Because I can't describe it in one word, I want to call it "wonderful."
The six years from when I entered university until I graduated from graduate school.
I belonged to a light music club.
Activities consisted of performing a live show once every three months, and participation was, of course, voluntary.
Since it was a large club with over 200 members at all times,
there were truly all kinds of people.
People who formed original bands and took music seriously.
People who only showed up for drinking parties.
People who only wore orange clothes.
For better or for worse,
it was a gathering of unique individuals,
but among them, K-san stood out the most.
K-san, who had repeated years many times, was in his seventh year of university when we met.
He had a terrible slouch and sharp eyes. He wore incredibly pointed red shoes.
Before I got to know him, my impression was just that there was a scary-looking guy.
But now that I have graduated, I understand.
The person who influenced me the most during my university days
was undoubtedly K-san.
Meeting this person, how should I put it,
I feel like my world was expanded by one level,
and I just can't forget him.
I think I'll try writing about K-san
this time.
"Because I'm smoking a cigarette."
One day, a senior invited me to a club drinking party.
It was a gathering of so-called heavyweights.
Everyone at the party was naturally older than me,
and it was an unbelievable space where six out of the eight people had repeated years.
And it was also
a gathering of the light music club's star players.
The seniors participating were all people who were incredibly good at their instruments.
And they listened to an incredible variety of music.
"The 500-yen effector I found at a recycle shop
was a real hit.
The guitar sounds like an organ."
"When all is said and done, Radiohead's
The Bends is the best."
"I'm into a band that uses home appliances as instruments.
The sound of the washing machine is especially good."
"Lately, I've been into trip-hop.
Also, if you darken the room, turn on psychedelic lighting,
and play the sound of Buddhist chanting, you can really get high."
Is that even music anymore?
There were people with gray hobbies,
and people with values that seemed to have gone around not just once, but three times.
Anyway, it was a place where crazy people were gathered,
the likes of which I had never encountered in my life until then.
But the stories those people told were incredibly stimulating.
Just by talking to someone there,
I felt like my world had expanded a little,
and it was always, always truly fun.
The person who was running such a place, or rather,
the person at the center of it was K-san.
"Because I'm smoking a cigarette."
When I asked K-san, 'Why was I called here?',
I received a reply that I wasn't sure
was actually a reason.
The essential charm of a human being lies in their dark side.
People who have darkness leaking from their entire being
are often more interesting.
When I asked about it properly later,
he shared a wildly twisted personal theory.
What kind of state is it to have darkness leaking from your entire being?
K-san was always a person who could make us strangely convinced
with theories that I had no idea where he brought them from.
'I want to eat delicious udon.'
K-san had a charm that drew people in.
I think this was the moment I met someone to whom the word 'charisma'
applied for the first time in my life.
He was what you might call leader-like, or perhaps
the type of person suited to be a company president.
He would say strange things and keep getting people around him involved.
He was by no means omniscient or omnipotent,
he was short-tempered, teased people mercilessly, and cried quite easily.
Also, among the members, he was probably the least skilled at his instrument.
Even so, when close friends gathered,
K-san was almost always at the center.
The stories K-san told always had a mysterious persuasiveness.
He was glib, and his mind was incredibly quick.
At drinking parties, when K-san started talking,
there was an atmosphere where the entire mood of the room was drawn to him.
Even seniors who were as skilled as professionals at their instruments were no match for K-san's theories.
And K-san was always overflowing with things he wanted to do.
'I want to eat delicious udon.
I'm going to Kagawa now, so tell me your address.'
It was 1:00 AM when that message arrived.
In the end, about five idle people gathered and left Fukuoka at 2:00 AM.
We went to eat Sanuki udon, driving K-san's car.
The udon we ate early in the morning at a rural shop without even a sign
was more delicious than any udon I had ever eaten before.
Since that whirlwind trip, everyone became obsessed with udon,
and making handmade udon at K-san's house night after night is also a fond memory.
Besides that,
he gathered almost all the students who had been held back a year in the department
to take a pointless group photo,
and we even camped by setting up tents
in an unused winter swimming pool.
(And, we did get permission from the university...
he was surprisingly meticulous about things like that)
Even though he was such a reckless person, for some reason, you couldn't hate him.
In fact, he had a mysterious popularity.
'I've been bored lately, let's do something!'
'What are you planning to do next?'
K-san was always surrounded by juniors
who would say things like that to him.
K-san has left behind many famous quotes,
but the one that remains in my heart the most is what he said at the club's graduation live concert.
'Human connections are actually very fragile,
and I think if neither side tries to reach out, they easily disappear.
Among the people I have met so far, there are many with whom
the relationship ended because I couldn't reach out myself.
But with the people I met in this club,
I want to continue to be involved with you all from here on out.
I would be happy if you would respond when I reach out.
Thank you for everything until now.'
Perhaps it hit home precisely because K-san was always so reckless.
With juniors a whole generation younger than him present, he looked a bit awkward,
but I honestly admired his stance of trying to cherish his relationship with each and every one of them,
and the sight of him bowing deeply after giving his graduation speech at the place where he had been taken care of for eight years
was truly wonderful.
K-san really has many different sides,
but well, that's the kind of person he is.
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Many charms gather to become 'wonderful'.
The 4th "Word Project." The assignment is,
to write an essay about a "wonderful" person in your life.
This time, I took a fresh look at
the "wonderful" people I have met so far.
And I realized that for me, there is one condition for being "wonderful."
That is, having a charm that cannot be described in a single word.
I have written at length about K's charm up to this point, but
why is K "wonderful"?
I cannot find a single word to express it.
The rebellious spirit of being cynical and criticizing society
is rock-and-roll and cool, and
the way they pull off genuine surprises for friends' birthdays,
or the way they suddenly start crying
while drinking with a junior who just landed a job, are also charming gaps in their personality.
Even the parts where they seem logical and cool, only to suddenly get angry
or become emotional,
are so human that I cannot help but like them.
Taking all of that into account,
I think K is a "wonderful" person.
The word "wonderful" is convenient.
However, it is more than that.
Isn't the word "wonderful"
a very broad term,
capable of serving as a vessel for various thoughts and emotions?
I want to continue using the word "wonderful."
Of course, without shying away from thinking about the reasons why I felt that way.