'Brothers' (Tezuka Birthday Fic)
Tezuka Kunimitsu sighed and checked the watch on his right wrist for what seemed to be the fiftieth time. He knew he wasn’t the one late. If he had been meeting any other person he would have long ago gone back home and double-checked the e-mail he had received. Tezuka was meeting a friend whom he had not seen in years, since he was in middle school.
About a week ago, he had received an e-mail from Echizen Ryoma. The message had stated for him to meet Echizen here, at the entrance to Seigaku at precisely seven o’clock this evening on the seventh of October, 2009, the date of his 24th birthday. Tezuka was starting to become anxious; he had a date scheduled with Kimiko, his girlfriend of four years, for eight o’clock. Seven-thirty was quickly approaching.
Tezuka paced nervously, adjusting his black blazer worriedly. He did not like to be stood up by anyone, even though he knew that his old friend Echizen, two years his junior, was notorious for being tardy. Even at tennis tournaments in middle school, the younger boy had been late on a number of occasions.
“Echizen, I swear…” the ex-captain of Seigaku’s tennis club muttered with frustration to himself. “If you make me late for this date with Kimiko…”
“BUCHOU!”
Tezuka suddenly turned around to see Echizen Ryoma running as quickly as he could toward him. All his worries and anxieties about being late left his consciousness as his eyes lighted on his friend. In his years as a college student and playing in the professional world of tennis, he had learned to smile more often, and as he approached Echizen, a genuine smile graced his lips. It wasn’t a big one, but it was happy nonetheless.
“Buchou, sumimasen-” Echizen started to reply, but was interrupted when Tezuka, the last person Echizen expected to do something like this, hugged him. He actually hugged Echizen. Not lasting long, and seeming to be more like a quick wrap-around-the-shoulders-hug, Tezuka even surprised himself a little bit.
Echizen coughed and adjusted his trademark Fila cap out of shock. “Sorry I am so late, buchou…”
“Echizen, I am no longer your tennis captain,” Tezuka replied. “In light of your tennis career, I do believe you have earned the right to simply call me Tezuka.”
Echizen blinked. “Buchou…”
“I’m serious, Echizen.”
“Fine,” Echizen agreed, even though he wasn’t completely on board with the idea. “So, you want to know where we’re going?”
Reality suddenly was brought back to Tezuka’s forethoughts. “Yes, actually, I would.”
“Then if you will follow me, we don’t have very far to walk.”
Echizen led Tezuka through the busy and brightly-lit streets of Tokyo, passing many different and colorful types of people. Tezuka was very puzzled as to what was going on this evening, and he was worried about being late for picking up Kimiko.
”Echizen, I don’t want to seem rude, but exactly how long will this take?” he asked tentatively.
Echizen flashed a knowing and sly grin over his shoulder at the taller man behind him, while managing to not run into any passerby on the sidewalk. “Why do you ask, buchou? Got a hot date tonight?”
Tezuka blanched and momentarily stopped in his tracks. “Uh, I mean…”
Echizen laughed at the uncharacteristically flustered Tezuka. “I’m kidding; this shouldn’t take long. You won’t be late for your date. Trust me.”
The older man sighed and jogged to catch up to his shorter accomplice. “What about you, Echizen?” he asked, wanting to quickly change the subject. “How was America?”
Echizen laughed, knowing all too well that his former tennis captain was not at all eager to discuss his love life. “America was fine, as it always is. The U.S. Open was fun.”
“I was unable to watch all of it,” Tezuka admitted with regret. “But the second I heard you were seeded for it…”
He broke off, hardly able to express his joy at Echizen’s success. He had wanted the boy to become Seigaku’s pillar of support, but he had gone above and beyond his initial expectations. Echizen had won the U.S. Open.
“That final match against del Potro was incredible, Echizen. I was able to watch that one,” Tezuka said happily. “Who else did you play?”
Echizen stopped and thought for a second, then replied, while counting off on his fingers, “First, I played Lleyton Hewitt; then Andy Roddick; then Roger Federer. Federer was the toughest, though.”
