Karen Ōkain

Karen Ōkain (桜花院 カレン, Ōkain Karen) is a 21-year old character from the Days of Memories series. She appears in the fifth title, Koi wa Good Job!.

Story
Karen is a childhood friend to the protagonist who has helped him for as long as they have known one another. She was his personal model during his earlier photographer days but she eventually branched off to pursue journalism. They share a healthy working relationship, as they will support one another in their respective careers. She will even help him with his romantic troubles from the other girls in the game.

In her story, Karen will start dating the protagonist's other childhood friend, Hideki Konoe. Due to Hideki's mindset for dating ("date them and lose them"), the protagonist begins to worry for her. Karen becomes agitated when he brings up the subject and her late night outings furthers the distance between them.

The protagonist decides to confront the issue by challenging Hideki to a swimming challenge (the prize being the right to date Karen). Once the protagonist wins, he learns that the couple weren't really dating at all. It was a front for Karen to investigate the mafia dealings of Geese Howard and Wolfgang Krauser, two crime bosses who have evaded the press for ages. They rush to Geese Tower and see Karen getting caught in the act by Geese. The protagonist fights with Jack Turner in an effort to save her, but the differences of power between them becomes demoralizing. When the protagonist runs out of ideas, Shiranui saves them by defeating both Jack and Geese. Ai comes in afterwards and arrests the criminals.

There are three endings to her story. In her bad ending, Karen gets famous for publishing her story and moves to America without the protagonist. In the good ending, she thanks him for saving her and stays with him in Japan. She counts on him to protect her again in the future. Her good ending is needed a second time to unlock the last ending of the game, which has the couple happily marry.

Personality
Karen is an assertive and ambitious woman who works for her scoops with extreme dedication. She is a strong believer of the "give-and-take" philosophy and expects to be compensated for her efforts with equal respect. Although she scolds his easy-going work ethic, Karen accepts the good and bad habits of the protagonist with stride and will help him in anyway that she can. She sees the protagonist as her precious childhood friend, remaining mostly oblivious of his romantic feelings for her until much later.

Skills

 * Quick hand: Karen can jot down neat and legible notes with amazing speed.

Music

 * Practicing Journalism - Days of Memories

Game Appearances

 * Days of Memories (Koi wa Good Job!)

Etymology

 * The name Karen is written in katakana (カレン), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji, it could possibly mean:
 * Part 1 (花恋) - (2)
 * 花恋 - "flower, blossom" (花) (ka) and "love" (恋) (ren).
 * Part 2 (華蓮) - (3)
 * 華蓮 - "flower, petal" (華) (ka) and "lotus, water lily" (蓮) (ren).
 * Karen's surname Ōkain means "cherry-blossom" (桜花) (ōka) and "hospital" (院) (in).