Diary: "♪Youth~ It is~ The light I pretended not to see~ (Set to the Nippon Kodo CM song)"

There used to be a segment called "Minor's Manifesto" on a variety show called "Gakkou e Ikou!" (Let's Go to School!). A student would stand on the roof and shout their thoughts to the teachers and students gathered in the schoolyard. Complaints about school life, thoughts on club activities, confessions of love, and so on. The students would get really excited, and it was truly the sparkling light of youth. Recently, "Minor's Manifesto" has been revived on a variety show called "Sore Snow Man ni Yarasetete Kudasai" (Please Let Snow Man Do It). I watch it even though I don't want to. That's right. I am directing a gaze of envy at the screen.

I am not good at group activities and lack cooperativeness. I have almost no memories of enjoying school life.
(I do have bittersweet memories of my first love, though ❤)
I didn't belong to any clubs, and I would go straight home after class, spending my days watching evening drama reruns while gorging on snacks. In reality, I longed to be in the tennis club, swinging my racket gracefully while flashing my panties in a super mini-skirt.

Here is a song: ♪♪ I turned that incense "Seiun" CM song into this parody.

♪Youth~ It is~ The light I pretended not to see~
♪The hope~ Yuki~ threw away~
♪Youth~ It is~ A heart of mutual deception~
♪The withered~ blue spring~
♪Youth~

I'll leave this parody on that shelf over there...

The Tokyo metropolitan high school I attended was a mid-tier school with a deviation score of nearly 60. It had a sincere, calm, and settled school culture—in other words, it was a den of plain, introverted kids with decent academic ability. Therefore, it was a high school that someone who stood out in junior high would never choose. Even in such a high school, to borrow the term, there was a school caste system. I was neither in the top tier nor the bottom tier; I was always in the middle. During events, I would move according to the top tier's orders and reach out to the bottom tier—a middle manager, so to speak. I would like to state a personal theory here: middle-tier girls in the school caste are surprisingly popular with boys because they are modest and kind. Tee-hee. That said, I didn't do anything on my own initiative, and I finished my high school life as a half-extrovert, half-introvert.

After that, I went on to a junior college and became a working adult in the blink of an eye. Although I played around a bit in my first year, I had to earn credits no matter what, and by my second year, I was tossed about by job hunting. It was a two-year period with no youth to speak of.

My teenage years will never return. The light of youth has already faded. I think I should have looked at more things and challenged myself with more things during that sensitive period.

I was thinking about that vaguely while watching the rain continue to fall. Come to think of it, my alma mater had many hydrangeas planted, and around this time of year, they would call it "Hydrangea Week," opening the school's promenade to the public so that local residents and parents could come to admire the hydrangeas. I used to watch the hydrangeas from the classroom window during class.

When I looked it up, I found they were still holding it, so I decided to go to my alma mater for the first time since graduating. Oh, my nostalgic alma mater. It had changed quite a bit, but the traces of the past remained here and there. As I walked along the hydrangea path and looked into the classroom, it was as if the former me was looking back at me. The high school version of me is speaking to me.

"Did you know? That there is a second youth in life."

Ding! My teenage light of youth may have faded, but am I not currently fully enjoying my second youth as a self-proclaimed poet? My skin is no longer supple, my heart has become a little clouded, and I've even gone slightly bald, but I can still light a fire!

Not "Let's Go to School!" but "Let's Go to My Alma Mater!"
Not "Minor's Manifesto" but "Adult's Manifesto"

I~! Spent~! A boring~! Teenage life~! And I regret it~! However~! Now~! Eight years have passed~! Since I started writing poetry~! I am living~! Quite~! Happily~! I~! Realized~! Something~!

(Whaaaat~!!)

Life is~! Always~! Youth~!!!!!!

(Yaaaay~!!!!!!)

Hmm. It is quite a pleasant day.

#Diary
#Essay
#LetsGoToSchool
#V6
#SnowMan
#MinorsManifesto
#SchoolCaste
#Hydrangea