Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The bus engine roared beneath our feet, the vibrations making our bones tingle.

But that's not the most critical issue.

The most dangerous ones were the few creatures in the back row who had just crawled out of the hell of failing exams. After experiencing a near-death experience called "final exams," they were now in a state of heightened excitement, with decibel levels comparable to a fully operational industrial chainsaw.

"Tokyo! We're going to Tokyo!"

Hinata Shoyo was pressed against the car window, his cheeks squashed into a pancake, and he was still roaring incoherently, "There will be many strong schools! And towers as tall as the sky!"

"Stop making noise, you idiot!" Although Tobio Kageyama was cursing, his eyes were wide open like copper bells, clearly trying to find some signs of "Metropolis" in the boring guardrails on both sides of the highway.

Ryunosuke Tanaka and Yuzuru Nishitani were having some kind of academic discussion about the "length of Tokyo girls' uniform skirts," and their spittle was flying everywhere.

Lu Ren sat in the front row, feeling as if his brain was exploding in multiple dimensions at the same time.

He regretted it.

If I had known these guys would be like this after their full recovery, I should have changed all the correct answers to "C" during that night's tutoring session and left them at school to rot and stink over their papers. This wasn't an expedition; it was like transporting a truckload of monkeys just released from their cages to the zoo.

"Headache?"

A voice came from the side, tinged with schadenfreude.

Lu Ren didn't even bother to lift his eyelids. His body tilted to the right due to inertia, and his head landed squarely on Qingze Yazhi's shoulder.

"Excuse me," he said, his eyes closed, his voice weak as if he'd just been playing dungeons all night for three days straight, "My MP is depleted, regenerating."

Yazhi was wearing a loose sports T-shirt today. Her shoulders weren't broad, but they were stable. She didn't push him away; she just adjusted her posture slightly to position Lu Ren's heavy head at an angle where it wouldn't slip. She then took a mint from her bag and popped it into his mouth.

"Serves you right for being a teacher," Ya-zhi said, looking down at her phone and swiping her fingers across the screen. "Now you're getting what you deserve."

"This overload is due to a system error," Lu Ren mumbled indistinctly, his mouth full of candy. "I underestimated the energy limit of a single-celled organism."

Sitting on the other side of the aisle in the back row, Yachi Hitoka witnessed this scene that was so natural it was almost eerie.

The newly appointed manager was in a state of extreme terror. She covered her mouth with both hands, her pupils trembling violently in their sockets, her gaze darting back and forth between Lu Ren's back of the head and Ya Zhi's calm profile.

This is just too... too much!

Although I had heard they were childhood sweethearts, in a public place, on a bus with so many people, this kind of physical contact, like that of an old married couple... Is this what they call a "real-life couple"? Is this the adult world?

Hitoka Yachi, who has always considered herself "Villager B," feels like she has stumbled into some kind of high-level storyline that requires payment to watch.

"Don't make a fuss."

Kiyoko Shimizu, who was flipping through her tactics notes, didn't even look up. Her tone was as flat as if she were talking about the weather. "That's Lu Ren's energy-saving mode. As long as he's off the court or not doing homework, he's mostly a softie."

"Is...is that so?" Hitoka Yachi stammered in a low voice, "Does Kiyosawa-senpai not mind?"

Jiezi turned a page and pushed up her glasses: "Rather than minding it, I'd say I'm used to it. After all, someone like Lu Ren, if he doesn't find a foothold, he'll probably slide straight under the seat."

The noise from the back seat escalated again. Tanaka Ryunosuke seemed to see a car with Tokyo license plates waving its bald head out the window.

"It's so noisy—!!!"

A deep, angry roar suddenly exploded at the front of the carriage.

It wasn't very loud, but the oppressive feeling instantly enveloped the entire carriage, even stopping the dust in the air from moving.

Daichi Sawamura turned around.

That face, which usually looked even somewhat honest, was now shrouded in a dark aura. He neither smiled nor frowned, but simply swept his gaze over the four humanoid noise sources in the last row with the look of someone staring at a dead man.

"If you still have any energy left," the earth's voice was gentle, yet it sent chills down your spine, "once we reach our destination, I wouldn't mind helping you with an extra two hundred dives."

The carriage fell into a deathly silence.

Hinata Shoyo was like a chicken with its neck choked, mouth open but unable to make a sound. Tanaka and Nishiya quickly sat up straight, hands on their knees, as obedient as kindergarteners on their first day. Kageyama Tobio buried his face in his collar, pretending to be mute.

"This is the power of level suppression." Lu Ren closed his eyes, snuggled against Ya Zhi's shoulder, and found a more comfortable position. "Captain Sawamura's 'Intimidation' skill is at least at the master level."

The world is finally quiet.

The bus entered Tokyo, where skyscrapers gradually replaced low-rise houses. The air conditioning was very cold, mixed with the smell of leather seats and sweat. In this swaying rhythm, Lu Ren finally managed to pull back some of his almost depleted health.

……

"arrive."

With a shout from Mr. Takeda, the car door air pressure valve hissed as it released air.

Heat wave.

As soon as I got off the train, the sweltering heat of Tokyo in July, along with the smell of asphalt, hit me. This wasn't the city center, but rather the training camp base for Otokoma High School, a private high school located in Nerima Ward.

The cicadas were even noisier than in Miyagi Prefecture, making one's eardrums bulge.

