Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

Summer in Saitama Prefecture is not only famous for its cicada chirps, but also for its sweltering heat that makes life unbearable.

When the bus stopped in front of Senran High School, the hot steam from its exhaust pipe nearly scalded the roadside weeds. Karasuno's group got off, dragging their suitcases, each with a blank expression—the kind that screams "just finished an all-night gaming session and now it's time to go to work." Only Hinata Shoyo, whose stamina seemed perpetually maxed out, was still hopping around in the sun, clamoring to find a place to catch rhinoceros beetles.

Lu Ren wore a baseball cap pulled low, as if he wanted to hide his entire face in shadow. He followed at the back of the group, carrying a sports bag, walking like a half-asleep zombie.

"Stop hiding." Qingze Yazhi walked beside him and nudged his waist with her elbow. "Whether you stick your neck out or not, you'll get stabbed anyway. You should have known this day would come when you came here to scam people last time."

"That's called a field visit." Lu Ren yawned, stubbornly denying it. "Besides, it was for academic exchange. Furthermore, I never said I would definitely transfer here; it was just that dean of students overthinking it."

"Yes, yes, yes, using an Olympiad math certificate to cheat on academic exchanges at the tactics board." Yazhi rolled her eyes.

As soon as I stepped into the gymnasium, a familiar wave of heat, a mixture of antiperspirant spray and the smell of rubber flooring, hit me. Teams from several schools had already started warming up, and the sound of spiking the ball echoed in the empty hall, sounding like dozens of people simultaneously slapping watermelons.

"Yo, Karasuno's here!"

Someone shouted, and dozens of eyes immediately turned to look.

This feeling of being the center of attention usually belongs to teams with star players, such as Shiratorizawa or Aoba Johsai. But today, the emotions mixed in these gazes are a bit complicated—half is curiosity, and the other half is like watching some unknown creature invade.

Especially the direction of Senran High School.

The captain, Daiki Kogane, with his neat short hair, was drinking water when he saw the figure wearing a hat at the back of the Karasuno team, and he spat out his water. Next to him, the first-year student with the cauliflower-shaped haircut, Eikichi Chishikatani, pointed in that direction, his mouth agape enough to fit a volleyball.

"fraud--!!"

The screams from Qianlu Valley echoed throughout the entire stadium.

"That math genius! That science student who's transferring to our school! He's wearing Karasuno's team uniform!"

The entire room fell silent.

Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koji turned around and looked at Riku Ren with blank expressions: "Riku Ren, what have you done now?"

Lu Ren slowly took off his hat, revealing his face, which always seemed to say "What a hassle." He looked at the angry crowd and calmly raised his hand to greet them.

"Hey, long time no see. I left in a hurry last time and didn't have time to tell you, but I actually went to Karasuno to do undercover research. After careful consideration, I found that the air in Miyagi is more nourishing."

"You're talking nonsense!" Daiki Kono slammed his water bottle down and stormed over. "You were taking notes halfway through a notebook in the stands that day! You even wrote down our rotation times! You were just here to steal our tactics!"

The surrounding schools—Ikawa, Fubuki, and even the members of the Otokoma group who were doing leg stretches—all stopped what they were doing, looking on with expressions of amusement. Kuroo Tetsuro even whistled and raised an eyebrow with interest.

"Steal?" Lu Ren pulled a piece of chewing gum from his bag, popped it into his mouth, and chewed it a couple of times. "Can you call something a scholar does stealing? That's called open source sharing. Besides, tactics are like strategy guides online; aren't they written so people can copy them?"

"You—" Xiaoluye rolled her eyes, speechless at this shameless theory.

"Alright, alright." Lu Ren waved his hand and pointed to the Karasuno group behind him. "To express our gratitude, we've prepared a 'return gift' today. You'll see it during the match later."

Although Daichi Sawamura didn't know what had happened, his intuition told him that Lu Ren was definitely up to no good. He awkwardly bowed towards Sen Ran's group: "Sorry, this guy's personality is a bit twisted, he's caused you trouble!"

The first practice match was against Senran High School.

This was truly a case of enemies meeting on a narrow road. The members of the Senran team were all eager to fight, their eyes more like they were exposing a cheating game than playing basketball. Especially Qianlugu, who stared at Lu Ren as if he were his father's killer.

Listen carefully.

Before the match, Wu Yang gathered everyone together. His expression was somewhat serious, and he held Lu Ren's tactical board, which had been completely altered.

"What we've been practicing these past few days is being put to the test in a real match today. It's bound to be chaotic, there will definitely be mistakes. But—" Uyang's gaze swept over everyone, "As long as the ball hasn't hit the ground, get moving! Even if you collide with each other, make sure you clear a path!"

"yes!!"

The whistle blew.

