Because I Love You More Than Anything/Summary

One morning, Alice awakens to her bedroom. She gets her hair ready and gets Poppy to go out for a walk, comparing this morning to how her morning routine is back in Japan. It consisted of her grabbing the mail after trying to wake up Shino, then going to try again if she is still asleep after greeting Isami and her mother and getting ready. She asks Poppy if he remembers Shino, when suddenly Shino shows up- much to her surprise. Shino reveals she came to see Alice, but when Alice attempts to embrace her, Shino removes her wig to reveal she is actually Karen.

After she complains over having to pretend to be Shino so often, she grabs her camera and resumes recording various things in their surroundings. She comments that Alice keeps talking about Shino and brings up that she plans on showing everyone what she filmed after they return to Japan. Alice supports the idea until Karen reveals that it is actually a film collection of a depressed Alice, who has missed Shino since she left. Karen attempts to calm the annoyed Alice, suggesting they shop for more gifts until Alice points out that because they bought so much yesterday they don't need to get more; the best gift would be returning home safely. It's then Karen wonders if Shino forgot about them, but Alice finds this hard to believe since Shino remembered her from three years ago. This causes Karen to think about an incident caused by Shino the other day before they left, but Alice claims memory lapses are normal.

The girls return from their walk and play a game of Hanafuda in Alice's bedroom. Alice recalls playing it with Shino years ago, so Karen suggests letting Alice call Shino with her phone- until Alice reminds her that it's evening in Japan so Shino is sleeping right now. This depresses Karen, who really wanted to help her. With that the girls run off to lend Alice's mother help making scones in the kitchen. While doing this they describe the time they attempted to hold an English Tea Party at Shino's place, including how long it took to make everything and how they ended up eating them at school when they ran out of time. They also bring up the time they held a picnic and Shino spilled the orange juice, and the sesame cookies they had.

Alice's mother finds their excitement amusing and she asks to hear more about their time in Japan. After the scones finish the girls grab everything and head outside to enjoy a small tea party with her and continue chatting about their time.

Eventually, it is evening and as it turns out, it has been a week. The girls are at Alice's home, having dinner with Alice's mother and father. Her mom explains that her dad will give her a ride to the airport the following day, while Karen plans to be meeting her parents there. Alice feels a little bit down since Karen didn't actually spend that much time with her parents during this trip, but Karen claims it to be fine since they will be coming to visit again soon anyway. Alice's mom comments on how used to Japan the girls are now, and she points out various things when they respond with curiousity before heading to bed.

The blonde girls resume chatting; expressing a desire in having the entire group come next time, instead of just the two of them. Alice points out that this might not work since Aya doesn't like flying, but Karen is convinced that she would come if it meant being with Yoko. They also discuss how the secend semester of school will be starting when they return, but they are excited because they have sports and festivals to look forward to, along with Shino's birthday. Noticing how tired they have become, the girls lay down and Alice thanks Karen for inviting her to join in on her trip back here, but Karen remains quiet, instead pointing out they need to sleep.

The next morning, they are busy throwing their items into the vehicle. Before she leaves, Alice wants to give Shino a call since she didn't get to speak to her on the day she arrived. She is very nervous though; with Karen not helping and only making her more anxious since it's been a whole week since they spoke.

Meanwhile, Shino is half asleep again, spending another night with Yoko and Aya. They are playing another card game and decide to turn in for the night, only for Shino's mother to suddenly arrived to tell her that Alice called. Right away Shink awakens and she runs into the other room to speak to Alice. But Alice is so startled that she speaks in rapid english, slowly calming down before admitting in english that she doesn't know what to do. She snaps out of shock when Shino says the first thing in English Alice ever heard her say, which is "hello", and Alice is able to respond in Japanese. She then apologizes for getting worked up.

Karen intervenes and asks for the phone afterwards to greet the girls. She then recaps what Alice said, using Japanese, then hangs up the phone after saying goodbye. This angers Alice and she starts to yell at her, considering she hardly spoke to Shino at all, but Karen claims Alice spoke a ton- even if she didn't understand it. Before they go, Alice runs back to her bedroom to make sure she didn't fofrget anything when she spots the Kokeshi Doll. Karen joins her to question it before spotting a Hiragana Chart. They are called by Alice's mother, as it is time for them to go now and they run back outside to say goodbye to her and Poppy. Before going, Alice tearfully embraces her mom and promises to write very soon before they take off.

The next day at Shino's, Aya and Yoko wait for Shino. She has decided to take a bath, despite knowing they would be returning very soon. Shino quickly gets dressed in a fancy gown she believes is one of her best outfits and runs outside to wait for their arrival. Surprised, Aya quickly gives chase along with Yoko.

