"Ringo?"
The red haired girl turned around when she heard her name, her pencil in the middle of solving a quadratic equation. Sig was standing there, hands behind his back, his antennae drooping ever so slightly. Ringo noticed this, however, instantly moving her chair to face him.
"Hey, Sig! What's up...?"
"...Well..." Sig's eyes fell to the floor as he paused, thinking about how to say what he wanted to say. "...I want to tell you something, Ringo... Because I think you might be able to help me."
"I'll do my best." Ringo promised with a curt nod.
Sig sighed slightly. "...Alright, here goes..."
He looked back up at her, and said sincerely. "I think I'm really sick, Ringo."
"-Huh?" That caught her slightly off guard. "W-what makes you say that...? Are you feeling alright...?"
Sig shook his head. "It's been happening for a while, now. I keep feeling really warm, all of a sudden... and my heart starts beating really fast without any warning... It's only been getting worse, recently, lasting for longer and longer..."
He slowly went and sat in the chair next to her. "Do you think you know what it could be...?
Ringo paused, trying to think. "...That could be a lot of things. Can you tell me when this usually happens...?"
Sig absent-mindedly started playing with a pencil on the table. "...Well... it happens whenever I think of my friends...? Or when I'm around them... but not all the time. Only sometimes..."
"...Huh..." She looked down. Those symptoms could mean two things. Either some sort of anxiety or panic attack relating to his friends... Or...
"...Also, Ringo?"
She looked back up at him. "Yeah?"
"...Is it weird that, despite it being kinda scary... I like the feeling of it...?" He looked slightly guilty as he said this. "Like... it makes me feel... happy."
...oh.
"...Is that really bad?" He asked, noticing her silence.
"-N-no, no...!" She assured, giving him a small smile. "It just means that... I can't help you."
Sig looked slightly surprised at that, gently putting the pencil down on the table again. "Y...you can't...?"
"No." Ringo shook her head, standing up. "But I know somebody who can."
She took him by the hand, leading him through the school. He had no idea where she was taking him. Up the stairs, past the art area...
...The science area...?
"Here we are!" Ringo announced, stopping at a room after looking through the door's window. "Head on in, Sig."
Though slightly hesitant, Sig stepped inside...
...Standing in front of him, messing around with some test tubes with its back facing them, was a rather tall creature. One that looked like half-squirrel, and half-bear...
"Hey, Risukuma!" Ringo greeted, waving to him.
The squirrel-bear made a small noise of surprise, turning around to look at them. "Ahh, Ringo! And is that Sig you've brought with you...?"
"Hey." Sig waved at him as well. "Yeah, that's me..."
"He needs your help, Ris." Ringo informed him. "I'm going to leave him here to talk to you, okay...?"
"...You're not staying...?" Sig questioned, turning back to her.
"Uh... no." She shook her head. "I think it's best if you just talk to him alone, for now. I'll be right back where you found me, doing my math, if you need me. Just tell him what you told me, answer his questions, and you'll be fine...!"
Sig stared at her for a while... Then he looked back at Risukuma for a while... and then back at Ringo. "Alright."
"Good!" Ringo gave him two thumbs up, before heading back outside, closing the door behind her.
...When Sig turned back to Risukuma, he was staring at him expectantly.
"So? What's going on with you, then...?"
"...Uh..." Sig rubbed the back of his neck. "I... I think I'm sick."
"How so?"
Sig repeated what he had said to Ringo, about feeling warm and his heart racing, usually when he was near his friends, or thinking about them.
"...Hm." Risu rested his head on a paw, his elbow on the bench where his test tubes were. "Tell me something, Sig."
"...Ladybugs eat aphids."
"-What?" Risukuma did a small double-take. "N-no, I mean... I haven't even asked the question yet, Sig...!"
"...oh, you were going to ask a question?" Sig blinked a bit at him. "I thought you just wanted me to tell you anything..."
Ris couldn't help but chuckle a bit, shaking his head. "No, no... I was going to ask you this; do you know if these feelings are linked, perhaps, to a single one of your friends...? Can you pinpoint your feelings...?"
"Uuuuuh..." Sig thought a bit, looking up at the ceiling. "...Maybe? I'm not really sure..."
Risu leaned towards him a bit. "Alright, let's try this, then; describe to me in as much detail as possible, the last time you felt these feelings. What you were doing, what you were thinking."
Sig went to sit down on one of the seats next to the bench. "...Well... I was just sitting on a grassy hill... watching butterflies... and then I started to think about my friends."
He started kicking his feet a bit as he went on. "I was just thinking... about how much I love to see them smile, and laugh. Amitie's got this cute little giggle, which usually ends in a little squeak... Raffina sounds like an evil villain from an anime... at least, according to Rider..."
