Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The whistle blows, the pause ends.

The Jozenji team members returned to the court. Although they had just been outscored three points, their excitement, like that of someone going to a summer festival, hadn't faded. Terujima Yuuji clapped his hands, shouting things like "Let's have some fun!" as if they weren't the ones who had just been bombarded by the violent jump shot.

Kageyama Tobio stood at the baseline, spinning the volleyball twice in his hand. The gloom on his face eased somewhat, but the intense focus that seemed to burn through the floor remained.

"Serve well!" Daichi Sawamura shouted from the net.

Kageyama tosses the ball, takes a run-up, and jumps. The entire sequence of movements is so precise it's like watching an instructional video, but the explosive power at the moment of impact is full of destructive force.

The volleyball hurtled towards Jozenji's backcourt with a sharp whistling sound.

"I'll take it!" shouted Tsuchiyu Shin, the libero from Jozenji. This time he learned his lesson and didn't try to catch it head-on. Instead, he turned to the side and used a deflecting motion to brush the ball. The volleyball hit the outside of his forearm. Although it didn't completely neutralize the spin, it at least flew high and didn't fly directly into the stands.

"Good catch!" Setter Shinji Futaba of Jozenji quickly moved to the ball.

This was a set pass, positioned slightly off-center from the net.

"Give it to me!" Terujima Yuuji cut in from the left wing. His approach route was strange, neither a straight line nor a standard diagonal line, but twisted like a snake, trying to dodge the blocker's line of sight.

But in the face of absolute data, fancy footwork is nothing more than meaningless texture effects.

Lu Ren moved laterally at the net, his steps as light as if he were strolling in his own backyard. He glanced at Terujima's take-off point and then silently crossed it out in his mind.

Take off.

He and Ryunosuke Tanaka took off almost simultaneously, their four arms forming an impenetrable "wall of air" in front of the net.

When Terujima Yuuji saw the wall from the air, he didn't panic. Instead, he showed a smile that could even be described as "playful." Instead of avoiding it, he forcefully twisted his wrist and slammed it down on Tanaka Ryunosuke's outermost finger.

"Trying to create thugs to go out of bounds?" Lu Ren thought to himself with a cold sneer.

The ball wasn't very powerful, but it was angled tricky. It hit the outside of Tanaka's little finger and didn't fly out of bounds as Terujima had expected. Instead, it deflected strangely and fell straight towards Karasuno's net.

This was an extremely awkward landing point. The people in the front row were still in the air and hadn't landed yet, while the people in the back row were too far away.

"Oh no!" Tanaka's expression changed.

Just as the volleyball was about to touch the floor and result in a loss, an orange shadow slid across the ground.

Hinata Shoyo was like a fish out of water, sliding with his chest close to the floor, stretching one hand to the limit towards the ball's landing point.

"Smack."

The back of his hand cushioned the ball. The volleyball bounced up, but this was merely a simple save; he didn't control its direction. The ball cleared the net and wobbled towards the Jozenji court.

Opportunity ball!

The half of the court at Jozenji instantly erupted in cheers. Shinji Futaba, seeing the ball flying towards him, didn't choose to pass it to organize an attack, but instead jumped directly at the net.

This was an extremely bold decision.

"Take this!" Futaba swung her arm in mid-air and smashed it directly into Karasuno's empty backcourt.

This second attack completely caught the Karasuno team off guard. Nishitani Yuu, positioned in the back row, had his view obstructed by the previous block, and by the time he reacted and made his save, the ball had already slammed heavily onto the floor.

"Yay!!!"

The members of the Jozenji team instantly went wild. Several of them rushed up and surrounded Futaba, ruffling her hair and bumping her chest, celebrating as if they had won the match point.

The scoreboard flips over. 1:4.

"Don't worry about it, don't worry about it!" Sawamura Daichi clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention back. "That was a great rescue, Hyuga!"

Hinata got up from the ground, rubbing his slightly reddened hands, his face full of resentment: "Damn it, if only I could be a little taller..."

Lu Ren walked over and helped Hinata up, but his gaze fell on the cheering crowd across the street.

"These guys have such a great mentality, it's enviable." Lu Ren curled his lip. "They're clearly down by three points, but they act like they're up by ten."

