Youthful Indiscretion
That is so... It surely happened that we met when the five of us should have met. That midsummer day was exactly as humid as it is today, and I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt to avoid sunburn, so around 2 in the afternoon was terribly unkind to me...
Even now it hasn't changed much, but in those days we were generally together. It's a truth that's hard to believe, but pretty much immediately after our formation we didn't talk about music much and the five of us grown men often sat around in a circle and played "trump" and such card games (we were poor) until midnight. When I think about it now it was a really counterproductive activity, but looking back, it was surely because we all had that kind of innocence. Ahh, even though we were such fools, we had no money, no skill, we didn't even have any equipment, but we did have one thing. That was a "dream."
We used to simply declare such things as "Next year we'll play Dome!", "We'll sell one million copies!!", and "We'll build a castle!!!" These remarks, despite having no songs because we had only just formed... 'Youth is truly amazing,' is what I generally think now, because first of all, we'd realistically have to buy the necessary goods. Make-up products, the minimum of musical equipment, and also a vehicle for that equipment. In those days we were under the impression that 'For a band, an equipment van is a necessity!' so we bought all of the used car magazines from convenience stores for everybody to look at, but right away we were astonished at the price. Up until then we thought that if we were getting a somewhat large, plain van second-hand, then we could buy it for dirt cheap, but when we started looking around for it, the cost was about as high as a luxury car!
In each magazine there were many circles alongside each other for a Hiace at a good price, but we were poor and there was no way we could buy one... Nevertheless, we couldn't reach livehouses if we didn't have an equipment van. (The truth is, although we didn't have makeup, instruments, songs, or even costumes, we were already deciding on our live performances.) Meanwhile, the day of our first live was approaching hour by hour, we were at our wits' end for what to do, when "the one" appeared before us at a good time. Unable to see what was right under our noses, somehow, a handy van was being sold at a used car center in the neighborhood! The shop owner, an old man, wasn't pleased with the maker and the colour of the frame, but we were really pleased with the price, and we bought it without hesitating. Thus was the birth of Kagrra's first "Houmii-kun." And now I'll return to the beginning of the story.
The five of us, good friends as usual, boarded Houmii-kun, and with our sights set on a music shop in Ochanomizu, we were having a pleasant chat inside our vehicle whose air-conditioning was not very effective. Shin was driving then, and he absent-mindedly muttered, "That was kind of a strange situation a while ago wasn't it..."
I strained my ears to those words and tried listening to the sound of the engine. It was certainly making an unpleasant sound that was different from usual... Until just a little while ago we were talking lively about composing our music and the direction of our live performances, but with these feelings, our topic turned completely to Houmii-kun.
"Isn't it dangerous? Should we park over there and call the car shop?"
"No, it's okay! Let's keep going to the music shop for now!"
"Should we wait and see a while longer?"
Meanwhile Houmii-kun was rolling along, and by the time we noticed that the speed was decreasing little by little, it was already too late. Our speed meter was loitering around 20kmh and it felt like it would come to a stop at any time. When we looked around it seemed as though we were causing a light traffic congestion, so we couldn't help but to pull Houmii-kun over to the side of the road and seek help from the old shop owner.
From the start, the old guy seemed quite unpleasant, but he betrayed our expectations and told us he would come in a hurry. We were far from the music shop, and had stopped at a nice distance from the car shop, waiting inside the van that was like a steam bath for the old guy to arrive.
Shortly thereafter he came into sight, and first of all we were shocked... Although we thought he could only be bringing an ordinary tow truck, what the old guy was driving was a type of truck with a loading frame. Thinking there was no way to get it back, we reluctantly drove Houmii-kun up onto there. The stature of Houmii-kun was already high under normal circumstances, and as expected it became even higher. Our situation was unbearably painful at a glance. The five of us who were chatting cheerfully up until a while ago were keeping our mouths shut in embarrassment... I digress, but that was the first time I saw the roof of a bus...
I'd clue it up here, if not for the fact that our misfortunes somehow continued...
The sun was setting when we finally reached the car shop with unthinkably embarrassed thoughts, but at any rate we got there safely and Houmii-kun had to be serviced. Our first impression was bad for sure, but if the shop owner hadn't come we would've been stranded in the street. We had to give him our gratitude anyway, so I addressed him when he was saying something to another employee of the shop.
"You helped us. Thank you so much."
As we were all bowing to him, the old guy said, "No no, it's fine. There's nothing to it, right."
Looking at the piece of paper in his hand, we were shocked for the second time that day. On that paper was written 'Tow Truck Service: 10 000yen'!
We never would've thought it, but that was surely a sum of money. It was too great a sum of money for us who were barely scraping by from day to day. The old guy passed the invoice to me as I looked it over without any words, and the remark he made with an unpleasant smile is one I can't forget for all my life.
"It's costly to employ adults, gahaha..."
Hearing those words, we all became wholeheartedly burdened with the dreadfulness of adults. And the old guy gave his final blow.
"Ah, and then your car might be at the end of its life span. Will you buy a new one?"
What a completely cruel thing to say...
