A Monologue from the Edge of the Mizu-Kingdom - On the Graduation of Mizuki Fukumura -

The member I have supported for 11 years is graduating from the group today.
I think I will feel a lot of different emotions when I watch the graduation concert, but for now, I want to look back on and record my thoughts and the path I have walked with her up to this day.

I watched Morning Musume during their golden age through a CRT television from the countryside, and after that, my enthusiasm faded away much like the public's reaction, but I returned to the fandom around the beginning of 2010.

At the time, I was working in the service industry and living in Sendai. By chance, my day off aligned with the 2010 Concert Tour Spring "pikaッpikaッ!", and I used a same-day ticket to see Morning Musume live for the first time.

Even though I couldn't go to events after that, I checked for information online, so I knew about the 9th generation auditions, and even if I couldn't watch them on TV, I followed the progress of the auditions and the reactions of other fans on message boards.

I also learned about January 2, 2011, online, but regarding Mizuki-san's addition, I only thought, "Something revolutionary has happened," and after that, I was more interested in Riho Riho, the promising next-generation ace who appeared like a comet.

I had been watching Hello! Project, or rather Morning Musume, loosely like that for a long time, but when I saw the artist photo for "Wakuteka Take a chance," for some reason, I thought "Oh" about Mizuki-san, or rather, I felt a "pull."
While I was still working in the service industry and couldn't take time off as I pleased, I was finally able to go see the 2012 Autumn Concert Tour "Colorful Character," and my heart was completely stolen by Mizuki-san's all-out performance of "Resonant Blue" which was in the setlist. (*"Resonant Blue" is a song I am so attached to that if asked "What is your favorite Morning Musume song?", I would answer it immediately.)"You don't choose your favorite; they come to you."That was the moment I felt that this is what that means.
It is a nostalgic story now that I clutched a single ticket and went to my first individual handshake event at the end of that year because I wanted to convey these feelings.
I couldn't always get weekends off, I couldn't buy individual event tickets at all, and needless to say, concert tickets were out of the question. By the time my shift schedule came out, venues near Tokyo were often sold out, so I often relied on Yahoo! Auctions...

In the autumn of 2013, I really wanted to go to Mizuki-san's birthday event, so I finally joined the FC. I remember my heart racing when I bought my first birthday T-shirt, thinking, "Now I am a true Hello! Pro fan...!"

Sayu's graduation concert is often talked about for the "Fukumura Dash," but I remember more the expression she had when her appointment as leader was announced—the look of someone suppressing anxiety and steeling herself.

In 2015, I was watching happily and nonchalantly, thinking, "Congratulations on being the leader," but looking back now, I think it must have been incredibly tumultuous behind the scenes. With the addition of the 12th generation and Riho Riho's graduation at the end of the year, she not only had to improve her own skills but also had to do team building. How hard it must have been for a girl not yet twenty to carry a group with such history on her shoulders and walk forward...

Time jumps forward significantly to 2020. The daily life that was stolen by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The "The Ballad" concert held at Nakano Sunplaza in July seemed to lead the entertainment industry. The tears that flowed when I heard Mizuki-san's singing voice after such a long time. I realized once again that having live events and being able to go see my favorite member is not something to be taken for granted, and I felt its preciousness anew.

Even while the pandemic didn't seem to subside, younger members kept graduating one after another.
From around the second half of 2022, heartless voices directed at Mizuki-san began to reach my ears.
I don't really suspect people's statements of "containing malice," so I just took them at face value, thinking, "Hmm, so that's what Fuku-chan thinks," without thinking too deeply about it in a sense.
It is true that she might sometimes lack the right words and invite misunderstanding, but I could only watch the situation quietly while thinking, "Is it really necessary to pick on her that much?"
After that, I felt the criticism toward Mizuki-san growing stronger and stronger, so when her graduation was announced on 12/27, rather than feeling "sad" or "disappointed," I felt "relieved," or rather, "You can finally be at ease." As someone who supports her, there were honestly moments and parts in her performances where I thought it might be painful for her... (For example, in this year's spring tour, during the interlude of "Are you happy?", the line "Sugoi suki dakara" might have been intended as that kind of expression, but her voice didn't carry on the mic at all, etc.) (I had heard that she couldn't easily regain her stamina or vocal condition after her COVID infection.)
The text of the graduation announcement said that she had intended to graduate in 2020, but because the pandemic happened... so I was able to see "Morning Musume's Mizuki Fukumura" for longer, but I had mixed feelings about whether that was good or bad, and I also understood the agency's desire to keep her...

2023. I have spent a year where everything is prefixed with "last."
There are a few things I think, "I couldn't do that" or "I wanted to do this too," but I feel like I have made it this far without regrets, so as not to repeat the same mistake as when Kanatomo graduated. (*A bitter experience where I believed the words "I will return," and although I couldn't get a ticket for the graduation concert, I didn't desperately look for one, and I bought a T-shirt for the day I could wear it next, but that day never came.)
I also support Airi Suzuki as much as I support Mizuki-san, but my feelings are different from when ℃-ute disbanded. I suppose it comes down to "whether the vessel called a group continues to exist or disappears" and "whether one continues to appear on the front stage or takes a break."

Now, before the curtain rises on the graduation concert, what comes to mind are many "Fuku-chan that I love."
Her supple arms and hand movements with nerves reaching to the fingertips, her form including the way her hips are positioned when she strikes a pose with her feet shoulder-width apart, her freely changing singing voice that grew more and more with every singing part she received (though I love her early singing voice when I hear it now too), her healing speaking voice full of negative ions (the way she gets a lisp while talking with a candy in her mouth on "Fukumura no Heya" is also so cute!), her passion and competitiveness born from having firm beliefs, and the way she becomes just a regular fan when the topic turns to Hello! Project, or rather, Kamei-san and Momochi-senpai...
I don't fly far away for tours or ZDA, I only take a cheki photo once a year or so, and I have never held a bundle of handshake (talk) tickets. I don't comment on her blog every day, and I stopped sending emails to the Hello! Mob radio "Fukumura no Heya" because I was frustrated that my emails weren't being read (←), and it is certainly not the case that I have always felt the same level of "I love her! She's my favorite!" all the time. Oh, but I did try pointlessly hard on her birthday card at the Hello! Shop every year. To an outsider, I am a very loose fan, but even so, I do have "my own way of loving her." I believe this is not something for anyone else to comment on, I don't want it to be commented on, and it is something inviolable.

Judging from Mizuki-san's recent statements, she will likely take a break for about a year and then return to the front stage in some form.
First of all, I want her to rest her heart and body, enjoy everything she hasn't been able to do until now to the fullest, and enjoy her days as a single human being, "27-year-old woman, Mizuki Fukumura."

And when the day comes that we can meet again, please take care of me then!!!