Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The air in the stadium was torn apart by a loud shout.

"Spinning—Lightning—!!"

Nishitani Yuu's figure flashed like an orange lightning bolt, instantly cutting into the receiving position. Facing the high-speed falling volleyball, he didn't use the conventional step, but instead performed an extremely exaggerated side roll on the floor.

The rubber soles of his shoes screeched against the floor. As he finished his roll, he knelt on one knee, steadily raised his arms, and the volleyball slammed into his forearm with a "thud," bouncing precisely upwards.

The movements were fluid and graceful, finally settling into a pose with arms outstretched and a sharp gaze.

The entire room fell silent.

Two seconds later.

"puff."

I don't know who let out the first sigh of relief, but then bursts of laughter almost lifted the roof off.

"Hahaha! What was that, Aya?!" Tanaka Ryunosuke clutched his stomach and pounded the floor, tears streaming down his face. "That was just a normal tumbling catch! Why did you yell that?! What kind of weird name is 'Spinning Lightning'?!"

Hotaru Tsukishima stood on the other side of the net, covering her mouth with her hand, her shoulders shaking as if she were trembling. Tadashi Yamaguchi next to her was laughing so hard that his face turned red, making those intermittent "giggle" sounds.

"Shut up!" Nishitani Yu's face flushed red, but he clearly didn't think he was wrong. Instead, he angrily pointed at the guys who were laughing the loudest, "What do you know! This is momentum! Don't you understand momentum?!"

He turned his head sharply and found Kageyama Tobio standing next to him, staring at him blankly.

"Hey! Kageyama! What's with that expression?!"

Kageyama blinked, his usually expressionless face filled with utter confusion: "No... I was just wondering, would shouting it out increase my chances of catching the ball?"

"Pfft, hahahaha!" Tanaka laughed even louder.

"Shut up! You bunch of clueless idiots!" Nishitani Yuu was furious. Suddenly, he thought of something and pointed at Tsukishima, Kageyama, and Yamaguchi. "Since you don't understand, then show me what you're made of! Hey! You lot!"

The three of them were taken aback.

"Sit down!" Nishitani Yu puffed out her chest, pointing her thumb at herself. "Bend over! Or just sit on the floor! Let me look down on you properly this once!"

"Huh?" Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. "Are you an elementary school student?"

Amidst the chaotic laughter, Hinata Shoyo's eyes lit up as he moved closer.

"Nishiya-senpai!" Hinata jumped up and down excitedly, "That 'Spinning Lightning'! Teach me! That's super cool! How do you do that?!"

Nishitani's expression instantly shifted from fury to surprise and emotion: "Oh! Shoyo! You think he's handsome too? You're definitely the only one with good taste!"

"cough."

A soft cough interrupted the lesson.

Lu Ren strolled over slowly. He pushed up his glasses and glanced at west Gu, his gaze as if he were looking at an NPC in a game, dressed in bizarre costumes and dancing.

"What?" west Gu saw Lu Ren and thought another admirer had arrived. "You want to learn too? Although it might look a bit like rolling a sweet potato for you with your height, I can..."

Lu Ren did not speak.

He simply stood in front of Nishiya, extending one hand expressionlessly.

Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, he turned his wrist in an extremely slow and perfunctory manner.

The movements were stiff and lacked any grace.

Immediately afterwards, Lu Ren grinned and uttered a completely emotionless reading aloud:

"Spinning—Lightning."

They even added a funny tilde to the end of the word.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

"Hahahahahahaha!"

Tanaka, who had just managed to stop laughing, collapsed again, laughing so hard he fell to the ground, pounding the floor. Tsukishima turned away, his shoulders shaking even more violently than before. Even Kageyama couldn't help but turn his head to one side, his shoulders twitching suspiciously.

This is practically an execution in front of your face.

If Nishiya's original version was a special effect ultimate move with all the chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) going on, then Lu Ren's version is a low-quality, frame-dropping, and graphics card-burning grotesque imitation.

west Gu Xi's face instantly turned as red as a tomato, and steam almost rose from her head.

