Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The lightbox of the Sakashita Store crackled in the night, like a faulty save point.

When Lu Ren pushed open the glass door, the wind chimes tinkled. The aroma of overcooked oden radishes from the shop's heating wafted out, but this smell, which should have been appetizing, was now mixed with an aura of "despair."

In front of the shelf, three figures dressed in black sportswear stared blankly at the empty insulated cabinet.

"Gone?" Hinata Shoyo's voice sounded like he was about to cry. "Are there really no more meat buns?"

"That's all." The dyed-haired young man sitting behind the cashier didn't even look up, flipping through a crumpled weekly magazine. "Just five minutes ago, those starving bastards from the soccer club swept through like locusts. They even bought the last two curry packets."

"Ah—!" Hinata screamed, clutching her head, and slid down the shelf. "How could this happen... My stomach is so hungry..."

Kageyama Tobio stood to the side, and although he didn't say anything, his stomach let out a very timely loud bang, expressing his protest on his behalf.

Ryunosuke Tanaka clicked his tongue, put his hands in his pockets, and looked at Hinata with a disappointed expression: "Hey, Hinata, aren't you usually pretty good at running? How come you can't even beat the soccer club when buying steamed buns? This is a disgrace to the Karasuno volleyball club!"

"But...but my legs are weak!" Hinata protested, feeling wronged.

"It's so noisy!"

The young man behind the cashier—Ukai Koshin, the young owner of Sakashita Shoten—finally slammed the magazine on the table in frustration. His messy blond hair and furrowed brows were so deep they could trap a fly. "Go make a scene at your own home! If you can't buy anything, hurry home and eat. These brats are at the age where they're growing; if they don't eat proper meals and just eat snacks, what kind of muscle will they build?"

Lu Ren stood at the door, listening to the irritable tone, and couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth.

He strolled over slowly, put one hand on Tanaka's shoulder, and spoke in a sinister tone like an NPC issuing a murder mission in a horror game: "Tanaka-senpai, when I came in just now, I saw that the soccer club members hadn't gone far."

Tanaka was taken aback and turned to look at Lu Ren.

Lu Ren narrowed his eyes, his right hand clenched into a fist at his side, his knuckles cracking: "Since it's a 'borrowing,' it shouldn't be considered robbery, right? After all, this is to uphold the dignity and right to survival of the volleyball team."

"Oh?" Tanaka's fierce, slanted eyes lit up instantly, and he gave a thumbs up. "Lu Ren, you may seem lazy usually, but you're actually quite shrewd when it matters! That's right, all you have to do is say you're 'borrowing' two steamed buns..."

"I'll lend you my head."

A muffled thud.

Qingze Yazhi withdrew her hand expressionlessly, while Lu Ren clutched his head, the villainous BOSS aura he had just exuded instantly dissipating, and he grimaced in pain.

"Don't plan any criminal activities in the store," Yazhi said calmly, casually pushing Lu Ren aside. "Besides, that's the soccer team. They have at least thirty people. Are you going to throw your lives away?"

"Tch, this is boring." Lu Ren rubbed his head and muttered under his breath, "Isn't this just to increase the difficulty of the game?"

Just as the group was dejected and preparing to leave this sad place, they suddenly heard a few soft "clicks" behind them.

Several energy bars were tossed onto the counter.

"Here you go." Wu Yangxi picked up the magazine again, covering her face, her voice muffled. "It's on me. After you finish eating, hurry home and have dinner. Don't wail and scream in my shop."

The group of people were taken aback for a moment.

"Thank you for the meal!"

Tanaka took the lead, and several people bowed in unison, the sound so loud it almost shattered the shop's glass.

"I already told you it's too noisy!"

……

Stepping out of the store, the night breeze was slightly cool, but it couldn't dispel the lingering heat of winning the game.

Lu Ren eagerly tore open the packaging and took a big bite of the energy bar. Although the texture of this compressed biscuit was hardly delicious, it was like a top-notch remedy for his brain, which was currently suffering from low blood sugar.

He finished his meal in a few bites, then looked away.

Yazhi held the energy bar in her hand, unopened, and gently swayed it with the rhythm of her walking.

"Um..." Lu Ren stared at the swaying stick, his eyes following it from side to side, "Aren't you hungry?"

