Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The referee blows the whistle, and the referee raises his right arm horizontally.

Tobio Kageyama stood eight steps outside the baseline. The volleyball spun steadily between his fingertips. The dome lights of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium shone on the polished floor and also on his focused profile.

Toss the ball. Take a run-up. Jump. Hit the ball.

The volleyball went over the net and hit the corner of the baseline in the half of the Tsubakihara Academy court.

Captain Tsubakihara, Echigo, only had time to turn his neck before a yellow and blue afterimage remained on his retina. The sound of the volleyball hitting the ground echoed throughout the huge stadium.

Within the boundary. 1:0.

"Well done." Lu Ren clapped his hands.

In the stands, Lu Jianguo waved his hand. Two rows of burly men in Armani suits bowed in unison at a ninety-degree angle, shouting, "Young Master is mighty! Wuye will win!"

The deep, resonant male bass voices converged and filled half of the C arena. Audiences in several surrounding areas stopped what they were doing and turned to look.

The Tsubakihara team members stood frozen in place.

"Forget the stands! Focus on catching the ball!" Echigo clapped and shouted, trying to get his teammates' attention.

Kageyama serves for the second time. This time, Tsubakihara's libero manages to barely raise the ball, but the first pass is inaccurate, and the ball flies beyond the three-meter line. Echigo hastily adjusts his pass while running, giving it to Terahiro, the outside hitter on the left wing.

Terayama jumps. In front of him, Tsukishima Hotaru and Kageyama Tobio's double net is already poised and ready.

The hand went out of bounds. The thought flashed through Terahashi's mind. He slightly turned his wrist and aimed at Tsukishima's fingertips, striking down.

Just as he exerted his strength, Tsukishima withdrew his hand in mid-air.

The volleyball grazed the edge of Tsukishima's fingers and flew out of bounds.

"Did you touch the net?" Terabo landed and turned to look at the referee.

The referee holds his hands outstretched. Out of bounds. Karasuno scores.

"Your jump was too obvious; the direction of your muscle exertion was written all over your face." Tsukishima pushed up his goggles and turned to walk back to the net.

Lu Ren looked at the positions opposite him. The data panel unfolded in his mind.

Tsubakihara's system is outdated. It's a standard three-point attack, heavily reliant on the accuracy of the first pass, and the setter's distribution logic is "whoever is in a good position gets the pass." There's no cover, no multi-point crossover.

"This outdated version isn't even good enough to run a Chimera background program," Lu Ren said in a low voice.

On the third ball, Tsubakihara finally organized an effective attack. The ball went over the block and hit Karasuno's backcourt.

With a gliding footwork and her body close to the ground, Nishitani Yu steadily pushed the ball towards the net.

Opportunity ball.

Kageyama Tobio stood under the net.

Hinata Shoyo started from the back seat. The soles of his shoes screeched against the wooden floor. With the final step, he slammed his right foot down heavily.

"Thump."

The kinetic energy in the horizontal direction was forcibly converted into lift in the vertical direction. Hyuga was lifted off the ground.

Tsubakihara's middle blocker jumped. Hyuga was still rising. The middle blocker began to fall. Hyuga stopped at the highest point, looking down at the other half of the court across the net.

Kageyama's pass landed precisely in Hyuga's hands. He swung his arm. He spiked the ball.

The volleyball hit the three-meter line, bounced high, and flew into the stands.

The audience was silent.

The Tsubakihara team members looked up at Hyuga Shoyo, who was falling from the sky. He was a player who was less than 1.65 meters tall.

"What height was that just now..." Echigo swallowed hard.

Lu Jianguo took off his sunglasses in the stands, turned to his wife, and asked, "Honey, did that little dwarf have springs in his clothes?"

Lu Xin stuffed the thermos into her bag: "That's because of good core strength. What do you know with your beer belly?"

Kiyosawa Ayashi, camera in hand, frantically snapped photos of Hinata, exclaiming, "So cool! This hang time defies physics!"

Lu Ren walked to the net and looked at the scattered formation of the Tsubakihara Academy on the other side.

