Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

On a crisp morning during the Golden Week holiday, the air still carried a lingering chill.

Lu Ren tightened his shoelaces and jumped twice on the spot. Although last night's "first kiss" attack had crashed his brain all night, his biological clock still pulled him out of bed on time. Qingze Yazhi came out with him, wearing a light gray tracksuit, her long hair tied into a neat high ponytail.

The two exchanged a glance.

Lu Ren subconsciously reached for his nose, but Ya Zhi simply tossed him a sports drink, a faint smile playing on her lips: "Let's go, don't be late."

The slight awkwardness was instantly dispelled by this action. Lu Ren took the drink and followed her pace. Their shadows were stretched long on the asphalt road in the early morning, occasionally overlapping.

When we arrived at the school gymnasium, the atmosphere changed noticeably.

If the previous training was like a normal difficulty dungeon, then the expression on Ukai Shishin's face as she stood on the steps today directly signaled the start of "hell mode".

"Listen up, you little devils."

Ukai Shishin crossed his arms, his face, which looked exactly like a yakuza boss, was full of displeasure. "In four days, we'll have a practice match against Nekoma, a veteran powerhouse in Tokyo. After Nekoma, the high school league preliminaries will follow."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present like a knife.

"Even as a ragtag team, you have far too many weaknesses right now. If you want to win, there's only one way—train. Train until you're sick of it, train until your body moves before your brain, train until you can still cushion the ball even if you lose consciousness!"

Without any unnecessary words, the special training began immediately.

Kiyoko Shimizu stood by the hoop, calmly passing the ball. Kokoro Ukai stood on the high platform in front of the net, her volleyball flying like cannonballs.

"Next!"

Tadashi Yamaguchi was so nervous that his face turned pale, and the first ball bounced directly into the second-floor stands.

"Too stiff! Bend your knees!" Uyang roared.

It wasn't until the fifth attempt that Yamaguchi managed to pass the ball back to the setter position.

Next up were the third-year seniors. Defensive specialists like Daichi and Nishiya need no introduction; their rock-solid ball-catching skills were reassuring to watch. Even Tanaka, an offensive machine, was surprisingly reliable when it came to receiving the ball.

Needless to say, Kageyama Tobio's skill points are probably all maxed out, so he cleared it in one go.

It's Hinata Shoyo's turn.

"I'm here!" the kid shouted loudly, full of energy.

Then--

"Bang!" The ball hit the wrist bone and flew straight towards the back door.

"Again!"

"Bang!" This time it hit her face.

"Again!"

After six attempts, Hyuga finally managed to broach the ball with an extremely unorthodox form. Ukai rubbed his temples, clearly frustrated by the defensive capabilities of this "ultimate decoy."

"Next, Lu Ren."

Lu Ren stepped forward and took a deep breath.

Ya-Chih stood on the sidelines, her notepad slightly raised, the pen resting on the paper.

Uyang Xixin didn't hold back just because he was a novice. He swung his arm, and the volleyball came whistling in with a strong backspin.

But in the frame before Wu Yang swung his arm, Lu Ren moved.

His eyes were fixed on the angle of Wu Yang's shoulders and wrists. The shoulders were lowered by 5 degrees, and the wrists were turned outwards—a large angle on the left side.

The body is faster than the ball, arriving in one step.

Lu Ren appeared at the ball's landing point half a second in advance, with both hands in front of him. The volleyball slammed against his forearm with a "thud," bounced high, and landed precisely at the setter's position.

"One shot!"

A low gasp rippled through the crowd.

U-Yang raised an eyebrow: "Good awareness. Next."

Lu Ren stepped aside, shaking his slightly numb arm. Only he knew how dangerous that shot had been. Although his prediction was completely correct, his body's ball-catching skills were still too low, and he didn't absorb enough force. If the ball had had a bit more sidespin, it would definitely have gone out of bounds.

This is a classic case of "the mind understands, but the hands haven't."

The receiving drills continued until everyone was drenched in sweat. Ukai Koshin clapped his hands: "Five-minute break, then it's time for spiking. Kageyama, Sugawara, you two will be the setters."

The crowd dispersed to drink water. Lu Ren didn't reach for his water cup, but instead went straight to Wu Yang, who was tidying up the basketball hoop.

"coach."

Uyang Xixin, a cigarette dangling from his lips (unlit), glanced at him sideways: "What? Tired and want to take a day off?"

"I want to try being a setter," Lu Ren said, surprising everyone.

Sugawara and Kageyama, who were standing nearby, both stopped what they were doing.

Ukai Shishin took the cigarette away and sized up the bespectacled first-year student: "You? A setter? That's not a job anyone can do. A monster like Kageyama is a different story, and Sugawara trained for three years. What are you doing here, a complete novice?"

"The current team configuration has an overflowing attack power, but the margin for error is too low." Lu Ren pushed up his glasses, a reflection flashing on the lenses. "If the setter has a problem, or is in a bad position, I hope to fill that gap. I want to be an all-around opposite hitter."

"Pretty boastful," Wu Yangxi snorted. "Do you even have a foundation?"

"I teleported it to Hinata before, and also..." Lu Ren paused, recalling the stealth mission that had driven him crazy, "I teleported it to Iwaizumi when we were in the west of Aoba City. The evaluation was 'still usable'."

Ukai Shishin remained silent for a few seconds. He recalled the kid's outrageous tactical awareness and anticipation in the previous match. If only that kind of intelligence could be used as a setter…

"Okay." Wu Yang threw the ball back into the hoop and shouted to the field, "Everyone else go to the side, Lu Ren, you stand in the middle."

The site was cleared out.

Uyang Xixin brought over a basket of balls and stood on the other side of the net: "Don't say I didn't give you a chance. Try passing a spike to everyone. If it's too bad, then go back and practice receiving the ball."

