Hiragana Keyakizaka46 story Part 2: The day we become friends

Note: Uhhh part 1 is actually being worked on by someone else right now... But it's okay you don't need to read the 1st part first! (tmi)  Part 1

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On the final day of Keyakizaka46’s audition, pulled back by her mother who came to Tokyo from Nagasaki, Nagahama Neru casted away the path of becoming an idol, but her parents, who saw Nogizaka46 live, decided instead to support their daughter’s dream.

Nagahama, who did not pass the final examination, will join as the only member of a new group, Hiragana Keyakizaka46. However, when she started recording for “Keyaki tte Kakenai?” program, she was directly confronted by a clear word of rejection from a certain member.

Ever since i was a child, i thought “Girls are scary”

Yonetani Nanami, a current member of Keyakizaka46, took the audition when she was in her 1st year of high school. She was a student of a prominent preparatory school in Osaka, there was a time where she was late to an examination due to circumstances in school, before joining she was already struggling with balancing her studies. Naturally, her parents strongly opposed her wanting to become an idol, but with the condition she continues to properly study, she managed to persuade her parents and become a member of Keyakizaka46.

In front of her eyes, suddenly, a new member named Nagahama Neru appeared. According to the VTR played, she was opposed by her parents and withdrew from the final examination, and all she did was cry. And even so, she gained the permission to join.

--- “Can i accept this?”

Yonetani Nanami who is too honest, between the recording, clearly told Nagahama this:

“Sorry, but i don’t think we can be friends”

Hearing that, of course Nagahama was shocked. At the start of the next recording, she tried her best hold back her tears, causing her voice to tremble

However, that was not the first time she was rejected the moment she entered. Nagahama grew up in Nagasaki’s Goto island since the age of 3, she grew up in an island environment of “everyone is family”, when she was in her 2nd year of elementary school she returned to Nagasaki and suddenly encountered a wall. The female students around her refused to accept this transfer student who grew up on an island, saying “She’s putting on a cute act”. At this time, her view of life was quickly formed.

“Girls are scary. If you stand out even a little, they will bully you. I will live as quietly as possible, so that i won’t be noticed”

After that, even after joining the member of Keyakizaka46, Nagahama learned and tried to be as tactful as possible. To call the members younger than her with “-san”, to always have her self being the last to have her make-up done, opening the door till everyone has gone through…

“I’m their junior who came in later” Nagahama who thought so, felt that this is her natural obligation.

Hugging with tears at the side of the stage

In the latter half of December, a month and a half after the program’s recording (where Neru joined), Nagahama and Keyakizaka46 members were working on a task. The lesson for “New Year! Hospitality Meeting!”, an event that would be held on January 2016, has begun. In this event, Keyakizaka46 who still didn't have a song, was divided into clubs like dance club and music club, and each of them were supposed to show a performance in front of the fans.

Under such circumstances, amongst the 7 members who were assigned to the drama club, there was Nagahama and Yonetani.

Ever since what Yonetani told her, Nagahama had never talked to her. She was also mindfully trying not to be too close to the other members.

One day, the other 5 members happened to go shopping at a convenience store, leaving Nagahama and Yonetani together. After the awkward atmosphere, Nagahama started doing sit ups and squats.

“I have to do muscle training, so it’s okay if you don’t talk to me” was what she was trying to convey.

Meanwhile, Yonetani was panicking over losing a chance to talk. Truth was, Yonetani wrote once this in a blog:

“When i heard (about Nagahama joining), i was full of confusion and anxiety. I wondered if even now, i would still feel glum…. But, we’re both Keyaki members! It might be slow, but i wish we could become friends.”

While there were things she was still worried about, she honestly wrote about her feelings of wanting to approach her as a member of the same group. Around this time, she also consulted her manager about her relationship with Nagahama. She was always thinking about what should she do to apologize for what she did back then.

Their relationship changed dramatically on the day of the “Hospitality Meeting”.

This was the first event for Nagahama, unlike other members who have had experienced other events before the Hospitality Meeting. While waiting for her time to perform, she was so scared she started crying. When she saw the stage from the side, she froze.

However, just when they were about to stand on the stage, someone patted Nagahama’s shoulder. “Ganbatte!”

Turning around, she found Yonetani. Hearing that unexpectedly, Nagahama’s feeling were shaken and she started crying. Yonetani too, cried from seeing that. The two hugged as they cried.

It lasted only for 10 seconds, just before they went up on stage. But this was when the relationship between the two reversed, and both become irreplaceable friends.

Because of this, Nagahama and Yonetani became close, they even meet up in private to compare notes and study together. However, after a while, one day, Yonetani looked Nagahama in the eye and seriously said,

“I’m sorry”

She was apologizing for the time when she said “I don’t think we can be friends”. But Nagahama, who are no longer worried about it, was dumbfounded. As for Yonetani, there was a part of her that was honest to a fault.

