I Wish We Can Become Friends

"I Wish We Can Become Friends" (ともだちになりたい) is a short story from Melon Books' store privilege for volume 7 of You-Zitsu light novel series, together with other three short stories. It focuses on Hiyori Shiina's point of view during her unexpected meet up with Kiyotaka Ayanokōji in the library.

Summary
Between the bookshelves under the library's section for mystery genre, Kiyotaka meet Hiyori. While the former was thinking on borrowing another book, he observed a girl who was trying hard to reach the book titled,  by. Kiyotaka helped the girl without realizing that it was Hiyori. After he grabbed the book and gave it to her, the latter expressed her gratitude, and then afterwards, Kiyotaka spontaneously asked whether Hiyori likes Brontë's works or not. She responded by telling that she doesn't have any special preference over the author and she just wants to put the book in the right place, in the right shelf, in the right section of the library.

After her disclosure, with an interested outlook, Hiyori noticed the book titled,  by, that Kiyotaka was holding — the exact book that he succeeded from Suzune. That book, as Hiyori claimed, is a popular masterpiece that is being borrowed by a lot of sophomores, making the book's occurrence to be rare. She wanted to re-read it but didn't have the chance to find it. However, Hiyori stated that there's no problem with Kiyotaka borrowing the said book since she had a collection of interesting books in the library at her disposal. She boldly declares that she'll read each of them until she graduates.

Kiyotaka was about to leave the scene to execute the purpose he initially had in the library, but Hiyori didn't seem to be satisfied with their small talk after finding someone who seemingly has similar tastes with her when it comes to books. To continue further the conversation, Hiyori asked if Kiyotaka wants to borrow another book, to which he denied. Hiyori then immediately turned her attention to one of the selves in the mystery section and asked if he had already read ' works. Kiyotaka claimed that he has read 's but not any of Dorothy's. Hiyori recommended the first among ' series by Dorothy — '. She affirmed that once he starts reading the said book, he'll be entranced to keep reading the sequel.

Hiyori noticed that it seems Kiyotaka is not particularly interested in the matter but doesn't have the heart to refuse her, so she immediately apologized afterwards for talking incessantly about books. He cleared up her uneasiness by telling her that he's just perplexed for a while but was genuinely interested in borrowing the book she recommended. Hiyori was pleased with his response, thus, inviting Kiyotaka to have a lunch together. While the latter didn't expect this development — thinking that the whole thing is a fragment of Kakeru's plan — the former stated she's just a girl who doesn't have friends to talk about novels. Though classes 1-C and 1-D are currently in conflict, since she doesn't have any interest in joining in engaging either parties involved, she stated that mingling with him will not bore a problem.

After mutual consent, both of them went and a lunch break in the cafeteria. There, Hiyori had a problem in choosing a meal from the menu but in the end, she bought what Kiyotaka had chosen. Kiyotaka offered a helping hand after noticing that Hiyori was having a trouble in handling her tray due to her bag. After few dialogues, the former went to carry the latter's bag and notice that it was quite heavy — due to the fact that it was filled with mystery-related books. As they sat next to each other, Kiyotaka opened the conversation by asking her whether Hiyori usually have a lunch in the cafeteria or not. She denied the question and claimed that she always buy lunch at the convenience store in the morning and eat them in the classroom, so technically, it is a rare event for her. She asked the similar query to him and said that he prefers the taste of food in the cafeteria than in convenience store.

Meanwhile, in Kiyotaka's monologue, he noted that the way Hiyori hold the chopsticks is exceptionally charming. After that, Hiyori affirmed that the cafeteria food is delicious and the way Kiyotaka compared the taste of foods sold between the two source will be kept in mind. The latter then asked whether it was the former's first time to eat at the cafeteria, to which she replied that it was certainly the case. She wanted for so long to have a lunch there before but lost the heart to do so given that, to her, it's too far from her classroom. Following the scene where they finish their meals respectively, they talk again back to book. While Hiyori was taking out the book from her bag, Kiyotaka immediately acknowledges that her choice of the book is nice. Knowing and confirming that both of them indeed like mystery, Hiyori looks elated. Kiyotaka noticed that the book she took out from her bag isn't from the library. She confirmed that it was from her personal collection of books that she always brings. The lunch break ended with Hiyori allowing Kiyotaka to take the book titled,  and his promise afterwards to return the book to her soon.