Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

Lu Ren was dragged home that night.

Literally, he was dragged. If they weren't still on the street, Qingze Yazhi would probably have grabbed his ankle and dragged him back like a sack full of potatoes. Even so, as the MVP of the "winning side," Lu Ren was in no different state from a salted fish at this moment. The only difference was that a salted fish doesn't make pig-like grunts with every step it takes.

Dinner was braised pork, specially prepared by Comrade Lu Jianguo, a portion so large it seemed to be enough to feed a Siberian brown bear. Lu Ren sat at the table, mechanically wielding his chopsticks, stuffing the high-calorie protein and fat into his stomach. The system indicated that his physical strength was slowly recovering, but that deep-seated fatigue—the so-called "stiff state"—stubbornly lingered on the status bar.

After the meal, the torture and forced confession session began as scheduled.

Lu Ren lay face down on the bed, his face buried in the pillow, and let out a muffled groan.

"Gently... lady, are you trying to take my spine off and use it as building blocks?"

Kiyoshita knelt beside him, her elbow grinding mercilessly against his erector spinae muscles. The force was unlike that of a high school girl; it was more like a Michelin-starred chef tenderizing beef.

"Shut up. If you don't massage away the lactic acid buildup, you'll be crawling to school tomorrow." Ya-zhi's voice came from above, accompanied by a crisp cracking sound of knuckles. "Bear with it."

"ah--!!"

Lu Ren screamed in agony. This was no massage; it was clearly torture inflicted on prisoners of war.

Half an hour later, the "repair" was completed.

Lu Ren felt like a Gundam model that had been taken apart and reassembled. Although the parts were still there, the joints always felt loose and precarious. He lay on the bed like a lump of mud, too weak to even move a finger.

Yazhi wiped the sweat from her forehead, skillfully picked up a disc from the bookshelf, and put it into the DVD player. Then, instead of leaving, she sat cross-legged on the carpet beside the bed, leaning against the edge of the bed.

The TV screen lit up, and the classic black and white opening sequence flashed by.

Ghost is a love story between a human and a ghost.

"Watching this again?" Lu Ren turned his face to look at Patrick Swayze's young face on the screen. "You've watched this movie eight hundred times. I can recite the lines from memory."

"The reason a classic is a classic is because it's worth watching repeatedly." Ya-zhi stared at the screen without turning her head. "And this one is a newly bought Blu-ray restored version."

The room fell silent, with only the background music from the movie and the two people's soft breathing.

Lu Ren stared at the ceiling, his vision somewhat unfocused. Although his body was resting, his mind was still filled with images of the match he had just witnessed. The sensation of the volleyball hitting his arm, the whistling sound of his shoes scraping the floor, and Kageyama Tobio's eyes that seemed to want to devour him.

That feeling... wasn't unpleasant.

It could even be said that it gave him a long-lost sense of being "alive".

On the screen, the classic pottery class scene begins. The male lead hugs the female lead from behind, their hands intertwined, the wet clay swirling and transforming between their fingertips. This scene is incredibly romantic, and the background music "Unchained Melody" begins at just the right moment.

"How are you feeling?" Ya-zhi suddenly asked.

Lu Ren paused for a moment, his gaze shifting from the ceiling to the back of Ya Zhi's head.

"What do you mean, how is it? This movie? The picture quality is definitely much clearer than the previous VCDs; you can even see the wrinkles on Sam's face..."

"You know that's not what I'm asking."

Ya-zhi interrupted him. She turned her head, resting her chin on the edge of the bed, her eyes shining frighteningly in the dim light.

"I'm asking about volleyball. Or, it's about that feeling of giving it your all."

Lu Ren fell silent. He wanted to come up with some nonsense to brush it off, such as "I'm too tired, I might as well play games" or "The body odor is too strong and doesn't fit my aesthetics," but looking into Ya Zhi's eyes, he swallowed those words back down.

"It's alright." Lu Ren rolled over, avoiding her gaze. "It's just a regular side quest. The monsters are a bit tough, but the experience points dropped are decent."

"Lu Ren".

Ya-zhi called his name. Not in her usual teasing tone, but with a rare seriousness.

"I've known you since kindergarten. You seem like a fun-loving person on the surface, always talking about 'games' and 'strategies,' as if you don't care about anything..."

She paused, then reached out and gently poked Lu Ren's arm that was sticking out from under the covers.

"But actually, you're a pessimist, aren't you?"

Lu Ren's body stiffened for a moment.

"All the games, comics, and novels are more than just entertainment for you." Ya Zhi's voice was soft, yet like a scalpel, precisely dissecting Lu Ren's thick armor. "They are your refuge. You treat the real world as a game, labeling everyone and treating difficulties as instances, because only in this way can you convince yourself to continue staying in this world."

Lu Ren remained silent. The light and shadow from the television flickered across his face, sometimes bright, sometimes dim.

"What are you hiding from?" Ya-zhi asked. "What is it that makes you, even after winning the game and smiling so happily, still have that... look in your eyes that's ready to run away at any moment?"

The room fell into a deathly silence.

Only the male protagonist on TV, who has become a ghost, is desperately trying to touch his lover, but can only pass right through her.

Lu Ren closed his eyes and let out a long breath.

