"You! Stop right there!"

Nishinoya winced and turned around slowly, forcing a smile on his face. He had been just about to make it through the front gates of the school, when the angry female voice had halted him. He wondered briefly whether he should just make a run for it and see what would happen, but it was too late. The she-devil had reached him.

Emiko Yamazaki was the Student Council President. She walked over to Nishinoya slowly, her movements resembling those of a cat. Slow, graceful, and yet somehow threatening. She came to stand right in front of Nishinoya. She was perhaps a centimeter or two taller than him, but his hair more than made up for that. Emiko narrowed her eyes at him. "I see you're back from your suspension. Tch. What a pain."

Nishinoya grinned. "Emiko-senpai! What a pleasant surprise! Are you here as my welcoming party?"

"Shut up."

"But senpai-"

"Eh, don't call me that. It just sounds dirty coming from you," Emiko snapped. She sighed and looked down at him with a frown. Just the sight of him made her angry. He was a walking violation of at least ten uniform rules, not to mention that his voice was twice the size of his body. "Damn it. It's too early to be dealing with you. Why the hell is your hair still colored?"

Nishinoya smiled, running a hand over the streak in his hair coolly. "It looks great, huh? I got it touched up while I was suspended-"

"Baka! I told you to get it removed, not touched up! Highlights and hair dye are against the school dress code! I've been telling you this every day for the past year! Do you want to be put on cleaning duty for the rest of the week?" Emiko yelled at him, frustrated. Nishinoya flinched slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. Emiko didn't often lose her temper, but when she did, she could silence even Nishinoya Yu. "That's it. You're on garbage duty until you get the hair dye removed."

Nishinoya beamed. "Will you be doing it along with me, Emiko-senpai?"

Emiko flushed. No matter how much she yelled and scolded him, he would still throw in flirtatious comments. She glared at him. "No."

"Why not? Senpai, I wouldn't mind doing garbage duty every day if you were there with me! We could stay late after school, when there's nobody else around and the classrooms are empty and- ow ow ow! Let go, let go!" Nishinoya cried out as Emiko grabbed his ear and twisted it painfully. She released him and frowned.

"You idiot. Do you ever learn? Do I have to lecture you every single day?"

That's exactly what I want. Although Nishinoya never mentioned it aloud, he loved the daily morning lectures from Emiko. The sight of her in the adorable Karasuno girls' uniform and the way her cheeks turned pink on the days he got her particularly riled up, were fun. Even getting scolded by her was worth it, if only to see her every day and get her attention. He looked up at her and noticed her dark brown eyes glaring at him. Her lips were pressed together tightly. "What are you staring at?" Emiko demanded.

Nishinoya shook his head and grinned. "Nothing."

"Good. I'd better find you hauling trash at 3 pm, Nishinoya. Now, get out of my sight."

Nishinoya bowed. "Yes, my queen," he cried out, before hurrying away. He had almost entered the school building when he turned back and saw Emiko standing alone, a small smile on her face as she shook her head. Nishinoya grinned. No matter how angry she seemed, he knew that Emiko enjoyed their morning encounters as well.

She would just never admit it.

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Emiko sighed as she walked out of the staff room, a huge pile of books in her hands. Being Student Council President meant that the teachers had no qualms about asking her to run errands for them. She often ended up doing things that were outside the scope of her duties; like now, running to the library for Tada-sensei during her lunch hour.

"Damn all this. I should be eating lunch with my friends," Emiko mumbled irritably. Her foot slipped a little and she stumbled, the large pile of books dangerously tilting. The top book was just about to slide off when Emiko heard a loud yell echo in the empty hallway.

"Rolling Thunder!" Out of nowhere, a small figure with a bright streak in his hair came somersaulting up to her, his fingers grabbing the book moments before it hit the ground. Emiko froze and blinked at him, still trying to digest what happened. Nishinoya had already straightened up and was dusting off his blazer. "Pretty cool, huh? It's my new move!"

Emiko sighed. It was a pretty impressive move, but she forced a frown on her face. "Tch. Is this what you spent your suspension period doing? I would have thought you would at least try to catch up on your grades. And hey! You!" Her eyes widened as she suddenly remembered. "You never did garbage duty yesterday!"

Nishinoya chuckled nervously. "Well, you see… I really wanted to, but I decided to go to volleyball practice instead, so…"

Emiko sighed. "You are pathetic."