"You—you—bastard—!!"

"Oops, the skill's wind-up is too long." Just as Xigu pounced, Lu Ren slipped away with a sidestep.

"Don't run! Lu Ren, you stop right there!" west Gu roared as he chased after him.

Lu Ren didn't confront him head-on at all. He ran in circles around the stadium, using the net posts and ball carts as cover.

Nishitani, being a free agent, possessed incredible explosive power and was about to catch up.

Lu Ren suddenly stopped.

Nishitani was startled and instinctively slammed on the brakes.

In that instant of hesitation, Lu Ren turned around, reached out to west Gu again, and slowly rotated his wrist, accompanied by that smug expression:

"lightning……"

"Aaaaaah, I'm going to kill you!!" Nishiya completely went berserk.

Lu Ren took off running, shouting back as he went, "Isn't the cooldown time over yet? Senior, is your mana bar empty?"

The entire stadium was in chaos until the main door was suddenly flung open.

"Everyone! Thank you for your hard work!"

Professor Takeda Ittetsu stood at the door, panting, holding a stack of documents in his arms.

Nishitani was chasing Rikuren to the door when he almost bumped into Takeda-sensei. He quickly braked—that is, with the "spinning lightning" move—and rolled to the teacher's feet.

Mr. Takeda was startled: "Nishiya-kun? Is this some kind of new way of greeting?"

"Pfft." Lu Ren, hiding behind Tanaka, couldn't help but chuckle.

"Gather! Everyone gather!" Daichi Sawamura roared, his face dark, as he scooped Nishiya up from the ground. "Don't embarrass yourself in front of the teacher!"

The crowd then stopped their playful antics and gathered around.

Mr. Takeda calmed his breathing, his eyes behind his glasses gleaming with excitement.

"Listen up, everyone." He looked around at the group of sweaty teenagers. "We'll be having intensive training during the Golden Week holiday this year, right?"

"Yes." Sawamura nodded emphatically. "Although time is tight, the training intensity absolutely cannot be neglected in order to prepare for the qualifiers."

"Very good." Coach Takeda pushed up his glasses with a serious expression. "Then, on the last day of Golden Week, I've arranged a practice match for everyone."

That's something new. Given Karasuno's current situation, it's not easy for them to secure decent practice matches.

"Who are our opponents?" Sugawara asked curiously, "Schools within the prefecture?"

"No." Teacher Takeda shook his head, a smile involuntarily creeping onto his lips. "It's from Tokyo."

"Tokyo?!"

"That's right, Tokyo's traditionally strong school—Otokoma High School." Mr. Takeda paused, then added, "I remember they have a nickname, 'Neko' (Cat)."

The moment the name was mentioned, the faces of the third-grade students changed.

"Otokoma..." Tanaka stroked his chin. "I think I've heard quite a few rumors. It's said that in the past, Karasuno and Otokoma's coaches were old rivals, and the two teams would often travel long distances to play against each other."

"That's right, that was a famous match." A hint of longing appeared in Sugawara's eyes. "The duel between 'Cat' and 'Crow,' also known as—"

"Battle of the Landfill".

The moment those five words were uttered, the atmosphere, which should have been filled with excitement, was suddenly broken by a grumble from a corner.

"This name..." Lu Ren raised his hand, looking disgusted. "Why does it sound so shabby?"

Everyone: "..."

"What do you mean by 'shabby'?!" Tanaka retorted. "It's fate! Don't you understand fate?!"

"No, think about it," Lu Ren analyzed seriously, "'Junkyard' showdown sounds like two poor guilds who can't afford to run dungeons are just fighting each other in an abandoned map in the newbie village. The loot will probably just be gray junk like 'broken aluminum cans' or 'expired cat food,' right?"

"Can you please stop using gaming terminology to explain this kind of exciting stuff?!" Sugawara couldn't help but facepalm.

