, I…”

Flashback
        “Hey!”  He said softly, dressed in his tailor-made tuxedo, he smiled at her wearing a party dress.  Looking at her with a silly grin, he bowed elaborately, “May I claim your hand to this dance?”
        “But… you know that I don’t know how to dance.”
        “Well, you’ll have to learn then, won’t you?”
        “I… I have really bad co-ordination, I…”
        “Don’t worry, hey, I wore steel-capped shoes; you can step on me all you like.”  He grinned at her expression from his remark, and reached out to pinch her tiny nose.  She reached out to punch him lightly in the arm but he caught her fist before it reached him, turning her hand slightly, he held her hand gently.  She did not struggle, only smiling in return.  “I take it that it is a yes then?”
        She did not speak, but stood from her seat and followed him to the dance floor.  Standing amongst all the other graceful dancers, they caught glances from others, namely their amused chaperons.  She was not as tall as he was, and only reached his chest, but boy did they dance that night.

        Ami’s voice faltered as the conviction that she previously held, slipped away, she repeated herself, more for the benefit of herself, than for the person she had been speaking to, “of course I do, I know who you are.”
        “Well then, who am I?” He released her from his grasp and stood in front of her with his hands on his hips, he stood towering over her as she shrunk away from him, and he took a commanding position in front of her waiting for her answer.
        The last thing that he would have expected at that at time was a blow to the back of his head, and approximately two girls jumping onto him from behind.  He could feel one of them using their legs to sweep him onto the floor, with a bang; he fell down, looking up at the three girls who towered over him.  He gasped, wondering what he had done to warrant such violence on him, he stared at those girls with a puzzled look, two of them, one with chestnut hair in a ponytail, and a blond girl gave him looks of menace, whilst a dark haired girl’s eyes seemed somewhat hesitant about the attack.
        Before he could answer however, Ami whispered softly, “I don’t know who you are anymore, I thought you were… but… you’re obviously not… excuse me, I’m sorry.”  Without another word, Ami took off into the crowd once more, leaving him sitting there, open mouthed, faced with three girls who had just tackled him to the floor.

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