A/N: Helloooo. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter aha.

Sugawara had been feeling all out of sorts when Emiko was avoiding him. But now he felt as if everything was back as it should be. Perfectly balanced. Who was he kidding, it was more than perfect. Honestly, he thought that his brain had short-circuited after Emiko kissed his cheek on his birthday.

He was going to follow his brother's advice and confess to her soon.

In the short time that Emiko had avoided him, Sugawara had realized how much he missed their small interactions throughout the school day. But now everything was back to normal.

"I feel like if I try your food today, I might perish," Emiko said, eyeing his bento suspiciously.

Suga grinned. "Maybe. Or it might be the best thing you've ever tried."

"Don't," Daichi said without looking up from his textbook. "You're going to regret it. Also, Emiko could you explain this to me one more time?"

Emiko leaned over Suga's desk to see what Daichi was pointing at. They had an English test after lunch and Daichi was making sure he passed with flying marks. Suga was pretty sure that he was going to do pretty well on the test, so he leaned back in his chair and continued eating. Daichi was indeed correct in his assessment that Emiko should not taste his lunch today.

As he ate, Suga felt someone watching him. He looked around to see who it was. Emiko was still explaining the concept to Daichi so it wasn't her. He glanced towards the door to see if Asahi was having a nervous breakdown about entering the classroom but there was no one there he knew. Casting his eyes towards the front of the classroom, Suga made eye contact with one of his classmates. Suzuki. . .Haruka? is what he thought her name was.

But she appeared to be the one watching him so intently. Suga found it somewhat strange, but he flashed her a smile before turning his attention back to his friends.

"Is Michimiya staying on the girls' volleyball team?" Emiko asked.

"No," Daichi answered, taking a bite of food. "She told me that she's going to focus on studying for her college entrance exams."

Suga thought of what Daichi had told him and Asahi the other day, and he struggled to contain a grin.

"She's a very sweet girl," Emiko stated, suspiciously innocently. "I was talking to her during the DateTech game and she thinks very highly of you."

"Ah," Daichi turned slightly red and he rubbed his neck. "Really?"

"Yup."

"What do you think of Michimiya?" Sugawara said, joining Emiko in cornering their friend.

"Well. I. You know. It's like," Daichi struggled to come up with an answer.

"Hmmm," Emiko and Suga gave each other looks and the captain turned redder and redder.

"Don't think that we won't get an answer out of you someday soon," Emiko warned him as students came back into the classroom from lunch.

Daichi groaned and Suga couldn't help but laugh at his friend's plight.

The rest of the day passed by pretty normally. Suga thought that the English test went pretty well and practice went smoothly. They were recovering from their loss to Aoba Johsai and were slowly but surely getting ready for the Spring Tournament.

As Suga cleaned himself up in the club room after practice, he hummed to himself. Even if it had been just a few days, he had missed the walks home with Emiko. He was about to leave the club room when he heard someone clear their throat behind him.

Suga turned around and saw Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita standing there with worried looks on their faces.

"We have to tell you something," Ennoshita said, looking very serious.

Emiko hummed to herself as she waited for Suga to find her for their walk back. She had had this one particular song stuck in her head all day and she could not for the life of her remember what the name of the song was. It was driving her crazy.

She saw Suga descend from the stairs leading to the club room and she smiled brightly.

"You ready?" Emiko asked, swinging her bag around her shoulder. Sugawara just smiled grimly and nodded. This was strange. Had something happened while he was in the club room?

As they walked back to their houses, neither of them said a thing. Emiko had tried to start conversations several times but he had always given her short answers that quashed it.

I have to tell him about the date with Oikawa, Emiko thought to herself. It was weighing heavily on her conscious and the longer she waited to tell him the worse it would be. Plus the three second years had been doing a great favor by keeping quiet even when she hadn't asked them to.

"Suga, I have to tell-," she began before she was abruptly cut off.

"Why didn't you tell me about your date with Oikawa?" Suga said, quiet rage brimming in his voice. He had been walking with his head down this whole time, but he now looked at Emiko in the face and she could see the anger and betrayal in his eyes.

She didn't know how to react. "How – How did you find out about that?" Of course she knew the answer but she was just too stunned to speak.

"You know how, Emiko," he laughed bitterly. "Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita told me in the club room just now. Do you know how it felt to be told by them? You know, I thought we could tell each other anything but I didn't expect you to keep this from me."

Emiko didn't have anything to say to him. She knew she was wrong for not telling him earlier and letting him find out from a third party. She hung her head and felt the tears begin to form.

"Do you like him?" Suga asked quietly, pain filling his voice.

Emiko whipped her head up. "What? No! I don't like Oikawa!"

"Then why did you go out on a date with him?!"

"Because we made a bet!"

"A bet?"

"Yes!" Emiko felt her emotions begin to rise. "Right before our match began, I ran into him and we bet that if they won, he would get to take me out on a date and if we won. . ."

"If we won what?"

"If we won. . .he would have to put down in writing that we were better than him."

"Are you stupid?" Sugawara laughed. Emiko flinched. This laugh was nothing like his typically warm laugh. "Why would you make a bet that was so unbalanced in his favor?"

"Because I was confident that you guys would win! I knew that our team was strong enough to beat Aoba Johsai."

