[Used Can]

Originally Posted by F34R

Yukino cuts him off before he can finish his question and repeats her answer "We can never be friends" what differs now however, is that it can be interpreted as wanting to be "more" than friends.

Spoiler:

I didn't really see it that way. The way I saw that scene was Yukino simply keeping the status quo in which she's close to no one. It's the same as how 8man keeps on committing social suicide over and over again. It's no martyrdom or playing Batman, that would imply he's making a sacrifice, but he's merely doing those things to keep his shield up and keep on isolating himself from further harm from social interaction.
Both Yukino and 8man clearly want friends, but at the same time they're clearly scared of getting close to others that they'll forgo the former to keep themselves "safe". This way of life has also led to 8man's extreme cynicism, that won't allow him to accept the fact that a girl like Yui could genuinely fall for him (that's why I don't think he "rejected" Yui in volume 7, as his issue is that he doesn't believe she truly likes him).

Funny enough, though different in that he's a really social person, Hayato also seems similar to them in that he also likes keeping his status quo, since he likes keeping the peace around him but he won't do anything himself to keep that peace if it involves compromising his own image or sense of security, meaning he probably likes keeping that peace around him to protect himself - or to pretend he's helping people as opposed to whatever he failed to do in the past.