The disguise has been exposed.

In this world, if there is anyone who can see through his "player" disguise, it can only be Qingze Yazhi.

"Want to hear a story?" Lu Ren's voice was a little hoarse.

Ya-zhi nodded, adjusted her posture, and looked like a child waiting to hear a bedtime story.

Once upon a time, there was an orphan.

Lu Ren stared at a point in the void, his eyes becoming somewhat vacant, as if he had pierced through a wall and seen a past that did not exist—or rather, a reality that could never be returned to.

"He lived a very hard life, experiencing all the harsh realities of life. He had no parents, no friends, and struggled to survive every day. In the end, he died."

Ya-zhi's fingers trembled slightly, but she did not interrupt him.

"But he didn't completely disappear. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in another world. It was beautiful, as beautiful as a fictional fairy tale. There were his nagging but loving parents, a life where he didn't have to worry about making a living, and a... childhood sweetheart who had always followed him around since he was little."

Lu Ren gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"This should have been a heavenly start, right? But this orphan always felt like he was a stowaway. A bug in the system."

He turned his head and looked at Yazhi.

"He always felt that all of this was borrowed. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next second, the administrator would discover the error and delete him, or forcibly kick him off the server. This happiness was too unreal, and it terrified him."

"So, he decided not to invest his emotions." Lu Ren's voice lowered. "He treated everything as game data. He didn't form deep friendships with others, and he didn't allow himself to immerse himself in any kind of passion. Because if you've never possessed something, then when you lose it—or when you have to leave—it won't hurt so much."

This is the truth about Lu Ren.

A coward disguised as a player. A transmigrator always ready to be abandoned by the world.

Yazhi listened quietly. She didn't understand anything about time travel, systems, or bugs. In her understanding, it was just a metaphor Lu Ren had created to explain his innate sense of alienation.

But she understood the fear.

"When will that orphan leave?" Ya-zhi asked softly.

"I don't know." Lu Ren shook his head. "Maybe fifty years from now, maybe tomorrow."

On the television, the movie was nearing its end. The male protagonist had fulfilled his final wish and was about to depart for another world.

Ya-zhi suddenly stood up.

She turned off the television. The room fell into darkness, with only the moonlight streaming in from the window, casting a silvery-white glow on the floor.

"Then treat every second as if it were your last."

Ya-zhi walked to the bedside and bent down.

Before Lu Ren could react, he felt a warm embrace.

Unlike the rough massage earlier, this hug was light yet tight. The faint scent of the girl's shower gel wafted into my nostrils, dispelling the cold, distant feeling.

"If that orphan is afraid of disappearing, then live life to the fullest in this world." Ya-zhi's voice rang in his ears. "Laugh, sweat, build bonds. Make every day a beautiful memory, deeply engraved in your mind and in the minds of others."

She released her grip and, by the moonlight, looked directly into Lu Ren's eyes.

"As long as the memories remain, you haven't disappeared. Just like that singularity."

Lu Ren was stunned.

Singularity.

That's a concept from Kamen Rider Den-O. As long as someone remembers you, you still exist.

"You..." Lu Ren blinked, the grayness in his eyes seemed to have been shattered by something, revealing a hint of surprise.

Seeing his dazed expression, Ya Zhi suddenly burst out laughing and flicked his forehead.

"Fool."

The atmosphere was instantly shattered.

Lu Ren snapped back to reality, the sentimental feeling instantly banished by the flick on the forehead. He coughed lightly and quickly switched back to his usual self.

"Ouch! That hurts!" Lu Ren rubbed his forehead, sat up in bed, and casually put his arm around Ya Zhi's shoulder, a signature sly grin spreading across his face. "I didn't expect this, Qingze Ya Zhi, to actually peek at my collector's edition DVD? It's the director's cut of 'Kamen Rider Den-O'! I hid it in the shoebox under the bed!"

"Come on," Yazhi said dismissively, swatting his hand away. "You left it lying on the table after you finished reading it last time; I only found it when I was cleaning up. And don't think you can skip tomorrow's training by telling a sad story."

"I'm serious! My story was so touching!" Lu Ren exclaimed dramatically. "Shouldn't you have been moved to tears and said something like, 'Oh, Lu Ren, I'll take care of all the housework from now on,'?"

"Dream on." Ya-zhi stood up, straightened her skirt, and said, "Since you have so much energy to joke around, it seems your strength has recovered quite well. I want to see you at the door at 5:30 tomorrow morning."

"5:30?! Are you a monster? Even the donkeys in the production team need a rest!"

"That's the requirement for ordinary players." Yazhi walked to the door, glanced back at him, and smiled slyly. "For heroes who want to clear the hellish dungeon, this is just the beginning."

Goodnight, Mr. Bug.

The door was closed gently.

Lu Ren maintained that exaggerated expression until the footsteps disappeared in the stairwell.

He slowly lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

The fear of being kicked out of the world at any moment disappeared. In its place was a strange sense of security.

"As long as the memories remain...?"

Lu Ren reached out and made a grabbing motion in the air.

Although I don't know how long this save file will last, since I've already been forcibly bound to a teammate, I'll try to complete the game.

After all, the plot seems to be getting more and more interesting.

Lu Ren turned over and closed his eyes.