The moment they spot the blondes, Shino embraces her friends until Aya notices the hair ribbons they have on. They question it, causing Karen to point out that they are gifts, which leads Yoko to believe they are acting like the gifts instead. The girls brings out the actual gifts they got for their friends and head inside to show them while explaining they are welcome to have what they want. As Aya spots a small, cute container of earl grey tea, the girls are joined by Isami. They greet her and offer her a gift as well, but she decides to go last to be polite, until she spots a camera and sets it up to see what it is on it. She turns it on to find Karen, dressed like Shino again, introducing what the film follection is about. As the others watch the video, poor Alice is reduced to a silent, shocked, and horrified mess. She tries to explain that it isn't anything important as everyone else sees amusement in the video.

Shino helps Alice bring her suitcase up to the bedroom and she asks to hear about some of her time in England. Alice agrees, but she stops upon noticing that Shino didn't finish her summer homework.

The following day, Aya and Alice are watering the plants until they realize Shino already did it, disappointing Aya as Alice explains that she struggled trying to finish her homework the night before. They remark that she will never change, and true to their concerns, Shino is in class reading a Blonde Girl Magazine. Honoka joins her and mentions that she dropped something, but upon seeing the shocking test paper she hands it back and takes off running. Aya happens to pick up the paper and immediately scolds Shino for not taking her studying more seriously and reminds her that they only have six months left before they start to study for entrance exams. Karen scolds Aya and tells her to be nicer to Shino, saying that even if she utterly flunks her tests, she is many talents. She tries to demonstrate by making her balance spinning plates and ventriloquism, but she fails at them both.

They are joined by Alice and a depressed Yoko, who is carrying a torn teddybear. Yoko explains that it belongs to Mitsuki and she accidentally ripped it the day before. She tried to fix it, but it upset Mitsuki worse. To the girls surprise, Shino is able to fix it with ease, using her sewing knowledge. After Yoko thanks her, they compliment her skills and point out that Shino could grow to become a designer. While the girls are excited in knowing this, Shino mentions that her true dream is to be an interpreter, and while Alice isn't entirely convinced she can do it, she promises to give Shino everything she got and makes her buckle down to focus on studying. Shino accuses her of being too strict, and Yoko reveals that she probably wouldn't remember anything unless she was actually motivated. So, Alice tries to help her out by luring her with her blonde hair, which seems to work.

Throughout the day the girls help Shino study as much as they are able to. Shino has been able to finish everything by herself by this point and she admits to feeling smarter. The girls are really happy for her, but Alice wants to keep working and moves onto the next book of basics, causing Shino to beg her to stop.

With school being over, the girls prepare to leave school while trying to decide on where to stop and grab something to eat. They decide on crepes and discuss the flavours they want to get; with Yoko deciding on Chocolate custard, Karen picking Chocolate marron, Alice wants something with strawberries in it, and Shino is struggling to choose while Aya settles on Apple Cinnamon. Yoko asks to have a bite of Aya's and promises to let her try her own in the process, with the girls deciding to race to to the shop to make up for the Gym Class they didn't have.

As the girls run off, Sakura and Akari approach the exit of the school to watch them. They discuss how nice being young is, and Akari admits that she didn't get to enjoy much of her own youth since she spent most of it studying. Sakura convinces her that as long as you have fun, you can always feel young. She then says they should share a high-wave, but they end up missing the first time. They share a small awkward moment before Akari asks to try again, this time succeeding.

Honoka is out in the tennis court practicing with Kana, and as it turns out they both exclaim Gold and Hair with each hit, which seems to have really improved their skills.

Meanwhile, Karen decides to send a picture to her through text message involving a sleeping cat she found.

Returning home later, Yoko returns Mitsuki's bear in an extremely good mood. She and her brother question this and Yoko claims it to be "just because", voicing her opinions on Shino becoming a great interpreter some day. After her brother remarks that Yoko acts like an older sister to her, Mitsuki enviously tells Yoko that she should worry over herself first, which offends her considering her poor grades and general clumsiness. She runs off as Yoko stands there stunned, and her brother believes his twin to be jealous.

Aya sits in her bedroom, attempted to send a text message to Yoko. She wishes to check on her and see if she made up with Mitsuki yet- but she finds herself unable to do it.

At home, Isami is laying on the couch watching television. Their mom asks her to help make dinner since the girls will be arriving soon and she slowly gets up.

Outside, Alice and Shino spot a letter from her mother. Alice believes it may be the pictures they took back at home and Shino voices excitement in seeing them, then she asks if she can write something in the correspondence letter, because she believes it would be the first step to her dream. She promises to use a dictionary for help and mentions that while it may take her some time to do, she really wishes to do it. Seeing her dedication, Alice agrees and they head inside...