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Oishi was without a doubt the regular who contacted Tezuka the most while he was abroad.
Ever the worrier, he'd send Tezuka constant text messages making sure that he was doing things one hundred percent correctly.
From the right procedures when submitting paperwork, to asking how many laps Tezuka would give for such-and-such transgression, to making sure his course of action suited Tezuka's tastes completely, Tezuka was sure Oishi had asked every kind of question applicable to the situation.
In the beginning, Tezuka responded to every text with due haste, trying to make sure his vice-captain wouldn't worry himself sick.
However, after the one afternoon where he looked through his inbox to find twelve new messages from Oishi all at once simply because Echizen and Kaidoh were distracted by some stray cats, Tezuka realized that maybe his approach was making Oishi a little dependant on him.
He tried to put time between Oishi's messages and his replies from then on, hoping Oishi would make decisions on his own that way.
Tezuka never really figured out whether it was his efforts to give Oishi space or Oishi settling into the role on his own, but eventually his messages trickled into a small flow of match results, general training progress reports, and the occasional perfectly typed "How are you?" text.
In the end, Oishi was a dependable interim captain and a contact who Tezuka found as easy to talk to in text as he did in person.
Though he still asked about the number of laps to give sometimes.
---
Fuji, always looking for new ways to get the jump on Tezuka, sent texts with no pattern at all, whose contents were as irregular as the times they were sent at.
Some examples included:
"From: Fuji Shuusuke
Subject: junk food
Momo broke the burger joint's record for biggest purchase again"
and
"From: Fuji Shuusuke
Subject: ow
Got a cactus in my eye (I'm ok now)"
They often included attachments of photos as artsy as one could take on a cellphone camera. The subject matter was mostly cacti, dramatic self-portraits, the occasional shot of a train station or some perfectly arranged tennis equipment.
At first, when Tezuka chose to respond to Fuji's odd whims, he often just complimented the photography, careful not to give Fuji the incredulous reaction he wanted. As such, Tezuka's replies went unanswered.
A few weeks into his trip abroad, Fuji succeeded in unnerving Tezuka, not when he sent the message "We lost Eiji :(" but three hours later when he followed up with "We finally found him."
That earned Fuji a response of "He gets 20 extra laps tomorrow."
Fuji replied a moment later with "I don't think Oishi will uphold that. Eiji is actually crying and it is kind of adorable."
"Oishi will listen to me."
"So he will."
Though the conversation ended there, Tezuka had been unsure of what on earth he could reply with, Fuji started replying to Tezuka's own replies from that point on, as if realizing Tezuka was open to conversation.
His conversation starters remained as strange as ever though.
---
Tezuka recieved only one text from Kawamura throughout his whole time abroad.
It came on an otherwise peaceful evening and read as follows:
"From: Kawamura Takashi
Subject: htrrrrrrrrr
sfhsuag4930teFHE34*FHDELT"GB>F>B?DFSEH@IOFHISL"
Whether the cause was Kawamura holding a racket or something else entirely, Tezuka never found out.
---
Kikumaru was as enthusiastic in his texts as he was in person.
They were practically unreadable to Tezuka, with Kikumaru's liberal use of abbreviations and cat-themed emoji, plus his "nya"s kept in for maximum effect.
From what Tezuka could make of them, Kikumaru would just tell him funny stories, assure him that Oishi was in good mental health, and end his messages with some well-wishes.
Tezuka was honestly surprised by how much Kikumaru texted him even though they had never been close.
If only he had ever figured out how to reply, they might have even been able to get a conversation going.
---
Momoshiro had no cellphone, his parents had cut him off after he broke the fifth one, but Tezuka got a preview of what texting Momo would be like exactly once.
The first message came after dinner, and read:
"From: Fuji Shuusuke
Subject: (no subject)
Hey, what are you wearing right now? ;)"
Tezuka frowned in confusion. Not only was the question completely useless, that was definitely not Fuji. Fuji always included his brief little subject lines, and never texted outright questions.
What was happening clicked for him only a second later.
"To: Fuji Shuusuke
Subject: Re: (no subject)
Kikumaru or Momoshiro or some non-regular, return Fuji's phone to him immediately."
The reply was rather quick.
"From: Fuji Shuusuke
Subject: Re: Re: (no subject)
nothing gets by you captain, its momoshiro!"
Tezuka's reply was even faster.
"Return Fuji's phone to him immediately then do 60 laps."
Momoshiro's next reply took a good five minutes.
"ok, ill do that, just popping in to say i hope things are going well on your end. ive gotten a lot stronger, myself. hope to see you soon!"
Tezuka thought that the "stronger" trend wouldn't continue if Momoshiro continued to steal phones instead of practicing.
---
Tezuka had specifically asked Inui to text him weekly reports, to back up whatever Oishi would tell him with cold, hard numbers.
Inui rose to the task predictably well. Tezuka figured he quite enjoyed the demand for his data, and would probably send daily or maybe even hourly reports if Tezuka asked.
He even made them easy to understand to someone who didn't immerse themselves in data every waking hour of the day.
Inui typed the information Tezuka wanted into a simple template, with match results followed by the regular's current practice menus, followed by status increases, followed by a section labelled "miscellaneous", containing what significant data Inui couldn't fit into the other sections.
Sometimes, Inui would include personal conclusions in the miscellaneous section, but they were always mercifully brief. Things like "this week's Inui Juice was particularly well-recieved" or "Kikumaru told me to say hi to you for him very excitedly" or "Echizen continues to be frustrated with his lack of height growth" were found there.
Tezuka would reply with a simple thank you for the report to assure Inui that he recieved the message, sometimes he would comment on the personal anecdotes, and that was that.
Inui's texts were almost soothing to recieve, compared to the rest of the team's messages.
Tezuka wished Inui was that easy to deal with in person.
---
Tezuka's only interaction with Kaidoh came from the conclusion to one of Inui's reports.
"Kaidoh is with me, and wishes you well. Scratch that, he just looked away and told me not to actually send that, stuttering slightly, as he thinks it's too embarrassing."
Tezuka's sense of humour made an incredibly rare appearance in that moment.
"To: Inui Sadaharu
Subject: Re: Data Report
Tell Kaidoh that I decided not to thank him, since it would embarrass him."
The reply came switfly as expected.
"From: Inui Sadaharu
Subject: Re: Re: Data Report
Kaidoh's reaction to your reply, judging by his red cheeks and flustered hissing, is being 32% mad at me for sending that, 54% embarrassed and 14% honored that you responded."
Kaidoh seemed to be as pleasant as ever.
---
Somewhere near the end of his trip, Tezuka was surprised to recieve a text message from Echizen.
Highly curious as to the first year's texting style, Tezuka was greeted by a very simple message.
"From: Echizen Ryouma
Subject: (no subject)
Mada mada da ne, captain?"
Tezuka flipped his phone shut again, allowing himself the tiniest smile.
Clearly, all was going as usual at Seigaku.