Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The spotlights on the Sendai Gymnasium's dome were blindingly white. The air conditioning whistled, but couldn't drown out the roaring cheers from the crowd. The smell of liniment mingled with the scent of sweat—the unique aroma of a final battle.

Wakatoshi Ushijima's serve finally ended. Rotation.

Shion Ohira stood on the bottom line. Shiratorizawa's school song cheering, so synchronized it made your scalp crawl, was back again, with brass instruments playing deafeningly loudly, making your eardrums hurt.

Toss the ball flat, run-up, hit the ball. Jump serve.

This ball didn't have the abnormal spin of Ushijima's, but it was extremely powerful. Nishitani Yu quickly glided, brought his forearms together, and forcefully pushed the ball up.

"One pass and a half in place!" Nishitani shouted, rolling backward to dissipate the force.

Kageyama Tobio was already waiting below the ball. Hinata Shoyo darted around the net like a hyperactive person, successfully attracting Tendou Satoru's attention.

"Back row!"

With a flick of his finger, Kageyama sent the ball to the three-meter line.

Lu Ren leaped precisely on the touch of the ball. His movements were fluid and graceful. His gaze swept over the white net, finding an opening in Shiratorizawa's defense. He swung his arm and smashed the ball.

The ball moves extremely fast.

But Shiratorizawa's libero, Hayato Yamagata, reacted even faster. He threw himself onto the wooden floor and raised the ball with one hand.

"Good catch!" Kenjiro Shirabu ran into position.

There were no feints, no tactical cover. Baibuto's form was textbook perfect, his aim clearly directed at the left flank.

Ushijima Wakatoshi jumps.

On Karasuno's side, a three-man defensive formation quickly took shape: Tsukishima, Kageyama, and Hinata.

Three pairs of arms formed a high wall in front of the net.

Ushijima, suspended in mid-air with his left arm fully extended, slammed down through the gap in the three-person net.

boom.

The volleyball struck the edge of Tsukishima's forearm, changed direction, and bounced towards the second-floor stands with an extremely unreasonable initial velocity, landing directly at the feet of a spectator wearing glasses, causing a gasp.

The referee blows the whistle. 4:1.

The entire audience erupted in uproar. This pure aesthetic of violence was incredibly visually impactful.

Tsukishima swung his arm as he stepped back, grimacing, "What kind of hellish force was that? My bones are going to crack."

Lu Ren stood in the back row, his dead fish eyes suddenly wide open. The carefree look in his eyes had vanished completely, and his pupils reflected the back of the person opposite him wearing a white and purple jersey.

That's what makes it interesting.

What's the fun in fighting those weaklings that break at the slightest touch? Top-tier bosses that can take away half a player's health with a single strike are the rare resources worth staying up all night to grind for.

"Nishiya-senpai, Captain." Lu Ren walked over and lowered his voice, "Change formation."

Sawamura Daichi wiped his sweat: "How do I change it?"

"Half-area coverage." Lu Ren drew two lines on the wooden floor with the sole of his shoe. "Forget about the accuracy of the first pass. Don't think about how to get the ball comfortably into Kageyama's hands. For Ushijima's ball, just make sure it doesn't go out of bounds."

Nishitani Yu raised an eyebrow: "Tough it out?"

"Yes, we'll just have to tough it out." Lu Ren pointed to his chest. "Use your arms, your chest, even your face. As long as the ball is in the air, Kageyama has a way. What we need to do now is prolong his attack rounds."

Sawamura Daichi glanced at Ushijima across the street and nodded: "Understood. Fight relentlessly."

"That's a really harsh way to put it; it's called tactical attrition," Lu Ren grinned.

Shion Ohira serves again.

This time, the ball went straight for Daichi Sawamura. Daichi didn't adjust his hand position; instead, he lowered his center of gravity and used his entire upper body to meet the ball.

The ball slammed into the ground on the forearm, producing a dull thud.

The ball didn't fly towards the net, but instead flew low and horizontally, about to hit the ground.

"I'll do it!"

Kageyama Tobio dived forward. He was airborne, completely losing his balance. But his eyes were fixed on the ball's trajectory, and his hands reached out forcefully beneath it.

Ten fingers touch the ball.

A powerful burst of finger strength erupted at that moment. The ball was forcefully lifted from less than ten centimeters off the ground, tracing a high parabola.

"Beautiful!" Wu Yangxi slapped his thigh excitedly from the sidelines.

At the net, Hinata Shoyo had already jumped. Tendou Satoru followed suit, blocking with both hands.

But Hyuga was just bait.

Lu Ren sped up from the back seat. He didn't jump immediately, but timed it with an extremely subtle delay. Only after Tian Tongjue's body began to fall did Lu Ren push off the ground and take off.

