"The Day I Was Called 'Kindred Spirits'" - Voyage Tetralogy Side Story

I used to think, "I'm just not good enough."
"I'll never be as good as that person"—I had always thought that.
But that one remark from my best friend that day quietly struck a chord.

Deep in the ship's hold, where no one could see me.
I held my smartphone, still wearing my work clothes soaked in the scent of the sea.

The signal would cut out every now and then.
Yet, strangely, I felt as though my "words" could reach anywhere.

While being rocked in solitude on the sea, I pour my thoughts into a note.
It was like casting a light all by myself into a sea without a lighthouse.

—One day, my best friend said to me.

"We're kindred spirits, aren't we?"

That one remark quietly changed my life.

Come to think of it, I spent seven years running a "Unique Job Exchange" on Jimoty, reaching number one in the country.
I also spent three years just writing on note—and received the top popularity award in the Essay category of the Creative Awards.

But that wasn't because I was a genius. I wrote, deleted, and wrote again. I met people, got rejected, and reached out again.
—It was a accumulation of humble efforts.

I have a best friend who was a regular at taking the top spot in national mock exams for university entrance and passed the old bar exam almost entirely through self-study.

Having broken through such an incredibly difficult barrier, he was like a "monk in training."
A stoic attitude of stripping away the unnecessary and focusing solely on his studies.

But he was never aloof.
We would laugh at silly jokes, talk about ramen in the middle of the night, and sometimes he even had a clumsy side.
I had always been saved by that human side of him.

One day, I suddenly asked him.
"Why do you push yourself so stoically to win?"
"Why does someone as amazing as you befriend someone like me?"

He looked a little surprised, and then he laughed.

"You know, you've been writing all this time, even when no one was watching."
"You're not exaggerating or putting on a show; you're competing at your own pace."

Saying that, he added one thing.

"We're kindred spirits, aren't we?"

I was speechless.
I had never thought of myself as being on the "monk side of things," but I suppose I had indeed sacrificed things to gain something.
Writing, deleting, and writing again, over and over.

Even during times when I wasn't read or appreciated, I kept on writing.

He continued.
“Your writing, I think, is at a ‘top-tier national mock exam’ level when it comes to the power to make people read.”
“Not just in terms of skill, but in the sense that it leaves a lingering impression after you finish reading.”

I think he only said that because he was my best friend.
But even so, I was happy.

　
With those words in my heart, I kept writing.
As I continued to post, readers gradually appeared, and my words began to reach them.
Before I knew it, I was repeating the small miracle of ‘connecting with someone through writing.’

His words, ‘We’re the same kind of person,’ still support me even now.

　
If there is someone you think, ‘I can never beat that person,’

When that person suddenly smiles and says, ‘We’re the same kind of person,’ it might be a quiet proof that your efforts have reached someone’s heart.

　The day I was told, ‘We’re the same kind of person.’
Just as those words connected my life.

If you, too, are hesitant about writing right now.
The day will come when those words become a light for someone.

— Because we are surely ‘the same kind of person.’

If someone smiles and calls you ‘one of us,’
that alone makes you want to keep living your life just a little bit longer.

Even if the signal doesn't reach, words do.
So, who is your ‘light’ reaching?

If you also have a day when you were told ‘We’re the same kind of person,’ I would be happy if you could share that story with me.

That, too, is surely a small ‘foreshadowing’ for moving forward.




※This work is an entry for the ‘note Creative Awards 2025’ essay category.

In addition to this work, I am challenging the note Creative Awards with a ‘hidden tetralogy’ consisting of the [Front Trilogy] + [Back One-Shot]. All of them are themed around ‘a fresh start in life.’

【note Creative Awards 2025 Essay Entry Articles (Voyage Tetralogy)】

【Work 1】 ‘That Day, I Began My “Reality Reincarnation”’ — The meaning of “my own life” found beyond escapism

【Work 2】 “Fate Quietly Recovers Its Foreshadowing” — A story of a quiet fresh start where coincidence and inevitability intersect

【Work 3】 ‘2013: What Decontamination Work in Fukushima Taught Me About “Hope Amidst Despair”’　　
— A record of “life” and “hope” seen from the front lines

【Back Work 1】 ‘The Night I Lost My Compass of Love — Etcetera of a Sailor Fortune-Teller Who Doesn't Understand “Ordinary Love”’ — An essay on “a fresh start in love” that transcends age and profession

【Side Story】 (This work)
‘The Day I Was Called “One of Us”’
— A side story to the Voyage Tetralogy. A quiet dialogue “exchanged in the shadows of the main story.”