Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The cold wind in Tokyo has left the trees on the street bare.

Karasuno's inn was located at the end of an alley in an old street. It was a two-story wooden building, and the wooden planks in the corridor creaked when you stepped on them.

Teacher Takeda stood in the entrance hall distributing room keys.

"First-year boys will be in one room, and second and third-year students will be separated. After you have put your luggage away, please meet in the lobby on the first floor at 5:30 for dinner. No wandering around."

Hinata Shoyo pushed open the sliding door, and without even taking off his shoes, he plopped down on the tatami mat and rolled around.

"So soft! Is this what tatami mats in Tokyo are like?!"

Kageyama Tobio threw his bag in the corner, took out a volleyball from it, and began to spin it on his fingertips.

"Tatami mats are everywhere. Is your brain full of straw?"

"What did you say!" Hinata jumped up.

Hotaru Tsukishima neatly placed his gym bag next to the cabinet, unzipped it, and took out his change of clothes, folding them neatly. He didn't even glance at the two single-celled organisms.

Tadashi Yamaguchi helped make the bed.

Lu Ren kicked his backpack into the corner of the tatami mat, unzipped his coat, and took out his phone and wallet from his pocket.

"Where are you going?" Tsukishima asked without looking up.

"Let's explore the map." Lu Ren stuffed his phone into his pocket. "When we get to the new map, how are we going to fight monsters if we don't turn on the fog of war?"

"Don't get caught by the patrolling NPCs." Tsukishima stuffed a T-shirt into the closet.

"Don't worry, my stealth skills are maxed out." Lu Ren waved his hand, opened the door, and walked out.

The streets outside the hotel were quiet. Lu Ren didn't go far. He had checked the map; the hotel where Yin Ju and Xiao Gu were staying was just in the next block.

During the national tournament, all sorts of top players gather in this area. It would be a disservice to his masterful gaming skills not to update the version information at this time.

The convenience store sign on the street corner was lit up.

Lu Ren pushed open the door and went in. A wave of warmth hit him.

He wandered around the snack section, picked up two bags of Tokyo-exclusive mentaiko-flavored potato chips, and also chose three cans of black coffee.

When I went to pay, the convenience store's sensor door beeped.

A boy with a pudding-shaped haircut walked in, head down, holding a game console. Beside him followed a tall boy with a rooster-comb hairstyle.

"Kenma, watch where you're going. Do you want to bump into the shelf?" Kuroo Tetsurou reached out and tugged at Kozume Kenma's collar.

Without even lifting the grinding head, his fingers flew across the buttons: "Black, don't touch me, I'm about to lose health."

Lu Ren, carrying a plastic bag, leaned against the wall next to the cashier and tossed the potato chips in his hand.

"Hey, wild owls and cats. That's a pretty high spawn rate."

Kurowei stopped and turned to look at her.

"Who do we have here? It's just a crow from Miyagi Prefecture. Why aren't you staying in your nest? Why are you out foraging for food?"

Hearing the sound, Moyan finally looked up from the screen. He stared at the mentaiko potato chips in Lu Ren's hand and blinked.

Lu Ren noticed this detail. He walked over and stuffed a bag of potato chips into Mo Yan's pocket.

"Trade items. In exchange for some information."

Grinding didn't refuse, tucked the potato chips under his arm, and continued playing the game: "What do you want to know?"

Kuroo raised an eyebrow: "Hey, you sold Otoko's underwear for a bag of potato chips? Mori, where's your backbone?"

"It's dark and noisy." Grinding down a powerful attack. "Besides, it's a limited-edition flavor. It's hard to get in line."

Lu Ren unscrewed a can of black coffee and took a sip. It was very bitter.

"Inarizaki," Lu Ren went straight to the point, "You guys went to Hyogo Prefecture for practice matches before. The Miya brothers' actual combat data isn't fully available in the recordings. I'd like to hear their feedback from a first-person perspective."

Kuroo dropped his joking attitude. He crossed his arms and leaned against the shelf next to him.

"You certainly know how to pick people. You come right off the bat asking for the correct answer."

