Anchor / 錨

Fast forward to our lunch break, our Social Studies class had ended. We grabbed our lunches and met in the corridor.

“Alright! Lunchtime, everyone!”

Kimura was excited about something as trivial as eating. “How normal,” I thought.

Naoto took a bit longer to meet up with the three of us. She continued.

“I was thinking you’d never come, Ueno.”

“Kimura, that’s kind of mean, he can take his time if he wants to,” Yokoyama remarked.

“It’s fine,” Naoto laughed it off. He wasn’t minimally bothered by it, recognizing Kimura was simply too ecstatic for lunch.

“I thought you two would start bickering with each other. I’m relieved.”

The last thing Yokoyama wanted to see was her new friend and class’s top athlete quarreling with the class’s top student. Yes, that’s right, she kept her promise—asking Kimura if she wanted to be her friend. And it worked, she outright said yes, in the corridor, during one of our morning breaks.

“Umm Kimura?”

“What is it, Yokoyama?”

Hatsui Yokoyama was hesitant. However, determined to not repeat the mistakes of the past, she garnered some courage and went ahead with it.

“Sorry for that back in junior high. Sorry for ignoring you. I just didn’t know what to do, so I sheltered myself in my world and pretended you didn’t exist. I… was shocked to see someone popular care about me.”

“Huh? Oh, it’s okay, don’t worry, I also made the mistake to keep poking into your matters. I always saw you alone, as someone in need of help. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

Yokoyama now recognized the same smile and energetic attitude she witnessed on that day. The person who seemed like the polar opposite of her. Cheerful with battery life to spare.

“So, let’s both be the bestest of friends. Right?”

For once, Kimura was genuinely smiling, not because she was teasing her friends or eager to perform a daily action, but because she had just made a new friend.

“Yes!”, Yokoyama grinned.

I was also there, observing their interaction from afar. Glad they didn’t notice, otherwise it’d get weird.

Going back to when we were leaving the classroom—

“Do you all have your lunchboxes?”, Naoto asked everyone.

“Yeah, of course we do, idiot,” Kimura retorted, desperate to munch on some food, which led him to take the initiative.

“Okay, let’s go!”

Now outside on the playground, the four of us sat on a bench. On our left were Kohei and his friends. “Who the hell is this ‘Kohei’ you speak of, narrator?” Well, I’ll have you know he is the top candidate in our class for the role of class rep. I mentioned him some time ago. Yes, he’s the guy that was sitting at the bottom of the classroom yesterday.

I deviated from the path I was taking to address him.

“Look who it is! Ishida, how are you?”

“Been a while, Kohei. I’m doing just fine, thanks for asking. Are you aiming for class rep this year too?”

“Of course. I probably won’t even need to campaign for it this time, as most students already know me from last year.”

“That’s true,” I scratched my head, recognizing the obvious.

“I hope you vote for me again. I’m looking to win by a bigger margin, as it’s my last year before university."

“I see. Since you’re so keen on reapplying for class rep, you should also try to apply for a position in the student council. I’m sure they’d greatly benefit from having someone like you in their ranks. Who knows, maybe you could become the next student council president.”

“Though I suppose it may be a little for that…,” I added in a decreasingly enthusiastic tone.

“I’ll give it some thought. See you around!”

I rejoined my friends' group. We all opened our small boxes jam-packed with only the finest Japanese cuisine.

“Ohhh Ishida that looks so tasty! Wanna trade some of your chicken karaage with one of my meatballs?”

Oh, meatballs, is it? Then, never mind. Such banal food couldn't even compare. There goes my hyperbolical description. Sinking into the darkest depths of the Marianas Trench. It just had to be her to ruin it.

“Fine, Kimura. Here you go.”

As I performed the trade, I noticed who was on our right.

Akira Natsuko.

Isolated from everyone else again.

Looking at her, she reminded me of myself back in my first year of junior high. Eating lunch by herself. Back then, Naoto was the one who approached and helped me. Now, it was my turn.

I got close to where she was sitting, placing my lunchbox next to hers. Part of her facial expression was covered by her hair, but I felt she didn’t bother with it, as it helped in hiding her face. I made the first move.

“Hey.”

She revealed herself at last. I got a glimpse of her. Her normally brown hair was crashing with the sunlight, which caused it to gain golden brown tones. Those face features, now fully visible, transmitted a clear message—I'm depressed. I'm feeling down. Get away from me.

Utterly devoid of happiness, she spoke to the individual on her left.

“What do you want?”

“Sorry, I saw you all alone in here and... I wanted to help. Do you know anyone from this school?”

My best attempt at not sounding weird.

“No.”

That voice—soothing yet weak, faint enough that no one but me could understand her words, giving off the impression she was neither in high spirits nor with intentions of speaking with anyone.

“Then nice to meet you, I'm Yuki Ishida. Yuki written with the characters for 'evening' and 'princess', Ishida written with the characters for 'stone' and 'black'.”

She let out a light giggle. Probably due to how, to her and anyone observing, my first name’s meaning contrasted with how I looked.

“H-Hey! It’s not my fault my name’s like that!”

She stopped.

The Sun now shone on my hair as I sat by her side. She broke her shy expression and repeated the words that came out of her mouth as she entered class 3-1's room earlier today. However, that sentence now packed more energy—it was as close I'd get to her normal voice.