"It's alright." Yazhi glanced at him. "I'm not like some people who have to use their brains to scheme against others on the field, so the exertion isn't that great."

"That was a tactic, you know what tactics are, right?" Lu Ren shamelessly leaned closer. "Since you're not hungry, and eating this kind of high-calorie food will easily make you fat, how about..."

"Isn't that a bad idea?" Ya-zhi deliberately held the energy bar up a little higher. "Who just said we needed to maintain our figure?"

"Times have changed," Lu Renyi said righteously. "I am currently in a weakened state and urgently need supplies."

Yazhi couldn't help but laugh at his self-righteous and shameless demeanor. With a flick of her wrist, the energy bar traced an arc in the air.

"then."

Lu Ren caught it precisely, tore open the packaging, stuffed it into his mouth, and mumbled a peace sign: "Thanks, nanny."

The three people walking in front witnessed the whole thing.

Tanaka stroked his chin, giving the two first-year students a serious lecture: "See that? That's what you call a high-level animal trainer's operation. Lu Ren is usually so sharp-tongued, but he's as obedient as can be in front of Manager Qingze. In the future, when you're looking for girlfriends, you should look for someone like that who can keep things in check."

Hinata tilted his head, looking bewildered: "But... that's an energy bar, not a bone."

Kageyama was more direct, frowning as he asked, "Why give your own food to others? That doesn't make you efficient at consuming energy."

Tanaka sighed and patted the two on the head: "Forget it, talking to you two volleyball idiots about this is like casting pearls before swine."

As they were talking, two familiar figures appeared under the streetlights ahead.

Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koji were walking side by side, seemingly discussing the recap of the match they had just played. Seeing the boisterous group of first- and second-year students, the two stopped.

"Hey, everyone's here." Sugawara greeted them with a smile, his gaze falling on Riku's chubby cheeks. "Still eating? Looks like you've recovered your strength quite well."

"Barely revived." Lu Ren swallowed the last bite. "It would be even better if there were meat buns."

The group reunited, and the team grew considerably. They slowly walked up the slope, the streetlights casting long shadows.

"Speaking of which," Tanaka suddenly broke the silence, his tone tinged with lingering fear, "Oikawa's serve was unbelievably powerful. It felt even stronger than a regular spike."

"That's the result of talent combined with hellish proficiency," Lu Ren interjected. "I've seen his motion frames; his jump height, hitting point, and arm swing speed are almost always at their maximum values. With that kind of serve, you can't predict the landing point at all unless you react and try to catch it."

Mentioning Oikawa Tetsu made the atmosphere slightly more somber. The man who appeared during the Great Demon King's BGM had indeed left a deep psychological scar on this fledgling group of crows.

"By the way, Kageyama." Tanaka suddenly turned to look at Kageyama, "Since Kitagawa First is a strong team, and you were their starting setter in junior high, why didn't you go to Shiratorizawa for high school? That's the absolute king of the prefecture, right? Logically, you should have gone there."

As soon as the question was raised, everyone's ears perked up.

Shiratorizawa Academy, the absolute powerhouse of volleyball in Miyagi Prefecture, is like that whale-driven guild that always tops the server rankings in a game. For Kageyama, who aspires to become even stronger, that seems like the most logical place to go.

Kageyama paused for a moment as he was tearing apart the energy bar.

He paused for two seconds, then expressionlessly stuffed the wrapping paper into his pocket, his tone as flat as if he were saying, "The weather's nice today," and said, "I didn't pass the exam."

The air suddenly became quiet.

"Huh?" Tanaka's eyes widened.

"Shiratorizawa didn't give me a spot through the sports-based admission program," Kageyama continued, his brow furrowing slightly as if recalling a painful memory. "So I took their general entrance exam. I failed."

He paused, a hint of genuine confusion in his voice: "I recognize all the words on that test paper, but I have absolutely no idea what they mean when put together."

"puff."

A sneer came from behind.

Wearing headphones, Tsukishima Kei appeared out of nowhere, carrying a convenience store bag and sporting her signature mocking smile: "So the so-called 'King of the Court' has a single-celled brain, huh? Looks like your intelligence is zero, except for volleyball."

