(CW: Unwanted advances, violence.) 

"Y...Yes, sir..." I squeaked out.

He let go of me and turned around. Even though his presence was aggressive, he was so close to me at that moment and I didn't want him to leave yet. I tried to straighten my collar with my hand as I took a step forward to follow him.

"B...But I can't do it for free..." I dared to mutter.

He turned around so fast I thought it'd give him whiplash. His glare spelled my death but I tried to swallow the lump in my throat to continue speaking.

"I have a request..." I said. "I'll keep your secret until my death, as long as you grant this one request."

"...what the hell do you want?"

I gulped. "I want...I want you to become my friend!"

His expression looked shocked, not expecting those words to come out of my mouth. I felt safe enough to step even closer.

"As long as you become friends with me, I'll keep all your secrets, not just this one! I promise!"

He only stared at me, seemingly speechless. I waited patiently until he found the words.

"A friend? That's all you want?" Seemed like he still couldn't comprehend it.

I nodded, taking yet another step closer. "Of course! As long as we start out as friends, there's always room for more!"

"More...what?"

"You know, like we could go from friends to lovers?"

"WHAT?!"

He was even more shocked this time. I was afraid that if I laughed, he'd begin choking me out, officially taking his secret to the grave.

"Of course we should start out as friends first. So what do you say? Or should I report what I saw here to the principal?" I couldn't believe I was threatening a guy who just took out three men larger and stronger than me, but the butterflies inside me wouldn't quit. I knew I had to make a connection with him before it was too late.

He was silent for a long time. I continued to wait patiently for his response. The men on the ground groaned, making me worried our time would be cut short. But he finally responded before the men recovered themselves.

"Okay. I'll be your friend. But know that we will never become anything more than that." His finger pointed at me was like a dagger to my throat. I nodded obediently along to his words.

When he officially walked away, I realized I was holding my breath and had to take a few quick ones to recover. He's frightening... But maybe with time, I can wear him down and make him mine. When the men on the ground groaned and moved again, I jumped out of my skin before running far away from there.

From then on, the men who got beat up by Anzai decided to pretend the incident never happened and stay out of each other's way. Talking about what happened would just wound their pride so they never wanted the truth to get out. Many students gossiped and came to the correct conclusion anyway. What other students couldn't understand though, was that I now had the scary transfer student in the palm of my hand while we went everywhere together.

I knew Anzai was just humoring me. He looked bored out of his mind when I talked for the both of us and he reluctantly followed me around. Yet while we spent so much time together, we slowly got to know each other.

I was dealing with unwanted attention at the cafeteria during lunch one day. Random students had surrounded me as they had many times before. I was tempted to leave without even finishing my lunch to get them to stop.

"You're into men, right? Please give me a chance! Let's go out!"

"I don't even know you," I responded flatly.

"We can get to know each other! Please! You're just like my dream girl!"

"I'm not a girl."

"We can pretend!"

I scoffed. "No way. Leave me alone already." I know I had the thought of wanting to be a girl for my first love, but there's no way I'd pretend for an obsessed stranger.

A different guy butted in front of him. "Don't listen to that guy, let me have a chance! I don't care if you're a girl or not!"

"I said, leave me alone."

"But–!"

Just then, Anzai stood up, towering over the guy. The guy immediately flinched and cowered.

"I-I'll get your number later! Bye!" He turned tail and ran.

Anzai held his tray and took it to a nearby trash can while those around him scattered. He came back when he had disposed of his trash. I couldn't help smiling. Even if he wasn't doing it on purpose, he really helped me there.

"It's too bad, if you had said all those things, I would have given you a chance," I winked at him.

He averted his eyes. He rarely answered me or said a word to me. I'd think he was mute if I didn't know any better. I didn't just want him as my boyfriend, I would also like to be able to hear his voice again, even if it's just once. I placed my chin in my hand, pouting while I stared at his side profile.

Another time, a guy had grabbed my arm and wouldn't let me go as I tried to get away from him. He begged for me to go out with him and was acting all perverted in general, sweating and breathing heavily as he looked me up and down. I was disgusted and tried my best to pull my arm away. I couldn't get out of his grip though. That's when Anzai grabbed the guy's wrist, squeezing tighter and tighter, causing the guy to let go of me and scream in agony. Anzai had finally let go as well.