Of course, we vowed to never buy a car there again, but my heart was wounded when we were young...
Even now, though the band is doing well, that incident has become a light trauma...
Even now it hasn't changed much, but in those days we were generally together. It's a truth that's hard to believe, but pretty much immediately after our formation we didn't talk about music much and the five of us grown men often sat around in a circle and played "trump" and such card games (we were poor) until midnight. When I think about it now it was a really counterproductive activity, but looking back, it was surely because we all had that kind of innocence. Ahh, even though we were such fools, we had no money, no skill, we didn't even have any equipment, but we did have one thing. That was a "dream."
We used to simply declare such things as "Next year we'll play Dome!", "We'll sell one million copies!!", and "We'll build a castle!!!" These remarks, despite having no songs because we had only just formed... 'Youth is truly amazing,' is what I generally think now, because first of all, we'd realistically have to buy the necessary goods. Make-up products, the minimum of musical equipment, and also a vehicle for that equipment. In those days we were under the impression that 'For a band, an equipment van is a necessity!' so we bought all of the used car magazines from convenience stores for everybody to look at, but right away we were astonished at the price. Up until then we thought that if we were getting a somewhat large, plain van second-hand, then we could buy it for dirt cheap, but when we started looking around for it, the cost was about as high as a luxury car!
In each magazine there were many circles alongside each other for a Hiace at a good price, but we were poor and there was no way we could buy one... Nevertheless, we couldn't reach livehouses if we didn't have an equipment van. (The truth is, although we didn't have makeup, instruments, songs, or even costumes, we were already deciding on our live performances.) Meanwhile, the day of our first live was approaching hour by hour, we were at our wits' end for what to do, when "the one" appeared before us at a good time. Unable to see what was right under our noses, somehow, a handy van was being sold at a used car center in the neighborhood! The shop owner, an old man, wasn't pleased with the maker and the colour of the frame, but we were really pleased with the price, and we bought it without hesitating. Thus was the birth of Kagrra's first "Houmii-kun." And now I'll return to the beginning of the story.
The five of us, good friends as usual, boarded Houmii-kun, and with our sights set on a music shop in Ochanomizu, we were having a pleasant chat inside our vehicle whose air-conditioning was not very effective. Shin was driving then, and he absent-mindedly muttered, "That was kind of a strange situation a while ago wasn't it..."
I strained my ears to those words and tried listening to the sound of the engine. It was certainly making an unpleasant sound that was different from usual... Until just a little while ago we were talking lively about composing our music and the direction of our live performances, but with these feelings, our topic turned completely to Houmii-kun.
"Isn't it dangerous? Should we park over there and call the car shop?"
"No, it's okay! Let's keep going to the music shop for now!"
"Should we wait and see a while longer?"
Meanwhile Houmii-kun was rolling along, and by the time we noticed that the speed was decreasing little by little, it was already too late. Our speed meter was loitering around 20kmh and it felt like it would come to a stop at any time. When we looked around it seemed as though we were causing a light traffic congestion, so we couldn't help but to pull Houmii-kun over to the side of the road and seek help from the old shop owner.
From the start, the old guy seemed quite unpleasant, but he betrayed our expectations and told us he would come in a hurry. We were far from the music shop, and had stopped at a nice distance from the car shop, waiting inside the van that was like a steam bath for the old guy to arrive.
Shortly thereafter he came into sight, and first of all we were shocked... Although we thought he could only be bringing an ordinary tow truck, what the old guy was driving was a type of truck with a loading frame. Thinking there was no way to get it back, we reluctantly drove Houmii-kun up onto there. The stature of Houmii-kun was already high under normal circumstances, and as expected it became even higher. Our situation was unbearably painful at a glance. The five of us who were chatting cheerfully up until a while ago were keeping our mouths shut in embarrassment... I digress, but that was the first time I saw the roof of a bus...
I'd clue it up here, if not for the fact that our misfortunes somehow continued...
The sun was setting when we finally reached the car shop with unthinkably embarrassed thoughts, but at any rate we got there safely and Houmii-kun had to be serviced. Our first impression was bad for sure, but if the shop owner hadn't come we would've been stranded in the street. We had to give him our gratitude anyway, so I addressed him when he was saying something to another employee of the shop.
"You helped us. Thank you so much."
As we were all bowing to him, the old guy said, "No no, it's fine. There's nothing to it, right."
Looking at the piece of paper in his hand, we were shocked for the second time that day. On that paper was written 'Tow Truck Service: 10 000yen'!
We never would've thought it, but that was surely a sum of money. It was too great a sum of money for us who were barely scraping by from day to day. The old guy passed the invoice to me as I looked it over without any words, and the remark he made with an unpleasant smile is one I can't forget for all my life.
"It's costly to employ adults, gahaha..."
Hearing those words, we all became wholeheartedly burdened with the dreadfulness of adults. And the old guy gave his final blow.
"Ah, and then your car might be at the end of its life span. Will you buy a new one?"
What a completely cruel thing to say...
Of course, we vowed to never buy a car there again, but my heart was wounded when we were young...
Even now, though the band is doing well, that incident has become a light trauma...