Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is not mine.
When Death turns up, it is not necessarily a cause for fear. Death signals a time of change, the end of one life and the possibility for the beginning of a better life. When upside down, it represents stagnation and lost opportunities.
For middle school students, Sundays are heaven on earth.
Echizen Ryoma had big plans for his day when he woke up at noon. His plans involved challenging the old man to another match; more tennis on the street courts; and, most importantly, lots and lots of Ponta.
Maybe he could challenge Momo-senpai and have the loser pay for lunch.
If you peeled back the layers of arrogance and childish snarkiness, Ryoma might actually admit that Saturdays made him feel that the world was not that mada mada dane.
Even the upcoming experience would not damp his feelings towards Sundays.
As proved by Karupin's foray into Ryoma's school, the rookie tennis player's beloved cat was allowed to roam freely.
Karupin was very good at dodging people, vehicles, and football players in miniskirts.
Unfortunately, that day Karupin was very unlucky in choice of timing and landed in front of a fast-moving truck.
Echizen rushed in. He pushed Karupin out of the way and pulled up on the sidewalk, then looked back, relieved.
His body was lying on the road and the truck had just done a hit-and-run.
Echizen's last thought was of regret. If he'd known this would happen, then he would definitely have bought that limited edition fountain of Ponta, his father's protests that you could buy much more interesting things be damned.
Baka oyaji.
The Moon is associated with emotions, imagination, and illusions. It can provide the light to see the way. When upright, the moon symbolizes artistic inspiration; when upside down, it warns that there may be lies and deceit nearby.
The morning of the same day Echizen had been run over by a truck, Fuji Syuusuke placed his phone down after a lovely conversation with his baby brother, smiling sweetly.
It looked as though bribing St. Rudolph students to place cacti into a certain strategist's bed had worked, if Yuuta's description of a haggard-looking Mizuki was any indication of success.
No, of course Fuji did not have a brother complex. He was just… doing his duty as a brother.
Fuji reached for a tube of extra-spicy, killer wasabi and squirted it onto his cereal, still smiling brilliantly.
He took a bite and steam poured out of his ears. Fuji's soul shot out of his head and didn't go back in again.
Note to self: Nee-chan was right. Again.
The Hierophant is a moral and spiritual guide, symbolizing tradition and knowledge. When right-side up, it shows a possibility of marriage and legal responsibilities. The upside-down Hierophant symbolizes making one's own rules and confusion regarding the self.
The captain of Seigaku's tennis team was currently finishing up his homework.
Unlike other students, he was highly disciplined. While people like Echizen and Momo might be content with frittering away their time on food and games, Tezuka planned to use his Sunday wisely, first completing his schoolwork and then training.
Tezuka Kunimitsu was truly a model student, boring as that is.
At least he didn't spend the morning tormenting his younger brother.
He finished typing up a ten-page paper on the relation between economic status and manufacture of teddy bears, then printed it out, knowing he had written a perfect paper.
Correction: He tried to print his paper. But then the computer exploded in his face.
Shards of glass from both Tezuka's glasses and the monitor drove into his brain, killing him instantly.
He had no time to think of anything, but if he had had time, he might have thought, "See, parents? Homework really does kill children."
Except this was Tezuka, so it's actually rather unlikely.
But don't worry, Tezuka-san, your death helped save dozens of children from having to complete their homework. Your funeral will be an excellent excuse.
Congratulations.
The High Priestess is associated with intuition and female wisdom; negative associations include secrets hidden from oneself and emotional insecurity. She can represent an important woman or a guide to the inner self.
Strength represents both mental and physical strength through struggle. When it is right-side up, it shows victory over oppression or challenge. Otherwise, it means defeat.
Momoshiro had just been to the video arcade and gotten his ego rather soundly thrashed by a girl at a shooting game.
Luckily, he had not been too crushed by the defeat.
As he left, Momo was torn between two difficult choices.
Should he go bother Echizen, or go to the tennis courts and hope to see Ann? Friend or girl-you-have-a-crush-on-but-insults-you-all-the-time?
Momoshiro Takeshi headed for the street tennis courts.
Kaidoh Kaoru had eaten a traditional meal, using chopsticks with clear finesse and skill, should one ever see past his hiss.
Really, Kaidoh was such a sweet, kind little boy.
He trained every day, most of it jogging. The endurance player was currently on his forty-fifth round around his neighborhood.
In a practical application of Murphy's Law, Momoshiro and Kaidoh could not wander around the streets without bumping into each other.
Momoshiro was on one side of a street, while Kaidoh rounded the corner. Naturally, they bumped into each other.
Momoshiro started yelling, with several "Mamushi"s tossed in; Kaidoh "fssh"-ed.