Lu Ren moved to the setter position.

The first one to come up was Ryunosuke Tanaka.

"Oh! Lu Ren! Let me see what you're capable of!" Tanaka shouted excitedly, rolling up his sleeves to his shoulders.

Wu Yang throws the ball. The first pass is accurate.

Lu Ren stared at the incoming ball. In his vision, the world seemed to have turned into a stream of data: ball speed, spin, parabola.

Then, he turned to look at Tanaka, who was running for his turn.

Tanaka's approach speed is X, his jump height is Y, and the coordinates of the optimal hitting point are Z.

Lu Ren jumped, touching the ball with both hands. He didn't need to think about the feel of his fingers; he only needed to calculate the transmission of force.

"Whoosh—"

The volleyball drew a straight line and stopped precisely at the highest point of Tanaka's arm swing.

"Bang!"

Tanaka delivered a powerful spike, and the volleyball slammed onto the opposite floor with a crisp sound.

"Oh! I made it!" Tanaka landed, scratched his bald head, and his expression was a little complicated. "Um... how should I put it?"

"How is it?" Wu Yang asked.

"The position is fine, the height is just right, and we even managed to hit it..." Tanaka frowned, looking conflicted, "but something just feels off."

"Strange?" Lu Ren asked, puzzled. This was the optimal solution he had calculated.

Next up is Sawamura Daichi.

The captain took a steady run-up and jumped. Lu Ren delivered another perfect pass.

Daichi spiked the ball to score. After landing, he showed the same expression as Tanaka: "It is... a bit strange."

Dong Fengxu entered the game; as the ace, his hitting point was higher and his power greater. Lu Ren adjusted the parameters, increasing the ball speed and height.

"boom!"

Dong Fengxu spiked the ball successfully. But looking at his palm, he hesitated and said, "It feels like I'm being pushed along by the ball."

Lu Ren frowned even more deeply.

This doesn't make sense. Each ball is positioned at the limit of their physical capabilities, theoretically capable of unleashing 100% of their attack power, so why are the responses all negative?

"Next, Tsukishima," Ukai Shishin called out.

Hotaru Tsukishima strolled up slowly, her face bearing her signature mocking expression.

"Nice to meet you, all-rounder."

U-shaped ball toss.

Lu Ren took a deep breath. Tsukishima's height was an advantage, with a long wingspan, but his explosive power wasn't as good as Hyuga's. Based on previous observations, Tsukishima's highest reach was... here!

Lu Ren moved quickly, jumped, and passed the ball.

In this play, he maximized his height and increased his speed to match the fast attack rhythm. According to calculations, as long as Tsukishima jumped with full force, he could complete the spike from an extremely high point where there was no one blocking.

This is a perfect "theoretical solution".

The volleyball flies towards the top of the net.

however.

The expected smash did not occur.

The volleyball flew alone past its highest point, then began to fall, finally landing on the ground with a "thud".

Hotaru Tsukishima stood in front of the net, not even fully jumping, but only symbolically tiptoeing, stopping halfway through her swing.

The air suddenly became quiet.

Lu Ren landed, staring at Tsukishima in disbelief: "Why didn't you jump?"

At that height, you can definitely hit it if you jump with all your might.

Tsukishima adjusted his glasses, looked down at Lu Ren, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his lips: "Huh? You don't actually think we're characters in a game, do you?"

"What?"

"Just press the button, and you'll jump to the highest point without holding back; as long as the stamina bar isn't empty, every smash will be at maximum power." Tsukishima's voice carried a hint of impatience. "Please, this is just practice. Besides, if I try to reach that spot with all my might, my landing will be really awkward."

Lu Ren was stunned.

"Also," Tsukishima pointed to the spot where the ball had just fallen, "when you passed the ball, you only considered 'whether you could reach it,' without considering 'whether you wanted to reach it,' right? This kind of pass that forces people to reach for the ball is really infuriating."

Hit the nail on the head.

Lu Ren stood there, looking at his hands.

He always played volleyball like a real-time strategy game. Teammates were units with fixed stats. He believed that by simply throwing the ball to the point with the highest stat, he could achieve the optimal solution.

But he forgot that this is reality.

People aren't just cold, hard data. People have fluctuations in their performance, thoughts of slacking off, fear of injury, and... something as mysterious as "feel" or "skill."

While Kageyama's passing was domineering, he was forcing his teammates to evolve; while Rikuren's passing was mechanically executing a program, completely ignoring the user's experience.

"Slap, slap, slap."

Wu Yangxi clapped his hands slowly a few times.

"Do you understand now?" Wu Yang walked over and picked up the ball from the ground. "Your mind is indeed sharp, and your calculations are accurate. But on the volleyball court, there are some things that can't be calculated."

He shoved the ball into Lu Ren's arms.

"Setters aren't playing programming. You're cooperating with real people, not machines. When you understand that 'making the game comfortable' is more important than 'theoretical optimality,' then you can talk to me about changing roles."

Lu Ren held the ball, looking somewhat disheveled.

Ya Zhi, who was standing next to him, didn't say anything. She just silently wrote a line in her notebook, then looked up and mouthed "Go for it!" to Lu Ren.

Lu Ren took a deep breath, looked at Tsukishima's smug face, and gritted his teeth.

"One more ball."

Tsukishima rolled her eyes: "Spare me, I'm exhausted."

"Stop talking nonsense, I guarantee you'll feel good this time."

"Tsk, that sounds disgusting."

Despite complaining, Tsukishima retreated back to the starting line.

Lu Ren gripped the ball tightly in his hand.

Screw the optimal solution.

This time, let's try adding a patch called "humanity".