Once we each became individuals, we began to layer our sounds once again.
In that moment, I smelled the scent of that incredibly thick, yet fleetingly short summer.
Summer camp.
“It’s surely because you were there, Konuma-kun.”
“Just knowing that you know makes me feel like I can work a little harder than I am now.”
“You're way too dense, dummy.”
Fireworks.
“Takuto, you are my aspiration.”
“I want to be by Takuto’s side forever. More than anyone else, more strongly than anyone else... that’s what I think.”
“If you’re going to ‘reach for your aspirations,’ you have to be this serious about it, okay? Takuto?”
The school festival.
“I didn’t have a single friend in middle school, but now, I have this many. I’m spending a youth so wonderful that others would envy me, with the best friends they’d be jealous of.”
“I want to become a normie!”
“Instrumental Music Club! Last one! Let’s play like our lives depend on it!”
“Thank you very much! This was our youth itself!”
It shouldn’t have been that long ago, yet just remembering it feels like a dazzling reflection of light.
“Sorry, I... I might not be able to write music anymore.”
Even though it was so painful back then.
If it was all necessary for this song to be born, then I can forgive everything.
＊ ＊ ＊
『Kyousou』
My shoelaces came undone, I stepped on them, and fell
I crouched down and became unable to move
That was probably not because I grazed myself
But because I learned the pain of being grazed
Frightened of restarting, sulking, and acting out
While I was moping, everyone went far away
My aspirations were out of reach for my hands and feet
Before I knew it, I was in last place
Just as I was about to retire
I heard a powerful sound from somewhere
The true identity of that sound, ticking the rhythm and beating the beat
Was the throbbing of my own heart
I don’t have any confidence, and I don’t even know the definition
But I’ve decided now, that I’ll become the strongest
Don’t wait for me
Because I’ll be there in an instant
Just as I was about to run out of breath
I heard a powerful sound from somewhere
The true identity of that sound, like fireworks, like drums
Was the words I received from you
＊ ＊ ＊
“I won’t have that.”
“When Azuma Yuri sets lyrics to the music Konuma Takuto made, and Hasu Sako plays the bass, and Ichikawa Amane sings... that’s the only way it becomes this song.”
“I won't hand it over to anyone else. It's our music, and ours alone.”
“Ariga-san, I... I’m finally not alone anymore.”
“'amane' is the name of our band, something only we can do.”
＊ ＊ ＊
I don’t have any confidence, and I don’t know if I’ll reach it
But I’ve already decided, that I’ll become the strongest
Don’t wait for me
Because I’ll go even further soon
Goodbye, the sulking me
Goodbye, the moping me
Goodbye, the frightened me
Goodbye, the losing me
I’m glad you all were there
I will play this song together with everything that has happened until today
＊ ＊ ＊
“I will... make this capriccio, this dream of a four-person debut, a reality.”
“I’m here to win this competition of creating the sound of 'amane' better than anyone else.”
“I’m here to deliver the music we co-created as the four of us to the world.”
“I’m here to perform the concerto of a sound that only the four of us can make.”
＊ ＊ ＊
Look, gaze toward the direction of the dawn
Our Kyousou is beginning
＊ ＊ ＊
Recalling the 'Kyousou' that layered so many meanings together, I...
Why is it that even though the tune is so bright, I feel like I’m about to cry?
The venue was heating up. Amidst the rising cheers.
The strokes of the acoustic guitar echoed quietly, yet with a firm sense of mass.
When the buzz died down, Ichikawa Amane gently began to sing.
“Following the contrails that look like they were drawn with lime on the schoolyard.”