Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

11:40 AM. A corner of the Civic Gymnasium.

Lu Ren felt like he was a piece of waste paper that had been crumpled and then smoothed out, then crumpled out again.

"Hold on, don't shake." Qingze Yazhi's voice came from above, holding a stopwatch. "Thirty seconds left."

Lu Ren was doing a plank, his hands on the ground. Sweat dripped from his nose onto the floor, quickly forming a small puddle. His core muscles were sending out sharp warning signals; his rectus abdominis felt like it was on fire, and his triceps were sore they felt like they'd just been pickled in vinegar.

"I can't take it anymore... the server is about to disconnect..." Lu Ren gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words, "Big sister, I'm a mage, not a berserker... this skill point allocation method is against the rules..."

"To defeat the Boss, even a mage needs some stamina." Ya Zhi remained unmoved, even extending a finger to gently poke Lu Ren's trembling lower back. "It's collapsed, lift it up."

"Ah—!" Lu Ren screamed, forcibly straightening his back. "This is murder! I'm reporting this to the game's official channels!"

"Ten seconds left. Nine, eight..."

For Lu Ren, those ten seconds felt like an eternity. When Ya Zhi finally yelled "Stop!", he collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud, too lazy to even turn over.

The morning's training regimen was pure hell. First, there were four sets of fifty crunches, followed by push-ups, and then all sorts of inhuman stretching exercises. Lu Ren felt like every muscle in his body was running away from home, especially his inner thighs, which were so sore they made him want to cry.

"Get up, let's go eat." Yazhi nudged his shin with her toe.

"I'm not going..." Lu Ren's face was pressed against the floor, his voice muffled. "I want to go home. I want my bed. I want to save my game and log off."

"Auntie gave me two thousand yen, saying it was for lunch today." Yazhi waved the banknotes in her hand. "If you don't go, I'll go eat something nice by myself, and then go back and tell Auntie you don't want to eat. I'll gladly accept this money."

Lu Ren's ears twitched.

"Furthermore," Ya-zhi added slowly, "we need to practice catching footwork this afternoon, and you need high-calorie carbohydrates to maintain your vital signs. If you don't eat, you might faint from low blood sugar this afternoon, and then I'll have to drag you to the infirmary for an injection."

Two seconds later, the "corpse" on the ground sprang up as if it had come back to life.

"Let's go! I want to eat meat!"

……

Twenty minutes later, at the family restaurant "Sunday".

It was lunchtime, and the restaurant was bustling with noise. Lu Ren and Ya Zhi finally managed to find a two-person seat in a corner.

In front of Lu Ren was an extra-large curry pork chop rice bowl. The pork chop was as thick as a brick, and the curry sauce was rich and golden. He was eating the rice with a spoon without any regard for his image, as if it were a life-saving elixir.

Ya-zhi ate much more elegantly, with a half-cooked omelet rice in front of her. She used a spoon to cut open the egg crepe, watching the golden egg yolk flow down, and squinted her eyes in satisfaction.

"Can't you eat a little slower?" Ya Zhi couldn't help but complain as she watched Lu Ren wolf down his food. "Nobody's going to take it from you."

"I'm recharging," Lu Ren mumbled, his cheeks puffed out like a hamster's. "We had such insane training this afternoon, if I don't pump up some fuel now, it'll definitely crash later."

Just then, the sound of wind chimes came from the restaurant entrance.

Lu Ren was facing the doorway, and habitually glanced at the newly spawned NPCs. That glance nearly made him drop the pork chop he was eating.

The two people who came in looked familiar.

The boy was dressed casually, with a muscular build, short, neat hair, and that signature reliable smile. The girl also had short hair, wasn't very tall, and seemed a bit shy.

Sawamura Daichi.

Lu Ren immediately stopped chewing, his dead fish eyes instantly lighting up with gossip. He shrank into the corner and nudged Ya Zhi across from him with his elbow.

"Hey, look at those coordinates," Lu Ren said in a low voice, "Isn't that our captain?"

Just as Ya-Chi was about to put a spoonful of omelet rice into her mouth, she turned her head and glanced at it upon hearing this.

"It really is Senior Daichi." Yazhi said with some surprise, "Who is that girl next to him?"

Lu Ren quickly swallowed the food in his mouth and activated "Player Observation Mode".

"Looks familiar... I feel like I've seen her somewhere before." Lu Ren narrowed his eyes. "That hairstyle, that aura... I remember now, she's from the women's volleyball team, the one who always talks to Shimizu-senpai."

"Senior Daogong Jie?" Yazhi reacted quickly, "The captain of the women's volleyball team."