"Senpai! Don't say that! Here, let me help you with the books," Nishinoya insisted. He grabbed the larger half of the stack from Emiko's hands and began walking down the corridor. Emiko followed him silently. As annoying as he was, her arms were aching and it was nice to have someone else carry the books for her. Nishinoya turned around and walked backwards so he could speak to her. "Why are you carrying all these books?"

Emiko sighed. "Tada-sensei asked me to drop them off at the library."

"You should learn how to refuse people, Emiko-senpai," Nishinoya said with a teasing grin. "You're too nice."

"Too nice?" Emiko asked with a frown. Nobody had ever said that before. People were usually complaining that she was too strict. At least, that's what most of her fellow Student Council members said. Emiko was a stickler for rules. But Nishinoya was looking up at her, his big brown eyes shining. "You're the last person who should be saying that, Nishinoya-kun. I don't think there's been a single day since you started at this school that I haven't yelled at you for something or the other," Emiko replied, before frowning. "But, hey! Don't think I'm apologizing! You deserve whatever you get!"

Nishinoya smiled softly. "But I didn't deserve to get suspended, then, huh?"

Emiko froze. "What?"

"N-nothing!" Nishinoya said with a nervous grin, his cheeks flushing a little pink. "Forget I said anything! I wasn't supposed to say anything! Heh- me and my big mouth…"

But Emiko wasn't buying it. That was the thing with guys like Nishinoya- his emotions were just on the surface. His thoughts were clearly written on his face, he was incapable of keeping a secret. Emiko took a deep breath and forced herself to look down at the blushing second-year. "Who told you?" she asked quietly.

Nishinoya sighed and shook his head. "It doesn't matter, I…"

"Tell me."

"Sugawara-san… he mentioned…" Nishinoya sighed and looked straight at her. "He told me that when the Principal was going to suspend me for breaking the vase, you went and begged him to let me off easy. You even promised him that you would take responsibility for my actions in the future, if he didn't suspend me."

Emiko froze and flushed. "You weren't supposed to find out about that."

"But I did."

Emiko flushed red and walked past Nishinoya hurriedly. She didn't want him to see her face. She'd done it without any thought. The moment she found out that Nishinoya had knocked the vice-principal over, she'd felt an overwhelming concern for him. A week-long suspension would ruin his academic record. Before she knew it, she'd gone running to the Principal and started blurting out whatever came to her mind to convince him to lessen the punishment. It seemed a little silly now, considering it hadn't worked. Nishinoya had still gotten suspended.

"I would have done it for anyone," Emiko said hurriedly, by way of explanation. "Besides, you're a complete idiot but you're not stupid. I know you didn't do it on purpose. I did it to appease my sense of justice, not because I like you or anything."

Nishinoya grinned. "Who said anything about liking me? I never said that."

Emiko reddened. "Shut up. Give me those books back."

"Okay," Nishinoya said with a sigh, handing her back the books at they reached the entrance to the library. "But can I say one thing first?"

"Be quick," Emiko replied with a groan as she took back the heavy stack of books.

Nishinoya looked up at her. His big, brown eyes were serious and for the first time, he didn't appear to be laughing or joking. He took a deep breath and gave her a genuine smile. "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you tried. I won't forget it."

Emiko flushed furiously. Nishinoya grinned while she tried to compose herself. He'd never said something to her so earnestly before, and Emiko didn't know how to react. Her blush was creeping down her neck and she stood still as Nishinoya waved goodbye to her.

"Well, then, Emiko-senpai! See you around!"

Emiko watched Nishinoya run down the corridor, slightly numb. When she got her voice back, she yelled after him. "Oye! You broom-head! If you're so grateful, then show up for garbage duty today!"

Nishinoya turned and gave her a big thumbs up, before disappearing.

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"-and it's kind of nice to have the Guardian Deity around, he's quite the fun one!" Yui said with a laugh.

Yui and Emiko were walking towards the gym where the girls practiced volleyball. Although Emiko wasn't a big sports fan herself, she was good friends with most of the girls on the volleyball team and occasionally acted in the capacity of manager when she didn't have Student Council work. Emiko nodded. Her mind was still on her afternoon encounter with Nishinoya, and she blinked at Yui.

"Yeah, yeah- wait, what?" Emiko asked with a frown. "Guardian what?"

"Karasuno's Guardian Deity. It's what the boys' volleyball team calls him."

