Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The fourth game.

The referee blew the whistle and gestured towards Karasuno's half of the court. Shiratorizawa had the serve.

Ushijima Wakatoshi stood outside the baseline, spinning a volleyball with his left hand.

Without any unnecessary movements, he tossed the ball, took a run-up, and jumped. At the highest point, his left arm pressed down, sending the volleyball, with intense spin, hurtling towards Karasuno's back row.

Nishitani Yuu planted her feet firmly on the floor, her arms crossed to catch the powerful volleyball. The ball struck her forearm with a dull thud and bounced high into the air.

"Make amends!" Nishiya shouted.

Kageyama Tobio quickly cut into the ball's landing point, and the instant his fingertips touched the ball, Hyuga Shoyo was already airborne on the right wing.

Shiratorizawa's Tendo Satoru jumped in sync, his hands blocking the diagonal line. Hyuga forcefully twisted his wrist in mid-air, sending the blow out of bounds.

Karasuno scores the first point.

With the serve changing hands, the game immediately turned into a meat grinder.

Without any buffer, both sides pushed the pace of offense and defense to the extreme right from the start.

Shion Ohira received Tadashi Yamaguchi's jump float ball, Kenjiro Shirabu pushed the ball to Ushijima, Ushijima spiked it hard, Hotaru Tsukishima and Ryunosuke Tanaka blocked the ball, and Riku Ren made a diving save from the back row.

The round will not end until the ball touches the ground.

The volleyball shuttles back and forth over the net, each hit accompanied by the collision of muscles and heavy breathing.

The audience in the stands gradually fell silent.

The continuous cheers stopped, leaving only the sound of the volleyball hitting the floor and the screeching of shoes rubbing against the plastic surface.

The spectators felt exhausted. It was an exhaustion caused by both visual and psychological pressure. The running trajectories of the ten players on the field were intricate and complex; every jump was taken with all their might, and every dive to save the ball resulted in a hard fall.

"Aren't they tired?" a player from another school muttered to himself in a corner of the stands.

The players on the field had their jerseys completely soaked with sweat, which dripped down their chins and onto the floor, splashing up tiny water droplets.

But if you ask the people on the field, the answer is always no.

Lu Ren wiped the sweat from his face, his gaze passing through the net and locking onto the shape of Shirabu Kenjiro's hand.

His lungs burned, and his thigh muscles protested with aching pain every time he bent them. But in his brain, dopamine was being released at a record-breaking rate.

It's too hot to hold.

On the opposite side, Shiratorizawa's defense was so tight that not even a needle could get through; on the offensive end, Ushijima Wakatoshi's heavy cannons came one after another, making people's arms numb.

But it was precisely this intense, evenly matched pressure that pushed all the Karasuno members to an unprecedented peak.

Fatigue? Shortness of breath?

I can't worry about that now.

Hinata Shoyo sprinted from the back row to the front row, jumping even higher than in the first set. Kageyama Tobio's passing accuracy became even more outrageous despite his exhaustion, with each pass precisely hitting the attacker at the most comfortable point.

The numbers on the scoreboard flipped alternately.

10: 10.

15: 15.

20: 20.

The game was a vicious cycle. Neither side could pull away by two points in a row.

Kenjiro Shirabu took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on Karasuno's half of the field. He noticed that Karasuno's defensive formation was changing. That number 13, Rikujin, always appeared at the most tricky angles, turning Ushijima's sure-fire shots into scoring opportunities.

"Give me the ball." Ushijima's voice rang out from behind Shirobu.

Without hesitation, Bai Bu lifted the ball high with both hands.

Ushijima leaped, facing a three-man block from Karasuno, and powered through with his left arm. The volleyball squeezed through the gap between Tsukishima and Higashimine's arms and slammed into the corner of the baseline.

23:22, Shiratorizawa is in the lead.

There are only two points left until the end of the competition, or rather, until Shiratorizawa advances to the national championships.

Coach Wuyang snapped the pencil in his hand on the sidelines.

Coach Eagle stood up straight, his eyes fixed on the field.

Karasuno requested a pause.

The team members walked off the field and gulped down water.

Lu Ren draped a towel over his head to block out the glaring light. He looked at Kageyama and Hinata.

"Will that system work?" Lu Ren asked.

Kageyama put down the kettle and wiped the sweat from his chin with the back of his hand: "No problem."

Hinata jumped twice on the spot, the soles of her shoes scraping against the floor: "I've been ready for this for a while."

"Okay." Lu Ren pulled the towel off and threw it on the bench. "Next, let's completely crash that numerical monster's system."

The pause has ended.

Karasuno serves. Ryunosuke Tanaka stands outside the baseline.

He patted his cheeks, tossed the ball, and served a powerful jump serve.

The ball was extremely fast, and the pass was aimed at the five-color worker. The five-color worker stepped forward, barely managing to raise the ball, and the first pass was halfway through.

Kenjiro Shirabu adjusted his position while running and passed the ball to Shion Ohira.

Oohira Shion smashed the ball, and Sawamura Daichi received it steadily.

"Counterattack!" Sawamura shouted.

The volleyball flies towards the net.

Tobio Kageyama is in position.

In that very second, a strange change occurred in Karasuno's half of the court.

Hinata Shoyo started from the left baseline, moving so fast that he was left as a fleeting orange afterimage.

On the right, Lu Ren started simultaneously.

The two players, one on the left and one on the right, sprinted towards the net along two perfectly symmetrical diagonals.

Shiratorizawa's defenses instantly fell into chaos.

Tendo Satoru's eyes darted around rapidly. Left? Right?

The two people's approach speed, take-off timing, and even facial expressions were exactly the same.