"Oh—" Lu Ren drawled, a mischievous grin on his face, "I see. What kind of hidden plot is this? 'The composed captain's weekend getaway'? Or 'The volleyball club's social subplot'?"

Sawamura Daichi didn't notice the two "voyeurs" in the corner. He and Michimiya Yui found a seat by the window. The two seemed to know each other well. Sawamura was talking with a smile, and Michimiya Yui listened and nodded, occasionally showing a shy smile.

"I didn't realize that." Lu Ren poked at the pork chop on his plate with his spoon. "Our captain usually acts like a serious old cadre, but he's actually quite good at flirting with girls. Look at that girl's expression, tsk tsk, she's completely smitten."

Ya-zhi rolled her eyes at him: "What do you mean by 'flirting'? Senior Daichi is just naturally charming, okay?"

"Huh?" Lu Ren raised an eyebrow. "Charm? You mean that old father aura that you exude even before you're thirty?"

"That's a sense of security," Yazhi corrected. "Steady, reliable, and responsible. These kinds of guys are very popular with girls, much better than some guys who just play video games and talk nonsense."

Lu Ren completely ignored the second half of the sentence and continued to stare at the situation: "Look, look, Senior Daichi even handed her a tissue! That whole sequence of actions was so smooth, he must be a repeat offender."

Ya-Chih sighed and couldn't help but steal a few glances: "Don't talk nonsense. They were high school classmates, it's normal for them to be close."

"Childhood sweethearts?" Lu Ren stroked his chin. "Then this is a classic 'loser' scenario... no, a classic 'love flag' scenario."

"Eat your food," Ya-zhi said irritably, tapping his plate. "If you keep looking, you might get caught and silenced."

Lu Ren shrugged and quickened his eating pace.

The two didn't stay long. After finishing their meal and chatting for a while, they got up to leave. Sawamura insisted on paying the bill, and the two walked out of the restaurant side by side.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Lu Ren shoved the last bite of rice into his mouth, grabbed the bill, and rushed to the counter. "Follow them and see what happens next! This is a rare cutscene!"

Yazhi rolled her eyes helplessly, but quickly followed. After all, gossip is human nature, and even a devilish manager is no exception.

After leaving the restaurant, the two stood at a distance behind.

At the crossroads ahead, Sawamura and Michimiya stopped in their tracks.

Because of the distance, Lu Ren couldn't hear what they were saying. He could only see that Dao Gong Jie had his head down, seemed a little hesitant, and then looked up at Sawamura and said something, with a noticeable blush on his face.

Sawamura paused for a moment, then flashed his signature cheerful smile, patted Domiya on the shoulder, seemingly to encourage her.

Then the two waved goodbye and went in different directions.

Michimiya Yui stood there, watching Sawamura's departing figure, motionless for a long time. Only after Sawamura's figure completely disappeared around the corner did she gently pat her cheeks and turn to leave.

At that moment, Lu Ren and Ya Zhi, who were hiding in the alley next door, poked their heads out.

"Tsk tsk tsk." Lu Ren exclaimed in admiration. "That gaze, that silhouette—it's textbook-perfect unrequited love! Who would have thought, who would have thought, that Captain Sawamura with his thick eyebrows and big eyes would actually be the one being secretly admired?"

"I told you Daichi-senpai was very popular." Ya-zhi crossed her arms, looking like she knew it.

"Do you think I should ask the captain for some advice?" Lu Ren stroked his chin, deep in thought. "Ask him how he manages to be both a devilish captain and maintain this 'good guy' persona. Maybe if I learn that trick, I can win over a few hidden characters..."

"You're overthinking it," Yazhi coldly interrupted his fantasy.

Why be so discouraging?

"Because you simply don't have the time." Ya Zhi gave Lu Ren a chilling smile, grabbed the back of his collar, and said, "Lunch break is over. This afternoon's training is 'Catching Footwork and Reaction Special Training,' with a goal of 1,000 catches. You're not allowed to go home until you finish."

Lu Ren's face fell instantly, and his previous interest in gossip vanished completely.

"Wait! Strenuous exercise right after eating can cause appendicitis! We need to be scientific..."

"Stop talking nonsense." Yazhi completely ignored his struggles and dragged him towards the gymnasium like a dead dog. "This is so that you won't get sieveed by Aoba Johsai's serves in next week's practice match. Thank me, hero."

Lu Ren's mournful wails echoed from the alley.

"Senior Daichi—! Help—! A boss here is about to kill someone—!"

Unfortunately, that composed figure had already walked away, and no one could save this unfortunate novice player. Sunlight streamed onto the street, lengthening the shadows of the two figures; one was struggling desperately, the other was forcibly dragging, creating an eerie sense of harmony.