Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The whistle blew again, and the rounds began.

Kageyama Tobio carried the ball toward the service line. His expression was terrifying; the wrinkles between his brows could trap a fly. His earlier eye contact with Oikawa Toru across the net had clearly filled his anger gauge, and now he exuded a dangerous aura that said, "I'm going to smash the ball into the floor."

He took a deep breath and tossed the ball high into the air.

A running start, a jump, an arm swing. The movements are executed in one fluid motion, full of powerful beauty.

"Bang!"

The sound of the ball hitting the net was dull and deafening. The volleyball, like an out-of-control cruise missile, flew over the net, the baseline, and even over the head of the referee outside the bounds with a terrifying whistling sound.

"Thump—!"

With a loud bang, the volleyball slammed solidly into the wall of the second-floor stands behind the Qingye City West Court, bounced back, and rolled quite a distance.

The entire room fell silent.

The referee raised his flag expressionlessly, indicating the ball was out of bounds.

Lu Ren stood in front of the net, his lips twitching twice. He turned to look at Kageyama, who was still in a spiking position: "Hey, Kageyama, are we playing baseball? If this were a home run, you would have scored."

"Shut up!" Kageyama Tobio glared at him fiercely, his face darkening. "My hand slipped!"

"Don't worry about it! We'll get the next ball back!" Daichi Sawamura clapped his hands and shouted, trying to cover up the awkward atmosphere.

Possession changes.

The players from Aoba Castle West began their rotation. Oikawa Toru, holding the ball, slowly walked towards the service area.

The air inside the stadium seemed to suddenly become thick and sticky.

As Oikawa Tetsu stood at the baseline and gently tossed the volleyball in his hand, Lu Ren suddenly experienced a strange auditory hallucination.

Thump, thump, thump—

The oppressive rhythm was like the background music for the entrance of a high-difficulty dungeon boss. Lu Ren shook his head, looked around, and wondered when this lousy game had implemented a background music function?

He then realized that it wasn't a hallucination.

The sound of the Aoba Johsai cheering squad clapping in unison from the stands, combined with the drumbeats of the band, created a heart-pounding resonance in this enclosed space.

"O-I-KA-WA! Oikawa-senpai! You're the coolest!"

"Tsk, a man with his own background music." Lu Ren lowered his center of gravity, his eyes fixed on the person opposite him. "Usually, monsters like these drop pretty good loot."

As Oikawa Toru raised his hand, the noise in the entire arena seemed to be muted instantly.

Throw the ball.

approach.

It was an extremely standard jump serve, but the speed was astonishing. His posture in the air was as graceful as a fully drawn bow.

"Oh oh oh oh—!"

With timely shouts from the cheering squad, Oikawa Toru slammed his hand hard onto the ball.

This shot wasn't aimed at Lu Ren or Da Di, but went straight for the libero who had just come on as a substitute—Nishitani Yu.

"Pick on the weak? No, I want to break through the strongest defense to establish my authority." This thought flashed through Lu Ren's mind.

The ball was extremely fast, spinning intensely, and drew a strange arc in the air.

Nishitani Yu's eyes shone with an alarming light. Almost without hesitation, he lowered his body instantly, kneeling on both knees and extending his arms forward.

"Snapped!"

A crisp sound of the ball being caught.

The volleyball was raised high, its spin was perfectly neutralized, and it flew steadily towards the setter's position.

"Nice catch the ball! Nishitani!"

The instant the ball flew out, Hinata Shoyo darted away like a squirrel spotting a nut. His orange hair left a trail of afterimages under the light.

Tobio Kageyama stood in front of the net, his hands raised.

Kindaichi and Kunimi, the front-row blockers from Aoba Josai, were instantly drawn to Hyuga's movement, and their center of gravity involuntarily shifted towards the center.

"Give it to me!" Hinata roared.

However, Kageyama's head quickly turned to the right.

It was just that one glance.

The Qingcheng blockers instinctively assumed the ball was going to be passed to Tanaka on the right wing, and their bodies stiffened. In that split second, Kageyama flicked his wrist to the left.

The ball was passed to Hyuga.

At this moment, there was no one in front of Hinata.

"Bang!"

The weirdo's fast attack.

The volleyball slammed heavily onto the floor of Qingcheng, bouncing even higher than the net.

"Yay!!!" Hinata landed and shouted excitedly, clenching his fist.

The score was very close.

