“I’m so sorry Yuri,” Tiffany said as she buried her head into Yuri’s back.

Yuri placed her hand on Tiffany’s. She couldn’t believe that the girl would actually come back after all that time apart. She really thought that she lost her friend forever. Shaking her head she said, “You have nothing to be sorry for Fany.”

“Yes I do Yuri. I…I wasn’t being a good friend to you. I took you for granted and didn’t appreciate all that you did for me. Before I met you, I didn’t really care about anything. I would go about my day over and over. It was like I wasn’t alive. I grew so accustomed to that life that anything that disrupted me was instantly an annoyance. That’s how I saw you at first. I had no intentions of talking to you but I was brought up not to be rude so I humored you. If only I realized then that you slowly broke down my walls and gave my humdrum life color. I grew to expect you to be there with me, to talk to me, to eat with me. Yet, I still didn’t open myself up to you. More times than not I was cold to you and…and I didn’t trust you completely. I didn’t feel the need to but here I was...letting down my guard and allowing you to be part of my life. I didn’t realize this until what you told me two weeks ago. I made no efforts to get to know you after all you’ve done for me and for that I’m sorry,” Tiffany confessed.

Yuri smiled and turned around. She looked at Tiffany with warm eyes after hearing her words. She took a hold of Tiffany’s hand and motioned her to sit on her bed. Following suit, Yuri smiled at the girl. “Let me tell you a little about myself.   Before middle school, I always wanted to be the center of attention but no one really paid attention to me. That made me extremely lonely. Then I came to realize after awhile that when I got good grades and did well in sports I got a lot of praise. It was addicting. So I kept it up, always trying to impress others but then people started to keep those expectations of me. I became this cool person that people wanted to be like. The more I acted like that the more followers I gained. It was great at first but it came with a cost, me becoming more unapproachable. I pretty much screwed myself. If I gave up the followers I’d be alone but if I kept them I’d be isolated. I was pretty much in a no win situation…until you showed up. Your standoffish nature is exactly what I needed. You didn’t care and because of that it became almost like an obsession for me to get you to notice me. You were the ultimate goal…I had to get your attention. It was like the old me that I tried to bury away resurfaced. I tried to impress you like I did the others but you didn’t fall for those tricks. Then I figured the only way I could try to get you to see me was for the real me to come out. The more I let you see the side of me that I hid the more you responded. You don’t understand how good knowing that made me feel. I didn’t have to be some goddess but I could be myself and become your friend.  So of course I paid less attention to my followers and more on you because I found someone genuine,"she said smiling gently taking Tiffany's hand. Her smile soon faded and her eyebrows furrowed. "But because I was so focused on you, I didn’t see what I naturally ignored. I didn’t allow myself to see the warning signs of people harassing you. I can remember you asking me a few times how I could put up with them but I told you to ignore it. I was too blinded to realize that maybe that solution wasn’t the best for you. I was too focused on my own happiness. My selfishness almost cost us our friendship. So you shouldn’t be sorry. I am ultimately at fault for this,” 

It made sense now. Even though they were both being selfish, their personas somehow balanced each other. Their flaws were the catalysts that brought them together and slowly changed themselves for the better. This made Tiffany sad, that it was only now that they realized what they meant to each other but it wasn’t too late. With a smile Tiffany took Yuri’s other hand and said, “We’ve both made some mistakes and we are sorry for them. I don’t think it was our true intentions to hurt each other. Let’s start over.” Tiffany released her hold and stood up. She outstretched her hand. “Hi, I’m Tiffany Hwang. What’s your name?”

Yuri looked at Tiffany confused for a second and then smiled. She stood up and answered, “I’m Yuri Kwon. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She took Tiffany’s hand and shook it.

Tiffany gave Yuri a bright eye smile and pulled Yuri into a tight hug. “I missed you Yuri,” she whispered into the taller girl’s ear.

“I missed you too mushroom,” whispered Yuri back.

“Are you still calling me that,” asked Tiffany with a giggle.

“Of course. You’re my best-est mushroom Fany friend I’ve ever had,” said Yuri smiling.   

Pulling apart slightly Tiffany asked, “You wanna watch some Xena before I kick your in Mortal Kombat again?”

“You are on! I practiced a lot since the last time you came over,” Yuri declared. She swatted Tiffany on the and ran towards the living room with Tiffany chasing in tow.

The following Monday the school noticed that Yuri and Tiffany were back together again. While some were excited that the two goddesses were back, others were in shock that despite all that they did to Tiffany she still came back to Yuri. It was too late for them, for Yuri began to completely ignore those people who didn’t treat her like a person. She no longer had to seek out the approval and love of others. She received enough from her best friend by her side. That day Yuri also decided to step down from her volunteer positions. She wanted to be a normal girl and live how normal students live. It was time for them to find a new goddess.

Later that week while walking in the hallway, the two of them ran across Yuki posting up flyers. “Hey Yuki,” Yuri shouted as she approached the girl.

“Hello Yuri, Tiffany. It seems like you two are back to normal now,” said Yuki.

With a grin Yuri replied, “Thanks to you. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have known what happened to Tiffany that week. Our friendship might have been over.”

“Some of the girls were supporters of you two. While I don’t approve of their methods, they are really nice people. During that time, they kept going up to Tiffany. They wanted to say something to cheer her up but they got a bit intimidated by her and usually choked or spazed out. The idiots,” said Yuki with a sigh.

“So that’s what they were trying to do,” said Tiffany. “I was too annoyed by the whole ordeal to give them the time of day. I agree that their methods were shady but if their intents were what you truly say then I apologize for my snappy behavior. I’m cool with them if they don’t treat me like some idol.”

Yuki shook her head and responded, “It’s alright. I’m responsible for those knuckleheads so don’t worry about it. I’ll be sure to let them know.”

“What’s that you are posting Yuki,” asked Yuri.

“Ah this…I’m in the drama club and we are looking for a few people to help us out as the backstage crew. We’d provide training of course for controlling the lighting, sound, and background scenery. It can be a bit time consuming but it brings us together as a production company,” said Yuki.

Tiffany and Yuri simultaneously looked at each other and smiled. Yuri bit her lip in anticipation while Tiffany said, “It looks like you got yourselves two new crew members. I think we both want to make it up to you for helping us out. And I think this would be a good opportunity for Yuri to make some more real friends. What do you say?”

Yuki looked at both of them and then smiled. She shook both of their hands and said, “It will be nice working with you two. Let’s do our best.”

A/N: I thought I had 4 more parts to go but I only had 3. Seeing how I'm pressed for time, I decided to put together these two parts into one. There is only 1 part left, which is like a short epilogue for this fic. Hope you all enjoyed the journey. I'll see you one more time for this fic.