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Aria always started her mornings with coffee. But this time she didn't.

More like she couldn't. If she did, she would be late again.

Her teacher wouldn't let her go this time. One, two, and three. She already had two. Three strikes and you're out, that was her teacher's warning. She rolled her eyes at the thought. If she ever got a third warning, her teacher wouldn't let her go easily this time.

She didn't even bother to brush her freakishly unruly hair. It was too much of a hassle. She went out of her room and looked at her apartment. Books everywhere, dishes from until three days ago unwashed, and clothes scattered everywhere. It was messy as ever.

She rushed out of her apartment and went to her school, Karasuno High.

.

There were two things bothering Aria as she was sitting down on her desk in her class.

No coffee.

And the other one?

Her seatmate. Blonde hair, tall height, and always had that stupid headphones of his on his ears to block out the world. Tsukishima Kei.

Weeks passed already and not one word spoken. Though she hated to admit it, it was slowly driving her crazy. She had absolutely no one to talk to and the silence was deafening.

And the only person he only seemed to talk to was that guy called Yamaguchi Tadashi, the guy with freckles and black hair. He always hanged around and followed Tsukishima everywhere like some dog with his owner. Aria even heard him call Tsukishima a disgusting nickname, Tsukki, she recalled.

Other girls looked like they really liked Tsukishima though and they were so disgustingly and cringe-worthily, as she liked to put it, obvious about it. I'm not going to be surprised if they have a secret fan club for him. Aria thought in her head and shivered. She knew what those girls were capable of creating .What was so great about that guy, anyways? What a bunch of idiots.

It's not like they know each other anyways. Sure, they're seatmates but they haven't even talked much. What really annoyed her was his terribly tall height. It irritated her so much that when they both stood up, she had to crane her neck upwards just to get a good look on him, not that she would admit to it.

"Hey, Aria." Hirai Sana, her friend, called her. "Do you get this part?" She pointed at some part in their English homework as Aria looked at Sana's notebook. It was supposed to be Math class but their teacher was absent and made his period a free study period for them which was such a good news for the whole class.

"This is wrong." Aria circled a part of her friend's sentence structure.

"Thanks! You're a big help." Sana smiled at Aria. She forced a smile to her face but only turned out to look constipated so she immediately dropped it and faced the front.

Aria decided to go back to sleep on her desk only to be shaken a few minutes later. She was feeling more lethargic today more than any other days. Probably because she hasn't drank any coffee for the day to keep her awake.

"Bell rang. It's time for club activities, if you have one." Sana told her.

Aria looked at her right and didn't see Tsukishima.

Why did she even care?

Oh right.

She didn't.

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She didn't have a club and didn't feel like going home immediately.

Aria decided to go to the library, not to read books or to study in particular, but to sleep. She slept behind one of the bookshelves to hide her. Before you start thinking how cliché, I mean really, the library? Yes, the library is actually a good place to sleep in with all the hard bound or long textbooks that you could choose from to cover your face. Not to mention, the sleeping position on the floor is way more comfortable than sleeping on her usual desk. Well, at least that's what she thought.

She closed her eyes and without any difficulty, fell asleep.

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The streets were already dark out. She was near her house already when she heard noises. Right in front of her were police tapes surrounding their house? Her heart rate went faster, feeling scared, a million thoughts of terrifying possible events went to her mind. She stood on her spot frozen as if time stopped only for her. It looked exactly like a crime scene.

Aria woke up in a jolt, her face sweaty as she wiped it.

She felt a presence in front of her that woke her up. She looked in front of her and saw gravity defying hair of black hair and an out of place brown color only reserved in the middle.

"Hi! I'm Nishinoya Yuu." He introduced squeakily looking agitated and quite frightened, not realizing that a fixed glare was on her face. "Uhh, I'm not stalkingyouiswearpromiseimnotacreep-"

"Huh?" Aria narrowed her eyes mostly because she was confused about what she dreamed about. She wondered how a dream could feel so real. It was almost impossible but a minute or two later she forgot all about it. Dreams were easily forgotten after all.

Nishinoya shivered at the girl who still held the scariest look on her face as if he was about to be eaten alive. "I'll buy you ice cream?" The easy way out. The safest route. Nishinoya couldn't think of anything else.

Äria looked at him, smiled, and stood up. "Okay!"

She was such a simple-minded girl, really.

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Nishinoya, the short guy's name, is pretty small.

Not like Aria is any better, she was only slightly, anyways. Nishinoya walked out of the convenience store holding two ice creams in his hand. He gave one to Aria and proceeded to open his own.

Gari-gari kun. Aria read the writing on the piece of plastic.

"Hey." Nishinoya started. "What's your name?"

Oh, she hasn't even introduced herself yet. She totally forgot.

"I'm Yamazaki Aria! Nice to meet you." She smiled at Nishinoya and took a bite of her ice cream, her eyes shocked at the flavor melting in her mouth.

"It's good, right? This is my favorite food! I'm from year 2, how about you?"

"Then you're my senpai then!" Aria beamed at him and continued. "I'm freshman, you see."

