851/I'm Definitely Not A Murderer

I'm Definitely Not A Murderer
Date of Scene:	05 December 2023
Location:	Administrative Office
Synopsis:	The day after Cyprine's shocking death, Usagi Tsukino comes to Kyouka Inai's office.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Kyouka Inai

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Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's the next day, and Usagi Tsukino has made her way to Inai-sensei's office during the lunch break and grabbed her favorite chair (it's one of the only ones, but still). On her lap is a package of riceballs with different fillings. She nibbles on one, and then finally says what she's been thinking.

"So... I slept on it... and I can still only think... what the fuck was that?"

It's cruder language than she would usually use outside of a text message, but it's her honest to god feeling, nestled from deep in her heart. What the fuck.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka isn't always in her office over lunchbreak, but perhaps something told her that she would have a visitor on this particular day, so when Usagi arrives she's there, sitting behind her desk and looking at something on her laptop screen. This is closed and pushed aside when Usagi enters and sits down. Kyouka gives her time to process before she speaks.. and when she does, only an arched eyebrow greets the uncharacteristically harsh language.

    "Well, on the surface, what that was was some Obsidian agents apparently attempting to harvest a heart crystal and screwing it up royally." She says, with a bit of dryness to her tone.

    "If you're asking me why the little one apparently summoned me there then refused to it admit it, then later went berzerk and vaporised two of her own allies? I.. have absolutely no clue. I still have no idea what the point of all that was or what exactly was going on. I suppose it was lucky that you and the other Senshi were around, and I suppose it was lucky that the powerful enemies were defeated by their own teammate, but if you're looking for an actual explanation I don't have one."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's not that Usagi actually expected Kyouka to have answers, but the natural human impulse when a situation takes a turn for the unexpectedly dire is to curse about it and demand answers. Usagi is, despite being a reincarnated alien warrior, still a human being.

She can only take so much. She'd dreamed of those two girls, dying before her very eyes, the one pleading for her life even as she disintegrated -

But what can she do about it now? She couldn't save them. She didn't think she'd have stood a chance compared to that awe-inspiring, stomach churning, terror of a person.

"...they were so scared of her. And I still don't know why that happened - I mean - she had the Pure Heart Crystal! They were beating us! They summoned you, somehow, and they still were beating us, so why would she..."

But Inai-sensei has already explained that she doesn't know, and Usagi hisses out a slow sigh of frustration.

"And now they think I did it!"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "It's concerning to me," Kyouka says, slowly, "That Obsidian has magic-users of that level of power. But the two pertinent questions are, if they do, why haven't they used them before? And I guess more importantly, why are they killing each other seemingly on a whim?" A lift of her shoulders. "I don't know. But you can bet your little blonde booty I'm going to try and figure it out."

    When Usagi switches the topic to the fact that she has been blamed for the murders, she actually snorts in what must be sarcastic amusement. "Obviously they don't know you. You're the one who passionately argues against murder. Although the cynical side of me has to point out that there's actually a fair bit of advantage in your enemies thinking you effortlessly killed two of their powerful warriors. They'll think twice before coming at you again if they think you could just ice them that easily."

    She sighs. "I get it, though. You're against killing, which by the way, I support you in, and you don't want people to think you went back on that stance when you really didn't. I was there though, I know you didn't do it. So were those other Senshi. Nobody who knows you is going to believe you killed those girls. I know that's not as reassuring as it might be, but it's something."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Yeah, I... kind of thought about that, a little, I mean. Sunbreaker's scary, but she's been sent packing like, tons of times. And Riventon only ever got one Pure Heart Crystal, and the youma of the day get sent packing in pieces, so if they've got people that strong... why aren't they sending them to destroy us, or something?" Had Cyprine and Ptilol not been murdered before her very eyes, Usagi might have been genuinely worried about the thought of their strength being just - held back, unused, waiting.

But they're dead, now, and...

"When Firefly... killed them, she didn't - she looked different, from usual. Like a switch flipped or something, and she just went - bad. Badder than usual. And... she's the nice one. Wako-chan's told me about her, she's like, the nicest person in Obsidian! If she's got that kind of strength hidden away..."

Inai-sensei's reassurances earn a huff, Usagi's cheeks puffing out. "I mean, maybe! Unless they send even more strong people to get revenge on me because of a dumb misunderstanding! I mean - it's true. You saw, and so did the Outers, and they're not going to buy that I could have done it but..."

She is pouting, very much so.