"Calls who?"

Yui rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "You haven't been listening to a word I'm saying, have you? Nishinoya Yu. The second year. He's suspended from his club activities for the rest of the month so he asked yesterday if he could train with the girls' team."

Emiko blinked. "What? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well… you were in your Student Council meeting, I didn't want to bother you. Besides, he's really nice. He's been motivating us to keep up with him."

Emiko huffed, following Yui into the gym. The few hours she spent with the girls' volleyball team were meant to be relaxing and a break from her academic and Student Council work. She hadn't thought she would be forced to put up with the Guardian Deity for even longer.

The sound of shoes squeaking and balls bouncing was already audible from outside. Emiko entered, just in time to see Nishinoya dive for the ball. He crossed his half of the court in a matter of seconds, diving until he was flat on his stomach on the ground. The ball hit the ground inches away from his fingers. "Kuso," he cursed, springing up onto his feet in a few seconds. "Ayaka-senpai, again! Do it the same way!"

Ayaka grinned. "All right, Noya-san! Coming right up!" She was just picking up another ball when she turned and saw Yui and Emiko enter the gym. She lowered her arm. "Captain! Emiko-chan! Did you see that dive? He almost caught my spike!"

Yui nodded, congratulating Nishinoya, but the libero's eyes had turned and fixed on Emiko. He beamed. "Emiko-senpai!" he cried loudly, waving eagerly at her. "I didn't know you were on the girls' volleyball team! What position do you play? Can you help me practice? Are you going to play in that skirt?"

Emiko sighed and winced. "Baka! Don't yell so loudly, it echoes in here."

Yui smiled at their exchange and glanced between them. "Noya-kun, Emiko-chan's our part-time manager. She helps us out just before tournaments and when she doesn't have Student Council work. Emiko, this is Nishinoya Yu. He's the boys' team's libero."

"We've met," Emiko mumbled. She glanced at Nishinoya with a frown and pointed a finger at him. "You. Listen up. We have rules here. Keep your voice below 60 decibels or else the gym echoes like mad and I will kick you out."

Nishinoya grinned and yelled across the gym. "Emiko-senpai, you might be the Student Council President, but here you're just the manager, so I don't have to listen to you! Ha ha ha!" he laughed, watching her expression flare and her cheeks turn red.

"What did you say to me?" Emiko cried, clenching her fists.

"Emiko-senpai, your voice is crossing 60 decibels… aren't you breaking your own rules?"

Yui chuckled nervously and pushed the furious Emiko towards a bench. She had a feeling these two would keep arguing until practice was over. "Let me go! I'll beat up the little squirt! I'll beat him up! You were supposed to be on garbage duty today, you little sneak!" Emiko protested as Yui pushed her away. "Can we please vote on getting rid of him?"

Yui rubbed the back of her neck hesitantly. "Well… he really helps us practice, Emiko-chan."

"Fine," Emiko snapped. "But he's not a member of the club, so I'm not going to do anything for him. You hear that, Nishinoya? Don't ask me to carry water bottles or towels or band-aids for you! I'm not going to do it!"

Nishinoya pouted and opened his mouth to protest, but Yui cut him off. Her voice trembled as she attempted to sound authoritative. "All right! That's enough, both of you! No more fighting during my practice, okay?"

The girls all laughed at her feeble attempt to issue order. "Whoo! Go Yui-san!"

Yui flushed a little and grabbed a ball from the floor. "Stop it. Let's start practice."

Emiko sighed and slumped back in her seat to watch practice. In between getting drinks for the girls and fetching balls, she found herself watching Nishinoya. He really was amazing at volleyball. He dived and lunged fearlessly, receiving almost every ball that the girls threw at him. Surprisingly, he was silent the moment he started playing. Clearly this was something he took very seriously. Emiko found herself smiling. She didn't know that Nishinoya Yu was capable of being so passionate.

"All right! That was a great practice!" Nishinoya cried out, as they all decided to call it an end for the day. "Hey- do you all want to go out for ice cream? I'll buy you popsicles as a thanks for letting me practice with you!" he announced happily.

Yui smiled. "That's really sweet of you, Nishinoya-kun. We should clean up the gym first, though."

"All right! I'll see you all down at the store-"

"Oye." Emiko reached out and grabbed Nishinoya by the collar, stopping him from skipping out of the gym. She gave him a dangerous look. "Where exactly do you think you're going, squirt?"