He smiled a bit. "Rider keeps covering her face when she smiles or laughs, but... it's pretty cute. Her shoulders go up, and she tends to rock from side to side a bit... she has the sweetest laugh..."
Then, he absent-mindedly started playing with his fingers. "Then there's Klug. He doesn't smile much. I mean, he does, but... not a real smile. When he smiles for real, his eyes get all squinty, and he has this cute little smile that just shows his top teeth... he tries to hide his giggling with a hand, and he closes his eyes, looking away, but always looking back with that little glint in his eyes... I love seeing him when he's genuinely happy, not just proud or boastful..."
...He paused a bit. "...That was when I started getting that weird feeling, Ris. I've got it right now, too... I feel all warm... or is that just that mixture you've got there warming the place up?"
"Sig..." Risukumu shook his head a little, chuckling a bit. "I assure you; I don't think it's the mixture."
"But it's bubbling over."
"-H-huh?!" Risukumu looked over to see that his formula had indeed started to froth other. In a panic, he took a pair of tongs, picked up the test tube, and quickly went over to the sink, pouring it out before gently dropping the tube in, turning the tap on to wash it all down. "Phew, that was... not the intended result...!"
Sig watched the other, tilting his head to try and get a better look. "...I'm sorry, Ris. Are you going to have to do that all over again...?"
"Don't you worry your little head about it; it was nothing important." Risukuma insisted, turning back to the boy. "But now I see why Ringo directed you to me, Sig. I firmly believe that the feeling you are experiencing is not an illness, nor an ailment... but love."
...Sig's eyes widened slightly. "...Love...?"
"Indeed. From what you have told me, it appears that you are in love with your friend there. Well, maybe. May I ask you a few more questions...?"
...Sig fidgeted a bit in his seat, looking down at the linoleum floor. "...I... I guess...?"
Risukuma took a seat, putting a paw to his face as though adjusting invisible glasses. "Can you link any previous occurrences of this feeling to that one friend of yours?"
"Uh... yeah. It sometimes happens when he's talking to me, or when I hold his hand..."
Risu leaned closer. "And... have you ever felt this feeling towards anybody else...?"
"I don't think so." Sig shook his head.
"Have you ever considered, perhaps... having a romantic relationship with your friend...?"
...Sig paused, thinking. "...W-well, uh... I-I don't really know how they work, so I don't really know... b-but I do want to kiss him, sometimes... and cuddle him... and..."
He trailed off, feeling his heart beating faster than ever. He couldn't bring himself to look up at Risukuma, who was still looking at him.
...There were a few moments of silence, before Ris spoke up again. "Sig. One last question. Do you know if this friend of yours is in love with anybody else, or already in a relationship...?"
"...H-he's not." Sig shook his head again, thinking back to the event that happened at a certain sleepover. "Or, if he is... he's really, really good at hiding it..."
"Well, then." Risukuma clapped his hands together, leaning back in his chair. "Sig, there is no doubt in my mind that you are in love, and therefore the best course of action would be... to tell him."
Sig looked back up at the other, his antennae drooping ever so slightly. "Tell... him...?"
"Indeed. You want these feelings to go away, don't you...? The sooner you tell him, the sooner you can either stay as nothing but friends and get over these feelings... Or, if you end up in a relationship with him, well, I think you'll find yourself much happier overall, even if the feelings persist for a while longer."
Sig considered this, his antennae slowly perking back up. He didn't really have anything to lose, did he...? They could still be friends after this... or maybe, perhaps, more than friends...
He'd just have to find the right time and place to confess.
"...Risukuma, senpai...?"
Ris tilted his head slightly at the boy. "Yes, Sig...?"
"...Have you ever been in love?" He asked the other. "And did you tell them?"
Ris looked a bit stunned by this question, blankly staring at Sig for a few moments... before finally looking away, putting a paw on the bench next to him. "...Yes, I was in love... But I never told him, because he lives far, far away... and I knew that if he returned my feelings, my heart would hurt even more when we inevitably had to part, and I don't think either of us would be able to bear it if we could never see each other again."
"...Oh..." Sig's antennae drooped a bit again...
...And then he slid off his seat, going over and hugging the squirrel-bear. "I'm sorry, Risukuma." He could only imagine how bad it must feel to love somebody, and to know they might love you back, but to never be able to confess it...
Ris petted his head. "Don't be. Just... do me a favour, and ask your friend out for me, alright? If I can't have love, I at least want to help others to have love."
Sig nodded, slowly pulling away. "I'll do that... I promise."
"Good boy...~" Risukuma praised. "Now, off you go! I'm going to try and create something, and it may or may not explode."
"Be careful," Sig warned, as he went back over to the door, "We don't want to have another science clubroom incident."
"Never fear; I've got it all under control this time!" Risu assured. "Probably."
With a small smile, Sig went out the door, softly closing it behind him.