Hello everyone,

I hope you had a great weekend. I had rather an eventful weekend, filled with activism and social solidarity.

For those of you that may not have heard, my home country, Iran, is at a very historical moment. over a week ago, a 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was brutally killed by a so called "Morality police" because of, what they claim, showing a little bit of hair. But in reality, she was killed because she was a woman.
The country has been in a constant state of emergency and protests since then. All around the world, the Iranian community is trying to spread the word and be the voice of their sisters and brothers who are braving a grave danger on the streets of Iran.

If you follow the hashtag MahsaAmini on IG or Twitter, you will learn more about this tragic occurrence. I don't have a lot of platforms to use and raise awareness for non-Iranian communities, aside from this website. So I thought I use it and ask you, who are reading this, to stand in solidarity with brave women and men of Iran who are going against a dictatorship.

Thank you for paying attention to my words.
Cheers and happy reading.

Golak

Moriko walked inside the school and allowed the complete silence to wash over her.

It was barely 6:30 a.m and classes wouldn't start until 8:00, and students and teachers wouldn't arrive any earlier than 7:30. She needed some alone time, and since she could never find it at home, she had become accustomed to go to school an hour before the building would be filled with other human beings. Since becoming friends with Hayate, she had willingly put this habit of hers aside to be able to walk to school with him. She left home around the same time she always did, but instead of eating her breakfast behind her desk, she'd hang out at the park, eat her breakfast, and would wait for Hayate to jog towards her, short of breath and apologizing because he'd been late, yet again; she would smile and tell him that she had just arrived too.

She hadn't been able to sleep the night before. After running after her sister for a block and wincing at the way their neighbours looked at them, she had brought her back and put her in bed with promises of a romantic story and cuddles. She hadn't called Amy back, and she hadn't called Hayate's house either. She just wanted to be alone and think.

All through the night, she thought of all the conversations she'd had with Hayate about history, culture, and the importance of social solidarity. "I don't think we could be a healthy and happy community if many of us don't feel that way."

"But, some people are unhappy just because. I mean, there is always something that makes them unhappy." Moriko had told him, thinking about her own mother when she'd said it.

Hayate had grinned big and ruffled her hair. "That's not the kind of unhappiness I'm talking about Moriko-chan. It's…" and he'd stopped and, "oh, I forgot to treat you to ice tea. I promised this morning, didn't I?" He had continued instead. And now, the more Moriko thought about it, more memories of the same kind of behaviour, starting a conversation and leaving it unfinished, came to her mind.

What was he trying to hide from her?

She sat behind her desk and opened her bag to find out that she had forgotten her breakfast. She put her head on the desk and closed her eyes; maybe she could squeeze in a nap instead. Her mind was filled with Hayate and his words, and she tried to read between the lines. How could she have missed his passion for politics? The boy knew what was happening in the other side of the world, and every day, he told her of this protest and that; of course, he would be just as ardent for his own community too. She raised her head from the desk when the sliding door of the classroom opened, and Amy walked in. Her beautiful dark blue hair was pushed back from her forehead and her eyes stood bolder than ever; maybe because they'd been bloodshot and discouraged.

Moriko didn't know what to say to her. She wanted to apologize for not calling her back, at the same time, she wanted to ask her to leave, because she still didn't know how to react to the news of Hayate being arrested.

"I remembered seeing you at school very early, so I thought, I'd try my luck." Amy sat behind a desk beside her and smiled. "I used to do that too. But being friends with Usagi changes you."

"I like the silence."

"I get it." Amy took out two small packages of cream pan, with a small bottle of water. "Here you go." She offered one pan to Moriko, and she took it without hesitation.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, even though they both knew talking about Hayate would be inevitable.

"His family haven't heard from him either." Amy dabbed the side of her mouth with a light blue handkerchief before starting to talk. "I called his house last night, and I told his brother what happened. He'd been to a few different police stations since then. No news. I spoke with him this morning too."

Moriko listened as she ate the cream pan. She'd forgotten to bring her handkerchief and had to wipe the cream off the side of her mouth with her fingers. It probably should've been her who'd gone through that length to find Hayate; she could've even gone to police stations with his brother to look for him. Perhaps Amy thought of the same thing too; she probably judged Moriko for her passiveness too.

"Listen, Moriko-chan," Amy pushed the sealed water bottle towards her. "Hayate never said anything about his possible involvement with any group. I mean, he never shared anything that personal with me." She smiled sadly. "I don't blame him, of course. We barely know each other and—"

"He wants to protect you." Moriko grimaced at the sound of her own voice. "If he hasn't told you anything, it's because he doesn't want you to be involved. You're really important to him Amy-chan. He's told me many times." She opened the water and took a large gulp. "And I think that's why he never told me anything either. Not that I'm comparing myself to you. He's just looking after me too, you know, as his friend. I think that's the kind of person he is. He just cares about the people around him and—" she tried to articulate that Hayate didn't hold any romantic feelings for her and she berated herself for saying something that would mislead Amy to think otherwise. Her face flared up with embarrassment, and her heart rate picked up. Why couldn't she think before letting the words out?

