A story about enjoying the rare miracle of meeting a friend after such a long time | Memory is a mysterious thing, isn't it...

Today, I had a long-awaited reunion in Tokyo with a friend who works in Osaka. It seems it had been since October 4, 2015 (thank you, Google Calendar), so it's been a full ten and a half years. That said, neither of us had changed much at all.

I met this friend in college, and while our natures (hobbies, drive, social circles, current jobs, and the paths we took to get there) are completely different, we share a common ground in our analytical skills, ability to verbalize, and a strange way our sensibilities just click. Because of this, even after graduation, we reunite about once every ten years and, without needing to share any background information, our core conversations flow with the same speed as they did back in our college days when we saw each other constantly. We both have relatively good memories.

—Pause—

Wait, is that it? The theory that we have only met in person twice since graduation is emerging.

—Yeah, that's right, yeah, that might be it (laughs while tracing back memories).

Ah... well, my friend is a high-powered career woman working overseas and in Osaka, she loves to drink, has a wide circle of friends, and has even become like the head of her household now, so she's always busy...

Also, she has always been prone to last-minute cancellations (she really is busy). And I
was often late (lol) (+ I was always somewhat busy and constantly tired).
Yes, the fact that we can meet at all is a tremendous miracle.

A miracle!!!

Today, I gratefully enjoyed that miracle and exchanged various information and perspectives. Since our values and quirks are truly different, and the worlds we usually see are different (and we can verbalize that, and above all, it's very interesting), my world expands. It's so much fun.

And this time, it turned out that both of us are hooked on 'Jujutsu Kaisen (+≡)'!

There were also new insights into overseas otaku culture and trends, so it was a huge harvest.

Also, from the things we talked about casually this time, I felt a sense of deep understanding as if threads were connecting regarding the causality of each other's past behavior and changes in preferences (which we both remembered), and it was pleasant (this happened more to my friend than to me. Usually, it happens only to me, so it was a fresh experience).

Now, we are people who boast quite a good memory, but...

――This person!!!!!!
For some reason, I just couldn't come up with this person's (character's) name!!!!!!!!!!

…An emergency situation occurred.
I couldn't remember it at all, but because we shared a strong sense of crisis that "giving up and searching is a defeat" and "we should deepen the wrinkles in our brains," I kept a corner of my brain occupied with searching for his name even while we talked about other things. Even though it had been ten and a half years, I was already half-distracted. (Since we are similar in that regard, we can understand each other's situations perfectly.)

In between completely unrelated conversations, the names of other characters, the author's name, the names of the anime voice actors, the names of the actors in the movie version, and even things like "Horokeu Oskoni" and Ainu words kept popping up, but this one, the main character's, name was!!!!!!

Why!!!!!!!!!?!
He's the main character!?!??!!!?!!

In the end, we ran out of time, and we parted ways saying, "Let's absolutely not Google it, and report back to each other when we remember." I kept thinking about it all the way home (relying on the memory of the accent from his nickname, "The Immortal...", I went through the Japanese syllabary multiple times while muttering, and tried to see if I could associate it with various letters that caught my eye, haha), and by the time I got on the private train, switched to the bus, walked, and arrived home, I finally remembered it in a flash. Ah, what a relief.

――Anyway, next week, it's my turn to go visit her in Osaka.
(I combined it with my business trip to Kyoto to make the most of the travel expenses.)

…May a "miracle" occur where there are no last-minute cancellations or lateness! lol

(Well, even though we haven't changed, we have become responsible adults, right…? lol)