Kashinfuu (Harada Aoi, BUBKA May 2020)

*Kashinfuu (花信風) is "spring wind telling the tidings of flowers"

Campus life

-Currently, university is in spring break but, how do you mostly spend your holidays?

I watch various movies, read manga and books. My favorite genre is sad stories. I really liked “I want to eat your pancreas”. I read the light novel and I also watched the movie version. The various differences are also interesting. What I read recently is “My lover is like a cherry blossom”. Sickness, bad home environment......I have lived happily without having to experience those. I can only experience those types of words with books and movies after all. I believe that the best thing about movies and light novels is that you can imagine different worlds. Because I have no such education, my mother often said “Please read books”, so that is also a reason (laughs).

-Are there times when you go out with any members?

The other day I went to shop for clothes with Mii-chan (Koike Minami), after that we ate pancakes and went to a Korean restaurant. Mii-chan suggested the clothes store, while the Korean restaurant was a shop I wanted to go to since a long time ago. In addition, I also went to eat with (Watanabe) Risa, I also promised to Takemoto-chan (Yui) to go out to eat. She passed her university entrance, so we are planning to celebrate it together.

-Your interactions with the second generation have also increased

(Morita) Hikaru-chan is smaller than me so I call her cute while petting her (laughs). Recently, there have been many times when we’re together in interviews so when I listen to them as they speak next to me, I got to learn many things. We have our own world, but when we speak we talk a lot.

-About 8 months have passed since you returned from your hiatus, is it hard to balance university and your activities?

Since I was in high school there were times when I couldn’t appear in music video shoots or live broadcasts of music programs etc because I had tests......There was also a very difficult period but, you can’t balance such things solely with your own will, so I feel grateful.

-Do you have any friends who help you with reports or tests?

I was worried before entering but I made friends. There’s a group of 4 close friends. They share materials from classes I couldn’t attend, we write reports together. Also, whenever the grandma of one of my friends watches Keyakizaka46 on TV, she says “Aoi is appearing”, even though that’s actually Techi (Hirate Yurina) (laughs). Even though the length of our hair is completely different, it seems like she doesn’t remember me much. At the same time, that friend who conveyed this to me sends me photos of the screen saying “I’m watching”, but it’s always photos of me showing a funny look. But I’m happy because they also come to cheer me on at concerts.

-Did your friends know from the start that you’re an idol?

It seems like only one of them didn’t notice for about 2 months (laughs). One time, someone reacted “Oh, it’s that idol girl”, and she asked “Is it Aoi-chan?”. When my friends took a photo with me I told them I can’t be shown when they upload it on Instagram, but it seemed that she only thought of me as a strange girl. Now, when we go for karaoke, that one friend enjoys and sings Keyakizaka46 songs the most.

Memories in silhouettes

-At the start of the year 3 members left the group. You must be feeling very lonely because of it.

When we’re memorizing the formation I check silhouettes of the positions of the members in front of me. This girl has the tendency to tilt here, and because that scenery has changed, there are times when I feel sadness and loneliness. They’re members with whom we have worked our best together with after all.

-On the other side, the presence of the second generation is increasing, the assignment of the Sakamichi trainees has also been decided. A new Keyakizaka46 will be shaped, what kind of imagine do you have in mind?

I believe Keyakizaka46 has a unique atmosphere, although I don’t want it to lose its core, there is also the sense that it has to change it or else it will become boring. I want to break it in a good way, and also leave it as it is in a good way.

-Talking about change, the atmosphere of the program “Keyakitte, kakenai?”, it’s changing rapidly since the second generation joined.

Reactions are taken in various screens, so I always had the consciousness that we have to be excited. But, in the recent recordings, before the show starts Yuuka (Sugai Yuuka) talked about that with everyone. I believe that there are people who took interest in us because of this show, so from now on we have to gradually excite the show. By the way, Fuu-chan (Saito Fuyuka) found this out but it seemed that Yuuka was fidgeting whenever she was talking, touching her neck and checking the memos on her phone (laughs). Cute.

-Some things, like your commitment to the live performance, have stayed as they are?

That’s right. In that aspect, the second generation is amazing. Run-chan’s expressiveness, Takemoto-chan’s dance. During the rehearsal before Tokyo Dome, Matsuda-chan (Rina) danced all the time, even during the breaks and after we were done with the lesson. Their effort and commitment are amazing. I respect them. I think of myself as a 1.5 generation member, so rather than wanting to lead them as their senior, my feeling of wanting to work hard not to lose is stronger. I think that commitment to the performance is one of our core parts, so I don’t want it to disappear.

-Despite not being conscious as a senior, it seems like the second generation wants to hear about various things from the first generation.

Is that so? There are still a few places where they seems to be refraining somewhere, so sometimes I don’t know how to connect with them... But I will answer anything they want to ask me. I was glad that Takemoto-chan invited me to eat out, in order to get close to each other, I wonder if I should call her “Chukemon”? (laughs). I want to be even closer with the second generation!

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Translation: SatoneShichi
QC: toomuchidea
Raw : karl_k46