【Tezuka×Fuji】The Stories of Stars （1）

01. Sakura

First Year, FirstSemester01. Sakura

It was the third week since the start of the school term, and the cherry blossoms at Seishun Academy were in brilliant full bloom, their pink petals dancing gently in the breeze.

Today's club activities started as usual and ended as usual, following the same familiar routine.After gathering the tennis balls as instructed by their seniors, the first-year students placed them in the basket by the court and then gradually left in twos and threes.

A sturdy little boy walked off the court with his head hanging low, looking deeply troubled.

What troubled him were the whispers around him-

"Isn't he Kawamura Takashi from Class 4?"

"Yeah, that's him. All brute strength. During today's doubles practice, he hit every ball out of bounds-seven of them even flew out of the court. His partner had it rough, going in and out to fetch those balls seven times."

"Ah, thank goodness I wasn't paired with him today. Last time I teamed up with him, my practice score dropped by 20 points because of him."

"Same here. Now, before every practice, I'm praying not to get paired with him."

Hearing his peers' conversation, Kawamura's face flushed with embarrassment. At the same time, without realizing it, he stole a glance at the boy walking beside him-his partner for the day，Fuji Syusuke from Class 6 of the first year.

Fuji held a water bottle in one hand, drinking from it, while using a towel draped around his neck to wipe the sweat from his forehead with the other. Kawamura couldn't make out the expression on his face.

Whenever it was time to form pairs, Kawamura always hoped to be partnered with one of three classmates: Tezuka, Oishi, or Nagasawa. Tezuka from Class 1 and Oishi from Class 2 were the strongest in their grade. No matter how much Kawamura might hold them back, it never affected their practice performance, and they never seemed to mind. As for Nagasawa, his classmate from the same class, he was also at the bottom of the rankings, so he understood Kawamura's struggles better than anyone else. Kawamura dreads being paired with someone like Fuji-neither particularly strong nor weak, just average. His poor tennis skills often cause his partner's practice scores to drop sharply. His previous partners often got frustrated with him. As he thought about it, even though Fuji hadn't said anything, he was pretty sure Fuji wasn't too happy either

"I'm really sorry, Fuji. It's all my fault for bringing down your practice score," Kawamura sighed, speaking with guilt. It seemed like after every doubles practice, he found himself apologizing to his partner, as if it were a curse that relentlessly clung to him.

"How could you say that?" Fuji quickly put down his towel after hearing Kawamura's words, looking at him with a smile. "You're really amazing, Kawamura-kun! I've never seen anyone in our grade with such strength! Once you improve your control, you'll definitely become one of the top tennis players at Seigaku!"

Kawamura realized just how sincere this younger boy was. His tone was full of admiration and praise, with no hint of flattery or mere consolation.

"R-Really?"

"Absolutely, I'm really happy to be paired with you!" Fuji replied honestly and firmly, his curved eyebrows and smiling eyes reflecting genuine joy.

"Ah! Thank you so much!"

The generous and radiant smile before him filled Kawamura's heart with warmth. No one had ever given him such heartfelt affirmation before. Wanting to express his gratitude, he eagerly invited, "Fuji-kun, would you like to come over for dinner at my place tomorrow night? My family runs a sushi restaurant, and we have some incredibly fresh conger eel these past few days!"