[Prince of Tennis] When the Cherry Blossoms First Bloom

Prince of Tennis has been around for eleven years. Eleven years of ups and downs, eleven years of hardship, enough time for a whole generation to go from students to working adults, even to have children of their own.

Prince of Tennis has been around for eleven years. Eleven years of ups and downs, eleven years of hardship, enough time for a whole generation to go from students to working adults, even to have children of their own.

October 7 is an ordinary day, yet also a little special. That's right: he has been captain for eleven years, been in his third year of middle school for eleven years, managed the tennis club for eleven years, and dealt with the student council for eleven years... Yet throughout those eleven years, he has never changed. His distant demeanor, his stern personality that makes people feel as if they've fallen into the Arctic Ocean: no matter how often people tease him for "radiating cold," he's still himself. He holds himself to high standards, is passionately devoted to tennis, and works hard and takes everything seriously. He is determined to lead the Seishun Academy boys' tennis team to victory in the National Tournament. He falls to injury time and again, then gets back up again and again. Even a phrase like "Never Give Up" suddenly seems insignificant.

He has none of Atobe Keigo's flamboyance or Yukimura Seiichi's smile. With the silhouette of a "human iceberg" that people love to tease, he leaves the world with an impression open to debate, then sets sail toward victory.

Tezuka Kunimitsu: an utterly ordinary name, yet one that left an indelible mark on Seishun Academy, Hyotei, and Rikkai Dai, and on the world of Prince of Tennis.

Time flies. Tezuka Kunimitsu is still fifteen, just as he was all those years ago, while people who have lived through eleven years have grown old. One moment they're your seniors, the next they're your juniors.

Yet you still shine on the court, your heroic figure like an eternal sun, guiding, illuminating, and warming everyone.

Let us say it out loud:

October 7, 2010: Happy eleventh fifteenth birthday, Tezuka Kunimitsu!

By Songjin

October 3, 2010

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