Disclaimer: POT rights belong to the creator and animators. Only the what-ifs are mine.
Some notes: This was heavily inspired from Shin Prince of Tennis Chapter 37, during the time of the U-17 Camp, the deciding game between the 3rd and 5th court.
UNDERSTANDING
Tezuka Kunimitsu is hard to understand.
He is stoic, unapproachable, and all questions directed at him were all answerable by yes or no, or most commonly, by a grunt. There were some rare exceptions of course, happening in rare occasions, usually followed by his tagline: Yudan sezu ni Ikuo.
But he's got to admit, a number of people understand parts of him at least, if not the totality of his personality.
Yamato Yuudai, former captain of Seigaku Tennis Club understands how Tezuka cares about the team. As a fellow misunderstood, bespectacled fellow, he understands the need to separate yourself from the team, to look at the bigger picture, and yet still notice the little details for the betterment of the team. Tezuka doesn't need the weird glasses of the former captain, but he sure needed the "talk" of carrying Seigaku's pillar of support back in his first year. Surely the world of middle school tennis wouldn't be the same if Tezuka decided to quit playing tennis then and there.
In a team full of hardheaded players, Kikumari Eiji reminds Tezuka that even after everything that happened, they're still 14 or 15 years old. He knows the old joke that he doesn't look like one, but at least he is comforted by the fact that other people are worse off than him, like the father of Rikkai Dai or the funny and smart guy from Shitenhouji. He forgets that he is still in middle school most of the time, for tennis tends to swallow everything in his world. Eiji is being a kid, not just for him, but for the whole. He could do things that Tezuka wouldn't be caught doing, like doing cartwheels and standing on his head, not that Tezuka expressed any wish in doing so.
The tensai of Seishun Gakuen, Fuji Syuusuke, understands Tezuka's needlessness for words. The quiet and mysterious boy's silence comforts him than Oishi's worried prattles ever could. Most of the time, Fuji takes words out of Tezuka's mouth so the captain need not speak at all, just nod his head in agreement. The quiet presence of the other beside him assures him that yes, it's ok to be his usual stoic self. He doesn't need to pretend to be friendly to have friends.
Most of the people who populated his middle school tennis career are here in the U-17 camp. Most of them see him as an ultimate goal, the ultimate challenge, nothing more. They didn't feel the need to know him at all.
Tezuka doesn't feel the need to be understood by everyone.
Just one is enough.
Atobe Keigo has the knowledge beyond their years. He seems to understand Tezuka the most. Maybe because of his so-called insight, he understood the decision he made after the match with Yamato. Atobe shouldered the responsibility of their Court team. Only a fellow captain will understand, and Atobe is definitely one of the best there is.
To be a captain is more than being the leader, it is more on making the best decision for the team, or as it happening now, the best personal decision for oneself.
He doesn't need to look back, he is sure of it. He knows that when Atobe promised something, he will do his utmost to fulfill it.
That goes as well for the promise of following him to Germany, or that's how he understands Atobe's parting words.