School days at Seisho are split between two activities. The mornings are for physical activities such as acting and dance, and the afternoons are dedicated to classroom learning.
The classes mostly consist of in class lectures; which requires a significant amount of note taking. It's during one of these classes when Hikari notices peculiar behavior from one of her classmates. Normally Hikari ignores things that don't concern her, but in this case the girl is not only her classmate, but also her roommate.
Karen's diligently taking notes for once, but the weird thing is her lack of a writing utensil. All Hikari can see is Karen's hand. It's balled up in a fist and quickly rubbing against paper. Very strange.
Hikari decides to look into it when the class takes their next break. She waits patiently, and when the teacher calls for a quick five minutes she grabs her pencil case and walks toward Karen's desk.
As she approaches, she notices Karen unclench her first. The tiny writing utensil finally makes its appearance. It might be too generous to call it that, to be completely honest it looks more like a wooden stub than anything. The 'pencil' is maybe half an inch long. It has the metal stub still attached though the eraser has been completely scraped off. To Hikari it looks more like garbage than anything else.
Her presence is immediately noticed as she reaches Karen's desk. Her friend smiles warmly and greets her.
Hikari opens her pencil case and holds it out so Karen can see inside. "Take what you need."
As expected, Karen shakes her head in refusal. "Non non! Mine's fine." Karen holds up her tiny pencil stub as if giving Hikari a close up would convincer her. "I can still get a few classes out of it."
"Bakaren…" Hikari reaches into the pencil bag herself and retrieves one of her freshly sharpened pencils. "Of all the things to be stubborn about." She holds the pencil out, "Please."
Karen bites her lip in a cute pouty sort of way. A second ticks by, and Hikari wonders if she'll refuse again. In the end, Karen accepts the pencil and thanks her with a bright smile.