"That's just their style, I guess." Tanaka spat out a bit of annoyance. "No matter what the situation is, they're happy as long as they can score. What a bunch of simple-minded wild monkeys."

The game continues.

Jozenji serves. The serve is standard; Riku Ren takes a slight step back and smoothly places the ball near the three-meter line.

"The pass is perfect!"

The moment the ball left their hands, the entire Karasuno team sprang into action.

This is like in an RPG game, the moment the tank engages the enemy, all the DPS simultaneously unleash their ultimate skills. Hyuga cuts in from the middle, Tanaka moves out from the left wing, Sawamura follows up on the right, and even Lu Ren, who just received the first pass, quickly adjusts his center of gravity and moves up from the back row to prepare for the attack.

Attack from multiple points simultaneously!

The barrier at Jozenji Temple was instantly torn to shreds. Their gazes darted back and forth between the four points of attack, their brains clearly overloaded.

Kageyama Tobio stood at the net, and at that moment he was the absolute ruler.

The ball stayed on his fingertips for less than 0.1 seconds.

"Hinata!"

Kageyama chose to break through in the middle. This was an extremely bold choice, because although Jozenji's middle lane defense was chaotic, it had the most players.

Hyuga leaped high, like a crow flapping its wings.

However, the moment he swung his arm, a sense of incongruity arose.

The ball... went too high.

It was about half a hand's width higher. For an average attacker, this might not be a problem; a slight adjustment would suffice. But for the "freakish fast attack" style that pursues ultimate speed, this half-hand's width error is a fatal flaw.

Hinata's hand swept across the bottom of the volleyball, only barely touching the skin.

"Missed it?!" The blocking player from Jozenji Temple stared wide-eyed.

The volleyball lost momentum, limply passing over Hinata's head and falling towards the floor.

This was absolutely a mistake. And the kind of blunder that would be turned into a parody video and played repeatedly.

Kageyama's expression froze instantly; at that moment, he even considered committing seppuku to atone for his sins.

Just at this critical moment, a solid figure appeared behind Hyuga.

Sawamura Daichi.

It's like an antivirus program that's always running in the background, precisely capturing the overflowing data a split second before the system crashes.

Sawamura remained calm. He lowered his center of gravity, put his hands together in front of him, and used a perfectly executed diving motion to catch the volleyball that was about to land.

"Snapped!"

The ball flew over the net.

"Phew..." The entire audience breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Ren, standing in the back row, watched this scene and couldn't help but whistle.

"Senior Daichi, you wiped that butt so cleanly." Lu Ren said in a low voice as he passed by Kageyama. "You can even clean up the king's excrement so well. No wonder you're Karasuno's nanny."

A furrowed brow appeared on Daichi Sawamura's forehead, but he was busy getting up and returning to his position. He gritted his teeth and said, "That doesn't sound nice. Shut up and get back on defense!"

Kageyama Tobio's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He stared intently at his hands, as if trying to see two flowers blooming on them: "I... made a mistake just now."

"A mistake?" Lu Ren raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were trying to test the captain's reaction speed. If that's the case, the test result is perfect."

Kageyama didn't speak, but silently clenched his fists.

The ball flew back to the field of Jozenji Temple.

Although it was a chance, Sawamura made a hasty save, resulting in a very fast ball speed. Jozenji's libero had to dive again to save the ball, raising it high.

"It's not over yet!" Shinji Futaba shouted.

The volleyball flies towards the net. Terujima Yu'er takes another run-up.

This time, his movements were even more exaggerated. After jumping, he realized he was in a bad position, so he forcibly leaned his body backward in mid-air, making a Fosbury Flop-like motion similar to that in high jump, in an attempt to avoid Karasuno's block.

"This is too reckless!" Tanaka couldn't help but complain.

While losing his balance, Terujima flicked the ball with one hand toward Karasuno's corner.

This defies all principles of mechanics, but in such chaotic situations, these unreasonable balls are actually the hardest to defend against.

Unfortunately, he was facing Karasuno.

Or rather, he was facing the land of Sawamura.

