Spring Is Here/Summary

One morning, a letter from Alice arrives at the Cartalet home. In it Alice is writing to greet her parents and say hi while catching them up on the recent goings-on in Japan; such as how she gets up and always needs to help Shino stay awake and get out of bed, along with the aid of Shino's mother.

While the girls eat breakfast Alice narrates that Isami is a first year in University. She teases Alice by claiming her hair appears to be duller that year and Shino instantly panics and accuses her of lying. As Shino scolds Isami, she reaches across the table to snag a piece of the toast Shino was eating, while Alice watches with mild confusion.

Outside waiting for them is Aya and Yoko. As Karen runs up to embrace Shino and Alice, the narration brings up how her friends are doing fine, and how Karen remains as energetic as usual. Aya scolds Karen by saying they need to get going and they head to school. Where upon arrival, the narration continues on by saying that the girls have been split up this year, with Aya, Karen, and Shini in one class, while she and Yoko are in another. Karen is very excited and bursts into her room to greet everyone, while Aya hesitates before trailing behind her. Alice feels very sad, but Shino reminds her that they can hang out during break and feeling better, Alice joins Yoko in their class.

There, Alice narrates that it is her second spring in Japan. She is happy being with Shino and everyone else, and is excited to continue hanging out with them. But she still finds herself missing Shino, causing Yoko to remind her that morning assembly hasn't even began yet.

In the other class, Karen is looking over the manga, Nyanya and runs up to Aya while making a duckface. Aya is pretty confused and asks what inspired that, stating that she is pretty sure it isn't really popular. The trio are joined by Honoka, who has come to offer Karen some more sweets. Karen eagerly accepts the gift while commenting on how kind Honoka was to her the previous year, and Aya apologizes on behalf of her friend, then tells Karen that she should return Honoka's gifts and not take them for granted. Karen agrees and quickly approaches Honoka while showing her the duckface impersonation, pretending to kiss her. This startles Honoka and Aya tries to get her to behave, stopping only as the teacher steps inside. They sit down and class starts.

While waiting for Sakura, Alice is approached by a few girls in class who fawn over her soft, pretty hair. Alice is happy to be making some friends but she still really misses Shino, so Yoko tries to get her mind off of it by asking for her help with something. They are unable to get very far though, as Sakura soon joins the class and Yoko remarks on the fact that class doesn't feel very different and due to this Alice is relieved to see her.

In their class, Shino finds herself missing Alice and she makes an attempt to mentally contact her. At first it doesn't seem to work, but over with Alice, she suddenly claims to hear her. Yoko asks how this is possible, then curiously asks what it was she heard Shino say. As it turns out the girls will have Gratin for dinner; causing Yoko and Sakura to express confusion in what Alice just said.

Aya is concerned that she will need to keep a watchful eye over Karen and Shino since they are both poor students. She smiles while observing Shino, since it looks like she is busy working- but as it turns out, Shino was putting the sleeping Karen's hair up into pigtails and odango buns. Their teacher asks Karen to do the next part in their book and Karen struggles, so Shino asks if she can play "the telephone game" to help her. Aya doesn't understand, so while Karen panics, she feels a finger rub against her back to write out the answer. This ends up tickling Karen and frustrated, Aya asks the teacher to swap seats with Shino to keep her focused. Shino is upset by this but they point out she may end up with a failed grade if she doesn't focus on doing her work. Now that things have calmed down Aya relaxes and tries to do her own work; but she focuses on Yoko and struggles.

The moment class ends she runs all the way over to Sakura's class and runs up to Yoko, only to spit out that she came to see Alice instead.

With it being break the girls step outside onto the nearby bridge that connects the middle sections of the school together. Alice and Shino discuss how much they miss each other and try to rekindle their close bond, causing Alice to reveal that during her introduction she only spoke of Shino. Aya mentions that their class did introductions too, but Karen got scolded for talking too much. Karen explains how mean and scary their teacher is and compares her to a nasty tiger, unaware that she happens to be standing right behind her. As Akari scolds Karen for her behavior, she reminds her that she's yet to turn in her hand-out, sleeps too much in class, should tie her long hair up, and her outfit is gawdy. Yoko tries to apologize for Karen, but Aya believes she screwed up so she face consequences as Akari finishes by telling Karen to turn the hand-out in and to be more careful as she steps inside.

Karen is upset when it turns out the others agree with her teacher and admits that she forgot about the hand-out. When Shino suggests she just honestly tell their teacher this, Karen appears to take these words to heart; only to plain on stalking Akari until she can get some dirt on her to avoid feeling her wrath later on. She finds her in the hallway, scolding a girl for running in the halls and watches her head down the stairs with Shino. Alice suggests that they shouldn't do this, but she is unable to resist and follows after Karen, who is joined by Shino, Yoko and a defiant Aya at the bottom of the stairs.

They watch Akari pick up some trash and fix a poster and this upsets Karen with nothing to go on. But Akari surprises them by suddenly approaching to ask if Karen needed something, then tells Shino to make sure everyone has their papers ready before the final assembly of the day ends. Shino agrees, but is so startled that she runs away. Alice and Karen chase after her upon realizing she's running to the wrong room and Akari simply tries to figure out what she did wrong.