"Not looking at a guide before fighting a boss is the act of a reckless person." Lu Ren placed the remaining two cans of coffee on the table next to him. "Wuye is so poor now that all they have left are tactics. I need to add some firewalls to this system."

Kuroo picked up a can of coffee and pulled the tab.

"Those twins are troublesome." Kuroo took a sip, his brow furrowing. "Miya Yu's passes are even more disgusting than your genius first-year student's. He can turn the worst first pass into the most comfortable spike. As for Miyaji..."

"Miyaji is a liar," Morin suddenly interjected.

Lu Ren looked at him.

After finishing the game, I put the machine in my pocket and tore open the potato chip packaging.

"They look like attackers, but they're always trying to steal the setter's job. Their system doesn't have a fixed logic. You think you've figured out the pattern, and the next second they've changed the code." Mo Yan took a bite of a potato chip and crunched it.

Lu Ren quickly categorized this information in his mind.

Dual-core. Seamless switching. Deceptive.

"That means there's no fixed aggro value in the dual-aggro mechanism." Lu Ren stroked his chin. "What if we forcibly sever the connection between them?"

"It's difficult." Kuroo shook his head. "Their tacit understanding doesn't need words. Besides, Inarizaki has more than just twins. There's Ooshiro Aran's breakthrough ability and Kakunana Rintaro's aerial mobility. It's an all-around numerical crushing."

"The numbers are weird, and the mechanics are weird too," Lu Ren concluded. "The game designers are shameless."

Just then, a loud shouting came from outside the convenience store.

"Akaashi! There's a convenience store here! I want to buy that big grilled meat bento!"

Kotaro the Wooden Rabbit pushed open the door, making such a loud noise that the glass vibrated.

Kyoji Akaashi followed behind, carrying a bag of sports drinks, looking exhausted.

"Senior Wood Rabbit, we just had dinner ten minutes ago. And the coach said we can't eat anything too greasy tonight."

"But I'm hungry! The National Tournament burns calories in the air!" Wood Rabbit said matter-of-factly.

He turned his head and saw three people in the corner.

"Oh! Kuroo! And Karasuno's...that one..." Bokuto pointed at Rikujin, then stammered.

"Lu Ren," Lu Ren introduced himself.

"Yeah! That guy with the weird serve!" Wood Rabbit chimed in. "Are you guys having a secret meeting? Count me in!"

Akagi sighed and nodded to Riku and Kuroo as a greeting.

"We're talking about Inarisaki." Kuroo threw the empty coffee can into the trash can.

Wooden Rabbit's eyes lit up.

"Inari-saki! I know him! That setter, his serves are amazing! But not as amazing as my spikes!"

Lu Ren looked at the wooden rabbit and had an idea.

"Senior Bokuto," Lu Ren took out his phone and pulled up a video, "If you were at the net and faced a blocker like Kakunana Rintaro, whose body can lean back and whose hang time is extremely long, how would you hit him?"

Wooden Rabbit stared at the screen for a second, then answered without hesitation, "Just smash through him! Or fly over his head!"

Akaashi added from the side, "What Bokuto-senpai means is that when faced with a block that changes the rhythm, he will choose to forcefully increase the speed or use his absolute height to break through."

Lu Ren put away his phone.

Simple and crude. But effective.

Faced with complex mechanics, sometimes the most basic numerical superiority is the best solution. Karasuno doesn't have a heavy artillery of the same caliber as Bokuto, but it does have Hyuga's "thump-style jump".

As long as the height is sufficient, any hovering or backward leaning is useless.

"Thanks." Lu Ren gave the wooden rabbit a thumbs up.

Wood Rabbit proudly put his hands on his hips: "Hehe! Didn't I do a huge favor! Red Reed, look, I'm a tactical genius too!"

"Yes, yes, Senior Bokuto is the best. Can we go back now?" Akaashi replied perfunctorily.

After finishing the last potato chip, he crumpled the packaging bag into a ball.

