The first sound of the guitar was the calculation of a faint friendship

I reunited with a friend for the first time in 20 years.

Thanks to the spread of social media, I managed to get in touch with a friend I used to call my "best friend" in junior high, and we sat across from each other at an izakaya.

"I can't believe the day has come where we're drinking together like this."
"It's unbelievable, isn't it!"
""Cheers!!""

....

Reika and I were best friends.
We spent every day together, to the point where I thought I'd never meet anyone else I got along with so well.

"Morning! Bestie!"
"Morning. I guess best friends arrive at the same time, too."
As soon as we arrived at school in the morning, we would"We're still best friends today, right?"confirm with each other before taking our seats.

We formed a band together, aspiring to be like the incredibly popular duo "Yuzu" at the time.

We went to a music store together and bought an acoustic guitar. It was just a cheap one, costing about 10,000 yen.

Excited, we strapped the acoustic guitar to our backs and headed to the river on our bicycles.

"What should we name the band?"
"Yuzu... so, how about Mikan (Tangerine)?"

"That's lame!"
"Well, what do you think is good then?"

"How about Eve?"
"What does that mean?"

"It doesn't really mean anything."
"It doesn't?!"

We sat by the riverbank, crunching on the stones under our feet. We took the brand-new acoustic guitar out of its case and looked at each other.

"Should we play on the count of three?"
"Sure."

That day, the first sound the guitar rang out was the strumming of a faint friendship.

...

When the alcohol had started to kick in, I asked Reika something I had wanted to ask her for a long time.

"Hey, do you remember that?"
"What?"

"That time you gave me a letter saying 'We aren't best friends, are we?'"

"What is that!! I don't remember!"

"You don't? Come on, we formed Eve, right? And a while after that, you suddenly handed me that letter."

"Eve!! That brings back memories. So?"

"When I read the letter, it said, 'I don't think true best friends go around saying they're best friends. As long as we keep calling each other best friends, we aren't really best friends.'"

"...Wait. I remember now."

"Oh, you remembered? Ever since then, well, you know."

"Ahhh, it's coming back to me. That's right, my sister said it. 'You're only true best friends once you stop calling each other that, you know?'"

"What kind of logic is that?"
"Exactly."

"I was actually pretty hurt by that, you know?"
"Sorry?"

"It's fine, though."
"Since we're best friends."

"Are you really going to say that?"
"I sure am."

That day, my trip down memory lane with Reika continued until late into the night.

Strum strum🎸

....

When I saw this title by Konishi-san in #DraftReproductionFactory, nostalgic memories came flooding back.

[The first guitar resonated with the calculations of a faint friendship]

Thank you so much, Konishi-san!!