Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

On the way to school in the early morning, the air still carried the scent of lingering dew.

Lu Ren yawned, two physiological tears squeezing from the corners of his eyes. He carried his schoolbag, his steps unsteady as if he had just finished playing a game all night. Qing Ze Yazhi, on the other hand, was full of energy, her ponytail swinging with each step.

"I heard something big happened at your house last night?" Ya-zhi turned her head, her tone teasing with a hint of knowing the answer. "My mother told me that the scene was quite touching."

"Don't even mention it." Lu Ren waved his hand, his face showing an expression of unbearable recollection. "Was it a major incident? It was a flood. My mother-in-law's tear ducts malfunctioned, and we almost witnessed a scene of 'the flooding of Jinshan Temple.' If your mother hadn't arrived in time to find a way to release the floodwaters, my father would probably be blocking a gun with his own body."

"Auntie is homesick."

"I know, but this was a sudden system maintenance, without any announcement, and the players were completely unprepared." Lu Ren sighed. "Fortunately, the final rating was S, so there's a high chance that the new 'Back to Hometown' map will be available during the winter break."

The two chatted casually and unknowingly arrived at the entrance of the stadium.

Before I even entered the room, I heard a loud "bang" from inside. It was the sound of a volleyball hitting the floor hard, and it sounded painful.

Lu Ren peeked inside.

In the empty court, Tobio Kageyama stood at the baseline, spinning the ball in his hand. An empty water bottle stood at the corner opposite the net, clearly the target of this shooting mission.

"This guy, practicing his accuracy so early in the morning." Lu Ren leaned against the door frame, not in a hurry to go in and change his shoes.

Kageyama tossed the ball, jumped, and swung his arm. The movement was as fluid as a pre-programmed high-frame-rate animation.

The volleyball traced a sharp arc through the air, heading straight for the poor water bottle. Based on Lu Ren's dynamic vision, the trajectory of this ball was perfectly corrected, with a hit rate as high as 99%.

However, the unexpected always happens in the remaining 1%.

An orange figure suddenly darted out like a lagging NPC.

"I'll take it!"

Hyuga Shoyo appeared out of nowhere, yelling as he rushed to the landing point. But he clearly overestimated his predictive ability, or rather, underestimated the spin of Kageyama's shot.

He stretched out his arms, his posture contorted as if he were doing calisthenics.

"Bang!"

Instead of catching the ball, it slammed solidly into Hyuga's wrist bone with a crisp sound, then bounced off at an odd angle and crashed into the second-floor railing.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." Hinata hugged his wrist and jumped around on the ground.

The veins on Kageyama's forehead bulged instantly, and the second ball he hadn't yet served was being squeezed so tightly that it made a cracking sound.

"You idiot! Get out of my way!" Kageyama roared. "That ball could have easily hit the target! Are you here to cause trouble?"

"Did I receive it? Did I receive it?" Hinata completely ignored Kageyama's anger and kept asking anxiously.

"Catch my ass!" Kageyama pointed to the second floor. "That's a home run! Are you a mole sent by the baseball team?"

Lu Ren watched with great interest from the doorway, and casually took out a piece of candy from his pocket and threw it into his mouth.

"Again!" Kageyama ignored the single-celled organism and picked up another ball.

This time, his gaze was even more focused, as if he wanted to stare through the plastic bottle. He tossed the ball, took a running start, and jumped.

"Buzz—"

The volleyball whistled out with intense spin, its speed even faster than before.

Just a second before the ball hit the ground, a dark figure suddenly flashed past the doorway.

Lu Ren didn't even see how the other person moved.

The figure appeared abruptly at the ball's landing point, as if using a teleportation skill. Without any extra movements, the figure squatted down with legs apart, lowering their center of gravity extremely low. The black school uniform jacket draped over their shoulders fluttered with the movement, revealing a white T-shirt underneath.

Four large white characters were printed on its back: "One against a thousand".

"Smack."

It wasn't a dull thud, but a crisp, clean, light sound.

The seemingly powerful serve seemed to have all its kinetic energy swallowed up by a black hole the moment it touched the setter's arm. The volleyball obediently bounced upwards, tracing a gentle parabola, and landed precisely in the position where the setter usually stood.

Even the rotation was completely canceled out.

"So stable." Lu Ren almost crushed the candy in his mouth.

This ball-catching judgment is definitely top-tier defensive gear.

The figure straightened up, reached out and pulled the school uniform jacket that was about to slip off back onto his shoulder, the movement as graceful as a samurai who had just sheathed his sword.

Hinata stared wide-eyed at the calm and composed figure, then at the volleyball still rolling on the ground.

"Amazing..." Hinata murmured to himself, then his gaze fell on the top of the other person's head.

The boy wearing the "Ikki Tousen" T-shirt turned around. His hair was standing on end with a tuft of gold highlights in the front, and his eyes were sharp.

Hinata stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly blurted out, "Um... you're shorter than me."

The air freezes.

Lu Ren covered his face. This kid really doesn't know how to talk. Is this kind of hate-inducing skill passively triggered?

Sure enough, the boy's eyebrows shot up instantly, and a visible surge of anger emanated from his head.

"Huh?!" The boy took a step closer, his tone menacing. "What did you say, brat? Are you looking for death?!"

Hinata flinched at the overwhelming murderous aura emanating from him and immediately stood at attention, saying, "I'm...I'm sorry!"

