Sugawara Kōshi is definitely smart; he is in class 3-4 after all. Not only does his intelligence surpass half of the cohort, but his demure charisma makes him one of the most amiable students Karasuno High wold ever have.

But that is expected of him, is it not? What we do not know about him, however, is that he inertly aspires to be a world-class detective. Since a teenager helped to bring light to his village by devising electricity generators in Africa*, Sugawara could try to master the skills of a detective like Sherlock Holmes.

It was the end of the Christmas holidays. Students of Karasuno High School lazily trudged back to their classrooms with wishful pleas for the holiday to have lasted longer. Some of them simply could not wait to be back in school, reconnecting with their friends and classmates. The teachers secretly groaned for the inevitable hagging of holiday homework.

The volleyball boy's team was something else altogether. The spring tournament was just around the corner.

Hinata looked as though he suffered a dot of anorexia.

Asahi's hands kept shivering.

Yamaguchi's face seemed to have sprouted more freckles.

Kageyama looked a bit more buff- or he could just be breaking out in cold sweat under his jacket.

Ennoshita started his first lesson with his oral presentation of how he had spent the holidays.

Tanaka was trying his very, very best to fall asleep in the classroom with that barking-mad teacher.

Tsukishima kept playing a game in his mathematical calculator instead of solving mathematical questions.

Nishinoya went missing by the last period. Nobody knew where he ran off to.

Sugawara disappeared, too, and Daichi knew where he ran off to.

As the kerfuffle of his schoolmates dissolved after school's dismissal, Daichi briskly walked to the gymnasium and proceeded to unlock the doors; only to find out that they already were. So he walked inside and was received a whiff of stale air, dry wood, and the scent of volleyballs. Sugawara was seated on the bench. His legs were stretched out and Daichi could see that Sugawara's eyes have that misted and lethargic look and they glazed over the court.

Daichi cleared his throat.

"Ah, hullo Daichi," Sugawara replied, turning his head towards the captain, whose arms were akimbo. "You found me much quicker than the previous time I went into hiding," he added

"It's the same hiding place, but you didn't lock the door this time," said Daichi.

"Well, I thought that the first place you would think of is this place. With that, you must have considered that I borrowed the other set of keys from Shimizu in order to get inside. So I decided to leave the doors unlocked, but closed, to save you the trouble of having to unlock them again," Sugawara explained. "Oh, and I felt like being eco-friendly today! So I only turned on the spotlights," he added with a grin on his face.

"Brilliant as usual," Daichi mundanely praised Sugawara. "Switch them off and let's go to the club room."

It was just to two of them as they make their way to the club room. The pattering of their feet was the only sound they heard.

"Well, none of the other after-school activities start as early as ours'," Sugawara spoke to they sky.

Daichi did not bother to acknowledge his commentary. Sugawara continued talking.

"I know you don't want me to mention this, Daichi, but you must be extremely worried; more worried than the previous tournament. You're trying not to show it to anybody though, and I hope you didn't chew your fingernails until they became painfully raw."

Daichi gagged.

"My nails?" he sputtered. "How did you even figure that out?" he demanded.

"Your hands are in your pockets, despite how warm it is outside. I inferred that there's something about your hands you don't want me to see, because you usually keep your arms out when you walk. So the remaining possibility is that you hacked off your fingernails the night before and it was pretty painful, making you stop the chewing. Had you not been in pain, you would've continued torturing your nails during lessons today. But you didn't," Sugawara began.

"Seriously? Were you watching me all day?" Daichi asked in shock.

"I knew you wouldn't be sane, buddy. Today's games are super important!" Sugawara replied earnestly. "Also, you balled your hands into tight fists in attempts to make it less painful. I can see them in your trousers."

Daichi sighed and reluctantly took his hands out of his pockets. Sugawara was on point once again.

"It's not as painful as it looks, really," Daichi informed Sugawara. "Nothing's more painful than receiving one of the captain's serves from Aoba Jousai."

Sugawara chuckled, "I guess you're right there."

"But," Sugawara continued, "You're fingernails still look terrible. I suggest a solution of aloe vera and honey** the instant you get home."

"Pfft. No wonder your skin looks like a girl's."

"Excuse me!?"

By then, Daichi had already unlocked the club room door. None of the others were here yet. He ordered Sugawara not to breathe a word to him anymore and was about to visualise his defence tactics when Sugawara spoke up.

"Okay, but you should consider getting yourself a new pair of trousers if you want to feel comfortable in March," was what he said before zipping his lips.

Daichi would have throttled him to death on the spot- but he was having a difficult time changing out of his uniform trousers.

