I do not own Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts or any other anime referenced to in this fanfiction.

Yukata Pageants, Kitties, and the New Student!

Rena looked at herself in the mirror for the last time. She was presently backstage at a Yukata pageant; she would be competing with several other girls and boys dressed like girls. Her Yukata was simple; it was a slim black and gold dress that fit nicely around her curvy, adolescent body. She wore artificial cat ears and a tail to give her the appeal of a cat—her favorite animal. To complete the look, she'd drawn cat whiskers on either of her cheeks.

A few feet away, she could hear the other contestants talking amongst themselves.

"I didn't do anything," Hideyoshi asked. "Why do I have to compete in the pageant?"

Because that's the plot of this episode. Roll with it.

"Is everyone ready?" Minami asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Akihisa mumbled, looking down at his dress. He would be presented first, then Kouta, then a girl named Rena Kaibara. "I wonder who that is."

"Aki, you're on," Minami said, pushing him in the direction of the stage. As Akihisa stumbled towards the stage, the other girls resumed talking about their yukatas.

"I think mine looks a little dumb," Himeji said.

"You look fine," Shouko assured her.

"Much better than I do," Minami looked at her chest self-consciously. "I wish I had your figure."

"You both look hot!" Aiko said.

Meanwhile, Kouta had just made himself look like an idiot on the stage. He was stalking backstage when a cute girl caught his eye. His head snapped in her direction, his nose bleeding slightly. The girl in the cat-like kimono glanced at him, but kept walking to the stage. Kouta turned around and continued walking.

"See a cute girl out there?" Yuuji asked Kouta, who was wiping his nose furiously.

"Yeah, it was the cat-girl," Kouta mumbled.

"Cat-girl?" Akihisa asked. "You mean the other contestant?"

Rena looked at the judges, but looked away. She blushed, making her artificial whiskers prominent against her pale skin.

"We have a creative one here today," MC said. "Tell me, sweetheart, what's your name?"

"I'm Rena Kaibara," she replied quietly. If it weren't for the microphone, no one would be able to hear her. She glanced up at the judges and gave a small, cat-like smile. "Nipah!"

"So that's the cat girl you were talking about?" Akihisa asked Kouta as they, Hideyoshi, and Yuuji watched Rena from backstage.

"Yeah, that's her," Kouta said, putting another tissue up to his face.

"Stop looking at her!" Yuuji barked. "You'll blow our cover, bleeding like that."

"She's a shy one, what do you say, Mr. Obata?"

"Shyness probably means she's cute and innocent. I'll give her a high score," Obata replied.

"So, Miss Rena, do you have any talents?"

"Um… no," she whispered.

"Well, that was unnecessarily modest," Yoshi noted. "Doesn't she want to win?"

"Well, that's okay. Are you here with friends?"

"I don't have any friends."

The crowd was silent before they erupted in cheers. "I'll be your friend! I'll be your friend!"

"Give me your address, let me call you, and let me dress you in a different kimono every day and I'll be your friend forever!" Obata shouted.

The crowd gave a wild applaud to back up his perverse demands. The cat ears on Rena's head plushed backwards.

"Please stop it," she whispered. "You don't have to cheer for me."

"She's so cute and shy," Yoshi cooed.

"Shut up, you idiot," Yuuji said.

"She's so cute!" Obata cried. "I will vanquish any demonic forces of Hell to have this maiden for myself!"

"Pervert," they all thought.

"I guess that would be convenient, since I'm afraid of monsters," Rena murmured. She gasped and looked up, forgetting that they could all hear her. She relaxed, relieved to realize that no one heard her over the raging crowds. She smiled and walked backstage once again, ignoring the group of idiots by the curtain.

"So who do you think would have won if the whole pageant wasn't exploded?" Aiko asked her friends over their dinner of grilled shrimp kabobs.

"I don't know," Yuuji replied. "Of all of us, I think Hideyoshi was the most appropriate."

"I still don't know why I had to compete," Hideyoshi said. "And you know the most appropriate was that girl!"

"What do you think, Akira?" Aiko asked the woman sitting across the table from her.

"From what I saw of the pageant, I think Hideyoshi is right," Akira replied. "She was cute and actually very honest with herself."

Baka and Test

Rena fidgeted slightly as she made her way to class 2-F. She was the new girl—always the new girl. When she entered the classroom, the others were already there. They all looked up, slightly mystified by the beautiful girl's unexpected approach. They looked at her from head to toe for a few seconds.

"Where can I get boobs like that?" Minami thought.

"How can she be so thin?" Himeji screamed in her mind.

"So… cute…" Kouta squealed as he fell backwards in a splash of blood.