Like some kind of cartoon character, Nishinoya's face immediately sparkled. "That's right! I'm your senpai!" With a loud voice, he proclaimed. "I'll buy you ice cream." He offered enthusiastically, looking proud.

Awkwardly smiling, Aria called the boisterous guy out. "Umm, you already did."

"Oh." Nishinoya scratched the back of his head while still eating his ice cream on the other. "Next time then! Call me anytime."

"…" Aria was usually kind of loud but she couldn't keep up with the guy's energy today. And she thought about how Nishinoya could totally talk about his whole life story from birth until now in complete detail. That would really be funny and exhausting to deal with at the same time. But hey, if it was free, she wouldn't deny him. He looked pretty harmless anyways.

"OH! How will you call me if you don't have my number?" Just by thinking it, Nishinoya being a complete idiot, blushed. No doubt he was imagining something stupid in his brain, fantasizing about something no one would be able to comprehend. He was totally part of a whole new entire specie.

"Here's my cellphone then." Aria handed her phone to Nishinoya and he immediately typed his number then gave it back to Aria.

Nishinoya looked giddy like a kid who secretly ate too much of chocolate to function.

"By the way Nishinoya-senpai." Nishinoya's ears perked, red. "You're kind of short, aren't you?" As if on cue, his shoulders deflated, his eyes narrowed, mouth turned into a spiteful frown, and his whole aura turned dark and gloomy.

Must be a touchy subject.

"Don't talk like you have the height! You're just 1 cm taller than me." He sulked and Aria was reminded of a kicked puppy. It was true that she was probably just 1 cm taller than him but she didn't really care about height anyways, like most people usually did.

"Don't worry about it too much, you're still growing after all!" Aria tried comforting him and to her surprise his mood turned bright again.

That was fast.

"I think I like you already!"

Aria scratched the back of her head and blushed. She diverted the topic when she suddenly remembered something.

"Say, Nishinoya-senpai. Why were you in the library? No offense but you don't seem the type to hang out there at all. Besides, don't you have any club to attend?"

Heh. As if she was in the position to ask.

"Ah! I went to the library because I know it's the last place anyone would find me. I can't go to my club yet, you see." His expression darkened but Aria could see that he forced himself to be all smiley in fear of making her uncomfortable.

She was curious of what could turn someone with the personality like Nishinoya's upset. Heck, she only knew the dude for only a few hours yet she could already feel her heart opening to him. He had the personality that anyone could easily get close to, a true extrovert.

"Is it sports?" Aria asked him, genuinely curious.

"Yes! Volleyball."

"Wow, must be nice to have a sporty club. You mentioned before that you can't go back yet, right? If it's okay to ask, why can't you go back?" This guy decided to hang out in an unfamiliar territory, away from his club venue, probably to sulk or something.

"I was actually suspended by the dean." Nishinoya started his story dramatically and Aria's eyes bulged out in shock. Nishinoya looked anything like a delinquent to her but looking closely he does look wild and free.

"I know, shocking. I had a fight with Asahi-san in front of the dean's office, shouted at the top of my lungs in anger, ignored the dean, and broke a vase!"

"Woah, you're totally badass!" And a total idiot, but Aria didn't add any of that rude stuff. Who even dared challenge the dean? Nishinoya apparently.

Nishinoya's excitement rose with Aria's reaction. "I know, right?"

"What did you even fight about?" To go to the extremes, he must have been really mad.

"That day, we went on a tournament and fought with another school named Date-tech." Nishinoya bit his lip in agitation. "We lost. They were really strong, really big, and really tall! They blocked all of it, all of Asahi-san's spikes. It really ruined him, our ace has this glass heart that could easily break. And it did"

Aria knew where this was going and she knew it didn't end well.

"He blamed himself and still does! He left the team and doesn't want to go back anymore. What Asahi-san doesn't understand is that we're a team. He didn't lose by himself, we lost together. Damn it, we were all to blame but that emotion, that feeling should be harnessed and should be taken advantage of to become even stronger. And eventually, we will beat them." He spitefully told her every word.

Despite being an idiot, Nishinoya really was kind of cool, Aria thought. He surprisingly would suddenly say something inspiring and motivating out of the blue.

Aria didn't say anything but continued to listen some more.

"Sorry, I rambled a lot." He apologized. "I told myself and the team that I wouldn't go back unless Asahi-san does."

"You're really passionate about volleyball, aren't you?" She replied while smiling at him. He was kind of refreshing, a good kind of different.

Nishinoya beamed, eyes huge with love and passion, she was a little bit envious of him at that moment. "Volleyball is a huge part of me."

"This Asahi-san, you're really close with him, aren't you?" Aria asked him.

Nishinoya grinned. "We are! He's one of the closest I've got."

Aria looked at the finished popsicle in her hand. She didn't even realize that she finished it already.

The sky was already kind of getting darker, the sun already about to go down.

"I need to go now!" Nishinoya told her. "See you next time then, Yamazaki!" Nishinoya waved at her as they exchanged their goodbyes and went their own separate ways.