The match started at a fast pace. Senran lived up to its reputation as a powerhouse in Kanto; their "misaligned attack" remained sharp. Several attackers weaved and ran around the net like a swarm of annoying flies, making it impossible to pinpoint their main threat.

In the first few balls, Karasuno played very passively. Tsukishima Hotaru was completely disoriented at the net, and Kageyama Tobio's blocks were always a beat too late.

The score quickly reached 4-1, with Senran in the lead.

"What's wrong? Didn't you say there would be a return gift?" After scoring with a spike, Kogane taunted from across the net, "If this is the level of defense, then you guys should go back and practice your basics."

Lu Ren stood in the back row and caught a soft, lobbed shot. He didn't reply, but simply gestured to Ying Shan.

That gesture means: Start.

Kageyama took a deep breath, the kind that feels like it would expand his lungs. His gaze changed; he was no longer focused on the ball, but rather scanned the entire field.

The feeling is like a traffic cop standing at a crossroads, watching the traffic flowing in from all directions, ready to press the button that would paralyze the traffic.

The pass was delivered perfectly.

Just as the volleyball took off, Karasuno's half of the court suddenly erupted.

It really exploded.

The people who were originally scattered in various positions—Hyuga Shoyo, Tanaka Ryunosuke, Sawamura Daichi, and even Higashimine Asahi in the back row—all started moving at the same time. Four people, four routes, without any pattern, like four out-of-control torpedoes rushing towards the net at the same time.

The floorboards creaked and groaned from the heavy footsteps.

The formidable blockers were instantly stunned.

"What the hell?!" Qianlu Valley stared in horror at the scene before him.

Normally, everyone has their own positioning logic when playing basketball. It's obvious who the main attacker is and who the screener is. But now, Karasuno's team is running around completely haphazardly. Hyuga cuts in from the middle and almost bumps into Tanaka, who is moving laterally; Sawamura moves up from the right wing, his route so bizarre it's like he's dodging city management officers.

It's too messy.

It was so chaotic that you had no idea where the ball would land.

Kageyama stood under the net, watching his teammates sprinting around. If it were the old Kageyama, he probably would have been cursing by now. Their movement completely blocked his view and even limited his passing space.

But now, he felt an unprecedented...excitement.

So many choices. So many knives.

"to whom?"

Kageyama's fingers touched the ball. In that instant, all three of Senran's blocking players jumped simultaneously—two to tackle Hinata, and one to block Higashimine Asahi.

Because these two appear to pose the greatest threat.

However, the ball, like a ghost, slipped past the fingertips of the three players and floated lightly into an open space on the left wing.

There, Ryunosuke Tanaka had already twisted himself into a bow.

There was no barrier in front of us.

There was only a vast, unsettling view.

"Great shot!!"

Tanaka let out a strange cry, swung his arm in a wide arc, and slammed it hard onto the ball.

"Bang!"

The volleyball hit the imposing baseline and bounced away.

The entire stadium fell silent for a second.

Then came Tanaka's signature shirt-removal celebration (although he was only halfway off when Sawamura pushed him back down).

"This..." Daiki Koshino's eyes widened as he looked at the cheering crowd on Karasuno's side, then at Rikuren standing calmly in the back row. "This isn't..."

"So this is your tactic?"

Lu Ren shrugged, his tone full of smug sincerity, "We just added a few 'patches' to it. Your misalignment was to create a time difference, while our random running around... was purely to muddy the waters."

This was the first appearance of the "Chimera" tactic.

Or, in Lu Ren's words, it's a "random stream".

The following match turned into a complete disaster.

Karasuno's offense is indeed very fierce, but their error rate is also frighteningly high.

"Hinata! You stepped on my foot!"

"Kageyama! That ball was too low! Are you trying to make me head it?!"

"Ahhh, I'm going to crash! Get out of the way!"

Several times, Hyuga and Tanaka collided in mid-air, turning into two tangled balls of flesh, the ball falling to the ground before even clearing the net. The scene was incredibly awkward, resembling more of a large-scale staged accident than a volleyball match.

Senran's initial shock turned into speechlessness.

"Are these guys... strong or weak?" Qianlu Valley wiped his sweat, looking at the chaotic Wuye opposite him. "It feels like they don't even know what they're doing."

"This is the scariest place."

On the sidelines, Kozume, the setter for Nekoma, put down his game console. A rare hint of wariness flickered in his usually half-open cat eyes.

"What's wrong with the grinding?" Kuroo Tetsuro leaned closer. "Isn't it just a bunch of wild boars running around?"

"The wild boars' random movement follows a pattern." Mo Yan stared at Lu Ren on the field, "But they're deliberately creating chaos. That backup... he's controlling the threshold of chaos."

indeed.

Although the scene looked chaotic, Lu Ren always appeared at the most crucial position whenever Karasuno was about to collapse.

It could be an extremely solid backcourt pass that forcefully pulled the momentum back from the brink of collapse; or it could be a cold, detached reminder that instantly calmed Kageyama down.

"Kageyama, if your CPU burns out, go to the sidelines and restart it."

Lu Ren caught a powerful dunk and casually remarked, "Stop passing it around like that. If that Sawamura-senpai had been two years younger, his back would have broken."

Kageyama's face darkened, but his movements noticeably slowed down.

Midway through the match, Mori Ran maintained a slight lead thanks to their teamwork and consistency, but they were having a very difficult time. Because you never know what kind of unexpected thing Karasuno will do with their next play.

Sometimes it's a brilliant multi-pronged attack, sometimes it's an outrageous mistake that gives away points. This rollercoaster-like experience has been mentally tormenting for the Senran team members.

Finally, after a protracted and protracted battle...

Lu Ren was moved to the front row.

Opposite him was the formidable commander, Xiao Luye.

"Let's see how you steal this time." Little Deer stared intently at Lu Ren, arms outstretched, ready to block his path.

Kageyama passed the ball.

This time, everyone thought the ball would go to Tanaka, who was in excellent form. Tanaka had just successfully spiked the ball twice in a row.

The entire center of gravity of the blocking net was tilted to the left.

But at the moment of contact with the ball, Kageyama made an extremely subtle twist of his wrist.

Passed down from behind.

The ball flew towards the right wing.

There was no one there... wait, there was a figure slowly taking a running start, looking completely harmless.

It's Lu Ren.

Instead of sprinting like the others, he moved with an unpredictable rhythm. Just as the blocker was shaken off, he suddenly accelerated and jumped.

It's not the kind of leap that embodies violent aesthetics, but rather a very light and effortless takeoff.

He even had the leisure to glance at the opposing defensive positions while in the air.

The stern-looking free agent is desperately trying to fill in for them.

"Too slow."

Lu Ren mentally gave this movement speed a bad rating.

Instead of spiked the ball, he flicked his wrist slightly.

Drop ball.

The volleyball traced a very short parabola, just clearing the outstretched fingertips of the little deer, and landed lightly in the no-man's-land within the three-meter line.

"Smack."

The ball landed.

The voice was as soft as a sigh, yet it struck the hearts of the Senran team members with a heavy blow.

24:23. Karasuno has reached match point.

"You call this gibberish?" After landing, Xiao Luye looked at Lu Ren on the other side of the net, panting.

"No." Lu Ren wiped the sweat from his forehead, a playful smile curving his lips. "This is called a 'version update.' Those random runs were stress tests; this one is the official version."

He turned around and gave Hinata a high five as she rushed over to celebrate.

Although my palms were sore from being slapped, the feeling was... not bad.

"But speaking of which," Lu Ren glanced at the scoreboard and then at his teammates who were exhausted like dogs, "isn't this new version a bit too power-consuming? I think my battery has already dropped to 20%."

"Enough talk!" Daichi Sawamura walked over and patted him on the back. "One more point! Win this game!"

In the stands, the stern-faced headmaster adjusted his glasses, his expression complex.

"That student...is he really not from our school?" He was still pondering this question. "That kind of basketball mindset is clearly a perfect fit for our Senran!"

"Teacher, please don't even think about it," the manager next to him said with a wry smile. "With that kind of personality, our school rules probably wouldn't tolerate him."

In the end, Karasuno won the first game 25-23.

Although the victory was ugly and the process was thrilling, it was a qualitative leap for this evolving team.

They proved one thing: as long as you dare to break the rules, even buggy code can produce unexpected programs.

In the rest area, Lu Ren slumped on a bench, feeling like his lungs were about to explode.

"How was it?" Ya-zhi handed her a towel. "How does the bootleg feel?"

"It's alright," Lu Ren said, his voice muffled as he covered his face with a towel. "It's just a bit too demanding on my graphics card. I'll have to get Kageyama to lower the resolution next time, otherwise I'll crash before we even win the game."

In the distance, the match between Otoko and Fukutani had just ended.

Kuroo Tetsurou walked past Karasuno's rest area, glanced at Riku Ren who was pretending to be dead, and suddenly laughed.

"Hey, you scammer over there."

Lu Ren didn't move, but simply lifted the towel a crack: "What? Are you going to call the police?"

"No." Kuroo narrowed his eyes, his gaze like that of a black cat spotting new prey. "I just think this training camp shouldn't be boring."

Lu Ren put the towel back over his face.

"It's impossible to be bored," he muttered. "After all, we came here with a bunch of bugs. Just fixing those bugs will be a huge headache."

Summer in Saitama remains hot.

But on the wings of these crows, some new, not yet fully grown, but sharp enough feathers seemed to have sprouted.

That's something called "ambition".