Although they didn’t clearly express their feelings like Yonetani, there were also a lot of members who were not fully accepting of Nagahama’s enlistment. However, Nagahama have the ability to attend to other’s, and the friendliness of an islander. As time passed, Nagahama’s relationship with Keyakizaka46 members became untangled.

In Februrary, a recording for their debut song Silent Majority. Nagahama Neru, a member of Hiragana Keyakizaka46, did not join this song. But, she voluntarily participated in all the lessons and accompanied the members of Keyakizaka46 during their MV recording.

Members who repeatedly danced the newly memorized choreography in the cold air of Shibuya station at night. The first MV shooting was harsh for everyone. However, whenever a cut took place, there was the figure of Nagahama who, without complaining, poured warm soup for members. Witnessing her warmth, Keyakizaka46 members naturally got closer to her.

There is no me in Keyakizaka46

When Silent Majority MV was released in March, a situation that can be called “Saimajo phenomenon” happened.

“You have the freedom to be the way you are

Don't be controlled by adults”

The message in the lyric called for empathy, and in a teen magazine it was quickly voted as “Number One Favourite Song”. That summer too, in a popular vote that was done on a special special music program, it won over songs from AKB48 and Nogizaka46, it was a song with the momentum of changing the entirety of idol scene.

However, Nagahama Neru, as a member of Hiragana Keyakizaka, was not present for all of that. As with the MV recording, she was present for the shooting for the CD jacket, but she was only watching on the sidelines by herself.

When she saw the banner on a Shibuya’s fashion building, she felt strange.

“I am not in the Keyakizaka46 that the world knows”

Out of the 6 songs included in their debut single Silent Majority, that was released on 6th April 2016, there was only one she participated in. The title is Noriokureta Bus. It was a song made for “Hiragana Keyakizaka46 center Nagahama Neru”, and her circumstances of joining the group late was used as the lyrics.

“Sorry, I think I was the only one late

There was no one left at that place

Not knowing where to head to

With a one-way dream in hand, I lost my destination halfway up the slope”

When Nagahama received those lyrics, she thought “I wonder if God exists”. Especially the lyric of “I lost my destination halfway up the slope”, which is was the last day of audition when her mother took her home in the middle of climbing the slope, she could only imagine that God was watching her from heaven with such description. For her, the day she will have friends was closing in.

An Audition Unheard Of

Last November, the audition for additional member of Hiragana Keyakizaka was announced at the same time as Nagahama Neru’s joining was announced. Just around the time of Silent Majority debut, the audition had arrived it’s final stage.

At the end of April, a number of 18 participant passed the third stage. The participants this time will experience an audition unheard of before. That is, an individual stream using the SHOWROOM service.

SHOWROOM, which stands for “virtual live space” is a service that can stream video real time using PC or smartphones. Later, Keyakizaka46 members will also have individual streams, but this is the first time for the group to be using Showroom. Even though it has been done before with Nogizaka46 and AKB group, this was the first time it was used for an audition.  The period was exactly one week. On the special page for the audition, the following word was written:

“The number of points earned, ranking, during the event will be taken as reference for the audition process, but is not directly related to the acceptance or rejection during audition.”

In Showroom, A point system is used to count the number of comments made by fans or by items given by fans, called gifts. Although it states that it will not directly affect their acceptance or failure, the ranking results here might effect the final judgement, and the judges would surely will be watching the showroom stream. To the candidates at the time, who were doing everything for the first time, it seemed like a good examination. More over, other than the judges there would also be thousands of users judging.

Saito Kyoko, who later became a member, had the mindset “I have to work hard to become number 1”, and for the entire week continued to either stream or watch the streams of other participants, and eventually become number one. When Saito looked back to that time, she said “There was already this sense that i was already working”. Meanwhile, her fellow member Iguchi Mao, sang as she showed her face close up using her smartphone, attracted attention by appearing with a streaming so carefree that people wouldn’t expect from an idol group applicant.

In Iguchi’s stream, a strong community was built, such as people using the feature to change their avatar, casting a large amount of daruma gifts and such. There was also an unusual participant who only streamed her voice for only 30 minutes. That was Kageyama Yuuka, who just recently became a 3rd year of junior high.

Continue in Part 3: Hidden Past

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raw: weibo

translation: toomuchidea

qc: seri

ps:
if you want to read more about yone and neru's relationship, you can read here and here

ps 2:
Hi there it's TMI! I got really busy with life, so i can't no longer provide full translations. Here's my Twitter thread

If you understand Bahasa Indonesia, check out Wareta Project's translations!