Q. What does "Youth" mean to the creator?

Hello.

I didn't think I'd end up writing something like this.

Originally, I don't really like talking about myself. It's not that I particularly want to hide anything, but I don't actively want to chatter about it either. To put it simply, it's a hassle.

Still, I wanted to organize my thoughts at least once.

I like philosophy.

To be precise, I like questions more than philosophy itself.

Why must we live, what is happiness, why do people love. Honestly, I don't really know the answers. There are many questions that don't have answers to begin with. Still, I like thinking. Not so much to find an answer, but because the process of thinking itself is fun.

Perhaps that's why people often tell me I think too much.

It's true.

I have a lot of thoughts.

A lot of useless thoughts, too.

But strangely enough, I don't like people.

Please don't misunderstand. I don't mean I loathe all humans. It's just that I find relationships between people a bit tiring. I don't like noisy places, and I don't really like group activities. To be honest, I hate school events.

But that doesn't mean I want a life entirely alone.

This part is a bit funny.

People are a hassle and relationships are tiring, yet I still think about wanting to get close to someone.

I want to try dating, too.

It's quite contradictory.

So I don't think of myself as a very good person. I'm suspicious, often pessimistic, and even if someone said they liked me, I don't think I could believe them easily.

Even so, I like hopeful stories.

I like happy endings.

I like stories where someone is saved, and stories where a person who failed stands up again.

I'm often drawn to those kinds of stories when I play games or read novels.

Maybe the stories I like are the things I can't easily believe in reality.

That's why I find the word "Youth" a bit difficult.

Because it's too dazzling.

Friendship, love, passion, dreams.

Of course, they are good things.

But I can't take them for granted.

I always end up watching them from a step away.

Nevertheless, I like those stories.

If I truly hated them, I wouldn't have been interested in the first place.

In the end, I don't think I'm a person who doesn't believe in youth, but rather a person who doesn't understand it very well.

But that's okay.

If there are people running around the playground, there are also people sitting by the window watching them.

I'm probably the latter.

And even now, in my own way, I'm living at my own pace.

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Q. Anything you want to say?

Do you all like youth?

If you do, I'm envious.

I still don't really know.

Friendship, love, dreams, passion. I know they are all good things. But strangely, I end up watching them from a distance. Like a landscape beyond a windowpane.

So sometimes I think.

How can everyone laugh so naturally?

How can they trust someone like that?

How can they move forward like that?

I still don't really know.

I probably won't know for a while.

But isn't that okay?

In this world, there are people running in the middle of their youth, and there are people like me watching from the edge of the playground.

I don't think there's a reason we all have to live the same way.

So if you are wandering right now, if you are walking a bit slower than others, or if the word "Youth" feels a bit foreign to you like it does to me.

I hope you don't feel too rushed.

Some grow through love, some grow through friendship, and some grow through time spent alone.

The method is different for everyone.

So please, don't hate yourself.

It's okay if you aren't sparkling right this moment.

I still like stories full of dreams and hope.

I like stories where someone falls but gets back up, and stories that end in happiness.

Even while I can't easily believe it in reality.

It's quite strange.

But maybe we, too, can become the protagonists of such stories one day?

I don't know yet.

However, I sincerely hope that your story flows in the direction you want.

And when you look back on your youth someday.

I hope you can say, with a bit of a smile, that it wasn't as bad as you thought.

I still don't know youth very well.

But I hope the children in the stories I like are happy.

If so, then maybe one day, I'll be able to say the same to someone in reality.

I hope your youth is a little happier than you think it is.