"Kasuno will play Tsubakihara tomorrow." Kenma looked at Rikujin. "Don't mess it up. I still want to play against you guys in an official match."

"I've reserved the 'Battle of the Junkyard' instance with the highest priority." Lu Ren put his hands in his pockets. "Just make sure you don't get eliminated halfway through."

Kuroki grinned.

"You're really boastful. Be careful not to bite off more than you can chew."

"I never take risks I'm not confident about." Lu Ren turned and walked towards the shop door. "I'm off. I still need to go back and upgrade the system for those simple-minded NPCs."

Pushing open the convenience store door, the wind outside subsided a bit.

Lu Ren was walking back to the hotel. His mind was racing, rapidly developing a tactical simulation.

Inarizaki's intelligence has been largely confirmed. The chaotic rotation of the twins is the core threat. To break this chaos, even greater disorder must be created.

The Chimera system requires an overclock.

He took out his phone and typed a few keywords into the notes app.

Hyuga: Air superiority suppression

Tsukishima: Induced Filtering

[Kageyama: Passing rhythm disrupted]

Back at the hotel, the Karasuno team members were already gathered in the lobby.

The food was laid out on the long table: fried pork cutlet, miso soup, and rice.

Hinata was frantically shoveling rice into his mouth, his cheeks puffed out like a hamster's. Tanaka and Nishinoya were having a race to see who could eat the fastest.

Coach Uyang sat in the main seat, looking at the tactics board in his hand.

Lu Ren walked over and sat down in an empty seat next to Moon Island.

"Back from exploring the map?" Tsukishima picked up a piece of radish. "Did you get any rare drops?"

"I got the update package." Lu Ren picked up his chopsticks. "I've pretty much figured out Inarizaki's background. After we finish off Tsubakihara tomorrow, I'll give you guys some extra help with the patching tonight."

Daichi Sawamura looked up when he heard this.

"Are you confident you can defeat Tsubakihara?"

Lu Ren took a bite of rice.

"The monsters in the starting village. As long as the terrain doesn't cause any bugs, you can just easily defeat them."

After dinner, Coach Wu Yang called everyone to the conference room.

The starting lineup for Tsubakihara Academy was posted on the whiteboard.

"This team's strength is its stability." Uyo drew a few circles on the whiteboard with a marker. "They don't have any particularly outstanding ace, but their defense is very tight. Their first pass accuracy is very high. Their captain, Echigo, is a very experienced setter."

Lu Ren leaned back in his chair, twirling the pen in his hand.

"Stable means there's no room for error," Lu Ren said. "Their system operates methodically. If we just throw a few random characters at the start, the system will report an error."

"How do you insert it?" Sugawara asked.

Lu Ren pointed at Hinata.

"For the first point, go straight for the fast break. Maximize the speed."

Hinata excitedly raised her hand: "Oh! Leave it to me!"

"Kageyama." Lu Ren turned to the setter. "Don't hold back tomorrow. Use the parameters you learned from the national youth team directly. We need to use speed to tear their defense apart."

Kageyama nodded.

"And one more thing," Lu Ren said, looking around. "This is the first match of the national competition. The venue is huge, with high ceilings. The sense of space will affect your judgment."

He paused.

"So, forget about spatial awareness. Treat the net as your only reference point. As long as the ball is in front of the net, just smash it down."

The meeting room was quiet. Everyone was processing Lu Ren's words.

Daichi Sawamura stood up and clapped his hands.

"Alright. Tactics clear. Get some rest early tonight. Tomorrow, let the whole nation see Karasuno's volleyball!"

"yes!"

After the meeting was dismissed, Lu Ren returned to his room.

Hinata and Kageyama were already asleep. They even fought over the blankets while sleeping.

Lu Ren walked to the window and pushed it open a crack.

The cold wind blowing in made his mind even clearer.

The Tokyo night sky was starless. Only the city's neon lights illuminated the clouds, giving them a reddish hue.

tomorrow.

The first battle of the national competition.

He wants to leave his mark on the entire high school volleyball world in Japan.

Lu Ren closed the window and drew the curtains.

The game is about to begin.