3rd Anniversary: First Note

In 2022, the countdown campaign to the 3rd anniversary included art depicting the pasts of the main 8 units. Labelled "First Note", these involved short blurbs about the circumstances surrounding the groups and their pasts. These were officially translated on the official Facebook page, but since these things are easy to lose track of, I decided to translate them here!

The official site is still up and can be viewed here.

1/8 - MISSING - cozmzez

The distant voices of people arguing, and the rotten stench of stagnant water.
Two children who grew up in the slums, curled up like bags of garbage.
We huddled together to withstand the bitter wind that stung our skin.
A warm home where loving parents would wait for us to come back. Warm meals that you can eat until you're full.
For some reason, everything that society takes for granted was never given to us.
The hunger and the cold bring on a crushing drowsiness.
I hope that the next time I open my eyes, the warmth beside me won't be gone.
Praying to a god I didn't even believe in, I quietly let my eyes slide shut.

2/8 - REGRET - Akan Yatsura

Our peace came to an abrupt end.
The office was stained in red and black. Our comrades, who were once as good as family now lay silent as corpses.
A sense of despair that made you want to avert your eyes unfurled and lay heavy across everything.
The everyday life that we had just assumed would continue tomorrow had been snatched away with no recourse.
Who did this, and why?
My frustration at these unanswered questions soon turned into a burning anger.
... I won't let it end like this.
The blood-curdling murmurs melted away into the dimly-lit room.

3/8 - PROGRESS - BAE

An empty high school classroom, as the sun set after school hours.
It was a place for just the three of us, as if the rest of the world didn't exist.
Our skills were amateur, our lyrics were clumsy, and the future we were aiming for was far out of reach.
But we had too many thoughts and feelings that we wanted to convey.
Like we were trying to shake off that feeling of helplessness, we put our raw self-expression into our rap.
We could go beyond, further than anyone ever had. We could keep running.
I believed that one day, together with my precious friends, we could become someone who would leave our marks on history.

4/8 - SACRIFICE - AMPRULE

The luxurious mansion was more like a tiny birdcage.
I had a more privileged environment than anyone else. A more superior lineage than anyone else.
But the more I tried to live up to the expectations placed upon me, the more I began to lose my sense of self.
Mother and Father were always comparing me to someone who wasn't there.
I have to be superior.
I have to be brilliant.
I have to be perfect.
Those preoccupations eventually became a curse that will eventually kill what's left of "me".

5/8 - DEPENDENCE - VISTY

I always knew it, deep down.
That the spotlight was never on me.
That there are things you can't overcome just through hard work alone.
That no matter how hard we try, we can't just become "geniuses".
But someday, I still want to be the brightest star, shining brighter than any other.
I want to someone who can be there for someone else who's crying in the darkness.
Pushing myself as hard as I can, swallowing down my frustration, I continue to struggle desperately to do that even now.

6/8 - SORROW - 1Nm8

In the middle of a crowd in a city I did not know, a clear tone reached my ears.
It was an innocent, beautiful melody that brought back a distant memory.
I had no doubt that my younger brother, who I had been looking for for so long, was the one playing it.
In my memories, my little brother is unchanged-- you're still the young boy who had followed me around.
Seeing you for the first time in years, you had changed completely, and for some reason, I felt like crying.
It was a reunion I had waited so long for, and I should have been so happy that it would make me want to yell, but I couldn't find the words.
Bathed in the soft sunlight, I watched your back as you happily played the street piano...
And I just stared for a while.

7/8 - PREJUDICE - GokuLuck

Descrimination and prejudice, incomprehension and slander.
The judgmental stares that came at me from all sides eventually began to rot my heart.
Hopes, dreams, love, the future.
How nice it would have been, if I could innocently believe in all of those things that the world holds up as beautiful and just.
The cards you're dealt are set in stone from the moment you're born,
and you'll sooner die than you'll be able to turn it around.
I want someone to understand me.
I want someone to see me for who I really am.
Unable to give voice to even such petty desires,
I was continuing to live in vain in prison.

8/8 - MELANCHOLY - The Cat's Whiskers

The dull clouds envelope the sky and a sorrowful rain falls.
The kind person who taught me warmth now lies cold under a gravestone.
No matter how many times the seasons change, the pain of loss never truly fades.
Music is what connects people to each other.
Just as you said, we forged new bonds,
And the four of us who happened too meet each other spun a miraculous melody.
So let us continue to sing. In order to love the past, and to connect our legacy to the future.
So that the light you give to me may reach someone else in turn.