Sawamura was like a rock growing on the ground. No matter how bizarre Terujima's shot trajectory was, no matter how unscientific the parabola was, Sawamura always managed to appear at the ball's landing point.

No fancy dive or extreme reflexes were needed. He simply stood there, his hands supporting him.

"stable."

Lu Ren had only one word in his mind.

That shot was so easy, it was practically fed to my lips.

"Counterattack!"

Kageyama Tobio stood under the ball once more. This time, his eyes no longer held the impatience of before, only a chilling killing intent.

He wanted to wash away the shame of his earlier mistake.

After landing, Hinata Shoyo quickly turned back and jumped again. He was faster and jumped higher than before.

"Give it to me!!!"

Hinata roared in the air.

Kageyama flicked his wrist. The volleyball transformed into a streak of light, precisely delivered into Hyuga's palm.

There are no errors whatsoever. Height, speed, and rotation are perfectly synchronized.

"Bang!!!"

Hyuga's hand slammed hard onto the ball. The ball was so fast that the blocker from Jozenji didn't even have time to jump.

The volleyball slammed into the three-meter line at Jozenji Temple like a cannonball and bounced away.

1: 5.

Karasuno scores another point.

As Terujima Yuu landed, her smile faded slightly as she looked at the volleyball still rolling on the ground.

He turned his head and looked at the Karasuno field.

The short guy with the orange haircut was high-fiving the terrifying setter. Behind them, the captain, Daichi Sawamura, was clapping to encourage everyone.

"That's nice..." Terujima suddenly muttered.

Shinji Futaba, standing nearby, was taken aback: "What?"

"That feeling," Terujima pointed to Daichi Sawamura, "no matter how recklessly the people in front act, no matter how many mistakes they make, there's always someone behind them to cover for them. That reassuring feeling... it's truly enviable."

Terujima recalled last year. Back then, there were still third-year students at Jozenji.

Back then, they could, like Karasuno now, recklessly try all sorts of outrageous tactics on the court. Because they knew that if they messed up, their seniors would come to their rescue.

That is "freedom" built upon "security".

And now, at Jozenji Temple...

Terujima glanced at his teammates. They were all strong, physically gifted, and loved to play. But when the ball hit the ground, that empty feeling inside him was something he could never fill.

"We're just playing around." Terujima scratched his head, his eyes becoming somewhat complicated. "But they're... flying."

No matter how fancy a house is built, it will sway in the wind if it doesn't have a foundation.

Freedom without support is not freedom, it's just wandering.

On the other side of the net, Lu Ren, number 13, stood lazily in the back row, side by side with Daichi Sawamura. Add to that the libero, Yuu Nishitani, who could charge in at any moment.

The defense formed by these three people was like a huge, gentle net, catching all possible accidents.

That's why Hyuga and Kageyama were able to bite people like mad dogs.

"It's really... a cheat-like setup," Terujima said with a wry smile.

In the following matches, the situation began to become one-sided.

Jozenji is a typical "emotional" team. When they're on a roll, they can crush even the strongest opponents, and once their momentum snowballs, nothing can stop them.

But volleyball is essentially a game that suppresses mistakes.

Karasuno didn't give them a chance to snowball their advantage.

Whenever Jozenji tries to gain momentum and launch an unpredictable, chaotic attack, Riku or Sawamura will step up and extinguish the flames with the most basic and unpretentious first pass or defense.

It's like you're playing a fighting game, and you've just finished casting a powerful move when your opponent interrupts you with a light punch.

Once or twice is fine, but if it happens too often, you'll break down mentally.

The numbers on the scoreboard kept changing.

7: 15.

The point difference has widened to 8 points.

Lu Ren stood at the service position, twirling the ball in his hand. He looked at the opposing team, the Jozenji players, who were panting and whose eyes were starting to glaze over, but felt no emotion whatsoever.

It's like spending time in a dungeon during a downtime event. The boss's health bar is still low, but the mechanics have been figured out, so all that's left is mechanical damage output.

"It's about time to wrap this up."

Lu Ren tossed the ball into the air.

In his eyes, the so-called "freedom and unrestrainedness" of Jozenji, without the support of hard power, is nothing more than a bunch of gibberish that could collapse at any time.

And what he does best is clean up this garbled text.