Three minutes later, Nishinoya slammed the door open and the seniors watched as he stood aside for Asahi to go in.

"In!" Nishinoya barked at Asahi.

Asahi meekly slipped out of his shoes and stepped into the clubroom. Following that, Nishinoya hopped in and slammed the door shut, yanking out his shoes in succession. Asahi winced.

"Greetings! Daichi! Sugawara!" hollered Nishinoya.

The seniors greeted him back in a toned down scale and smirked at Asahi.

"Didn't know you needed an escort, Asahi," sniggered Sugawara.

Asahi felt as though he was slapped in the face.

Daichi was worse.

"You're really a wimp, aren't you?" he commented icily.

His words grounded Asahi's remaining shreds of dignity into the drain.

If that was not enough, Daichi added, "Don't worry. You'll be able to score many points for us today." with a smile.

Meanwhile, Sugawara's nose twitched and raised his eyebrows at Nishinoya.

"Nishinoya," he started.

"Yes!" The latter responded.

"Calm down... Didn't I tell you not to skip your laundry once every two days?"

"But it's okay! I never wore it until today!"

Sugawara tsked. He beckoned Nishinoya over and seeked his permission to open his school bag.

"You should have washed your jersey after Shimizu gave it to you last training," he scolded Nishinoya.

"The smell of deodrant has gone since last weekend. Also, keeping it in a plastic bag from the supermarket doesn't help to retain the smell..." Sugawara went on as he fished out a crumbly plastic bag and cringed.

"But I couldn't let the lovely scent and kindness of Kiyoko-san go!" Whimpered Nishinoya, who took his shirt out of the bag and hugged it tenderly to his chest. "I will never forget how she came running towards me at the school gate, taking my jersey out of her bag like-"

He imitated a waiter who was about to take the lid off a plate towards the others.

"-fwoosh! 'Nishinoya! You forgot your jersey. Here!' She cried. My heart melted." He finished dramatically.

"He's gone, isn't he?" Daichi moaned as Nishinoya sunk gently into the floor with glistening eyes.

"Quite the contrary, Daichi..." Sugawara laughed. "Who wants to bet the next pair who will come in next?"

"The fact that you guessed that two people are coming at the same time already makes us lose..." Asahi lamented.

"Eh? I thought I made it easier for you to win with that hint."

"Oh, well, but..."

Poor Asahi was cut off by what sounded like a pair of screaming pidgeons.

Ten seconds later, there was the oddball duo, panting like dogs, by the door.

"I... Won... Kageyama..." Hinata heaved between pants.

"... Rubbish... You... Idiot..." Kageyama retorted.

"I won."

"No, you didn't."

"That makes us tie."

"Idiot. No."

"I can't believe you'd waste your breathe on this, honestly," murmured Tsukishima as he sauntered into the room with Yamaguchi, who stuck his tongue out at the other duo, by his side.

The bickering ensued, roping in Tsukishima and Yamaguchi as well, for ten more minutes until Daichi put his foot down. His insides were rattling with annoyance. He got Asahi to try to pry Nishinoya off the floor to no avail. The rest of the second years were not here yet. Sugawara stayed quiet throughout the chaos and folded up his uniform. Daichi knew that he was already starting to clear his mind, which irritated Daichi even further.

"I suppose you know where the rest are," Daichi stonily spoke to Sugawara.

Sugawara simply nodded and he remained kneeling on the scratchy mat.

"Ennoshita and the rest are trying to get Tanaka to recover below us, for Tanaka tragically crumbled upon hearing about Nishinoya's fortunate run in with Shimizu," he replied. "And we might want to leave in seven minutes, unless you want another cup of tea with the vice-principal." He added.

Daichi sighed in resignation. With a loud clap of his hands, he immediately got the argument to cease and hurried everyone out of the clubroom and into the bus by the time they saw the dreaded vice principal go up to their clubroom via the other staircase.

"Hurry, hurry!" Sugawara urged the team, being the last to jump in and slam the bus door loudly.

Everybody jumped. That was violence from Sugawara. Sugawara took the seat next to Daichi and gave him a cheeky grin that only he would understand. Daichi heaved another long sigh and looked the other way.

He figured that he would do his visualisation during the ride.

*This was something that really happened.

**This was entirely made up by me, though I do know that aloe vera soothes the skin. You are strongly advised against following Sugawara's suggested remedy because it only works on anime characters.

A/N: I'm pretty stoked to work on this story because I've planned all sorts of surprises! I promise to commit to this one, along with Oliver and Len's Holiday Project. Please review and follow! How often I update varies from a few weeks to a few months. However, I strive to give quality; you can trust me on that (: