Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

Before the final whistle of the second game had even completely faded, the tension in the air was already palpable.

Tobio Kageyama is back.

The two wads of tissue paper that had been so eye-catching had been removed, and the nosebleed had stopped. In its place was a face so gloomy it could drip water. He stood in front of the net, not shouting or yelling, nor pointing fingers at Hinata Shoyo as usual. He just stood there quietly, emanating a black aura that seemed to say "keep away."

Lu Ren stood in the back row, feeling a chill down his spine, as if he were being targeted by some kind of apex predator.

He instinctively shrank back, his gaze darting to the side. If this were a horror game, the word "DANGER" would definitely be flashing red at the top of the screen right now, and the background music would be that kind of frantic, unsettling drumbeat.

"Um..." Hinata Shoyo swallowed hard and whispered closer, "Kageyama seems... really angry."

"Be more confident, and drop the 'seems'." Lu Ren lowered his voice, barely daring to breathe loudly. "Look at the back of his head, isn't it emitting black smoke? I think what he's thinking about right now isn't how to win the game, but how to use a volleyball to crack open my skull."

Hinata shivered and quickly slipped back to her seat, giving Lu Ren a "take care" look before leaving.

What a disloyal bastard.

Lu Ren sighed and stretched his wrists. Although he was complaining, his muscles were completely tense. The angrier Kageyama got, the more absurd the accuracy and speed of his passes became. It was like a BOSS that had triggered its berserk mode. Although all the aggro was on him, as long as he made good use of that aggro, his output efficiency would be absolutely explosive.

The premise is that you don't get caught in the crossfire.

Shinji Futaba of Jozenji stood behind the service line with the ball in his hand. He was completely unaware of what was happening here, only that the atmosphere in Karasuno had become very strange. The setter who had just been bleeding from the nose now looked like a man-eating demon.

"Good serve!" someone shouted from the stands at Jozenji.

Two leaves throw the ball, then jump.

This was a very ordinary overhand serve, with a standard trajectory, no strong spin, and not very fast. In Lu Ren's eyes, the ball's trajectory was as clear as a white line drawn in the air, posing no threat whatsoever.

"I'll do it."

Lu Ren took a step forward, bringing his arms together. The volleyball slammed into his forearm with a dull thud, then flew in a perfect parabola toward the setter's position.

The first pass accuracy rate was 100%.

"Nice, catch!" Daichi Sawamura shouted.

Before the ball even reached Kageyama's hands, Tanaka Ryunosuke and Hyuga Shoyo in the front row had already started running. Jozenji's block was momentarily deflected by Hyuga's lateral movement, and in that fraction of a second, Kageyama's fingers touched the volleyball.

Without the slightest hesitation, and without any unnecessary adjustments.

The ball, like a precision-guided missile, was flung to the left wing with a whistling sound as it tore through the air.

fast.

too fast.

This ball was at least 20% faster than usual, carrying a kind of unrestrained ferocity. Tanaka Ryunosuke even felt that his jump rhythm was half a beat slow, but after all, he was Karasuno's most reliable main attacker. He forced his body to exert force in the air, and his arm swung out like a whip.

"Euro!!!"

With Tanaka's roar, the volleyball slammed heavily into Jozenji's half of the court, making a loud bang, and then bounced high into the air, flying towards the second-floor stands.

0: 1.

Karasuno took the first city.

"Good shot!" Tanaka excitedly waved his fist after landing and turned around to give Kageyama a high-five, but froze the moment he saw Kageyama's cold face.

Kageyama did not celebrate. He merely glanced coldly at the spot where the ball landed, then turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone and landing precisely on Lu Ren.

There was no joy in his eyes, only a naked threat: You've spread the word so well, you better fight back properly, or I'll kill you.

Lu Ren felt a chill run down his spine, and gave a dry laugh and a thumbs up.

Next, it's Karasuno's turn to serve.

Kageyama Tobio carried the ball toward the baseline. He walked very slowly, each step feeling like it was treading on Lu Ren's heart.

Lu Ren stood in front of the net, preparing to turn around and observe the positions, when suddenly alarm bells went off in his head. Almost instinctively, he covered his head with his hands and crouched down halfway, assuming a standard anti-aircraft stance.

"Hey, Lu Ren, what are you doing?" Tsukishima Hotaru looked at him with an expression as if he were an idiot.

"Shut up, I'm trying to save my life." Lu Ren didn't even look up. "I have a feeling that if this ball hits someone, it will definitely kill them."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a sickeningly loud thud came from the baseline behind him.

"Bang!!!"

The sound didn't sound like a hand slapping a volleyball; it sounded more like a hammer hitting a steel plate.

The volleyball underwent a violent deformation in the air, spinning and moving with terrifying speed, like a cannonball, flying past the top edge of the net. The wind pressure even whipped the hair of the front-row players from Jozenji.

Before Jozenji's free agent, Tsuchiyu Shin, could even react, the ball had already hit the baseline at his feet.

thump.

The floor shook.

The ball bounced out, hit the back wall, and rolled back.

The entire room fell silent.

The referee paused for a second before blowing his whistle and gesturing towards Karasuno.

0: 2.

A point is scored directly from the serve.

"Holy crap..." The smile on the face of Yuuji Terujima, the captain of Jozenji, froze. What's with this ball speed? Was this guy this fast in the first game?

Kageyama Tobio lowered his arm, his chest heaving violently. He seemed satisfied with the shot, his nostrils flaring slightly as he exhaled a puff of stale air. Then, he turned his head again to look at Riku Ren.

His gaze was still fierce, but this time it carried an additional meaning: Did you see clearly? If you make a mistake, you're dead.

Lu Ren silently lowered his hands from his head and wiped away non-existent cold sweat from his forehead. This guy had definitely channeled all his anger into that goal. This was a physical act of venting!

"Nice serve!" Daichi Sawamura clapped his hands, trying to ease the overly tense atmosphere on the field. "One more goal!"

Kageyama got the ball again.

The atmosphere at Jozenji Temple had changed. The relaxed feeling of laughing and enjoying the game was quickly fading. Although they were a team that pursued "fun," no one thought that being unilaterally defeated was a fun thing.

That feeling of powerlessness is like playing a fighting game where your opponent not only has smooth combos, but also deals twice as much damage as you.

"Hold on! Get the first pass!" Yuuji Terujima shouted, trying to get her teammates' attention.

Kageyama throws the ball, jumps, and swings his arm.

Another powerful jump serve.

This time, Jozenji was prepared. Their main attacker, Mohata Kazuma, barely managed to move to the landing point and cushioned the impact with his arms.

"Bang!"

The ball is too heavy.

Mubata felt as if his forearm had been struck by an iron rod. Instead of flying obediently to the setter, the ball bounced high into the air, flew over the net, and landed in Karasuno's half of the court.

"Chance ball!" Daichi Sawamura's voice rang out.

That ball was so perfectly placed, high and slow, it was practically a free point.

Sawamura steadily cushioned the ball and delivered it to the vicinity of the three-meter line.

Kageyama stood under the ball, his hands raised.

Hinata Shoyo leaped high into the air, like an orange lightning bolt streaking across the court.

"It's that fast attack again!" Although the blocking players from Jozenji were a beat slow to react, their excellent physical condition allowed them to jump and block the net with both arms.

If it were the old Hyuga, he might have chosen to avoid the block or spike the ball directly, but now his arsenal has new additions.

Hinata stared wide-eyed at the blocker's fingertips in mid-air.

That's it!

With a flick of his wrist, the volleyball grazed the tip of his opponent's middle finger, changing its trajectory and falling towards Jozenji's net.

A player going out of bounds? No, it's an attack using that as a pretext!

However, just as the ball was about to hit the ground, Jozenji displayed their unreasonable "wildness".