Kageyama's temples bulged with veins, and he abruptly turned his head: "What did you say?!"

"I'm stating the facts." Tsukishima shrugged. "Schools like Shiratorizawa have very high deviation scores. Hoping to get in by luck is less likely than hoping Hinata will grow ten centimeters taller."

"Tsukishima, you bastard, you're even cursing me too?!" Hinata jumped up and down.

Lu Ren listened with great interest and couldn't help but interject, "Actually, it's not that difficult, is it? I remember this year's entrance exam questions were quite basic. Only the last two math problems had a few tricks. You can solve them by just applying the formulas and drawing auxiliary lines."

Everyone turned to look at him.

That look in his eyes was like watching a goblin suddenly start chanting a high-level spell.

"Hey, Lu Ren," Tanaka said skeptically, "you sound like you're bragging. Even though you seem pretty clever, you always seem to slack off during training whenever you can..."

"Exactly," Hinata nodded in agreement. "Lu Ren doesn't seem like the type to be good at studying!"

Lu Ren rolled his eyes: "Judging by appearance is a common problem among low-level players. I focus my energy on what matters most, unlike you guys who put all your skill points into building up your muscles."

"It's true."

Ya Zhi, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up, dropping a bombshell in a calm tone: "From childhood to adulthood, Lu Ren has never fallen out of first place in his grade, no matter what the exam is. Back then, Shiratori Ze sent him a special admission invitation, not only waiving his tuition fees but also promising him a full scholarship."

"..."

A deathly silence.

Even Tsukishima, who was always calm and collected, had a slight change in his expression.

"You're kidding, right?" Tanaka's jaw nearly dropped to the floor, his finger trembling as he pointed at Lu Ren. "This...this guy who spouts gaming jargon, just coasts through training, and even tried to rob the soccer club just now...is a top student?!"

"And I'm number one on the server leaderboard." Lu Ren raised an eyebrow smugly. "What, these days, do you not need to look at guides or calculate data when playing games? My intelligence attribute is maxed out."

"Then why did you come to Karasuno?!" the crowd shouted in unison.

Why would someone turn down the top family in the prefecture and a full scholarship to come to Karasuno, a place known as a "fallen powerhouse"?

Lu Ren shrugged and held up three fingers as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"First, it's close to home. It's a ten-minute walk to the left from my house, while Shiratorizawa takes forty minutes by bus, which is a waste of life."

"Secondly, the academic pressure is less. Elite schools like Shiratorizawa have an overwhelming amount of homework, which would seriously reduce my gaming time."

"Third, and most importantly," Lu Ren pointed to his black tracksuit jacket, looking serious, "Wuye's school uniform is black. Black makes you look slimmer, it doesn't get dirty easily, and it looks like you're on the villain's side, which is cool."

Everyone: "..."

That's a terrible reason. So terrible that it's impossible to refute it.

"What a... capricious reason." Sugawara shook his head with a wry smile, but there was a deeper meaning in his eyes as he looked at Riku.

"What about Kageyama?" Hinata broke the awkward silence, turning to look at Kageyama. "Since you couldn't get into Shiratorizawa, why did you choose Karasuno? Aren't there other strong schools in the prefecture?"

Kageyama had recovered from the "student humiliation" he had just received. He looked at the slope ahead, his eyes suddenly sharpening.

"Because I heard that Coach Uyang is back."

"Coach Ukai?" Hinata tilted his head.

"He's the legendary coach who led the once unknown Karasuno to the national championships." Tanaka chimed in, his tone tinged with reverence. "Although he retired a few years ago due to health reasons, if he really comes back to coach, Karasuno will definitely take off again."

"That's right." Kageyama clenched his fist. "I want to accept that person's guidance."

At this point, Kageyama's eyes dimmed slightly: "But I only found out after I enrolled that he hadn't come back."

"A famous general..." Lu Ren stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Although that legendary old man didn't return, sometimes the NPCs for hidden quests are disguised in the shops in the starting village."

"What are you saying?" Kageyama didn't understand.

"It's nothing." Lu Ren stretched. "I mean, it seems like the main storyline of this game is finally about to officially begin."

The night wind blew, casting a long shadow of the boy. Although the road ahead remained unclear, the fire in everyone's heart seemed to burn even brighter.