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bmsgOn March 18, 2025, Moegara-san read the story of his good friend (though far apart in age), LEO from BE:FIRST on his radio program, BEFORE DAWN, using a quote from his short essay collection, Soredemo Hibi wa Tsuzuku Kara (Even So, Everyday Life Continues).
Original Tweet
Note: The "he" mentioned henceforth refers to Leo unless otherwise.
He told me he’ll be a Tokyo Dome artist – he proclaimed it very strongly
“Mm” I replied.
A little over a year later, he actually did. In an audience of 500K.
When I first met him, he was in my radio program. As part of the group, BE:FIRST, they released their first album at the time.
He’s (one of) the oldest members of BE:FIRST. I heard from numerous people that he was a fan of mine and read my books.
When I met him, he was surrounded by a lot of adults. I knew the moment I saw him that he was shouldering a lot of things.
In the middle of our program, he said with a big smile, “[Moegara-san], let’s exchange contacts!!”
After the program, he told me privately that he had faith that we’ll connect. He told me he wasn’t a bookish student, but started reading my books by chance.
That was the first time I learned of the group, BE:FIRST.
Once we exchanged contacts on-air, we soon went for drinks and chatted until dawn. Even though I was much older than him, he started sharing his worries with me. He’s struggled through a lot of things but overcame them. Even still…
“I worry about what I will be doing in 10 years, will I be OK?” he said worriedly, as if laying his heart bare.
“Since I’m one of the members in my 20s and older… I want to do my best for the members, the staff, and for the fans,” he mentioned this many times that night.
“[Moegara-san], you said in your essay “‘Destiny’ is best suited in the past tense” right? I really like that quote. I hope everything becomes like that some day, is that OK?” he said, trying to hold back his tears.
“I’m sure everything will become destiny” – I had to pull back from saying something so offhanded, knowing everything that he’d been through.
He looked at his high ball saying, “I want to be able to think, ‘I’m glad to be alive.’”
I will never forget what he said that night.
It had been a year since that conversation, and he stood in the middle of Tokyo Dome. Dancing, singing proudly, smiling proudly and brightly. Cried tears and shed sweat.
Then, he held his mic and shouted, “I’m glad I’m alive!!”
I start getting embarrassed when I talk about my dreams, I think it’s because I met him.
After the Tokyo Dome performance, he was greeting many industry people and I thought he must be tired. So I left without meeting him.
But he soon LINE-ed me, asking, “Was the Tokyo Dome good?”
“Of course it was”, I said.
[“I just wanna be myself ~One of the BE:ST-02 LEO~” plays]
Moegara: I met LEO through this program, BEFORE DAWN. We didn’t really have an opportunity / setting to talk before then. Just on the program and then we went for drinks. He told me a lot about his life, and I told him about mine. I was really happy we could have this opportunity. Only, I think it wasn’t a context that was created between him or me.
I’m sure, between someone who is standing and staring blankly into the distance at Shibuya Scramble, and someone who is singing and dancing at Tokyo Dome, the difference between him and me are pretty strikingly obvious.
There may be people who think they’re different, since they write essays like me.
LEO – in his lyrics and performance, always had, “This is who I am!” I think once you watch and pay attention to him, you soon understand what kind of person he is.
[Moegara-san started listening to BE:FIRST’s songs through LEO.]
“I realised that he used his songs and works to share about his life.” Moegara-san wants to be a writer that shows his readers, “This is who I am” like 🦁 too, as if his writing is like he is right there sitting next to you, talking about it. Original Tweet
I told Leo I hope I could write something like that, in our first drinking session.
Just like the people waiting on the other side of the Shibuya Scramble, everyone’s waiting for different things [I think this is what he means ^^"]
Moegara-san thinks it’s a miracle that him and 🦁 can be friends in this time frame considering the difference in their careers, other than age and life experience.
“Since he’s an artist that’s aiming for the world, I think this [friendship] is now or never. So I think I’ll stick it through with this one. Although there are a lot of other things involved, adults involved, I want to support him.”
[“To The First (THE FIRST version)” plays]
Hope you enjoyed this story of Moegara-san's first meeting with LEO! This time, told from Moegara-san's point of view.
Please note I translate these for free and I'm not a professional, so they may not be super perfect.
Retranslations or sharing of the summaries is fine! For retranslations, please notify me beforehand and credit once posted!
