Tsukishima, Kageyama and Hinata were practicing serves in the gymnasium. Mirae came in with a tray of snacks and called their names.

"You are the best!" Hinata cheered as he ran and shoved a sandwich into his mouth. He grabbed a juice box and another sandwich.

"Dumbass don't eat too much if you're going to practice receives. You'll get a cramp. Oh, thanks Mirae."

Tsukishima sat on the bench beside her, nibbling on the corners of a piece of bread. They were watching Hinata and Kageyama practice.

"I can tell you want to ask me something."

Tsukishima glanced at her. "No, I don't."

"You've been like this for a couple of days now. What's wrong?"

He sighed and turned away from her. It was annoying for him to admit, but she seemed to know quite well when he was thinking and when something was bothering him. He preferred to make himself unreadable, but she was especially perceptive.

"Would you say Takita's been getting better?"

"I would."

"And you'd agree with me that height is an important advantage when blocking?"

"Yes."

Tsukishima winced, thinking of how to word this next question. "Then, don't you think it might be beneficial to replace Hinata on the court with Takita?"

He was met with silence. He began to feel disappointed in himself for bringing up this topic and instead wished he had just kept it to himself. Tsukishima stood up. As he prepared himself to apologize and walk away, Mirae tugged on his shirt.

"You're not the only one who thinks that."

Tsukishima looked at her. Her brows her furrowed, grey eyes glaring at the floor.

"Really?"

"Takita's been putting in a lot of effort trying to clean up his technique and even if he's still a beginner, he has an advantage over Hinata. Maybe it is better for the team if Takita were to become a regular. Especially if he continues to train at this rate-"

"No!" They jumped in surprise hearing Kageyama growl. He gripped the volleyball as though intending to crush it.

"What's wrong?" Hinata innocently asked. He ducked under the net and walked towards them.

Kageyama pointed his finger at Tsukishima and glared menacingly. "You can't replace him on the court. I need him."

"Whoa, whoa, let's calm down. No one's said anything yet."

"I don't care. Hinata is my partner and if I'm going to be the best setter, then I need him on the court. He's still better as a decoy and our fast attacks are the best in the precinct. You're not taking him away."

Kageyama threw the ball away and marched outside.

Mirae ran her hands down her face and sighed. "I should have expected that."

Kuroo winced as he heard the ball fly through Karasuno's block and hit the ground with a hard smack. He nudged Tsukishima. "Your first-year sucks. He's worse than you were."

"He doesn't suck," Tsukki snapped, "he's just new."

"Then help him."

"What do you think I've been doing?"

"I could help him," Kuroo smirked, "but I think this is karma for last year. Do you know how hard it was to put up with you?"

"Clearly it wasn't that difficult if you and Bokuto wouldn't leave me alone."

"No, we just enjoyed watching your little tantrums."

Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

Emiko had finally managed to get away from the other managers and decided to check up on her middle blocker. She first watched from the entrance to the gym, careful to hide in the shadows so that Kuroo wouldn't notice her.

But seeing how impatient Tsukishima was getting and how dismissive Takita was becoming, she couldn't stay back. She dragged her feet as she walked in. "You suck as a teacher."

Tsukishima inwardly groaned hearing her. "No one asked. Go away."

Emiko ducked under Kuroo's arm just as he was about to use her head as an arm rest.

"Still ignoring me Suzuki-chan?" he smirked.

"You traumatized poor Tobio. He's not talking to me anymore because of you."

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow, "What did you two do to the King?"

"We're back to first base!" she groaned. "Because of him and his owl-looking friend, Tobio is traumatized and runs away at the sight of me. I've lost his respect!" She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Does Suzuki-chan have a soft spot for Karasuno's genius setter?"

"I finally got him to stop elbowing me so hard, but now I'm scared he's going to start that again!"

"You know, that's just Kageyama's way of flirting."

"Tsukishima, I know I asked you to help with Takita's blocks, but you can leave now."

"No, I'm good," he smiled mockingly.

"You know Suzuki-chan," Kuro held her shoulders and leaned closely. Emiko's heart dropped into her stomach at the sight of his smirk, "no one asked you to straddle him when you were interrogating him."

Tsukki snorted. "You did what?"

"I didn't do that!" With a red face she turned her attention to the boys on the court, "Kenma! Pass me the ball I want to spike it at their faces."

"Can you even reach?"