Nishinoya grinned. "The convenience store! To get popsicles! Do you like Gari-gari-kun, Emiko-senpai? They have the soda flavor, I saw it this afternoon! I should hurry before somebody takes them-"

"I don't think so," Emiko replied, twisting her fingers into the neckline of his t-shirt. Nishinoya winced slightly as the collar constricted his throat. He could barely breathe, and he tried to point this out to her. Emiko didn't care. "Do you really think you can get out of helping us clean the gym that easily? Go get a mop, now."

"Y-yes, senpai," Nishinoya choked out, gasping for breath as she released him. He scurried away to the broom closet, rubbing his neck painfully. He sighed and glanced back at Emiko, who was helping dismantle the net. She was laughing at something one of the other girls said, and her eyes were shining. Nishinoya grinned. Emiko was one of the few people who looked beautiful whether she was smiling or angry. He turned around in the broom closet and saw Ayaka, one of the other third-year girls, come up to him.

"The mops are over here, Noya-san," Ayaka told him lightly, noticing the tiny blush that crept up onto his face. She laughed. "Were you staring at Emiko-chan? You two would be adorable together. You're one of the few people who can really rile her up, but she secretly likes you."

Nishinoya beamed. "Do you really think so, Ayaka-senpai?"

Ayaka nodded. "Hai. But good luck getting her to admit it. She never will," she added lightly, grabbing a mop and going to help the other girls with the cleaning.

Nishinoya grinned. I'll take that as a challenge.

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"Guess what? It's my birthday!"

Emiko frowned and looked up at the libero who was standing over her. She was sitting alone in the library after classes, and her eyes widened as his loud voice echoed around the silent library. Emiko frantically gestured for Nishinoya to keep his voice down. He grinned and sat opposite her.

"Shh! You idiot, we're in the library! Don't yell!" she scolded quietly.

Nishinoya pouted and pulled the chair opposite her out to sit down on it. He lowered his voice. "Didn't you hear me, Emiko-senpai? I said it's my birthday today!"

"I heard you. Happy Birthday," Emiko mumbled grudgingly. To be honest, Emiko had known about Nishinoya's birthday for the past week. She'd thought long and hard about whether to get him a present or even a card, but in the end she'd chickened out and been too embarrassed to do either. Nishinoya was grinning at her.

"Thank you. Hey- aren't you going to get me a present?"

Emiko raised an eyebrow. "You're not supposed to demand birthday presents."

Nishinoya pouted. "But I thought you would get me a present, senpai!"

"Damn it. Baka. Fine, what do you want?"

"Really?" Nishinoya perked up and leaned across the table. "You'll get me a present? For real?"

"If it'll get you off my back. But, it can't cost more than…" she paused and pulled out her wallet, checking how much money she had. "Let's say 800 yen. Okay? So what do you want?"

Nishinoya grinned. "I'll think about it. Can you meet me after school at the front gate?"

"Fine," Emiko mumbled, watching at he scraped his chair back loudly and thundered out of the library. She winced. Being around Nishinoya Yu would surely make her go deaf someday. She sighed and tucked her wallet back inside. She could only hope that he would make his demands reasonable. Although to be honest, nothing about Nishinoya Yu was reasonable.

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"Gari-gari-kun?"

Emiko stared disappointedly at the freezer in front of her, as Nishinoya leaned over it and eagerly searched for a soda-flavored popsicle. When he'd so eagerly demanded a birthday present, she'd expected him to ask for more than ice cream. She sighed and took the two popsicles he handed her. "Seriously? You want popsicles for your birthday? You eat these practically every day."

Nishinoya followed Emiko as she went up to the counter to pay for the two popsicles. "I know. But today, you're eating them with me! That makes it special!" he said happily. Emiko glanced at him and flushed slightly. She paid for the popsicles and they walked out to a bench near the store. Emiko glanced down and unwrapped it slowly. It had been a while since she'd eaten something so childish.

"Delicious, right?" Nishinoya asked, sucking on his Popsicle.

Emiko licked it tentatively. "It's not bad," she mumbled. "Eh, what am I complaining about? You saved me 680 yen. You're really stupid, Nishinoya-kun. Anybody else would have made full use of the budget."

Nishinoya perked up. "Well… there is something else I want. But it won't cost you anything."

"What's that?"