Next, it was Tanaka Ryunosuke's turn to serve. He spun the ball, muttering some chuunibyou (delusional) lines like "Watch my ultimate move!" as he served an overhand float serve.

The ball was of decent quality, but it wasn't particularly difficult for Aoba Johsai's libero, Chikaharu Watari, to handle.

"I'll do it!"

Watari Chikaji steadily lifted the ball.

"Kindaichi!" Oikawa Tetsu's voice rang out.

Kindaichi Yutaro leaped high into the air from the center.

On Karasuno's side, only Hinata Shoyo is in the blocking position at the front row.

"Too short." Lu Ren watched this scene from the back row and made a judgment in his mind instantly.

Although Hinata has amazing jumping ability, he jumps a little too late, and his height disadvantage is exposed when facing tall middle blockers like Kindaichi.

Oikawa Tetsu's pass was perfectly placed at Kindaichi's highest hitting point.

"Go to hell!" Kindaichi, holding back his anger, slammed his fist down on the top of Hyuga's fingers.

This is an overhand spike.

The volleyball flew past Hinata's fingertips, hurtling towards the backcourt with downward momentum.

Hyuga landed, turned around in horror to look at the trajectory of the ball: "Oh no!"

Behind him was an empty space.

No, it's not a gap.

Lu Ren had already started moving the moment Jin Tian jumped. Instead of lowering his center of gravity to prepare to receive the ball as a conventional defender, he lunged forward like a salted fish out of water.

"Fish leap... no, it's a salted fish thrust!"

He judged the landing point, but his body moved a fraction of a second too fast, and his palm was not under the ball.

"Thump!"

The volleyball hit Lu Ren squarely in the waist.

The immense impact caused Lu Ren to grunt. But the ball bounced up from the impact, not high, but it didn't touch the ground!

"This is possible?!" The audience in the stands were stunned.

"Kageyama! Fix it!" Lu Ren shouted, lying on the ground and rubbing his aching back.

Kageyama Tobio reacted with lightning speed, rushing over and using one hand to catch the ball before it hit the ground: "Tanaka-senpai!"

The ball flew to the right wing.

Ryunosuke Tanaka had already taken his run-up and was in position when he roared and swung his arm to smash the ball.

"Snapped!"

Hanamaki Takahiro from Aoba Castle West made an accurate judgment and saved the straight shot.

"Counterattack!" Oikawa Tetsu shouted.

The offense and defense shifted extremely quickly. Oikawa Tetsu gave Karasuno no chance to catch his breath and launched another attack. This time, he once again chose Kindaichi.

Kindaichi quickly moved and changed positions, circling around to the flank of position three.

At this moment, Karasuno's blocking was reorganized, with Tsukishima and Tanaka jumping to block.

But Oikawa Tetsu's pass was too perfect; it was like the ball was suspended in mid-air, waiting for someone to hit it. Kindaichi unleashed his full power, breaking through the double block.

The volleyball lands.

Aoba Castle West scores.

After landing, Oikawa Tetsu did not immediately celebrate with his teammates. Through the net, his gaze fell on Riku Ren, who was getting up from the ground with a pained expression on his face.

That back-to-the-basket save...

Although it looked messy, even a bit comical, it was based on an absolutely accurate prediction of the ball's trajectory. If it weren't for the prior knowledge that the ball would go over the block, there simply wouldn't have been anyone in that position.

"It would be a waste to put such a brain in Karasuno, a place full of single-celled organisms." Oikawa Tetsu narrowed his eyes, and the thought of "wanting to poach this guy" popped into his head again.

The game continues.

Aoba Castle West's ace, Iwaizumi Ichi, serves.

This was another powerful jump serve. Iwaizumi's power was even more direct than Oikawa Toru's, and the ball slammed into Karasuno's back row like a cannonball.

"Earth!"

Although Daichi Sawamura judged the position correctly, the ball's spin was too strong. It hit his arm and bounced off, not flying towards the setter's position, but towards the edge of the court.

"Sorry! Let me fix it!"

Without saying a word, Kageyama Tobio rushed off the field to chase the ball.

The ball soared high above the boundary.

This is an extremely difficult corrective ball situation.

"Send it to me—!!!"

Hinata Shoyo suddenly roared from the middle, his voice echoing throughout the entire arena. He began his full-speed run-up, as if this ball was his for the taking.

The defensive line in the west of Qingye City was instantly torn apart by this roar.

"Keep an eye on that shorty!" Iwaizumi shouted.