This was the trump card that Rikuin and Kageyama had specially prepared to deal with Shiratorizawa during the Saitama training camp—"Double Monster Quick Attack".

Kageyama Tobio touches the ball with both hands.

Driven by a beast-like instinct, Tendo Satoru instinctively veered to the side of Hyuga Shoyo. Ushijima Wakatoshi and Shirabu Kenjiro also subconsciously moved to their left.

Because Hyuga is Karasuno's strongest bait.

Kageyama's wrist twitched slightly. The volleyball didn't fly to the left.

A very short, straight line flew from Kageyama's fingertips and was precisely delivered into the air on the right wing.

Lu Ren had been waiting there for a long time.

There was no defensive barrier whatsoever. Shiratorizawa's right flank defense was completely cleared.

Lu Ren swung his right arm and struck the volleyball squarely with his palm.

"Bang!"

The volleyball hit the three-meter line in Shiratorizawa's half of the court and bounced up to the second-floor stands.

23:23. A tie.

The audience was silent.

The players from Shiratorizawa stared at the volleyball hitting the ground, their minds going blank for a moment.

What just happened? Two super-fast attacks launched simultaneously?

Coach Eagle's brow furrowed into a deep knot. This completely illogical tactic had shattered all conventional logic on the volleyball court.

"Again!" Hinata Shoyo shouted as he landed.

Kageyama Tobio turned around and walked towards the service area.

The serve rotates, and Kageyama serves.

A powerful jump serve sends the volleyball straight at Hayato Yamagata. Yamagata dives to save the ball, setting it high.

"Ushijima-senpai!" Shirabu Kenjiro shouted, passing the ball to the right wing.

Ushijima Wakatoshi jumped and hit a short diagonal shot over the double block by Tsukishima and Tanaka.

Nishitani Yu fell to the ground in the back row and scooped up the ball with one arm.

"Well done!"

The volleyball flew towards the net again.

This time, it was Sugawara Koji who stepped up to serve as the setter.

Kageyama, Hinata, and Rikuren started moving from the back row at the same time, forming a fan shape to flank the front of the net.

The netting system in Shiratorizawa was completely overloaded.

Tendo Satoru stood in front of the net, unsure of where to extend his hands. Three people, three different jumping rhythms, each looking like a potential attacking point.

Sugawara Takashi held the ball with both hands and flicked it with his wrist.

The volleyball flies towards the middle.

Hinata Shoyo soared into the air, meeting Tendou Satoru's hastily outstretched hands with a fierce grip.

The ball hit Tendo's finger, changed direction, and flew out of bounds.

The fighter is out of bounds!

24:23. Karasuno's set point.

The situation has reversed.

The king of Miyagi Prefecture has been driven to the brink of despair.

Ushijima Wakatoshi looked at the Karasuno players on the other side of the net. The group of boys in black jerseys looked like a flock of truly starving crows, frantically tearing at the throat of their prey.

"The last ball." Daichi Sawamura clapped his hands.

Tobio Kageyama serves again.

This time he changed his strategy and served a jump float serve to find an opening in the front area.

Shion Ohira barely managed to get the ball up, but his first pass was inaccurate.

Kenjiro Shirabu could only offer one high ball, still targeting Wakatoshi Ushijima.

This is Shiratorizawa's most trusted weapon.

Ushijima takes a running start and jumps. His height is still astonishing; he extends his left arm back, gathering his strength.

On Karasuno's side, Tsukishima Hotaru, Higashimine Asahi, and Riku Ren jumped up, forming a tight iron wall in the air.

Instead of going head-to-head, Ushijima subtly flicked his wrist in mid-air and delivered a highly deceptive drop shot.

The volleyball flew over the block and landed lightly in the vacuum area left by Karasuno's defense.

Just as the volleyball was about to hit the ground, a figure glided across the floor.

Xiguxi.

He used the instep of his foot to lift the ball high.

"here you go!"

The ball is spinning in mid-air.

Kageyama Tobio ran to the ball and jumped without hesitation.

On the other side, Shiratorizawa's defenses had a brief gap after Ushijima landed.

Hyuga Shoyo and Riku Ren once again positioned themselves on the left and right, and started simultaneously.

"Double Monster Quick Attack" version 2.0.

Tendo Satoru gritted his teeth, abandoned Hyuga, and lunged at Rikuren with all his might. Shirabu Kenjiro also jumped up.

Kageyama watched their movements from the air, then flipped his wrist.

He doesn't pass the ball.

With a gentle flick of the left hand at the bottom of the volleyball, the ball flew over the net and landed straight in the center of Shiratorizawa's half of the court.

Second attack.

Tendo Satoru stared wide-eyed as the volleyball fell past him. Ohira Shion and Yamagata Hayato tried desperately to save it, but it was too far away.

The volleyball hit the floor with a crisp sound.

The referee blows the whistle.

25: 23.

The fourth set is over.

The scoreboard is now frozen. The final score is tied at 2-2.

Karasuno High School pulled themselves up from the brink of defeat, dragging the match into a final fifth inning.

Thunderous cheers erupted inside the stadium.

Lu Ren stood in front of the net, looking at the pale-faced Shirabu Kenjiro on the other side, and flicked his wrist.

"The system crashed," Lu Ren said to the air.

Kageyama Tobio walked over and gave Riku a big high five. Hinata Shoyo jumped directly onto Tanaka's back and cheered loudly.

Ushijima Wakatoshi picked up the volleyball from the ground and turned to walk back to the rest area. His steps remained steady, but everyone could see that the course of the match was no longer solely controlled by Shiratorizawa.

The decisive battle of fifteen points is about to begin.

Everyone is waiting to see if the old king will continue his rule or if a new king will be crowned.