Starving Karen/Summary

One day during school, Shinobu, Alice, and Karen chat about the singing test they took in class earlier. Alice turns to find an agitated Aya, who did poorly, and an equally perky Yoko- who sung loudly and had a lot of fun. Alice compliments how well she thought Shino did and Shino returns the favor as she recalls how relaxed Alice made everyone feel. In fact, she thinks they should record Alice's singing and play it all over the world so that everyone can enjoy it, although Alice finds this idea crazy. They also compliment Karen's job well done as Aya expresses an interest in hearing Alice and Karen perform a duet together, but being unable to agree at first, the duo bicker until they figure out a good song and sing it for their friends.

Meanwhile, Sakura is excited for the fall weather that has arrived. In the staff area a friend asks her about her jolly mood and Sakura explains that she gets happy because she gets to wear her favorite jacket again. As she puts it on her friend comments on this.

In class, Alice is busy writing down some new difficult Japanese words in her notebook when Aya approaches to ask about it. Alice explains that she looks up harder to learn words later on and writes them down to avoid forgetting. Aya observes the list before Alice notices the pack she has with her, only to grow anxious when Aya reminds her that they had P.E. that day. Alice is sure she wrote this down in a spot she would remember, but in her attempts to find it she realizes she forgot where that was.

While watching, Shino and Yoko discuss the turn of events. To Yoko's surprise, Shino happened to be aware of the fact Alice forgot her P.E. clothing and didn't even say anything, explaining that she thought Alice may have been wearing the clothing beneath her outfit. For help, Yoko approaches Sakura and brings her over to Alice while explaining what happened. Sakura lends her the P.E. jacket she wears but Alice is without pants, although the others don't see a big deal in this since the jacket is big on her. Regardless, Shino offers to lend her the summer uniform shorts she happened to have with her and by now Alice feels better; although she is cold.

Changed for class, everyone starts their stretches, with Aya struggling to deal with the brutal Yoko who refuses to go easy on her and tries encouraging her to deal with the pain and keep working. Then they are told to run, and Aya struggles further. She is one of the last people still running and is passed by Yoko, who teases her for being so slow. To Aya's surprise, she finds a worn our Alice and a relaxed Shino behind her and questions this, with Shino claiming not to be tired since she only ran as fast as she could- which is apparently very slow.

Meanwhile, Alice is in desperate need of assistance and attempts to tell Shino to go on without her, but Shino accidentally thinks she is speaking in English instead. It's then Shino recalls that in order to keep running, a lot of teams will chant a special incantation and thinks of the supposed word and has her friends repeat it with her, this being "fuwa fuwa", together they all finish while everyone else just observes. Yoko approaches Alice to ask if she is alright and she takes out of her notebook from earlier, commenting on how she found the perfect word for this moment: Terribad.

Back in class, Karen is fast asleep as her friends watch. Sakura finishes writing something down and asks the classroom who could answer it. Just then Karen snaps awake and raises her hand to act like the other students. She quietly explains to Yoko and Alice that even if she doesn't know the answer, she can still use the moment to make a joke. She proceeds to demonstrate what she meant.

Later on the girls sit down for lunch. Since Yoko ate her own that morning she asks to have some of Aya's. Aya starts to hand it over to her, but when she sees a girl trying to feed her boyfriend, she can't help but want to try out herself. But she incidentally scares Yoko in her attempt to be endearing. They are joined by Karen and ask her why she's always running late, and Karen mentions that she eats lunch with her other friends beforehand, then she comes over. Seeing the snacks she has the others question them and as it turns out, she gets them from her friends. Yoko criticizes this as Alice happens to notice that Karen has put on weight, but Karen does not think so as Alice tries to explain that if she keeps eating too much she will get heavy. In hopes of fixing this, Shino makes a Do Not Feed sign.

Afterwards, Alice and Karen discuss her idea of dieting, but because neither of them have ever done it before they try to find someone who can help them. They happen to come across Sakura in the staff room and decide to ask her, but while she is able to give the girls advice, Karen comments on her big butt; much to her shock. Alice calls Karen out for being rude, then adds that a more polite way of saying it by explaining it as a good thing, because she has "birthing hips". Unfortunately Sakura feels no better.

