Women Who Lived Through the Heisei Era

A friend I've been close with since the second year of junior high
I met up with my so-called best friend for the first time in a while

10:00 AM, let's meet at karaoke

For us, this is normal

We enter the karaoke place at 10:00 AM
We each grab two drinks from the drink bar (usually oolong tea) and head into our room

Once inside the room, we both started in on the
advice we needed, things we wanted to report, and stories from the past

Before we knew it, the phone from the front desk rang
It was the 10-minute warning before we had to leave the room

I checked my phone and it was already 1:00 PM
We hadn't sung a single song

But these were stories we could only tell at karaoke
Stories we could only tell because it was just the two of us

We've been friends since the second year of junior high
We'd meet in the morning and go to school together
When we were in different classes, we'd pass a diary back and forth every hour (exchange diary)
(We used to write our crushes' names using weird nicknames)
During lunch break, we'd play dodgeball together
(The serious kind)
After school, we'd go to the same club activities
When club ended, we'd go home together
Sit on the swings in the park in front of my house
And talk for an hour
We'd say goodbye, then meet again at cram school
When cram school ended, we'd stand around talking before finally heading home

That's what we were like back in junior high

No matter what happens, we don't judge each other
And I'm confident that we'll always be on each other's side

When I'm with my best friend
I'm not a wife, I'm not a mother of two
I can return to the version of myself who didn't carry any burdens, who only thought about herself, and who could spend all her time on herself
The version of me who was so happy and so free

It was a day that reminded me once again
That returning to this place periodically is very important

My best friend, let's keep returning to the Heisei era together