二ノ お誕生日おめでとう！！ Happy 29th bithday!!
Dear Nino,
You are still a mystery to me. Year after year I watch you, listen to you, try to figure you out. But there doesn’t seem to be a way.
Sometimes I wonder what you think - not in that specific moment but how you think certain things. The process of thinking. It’s quite a weird thing to think about, actually. But I wonder how you process information. Sometimes it seems as if you just go with the flow, as if life just comes to you naturally. Other times, though, it seems as if everything you say has a deeper meaning, something you have thought about.
Sometimes I wonder how you change your mind. Everybody does it, obviously. But I wonder how you come to your conclusions, what kind of conversations you must have had with what kind of people, to have a realization that leads you to another conclusions than the one you came to a few years ago. It’s crazy, I know.
I am so very grateful for the back that you exist. That you exist as a person and that you exist in Arashi. A tremendous amount of fate had to play into the fact that you were selected into this group with exactly those four other people. I will never stop being thankful for that. You know that those other four members, whom you have known for so many years, will always be there with you, right?
I am so grateful that you get along so well, that we didn't have to suffer throught heartbreak of you breaking up. I love watch you so so much. Nino, even if Arashi should not exist anymore one day ... they will still be there. Maybe you won't see each other for some time, but they will still always be there for you. Because life bound you. And the things you have seen and lived through together, they make you strong and connected. That will never break.
We know you. A part of you. The most prominent part of you. Hopefully, the biggest part of you. We, your fans, know, that we will never know you fully. And that hurts quite badly.
I guess it’s because you are so important to us - Nino, you have brought us happiness and laughter and thoughtful moments and wonder about you and your talents. But we can never give it back. We want to know everything about you - but we never will.
This is not a one-sided love. But it’s unrequited. The platonic love you feel for your fans, we feel it. It makes us stronger every day. We know you will never love us that way. But we are okay with that. We love you. We support you. We are on your side. Always.
Nino, happy 29th birthday.
Please continue being yourself, being just the way you want to be. Never doubt our support, love, devotion and wonder. Never doubt that there are people who care.
Happy happy birthday, Nino.
May this next year be brighter than the last and give you nothing but happiness.
~*~