Aharen-san wa Hakarenai (阿波連さんははかれない)

The span of time before we had

written accounts of history is what we refer to...

Reina Aharen. Who are you?

It comprises the stone age...

And why are you so distant?

Welcome, everyone!

Congratulations on your enrollment!

I'm Ms. Miyahira, and I'll be your homeroom teacher.

I also teach physical education.

I can't wait to get to know you all!

So to start, I'd love for you to introduce yourselves as well!

My name is Raido. It's nice to meet you.

I was so nervous I could barely talk.

But I got through it and that's something.

That was the best chapter!

I never really fit in in middle school.

People always said I looked unfriendly. Or worse.

But that ends today.

High school is going to be different. It has to be!

Step one: get to know whoever sits next to me.

Learn their name.

Which I could have done if I were paying attention.

Nice!

Aharen, right? G'Morning.

I hope we'll be good seatmates this year.

The cold shoulder already?

Oh. I must look too scary.

But I practiced for this!

Smile. Smile.

Smile! There.

Nice weather today, don't you think?

No dice.

But I can't give up yet!

I refuse!

The high-school life I've always dreamt about is riding on this!

So here I go!

This campus is pretty big, isn't it?

I hear the school store is cool.

Do you know what club you're gonna join yet?

Nothing? Really?

I won't let this get to me.

I won't let my new life as a popular kid die on the vine!

I just want her to talk to me. Just once.

She didn't say a thing all day.

Might as well go home.

Well, uh, bye, Aharen.

See you tomorrow.

Hm?

Must've imagined it.

She really does feel distant.

Like she's miles away,

even though she's sitting right there.

She is pretty small, though.

Maybe that's messing with my depth perception or something.

Or maybe she just doesn't like me.

Here. You dropped this.

Still nothing, huh?

All right, get outta here.

And don't forget the homework.

So next class is gonna be...

Hm? Uh, hi?

Do you need something?

Are you talking to me?

She is talking!

But how can anyone talk that quietly?

Hang on!

Maybe...

...I did hear her yesterday!

She is very close.

Oh, you left your textbook at home?

When single terms, or monomials,

are combined in an expression by one or more operators,

that's what we call a polynomial. With me so far?

She's kinda in my space, but whatever.

Her face and hands are so tiny. She's like a doll.

We're doing this again.

What's wrong? Need something else?

I guess she just wants to eat lunch together.

Still really close, though.

And why is her lunchbox so huge?

Uh. Your lunch looks really good.

And now she's feeding me...

I'm good, but thank you.

Okay, fine.

If I try it, will you cut it out?

She has a way bigger appetite

than I ever would've imagined.

Looks like we're walking home together, too.

Hm? Sure, we can stop by the arcade.

I guess.

That was... fun.

You want to go where now?

-- --

Of course...

Even the mic can't pick up her voice.

I wonder why she became so friendly all of a sudden.

Oh, good morning, Aharen.

Hm?

All that and she still won't even say hi?

Where do I stand with her?

Shirorin!

Maybe she was acting on a whim yesterday.

And now we'll go back to normal.

Which is fine, I guess.

Or...

Do we need to share my textbook again? We can.

No. I don't wanna be too much of a bother.

What? You're not bothering me.

Are you sure?

Hm?

It's just that, um, I've never been good with people.

And I don't ever really know how close to get.

I get too friendly when people

are even a little nice to me, but nobody likes that.

They always think I'm weird, or too much,

so they keep their distance.

I decided in high school, I was gonna stop acting like that.

And I felt like I was doing okay.

But you kept talking to me.

And yesterday, when you went out of your way

to pick up my eraser,

I felt like you actually wanted to be my friend.

And that made me happy.

But when I got home,

I realized that I overdid it again.

So I'm sorry.

Please don't hate me. I won't do that anymore--

I don't. That kind of thing really isn't that a big deal.

As long as you don't go overboard all the time,

it's fine.

Thank you.

You're welcome, but can you let me go?

Uh, class is about to start.

'Kay.

Now, on the next page,

there's a brief overview of...

Well, she finally let go of me, but...

She's still so close.

She really is tough to figure out...

...in more ways than one.

Hey, Aharen.

Uh. Do you need something?

You've been trying to get my attention, but I didn't notice?

Sorry.

Huh? Wait, what was that?

Her voice is so quiet, I keep making her repeat herself.

I feel bad.

There has to be a way around this.

Lipreading can't be that hard... can it?

If I can figure this out,

we'll be able to talk no matter how quiet she is.

I need your help.

Let me practice reading your lips for a second.

Sure, not like I'm busy or anything.

Whatever.

I want ramen tonight.

I was robbing kites?

My big brother's a dork with stupid hobbies.

My big bridal shower was super snobby?

Good morning.

Like, he should've texted me, right?

Okay, I've mastered lipreading.

So now you can talk as quietly as you want to,

and I'll still understand.

Her lips don't move enough for me to read them.

Back to the drawing board, I guess.

Hm?

That's it!

Why don't we try passing notes next?

It'll be a lot easier than lipreading.

That sound good?

Okay, this is working. Keep it up, Aharen!

Mm.

You know what? Just forget what I said.

We should stop.

Let's see.

I could hear her fine when she grabbed onto me.

Was that just because of proximity?

Wait! Maybe it was bone conduction!

I've got it, Aharen. Let's try bone conduction!

That should do the trick, right?

Shirorin!

Good morning. How are yo--