Author's Notes: This one is coming a little late, so keep in mind that this happens on the third day of the festival, just after Rosemary saves Fujiko and Ryoko from the two bounty hunters in Chapter 12 of Book 2.

Title: BFF

Characters: Student Number 9 Hayashi Fujiko, Student Number 5 Rosemary Dean, and Yagi Ryoko

Genre: Friendship

Rated: Everyone

Timeframe: Afternoon on the Third Day of the Festival

Spoilers: Things that happened in Chapter 12 of Book 2

"So..." student number nine, Hayashi Fujiko, said as she sat on the bench, looking at the ice cream cone she held. To her right was a girl who seemed to be wearing some sort of witch cosplay complete with a broom and a big pointy hat, while a girl with cat ears and a tail sat on her left.

"Yeah?" student number five, Rosemary Dean, authentic witch and transfer student from America, said as she looked up from her own ice cream cone, grinning wickedly as she eyed the other girl.

"So it's all...real, I guess," Fujiko said, unable to keep the bewilderment she felt out of her voice. "Magic and...and stuff," she said. "You're not just pulling some prank on me?"

"Ha! As if there could be any question," Rosemary replied, grinning even wider as she nodded toward the third girl seated on the bench.

Yagi Ryoko, a spirited young cat youkai girl, sat on the bench at Fujiko's left side, gleefully licking her ice cream and humming a tune while her long tail waved from side to side. "Mmmm~MMmm! This is so so SO good!" she said happily, as if she hadn't been saved from capture and possible death a mere ten minutes before. She was so wrapped up in her ice cream she didn't even seem to hear the conversation going on between the other two.

"Well yeah; I guess that's kind of obvious," Fujiko said in response to Rosemary as she looked at Ryoko's cat ears. One of them twitched. She had always loved the idea of heroes saving the weak from those who would hurt them; she supposed she got it from the Rider shows she had always watched with her father as a child. But this...the revelation that magic was a real thing was just...she didn't know how she should react. She supposed she should have been shocked, or excited, or maybe even a little scared, but instead she felt...nothing much. If anything, she was confused. She knew that what she might think of as magic probably wasn't much like the real thing, but...still, it was interesting, she supposed. "Huh."

Rosemary shook her head and bit into her cone. After swallowing, she spoke up. "You know Hayashi, normally you'd think a person who just found out about something as awesome as magic would be a little more, oh, I dunno, excited, maybe," she said, laying on some extra sarcasm as she spoke. She grinned to show she didn't mean anything by it.

"You're right," Fujiko said. Her gaze strayed back to Ryoko, who had just finished her ice cream cone and was licking her fingers without a care in the world. The cat girl looked up at Fujiko, her eyes bright.

"Hm?"

Fujiko didn't say anything; instead, her gaze went to the youkai girl's tail as it swung leisurely around as if it had a mind of its own. Without thinking about what she was doing, she took hold of the youkai girl's tail.

Ryoko's response was immediate; she let out a startled yelp and jerked her tail out of Fujiko's grip, and clutched it to her chest while its tip lashed back and forth with considerable force.

"Don't do that!" Ryoko said, pouting angrily at Fujiko. "It's very sensitive..." she said as she turned her attention back to the end of her tail as it thrashed back and forth in her hands.

"A-ah, sorry about that. I didn't know," Fujiko said. Thinking about it, she supposed she wouldn't want someone pulling on her own tail...if she had had one.

"...it's alright," Ryoko said reluctantly, still pouting as she gave her tail one last pat and released it. She turned her attention back to Fujiko, a heavy blush on her cheeks. "Just don't do it again! That's boyfriend and girlfriend stuff!" she said as she wagged her finger at the other girl.

Fujiko just stared at her, her eyes wide as she realized what she had done. She tried to shoot a glare at Rosemary when the witch girl broke down laughing, but it only served to make her laugh harder.

When everyone had calmed down several minutes later, Rosemary leaned forward to look at Ryoko. "Hey, who were those two guys anyway?" she asked. "The ones who cornered you in that alley, I mean."

"I don't know," Ryoko said, looking troubled. "They just came out of nowhere and I didn't know what to do! But then you did too, Fu-chan," she said, looking at Fujiko with eyes shining with admiration.

Fujiko looked down at her knees to hide how awkward she felt at the cat girl's friendly manner.

"And then Ro-chan came too, and both of you were really cool!" Ryoko said, smiling at the two human girls.

Rosemary's face flushed and she quickly turned away.

"R-really?" Fujiko asked, clearly intrigued.

"Yeah!" Ryoko answered, beaming at her.

Rosemary reluctantly nodded. "I saw them corner her down there, but I probably would have been, well...too afraid to do something about it myself," she said reluctantly.

"Both of you are my heroes!" Ryoko said as she stood up from the bench and moved to stand in front of Rosemary and Fujiko.. "And now you're my best friends, right?" she said brightly as she took each girl's hand in her own as she smiled.

Fujiko glanced over at Rosemary and saw she was just as taken aback as she herself was. Rosemary glanced over at her and made a lopsided smile, and turned back to Ryoko.

"Sure thing, Ryoko. Friends for life, right?" she said, glancing over at Fujiko again.

Fujiko let out a hesitant grin. "Yeah...I don't think there's anything wrong with that," she said, lightening up a little. She glanced at Rosemary, a girl she had rarely ever spoken with in the past, and grinned at her as well. "Yeah...friends, huh?" she said, almost to herself. She hadn't ever really had many friends before, and this seemed...interesting? 'Yeah, that's the word,' she thought, smiling slightly. "Might be fun," she said aloud as she looked at Rosemary teasing Ryoko about the size of her ears. She grinned. "Lots of fun."