Four Years
~~~~~~~~~
It had been four years. Four years since he saw anyone from Seigaku. The year after college (they had all gone to the same college), they were all together. They always met up with each other, usually playing tennis. After a while, everyone drifted. He rarely saw anyone. Even passing each other in the streets, all they exchanged was a curt nod of recognition or, sometimes, nothing at all. It had been four years since he saw that bouncy redhead Eiji, mother-like Oishi, awesome juice maker Inui, sushi chef Taka-san, hyper Momo (who was in his senior year in college last time he saw him), snake-like Kaido (also a senior in college), cheeky Echizen (junior in college)... and stoic Tezuka. Four years since he talked to any of them, tasted Inui's juice, or played tennis with them. It had been four years.
Actually, it was exactly four years ago. On this very day, four years ago, they had met up. It had been for his own birthday, at Kawamura Sushi. Kawamura-san had willingly closed his restaurant for the day and let the Seigaku group party. Kawamura-san had fed them the best sushi, for free. Best of all, Kawamura-san had given him his favorite wasabi sushi. That night, after staying up until one together, they parted ways. They all went their separate ways, to their own lives. It had been four years.
"Fuji? Fuji? FU~JI~! Are you listening? Did you hear anything I said, nya?"
"Yes, Eiji, I did. So, we're having a four year reunion at Taka-san's restaurant at 6?"
"NO, Fuji! It's at 7! ... What?... Oh, sorry, Fuji. Oishi just said it WAS at 6. Oops. What was at 7, then? Oh well. So, we'll see you there? Everyone's wanted to see you. You were the tensai. The great tennis prodigy." Eiji's voice had that hyperness, that bounciness in it. It had been a while since he had heard it.
"Yes, Eiji. I'll be there. I can't wait to see you all again. Should I come earlier, say at 5, to help you set up? I mean, I was a regular too."
"NOOOO! We've got it covered. Just come at 6. Or maybe 5:59:59. That's okay too nya. Hehe. So, see you there?" Eiji's voice had that questioning plea for a 'yes' answer.
"Aaa. I'll be there. I'll be sure to come at 5:59:58. Okay?" I smiled.
"FU~JI~~! Fine! Be there, okay? I can't wait to see my best friend again! Bye!"
"Bye, Eiji. Now go snog Oishi!" I smiled, hanging up the phone, almost hearing the 'FUJI~!' from the phone. I could almost see Eiji blushing like a tomato.
Four years. It's been four years and now, we're meeting each other again. Eiji didn't even wish me a happy birthday. Did he forget? So quickly? I still remember his. It's been four years, though. How am I going to talk to everyone?
~~~~~~~~
5:58 pm
A figure walked down the street towards the restaurant. I haven't been down here in such a long time. I wonder why. I could have seen Taka-san, at least. Oh well. I reached my destination. I stood in front of the door, wondering if I should go in. It has been a long time, after all. I didn't have to wait or wonder long, because just then, the bouncy redhead opened the door.
"FUJI!!!!!!!!!" Eiji jumped onto Fuji, hugging him almost to death. I relaxed my smile and hugged my friend back.
"It's good to see you, Eiji. You haven't changed a bit."
"Neither have you. You're still the same height, except you grew 1.23 millimeters. You also seem to have 2% more muscle than four years ago. Ii data." Glasses glinted in my eyes.
"Inui. Good to see you're still keeping up with the data collecting."
"Pwshhh. A little too much, Fuji-senpai." A bandana-clad head was seen from behind Inui.
"Shut it, mamushi. That's what makes Inui-senpai, Inui-senpai. You should know that the most." A spiky-haired head was seen from behind Kaido.
"Mada mada dane, Momo-senpai. Hisashiburissu, Fuji-senpai." A now tall Echizen was seen behind Momo.
"Come on, guys. Let Fuji in. How are you, Fuji?" A gentle-looking egg-shaped head was seen.
"Kaido, Momo, Echizen, Oishi. I'm fine. It's been too long." I walked in.
"Fujiko-chan! Glad you could make it!" Taka-san smiled at me from behind the counter.
"Fuji~! Everyone's here, nya! See? We even got the tennis members and Ryuzaki-sensei and Ryuzaki-chan!" I looked around and saw familiar faces of people like Horio-kun, Katou-kun, Mizuno-kun, Arai, Ikeda, Ryuzaki-sensei, and her granddaughter, Ryuzaki Sakuno. I smiled at every one of them. When I heard Eiji mention Tezuka, though, I tuned him back in. "Only Tezuka couldn't come, nya. he's in Spain doing something or other. Too bad."