During class Akari continue to try to think about things and admits that she knows nobody likes to be stared at, but because her students are so cute she can't help it. She watches a girl recoil in surprise as she watches her, then while in the hallways she spots Alice being stared at by Sakura and curiously watches to observe their interactions. Still she is unable to determine why this is.

In the Faculty Office, the teachers sit down for a few minutes. Sakura mentions that Akari looks nice in her suit and Akari explains that she can't just dress sloppy, or else the students won't respect her. Sakura agrees, and Akari goes on to ask how she can get her students to like her more. Sakura suggests that she should wear a pair of rabbit ears and that the students would love her with them on, although Akari is sure it would require more than this. Besides that she would be too embarrassed to even consider that.

She heads into the nearby washroom while thinking over Sakura's other advice, which was to smile and attempts to do this. However, she sees that as she attempts to force it, she ends up glaring. By the time she gives up she has yet to realize Karen was watching her.

In class the girls sit down for lunch while discussing Akari. Shino worries that she will get into trouble since she incidentally falls asleep during class, but she also believes that deep down she is loving and warm; just like Isami. Alice agrees to her by saying it's their eyes.

In the distance, Isami is shown walking the University grounds when she suddenly sneezes.

Karen joins the girls to tell them that she was unable to get anything on Akari. But she is sure they can be friends, because she reminds her of how much she struggled when she first came to Japan. Unforuntely, Karen accidentally says something to offend Akari again and gets chewed out in front of everyone for being so forgetful. In hopes of fixing it, Karen tries to smile and just say she will do better next time, but Akari doesn't find her very apologetic and sends her to stand in the hall.

Later, Alice studies Shino and writes down everything. The others suddenly appear, causing Alice to panic as Karen grabs the notebook from her. Suddenly, she makes the girls count themselves, explaining that they are part of the Shino Fan Club. Yoko tells her that they never agreed to join it and Aya asks Alice what it is she would like to know. In this time the girls somehow realize they actually may not understand Shino very well despite knowing her for so long, and they try to figue out if she may be hiding something from them. With that in mind they decide to follow Shino and find the truth.

Alice runs into class and approaches Shino while speaking english. Shino is able to respond a little, so Alice asks her what else she likes besides foreign countries. Her plan fails after Shino comments that she likes Alice, causing her to get very flustered and distracted. Yoko watches and decides to send their next target to Shino, this being Aya, who approaches Shino at the drink machine. She tells Shino that she looks worried and tells her that she could tell her anything if she wants- but she ends up in tears after Shino recalls concern over Aya, who has seemed down since the classes switched. Aya admits that this is the truth and confides in her and realizing they're not getting answers, Karen decides to step in while donning detective attire. She confronts Shino in the restroom and suspects that she likes polka-dot pattern. Shino confirms it, then asks Karen if she likes the Union Jack pattern. Karen confirms that she does, but is startled that Shino knows this despite Yoko pointing out how painfully obvious it is.

The girls regroup for a moment and realize they only found out her favorite pattern, her dislike for insects, and barking dogs. The girls are highly disappointed by this and Karen points out that maybe some hidden hints of Shino's personality may be from the past, causing Yoko to think back to when they were children. She recalls a game they used to play so she tries using it again to figure out what Shino may be thinking about. Shino agrees to play it and Yoko guesses that she is hungry, but Shino claims she is wrong. She was actually thinking about world peace. Confusing Yoko, she contemplates giving up. Aya is sure there isn't any way of getting things solved, but the girls are moved by the determination Alice shows- although it does make them wonder why she is so invested in this. They wonder if there is something deeper than what they were led to believe and Alice mentions how much Shino loved blonde hair before meeting her, causing Karen to ask why Shino fell in love with foreign things.

Yoko believes it had something to do with her homestay in England, but Shino suddenly appears to say that she and Yoko thought the Union Jack was a very cute design. After scaring the girls witless, the five begin to make their way home. She mentions how weird they were acting and wishes they would have asked her to hang out with them, causing Aya to bring up the Union Jack again, causing Shino to comment that when she was little she met a foreign woman who needed help at the Train Station. She was very flustered and unable to help, but an older girl was able to lend a hand and since then, she's wanted to bring people together using the power of words. Inspired her friends applaud Shino and comment on how much this sounds like her. Karen congratulates Alice for finding more and the two blondes celebrate this good news, causing Shino to comment on how strange they are behaving. Aya and Yoko remark that Shino is very straight-forward with no ulterior motives, but they are also happy to have learned more as well.

Suddenly, Karen offers to let Shino wear her jacket. Shino is very excited and Alice scolds her, trying to keep them seperated. Karen challanges the others to catch her and runs up ahead, which encourages Yoko to give chase- stopping to tell Aya to come with her. Aya agrees, but keeps a safe distance while observing them, as does a flustered Alice and confused Shino. Shino thinks about Alice and how she was what inspired her to become an interpreter, then runs up ahead to join their friends.

After the episode, Shino and Alice discuss how sad they are not to be classmates anymore. But because they can be together before and after school, Shino suggests that they should walk with two legs bound together to stay close. Alice agrees, but when they are confronted by Aya, she sees how battered and bruised they are.