Usually they would have kept yelling until someone stopped them or both stomped off.
This time, a combination of Momo's constant burger consumption and anger caused a heart vessel to burst. He was dead in moments.
Kaidoh was much more physically fit, but not fast enough to avoid his rival falling onto him. The full weight of Momo's burger infested body hit his neck.
Snap.
The Hermit is a sign of advice and patience at the best of times. Negative associations include stubbornness and arrogance. He suggests meditation and contemplation before making a decision; when upside down, he symbolizes hasty choices and refusal of guidance.
As a matter of fact, Inui Sadaharu was not a sadist. That position was reserved for people like Fuji, though Inui would never say it for fear of finding cacti on his toilet again.
Poor desert plants.
Inui had been harvesting Venus flytraps to see how they tasted in health drinks. Really, it could have been much worse. At least they weren't cockroaches.
Honestly, he had only the best intentions for his team in mind. Just look at the way he cared for Kaidoh.
Besides, his drinks really were very nutritious.
It is a proven fact that Penal Tea made Eiji 30% faster and Ryoma's eyes 150% larger. It had not been found to increase sadism, strangely.
In order to test Inui's Sweet Delicious Bubbly Smoothie, version 4, he took a small swallow.
He did not die, system having been made immune to his own cooking years ago.
Instead, he found himself going blind. Inui pushed up his currently useless glasses, staying perfectly calm.
This had happened before, but Inui was fairly sure it would pass.
He calmly placed his drink about twelve inches from the corner of the desk, calmly groped for the glass before it crashed, and missed by about a mile.
His flailing arm caught the window and the rest of Inui's body followed.
Head went down. Pants flew up.
Calculation incorrect.
The Hanged Man is associated with flexibility and rebirth, and less positively with materialism and a tendency to be easily influenced. He can show self-sacrifice or the ability to adapt; upside down, the Hanged Man represents selfishness and missed opportunities.
The Chariot symbolizes good news and self-confidence, though it can represent arrogance and tyranny as well. Right-side up, it stands for travel and change. When the Chariot is in the reverse position, someone may be overly arrogant and there are possibilities of frustration due to delay.
The Golden Pair did not, contrary to popular opinion, spend every moment together.
Out of an entire day, they only spent about twenty hours, twenty-three minutes, and thirty-seven seconds together.
This was shorter than the time Inui and Kaidoh spent together, by approximately fifty milliseconds.
Kikumaru Eiji had headed over to Oishi's house at 5:30.
In the morning.
He climbed into Oishi's room through the window; thanks to his acrobatic play, he had no difficulty getting in.
"Eiji, what are you doing...?" the long-suffering Oishi asked sleepily.
"Wake up, Oishi!" Eiji chirped far too cheerfully for that time of day. "I want to show you something!"
He dragged Oishi with him into the bathroom.
Mind out of gutter, please.
Eiji pulled out a tube of toothpaste and got out a spare toothbrush.
"Look, Oishi!" Eiji pointed to his toothpaste. "I got a new brand!"
Oishi peered at the tube and noticed no difference from Eiji's previous brand.
"See? It made my teeth whiter!"
Oishi peered harder at Eiji's sparkling teeth. No difference.
"Here, I'll brush my teeth so you can see!"
Eiji enthusiastically twisted the faucet, which snapped off in his hand. He dropped it.
The Golden Pair stared for a moment then scrambled for the faucet. Somehow, their heads bumped and they got stuck together in the sink.
Oishi's horn-like protrusions plugged up the drain and water started to fill the sink.
The two seniors couldn't get out.
Kawamura Takeshi had woken up to do what he did most days: help his father by lifting crates.
Just like every other normal teenage boy.
Strangely enough, Kawamura found himself making rudimentary mistakes. Not wanting to worry his father, he kept on chopping fish and rolling rice into seaweed even when the knife slipped out of his hand for the umpteenth time and somehow landed within millimeters of his head. Again.
Any other boy would have continued helping his father too, right?
Kawamura Sr. thought something was strange. His son usually wasn't so clumsy. Unless…
"Takeshi, you were taste-testing the sake again last night, weren't you? Look how clumsy it makes you!"
"Actually, father… well, I didn't… it wasn't…"
Having learned what to do from Fuji-kun, Kawamura Sr. handed his son the just-in-case-a-customer-got-troublesome racket.
Death ran away, frightened of the "BURNING" and "GREAT-O" back in the restaurant and decided not to go back until the shouting maniac had let go of the racket.
After proclaiming loudly that he had not touched any alcohol last night, Kawamura went back to chopping. Still holding his tennis racket.
Death stayed away entirely for fifty years.