I was reminded of how wonderful friends are

It's Miyu.

Since my mother passed away, I had sent out mourning postcards. Then, I received messages from friends via LINE, and some even sent incense. I was so, so happy and grateful for their thoughtfulness. It even made me recall memories with those friends all over again.

This happened yesterday.

I received a LINE message while I was at work. However, I left it unread. A while later, a customer came into the shop. A customer wearing a mask. Could this person be...?

It's Hiro-chan!!

The person who came to the shop was my best friend Hiro-chan, who occasionally appears here.

“Huh? What’s wrong? Wow, you surprised me!”
“I was sending you a LINE message. You know, since I got your mourning postcard. I wanted to give you this.”
“I’m sorry. I hadn’t checked my LINE.”
“No, no, it was sudden on my end too.”

As she said that, she handed me the incense. And also, a gift for the altar. Furthermore, she had been to Taiwan and even brought me souvenirs (a cute bag and some snacks).

The bag is made of a sheer material (nylon, maybe? I’m not sure). I really love this color scheme. Don’t you think the combination of the body and the handles is cute?
It feels like something you would find at defunct variety stores like Uchu Hyakka, Daichu, or Bunkaya Zakkaten. Although, the only one I’ve actually been to is Bunkaya Zakkaten. But since they were often featured or provided products for magazines in the 80s, I have a vague idea of them, haha.
Also, she gave me some oolong tea bags and dried mangoes.

I’ve gotten off track.

Actually, it’s been about 10 years since I last saw Hiro-chan. And the last time we met was at her father’s funeral. So, we only spoke briefly back then.
I think the last time we really hung out was around the time my second daughter was born.

In the meantime, we stayed in touch in small ways by sending gifts, emails, and letters, but we were both so busy that we couldn't really meet up.
And now, that Hiro-chan is right in front of me.

I happened to have some canned coffee that had been given to me, so we drank that together while we talked. I thought about brewing some proper coffee, but I didn't want to waste the time (lol).

We had a proper chat for the first time in over 20 years. Laughing our heads off just like in the old days.

Even though we hadn't seen each other for so long, the distance between our hearts hadn't grown. We immediately went back to being 19 years old. We’ve been a great team since we worked together, so even with a bit of a gap, we haven't lost that sharpness in our conversation from back then.

We caught each other up on our lives.
Hiro-chan is working as a handmade artist. She says she mainly makes pieces with embroidery now. Apparently, through her handmade work, she’s been getting a lot of requests for Hawaiian-themed items, and she’s made connections with people in the hula dance community.

She said that when she was invited to a hula dance recital, she thought about trying it out herself. When we were talking about that, the doors to our memories opened lol.

We danced hula in Ibusuki, didn't we lol

A long time ago, we went on a trip to Kagoshima together during Golden Week.
We stayed in Ibusuki, and the dining hall was a tropical-looking space with a large stage. As dinner began, it got dark, and a Hawaiian show started.

While we were eating, we were watching a hula dance performance that was sometimes elegant and sometimes intense, when the dancers came down to the table seating area. They then pointed at a few people and told them to come up on stage. For some reason, both of us were chosen.

We looked at each other, said 'well, nothing we can do about it,' and went up on stage.

What on earth was about to happen? The people who went up on stage had to dance the hula with the dancers. It wasn't a slow, relaxed hula, but a very intense one with a 'don-doko-don-don' rhythm. We gave it our all, feeling like we had to since we were already up there.

Believe it or not, I actually made it through the preliminary round lol.
Next, we had to dance the hula again with the people who had passed the preliminaries!!
It was pretty embarrassing, but since everyone was a stranger anyway, I did my best. Moving my hips to the 'don-doko-don-don' rhythm. Yes, just like Minako Honda in her 1986 '1986 Marilyn'.
It was worth the effort, and I was able to get some tea (Chiran tea, I think?).

Talking about Hiro-chan's hula dance reminded me of when we danced the hula on this trip, and we had a great time laughing our heads off.
We were saying things like, 'Learning the hula now is like finally resolving the foreshadowing from that hula dance back then lol.'

We stayed at the Ibusuki Kanko Hotel (I hear it's called Ibusuki Iwasaki Hotel now). You can take a sand bath right on the hotel grounds. The sand bath felt amazing. The weight of the sand was heavy, and it was warm, making me sweat slowly.

We went on a bus tour in Kagoshima.
This is a photo from Lake Ikeda that they took us to. Apparently, the cryptid Issie lives here.
Come to think of it, Lake Ikeda is home to Japan's largest giant eel, isn't it? Oh, I want to eat eel.

Inspired by the hula dance, I looked back on the trip the two of us took.

This trip was so much fun.
We could only stay in Kagoshima for one night, so we stayed another night in Fukuoka. But we hadn't booked a hotel, so we had no choice but to stay in a place with a cute building. That was also novel and interesting.

We had a great time reminiscing like that, and talking about all sorts of things we want to do. It was less than an hour, but it was so much fun. I talked so much that my voice got raspy. After all, I felt completely like I was back in those days.

Ah, friends really are great.
My real-life friends, and the friends I've met here too. Everyone who is involved in my life.
Despite everything, I am truly blessed with friends. I want to give back the kindness that everyone gives me.

⭐ Stories about when the two of us went somewhere

⭐ Songs we used to listen to together back then

We were the type to deeply analyze the meaning of these lyrics (lol)

Thank you for reading until the end today as well♪