I always appreciate those scenes in a heroine’s route when other heroines still make an appearance and do something, even if it isn’t much. Little Busters is a story of friendship, which we might forget if the other characters don’t show up to demonstrate it from time to time.
Haruka’s route had a lot of those moments, maybe even the most among the pre-refrain routes.
Therefore, I’d like to talk about Haruka’s relationships with the other Little Busters, both during her route and in the common route.
Kurugaya - just like how Kanata had substituted her little sister with Kud, Haruka was looking for an alternative big sister and tried burdening Kurugaya, who would often call herself “Onee-san”, with that role. But Kurugaya got mad. She refused to be used as a sister substitute, allowing herself be ignored as an individual and having her efforts to build a friendship denied. I don’t know if it’s ever been confirmed, but I think Haruka wanted to call Kurugaya “Yui-nee.” Haruka still refers to her as such, but only when she’s not around. It includes Kurugaya’s first name, which she is uncomfortable with if other people use it, giving her another reason to be mad. Instead, Haruka adresses her as “Anego.” Their relationship began when Kurugaya had helped Haruka get back some of her lost change, which was so important that Haruka celebrates the anniversary of that day. She often turns to Anego for advice or just to hang out. They aren’t as close as Komari & Rin, but still closer than most LB girl pairs. Also, Kurugaya was supposedly the first one to get a proper read on Haruka’s situation and gave the other girls instructions on how to behave around her.
Mio - I don’t remember her making an appearance in Haruka’s route, but in common and in other routes, these two are paired up as a comedic duo, reminescent of a manzai act. Haruka keeps trying to prank Mio, who looks like an easy target on first glance, but Mio quickly turns the tables on her and seems invincible, striking back twice as harshly. But in the end, there’s no hard feelings. Very entertaining.
Kud - most of the time, Haruka simply treats Kud like a dog or a plaything and sometimes goes just a little bit overboard. For example, if you consider Haruka as Kud’s roommate, Haruka would sneak up on her and Karate-chop her on the neck in an attempt to K.O. her. Clearly a display of how Haruka often misjudges the appropriate “distance” to a person, since she’s never learned to gauge it properly. But there’s that one newly added flashback where Haruka expresses her jealousy of Kud, who is her substitute to Kanata and is basically receiving the love that was rightfully hers. Haruka’s also envious of Kud’s overall popularity, since, according to Haruka, ‘everyone’ loves Kud. It’s a tricky situation where each of them has something that they don’t value as highly, but the other one most desires. Kud simply wants to help Haruka and encourages her to make up with Kanata, a notion Haruka initially rejects as impossible. Oh, and let’s not forget that Haruka is also a roommate candidate.
Komari - As usual, Komari is a mobile dispencer of good mood and sweets. She helps Haruka by giving her cake recipes. She also helps tearing down the bad posters. There’s a scene in the common route where Haruka treats Komari with such kindness that Riki compares them to siblings - only for Haruka to doodle on Komari’s face and making her really mad the next moment.
Rin - Remember that scene in the common route where Haruka found abandoned Kitties and brought them to Rin? Back then, Haruka was REALLY nervous (to the point where she displayed her ‘insecure’ sprite) around Rin because she’s supposedly the ‘serious’ type and might not take her usual shenanigans kindly. Then Haruka got praised and also called by her first name by Rin as requested, which apparently made her heart skip a beat. I guess Haruka was really afraid of being hated by Rin and she never expected everything to turn out so well. tl;dr: Rin brought out Haruka’s true nature for a moment! Rin also helps tearing down the bad posters.
Kyousuke - Haruka seems to respect him a lot and I don’t remember her trying to pull any pranks on him.
Masato - this may sound strange, but Masato is the reason why I wanted to make this post in the first place. You see, normally, Masato is super supportive of Riki and thus also of whatever girl he brings along. Except for Haruka. It’s like he’s doing his best to bear with her but he ultimately can’t. His patience runs out very fast. I assume that Haruka is the one person Masato simply cannot handle no matter how hard he tries. Of course, it doesn’t help that he is one of her prime targets and is mostly treated by her with little respect. Masato never displays outright hatred, but is quick to say some really harsh things. When Riki recruited Haruka for the team, Masato said he never told Riki to bring someone so useless. On at least two occasions, Masato demands Riki to choose between him and Haruka. One of those is an actual choice in the game. He sometimes outright tells her to leave. When Haruka was avoiding contact and Riki tried looking for her, Masato told him he’s just looking for trouble. All of those things are really, really hurtful to Haruka!
Kengo - some people are interpreting certain love-love-Hunters scenes as the game secretly shipping the two. Haruka’s prank causes Kengo to wear the school uniform, which he hates. Doing Kengo a favor unlocks a Haruka CG. He doesn’t seem to have a positive image of Haruka initially, but he keeps quiet. He later seems to change his mind after learning that Haruka is in the maintenance committee. That’s the scene where she takes some of Masato’s bread and later makes a snack out of it, which she tells Riki to also share with “Kengo-kun and the others.” Kengo is the first to notice that Haruka has gone quiet after getting two egg yolks in one egg while Riki is busy bartering with Masato over said egg. In the anime, Kengo calls Haruka a “Mood-maker” to cheer her up after she told her story and had a breakdown in the clubroom with all busters present. In the VN, Riki is the one to say that, though in a different scene, and he worded it differently. Kengo praised Haruka’s bento for how it had a traditional feel to it. Here’s the catch: it was actually Kanata’s bento and Riki could have caught on to it if he paid more attention, because “traditional feel” really isn’t Haruka’s style. On the other hand, Kengo also says it looks edible but can’t be trusted since Haruka had once switched out Komari’s sweets. But MOST IMPORTANTLY: Near the climax of the route, after Haruka got called home to meet Saigusa Shou, who didn’t Shou up after all (see what I did there?), Riki returned to his room but the one who greeted him was not Masato, but Kengo! He asked Kengo for advice, wondering if he was doing the right thing. Kengo couldn’t answer that, but also made it clear that Kyousuke wouldn’t tell him, either. The message here is: It’s entirely Riki’s decision. To conclude: Kengo shows up in Haruka’s route all the time, even though all of his appearances are rather insignificant. What stood out to me the most, however, was how Kengo took over Masato’s role in that last scene I mentioned.
Lastly, what does Haruka think of the others overall? She of course treasures her friendship with them. When the bad rumors about her are spreading, she chooses to keep their distance from the other girls so that they don’t get caught in the crossfire.
So I think that they wouldn’t kill them off (even if they did threaten to do so when they were children) but they would make Haruka and Kanata’s lives much much harder. They may have a hard time getting into college when the family spread rumors about their background. They may even have a hard time getting a steady job when their employers find out their father is a criminal (this is a thing in Japan, I shit you not!). But I believe Haruka and Kanata will overcome it, by helping each other out and overcoming these problems.
