Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

In February, the cold wind in Miyagi Prefecture was still like a drunkard with no sense of restraint, relentlessly pounding against the aluminum alloy window frames of the gymnasium.

The air inside the venue was scorching hot, filled with the screeching sound of rubber-soled shoes rubbing against the floor, and that unique smell that was a mixture of pain-relieving spray and teenage sweat.

"nice shot--!"

With a muffled thud, the volleyball slammed heavily onto the floor and bounced toward the ceiling.

Lu Ren straightened up and casually wiped the sweat from his forehead. After the baptism of the "hellish dungeon" in Chengdu for half a month, his stamina bar hadn't grown to the level of "infinite endurance" like Hyuga's, but at least he wouldn't be in critical condition after just two rounds.

"gather!"

Daichi Sawamura's voice pierced through the noisy background.

Everyone quickly moved towards the coach's bench. Lu Ren strolled at the back, casually took the water bottle from Qing Zeyazhi, and gulped down a large mouthful.

"Awesome." He exhaled, looking at Hyuga who was still gesturing with Kageyama about the height of their fast attack. "Are these two perpetual motion machines? They don't even break a sweat."

Ya-zhi was sketching something in her notebook without looking up: "The metabolic structure of single-celled organisms may be quite different from that of humans."

At that moment, the stadium doors were flung open with a whoosh.

Professor Takeda Ittetsu rushed in carrying a stack of documents. The scene seemed familiar; he had rushed in like this last time to announce the expedition. However, today, the professor's expression was somewhat subtle—it carried both the excitement of "I have good news" and a hint of hesitation, "But I'm afraid you can't handle it."

"Everyone! Thank you for your hard work!"

Teacher Takeda stood in front of everyone, adjusted his glasses, and said, "The specific itinerary for the expedition to Tokyo during Golden Week has been finalized."

These words immediately caused an uproar among the already somewhat exhausted team.

"Tokyo!" Ryunosuke Tanaka clenched his fist, his eyes gleaming. "Finally! The city! Tokyo Skytree! And that...maid café!"

"That last one is your main point, isn't it?" Sugawara Koji complained helplessly.

Nishitani Yu then did a backflip on the spot: "I'm ready to show those guys in Tokyo the power of the 'Karasu no Guardian'!"

Although Hinata and Kageyama didn't say anything, the heat emanating from them, a heat that seemed to say "I want to play ball," almost scorched the floor.

Lu Ren stood aside, watching his overly excited teammates. He felt nothing, and even wanted to laugh.

Based on his understanding of this type of action-packed manga... no, this type of RPG game, the system usually sets a threshold before unlocking a new map. It's either a level restriction or specific quest items.

For high school students, there is usually only one threshold.

"Um..." Mr. Takeda's voice trailed off. He looked at the schedule in his hand and said with some reluctance, "The invitation from the other school mentioned that this training camp is scheduled for the beginning of next month."

"Next month?" Daichi Sawamura keenly caught the key word and frowned slightly.

"Yes." Teacher Takeda coughed lightly, his gaze shifting, avoiding direct eye contact with the group of students still grinning foolishly. "Because it's a joint event by several schools, the timing is very tight. And... if I remember correctly, it's early next month, the week before the expedition departs..."

The air inside the stadium suddenly froze.

Lu Ren sighed, handed the water bottle to Ya Zhi, and whispered, "It's here, the server-wide announcement of the debuff."

Mr. Takeda took a deep breath, like a judge delivering a verdict: "That's the time for the final exams."

Dead silence.

Absolute silence.

Tanaka, who had just been clamoring to go to the maid café, froze instantly, looking as if he had been glared at by Medusa and was rapidly turning to stone.

Nishitani Yu maintained a cool hands-on-hips pose, but her eyes had lost focus, as if her soul had left her body and gone to another dimension.

As for Hinata Shoyo, the kid's mouth was wide open, and he looked just like a screaming chicken with its neck being choked, unable to make a sound.

The most outrageous one is Kageyama Tobio.