All the blockers instinctively looked at Hinata.

However, just as everyone's attention was drawn to the orange figure, Tobio Kageyama jumped from outside the boundary, leaned back, and delivered an extremely long back pass.

The volleyball swept across half the court and landed precisely on the left wing.

There, the ace striker Dong Fengxu is ready to go.

"nice shot!"

Facing an opening with only one defender blocking the net, Dong Fengxu finally exploded with frustration. He swung his arm and delivered a powerful spike.

"boom!"

The volleyball hit the floor and bounced towards the stands.

Score!

"Alright!!!" The entire Karasuno crew roared.

Oikawa Toru watched the ball land, his brow furrowed. He turned around and made a gesture to the referee.

"Qingye City West requests a pause."

The whistle blew.

The players from both sides walked to the sidelines.

The atmosphere on Karasuno's side was lively, with everyone praising the teamwork on that last play. Only Lu Ren, holding a water bottle, stared thoughtfully at the rest area of ​​Aoba Castle West across the street.

Oikawa Tetsu was holding a tactical board and talking to Kindaichi and Kunimi Hideki, occasionally pointing in the direction of Karasuno.

Lu Ren took a sip of water and walked over to Kageyama and Hinata, who were wiping their sweat with a towel.

"Kageyama, Hinata."

"What?" Kageyama was still upset about the serve error he had just made, and his tone was not very good.

"If I were you, I'd better not use that code for the next round." Lu Ren pointed to the other side. "Your encrypted communication has probably already been cracked by that wicked King."

Hinata was chugging water when he heard this and almost spat it out: "Eh?! How is that possible! That's our unique code!"

Kageyama frowned. "How did you know?"

Lu Ren rolled his eyes, looking at the two of them like they were idiots: "You guys shout so loudly every game, 'Give me the ball' and 'Give me the ball,' as if you're afraid the whole audience won't hear you, right? If you just do a little research on your attack patterns after shouting these two phrases, even an idiot can see the pattern."

Kageyama was stunned.

Hinata's mouth dropped open: "R-Really?"

"That guy, Oikawa Tetsu, was looking at you guys like you were newbies without any gear," Lu Ren shrugged. "He called a timeout to set up a blocking tactic against your signals. If you shout 'Give it to me,' they'll abandon the middle and block the flanks; if you shout 'Give it to me,' three of them will block your fast attack."

Daichi and Sugawara, who were also gathered around, all became serious upon hearing this.

"What should we do then?" Kageyama gritted his teeth. "Changing the code at the last minute is too risky and could easily lead to mistakes."

"Then don't switch." Lu Ren's lips curled into a wicked smile, the signature expression he used in the game when preparing to ambush someone. "Just switch directly."

"Huh?" Hinata tilted his head.

"Idiot." Kageyama reacted quickly, his eyes lighting up instantly. "You mean, turn 'Give Me' into a regular fast attack, and 'Take It' into a weird fast attack?"

"Just as expected." Lu Ren snapped his fingers. "This is what they call a 'patch update.' Since they think they've found your bug, let's use this bug to give them a big gift."

Kageyama looked at Rikuren, a rare hint of admiration in his eyes: "You're quick-witted, aren't you?"

"But..." Hinata suddenly blinked her big eyes, looking at Rikuren with curiosity, "Senior Rikuren, in the original code, which one was the 'Weirdo Quick Attack' between 'Give it to me' and 'Bring it'?"

The air suddenly went silent for a second.

Lu Ren's smile froze for a moment.

Kageyama: "..."

Earth: "..."

"Ahem." Lu Ren coughed tactically, his eyes darting around. "Um... so 'Bring It Here' is the weirdo's fast attack, right?"

"Wrong! It's 'for me'!" Veins bulged on Kageyama's forehead. "You bastard, all that analysis you just did, you didn't even know the original meaning?!"

"That's not important!" Lu Ren confidently gave a thumbs up. "What's important is the logic! If the logic makes sense, the specific parameters can be adjusted!"

"You bastard, you're just guessing!"

"Alright, alright!" Sawamura Daichi laughed, separating the two. "Anyway, Lu Ren's suggestion was very useful. The timeout is over, everyone get on the field! Let's teach Aoki a lesson!"

"yes!!!"

Lu Ren walked at the back of the group, looking at Oikawa Tetsu's confident face opposite him, and silently marked the upcoming plot in his mind:

[Side Quest Update: Backstab the Arrogant Demon King.]