"I tried to save that red-haired girl, and I had to let her go. And instead, they think I killed her. That's so rude!"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    The pout can't help but earn a bit of a smile from Kyouka. She understands, really she does, and it's just a little funny and endearing to see Usagi whip out the 'so rude' on what is really a serious topic. She reaches a hand out and places it on top of Usagi's head and gives her a little pat. "It is rude, yes. And yes, it is something to be concerned about. That if they really have operatives that strong, they might come for revenge."

    She removes her hand a moment later, crossing her arms. "But if they've held such powerful warriors in reserve until now, I have to believe they aren't going to end them out willy-nilly. They're not going to leap without looking carefully first, even if for no other reason than they think you might be able to kill them that easily. In the process of looking into what really happened, they'll realize it wasn't you." She can't be sure of that of course, but it makes sense to her.

    "As for Firefly.. the little one? I saw that too, even though I was a bit out of it. Like some kind of dual personality, or possession which is normally suppressed or sealed. If she can get rid of two powerful magic users so easily, it's no wonder they would normally keep her sealed. The question is how, or why, her 'true power' if thats what it was was suddenly released last night. What caused her to 'flip', as you said? Clearly it wasn't intended, it screwed up their whole plan."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
At least Inai-sensei agrees with her, even if she did pat her on the head like a little kid. Still, it wasn't bad. A little nice, even, and she sits back into her chair and finishes the last of her first rice ball as she contemplates.

It's true - if they waited this long to send people that powerful, they probably didn't like to waste their efforts. Maybe they only had so many?

"Maybe they didn't want to send someone as strong as her out without strong people too... but no, Firefly has been out there before, even if I've never met her. Neptune-san -"

And she pauses.

And pauses.

And sudden is digging her phone out from her pocket, jostling her rice balls without care as she searches through old messages -

"Wait, wait, wait - is this - oh no, I can't believe I forgot, there was so much going on -"

This is probably not helpful to Kyouka at all, but Usagi's distracted as she skims through the old text messages. Finally, she finds the message chain she's looking for, she reads through it and grimaces.

"Fuck."

She takes a screenshot of the text messages and starts fiddling with them, then hands her phone over to Kyouka so she can flip through the doctored up text messages. The name of the other party in the conversation has been smudged out, with NEPTUNE written over it, and the phone number is gone, but otherwise, Inai-sensei is free to read the text chain (Text:Discussing Firefly).

"I totally forgot about this, and maybe it has something to do with what went on. Firefly... it was like, as soon as she took me down and got the Pure Heart, something went wrong. Right before she keeled over, her weapon said something about Dark Energy."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka watches the fumbling with the phone with some consternation- she's not entirely smartphone-illiterate but she's just old enough to have been more of a flip-phone gal in her prime and the skill with which Usagi edits the messages is pretty impressive. She takes the phone and reads through the messages, a contemplative expression on her face, before handing it back.

    "That tracks.. to a certain extent." She says, after a moment of silent thought. "After all, it jives with what we saw. I seem to recall her Device similarly saying something about Dark Energy suppression right before she went crazy. If she's really one of you Senshi, and they're controlling her with Dark Energy or something similar..."

    She shakes her head. "That still doesn't really explain it, because if they're using Dark Energy to control her, why would they need the Device to suppress it? And why would she go out of control if it failed? I don't know, but it's more information at least. More pieces of the puzzle.. even if we can't see how it all fits together yet."

    "Thanks for showing me this. I don't know how helpful it will be, but more information is always better than less."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"That's what I'm wondering... I mean, it makes it all a little more confusing, because I don't think being a Senshi makes you able to disintegrate people," she thinks she would have noticed if she had that kind of power, herself. "But... Firefly's definitely not got a Senshi transformation. The most change I've ever seen one of us have uniform-wise is that Uranus sometimes has hotpants instead of a skirt, and we all have our own colors. I mean! There's some unique stuff - like, Mars has heels instead of boots, and Jupiter-chan has a belt, and I've got my odango-caps, but that's still just... we're variations on a theme, y'know?"

So if Firefly really was a Senshi, why did she look so... different? And yeah, why was her device trying to suppress Dark Energy, if she was actually an S-Tier Dark Energy beast?

"None of this makes any sense, and I don't know if anyone's going to believe me when I say itty bitty Firefly actually killed those too. I don't know if I'd believe me."

Like.... like.... hhhhhhh. She stuffs half her next rice ball in her mouth, chomping through rice and spicy tuna and seaweed in a mix of grumpiness and concern.