This usually arrogant "king of the court" was now breathing. He had truly stopped. His face visibly changed from rosy to deathly pale, and then from deathly pale to an eerie, bluish-gray.

"Hey, Kageyama's about to burst," Hotaru Tsukishima said coolly from the side.

"Ha—!" Kageyama gasped for breath, like a drowning person finally surfacing, but the terror in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

Looking at the four "statues," Mr. Takeda scratched his head somewhat awkwardly and added the final blow: "The head of student affairs said that if anyone fails the final exam... even just one subject, they must stay at school for remedial classes that weekend."

"In other words..."

Teacher Takeda's voice became very soft, but to those four idiots, it sounded like a death knell from hell.

"Those who fail are not allowed to go to Tokyo."

Click.

Lu Ren seemed to hear the sound of something breaking.

Those were shards of glass called "dream".

"No...no way?" Hinata's voice trembled as he stiffly turned his head to look at Sugawara. "Sugawara-senpai...this can't be real, right? If we just ask the teacher..."

Sugawara turned his head away, unable to bear looking at the boy's eyes: "Hinata, these are school rules. Even club activities cannot be used as an excuse to skip your studies."

"You're lying..."

Tanaka suddenly knelt down, buried his face in his hands, and let out a desperate wail, "God! Why did you have to schedule an exam at this time! Is this a trial? This is definitely a trial!"

"I won't listen! I won't listen!" Nishitani covered his ears and started spinning in circles. "As long as I can't hear you, the exam doesn't exist!"

Watching this farce, Lu Ren couldn't help but shake his head and walked over to Yue Dao: "This is a typical consequence of putting all your attribute points into Strength and Agility. The Intelligence column is completely grayed out."

Tsukishima pushed up his glasses, a sneer playing on his lips: "He probably thinks that as long as you play well, brains are unnecessary."

"You can't say that," Lu Ren shrugged. "After all, in their worldview, volleyball can probably solve everything. Like smashing an exam paper with a spike."

At this moment, Kageyama, which had been in a state of malfunction, finally restarted successfully.

He walked stiffly to Mr. Takeda, his face so gloomy it was frightening; anyone who didn't know better would think he was about to start a fight.

"T-Teacher," Kageyama's voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, "Excuse me... is volleyball... not included in the exam subjects?"

Intimidated by his imposing manner, Mr. Takeda took a step back: "Uh... while physical education is a subject, the final exam mainly tests academic subjects..."

"Well..." Kageyama clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking, "If I'm thinking about volleyball tactics during the exam, can I... get extra points?"

"How could this be?!" Sawamura Daichi finally snapped, slapping Kageyama on the back of the head. "Are you an idiot?! An exam is an exam! Wake up!"

Kageyama staggered from the blow, clutching his head in disbelief: "But... if we don't go to Tokyo... we won't be able to compete against the top schools..."

"Then give me a passing grade!" the earth roared. "What have you all been doing in class?!"

The four of them simultaneously looked away.

Hinata whistled (though no sound came out).

Tanaka looked at the ceiling and counted the light tubes.

Nishitani focuses on studying the texture of flooring.

Kageyama... Kageyama immediately closed his eyes and began to play dead.

"It's hopeless." Yazhi closed the notebook. "The average score of these four people combined is probably not even as high as yours alone, Lu Ren."

"Don't compare me to them, that's an insult to me," Lu Ren said, pursing his lips.

Sawamura Daichi's face grew increasingly dark. As the captain, he not only had to worry about whether the flock of crows could take flight, but also whether they would crash into telephone poles because their brains were too small.

"Listen carefully." Daichi took a deep breath, emanating a terrifying aura known as "fatherly pressure." "No matter what method you use—rote memorization or praying to the gods—everyone must pass! If you can't go to Tokyo because of tutoring..."

A radiant yet chilling smile appeared on the face of the earth.

"I'll show you what real 'hellish training' is."

The four of them shivered instantly, their faces turning from ashen to deathly green.

"Yes...yes!!!"

The atmosphere in the locker room was unusually heavy after training.