"You're the new student, I take it," Yuuji greeted her. "I'm Yuuji Sakamoto, Class F rep."

"Um... Minami Shimada," Minami said, trying to move her eyes away from the new girl's chest.

"I'm Mizuki Himeji; it's nice to meet you."

"I'm Hideyoshi Kinoshita," Hideyoshi waved in a friendly way as he said this.

"Yeah, Kouta Tsuchiya, what's up?" Kouta said, ignoring the blood trickling down his lip.

"I didn't know we had a new student," Yoshi said excitedly. "It's nice to meet you! I'm Akihisa Yoshi. Welcome to Class F!"

"It's kind of the bottom of the barrel here, but you'll get used to it," Hideyoshi added.

"Everyone, settle down," the teacher barked sharply. Rena took her seat by a cardboard box next to Hideyoshi.

"Shier than I thought," Yoshi thought, sighing. He perked when he saw the girl pull a notebook out of her bag. It had an image of the Eifel Tower on the cover. "Oh, I get it now," he thought.

In truth, Yoshi didn't get it; he thought that Rena Kaibara was a transfer student from France. He planned to confront her later and ask her if she wanted to be friends in a language that she didn't understand. I know stupid, right?

For lunch, Yoshi had a one-sixty-fourth of a package of ramen noodles.

"Seriously, dude?" Yuuji asked. "I thought that ever since Akira moved back in that you could afford lunch or something."

"Well, um, she forgot to do the shopping last week so I have nothing to eat," Yoshi sobbed.

"Maybe I could share with him," Himeji and Minami thought at the same time.

Rena arose from her place and walked over to Yoshi's cardboard box. They all looked up at her curiously as she sat down and took the lid off of her lunch container. She used her chopsticks to scrape half of the rice and meat onto the lid; she then handed Yoshi the main container with a determined look on her face.

Yoshi didn't respond right away; it seemed a little strange that she would share so easily. The girl pushed the box toward him again, shaking it slightly. Yoshi took the pink Hello Kitty container with a smile.

"Hey, thanks," he said. "That's really nice of you."

She nodded silently and turned to her own share of food. She ate quietly, and when she was finished, she got to her feet and walked out of the room.

"She's strange," Kouta remarked.

"I think it's kind of cute," Himeji said. "The way she's always so kept to herself. If only I could reach out to her."

They were all going home at the end of the day. Rena was walking alone with her bag clutched to her chest when she heard Yoshi calling behind her.

"Hey, new girl, wait!" he said. She paused and turned on her heel, curious as to what this person wanted. He held out an empty pink container. "Here, I never got to return this to you."

Rena took the container and turned around.

"Wait, please, one more thing."

Rena sighed; this boy was relentless. She turned sharply again, staring into his stupid eyes.

"Tu ne voudrais pas devenir mon amie?" he asked.

"What?" Rena whispered.

"Am I saying it right? Tu ne voudrais pas devenir mon amie? Tu ne voudrais pas devenir mon amie?"

"Aki, what are you doing to scare her off now?" Minami asked, turning the corner with Himeji, Kouta, and Hideyoshi.

"I'm talking to her," Yoshi replied. "She's from France so I'm trying to make this new language a little easier for her. That's why she didn't talk before."

"You idiot!" Minami screeched, lunging at him. "She's not French!"

"But her notebook…!"

"I knew you were stupid, Akihisa," Hideyoshi said. "But I never thought you were this dumb. She's not French; we saw her at the Festival, remember?"

"What?"

"I got some pretty good pictures," Kouta said, holding some photographs out. On the silky faces of the paper were images of the feline kimono that Rena wore at the pageant.

"Oh, that's her?" Yoshi squeaked in pain as Minami bent his spine the wrong way forcefully.

Hideyoshi and Kouta looked up, but Rena wasn't in sight.

"It's kind of sad that she doesn't have any friends, huh?" Hideyoshi asked.

"Yeah," Kouta agreed, changing the film in his camera. "Maybe… just maybe, if she'd talk to us… then maybe she could hang out with us or something."

Hi there! I've never written a B&T fanfiction before, but I will try my best to please you all. I'm not new to fanfiction; I wrote a series of Fruits Basket fanfictions labeled "Vector Wolf series." I also wrote a simple Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Rise of the Guardians crossover. Anyway, leave a review and tell me what you think. Did I do anything wrong? Please continue reading if you like the story; I'll upload soon.

What to look for in the chapters ahead:

Will this shy other character get closer to the group? What's in this shy girl's past? I assure you, this may be my first fluffy romance story, but she's still insane in one portion of her mind. Keep reading and stay classy! Nipah! ~