As the two of them walked along the busy street in Tokyo, Tezuka couldn’t help but experience a sense of nostalgia. He had certainly walked down this road a number of times in his younger days, but it had been a while since he was able to think about his days at Seigaku. Perhaps it was because of Echizen’s presence; perhaps it was the time of year, the beginning of the end of the tennis season. One thing was certain though, he felt something good was going to come his way. He eyed Echizen carefully out of the corner of his eye.
“Echizen, what is going on?” Tezuka said seriously, but not without a hidden grin.
The capped young man simply grinned as he stopped suddenly at the entrance to a local sushi bar. “The buchou is always so mada mada dane.”
With that, Echizen yanked open the door, held it open with his foot, and then proceeded to shove Tezuka over the threshold. Tezuka tripped and stumbled but caught himself before he completely fell to the floor. The room in which he now found himself was pitch dark, and nothing could be seen. Shocked at what Echizen had just done, Tezuka hollered out into the darkness, “ECHIZEN. I will make you run 100 laps for this, former captain or not!”
The lights lit to life just then, and Tezuka blinked and jumped in surprise.
“TANJOU-BI OMEDETOU, TEZUKA!”
The former captain was speechless. Gathered in this small sushi bar was the entirety of his old Seigaku tennis team. Everyone-Oishi Shuichirou, Fuji Syuusuke, Kikumaru Eiji, Kawamura Takashi, Inui Sadaharu, Momoshiro Takeshi, Kaido Kaoru… Tezuka stared open-mouthed; he hadn’t seen any of these people in years, and now suddenly… here they all were, and they were all here to celebrate his birthday. He turned from everyone in the room to Echizen, and back again, his mouth agape in silent question.
“E-Echizen…? How did you do this…?”
“Hey, don’t give all the credit to o-chibi!” Kikumaru insisted, hopping down from his seat at the bar. “He asked us for help, too.”
“And don’t think he did all the planning, either,” Sakuno chipped in, moving to stand beside Echizen and grasping his hand tenderly.
Fuji laughed. “Really, he just thought of the idea and relayed it to Sakuno and she and another person planned it.”
Tezuka knitted his brow. “What other person?”
“Kunimitsu,” a soft, female voice called from his right.
Tezuka knew who it was the second his first name was said. He only liked and permitted one person (other than his mother and father) to call him by that name. He turned and Kimiko stood there, just hidden behind a gossamer scarlet curtain. Her smile was secretive, but also so warm and kind.
“Kimiko,” Tezuka muttered, surprised to see her. He should have assumed as much; she and Sakuno maintained a good-natured student-teacher relationship in tennis. Tezuka’s eyes could hardly believe that she could look so beautiful in her midnight blue dress.
Immediately, the room grew silent and he walked toward her, his arms ready to wrap themselves around her slender body. But Tezuka did more than that; he kissed her sweetly on the lips, his hands reaching softly around her neck. The both of the smiled as they broke apart.
“All right, all right, enough of that, you two!” Momo-chan chastised playfully. “This is supposed to be appropriate for everyone. Save that for later!”
The room exploded with laughter, and Kawamura stepped up behind the bar and proceeded to take out all the trays of freshly made sushi. The whole restaurant was decorated with balloons, streamers, banners bearing the message, “TANJOU-BI OMEDETOU, TEZUKA!”, and confetti; even the tables with individual hibachi grills had not been spared, and centerpieces adorned every table.
“I cannot believe that you guys all planned this for me,” Tezuka said, taking a seat at the bar after helping Kimiko into a seat.
Oishi, at his left, leaned over and said, “As soon as we heard of your successes, Tezuka, we had to do something.”
The bespectacled tennis player, again, knitted his brow. “What do you mean?”
Inui, coming up from behind him, placed a hand on Tezuka’s shoulder. “Tezuka, you cannot ignore your prowess in the past few years. It is most impressive, and not being able to be physically present at your professional matches all the time increases the difficulty of gathering data about you by about 84%.”
Tezuka stared at his old data-loving friend. “‘My prowess’? Now you’re sounding like Atobe.”
“Tezuka,” Fuji began to reason with his friend. “You cannot ignore that you are one of the top tennis players in Japan. You’ve been playing in the Japanese Tennis Association for the past two years. You hold a degree in Sports Sciences from the University of Tokyo. You even played on Todai’s tennis team, assisting them in winning multiple tournaments in the regional and national levels. You’ve done all that in the time that you graduated from Seigaku, and it’s impressive. Don’t ignore your accomplishments, my friend.”