The last three attacks.

Lu Ren twisted his waist in mid-air, avoiding Shiratorizawa's main defensive line, and with a flick of his wrist, cut the ball to the right corner.

That shot was extremely tricky, with a very difficult angle.

The ball was about to hit the ground. At some point, Shion Ohira had retreated to that position. This mature-looking outside hitter possessed an incredibly stable stance. He knelt on one knee, his hands supporting his weight.

The ball rose steadily into the air.

"Lion's Voice, well done!"

Kenjiro Shirabu made another move. His expression remained unchanged, as cold and ruthless as a fully wound-up machine.

Pass the ball. Still on the left wing.

"Left!" Hotaru Tsukishima shouted.

Ushijima Wakatoshi took another running start. Each step he took on the floor carried a dull rhythm.

Take off. Stay in the air.

Hotaru Tsukishima stood in front of the net, replaying Lu Ren's theory from the previous night in her mind.

— "Avoid head-on collisions. Use soft nets and cushion the impact with your hands."

Tsukishima took a deep breath and jumped. Instead of stretching his arms forward as usual, he deliberately tilted his palms slightly back, trying to create a cushioning effect at the moment of contact with the ball.

Ushima's left arm swung down.

The volleyball, carrying terrifying kinetic energy and a right spin, slammed into Tsukishima's hands.

The moment they made contact, Tsukishima's expression changed.

Buffer? It doesn't exist at all.

The force was so brute that it defied the laws of physics, slamming Tsukishima's deliberately leaning-back hands backward and causing them to snap. The volleyball forced its way through the gap between his hands and slammed heavily into Karasuno's three-point line.

boom!

The floor shook.

The referee blows the whistle. 6:2.

Hotaru Tsukishima landed on the ground, staggering before regaining his balance. He looked down at his hands. His palms were red, and all ten fingers were trembling uncontrollably. A throbbing pain shot through his wrists.

Can't stop it.

That force couldn't be neutralized by any "soft" techniques.

Tsukishima turned her head and looked at Lu Ren in the back row. A rare crack appeared in those eyes that were usually calm and mocking.

"You call this a boss that can be worn down?" Tsukishima gritted his teeth, his voice squeezed out from between them. "This is clearly a stat monster with an invincible health cheat."

Lu Ren flicked his wrist, stepped forward, and patted Tsukishima on the back.

"Don't rush," Lu Ren said, watching the Shiratorizawa players high-fiving on the opposite half of the court. "The thicker the armor of a monster, the more satisfying it is to break through its defense. You figured out the trajectory of that shot just now, didn't you?"

Tsukishima didn't speak, but simply pushed up his slipped glasses with a cold expression.

"Try again." Lu Ren's tone was unreasonably confident. "Next time, bring your middle and ring fingers together. He likes to hit out of bounds, so you'll set a trap for him."

The scoreboard on the sidelines flipped, and a glaring "6" hung on Shiratorizawa's side.

Karasuno requested the first timeout.

The team members walked off the field, panting heavily. It had only been a short time since the game started, but the physical exertion was already greater than playing a full game. That constant tension was extremely agonizing.

Wu Yangxi handed over a water bottle and a towel.

"Don't be intimidated by their momentum." Ukai Koshin said, holding the tactical board. "Their style of play is the same. Receive the first pass well, and leave the rest to Kageyama's direction."

"Coach," Lu Ren interrupted Wu Yang after taking a sip of water, "the standard first pass is useless. Ushijima's ball is too heavy; forcing a perfect first pass will only increase the error rate."

Wu Yang frowned: "So what do you mean?"

"Just keep playing randomly." Lu Ren draped a towel around his neck. "Let's drag the game into a quagmire. Nishiya-senpai and the captain are responsible for setting the ball high. As long as the ball is in the air, no matter where it is, Kageyama, you have to pass it out."

Kageyama Tobio wiped his face with a towel, without looking up: "You don't need to tell me."

Hinata Shoyo jumped up and down nearby: "Yeah! As long as the ball is still there, I can dunk!"

"Tsukishima." Lu Ren turned to look at Tsukishima Hotaru, who was sitting on a bench rubbing her wrists. "Can we still stop her?"

Tsukishima raised his eyelids, his tone unfriendly: "The finger isn't broken yet."

"That's good." Lu Ren grinned. "Go up there later and keep annoying him. He's strong, so don't try to fight him head-on. Make your hand movements a little softer, so that even if the ball slips through your hands, you can still change its trajectory."

Tsukishima scoffed, "Easy for you to say. That ball almost broke my wrist."

"High risk, high reward." Lu Ren patted Tsukishima on the shoulder. "It's up to you, main tank."