"Well, obviously you were wrong. We lost and you had to go out on a date because of your stupid bet. You should have placed your confidence elsewhere."

"And I would make the bet again!" Emiko shouted.

"Oh? Did you enjoy your date that much?" Sugawara scoffed.

"No! Because I believe in you guys!" she felt the tears start to pile up.

"Why would you make such a stupid decision twice?"

Emiko began to feel her anger rise. "Look, I know that I was wrong to not tell you about the date. But besides that I don't see what right you have to call my decision to make a bet with Oikawa stupid."

"No right? No right?" he spluttered. "Anyone can see that Oikawa is obviously a playboy and as your friend I don't think you should mess around with people like that."

"You don't even know Oikawa like that! He's not all that bad!"

"Ooh, so you go on one date with the guy and suddenly you know all about him. I see how it is. Maybe you should go out on more dates with him."

"You know what!" Emiko yelled. "Maybe I should! I know that he would be happy to take me out again."

"Fine! Then go out with him! I don't care! It'll be your own heart breaking and don't come to me because I'll just tell you told you so!"

"Fine!"

Emiko stormed off in the direction of her house, leaving Suga behind. She cried all the way home.

From the moment she laid eyes on him, Suzuki Haruka had been in love with Sugawara Koshi. They had been in the same class since their first year and she had always carried him in her heart. Even when she dated other guys, if Sugawara would have even glanced in her direction, she would have dropped her boyfriends.

But he was never looking her direction. His eyes were always on one person: Saito Emiko.

Haruka had watched their friendship over the years and saw how Sugawara's eyes never left Saito. And Haruka's eyes never left him. Even when Saito avoided him, he still only looked at her. How Haruka envied the girl. The minute that his eyes left Saito, she would be there.

And so, that day, Haruka immediately noticed something different about Sugawara and Saito. They weren't looking at each other. Their desks were next to each other but they didn't even so much as glance in each other's direction. Their friend Sawamura also seemed to notice the frigidity between the normally chummy friends and appeared to be at a loss of what to do.

Haruka picked up on this oddity from the beginning of the day, but she decided to wait till lunch to make her move. Sugawara usually ate lunch in the classroom with Saito and Sawamura or he left to eat with Sawamura and Azumane from Class 3.

When lunch came around, Sugawara stayed in the classroom but he was still not looking at Saito and Sawamura left when a girl called for him in the hallway. Haruka decided to make her move, who knows how long this distance would last.

"Um, hello!" she said timidly, coming up to his desk.

"Hello?" Sugawara appeared confused.

"I'm Suzuki Haruka."

"Ah. Hello Suzuki-san. I'm Sugawara Koshi."

"I know," Haruka responded, blushing as she worked up her courage. "I was just wondering if you would like to eat lunch with me?"

For a split second, it looked like he was going to decline. But then he glanced over to where Saito sat with headphones on.

"Sure!" he flashed her a brilliant smile. "It's such a lovely day outside! Should we eat outside?"

Haruka nodded profusely. She was a little disappointed that he looked at Saito before he answered, but she had still accomplished her goal so in the end, she was satisfied.

When Takeda-sensei and Coach Ukai had told the team about the training camp in Tokyo, Daichi was ecstatic. So was the rest of the team. But as they went back to practice, the rest of the team seemed to pick up on what Daichi had been seeing all day.

"Um, boss," Tanaka whispered to him as they waited their turn to practice their serves. "Are Suga and Emiko. . .in a fight?"

"Uuh, I think so?"

"Huh. I don't like it. It's weird."

Daichi nodded in agreement. What had happened between the two? After Suga's birthday party, the two seemed to go back to normal. But in the span between last night's practice to this morning the two had managed to not be on speaking terms with each other. He was going to asked Suga about it during lunch, but he had stepped out of the classroom to talk with Michimiya for a second, and when he returned Emiko told him that Suga had gone to eat outside with another girl.

"Hey Suga," Daichi walked up to his vice-captain. "Is everything okay?"

"Just fine."

Daichi seriously doubted that. His friend's answer was short and nothing like the Sugawara he knew.

"Are you sure? Because things between you and Emiko seem to be-"

"I said that it's all good."

Daichi backed off. He decided to try the other side, but Emiko stepped out just as he went to find her. So he went to Kiyoko.

"If you're here to ask what the hell is wrong with those too," Kiyoko said before he could even begin. "I have no idea. She hasn't told me anything."

"It must have been serious."

"Obviously. They're not even looking at each other."

"Tell me about it," Daichi grimaced. "Emiko told me that he ate lunch outside with some girl from our class."

Kiyoko's look turned murderous.

A/N: Well...I hope you all enjoyed that! I'm especially curious as to what y'all thought of Suga during the fight scene. But yes, we have arrived at the *drama* part and oof. :') Anyways, I don't know if I'll be able to post here again before Christmas (I'm trying to get another chapter of "The Perfect Boyfriend" out soon), so Merry Christmas if you celebrate it! And if you don't, I hope you have a wonderful couple of days! And as always, please leave a review/suggestion/critique/etc.! I really love when I get a notification telling me I have a new review! Oh! And thank you to everyone who has followed/favorited this story!