2026.09.1
Written by Momi
「蝉の声を聞きながら」
私は今、地元である福島県に住んでいる。カエルの大合唱が終わり、蝉の大合唱にバトンタッチ。もうすぐヒグラシの鳴き声が聞こえてくる頃だろうか。
志望していた大学が東京にあったというのもあるけれど、「絶対にここ（福島）から出たい、東京で自由に生きたい」という強い気持ちを持って受験勉強を頑張った。そして無事合格し、念願の東京へ！
それはそれは嬉しかったし、毎日楽しかったな。ありがたいことに友達にも恵まれて、予想もしていなかったバンド活動も始められてさ。（ここの話は長くなるからまた今度（笑））
何もかもが新鮮で、東京の人になれた喜びと、刺激的で楽しい毎日はまさに宝物だった。
たまに帰省すると「福島ってやっぱり田舎だな」と感じたりして。やっと1人になって自由になれて、こんなに楽しい日々が過ごせるなんて、これ以上の幸せはないと思ってた。
でもなんでだろう。扇風機の横で、蝉の声を聞きながら畳に寝っ転がってぼーっとしていた昼下がりが、ふと恋しくなることが何度もあった。何にもしていないあの時間、なんの意味もないと思って過ごしていた一分一秒が、ものすごく価値のあるものだったのかも…と。
そして結局、あんなに出たがっていた福島に戻ってきた。今日も蝉の声を聞きながら、これを書いている。
I’m living in my hometown in Fukushima Prefecture now. The great chorus of frogs has come to an end, passing the baton to the cicadas. I suppose it won’t be long before I start hearing the evening cicadas, too.
Part of the reason was that the university I wanted to attend was in Tokyo, but more than anything, I had this overwhelming feeling: “I absolutely have to get out of here—out of Fukushima. I want to live freely in Tokyo.” That feeling pushed me to study hard for the entrance exams. And I got in. At last, I was off to Tokyo!
I was so happy. Every day was fun. I was lucky enough to make wonderful friends, and I even ended up joining a band—something I never could have imagined at the time. (That’s a long story, though, so I’ll save it for another day. Haha.)
Everything felt new. The joy of becoming someone who lived in Tokyo, and all those exciting, stimulating days, became something truly precious to me.
Whenever I went back to Fukushima for a visit, I’d sometimes think, “Yep, Fukushima really is the countryside.” I had finally gotten to live on my own, finally felt free, and was having such a good time. I honestly thought there could be no greater happiness than that.
But for some reason, I kept finding myself missing those afternoons when I would lie around on the tatami beside the electric fan, listening to the cicadas and doing absolutely nothing.
All that time when I wasn’t doing anything—the minutes and seconds I had once thought were completely meaningless—maybe they were actually incredibly valuable.And in the end, I came back to Fukushima, the very place I had wanted so badly to leave.Today, once again, I’m writing this while listening to the cicadas.
（This English version was translated using AI.）
2026.08.16
Written by Momi
「エッセイを書いてみませんか」
「エッセイを書いてみませんか」と、ギターのコバヤシくんに言われたので、「おもしろそう！やってみようかな」と返事をしたまでは良かったのだけれど……。どうしよう、何を書いたらいいんだ（笑）何も思い浮かばないまま、思いついた言葉をこうして文章にしている。
文章を書くのは割と好きなほうなのかな。でも読書感想文とかは納得いく感じで書けてた覚えが全くないな。そもそも読書感想文の提出のために無理やり読書してた気がするから、読んだ本のタイトルも内容も全然覚えてないな(苦笑)
そういえば小学生の頃、『夏休みの友』っていうワークやってたなぁ〜懐かしい。「なつとも」って呼んでたな。今もあるのかな？なんかツルツルした紙で、鉛筆で上手く書けなかったなぁ〜。それよりも、消しゴムで消しにくくて跡が残るのが嫌だったな（笑）
そうそう、皆さんは夏休みの宿題はいつやるタイプでしたか？私はね、ワーク類は先にやるけど、ポスター制作とかそれこそ読書感想文とかは夏休みが終わる間際に必死でやるタイプでした（笑）
……って、こんな思い出話してたらもう字数がいっぱいに。エッセイになっているか不安ですが、温かい目で見守っていただけたら嬉しいです（笑）
When Kobayashi-kun, our guitarist, asked me, “Why don’t you try writing an essay?” I thought, “That sounds fun! Maybe I’ll give it a try.” And that was all well and good, but then…
What am I supposed to write about? Haha. Nothing is really coming to mind, so I’m just sitting here turning whatever words pop into my head into sentences.
I guess I’ve always kind of liked writing. But I definitely don’t remember ever being particularly happy with the book reports I wrote at school. Then again, I feel like I was only forcing myself to read those books because I had to hand in a report in the first place, so I can’t remember any of the titles—or what any of them were about—at all, haha.
Come to think of it, when I was in elementary school, we had this summer vacation workbook called Natsuyasumi no Tomo (“Summer Vacation Friend”). Ahh, that brings back memories. We used to call it Natsutomo. I wonder if they still have it?
I remember the pages being kind of glossy, which made them weirdly hard to write on with a pencil. More than that, though, I hated how hard it was to erase things properly—the pencil marks would always stay behind, haha.
Oh, speaking of summer vacation homework, what kind of person were you? Did you get it all done early, or leave it until the end?
As for me, I’d finish the workbooks pretty early, but things like making posters—and, of course, those book reports—I’d always end up desperately trying to finish right before summer vacation was over, haha.
…And somehow, just talking about these random memories has already used up all my allotted space.I’m not entirely sure this even counts as an essay, but I hope you’ll bear with me and read it kindly, haha.
（This English version was translated using AI.）