Amy's cool fingers touched her fidgeting hand. "Moriko-chan, I understand what you mean." Her smile didn't look as sad as her earlier one. "He cares so much for you. He told me that too." She squeezed Moriko's hand gently and sat back. "I think it's time that we do the same for him. His brother seemed just as shocked as we were, and I got the feeling that he's trying to show that he doesn't know much about Hayate's activities; but I think he knows."

"What do you have in mind?"

"First, we have to find him. We have to know exactly why he was arrested and then..." the classroom door opened, and three students walked in. "and then, we have to find someone that can tell us more about his activities. Are you free after school?"

Moriko thought about her sister's doctor's appointment, and the paper she had due tomorrow. "Yes. I'm free."

A sparkle of light danced behind Usagi's closed eyes, and she blinked open them bleary. Mamoru's curtains were thick enough, but he'd left the window ajar and a subtle wind swept them apart, allowing the late afternoon light to spread over the bed.

She could only hear silence in the apartment; perhaps Mamoru had gone to the Family Mart around the corner to buy something for dinner. She'd barely given him a proper greeting when she'd walked inside the apartment two hours ago. She'd came straight to bed, her near blinding headache put her in a coma almost immediately. She'd been getting this kind of headache recently, and knowing how Mamoru could get, she had kept it from him.

She stretched her arms and pushed the blanket away but didn't move to get up. A faint pain still lingered behind her eyes and around the forehead. She heard a rustling in the living room and then the bedroom door creaked open, and Mamoru peeked his head inside.

"Oh, you're awake." He sat on the bed and watched his girlfriend with soft eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm…good. I'm just so tired. That's all." Usagi turned on her side and touched her cheek against Mamoru's knee.

"You're not different than Luna." He said, his eyes softer than before, underlined with passion. "Aren't you hungry? I made some ramen."

"In a bit. I don't want to get out of bed just yet." She hugged his knee and closed her eyes. The headache was still there, but Mamoru's proximity always made everything better.

Mamoru knew something loomed over her mind; two lifetimes and countless deaths and crawling back to life just to be by her side did that to you. But he waited, patiently, for when she decided to share her thoughts with him. Usagi had endured so much, and he knew that she would endure so much more; but he could tell that something had shifted within her ever since she had entered her senior year of high school; she was growing up, yes, but there'd been something completely different about her that he couldn't name.

"If you sleep now, you'll stay awake tonight." He kissed the crown of her head and inhaled the smell of her shampoo, layered with a smell that was hers alone. "Come on, let's eat. I added that spice you love so much." He smiled when she hugged his knee tighter and buried her face in the blanket. Her school shirt had risen up and it showed off a generous strip of her skin, flawless and white and pained with signs of old bruises and cuts from every single battle. How many times had he kissed those same bruises? How many times he'd tried to heal them, and she had refused, because "they're a reminder."

"Of what?" He'd asked.

"Of why we need to keep moving forward."

He brushed his fingers against those same bruises now and smiled when Usagi shivered and sighed.

"Mamo-chan?"

He proceeded to roll her over and lay on top of her. "Shh, I'm hungry Usako."

"Let's go eat then." She kissed him back when he left a small butterfly nib on her lips.

"I'm hungry for you."

She giggled when he dipped his head down to kiss the sensitive skin of her neck. Headache and hunger and thoughts of Amy's worried eyes all forgotten.

Mamoru would wait patiently until his princess decided to tell him what bothered her so much. For now, he would make passionate love to her and release them both, momentarily, of the responsibility of the world on their shoulders.

Moriko bowed deeper when Hayate's mom came by the door to see who was speaking to her eldest son. She had never been at his house, even though she had waited for him around the corner many times, so they could walk to school together. And the few times he had invited her to dine with his family, she had refused; because she knew that she could never return the favor, even the thought of him seeing her weird and broken family made her panic, and so, she never accepted his invitation.

But Amy had convinced her that she needed to go to his house, speak to his brother who seemed to be the only person aware of his activities and try to understand the basis of his arrest.

Hayate's older brother looked nothing like him, with his tall and slim figure, mop of thick black hair and dark green eyes he'd hidden behind thick trimmed glasses. His jaw had tightened when Moriko introduced herself as "one of Hayate's friends."

"Which friends?" He asked, and any doubt Moriko may have had about his knowledge about Hayate's extra curriculum activities had vanished.

"I'm his classmate." She adjusted her school bag over her shoulder. "We are in the same homeroom class. I'm Moriko." She said the last part, in hopes that she'd see a spark of recognition in his eyes.

