(~English translation further below~)

昨年の春、見知らぬ人を旧友と間違えてしまいました。

本当に恥ずかしい瞬間でした！

同じ服を着て、同じように歩き、同じように話すその女性は、その友人が生きているはずがないのに、私の中の子どもは、この見知らぬ女性に私を知っているかどうか尋ねようと思ったのです。

私の熱意が彼女の計画を狂わせたようで、「いいえ」と答えた後、困惑した表情を浮かべた。私のせいで彼女が次の電車に乗り遅れたとしたら、それは完全に私のせいだ！

でも、今まで自分がどれだけ悪い友達だったかを思い知らされた。

「さきよ」は彼女の名前なのに、書き方すら覚えていない。

叔父さんの家で暇つぶしに書道をしたのを覚えている？あの時,「さきよ」さんの名前はとても楽しく練習できたのに、10年経った今、「さきよ」さんの顔すらよく思い出せない。

ただでさえ、見ず知らずの人が彼女に見えてしまうほど忘れてしまっているのだ。数年前に彼女が亡くなったことも、スイッチが入ったように覚えていなくて、人生から引き離されて、13歳の頃に戻されてしまった。

今日が5回忌らしいけど、どんなことがあったにせよ、あの時の欠落感は一生埋められないと思うと、本当に申し訳なく思う。

あたしよりも「さきよ」と一緒にいたはずなのに、夜、横になって同じような気持ちになることはないだろうか。

今は期末テストの追い込み中だけど、時間ができたら赤い蘭のコロオ尾店で会おうよ。

私もあなたの顔を忘れてしまう前に、もう一度会いたいんです！

- 清水

——————————

A very recent trip around Hong Kong filled me with inspiration for music, and this was the product of about a month of tinkering around, because get this: the first half of this song was practically finished by the end of May!

The problem was… welp, inspiration.

For a while, I was envisioning a more uplifting and atmospheric song, but midway through, as I experimented with certain progressions around the Koto section, I began to realise: this song was growing a bittersweet edge, and I knew I wanted to contextualise it!

There’s a lot of context that’ll be missing—I promise all of that will be revealed in my first real album!

But for now, I’ll let the letter I wrote for this song speak for itself, because it’ll all make sense in due time~

After nearly a year of inactivity, I hope you’ll enjoy this first look at my upcoming project!

And if you’re here when the album’s released… What did you think~? \(//∇//)\

——————————

(~English translation~)

Last spring, I passed by somebody I mistook for an old friend.

It was a really embarrassing moment.

She dressed the same, walked the same, talked the same—It was odd, because there was no way for her to be alive, but the child in me thought to ask this stranger if she knew me.

I got a no, then a confused gaze, like my enthusiasm just threw her off whatever plans she had. Made sense too, given I stopped her in the middle of a train station; you know, if she ended up missing the next train because of me, that’d entirely have been my fault!

But it just made me realise how bad of a friend I’ve been all this time.

Sakiyo was her name, and yet I don’t even remember how to write it.

Do you remember when we did calligraphy at your uncle’s place in our spare time? Sakiyo’s name was really fun to practice on back then, but now decade later, I can’t even recall her face well.

I’ve forgotten so much that even just a random stranger looked like her to me. I didn’t even remember that she’d passed a few years ago, like a switch flicked on, pulled me out of life, and sent me back to our secondary years for a moment.

Today is apparently the fifth anniversary of her passing, however it happened, and I feel so bad that I can’t ever make up for how absent I was back then.

I know you were always with Sakiyo more than me, but do you ever lay down at night and feel the same way?

I’m catching up on finals at the moment, but let’s meet at the Koro-o Branch of Red Orchid when we can.

I just want to see you again before I somehow forget what you look like too!

- Shimizu