are you sure you just dont have them in a team/doing an earrand/at school? you can even part ways with a FRd character as long as they arent doing one of these 3 things
#parting away with used friends
spice jewel
honest cradle
You're right. I was confused cuz I tried with Ringo and removed her from literally everything (even taking away her story cards) but must've missed something (i still don't know what) then gave up and readded her to everything. I'll retract my post then.