“Akira Natsuko. Akira written the character for 'bright'. Natsuko written with the characters for 'summer' and 'child'. Nice to meet you.”

Shortly after that, she went silent again and began eating her lunch—no, devouring her lunch. Like a girl who hadn't eaten in days.

I let out a casual laugh, but she dismissed it.

Honestly, I wasn't laughing at the fact she was definitely starving. Not really. I was just relieved she said something. She came out of her shell to talk to someone else, even if briefly.

I followed suit and ate my lunch as well.

My two female friends were too concentrated on their meal to notice me. That is until they took notice of the noise coming from Kohei and some classmates chatting louder than usual. That and the lack of Yuki Ishida next to Naoto.

Kimura was the first one to react. Yokoyama came in second, having only reacted due to her friend's query.

“What? Where is Ishida?”

“What are you talking about Ishida is right he—huh?”

It might not have seemed like it, but Naoto was having a lot of fun, perhaps way too much fun, as he was aware of my actions. Knowing that, he chose to stay quiet, as Natsuko wasn't comfortable with people around her. Especially strangers.

Didn't take them long to see that I was less than twenty meters away from them.

“Ueno, do you know where he went?”

“Yoko-chan, he’s over there. Furthermore, it seems Ueno knew all along but decided not to share it with us.”

“As expected of Kimura, spot-on deduction. Pardon me for not saying anything.”

“Does he do this a lot?”

“Not really. I can see why he kept quiet though. When he saw Ishida making contact with Natsuko, he knew it was better off not saying anything, as our beloved transfer student is shy and prefers to stay away from everyone else.”

Seeing her effortlessly expose the reasoning behind his actions, Naoto couldn’t help but react with his signature sweaty smile.

“You read me like a book.”

“Of course I did,” she pridefully deflected it as a completely normal action, making me think “Figuring out the inner workings of your mind is as natural to me as breathing” was about to follow suit.

“Alright, understood. Sorry for getting the wrong idea, Ueno.”

“No need to apologize.”

On the other side of the action, Natsuko and I were enjoying our meals, unaware of their comments. Except she barely had any food left.

“Can you please give me some of your food?”

Normally, if it was Kimura or Naoto, I’d decline, but since she was so hungry and in need of some company, I responded affirmatively.

“Sure, go ahead.”

It was all going well until the moment she returned my lunchbox empty. She had just taken literally half of my lunch for herself. I didn’t say anything nor was I mad. Instead, I was shocked. “She was that hungry, huh,” I remarked to myself.

She resumed her reinless gobbling up, only stopping halfway to check if I was annoyed or angry at what she had done. That otherwise ordinary face featuring cheeks stuffed with food. It was priceless.

On the other side, staring fixedly at us, the shoujo and romcom manga specialist made an observation worthy of her honorary title. Yes, it was to be expected from her. Still, that didn’t nullify the fact it was completely unnecessary and unasked for.

“Say, Kimura? Don’t they look cute together?”

“Yes, yes!”

Kimura nodded energetically.

“You could even make a breakout doujinshi with those two!”

We barely know each other. Isn’t it too early?

“I know, right?”

While they were both gossiping, Naoto sighed at them, thoroughly disappointed.

Natsuko finished eating her extended meal and stared timidly at me. As our eyes met, she speedily retreated and attempted to hide her face, to no avail.

“If you’re feeling better, don’t worry about how much food you took from my lunchbox. Don’t stress too much over it.”

She nodded. “So cute!” was what crossed my mind.

In an effortless streak of movements, she grabbed her phone from inside the depths of her left jacket pocket and unlocked it with her fingerprint. “Amazing,” I commented to myself, as I watched her use the mobile device with such skill. Opening the Line app, she accessed the “My profile” section and pointed at it. Her shy self murmured a singular word.

“Here.”

I repeated her movements and added her to my Line friends list. I confirmed it was successful.

Kimura and Yokoyama were both following the situation closely with enthusiasm. It was a simple looping sequence of Yokoyama reporting what she was perceiving and her friend nodding in accordance.

“Look, look, she gave him her number and he added her to his phone contacts list!”

“Mhm, mhm!”

“Now she’s asking him out! How cuuuute!!!”

“Mhm, mhm!”

As I said before, that was what they were perceiving. But appearances can be deceiving. What was really happening was markedly different.

She gathered some courage to look at me in the eyes for more than a split second and made a special—at least for her—request.

“Can I… be your friend?”

“Of cour—”

All of a sudden, she got up and hugged me tightly, refusing to let go. In that fleeting moment, I could sense her relief in having someone by her side. Someone she could trust. Someone who trusted her. The truth was—she was afraid. Afraid to be rejected. But also, simultaneously, scared of making any friends. And I knew those feelings all too well. The air at school can be very suffocating, especially for those trying to fit in. Fighting it is futile. Trying to integrate can be challenging. Fail both, and you’ll likely end up lost in it. In these times, the only thing that can rescue you is an anchor, someone who’ll stand by your side—a friend. I was more than willing to be that anchor. If it meant I could see her smile again alongside my friends, then I'd do it. I'd be willing to give her the happiness I don't have.

The bell rang, signaling we had only five more minutes to return to our classrooms.

“Umm, we should get going.”

“Yes,” I agreed with Naoto.

“Alright!”

Kimura was still in high spirits thanks to Yokoyama’s hype-inducing live report of my talks with Natsuko. The five of us followed our path, with me and the shy girl trailing behind.