"The system logic is starting to break down," Lu Ren said to Kageyama. "Their brains can't process Hyuga's coordinate data. Continue. Push the speed to the limit."

Kageyama nodded.

The game has completely fallen into Karasuno's rhythm.

Tsubakihara Academy's "stability" became its biggest weakness. Every step they took was within Riku's calculations. Stability meant rigidity, and rigidity meant predictability.

"Left flank, straight line," Lu Ren announced from the back row.

Sawamura Daichi shifted half a step to the side ahead of time, easily catching Terahashi's heavy hook.

"Right wing, lob shot."

Nishitani Yuu leaps to save Echigo's second attack.

Karasuno's counterattack was like a raging storm. Higashimine Asahi's back row heavy artillery, Tanaka Ryunosuke's extreme diagonal shots, and Hyuga Shoyo's unpredictable fast attacks.

The score quickly widened to 12-4.

Tsubakihara Academy requests a suspension.

The Karasuno bench. Coach Karasuno unscrews the water bottle and hands it to Rikuren.

"The other side is completely stunned. Don't we need to adjust our tactics?" Ukai asked.

"No need." Lu Ren wiped his forehead with a towel. "This is just a basic numerical advantage. Their first pass was disrupted by Kageyama's serve, the setter's distribution path was too one-dimensional, and the outside hitter's attack point wasn't high enough. They couldn't even get past Tsukishima, let alone their backcourt defense."

Coach Takeda flipped through the notebook: "Tsubakihara Academy is a strong team in Kanagawa, but I didn't expect the gap to be so big."

"Because they're playing volleyball, and we're playing speedrunning." Lu Ren draped a towel around his neck. "They're still following the round-robin rules, while we've maxed out the frame rate. Their CPUs are burning out."

The pause has ended.

Tsubakihara Academy brought in a substitute server, attempting to change the rhythm with their serve.

The ball is served from the ceiling. It's tossed high into the air and heads straight for the dome lights.

"I'll do it." Daichi Sawamura looked up and clasped his hands together.

The volleyball, propelled by gravity, falls and bounces off the ground, landing on the forearm. It bounces steadily towards the net. The first pass is perfect.

Kageyama jumps.

The blocking players at Tsubakihara were on edge. Hyuga Shoyo, Tanaka Ryunosuke, and Higashimine Asahi all launched their attacks simultaneously, striking from three points at once.

The blocker's gaze darted back and forth between the three attackers, and his steps became hesitant.

Kageyama flicked the ball with both hands. The ball flew to the right wing.

Lu Ren surged forward from the back row. No unnecessary feints. A pure run-up, a jump. His movements were incredibly fluid, his right arm like a fully drawn bowstring.

"Stop him!" Echigo shouted.

Tsubakihara's double net was quickly closed.

Lu Ren looked at the two hands from the air. There was a gap of more than ten centimeters between them.

With a downward flick of the wrist, the volleyball transformed into a streak of white light, precisely piercing through the gap in the block and landing on the undefended open ground in the back row.

13: 4.

"The pass was a bit too low," Lu Ren said to Ying Shan after landing.

"Shut up. That's because you jumped a beat too late," Kageyama retorted.

"I just drank chicken soup, and my stomach feels a bit heavy," Lu Ren said, rubbing his stomach.

From the stands, Lu Jianguo shouted through a megaphone, "Son! Well done! You've got the style of your old man back in the day!"

The men in black chanted in unison, "Young Master is mighty! Young Master is mighty!"

The Tsubakihara team members exchanged glances, seeing a deep sense of helplessness in each other's eyes. What kind of monster was this team from Miyagi Prefecture? Their offensive pace on the field was so fast it was impossible to keep up, and the cheering squad off the field was as arrogant as a yakuza extortionist.

The game continues.

Tsubakihara Academy's defensive system completely collapsed. Terayama's spikes were repeatedly blocked by Tsukishima and Kageyama. Echigo's passes were frequently inaccurate. The libero ran all over the court but couldn't reach the ball that Hinata was spiking.

20: 9.

Karasuno entered the final stages of the game.

