Riding the train, using worn-out greetings with classmates
There’s never a driver in these sluggish conversations
A sigh always marks the start
The opening ceremony, morning assembly, the wake of another day
I feel like I don’t belong here, but I can’t explain why
I know what melancholy is, but can’t write it in kanji
It’s not that I can’t fit in, it’s just too much to handle
Tennis court at dusk, a lonely soccer ball
Boys in the dark, with metal bats, cutters, knives, scissors
There are nights that can’t be torn apart
Talking about the future, things even God doesn’t know
Midnight is too short to unravel the mysteries of this world
Racing through the dawn-lit town at full speed
Passing summer and the wind, if only I could meet her
The night hides shadows, but the sun exposes everything
My shame sticks to the ground. Don’t cry, lost boy, lost boy
Feeling different from others, I often looked in the mirror
Glad not to be an alien or a monster
But there’s no mirror for words or thoughts
So I can’t be sure, can’t be sure
Boys in the dark, with Marlboros, car theft, truancy, overdose
There are nights tangled up
Things I can’t tell anyone, the muddled stuff I’ve spewed out
It’s the end of the world if someone goes through my trash
Racing through the dawn-lit town, tears for no reason
If this is called youth, some people are lucky
The night hides tears, but the sun exposes everything
My shame sticks to the ground. Don’t cry, lost boy, lost boy
Smoke at the shrine, summer rain, waiting in vain for your bus, in front of Gusto
In the hands of a troubled boy, vague dreams and a little change
A tired face in the mirror, maybe an alien would’ve been better
Boy reflecting desires, but now just in a wooden one-room apartment
Boy in the dark, still in the dark even after ten years
Haunted by ‘those days were better’, shaking off ‘now is still better’
Overly self-conscious yet reckless and irritable,
But sometimes enlightened by that very person, still having many such nights
Racing through the dawn-lit town, hated by the world, but the hate is mutual
Sneaking through the wire fence
Adults hide the boy, but midnight exposes, look, there’s the boy from that day sticking out his tongue
Don’t cry, lost boy, lost boy