Aya Nervous in the Rain/Summary

Karen greets some passing classmates as Alice comments on how she is speaking. It seems Karen turned it into a new thing and Alice scolds her for passing on such a strange habit before bluntly greeting the teacher. In class, she does the same to both Yoko and Aya and they notice how she's behaving and ask about it. As Alice goes to greet Shino, Karen fills them in.

During lunch, Aya gives Shino a birthday gift. But Yoko didn't know it was that day so she gives her juice to her instead. Alice has nothing either and she attempts to sing a song for her, but Shino is disappointed since it wasn't in English, then asks them how old she looks in their opinion. She appears to be fine until Yoko comments she could pass as a thirty year old, causing her much grief.

Neither of them understand her behavior until Alice explains that Isami, Shino's older sister jokingly asked if she was turning thirty-six. She claimed that Shinobu didn't act young enough anymore and Alice is upset that she wasn't told about her birthday regardless. Shino admits that she forgot as Isami continued on to decide to purchase a bonsai tree for Shino, making her further upset. With their chat resuming, Alice wonders if she looks young enough for her own age, and she's pretty happy when Yoko states she doesn't even look like a student in high school. This makes Aya wonder if Shino may be older due to her formal words with others, and when Shino attempts to act casually she fails to come off as convincing.

She goes on to bring up how much of a typical high school student Isami is, and the girls start to wonder if Shino could be a model. She isn't sure of it though, since Isami has her mothers looks, while she has her dads. They decide to try anyway by taking some pictures, although Yoko is genuinely disappointed when Shino informs her that her sister doesn't do Gravure work so posing in swimsuits is not necessary. After a few pictures, Yoko decides Shino doesn't have the model look, although they came out nice.

Still feeling down, Alice tries to think of a present for Shino, who claims it to be fine since she's just happy to have her to spend time with. This sounds nice until Shino requests a strand of her hair and startles her.

That night, Isami presents Shino with a present, a little snow globe. She also gives Alice a fake little bonsai tree since she thought she would enjoy it. As she sees how happy Alice is, Shino calls Aya and expresses concern that Isami stole Alice from her.

In class the following day the girls discuss computers. Shino admits that she doesn't have one, and Isami wont let her touch hers, but she fears she will get a computer virus anyway. Right away the others doubt this and wonder what she would do if she had a computer, then observe her as she approaches Alice and Karen with a somewhat odd response.

Later, the girls head out to the Mall and Alice and Karen discuss ideas for a gift to get Shino. However, they get distracted when some passerby's start to wonder if the english girls are sisters, causing them to get into a disagreement over which is the older one. While Alice is older technically, Karen looks much older than her. As they continue to bicker they get more attention from various people.

To Alice's worry, Yoko points out that random strangers aren't the only people to think this the next day during class. Alice doesn't look very old in comparison to them and she comes off as a cute little sister. Alice tries to sound older by recalling how much Karen used to follow her around and cry all the time, but she takes off after remembering something and goes to the Library. There she struggles to reach the books she needs and Karen, having come with her offers to lend her a hand by lifting her. After they are too high up, Aya offers to lend a hand, but she get's caught by Yoko and is quick to get flustered- thinking she may try to do something perverted. Yoko just reaches up to grab the book though, having no clue what Aya may have been speaking of.

The girls all sit down and discuss how true sisters don't go by Big or Little, just ''Sisters. ''Alice continues to insist that she would be the big sister anyway and Karen asks for some help with an English Paper. Confused, Alice brings up why she wouldn't need help but Karen admits she started to forget her English lately. Alice checks the page and voices that Karen got everything right, but she did it in the incorrec order. For a moment, a wave of superiority washes over her until she overhears Shino say that she got the same scores as Karen and made the same mistakes, causing them to connect while Alice feels sad.