"Substitution." Coach Uyang held up the sign.

Tadashi Yamaguchi replaced Shoyo Hyuga to serve.

"Go ahead and get some points." Lu Ren patted Yamaguchi on the back.

Yamaguchi takes a deep breath. He tosses the ball. He then throws a float ball.

The volleyball traced a strange S-shaped trajectory in the air. Tsubakihara, the libero, misjudged the ball, which bounced off his arm and went out of bounds. A serve, a point.

On the second ball, Yamaguchi served another jump serve.

This time, Tsubakihara's main attacker barely managed to receive the ball, but it flew directly over the net.

Probe ball.

Ryunosuke Tanaka leaped high and slammed the ball back onto the Tsubakihara court with a powerful spike.

24:11. Set point.

Exhaustion filled the halfway point for Tsubakihara Academy. Everyone was panting heavily. Their clothes were soaked with sweat. Echigo looked at the Karasuno players on the other side of the net. Their breathing was steady, and their eyes held no superfluous emotions, only an extreme desire for the next point.

The last ball. Daichi Sawamura claps.

Yamaguchi serves for the third time. Tsubakihara, the libero, finally manages to steadily raise the ball. Echigo passes to Terahiko.

Terahashi gritted his teeth and jumped with all his might. He swung his right arm, pouring all his strength into the ball.

At the net, Tsukishima Hotaru and Sawamura Daichi jumped simultaneously. Two large hands formed an insurmountable wall in the air.

The volleyball slammed heavily into Tsukishima's palm.

The ball didn't go out of bounds, nor did it penetrate the block. It bounced back even faster than it came, slamming onto the wooden floor near Terahashi's feet.

The whistle blows.

25: 11.

The first game is over.

Karasuno High School easily won the first inning with absolute dominance.

The Tsubakihara players walked back to the bench with their heads down. The coach remained silent. The tactics board was covered with messy lines, but there wasn't a single path that could penetrate Karasuno's defense.

"Too weak." Lu Ren took the towel from Qingze Yazhi and wiped his face. "Their system doesn't even have a firewall. Hinata can run a few steps and they crash."

"Stop making sarcastic remarks." Daichi Sawamura slapped Riku Ren on the back of the head. "There are no weak teams in the National Tournament. It's just that we're in particularly good form today."

"Mom's chicken soup is the best." Lu Ren looked towards the stands.

Lu Jianguo was pointing at the scoreboard, boasting to the bodyguard in black beside him, "See that? That's my son. He beat the other side so badly they couldn't even find their way."

Lu Xin peeled an orange beside her and casually popped a segment into her husband's mouth: "Alright, stop showing off. We still have to play the next round."

Kiyosawa Masayuki flipped through the photos on her camera. Each one captured Karasuno's overwhelming dominance on the field.

"This isn't a competition," Yazhi muttered under her breath. "This is clearly a max-level character going back to the newbie village to slaughter everyone."

The other side of the stadium.

Miyazaki Yu and Miyazaki Osamu from Inarisaki High School stood at the entrance to the stands.

"Finished reading?" Miyaji yawned.

"Hmm." Miya Yu stared at the Karasuno bench, his gaze lingering on the back of the player wearing the number 13 jersey. "Interesting. That setter, and that short guy. But..."

"But what?"

"Tsubakihara on the other side is too cooperative." Miya Yu turned and walked back. "She didn't even put up a decent resistance. We can't test Karasuno's true potential."

Gong Zhi caught up with him: "It'll be our turn tomorrow."

"Yeah," Gong You stretched, "Hopefully they can get our system running a little. Not as boring as today."

Inside the arena, the two-minute break between sets has ended.

The referee blew the whistle. The second set was about to begin.

Lu Ren stood up and threw the towel on the chair.

"Let's go." He stretched his wrists and said to his teammates, "Let's finish this dungeon as soon as possible. Dad still owes us a Wagyu beef."

The entire Karasuno team stepped onto the wooden floor. The sound of their shoes rubbing together mingled.

Across the net, the Tsubakihara Academy felt a strong sense of oppression, as if they were being watched by a ferocious beast.