The girls reunite in the hallway and bring up how much Yoko eats, as she never seems to put on any weight. Yoko claims this is because she runs every day and Karen gets excited, thinking she can join her- until Yoko reveals she runs at least ten kilometers. Shino then recalls something Isami told her about girls and how they should be a little chubby, but the others find this story to be pointless when it seems to be Isami's preference for Shino. After explaining the important of knowing their current weight, Aya leads the group to the nearby Health Room and offers to step on the scale first.

She is horrified by what the scale reads though, and starts to panic wondering if it may be her clothing and she attempts to strip until Yoko gets her to stop. Karen then steps onto the scale and realizes her weight hasn't changed at all, but the others are confused by this and Aya asks Karen to tell her the true weight. Upon learning what it is, she cries and flees the room after realizing she is heavier than Karen. Deciding this means she is free to eat again, Karen decides she can continue to accept snacks from the class. Alice warns her to hold back a little though, and offers to pack her a lunch the following day. Shino asks Alice to make her one as well, to which she agrees.

After school, Alice and Shino head to the store to pick up some items they will need. Alice's plan is to get up at the same time that Shino's mother does to make the lunches. But realizing how early this actually is, she decides to come up with a less time-consuming plan.

However, she ends up waking up really early as she initially planned and gets up with no choice. She prepares the food while trying to think of a special way to make the rice for Karen. She carefully cuts up the ingredients and begins to put them together.

When Class comes along, the girls struggle while trying to figure out what she made. They end up assuming that it is basically rice, but made in a way to spell rice.

Later on the girls head outside to relax for a while. They discuss the special things taking place in autumn, such as the colorful leaves, and playing a lot more sports. But when they ask Aya and all she says is studying, they claim she's too serious. Aya reminds them that exams will be approaching and seeing as her friends seem unaware, she wonders if they are even ready yet. As it turns out, Yoko forgot all about them, while Karen admits that she enjoys the environment of tests because it lets her nap easier. Shino and Alice test each other before big exams, which they both enjoy but Aya reminds Shino that the last time they tried this she failed.

To get some studying done the girls head over to the library. Shino finds it too difficult to focus though, and starts drifting off to sleep. Alice offers to lend her a hand by letting her copy her papers, but everyone else quickly disapproves of cheating. Shino then goes to pay Sakura a visit to give her the class journal. Sakura asks how her studying is going and Shino claims it to be fine, although she has wondered if she has what it takes to become an interpreter, causing Sakura to suddenly cry to her surprise.

Shino returns to class and asks Alice to start teaching her English. Seeing how serious she appears, the other girls are left surprised by her sudden one-eighty in personality.

The next day, the girls find Shino still trying to study. While she sounds alright at first, they quickly realize that she's been learning French, not English. In class, Alice realizes Shino has been acting differently and attempts to distract her by claiming a Blonde Princess is nearby, which immediately snaps Shino out of her sudden, serious daze. But she also forgot every single thing she just learned.

As the papers are being passed around, Aya comments on how Yoko wasn't studying before it began. Yoko claims to have studied all of the evening before but she could only remember some things. Aya is concerned but Yoko claims it will be fine since she will look into Aya's mind for the answers. As the test begins she starts staring at Aya's head, but this only distracts Aya and leaves Yoko unable to get anything answered.

After the exam ends, a tearful Yoko puts Aya to blame if she fails, but Aya is still pretty flustered and sure she did terrible. Their distraction causes everyone is Karen's class to struggle to pay attention, while Alice wishes Shino luck with her own exam.

A few days later on, it turns out that Shino got a 96 on her exam and for once did better than Aya. Shino thanks Alice for her help but she claims that she did it all on her own as they notice the tearful Sakura nearby.

Later, Shino and Alice go on to see how poorly Shino did on a recent Math test. In hopes of making her feel better, Alice uses a pen to change her own grade, comforting Shino since they match.