Lu Ren rubbed his sore neck as he got out of the car. As soon as he stepped onto the concrete, he heard two screams that could pierce the clouds from the side.

Look! That one!

Ryunosuke Tanaka pointed to a red and white iron frame in the distance, tears welling up in his eyes. "That red one! That towering one that reaches into the clouds! It's definitely not wrong!"

Hinata Shoyo jumped three feet high, his face flushed red: "It's Tokyo Tower! It really is Tokyo Tower! We're right under Tokyo Tower!"

"Wow! This is the symbol of the metropolis!"

Two country boys bowed in reverence before the iron tower, while students passing by cast concerned glances at the mentally challenged boy.

Lu Ren stood under the shade of a tree, took out a bottle of water from his bag, unscrewed the cap, took a sip, and then stared expressionlessly at his two embarrassing teammates.

"Although I don't want to admit that I know them," Lu Ren said to Tsukishima Hotaru next to him, "from a biological classification point of view, we do belong to the same species."

Tsukishima, headphones on, smirked sarcastically. "That's just a regular signal tower. You see these things all the time in Miyagi Prefecture, don't you? It seems even single-celled organisms have their visual nerves directly connected to their fantasy centers."

"Hey, you country bumpkin over there."

A lazy, slightly provocative voice broke in.

On the other side of the barbed wire fence, several people in red tracksuits walked over. The one in the lead had a messy black mohawk, and his eyes looked like those of a wildcat that had just woken up, yet also revealed a shrewd and calculating wickedness.

The commander of Nekoma High School, Kuroo Tetsurou.

Behind him followed the setter with the perpetually hunched neck and the "pudding-head" hairstyle, Kozume Kenma.

"That's neither Tokyo Tower nor Tokyo Skytree." Tetsuro Kuroo, hands in his pockets, grinned like a sly fox. "It's just an ordinary power transmission tower. If you were to worship something like that, you'd be laughed at by the people of Tokyo, you guys from Karasuno."

Tanaka and Hinata froze in mid-air, the sound of petrification and shattering clearly audible.

"What...?" Hinata lowered his head, his face turning ashen. "So that's not it after all..."

"have not seen you for a long time."

Sawamura Daichi stepped forward and shook hands with Kuroo Tetsuro. Their palms collided, and although they both wore smiles, the underlying tension was palpable, even to the ants nearby.

"I heard your final exams were pretty thrilling?" Kurowei raised an eyebrow. "I thought I wouldn't get to see that short, weirdo this time."

"Thank goodness, everyone survived." Dadipi smiled insincerely. "But you guys, don't let us beat you to a pulp in the practice match."

Lu Ren didn't participate in this pointless chatter. His gaze swept across the crowd and landed on Kozume Morinaka.

The boy with the pudding-shaped haircut was fiddling with a game console when he seemed to notice the gaze and looked up.

Their eyes met briefly in mid-air.

There was no spark, only a confirmation between kindred spirits.

It was a look that said, "I want to end this boring socializing and go back to bed," and also a look that said, "If you really want to fight, I'll outsmart you."

Moyan shrank back and muttered under his breath, "That guy... his eyes are terrifying."

"Huh?" Kuroo turned his head. "Who?"

"That scouting guy from Karasuno." Gonma put away his game console. "That annoying guy from the last practice match. The way he looked at me was like he was looking at a boss who hadn't yet dropped any rare gear."

Lu Ren looked away and tightened the bottle cap.

"Let's go." He waved to Kageyama and Hinata, who were still in a daze. "Stop getting all worked up over the Eiffel Tower. This is someone else's territory. If you're going to embarrass yourself, wait until you win the game."

"Lu Ren, you still have such a sharp tongue!" Tanaka protested.

Just then, Yamamoto Takeru of Otoko suddenly widened his eyes and fixed his gaze on the rear of Karasuno's team.

There, Kiyoko Shimizu was helping Hitoka Yachi and Aya Kiyosawa pack their luggage.

Three girls with very different personalities stood together. There was the aloof Jiezi, the lively Yazhi, and the trembling Renhua, who looked like a little animal.

Yamamoto Takeo's knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground.

"Three..." He pointed tremblingly at Karasuno, letting out a defeated howl, "Three managers?! And all of such high quality?! Unforgivable! Those bastards from Karasuno! I'll kill you all!"

"Ah, of course." Tanaka instantly revived, striking a smug "winner in life" pose, pointing behind him with his thumb, "This is the 'Kanasano specialty' that you can't find in big cities. Envious? Jealous? Then let's settle this with volleyball, you weird-haired city bumpkin!"

"Just what I wanted, bald guy!"

The two idiots started spitting at each other through the barbed wire fence.

Lu Ren sighed and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"It seems this training camp won't be easy, whether it's leveling up or grinding monsters," he said, looking at the noisy group of teenagers in front of him and the strong school teams warming up in the distance.

Game scene switching.

New map: Tokyo Expedition Training Camp.

Mission objective: Evolve everyone, and, don't get devoured by these monsters until nothing is left.

"Let's go, Yazhi," Lu Ren called out. "Go check if our dorm has air conditioning. If not, I'll ask to sleep on the gym floor."

"Dream on." Yazhi laughed and gave him a push. "Hurry up and move on, don't fall behind."

Sunlight pierced through the clouds, casting long shadows of the boys. The instance titled "Summer" had officially begun.