"Will you… will you call me senpai once?"

Emiko turned and stared at him. That was the weirdest request she'd ever heard. "What? This better not be some kind of joke, Nishinoya. Why would you want me to call you senpai?"

Nishinoya flushed. To be honest, he'd often wondered what it would be like to have Emiko blink shyly at him and address him as senpai. Of course, it was a little weird, but… "Please? Please, please, please? Just once! You're always so serious and condescending that I've always wanted to see you sweetly call someone senpai!"

Emiko sighed. "Your popsicle is dripping all over your trousers, Nishinoya-senpai."

Nishinoya stared at her blankly for a few moments, before letting out a small shudder. "Eugh."

"Eugh?" Emiko cried angrily. "What the hell do you mean, eugh? Don't give me those disgusted expressions! I only did it because you asked!"

Nishinoya rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, Emiko-senpai. It just wasn't cute."

Emiko flushed red in embarrassment and anger. "Cute? Of course it wasn't cute! I don't exist to satisfy your stupid fantasies! Look at you! What girl would ever want to behave cutely with you? You're nothing but a pain in the neck! Do you think that stupid hair of yours looks cool? It doesn't! And your constant need to talk ten times louder than everybody else is so annoying! I don't see how you are qualified to judge anybody's cuteness-"

Nishinoya turned and dropped his popsicle on the floor, bringing his hands up to cup Emiko's cheeks. She froze and her cheeks flushed red as Nishinoya leaned closer to her. His big brown eyes were inches away from hers. Emiko was still. "What are you doing?" she whispered, panicked.

"That was adorable," Nishinoya said with a grin, before gently pressing his lips to hers. He tasted of soda popsicle, and his lips were soft and warm as they gently caressed hers. Emiko's mind clouded over as Nishinoya kissed her, his hands sliding through her hair and scooting closer so that their legs were touching. After a few moments, Emiko quickly pulled away and stared at him.

"You-you idiot! What did you do that for?" she stammered out, her head spinning.

Nishinoya shrugged and flushed. "You looked cute while you were yelling. I felt like doing it. It's okay, isn't it?"

"Okay? It's not okay! You can't just kiss somebody like that without asking! It's extremely rude and bad manners! What if I didn't like you, huh?"

Nishinoya grinned. "What if?"

Emiko's eyes widened in horror. "I mean- I didn't- it was a slip of tongue, I phrased it wrong, I meant to say that I don't like you and um- you don't- why are you looking at me like that? Stop it! Stop looking at me! Don't give me that smug grin! Have some respect for your elders, you little shrimp!"

Nishinoya grinned. Maybe Ayaka-senpai was right. Maybe Emiko would never admit that she liked him.

But that was okay. Because they both knew the truth.

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Extra:

"Emiko-senpai!"

Emiko whirled around and came face to face with a fistful of flowers. She blinked and raised an eyebrow, noticing the big bunch of carnations and the short boy behind them. Nishinoya was holding them out to her with a grin. Emiko stared at him. "What are you doing?" she asked, uncomfortably aware that a few people near the front gate were staring at them.

"I got you flowers," Nishinoya explained, shaking them at her. He grinned. "Don't you like them?"

Emiko flushed. "Baka. We're in school, what am I supposed to do with those? Put them away, people are staring! Why did you get flowers, anyway? You'd better not have picked them from the school gardens, Nishinoya!" she scolded him in a panicked manner. Her heart was thumping

Nishinoya smiled. "I just wanted to get them for you, senpai."

"Okay, fine," Emiko replied, taking the flowers quickly. She looked around the corridor, worried that somebody was watching them. "Now get to class! Shoo!" she insisted, giving him a small push. Nishinoya smiled. Even though she was trying to keep a straight face, he could see that Emiko was blushing. He waved and walked away, just as one of her classmates came up to her.

"Emiko-chan!" the classmate called out. "Hey- what's with the flowers? A secret admirer?"

Emiko sighed and looked down at the bunch of carnations. "Just a really troublesome kouhai."

But if anybody's worth all the trouble, it's Nishinoya Yu.

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A/N – Because Nishinoya is adorable and I wanted to write him with a serious-senpai-OC. This was the weird result.

If you liked this, check out my other Haikyuu OC one-shots! I have a Tanana/OC and an Asahi/OC.

Also totally willing to take any one-shot requests if you guys want! Let me know!