Mamoru Hayase

Mamoru Hayase is a non-player character from Persona 3.

Appearances

 * Persona 3 / FES / Portable (M ): Supporting Character; Star Social Link
 * Persona 3 (Manga): Cameo
 * Persona 3 Portable (F ): Supporting Character
 * Persona 3 The Movie: Cameo

Design
Mamoru has short faded brown hair, matching color eyes and a light brown complexion. He wears a light blue jogging outfit.

Personality
His personality and life values are somewhat similar to Akihiko Sanada. They have both lost someone they cared about, they are extremely athletic and they must take care of their loved ones after losing a parental figure.

Persona 3
Mamoru Hayase, the top athlete of his school, is the protagonist's main rival in the summer competition of whatever sport the protagonist chooses to play (between track, kendo and swimming). After competing and coming in second to him, Mamoru then approaches the protagonist and congratulates him on a job well done, and offers to hang out with him.

Social Link
His Social Link can then be accessed by meeting him sitting on a bench in the strip mall at Iwatodai Station and initiated if the protagonist has enough Courage. At first, Mamoru seems like a normal schoolboy, but as the protagonist learns more about him, he learns that Mamoru actually is competing for a good reason. While all his siblings were still young, Mamoru's father died five years ago after his car fell off a cliff, and Mamoru's mother has been supporting his family ever since. With his impressive standing as an athlete in his school, he has received many sponsors, and receives free food from nearly all the shops around the Iwatodai station. With his skill, he hopes to be scouted and get scholarships to attend college to better support his family.

As the Social Link progresses, the protagonist discovers he is at odds with his sports club's members, believing they don't take their chosen sport seriously like he does. Later on, during one of the Social Link events, Mamoru is a no-show after agreeing to meet up with the protagonist; he calls later to inform him that his mother has collapsed from exhaustion, but doesn't have the money to stay at the hospital and rest. This forces Mamoru to take over his mother's responsibilities with the house and his younger siblings while she recovers, taking time away from his sport. He quickly becomes resentful at being saddled with this responsibility, but talking with the protagonist helps him come to terms with it, and even his own fellow sports club members pitch in to help him, surprising Mamoru greatly. At the highest rank of the Social Link, Mamoru decides that he is going to put off going to college and being a professional athlete, and instead moves away for a while to work a factory job in order to better support his family for now. In the final days of the game, if the protagonist has leveled up the Social Link to its highest rank, when he exits the class he will be stopped by his team coach, and be given a letter from Mamoru telling the protagonist how things have been since he moved away.

If the protagonist completes this Social Link, then the Persona Helel will be unlocked in Persona 3 FES; the Persona Lucifer is unlocked in Persona 3.

Persona 3 Portable
In Persona 3 Portable, if the player chooses the female protagonist, the Star arcana Social Link is replaced by Akihiko Sanada and Mamoru is never seen. He is mentioned as having Apathy Syndrome.

Persona 3 The Movie
Mamoru makes a cameo appearance on August 7th in the kendo tournament, where he wins 1st place against Makoto.

Etymology

 * The name Mamoru means "safeguard, protect" (護).
 * Mamoru's surname Hayase means "already, now, fast, early" (早) (haya) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (se).

Trivia

 * The hoodie of Mamoru's jogging outfit looks similar to one that the protagonist from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne wears before the Conception, though this may or not just be coincidence.