"She might not be able to, but I can." Kenma narrowed his eyes. "Leave her alone Kuroo."

"But I love her reactions," he whined.

"Ew stop that, you're a grown man. Go away." Emiko pushed him.

"Well don't you fit right in with the crows."

"Takita! Come over here and fight these idiots for me."

He glanced over and shook his head. "No. Those are our senpais."

Emiko gasped. "Shoji would do it."

"Shoji's a delinquent, even Mirae admitted it. If you want him, go get him."

Defeated she fell onto the ground.

Kuroo and Tsukki chose to stop teasing her, and instead watched as the rally went longer. They were playing three vs three; Kenma, Lev, and Hinata against Kageyama, Takita, and 'Tome. Kenma set another ball and without watching if Lev hit it or not, he walked off the court.

"I'm done for the night. Good practice, I guess. Kuroo," he glared, "leave Emiko alone."

On the court, Hinata walked over to the net and looked at the score board. "We won, so that brings me to 104 wins, and 107 losses." He smiled causing Kageyama to scowl.

"This doesn't count, we didn't even finish the game."

"Doesn't matter."

"Dumbass, yes it does."

They weren't the only ones fighting. Tsukishima and Takita were also throwing salty comments at each other.

"So," Kuroo offered a hand to Emiko. She glared at him from her spot on the floor and stood up by herself. "Tsukki seems to be fond of you."

"You should see him around Mirae. He actually looks at her when she talks. He even says hello to her without grumbling."

He grinned. "Oh, thank you for this piece of blackmail Suzuki-chan, I shall cherish it."

"You are literally something out of my nightmares," Emiko deadpanned. The angry and loud voices echoed through the gymnasium and Emiko could feel a migraine coming. She threw her hands in the air and yelled even louder than the voices combined.

"Look, I'm a middle blocker. I can block so many balls." She frantically waved her arms in the air.

She relaxed her arms and looked at Takita. He was frowning and Emiko wanted to point out how similar his facial expression looked to Tsukishima in this moment. "I'm exaggerating sure, but that's how you're blocking." She fixed her form, reaching out with her elbows parallel to her shoulders. "Your fingers should be pointing towards the centre of the court, so the ball doesn't bounce off them."

"Smart girl," Kuroo smirked.

Suddenly, Emiko had an idea. It wasn't a great idea, but it was an idea.

"Say, could I block?"

Kuroo tilted his head. "In general, or now?"

"Now."

"No," Kageyama deadpanned.

Emiko crossed her arms over her chest. "And why not?"

Lev laughed.  "You're too short."

"Don't be height-ist," she snapped. "Hinata and I are the same height, if he can jump and reach the net I can too."

Takita realized that this was one moment he could take advantage of and show Emiko he was better than Nekoma's middle blocker. "If her height is a problem, I can just hold her."

Emiko was thrilled with this idea but before she could ask him to crouch down, Kageyama yanked her back.

"You're going to get hurt," he glared.

"Mirae plays volleyball, I want to try it too."

Kageyama gripped her wrist. "She's taller than you and way more experienced."

"Ta-da!" Hinata exclaimed. While the rest of them were arguing, he had rolled out a ladder from the storage room and pushed it onto the court. Emiko's eyes widened and she ran to climb it.

She nearly fell.

Kageyama growled, holding the ladder in place. "Get down."

"Never!"

"Suzuki-chan-"

She smacked Kuroo's hand away. "Don't touch me!"

"The wheels won't lock," Tsukishima frowned, "you really should get down."

She ignored him and faced the net. "Tobio, set the ball so Lev can spike it."

He glared, "No."

"This is an attack on my gender!"

"Most definitely not, I happen to be a feminist." Kuroo bowed.

"Shut up, no one asked."

"You know what, let her block. Maybe Takita will finally learn."

Emiko grinned, thanking Tsukishima. Everyone moved to the side lines to watch as Kageyama, with an angry expression on his face, set the ball to Lev.

Emiko brought her hands up, preparing to shut the ball down like she'd seen so many middle blockers do before. What she didn't except was a sharp pain against her arms and the force sending her to fall backwards as the ladder slipped. 

She saw dark spots on the ceiling before her vision cleared up. She sat up, nearly falling over again. "That was awesome! I stopped the ball, right? It didn't land on my side of the net, right?"

No one answered. Everyone was watching her with wide eyes and jaws dropped.