But he clearly hadn't learned his lesson. Driven by both survival instinct and curiosity, he added, "Um... how tall are you?"

The boy paused, probably never having seen such a reckless newbie. He snorted, pointed to himself with his thumb, and said proudly, "159!"

"159..."

Hinata stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning.

Immediately afterwards, two streams of tears flowed down his cheeks. They were tears of excitement, tears of joy at finally finding his organization after a long drought, and tears of bittersweet relief at finally finding his people.

"Waaah..." Hinata said, wiping away tears and trembling, "Since joining the high school volleyball team, this is the first time... the first time I've looked down at someone! I'm so moved!"

"Damn it!" The boy completely lost it, jumping up to grab Hinata's collar. "Don't give me that 'crying with joy' act! You're not even that much taller than me! Stop being the pot calling the kettle black!"

In this chaotic moment, the stadium doors were pushed open again.

"Wow, it's so lively so early in the morning!"

Ryunosuke Tanaka walked in with his signature shaved head. He immediately spotted the short guy in the middle of the room who was throwing a tantrum, and his eyes lit up instantly, as if he had seen a long-lost brother.

"Agu!" Tanaka shouted, opening his arms wide.

Hearing the voice, the hot-tempered boy turned around, his anger instantly vanishing, replaced by an equally excited expression: "Ah Long!"

The two were like two monkeys who had been separated for a long time, almost hugging each other and picking lice off each other.

Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koji followed them in. Seeing this, Daichi smiled helplessly and turned to the bewildered first-year students, introducing them: "Speaking of which, you haven't met her yet. This is Nishiya Yu, a second-year student, and our volleyball club's libero. She was suspended from club activities for a while due to some... well, special reasons, but she was just reinstated today."

"The libero..." Hinata's eyes gleamed. "Is he the guardian spirit who's all about catching the ball?"

"Greetings, senior!" Although they didn't know the specifics, out of their instinctive fear of the strong, Hinata and Kageyama still bowed respectfully.

Nishitani Yu patted Tanaka on the shoulder and turned to look at the newcomers.

"Oh, you must be the new first-year students." Nishiya's gaze swept over the group, finally settling on Kageyama. "The one who served just now, the tall one, the one with the fierce look in his eyes."

Kageyama straightened his back.

"Which junior high school did you graduate from?" Nishitani asked.

"Kitagawa is number one," Kageyama answered honestly.

"Really?" Nishiya's eyes widened. "That's Kōgo! No wonder he can serve with such power. I remember playing against your school in junior high and losing 2-1. Back then, you had a guy on your team who served really well, with that kind of powerful jump serve."

Kageyama nodded: "That's Oikawa-senpai."

"I see." Nishitani stroked his chin, then suddenly asked, "And you? Which junior high school did you go to?"

This time it was Kageyama's turn to ask.

"Chidoriyama," Nishitani answered crisply.

Kageyama paused for a moment, then said, "Chidoriyama? That's a strong volleyball school in the prefecture, isn't it? Why would they come to Karasuno?"

He paused, a knowing glint in his eyes: "So, you also came here because you heard Coach Wu Yang is making a comeback?"

After all, for a volleyball idiot, this seems to be the only reasonable explanation.

Lu Ren, who had just changed his shoes, couldn't help but raise an eyebrow upon hearing this. He had a feeling that this short man, who seemed to defy convention, wouldn't give such a serious answer.

Sure enough, Nishitani Yu had a "what are you talking about?" look on her face.

Nishitani waved his hand: "It's not that kind of complicated reason."

He straightened his back, put his hands on his hips, and said with an air of righteousness, "I came to Karasuno purely because—the girls' uniforms at this school are exactly my type!"

The air fell silent again.

Kageyama's mouth was agape, his brain seemingly trying to decipher the logic of the sentence, but clearly his CPU was overloaded.

"Of course!" Ignoring the crowd's reactions, Nishiya continued his impassioned speech, "The girls here haven't disappointed me either! Their adorable style is simply righteous!"

"and!"

Nishitani raised a finger, his expression turning serious as if discussing some matter of national importance. "The most important point is—the boys' uniforms are school uniforms! The black kind!"

"My junior high school uniform was a suit jacket, and those floppy things weren't cool at all. So I've always longed for this tough, black, stand-up collar school uniform! That's the romance of men!"

After saying that, Nishitani Yu struck what she considered her coolest pose, waiting for everyone's approval.

However, there was no applause.

As if they had planned it all, everyone's gaze turned and landed on Lu Ren, who was standing in the corner preparing to drink water.

The kettle in Lu Ren's hand froze in mid-air.

Several gazes fell upon him like searchlights, especially from Tanaka and Hinata, whose eyes were filled with a meaningful "So this is what it means to be one of our kind."

After all, just last night, someone explained why they gave up the full scholarship to Shiratorizawa with almost the exact same reason—"Black makes me look thinner, like a villain, it's cool."

This kind of soul resonance that transcends height is so moving that it makes you want to call the police.

Lu Ren calmly screwed on the cap. Facing everyone's gaze, he showed no embarrassment whatsoever. Instead, he raised a hand and waved towards Xi Gu Xi, his tone sincere:

Great minds think alike.

Yazhi stood to the side, sighing helplessly, "The school should really give the school uniform manufacturers more money; this is much more effective at attracting new students than the enrollment brochure."