Normally at this time, everyone would be discussing how cool the spike was, or which convenience store to buy meat buns for dinner. But today, the air was filled with an atmosphere of "despair."

Hinata huddled in the corner, holding a crumpled English book, muttering to himself, "This is a pen...This is a...volleyball?"

"That's a pen, you idiot!" Kageyama was even more annoyed. He stared at the math book in his hand with a fiercer look than he did at an opponent, as if those damn formulas would solve themselves if he stared long enough.

"Damn it...who even invented Chinese characters?" Tanaka grabbed his hair, looking pained. "Why are there so many strokes in the character for 'rose'? Why can't we just write 'flower'?"

"You can write in pinyin and then wait to get zero points." Tsukishima, carrying his bag, added coldly, then walked out of the locker room without looking back.

"A-Yue! Wait for me!" Yamaguchi Tadashi hurriedly chased after her, giving everyone a sympathetic look before leaving.

Lu Ren changed his clothes and slung his backpack over his shoulder. Looking at these four illiterate people trapped in their misery, he originally wanted to leave immediately, but he just couldn't take a step.

This damn team synergy system.

"Feed".

Lu Ren stopped and turned around.

Four pairs of bloodshot eyes looked at him at the same time.

"If you don't want to die at the entrance of the dungeon," Lu Ren pointed to his head, "come to my house this weekend. Although I can't guarantee I'll turn you into academic geniuses, I can at least teach you how to exploit bugs to get through the dungeon."

"A bug...a bug?" Hinata's eyes lit up.

"It's just guessing the exam questions." Lu Ren rolled his eyes. "Based on the teacher's question-setting habits and past exam data, we calculate the probability of the test points. Although it's a bit of a cheat, it should be enough to pass."

"Lu Ren—!!!"

Tanaka and Nishitani rushed over and hugged Lu Ren's legs, crying their eyes out.

"You are a god! You are absolutely a god!"

"From now on, you'll be my godfather! If you say go east, I'll never go west!"

"Get out! Don't wipe your snot on my pants!" Lu Ren kicked the two accessories away in disgust. "And Kageyama, don't look at me like that, like I'm a setter. It's disgusting."

Kageyama nodded stiffly. Although he didn't say anything, his grumpy face clearly showed the words "I'm saved."

"But let's make this clear first."

Lu Ren straightened his rumpled trouser legs, a playful smile spreading across his face. "My tutoring fees are very expensive. And... since this is special training, you have to follow my rules. Don't come crying to your mother later."

"I'll do anything to get to Tokyo!" Hinata shouted.

"Very good." Lu Ren pushed open the locker room door, and the cold wind blowing in from outside made him more awake. "Then be prepared. This weekend, we'll be activating the 'Forced Intelligence Attribute Boost' dungeon."

As he walked out of the school gate, Yazhi was standing under a street lamp waiting for him.

"You've taken on trouble again." Ya-zhi looked at him, shook her head with a smile, "You're clearly too lazy to even use your brain."

"There's nothing I can do." Lu Ren sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. "Without these idiots, we can't clear the Tokyo dungeon. After all... if we don't have a tank and DPS, even the best support like me will be defeated."

"You're being stubborn." Ya-zhi nudged his arm. "You clearly just don't want to leave everyone."

"Who would miss those single-celled organisms?" Lu Ren snorted and quickened his pace. "Let's go, it's freezing. I still have to sort through those teachers' exam data when I get back tonight... Ugh, just thinking about it gives me a headache."

The two figures cast long shadows under the streetlights.

In the stadium behind me, I could still faintly hear the howls of those four idiots, their fighting spirit rekindled.

"This is a pen!!!"

Although the pronunciation was still terrible, at least it was no longer a lifeless despair.

Lu Ren looked up at the night sky. There was no moon, only a few sparse stars.

"Going to Tokyo is going to be really difficult," he muttered to himself.

However, since I've already decided to complete this game called "Spring High," I have to crush every single one of them, whether it's a boss, a regular enemy, or even a monster with a disgusting final exam mechanism.

This is the true quality of a player.