The blocker, who had already lost his balance, twisted his waist forcefully during his descent, stretched out one foot, and kicked the ball hard with the instep!

"Great shot!" Terujima Yuuji laughed loudly. The save was too reckless, but it was also too cool.

The volleyball flew irregularly into the air.

"It's not over yet!"

Terujima Yuuji didn't care about proper form at all; he jumped directly from outside the three-meter line. His posture in the air contorted like a cheetah hunting its prey, completely violating the textbook power generation technique, and he delivered a powerful spike to the still-spinning volleyball.

There was no tactic involved in this shot; it was purely a matter of physical ability and instinct.

A typical defensive system might be caught off guard by such a disorganized attack.

But Lu Ren wouldn't.

In his view, although Terujima Yuu's movements were wild, the pre-jump was too large. The take-off point, the swing amplitude, and even the direction of his eyes, all the data were instantly fed into Lu Ren's brain. After being processed by "gamified thinking", a red prediction trajectory was generated.

Lu Ren had already moved before Zhaodao's palm touched the ball.

He took two steps to the left, lowered his body, and steadily braced his arms.

"Snapped!"

The volleyball seemed to have eyes, hitting Lu Ren precisely into his arms.

"Too slow," Lu Ren scoffed inwardly. This kind of attack, which relied solely on brute force without any feints, was like a slow-motion tutorial video in his eyes.

The ball was raised high, indicating its extremely high quality.

"Counterattack!"

Kageyama Tobio didn't need any verbal reminders; he was already positioned where the volleyball was landing.

This time, instead of passing to Hinata, he passed the ball back to Tanaka on his left.

The blocking at Jozenji Temple was completely drawn by Hyuga's attack, leaving the left side of the goal wide open.

"One more shot!!!"

Facing the empty net, Ryunosuke Tanaka needed to hold nothing back. He twisted himself into a bowstring and then released it instantly.

"Bang!"

The volleyball hit the floor almost vertically, and bounced even higher than the net.

0: 3.

Karasuno launched a three-hit combo at the start.

The whistle blew, and the people of Jozenji Temple stood there, somewhat bewildered.

The series of offensive and defensive transitions just now was too fast. From Kageyama's powerful serve, to that bizarre kick to save the ball, to Terujima's unreasonable spike, and finally Karasuno's seemingly lazy number 13's precognitive defense, and then that final slam dunk.

The rhythm was completely out of their hands.

"Tsk." Terujima Yuuji scratched his hair, the carefree smile on his face finally fading a bit. He looked at Riku Ren, who was high-fiving Tanaka across from him, and his eyes sharpened.

"That number 13... is a bit troublesome."

Lu Ren was unaware of the opponent's attention; his focus was entirely on his own setter.

As Kageyama walked over, he paused for a moment as he passed by Rikuren.

Lu Ren froze, bracing himself for a scolding.

"Well done."

Kageyama tossed out those four words and walked away expressionlessly.

Lu Ren was stunned for two seconds, then let out a long breath, feeling as if he had just defused a time bomb.

"Phew...that scared me to death." He patted his chest and glanced at the scoreboard.

0: 3.

A great start.

As long as Kageyama maintains this "rage level," this match might be a speedrun. As for whether Kageyama will settle scores with us after the match... that's a matter for later. Let's finish the current dungeon first.

"Hey, Lu Ren!" west Gu Xi shouted from the sidelines, "That prediction was so cool! Teach me next time!"

Lu Ren waved his hand, and a slightly sly smile, typical of players, finally appeared on his lips.

"Basic operation, don't be silly."

He turned around and looked at the grounds of Jozenji Temple.

That guy named Terujima is trying to boost morale; he doesn't seem to have given up yet.

Let's continue then.

Since you like to mess around, I'll use the most rigorous logic to dismantle your "happiness" bit by bit.

In this world built on a physics engine, only data doesn't lie.

Now, the data is on Karasuno's side.