"Y...You broke it!" The guy wailed.

Anzai's expression was stone cold.

"Y-You can't just go around hurting people like this!"

Anzai stepped closer to him, giving him a death glare. The guy gave up and ran away, holding his wrist and crying. I was stunned and could only stare at my savior.

We made eye contact for a split second as he turned around to leave. I watched him continue forward, leaving me behind. I hurried after him to catch up, trying to recover from my shock.

"Thanks so much!" I said. "Those guys are always the worst. It's like I have my own bodyguard now though. How'd you get so strong anyway? Is there a reason you became like that?"

He suddenly stopped. "Quiet. You talk too much."

"You spoke! Wait, talk more! You have such a nice voice!"

He turned a glare on me, shutting me up quickly. He turned his head away again. "Shouldn't you...do something to avoid that?"

I tilted my head, confused. "What do you mean, do something?"

He shook his head, "Never mind." He began walking again, faster this time. I practically ran after him.

"Wait! Why should I have to do something when it's those guys that are the problem? I'm just living my life how I want to live! If they can't control themselves, then that's totally their problem! Not mine! And can't I count on you to protect me since you're my friend?"

He stopped again. "Protect you?"

"Yeah! You're strong, I'm sure you can do it. You agreed to be my friend too. We'll always be together because of that."

He was quiet. Then he turned to me, stepping a little too close. "You don't know that."

I swallowed nervously. "W-Which part...?"

He shook his head, turning around to walk again. I quickly grabbed his arm to stop him. Wow, I can feel the muscles... No wait, that's not important right now.

"Hold on a second. We're finally talking. Don't stop. I want to answer you." I took a deep breath, thinking about what he could have meant. "Well... Always may be ambiguous, but I'm sure we could do it if we tried. I would never abandon a friend."

He didn't move or make eye contact. We stood like that for a long moment. Then he spoke.

"...fine. Let go now."

I did as I was told and he walked off again. I hesitated before rushing to follow. Is he alright with being friends now?

As if to answer my question, the next few days went smoother. He actively listened to what I said and followed me around with purpose. He scared off those who wanted to be annoying to me and eventually we talked more with each other.

Apparently he kept getting kicked out of other schools he attended because of those who wanted to fight him. He said he didn't want to get kicked out again and made sure I, the only other witness besides those involved in the recent fight, promised to keep it a secret. He wanted to finish his last year peacefully. After learning all that, I felt bad for threatening to report him before.

"I wish I'd known that before..." I said. "Please forgive me for my behavior..."

He looked at me oddly. "It's not your fault."

"I know! But I would have felt terrible if I reported you and found out later about your situation. At that point it would have definitely been my fault."

"...whatever."

I was glad I could get him to open up about things. Our conversations were less one-sided from then on. I even invited him over to my house, which he accepted. We played video games that I had bought on a whim and we talked about our parents.

He said his mom married an abusive man and had a child with him. Since he was young, he remembered hiding and being afraid of his dad. When he grew older, he decided he wanted to be strong enough to protect himself and his mom. After he had fought back against his dad a few times, the man never returned home again. Now he and his mom try to get by with the trauma left by that man.

"I'm so sorry..." I was tearing up hearing his story. I couldn't believe he had to go through that... And his poor mom... Before I could stop myself, I hugged him.

"Hey... Stop..." Yet despite his words, he didn't try very hard to get me off of him.

I tightened my grip and sniffed. "You're so strong and brave... I'm so glad I got to meet you..."

He didn't say a word. I eventually let go and wiped my tears.

"...and your parents?" He finally asked.

I briefly mentioned they were out working when he arrived, but I elaborated more. I also mentioned I used to visit a bar that closed down recently, leaving out the part about my first love. It was too tender of a subject to bring up.

"I'd do anything to get that bar back... I'd even open my own and recreate that atmosphere..." I muttered as I hugged my knees.

"...then do it."

"Huh?" I lifted my head.