Call of Midnight

Beginning

Note: This is told in Ringo's point of view

What I remember vaguely is me walking to school with my best friends, Kinomi, Mikan, and Maguro. We would chat and mess around, same as usual. Or at least, everyone except me, I feel I'm too old to be messing around like they do, even though Maguro and Kinomi are slightly older than me. We almost made it late because Mikan fell 5 times on the way. Yep, I counted.
Thankfully we were right on time and Maguro, Kinomi, and I went to our class, poor Mikan always got upset because she was the only one in a different class, and I feel really bad. She broke down once because of her anxiety, and we tried to do everything we could to help... that was a few months ago, though. I think she got a bit better.
After school I go to the physics club with our senior, Risukuma. Maguro usually goes in too and waits to walk home with me, what a gentleman. I always joke about him being that sweet, especially toward girls, because I sure as hell know Kinomi and Mikan don't have the patience to sit there for a few hours. Maguro is also friends with Risukuma, so that helps. Usually he will study or read, or just watch. He used to play with his kendama but I had to yell at him because he broke some stuff last time he used it in the lab.
Now, Risukuma, is a bit odd. None of us know if he's wearing a costume, or he's actually a bear. We joke about it a lot, but he won't show or tell us. It's kind of a letdown because I'm REALLY curious about it. Maguro usually has to get me to stop and calm down because once I get really curious about something, I get quite... determined to figure it out.
Risukuma is always doing dangerous experiments... and is quite passionate about them. We always get scared because a few times he's caused explosions which have sent us to various worlds... which is fine because I get to see my friends Amitie and Arle there, but still crazy. Risukuma has also made other problems, like how when one of his experiments erupted, it got all over my data and spilled on me, and burnt my skin. That was fun. Maguro was trying to calm me down but I was in a panic. He took me to the nurse, but as you can imagine she just gave me an ice pack.
To put it in short, I always am a bit nervous going into the physics club. You never know what he's making. Though I enjoy experimenting, and Risukuma has taught Maguro and I a lot... he also has this weird passion for love? He talks about it to us all the time. Sometimes I'm concerned for the guy but at the same time, I'm concerned for myself. I'm nuts as it is. That's why I have Maguro. My childhood friend... it's weird because I begin to blush every so often when I get a compliment from anyone, but especially him. I tend to get really excited with him too. Had I been developing feelings for him? I didn't even know myself...