"Eiji, Tezuka is in GERMANY, not Spain."
"Right, right, Oishi."
"Che, Germany and Spain don't even sound like each other. Mada mada dane." Echizen had the infamous Echizen smirk in place.
"Nya, OCHIBI~! You're so mean! It was just a mistake!"
Echizen and Eiji started to argue, Momo was arguing with Kaido, Inui was taking data about it, Oishi was trying to stop them, and Taka-san was busy making sushi that he didn't even notice it. Yes, I was back with my friends.
~~~~~~~
After an hour, we were still partying. No one had said anything about my birthday yet, even Inui. It was kind of disappointing that no one remembered. Still, I kept my smile in place. No one remembered.
"Come on, guys! It's time!" I cocked my head to the side. What was Taka-san talking about? And what was everyone doing? I stood up to follow.
"No, no, Fuji! You just stay right there." Eiji pushed me back to the counter, but made me face the tables. I could see Inui and Taka-san putting a big azure shiny ball up. There was a string attached to it.
"One, Two, Three! Happy Birthday, Fuji/Fuji-senpai!" Everyone yelled. They remembered! Eiji pulled the string and the ball opened, and a scroll came out. It said 'Otanjoubi Omedetou, Fuji!' in deep navy. There were also drawings of swallows, bears, whales, tennis rackets, balls, and Seigaku regular jerseys.
"You... remembered?"
"Of course, nya!! Why would we forget our favorite prodigy's birthday? Especially me, nya. I'm your bestest friend!" Eiji hugged me again. "We pretended this was a reunion for an excuse. We needed to get together to celebrate your birthday!"
"Thanks... Thanks, everyone. I think the regulars planned this?" I smiled at everyone. It wasn't my full smile, but it was close enough.
Everyone started getting into the party mood again. Taka-san brought out two cakes -- one small and one large. I looked at Eiji and Oishi, confused. "The smaller one is for you only, Fuji. It's wasabi cake. Eiji, Inui, and Taka-san made it. The larger one is chocolate, so that everyone else can have some cake too. Momo, Echizen, and Kaido made that one." Oishi explained.
"oh..."
~~~~~~~~
After another two hours of partying, most of the people went home. Only Inui, Eiji, Oishi, Momo, Echizen, Kaido, Taka-san, and I were still there. In one corner were all of the gifts that everyone gave me. I had so much. I didn't know how I was going to take them all back. Inui had given me three gallons of his Inui juice, six different flavors, 1/2 of a gallon each. I'm sorry to say, that was my favorite gift.
We were all helping Taka-san clean up. Finally, we were done and Taka-san brought out some tea for everyone. That was when I got something else.
"Fuji-senpai, we wanted to get you something from all of us, including our individual gifts. We got together last weekend and looked for something. We finally decided on this." Momo talked and Echizen brought out a small square package.
I picked it up. On the card attached, I could read something in Eiji's handwriting, 'To our Tennis Tensai, From the Seigaku Regulars' and everyone had signed it. I carefully unwrapped the present. When I opened it, I saw a CD. It was called 'Double-A' and it was done by two groups, 'Aozu' and 'Caps and Bins.' They each sang a song. The first song was called 'Birthday ~ Aruki Hajimeta Hi' and the second was called 'Rock 54 ~ Rock na Hito wo Sagashite Miyou.'
"We were wandering around the CD store and Eiji was looking at that CD. We figured it was perfect, after hearing the sample. We all chipped in and bought it." Oishi told me.
Just as I was about to say something to thank them when the door opened. Taka-san opened his mouth to say that they were closed when we all saw who it was.
There, the person I had thought of for four long years, was standing in the doorframe. The person that had led us to Nationals in middle school was standing in the doorframe. The person that was our captain, our buchou, was standing in the doorframe. Tezuka was standing in the doorframe, looking as he always had.
"Sorry I'm late. I realized I couldn't miss this opportunity to see you all again. I took the flight from Germany and just got here." Tezuka seemed to be answering the questions that were going through our heads.
"Tezuka.../Buchou..."
Everyone was just staring at Tezuka. No one had known he would be here. Oishi had called about a week before, asking if he would come. Tezuka had said that he couldn't make it. So why was he here?