If you like my translations, you can consider tipping me on Ko-Fi!
「運命は過去形がよく似合う」・ Unmei wa Kakokei ga Yoku Niau・"Destiny suits the past tense" - a story about my close friend BE:FIRST LEO, who is much younger than me.
Original Tweet
Note: The "he" mentioned henceforth refers to Leo unless otherwise.
He told me he’ll be a Tokyo Dome artist – he proclaimed it very strongly
“Mm” I replied.
A little over a year later, he actually did. In an audience of 500K.
When I first met him, he was in my radio program. As part of the group, BE:FIRST, they released their first album at the time.
He’s (one of) the oldest members of BE:FIRST. I heard from numerous people that he was a fan of mine and read my books.
When I met him, he was surrounded by a lot of adults. I knew the moment I saw him that he was shouldering a lot of things.
In the middle of our program, he said with a big smile, “[Moegara-san], let’s exchange contacts!!”
After the program, he told me privately that he had faith that we’ll connect. He told me he wasn’t a bookish student, but started reading my books by chance.
That was the first time I learned of the group, BE:FIRST.
Once we exchanged contacts on-air, we soon went for drinks and chatted until dawn. Even though I was much older than him, he started sharing his worries with me. He’s struggled through a lot of things but overcame them. Even still…
“I worry about what I will be doing in 10 years, will I be OK?” he said worriedly, as if laying his heart bare.
“Since I’m one of the members in my 20s and older… I want to do my best for the members, the staff, and for the fans,” he mentioned this many times that night.
“[Moegara-san], you said in your essay “‘Destiny’ is best suited in the past tense” right? I really like that quote. I hope everything becomes like that some day, is that OK?” he said, trying to hold back his tears.
“I’m sure everything will become destiny” – I had to pull back from saying something so offhanded, knowing everything that he’d been through.
He looked at his high ball saying, “I want to be able to think, ‘I’m glad to be alive.’”
I will never forget what he said that night.
It had been a year since that conversation, and he stood in the middle of Tokyo Dome. Dancing, singing proudly, smiling proudly and brightly. Cried tears and shed sweat.
Then, he held his mic and shouted, “I’m glad I’m alive!!”
I start getting embarrassed when I talk about my dreams, I think it’s because I met him.
After the Tokyo Dome performance, he was greeting many industry people and I thought he must be tired. So I left without meeting him.
But he soon LINE-ed me, asking, “Was the Tokyo Dome good?”
“Of course it was”, I said.
[“I just wanna be myself ~One of the BE:ST-02 LEO~” plays]
Moegara: I met LEO through this program, BEFORE DAWN. We didn’t really have an opportunity / setting to talk before then. Just on the program and then we went for drinks. He told me a lot about his life, and I told him about mine. I was really happy we could have this opportunity. Only, I think it wasn’t a context that was created between him or me.
I’m sure, between someone who is standing and staring blankly into the distance at Shibuya Scramble, and someone who is singing and dancing at Tokyo Dome, the difference between him and me are pretty strikingly obvious.
There may be people who think they’re different, since they write essays like me.
LEO – in his lyrics and performance, always had, “This is who I am!” I think once you watch and pay attention to him, you soon understand what kind of person he is.
[Moegara-san started listening to BE:FIRST’s songs through LEO.]
“I realised that he used his songs and works to share about his life.” Moegara-san wants to be a writer that shows his readers, “This is who I am” like 🦁 too, as if his writing is like he is right there sitting next to you, talking about it. Original Tweet
I told Leo I hope I could write something like that, in our first drinking session.
Just like the people waiting on the other side of the Shibuya Scramble, everyone’s waiting for different things [I think this is what he means ^^"]
Moegara-san thinks it’s a miracle that him and 🦁 can be friends in this time frame considering the difference in their careers, other than age and life experience.
“Since he’s an artist that’s aiming for the world, I think this [friendship] is now or never. So I think I’ll stick it through with this one. Although there are a lot of other things involved, adults involved, I want to support him.”
[“To The First (THE FIRST version)” plays]
Hope you enjoyed this story of Moegara-san's first meeting with LEO! This time, told from Moegara-san's point of view.
Please note I translate these for free and I'm not a professional, so they may not be super perfect.
Retranslations or sharing of the summaries is fine! For retranslations, please notify me beforehand and credit once posted!
If you like my translations, you can consider tipping me on Ko-Fi!