Tezuka smiled fondly as he gazed around the room, the room filled to the brim with his friends. Despite the fact that they had lost some contact with each other in the past years, despite having attended different universities (and in Oishi’s case, different high schools), even despite the fact that they now all led different walks of life, they had remembered the man who had banded them together and had helped them rise to the top.
“Tezuka-buchou,” Kaido suddenly said. “Remember that it was because of you that we became such a strong team.”
“Mamushi is right,” Momo-chan agreed, using his old moniker for his rival.
Tezuka felt Kimiko’s light touch on his left arm and heard her voice in his ear, “They missed you, sweetheart.”
With one last smile and a small laugh, Tezuka said, “Arigato, minna. I never would have expected this. But now I want to know what you all have been doing. It’s easy for the whole country to hear about me-I’m on ESPN all the time-what are laughing about, Echizen? The whole world knows what you eat for breakfast!”
It was true; if all of Japan knew when Tezuka Kunimitsu, the country’s top tennis player of the year, was playing his next match, the entire planet knew that Echizen Ryoma, the gifted tennis player from the far east, was enjoying a bowl of Wheaties every morning, as they were one of the companies who was sponsoring him. At Tezuka’s remark, the entire room burst with laughter, even Echizen.
“I mean, they’re paying me a lot to eat those damn things…”
“Echizen!” Sakuno lightly and playfully teased him. “Such language…!”
Tezuka waved his arms in the air to calm everyone down. As one might expect, the room was instantly as silent as a library; none of the former Seigaku Regulars had lost an ounce of respect for their captain. “All right, everyone; I know we’ve lost contact with each other over the years, some more than others. What is everyone doing? Fuji, what about you?”
Somewhat startled by his friend’s calling on him, Fuji slightly choked on the cup of sake at his lips. He coughed a few times, and cleared his throat.
“What’s the matter, Fuji?” Kikumaru began to tease. “Can’t hold your liquor?”
The tensai shot the acrobat a death glare, eyes open for a split second, and then cleared his throat one more time.
“Well, I’ve been playing tennis also for the Japanese Tennis Association, but I play for the Chubu region. So before you ask, everyone, no; Tezuka and I probably won’t be playing any matches against each other for a while, if at all. I’ve been doing that for about a year and a half, since I graduated from Chubu University.”
“What’s your degree?” Kawamura asked from behind the counter as he prepared more sashimi.
“Photography. I minored in tennis instruction,” he replied with a trademark smile.
Tezuka reached for his glass of sake as he said, “I mean, if you wanted to have a re-match, Fuji, I would be more than willing to kick your ass again.”
Fuji chuckled. “Actually, I would love to play a match with you again, Tezuka.”
“I’ll send you an email,” the buchou replied.
Oishi looked at his friend, seeing the changes in his old friend. He was more emotional, less stoic; he was more engaging, less harsh; more free-spirited, less uptight. Something had changed him, and it certainly seemed to have done some good for the man. But what…? Suddenly, it dawned on Oishi: Kimiko. She had softened Tezuka’s heart, and brought out his inner relaxed self. This woman was something else if she had been able to break Tezuka’s tough, outer shell.
Out of all of the friends gathered here, Oishi was the one with whom he had talked most of the time. They had ended up attending the same university, and in the same college even. From the moment Tezuka had started bringing this woman with him practically everywhere, Oishi could understand why Tezuka liked her so much: she was there to help him get through his dilemmas. But tonight was different than any other time; Tezuka seemed so… happy, almost more than he should have been. But why…?
Oishi blinked in realization. ‘Tezuka,’ he thought to himself, eliciting a soft, knowing smile. ‘You…’
“Oishi,” Fuji’s voice suddenly chimed into his consciousness, and his thoughts burst like a bubble. “You went to the same school as Tezuka. Are you still in medical school at Todai?”
“I’m in my senior year of earning my Ph.D. in medicine.”
Kikumaru smiled one of his trademark quirky grins. “So soon you’ll be Dr. Oishi?”
“That’s the plan, Eiji,” Oishi replied nervously. “But I still have to finish this term and then I have one more. I should graduate this March.”
