Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

Matsukawa Kazushige stepped onto the service court. The volleyball was tossed high into the air, striking the leather surface with a dull thud. The ball sailed over the white net, heading straight for Karasuno's backcourt.

Daichi Sawamura anticipated the ball's trajectory, bent his knees, and planted his foot firmly on the ground. He brought his arms together and met the ball with a powerful upward volley.

"The pass is perfect."

The volleyball traced a smooth parabola through the air and flew towards the net.

Kageyama Tobio moved quickly, the soles of his sneakers screeching on the floor. He tilted his head back, raising his hands above his head with his fingers spread wide.

Lu Ren cut in from the right, quickened his pace, pushed off the ground with both legs, and leaped into the air.

Beyond the net, Aoba Castle West's defensive system was swiftly completed. Three tall blockers jumped side-by-side, forming a human wall in mid-air. Kentaro Kyoya was among them, his face contorted in a grimace, his arm muscles taut, relentlessly blocking the straight spike.

A head-on confrontation offers no chance of victory. Lu Ren adjusted the angle of his arm swing in mid-air, slightly rotating his wrist to avoid the most heavily defended central area.

The edge of his palm grazed the volleyball. The ball changed its trajectory, struck the outside of Kyotani's arm, and bounced backward.

"One touch!"

In the Qingcheng half of the court, Songchuan Yijing reacted extremely quickly, lunging forward and catching the volleyball that was about to hit the ground with one arm.

Oikawa Tetsu was already waiting near the landing point. He didn't even look back at the attacker's position; the moment his hands touched the ball, he flipped his wrists and made an extremely subtle back pass.

The volleyball flew towards the left wing.

Iwaizumi took a running start and jumped. At the highest point, he met the volleyball head-on, his right arm swinging out in a blur. The cannonball was fired.

The ball was extremely fast and slammed directly into Karasuno's defensive blind spot.

Hinata Shoyo was standing in the back row and didn't have time to make a standard receiving motion. He gritted his teeth, straightened his chest, and went straight for the ball.

The volleyball slammed heavily into Hinata's chest.

"Ouch!" Hinata cried out, his face turning red as the volleyball bounced high into the air and flew onto the court.

Kageyama Tobio rushed over, caught the falling volleyball with both hands, and quickly pushed it to Tanaka Ryunosuke on the left.

Tanaka roared and slammed the ball down with a powerful dunk.

Qingcheng's double blocker was in position. The volleyball struck the blocker's hand, its speed decreasing sharply, and it slowly fell towards Qingcheng's backcourt.

Hua Juan Guida effortlessly glided the ball up.

Oikawa Tetsu once again took control of the offensive rhythm. This time, his gaze was fixed on Kyoya, who was three meters away from the line.

Kyotani takes a running start and jumps. His entire body arches into an inverted C shape in the air, his right arm pulling back, accumulating power to its maximum.

The volleyball, with its strong sidespin, hurtled towards Karasuno's half of the court.

Daichi Sawamura brought his arms together, trying to deflect the brute force. The moment the ball touched his arms, the intense spin sent the volleyball flying out of bounds.

The referee blows the whistle and raises the flag.

Karasuno 11:14 West of Aoba Castle.

The point difference has widened to three points.

Since that blond kid came on, Aoba Johsai's offensive rhythm became completely unpredictable. Karasuno's originally tight tactical system began to sluggish under this unreasonable physical disruption.

Lu Ren stood in the front row, wiping the sweat from his brow. Jing Gu's existence was a completely unpredictable variable, defying conventional data models. To regain control in this chaotic state, they had to offer something even more unreasonable than what the opponent could offer.

He turned his head and looked at Kageyama Tobio. He subtly raised his right hand and made a specific gesture.

Kageyama's eyes flickered slightly, indicating he had received the signal. He then turned his head to look at Hinata Shoyo and gave a similarly brief hand gesture.

During the final training camp in Saitama Prefecture, Riku Ren pulled Kageyama and Hinata aside to be alone.

"Ushijima Wakatoshi of Shiratorizawa is a numerical monster. Oikawa Toru of Aoba Castle West is a tactical core. We need to overcome these two mountains; our current system is not enough." Lu Ren slammed his tactical board loudly.

"Hyuga's eccentric fast attack is our strongest spear. But this spear is too easy to counter." Lu Ren pointed to the route map on the tactics board. "We need a second bait, or rather, a second spear."

Kageyama frowned: "You want to use a monster rush strategy?"

"That's right. My dynamic vision and body coordination are enough to keep up with your passing speed. As long as we start simultaneously on both sides, the opponent's blocking system will crash."

The practice process was hellish. The fast break required an absurdly high level of passing accuracy. Kageyama had to decide who to pass the ball to in a fraction of a second, while also ensuring the speed and landing point of the ball. Rikuin, on the other hand, had to overcome his instinctive fear of high-speed passing and forcibly etch the arm swing into his muscle memory.

Countless swings missed, countless times he was hit in the face by the volleyball.

But they did it.

On the sidelines, Wu Yangxi stood with his arms crossed, leaning slightly forward. What new tricks had these three lads been up to behind his back?

The serve remains with Aoshima. Matsukawa Kazushige patted the volleyball, took a deep breath, tossed the ball, and hit it.

The volleyball crossed the net again, landing in a tricky spot.

Sawamura Daichi moved sideways and steadily sent the ball to the setter position.

"The pass is perfect!"

Tobio Kageyama stood in front of the net, his hands raised.

Before the whistle had even blown, Hinata Shoyo had already sprinted at full speed. He shook off the defenders and headed straight for the net.