Tsukishima added coldly from the side, "While this guy can't say anything nice, his name is certainly quite corny. Is it really considered classic?"

Sawamura Daichi coughed twice, somewhat awkwardly: "Names are just a designation! The important thing is the history between the two teams!"

But then he frowned and looked at Teacher Takeda: "But teacher, since we haven't had much contact in recent years, why did Nekoma suddenly agree to play a practice match with us? After all, Karasuno these days..."

He didn't say what he was going to say next, but everyone present understood. In the eyes of Tokyo's powerful figures, Karasuno was probably just a "fallen tycoon" now, not worth making a special trip for.

Mr. Takeda scratched his head and smiled mysteriously: "I'll explain the specific details to Sawamura-kun later. Anyway, I've heard that Otokoma is such a good opponent, and I really want to make this fateful battle happen."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, before finally seeming to look through the stadium window at somewhere in the distance.

"Furthermore... if it's Otokoma High School, 'he' will definitely take action as well."

"Him?" Kageyama keenly caught the key word.

Lu Ren muttered to himself, "Is this a prerequisite quest for triggering the hidden NPC? Looks like this teacher is a hardcore gamer; he probably ran himself ragged trying to raise his favorability in this dungeon."

"Alright!" Daichi Sawamura clapped his hands, interrupting everyone's speculation. "It's a rare opportunity like this, everyone better be alert! Don't embarrass Karasuno! They're a top school in Tokyo, definitely not easy to deal with!"

"oh!!"

Everyone responded in unison, instantly igniting the atmosphere in the stadium.

"Tokyo..." Ryunosuke Tanaka rolled up his sleeves even higher, a signature delinquent grin spreading across his face. "City boy, huh? Just you wait, I'll beat those city folks to a pulp!"

"puff."

Tsukishima Hotaru couldn't help but turn her head away: "City Boy... Tanaka-senpai, the way you say that word sounds like 'a country bumpkin coming to the city'."

"What did you say! Tsukishima, you bastard!" Tanaka instantly bristled.

"And," Lu Ren added quietly from the side, "Tanaka-senpai, although you have a lot of presence, your English is..."

He paused deliberately, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Tanaka and Hinata.

"Probably on par with Hinata's catching skills. He's the type who 'works really hard, but the results are always disastrous.'"

The entire room fell silent for a second.

This one sentence resulted in a precise double kill.

Hinata, who was still happily anticipating her trip to Tokyo, froze on her face upon hearing this, and then slowly turned into anger.

"Lu Ren!!"

Hinata, looking like a ruffled orange tabby, glared at me with hostility. "Where was my catching so badly?! Nishino-senpai just praised my good taste!"

"Having a good eye doesn't mean you have good skills." Lu Ren shrugged, and was about to back away when he found that his way out was blocked.

An arm was firmly locked around his waist.

"Got you." Xi Gu Xi's sinister voice came from behind. "You were running pretty fast just now, Lu Ren. Why aren't you running anymore? Is your 'Flash' skill off cooldown?"

Lu Ren's expression changed: "Wait, Senior Xigu, let's talk this out. We're both civilized people..."

"Civilized my ass!" Tanaka Ryunosuke grinned maliciously as he surrounded them, cracking his fists. "Dare to mock my English? Today I'll show you what the 'City Boy's' iron fist is all about!"

"Me too!" Hinata lunged forward. "I'll make you take back what you just said!"

"Hey! That's a foul! Don't gang up on one! I'm calling the police! Daichi-senpai! Sugawara-mama! Help—"

"Who's your mother?!" Sugawara laughed and scolded, showing no intention of helping at all.

"Prepare to die! Rolling Attack!!"

"Hey! Don't pull my pants! Tanaka-senpai, let go! Ya-zhi's still watching outside! Give me some face, you jerk!"

The setting sun streamed through the high windows into the gymnasium, casting long shadows of the boys playing together.