The night went on like this for about another two hours, each taking turns and discussing where they were in their lives. Inui was in school for dietetics and Sports Sciences, as well; currently, he was an intern at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company, helping the franchise improve its staple sports drink, Pocari Sweat. Kikumaru had graduated already from veterinary school, and owned his own practice, specializing in feline care. Kawamura, as he had stated, gave up his tennis pursuit in the hopes of owning his own sushi restaurant.
“This sushi is delicious, Taka-san,” Fuji complimented. “I love your wasabi; it tastes better than anything I’ve had in the past.”
“Arigato, Fuji,” he returned. “I call it, ‘Burning Mt. Fuji’ since I made it especially spicy, and just for you, since you were always the one who ate my wasabi.”
Fuji smiled brightly at the small homage the expert sushi chef had made to him. “Kakkoii… Arigato, Taka-san.”
Momo-chan, being a year behind his sempai-tachi, was still in university in Yokohama. He was studying math and athletic training at Tsurumi University. Kaido, too, attended school in Yokohama at Meiji Gakuin University. His area of study was also in athletic training and, in addition to playing for his university’s tennis team, he was also on the school’s cross country team.
“Echizen,” Tezuka suddenly called. “Where are you in school again?”
“I’m at the University of Chiba going for a degree in Sports Sciences… just like everyone else…” he muttered.
“And between classes, dating Sakuno and playing for Chiba, he participates in the U.S. Open by invitation, ne, Echizen?” Momo teased, hooking his arm around the younger man’s neck, just like when they were back at Seigaku.
Tezuka smiled; that seemed to be all he was doing this evening, and it was with good reason. He had the company of good friends, especially Kimiko, who was being very patient, letting him catch up with all his middle school friends. She truly was an extraordinary person. Tezuka looked up, a determined look in his features.
“Minna,” he addressed, halting the increasingly loud chatter of his friends. “I have an announcement.”
Before anyone could utter another word, Tezuka was down on the floor on one knee in front of Kimiko. A collective, barely audible gasp was heard, but he paid it no heed; his whole being was focused on the lovely lady sitting in front of him.
“Kimiko-chan,” he managed to say respectfully. Again, a nervous smile tugged at his lips. “I have known you for four years, and… and-”
Tezuka was losing it; he had been fine up until this point. He had rehearsed what he would say to her on this night many, many times, but nothing could have prepared him wholly for the actual proposal.
The onlookers, for their part, could not believe what they were witnessing. Never, in a million years, would they have guessed that they would serve as witnesses to Tezuka’s proposal to his future wife. The odds, as Inui had probably already calculated, were just absurdly low.
Oishi, from his seat to the side of Kimiko, just out of her line of vision, saw that Tezuka needed some encouragement. It was odd to see Tezuka like this, so nervous to ask a mere question! The former vice-captain leaned into his friend’s line of vision and simply smiled and nodded. That seemed to be all that Tezuka needed because his next words appeared to come straight from his heart.
“Kimiko, you have changed my life. These past four years… have meant the world to me. You help me in ways that I cannot help myself. I-I want to spend my life with you. Will you… be my wife?”
All eyes then looked up to Kimiko. She was smiling and crying, gazing down affectionately at the man whose heart she had conquered and made soft.
“Yes,” she whispered. Then she said louder and with more excitement, “Yes, Tezuka Kunimitsu! I will marry you!”
Tezuka stood up immediately and wrapped her in his arms, kissing her fervently.
“Is it all right if we have a big wedding, Kunimitsu?” Kimiko muttered against the applause of everyone gathered in the room.
“Of course it is, but why do you ask?” Tezuka was a bit bewildered.
“Well,” she replied slyly. “We’re going to need a big one if you want all these wonderful people to be a part of it.”
Nothing could describe what those words meant to Tezuka. For Kimiko to be so accepting of people she barely knew so quickly…
“I love you, Kimiko,” Tezuka muttered once more.
“I love you, too.”
The former Seigaku Regulars were always a happy bunch, but nothing made them happier than seeing the prosperity of each other. That night marked a new beginning for each of them. No longer would distance keep them apart. They would stay brothers until the end of time. They were the best Regular members that Seishun Gakuen would ever have.
~Fin~