She brushed her fingers through her hair and then felt something wet at the back of her head. Bringing her hand back into view, she saw blood.

"Why did you spike it so damn hard?" Takita raised his fist at Lev. "You wanted to hurt her, didn't you?"

"Of course not," he stuttered, "I didn't think she'd fall right over."

"Crap. Well, um this isn't good, is it?" Emiko tried to stand up. Tsukishima and Kuroo laughed, both thinking that she looked like a baby deer taking its first steps.

"Wait, no, I'm an adult," Kuroo shook his head. "We should make sure she's okay."

Hinata and Kageyama ran outside, screaming and yelling Mirae's name. Lev ran to the storage room to find a first aid kit.

Takita, Tsukki, and Kuroo approached Emiko warily, hearing her ragged breaths.

"Suzuki-chan, how many fingers am I holding?"

She glanced up and frowned. "Four?"

He knelt down and tried to reach for her hand and that was when she acted out like a cornered animal. Emiko scrambled to her knees and face planted onto the floor.

"Hold her down."

"No!"

"You're going to hurt yourself!"

"Let me go!"

She fought against Takita's chest. Kuroo pushed her head forward and moved her hair.

"How bad is it?" Tsukishima winced.

"Leave me alone!"

"Stop talking, you're going to lose more blood."

"Are you dumb," she tried to bite Kuroo's hand, "that's not how it works."

A second later, they heard people running into the gym.

"What did you guys do to her?" Mirae gasped. Akaashi and Shoji ran in after her.

"Mirae, they tried to kill me."

"No, we didn't."

"They jinxed my block."

Akaashi and Mirae pushed past the group. They knelt down, looking at the back of her head.

"It's only a cut," Akaashi sighed in relief. He then turned to Kuroo with a disappointing stare. "Why haven't you tried to stop the bleeding?"

"Just because I'm the oldest here doesn't mean I know what I'm doing."

They blinked.

Mirae took the responsibility of giving everyone a chore to do while Akaashi pressed a damp towel against Emiko's head. He watched in amusement as she ordered them around, even glaring at Kuroo when he tried to tease her and forcing Takita to mop again when he missed a spot.

"Should we head back?" he asked her when she was content with the cleaning they had done.

"I should probably walk Emiko back to our rooms first."

"Nah, I'm good," she waved her hand. Emiko was in the middle of writing a very long text message to her Uncle Keishin about the incident, making sure to stress that this was all Tsukishima and Kageyama's fault. She glanced up, "I'll be fine."

"I'm not convinced but I doubt you can get into any more trouble. Alright, I'll see you later then."

She and Akaashi left.

Emiko planned to sit in the gymnasium for as long as she could, feeling drained from all the cooking and dishwashing she did throughout the day. She was on her phone scrolling through Instagram when a shadow overcame her. 

She looked up and jumped, dropping her phone. "What the hell Tobio?"

"Let me walk you to your room."

"Why?"

"Just say okay."

"No."

"Why are you being so difficult. Just let me walk you to your room!" he yelled.

She stood up and nearly fell over. "Wow, who knew this is what blood loss can do to you?"

Kageyama held out his hand. She grinned and slapped it.

"Are you an idiot? I didn't want a high-five."

"Then what the hell do you want. Why are you acting weird?"

He grabbed Emiko's hand, ignoring her protests and began to drag her outside and towards their rooms.

"What's up with you? You followed us earlier in the science building too, what do you want?"

He stopped in his tracks and sighed. "I asked Akaashi-san to help me talk to girls. He gave me a few pointers and told me to practice on the managers. But you're making it very hard."

Emiko stood there quietly and then laughed. "Why would you go to Akaashi for help? I'm pretty sure he's never had a girlfriend."

"I mean Bokuto-san is his best friend and he is currently hanging out with Mirae." Just then, as if on cue, Bokuto and Mirae walked by laughing.

"Tobio, if you wanted to learn how to talk to girls, you should have come to me first. I'm like, the best at communication."

Kageyama stared at her, an odd sensation growing in his stomach.

|Note|

I feel like Kuroo uses that excuse a lot, 'just because I'm the oldest one here doesn't mean I know what I'm doing' Its what makes us love him lol

So Tsukishima has an idea and although Furudate never confirmed or denied it in the manga... could Hinata be replaced for a while? Trust us, we have a plan!

Also, Emiko and Kageyama... could something be happening??

|End Note|