"Course I showed you. I'm counting on you to help me figure all this out, Inai-sensei. There's no way I'd be able to put all this together so it makes sense on my own, and... I keep wondering, maybe I should have heat her with Moon Healing Escalation. Maybe it would have... helped. Stopped her, before she could do all... that."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka shakes her head a little bit. "I don't know as much about the Senshi as you probably wish I did, Usagi-chan." She admits. "Most of my knowledge is second hand, or long-remembered and fragmentary at best. You have to remember, there weren't any Senshi around when I was a kid. You all sort of come as a group, it seems, so I didn't know any back in the day."

    "But I do know that the weapon Firefly had that was talking about suppressing Dark Energy was a Device. Those were around in my day and I know a fair bit about them. One of my friends was a Device User, when I was younger. I don't know the details of how they work, etc, but I do know that theoretically anyone who can use magic could use one. Regardless of what your magic power source is. Devices aren't a magic power source in and of themselves, they're a method of channeling, of controlling and expressing power. So it's entirely possible this girl is a Senshi, but for some reason she's using this Device for her magic instead of her actual Senshi abilities."

    She chews her lip, considering. "But if she's one of your Senshi, shouldn't we be trying to.. I dunno, rescue her or something? Or maybe she's actually a crazy nutjob, and the whole reason that she's using a Device that suppresses her real powers is because even Obsidian couldn't control her otherwise? I don't know if any of your Senshi are murderous nutjobs, but the Device being used to exert some sort of control over her certainly makes a lot of sense. That'd be why her outfit doesn't match, too. She's not using her actual natural henshin."

    She then shakes her head. "It happened really fast, Usagi-chan. You didn't have time to hit her with Moon Healing Escalation, even if you thought you had a reason to, which you didn't until the moment it happened. We can learn from our mistakes, but there's no way to learn from them ahead of time, unfortunately."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"...maybe I couldn't have hit her this time. You're right, everything happened too fast. But Neptune-san told me about her worries in September, and I got so distracted with everything else going on that I forgot all about this. I should have tried to reach out to Firefly. I should have - tried to help her. Maybe if I had, those two girls wouldn't have died." For all her flippancy and childish frustration over the course of this conversation, there's some real grief, some genuine and true regret in her voice.

"I have to do what I can, now. Who knows if that's going to happen again? Mamochan knows Firefly, I'm really, sure, and I - need to ask him some questions. Maybe he can tell me who he is. If I find her, out of her henshin... maybe we can talk. I don't know why she has a Device instead of a transformation pen, or a broach, like me, but... maybe she hasn't awakened, yet?"

It's a new thought, and it settles hesitantly, like snow falling and melting on your head, making you realize you really should have listened to your mother and worn a hat.

"Like - Luna says I was always going to be Sailor Moon, but I didn't awaken until she gave me my broach, and Mars, and Mercury, and Mako-chan, none of them awakened until Luna gave them their pens. Suna-san's been awakened for like, ever, but Uranus-san said she - they? - didn't wake up until recently... maybe we can't use our natural henshin until we get our transformation tools? And so maybe, maybe Firefly doesn't know that she's a Senshi, but someone else does, and that's why they gave her a device?! Or - maybe she works with that other Device user. Riventon... I've never seen them together, but I only met him like, twice... we need more information."

She sets her jaw, frowning tightly. "I really am going to have to ask Mamochan about her."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Usagi-chan," Kyouka's tone is both understanding and slightly dry, just a hint of humor in her voice. "There's been a lot going on. You can't blame yourself for not remembering a short text conversation about a girl you didn't really know, several months ago, when all this other crap has been throwing crises in our faces several times a week. And you certainly can't blame yourself for the deaths of two girls you didn't know existed by the hand of someone you barely knew existed and have no relationship with, currently."

    "Even if Obsidian starts calling you a murderer, I won't let you start calling yourself that, even in a round-about way. Nothing that happened there was your fault."

    "But," She says firmly, "That doesn't mean that you shouldn't take action now. Like you said- given this new... urgency to the situation and the information you now have, trying to find out more is probably the right move. Just try not to let it distract you from the... other multiple crises we have currently coming to a head." She sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It really is a lot, isn't it? I'm sorry you have to deal with all this stuff." It's not like she can change it, but she would if she could.

    When Usagi starts explaining about Awakening, a vague shadow passes over Kyouka's eyes, swiftly hidden. "I'm familiar with the concept." She says after a moment, then continues, "That's a pretty likely explanation. Like I said, I don't know for sure how it works for Senshi, but if she hasn't Awakened yet then there is a good chance the Device is basically a temporary solution, like you said. Maybe it's even stopping her from Awakening on purpose. It depends on how much Obsidian knows."

    "I think asking Mamoru is definitely a good idea."