Oishi was the first to recover. "Tezuka! Sit, sit! You must be tired. Here, have some tea."
Tezuka came over and sat between Oishi and Fuji. Taking a sip of the tea, he looked at Fuji. "Otanjoubi Omedetou, Fuji."
Fuji looked into Tezuka's eyes and saw the love in them. Fuji genuinely smiled for the first time that night.
Yes, it had been four years since the last time. Still, friendship lasts for life as long as you have the right friends.
The nine of them were friends for life from that day forward. Nothing could separate them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Birthday ~ Aruki Hajimeta Hi by AOZU (Seiyuu for Echizen, Oishi, Tezuka, and Fuji)
Isoide mo asette mo karamawari
Yume nante awatete sagasu MON janai
Hito no tame dare no tamette WAKE janaku
Tada jibun no iro de egake ba ii
Motto daitan de wagamama de aimai de kamawanaisa
Kitto seikai ha hitotsu janai
Bankai ha itsuni nattatte sou dekiru
Hitotsu hitotsu omoi wo BIRTHDAY CAKE ni tomosou
Itsuka ookina hikarini natte
Terashi dasusa It's Your Dreams
Sukini nareru koto kara shippai wo osorezuni yukou
Aruki hajimeta sono hi no kimi he
Happy Birthday To You
Zasetsu shite nayanderu hito ga ita
Uwabe dakeno kotoba de hagemashitatte
Hontou no yasashisa ha onajidake
Kanashimi wo seouwanakya wakaranai
Motto kantan de arugamama de doukan de kamawanai sa
Kitto koukai ha sakini konai
Nandatte tsumekondatte sugu wasureru!
Itsumo itsumo tanoshii koto bakari janakutemo iisa
Koeteikanakya kawarenai koto
Kanarazu kuru Brand New Days
Muchuu ni nareru KOTO da taisetsu na MONO ni natte yuku
Umare kawatta sono hi no kimi he
Happy Birthday to You
Kazoe kirenai hodono deai to wakare no naka de
Kuri kaesu mainichi ga kinen bi ni naru
Kitto soko ni ha itsumo
Sou egao ga afureteru
Hitotsu hitotsu omoiwo BIRTHDAY CAKE ni tomosou
Hito fuki shitara kiechau nante
Mada tarinain da Your Dreams
Sukini nareru koto kara shippai wo osorezuni yukou
Aruki Hajimeta sono hi no kimi he
Happy Birthday to You
~~~~~~~~~~~~
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FUJI! I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY TODAY! THIS IS A FIC TO CELEBRATE HIS BIRTHDAY!
THIS FIC IS CALLED 'FOUR YEARS' BECAUSE IT'S BEEN FOUR YEARS SINCE THEY ALL SAW EACH OTHER. ALSO BECAUSE IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY AND IT ONLY COMES AROUND EVERY FOUR YEARS. AND I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND THE TEZUFUJI. I LIKE THAT PAIR TONS!
AOZU IS A GROUP BY THE SEIYUU OF ECHIZEN, OISHI, TEZUKA, AND FUJI, OR MINAGAWA JUNKO, KONDOU TAKAYUKI, AKIAYU RYOUTAROU, AND KAIDA YUKI, AND CAPS AND BINS IS A GROUP BY THE SEIYUU OF EIJI, TAKA-SAN, INUI, MOMO, AND KAIDO, OR TAKAHASHI HIROKI, KAWAMOTO NARU, TSUDA KENJIROU, ONOSAKA MASAYA, AND KIYASU KOUHEI. THE SONGS ARE REALLY IN THE CD DOUBLE A.
THE SONG AT THE END IS BIRTHDAY ~ ARUKI HAJIMETA HI BY AOZU. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T TAKE THE ROMAJI OF THE SONG BECAUSE I DID IT MYSELF WITH HARD WORK. IF YOU DO WANT/'NEED IT TO USE PUBLICALLY, PLEASE 1) EMAIL ME AT friendsrdabest@yahoo.com AND ASK AND 2) GIVE ME CREDIT WHEREVER YOU PUT IT.
HOPE YOU LIKED THIS FIC! I DON'T CARE IF YOU HATE IT! IT'S FUJI SYUUSUKE'S BIRTHDAY AND EVERYONE SHOULD BE HAPPY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
SANAKL