Perhaps I Can Make Friends

"Perhaps I Can Make Friends" (がるかも) is a short story from 's store privilege for volume 6 of You-Zitsu light novel series, together with another short story. It focuses on Haruka Hasebe's personal platonic relationship background prior and during her stay at Advanced Nurturing High School.

Summary
Waiting along Kikyō's group of friends, Haruka immersed into a deep recollection. She initially stated that she doesn't hate going to school. She fairly believes that it went smoothly for her from elementary school to high school. But if she were asked whether she liked school or not, she wouldn't be able to positively bluntly answer on such query. The main factor was her well-developed chest, which made her suffer during her childhood days from the teasing of the boys and sympathetic looks from the girls. The growth became even more remarkable and prominent during her junior high school attracting more unwarranted attention. After some time, her heart grew cold because of this. She claimed that she sacrificed her daily routine of exercising just to avoid those lecherous gazes. As a result, she became isolated—their impression of her naturally became one of a cold and arrogant person as people around her started to become distant.

To her, burning those bridges was very relaxing and so she thought it was okay. As she promoted as a high school student, she's already used to be a loner. Though she joined both of Kei and Kikyō's group, she doesn't force herself to get close to their respective circle. She claimed that she originally planned to live continually like this, of not becoming friends with anybody - however, little did she know that the circumstances may change. This started during their preparations for the upcoming final exam -- the Paper Shuffle. The said exam entails teamwork of two people in every class to answer series of exams. Her partner was Akito Miyake, to which according to Haruka, was unfortunately and coincidentally unknowledgeable in the same subjects as she.

After a while, Kikyō looked at Haruka with a startled expression wondering who was Haruka waiting for. To which she simply replied that it has something to do with her study group. Moreover, the latter thought of the former as someone who is a 'good person' and that if only everybody were like her, things would be very easy. It seems like she's having a trouble to get along with Kei and Maya given that they don't have the same approach to people like her. She later dismissed in overthinking the idea.

Teruhiko, on the other hand, snubbingly approached Haruka, as the two other male members of the study group—Akito and Kiyotaka—were following behind him. He asked why she had to leave the class earlier, to which she retorted that it's a little bit inconvenient to go along with them in the classroom as she doesn't want to attract attention. As what was already implied in her background, she's too tired from being cast by a lot of lecherous eyes though she's decently wearing a uniform.

Of course, knowingly Teruhiko, he had to find the rationale behind Haruka's personality to which Kiyotaka reminded that she had been that way ever since. To Haruka, these three people in her study group have one thing in common: None of them would use a perverted attitude to look at her. The short prattle ended up with both sides realizing their mistakes and agreeing on securing a spot for them to be able to sit while studying.