It's then Karen reminds her of their present to give to Shino, so they bring her out into the hall and have her sit to hand over the presents. Alice got her a fan, while Karen got her some foreign stamps. Alice feels much grief when Shino seems to enjoy the stamps better and she almost cries, deciding to ask Shino if she likes Karen more than her. While this is going on, Aya and Yoko watch from nearby as Alice and Karen each grab one of Shino's arms and proceed to tug on her for ownership. Shino gets them to stop by saying they are both themselves, and they are both her good friends with each other and her, so they shouldn't fight. The girls seem to understand and the trio embrace.

Later on, Alice and Karen are joined by their teacher, who was worried since she heard their relationship had been struggling. In hopes of fixing things she made them a gift, but due to her own sadness and worry she took too long and by now everything has been smoothed out.

Back in class, Karen asks to share textbooks with her new friend and classmate. She moves her desk next to hers, unaware of the girl observing her hair. She then grows flustered as Karen gets closer, but it turns out she just fell asleep. They share a quiet moment and Karen tries to force herself awake, recalling that she had something important to tell Alice. However, this proves difficult and she makes an attempt to write it down.

Once class ends, she wakes up and looks at the strange note; unable to make sense of it or even remember writing it herself.

The following day, Shinobu has taken ill and she sends Alice off to school. She wished to stay behind and take care of her but Aya convinces her that since she's been to the hospital, she'll be better with rest. Alice is terrified that something will happen to Shino while she's gone, but Aya convinces her to calm down by telling her that she is worrying too much. They are joined by the excited Yoko, who shows them a letter she found at her shoe locker. She is delighted by this, but she asks them to keep quiet when Karen approaches and tries to determine what is going on.

Aya points out to Yoko that she doesn't know for sure if it's a love letter though, claiming that there are plenty of reasons someone could write a letter. When asked to name one, she is quick to say it could just be bad news, so Alice suggests they burn it. Although, they won't know for sure of what it may be in it until they open it. Full of anxiety, Aya quickly tries to tear it open until Alice and Karen spot her doing this, then scold her because as it is Yoko's she should get first glance at it. Yoko decides to just read it later on in private, but she struggles to get Aya to let go of it.

Throughout the day, Aya stares at Yoko. While she is quite aware of it, she pays it no mind until later on, when she can confront her on it. But they run out of time to discuss it, because they are joined by Karen- who asks if she opened it yet. Yoko tells her that she hasn't and Karen suggests that she hurries up, only making them start to wonder if it may have just come from a girl. But a name isn't on it, so they have no way of knowing. Yoko does take offense in this though, stating that she has a feminine side, then tries to discuss how delicate she was while in P.E. the other day before deciding to emulate Aya; who is very ladylike and feminine. With her hair tied up in pigtails, Yoko begins to read a book during class. Aya soon finds her behavior to be annoying though and yells at her to knock it off.

As class continues, she tries to figure out why Yoko hasn't read the letter yet, and wonders why she is so annoyed over it. The stress of trying to deal with this soon causes Aya to suffer a minor breakdown as she stays behind in class after everyone else has left. The others return to get her since they're ready to go, but when Yoko recalls she didn't open the letter yet she decides to see it now until she realizes Aya has started to cry. Aya tries to force herself to congratulate Yoko, but Yoko claims she has the wrong idea. Even if she got a love confession from someone, she would always turn it down because she cares about Aya way more. She then reads it, and it turns out to have been from Shino; who wrote a letter to Alice's parents.

Confused by this, they call her on their way out and she explains that she accidentally dropped it off at the wrong locker. The girls then leave school, discussing how much better she sounded compared to earlier, and Yoko voices disappointment by the accidental prank. Aya then mentions that Yoko would never get a love letter anyway, causing her to get angry enough to start yelling at her.

The four girls split up, with Karen leaving, and then Alice leaving Aya and Yoko. She walks home and informs Shino of how proper she was that day while getting her a wet cloth. She greeted people going to school and coming home, even that dog that scares them. But while she was fine the whole day, she likes to be with Shino a lot more and wishes her a good night.