"Hayate is not here." He leaned against the door frame.

"I know. I just…" She looked side to side, "I know that he's been…arrested. I wasn't there." She added quickly when he straightened up a little. "I was at home when the police took him, but, I mean, I'm pretty close with him and I was told about his situation."

"If you're so close with him, how come I've never seen you then?"

Suddenly, her school bag felt heavier, and she too questioned her closeness with Hayate. "I mean, because… he's my best friend. But I'm not his. I mean, he has so many friends. You know, but I only have…him."

"Ichiro-kun, who's there?" Hayate's mother came then, and Moriko understood from where Hayate had gotten his gentle eyes.

"You're a friend of Hayate's?" the woman exclaimed. "Come in child. Come in. Ichiro-kun, where are your manners?"

Soon, Moriko was sitting at a small chabudai table adorned with a vase of tulips and sipping on a hot cup of orange scented green tea.

Her eyes wandered around the small house, looking for clues and signs that would put Hayate in this place for her. The house had a warm vibe, not at all fancy, in fact, she noticed how some of the furniture looked aged, how the sides of the chabudai table had been scared and how the lone carpet on the floor was tainted with a few drops here and there. But despite all of that, she had never felt closer to Hayate; the house represented the part of him she loved the most.

"Are you a classmate of Hayate's?" His mother asked and poured more tea for her.

"Yes mam. We're in the same homeroom class."

"Do you know the boy that gave his name to the police?"

"Oka-saan!" Ichiro's warning didn't go unnoticed by either of the women, and Hayate's mom immediately closed her mouth.

But Moriko got the clue she had been looking for. Someone had betrayed Hayate, and she wrecked her mind to remember if someone would feel that much animosity towards him in school.

"Is it possible," she pursed her lips together when Ichiro looked at her with a frown. "Would it be okay if I see his room?"

She felt the need to be closer to him. Obviously, he had never mentioned her name to his family, and if it had been any other time, she would've been heartbroken about it. But a small voice in her mind kept telling her that he must have had his reasons. That he really did cherish her as a friend and now, he needed her.

"I don't think—" Ichiro's mumble was cut off by his mother's cheerful affirmation.

"Of course, you can."

Ichiro hung his head low and sighed. Clearly, he didn't want Moriko to snoop around their life too much, but then again, he didn't want to go against his mother's welcoming nature. "This way." He said and led the way.

The small room, right above the living area, had a prominent boyish odour; something between sweat and hormones and male pride, and by the looks of it, Hayate shared the room with his brother.

"I didn't know this is your room too. Or I wouldn't—"

"Why are you really here?" Ichiro stood by the door, with his hands buried into his jean pockets and regarded her with doubtful eyes. "Oka-saan has a trusting nature. I don't."

"Clearly." Moriko mumbled and whirled around in the middle of the room. "I just want to understand what he's doing and why the police would take him away."

"Don't you think he'd tell you himself if he wanted you to know?"

Moriko pursed her lips together once again and tried to find an answer to his question.

Ichiro walked inside the room and sat on a chair behind a work desk and took his glasses off. He looked much younger without them, and Moriko remembered that Hayate had told her his brother was in the second year of university, studying to be a lawyer.

"I don't want to focus on what he's told me or not. I want to…" She looked away from Ichiro's piercing eyes, "I want to focus on ways to help him. Your mother said someone might have betrayed him. I'd like to smash his face in, whoever he is." She looked up at Ichiro and noticed how the crease between his eyebrows loosened.

"I don't know if I can trust you." He put his glasses back on.

"Let me prove it to you then."

Mamoru lingered outside the door for a minute or two, to catch his breath and compose himself.

His shift at the hospital had gone a little longer than he anticipated, and he was almost half an hour late; and he hated to be late. But he supposed that dealing with people's lives and emergencies might have this one tiny downside.

The bright neon sign over the entrance door was still lit, and it flashed "Crown Arcade" every few seconds. But Mamoru knew that Motoki had closed the store one hour ahead of its usual closure time. He knew because before rushing out of the hospital and towards the arcade, he had called Usagi to hear her voice and the first thing she'd said had been: "Damn Motoki, he threw us out before I could set a new record."

He walked through the sliding door and winced at the loud bell that jingled every time someone walked in or out. Had it always sounded this loud? Or was it because the usual sounds of the arcade had been silenced?

He nodded at Motoki who came out the kitchen just then, carrying a tray with water and coffee.

"You're late."

"I got stranded."
Mamoru greeted the other occupants around the bar and sat on a stool right beside Ichiro.

"Any news?" He asked the other man.

"My mother was able to visit him."

Mamoru took a coffee cup and lowered his head in appreciation towards Motoki. "Tell us everything." He said.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or its characters. I only own the story I tell.