This is Karasuno's most classic eccentric fast-paced attack initiation method.

Iwazumi's eyes were fixed on Hyuga, and he was about to move to block him.

At the same time, another figure entered Iwaizumi's line of sight.

Lu Ren.

He was running in the opposite direction at an extremely fast speed, his pace remarkably in sync with Hinata's.

Two figures jumped up simultaneously from the left and right sides.

Iwamoto was stunned. The Qingcheng blockers also hesitated briefly. Which side should they defend?

Kageyama Tobio's hands touched the volleyball. His brain was racing at that moment, processing the jump height, speed, and direction of the two attackers.

The volleyball transformed into a white streak, shooting out from Kageyama's fingertips at an illogical speed.

The target is not Hyuga.

Instead, it was Lu Ren on the right.

The eccentric fast break's pass trajectory struck Lu Ren's swinging right hand with pinpoint accuracy.

Lu Ren exerted force from his waist and abdomen in mid-air, and pressed his wrist down hard.

The volleyball hit the floor with a crisp popping sound.

The Qingcheng defenders hadn't even finished their jump.

The referee blows the whistle.

Karasuno 12:14 West of Aoba Castle.

The venue was completely silent.

The audience in the stands forgot to breathe. Oikawa Toru's smile froze.

The Karasuno Twins' fast-paced attack has suddenly emerged.

Those ridiculous passes that could be dunked with eyes closed, how come Karasuno had two players hitting them?

Oikawa Tetsu stared at Lu Ren on the other side of the net, his fingers unconsciously curling. His proud tactical plan was brutally torn apart at this moment. Hyuga Shoyo was already troublesome enough, but now there was Lu Ren who could match the same speed. The difficulty of defense increased exponentially.

Oikawa Tetsu stood there, staring at the volleyball mark on the floor. His mind replayed the moment in rapid succession. Hyuga's timing of the jump, Riku's running route, Kageyama's passing motion. Perfectly synchronized. Without any warning.

As a setter, Tetsuya Oikawa knew all too well the difficulty of this kind of pass. It not only required the setter to have extremely high precision, but also demanded absolute trust from the attacker and extraordinary physical qualities.

These three first-year students from Karasuno actually managed to coordinate like this in a real battle.

He looked up, his gaze sweeping over Lu Ren and Ying Shan. One of them was constantly putting tactical pressure on him, while the other was constantly pushing the setter's technical limits.

Ukai Shishin's mouth dropped open. He couldn't believe that the secret killing move these three guys had been practicing was actually a copy of the Monster Fast Attack.

"These brats..." Wu Yangxi rubbed his temples, unsure whether to scold them for their nonsense or praise them for their genius.

In the stands, Qingze Yazhi leaned on the railing, waving her arms vigorously: "Lu Ren! Well done! I'll treat you to hot pot later!"

After landing, Kentaro Kyoya stared at Lu Ren and let out a low growl. The territorial instincts of this rabid dog had been fully activated.

Lu Ren, across the net, returned a defiant glare.

"What are you looking at? Haven't you seen a version update before?" Lu Ren stretched his shoulders. "Your physical cheat has expired. Now it's our time to crush you with numbers."

Jing Gu didn't understand the game jargon, but he could read the contempt in Lu Ren's eyes. He clenched his fist, preparing to smash the volleyball into Lu Ren's face in the next attack.

Iwaizumi stepped forward and patted Kyotani on the back: "Calm down. The volleyball match has only just begun."

On Karasuno's side, Tanaka Ryunosuke rushed forward and vigorously ruffled Riku Ren's hair: "Good lad! You kept this a secret! Even I didn't know you guys had this trick up your sleeve!"

Nishitani Yuya also leaned in, her eyes shining brightly: "That ball speed just now was amazing! Riku, you're a genius!"

Lu Ren laboriously freed his hair from Tanaka's clutches and tidied his hairstyle: "Basic stuff, don't be silly. This is just the first stage of clearing the dungeon."

Lu Ren landed smoothly and shook his wrist. The feel was excellent.

He turned around, looked at Kageyama, and prepared to high-five to celebrate this historic moment.

What met my eyes was Kageyama's face, scrunched up in disgust. His expression was as if he'd swallowed a fly whole.

Lu Ren's temper flared up: "What's with that expression?"

Kageyama turned his head away without even glancing at him, turning the back of his head towards Lu Ren.

"You bastard, do you want a beating?!" Lu Ren rolled up his sleeves, ready to step forward and start a fight.

Hinata Shoyo pounced over from the side and grabbed Lu Ren's neck.

"Lu Ren is so cool! We did it!" Hinata shouted excitedly.

Lu Ren's eyes rolled back as he was being squeezed, his hands flailing wildly: "Let...let go! You're going to kill this single-celled organism!"

The tense atmosphere on the field was dispelled by this farce. On Karasuno's bench, Sugawara Koji was doubled over with laughter, clutching his stomach. Sawamura Daichi shook his head helplessly and stepped forward to separate the three entangled individuals.

"Alright, the match is still going on." Daichi Sawamura clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention back to the arena.

Lu Ren rubbed his neck, which was still sore from being strangled, and returned to his position. He glanced up at the electronic scoreboard.

12:14.

The gap remains, but the initiative has returned to Karasuno's hands. The emergence of the two monsters' fast break not only disrupted Aoki's defensive rhythm, but more importantly, it cast an immeasurable shadow on Oikawa Tetsu's tactical board.

This match has only just begun to reach its climax.