N e w s
P r o f i l e s
B i o g r a p h y
D i s c o g r a p h y
L i v e S c h e d u l e
L y r i c s
A r t i c l e s
G a l l e r y
G r a p h i c s
O t h e r
L i n k s
A f f i l i a t e s
T a g b o a r d
H o m e
A b o u t U s
C o n t a c t
C r e d i t s
Translated by Neme.
On August 9th, You-san fell into eternal sleep.
It's sad, sad, sad... As long as I pretended to be calm, the difficult days continued.
Although more than one week has already passed, I still cannot accept You-san's passing.
I clearly remember the time several years ago when I saw the live of You-san's previous band Jakura,
how I became rooted to my spot by You-san, with his performance that was original and stood out in its glamour.
At the time we first talked, in contrast to my younger self he was polite and mysterious, and the way he passed through his peculiar world was impressive.
When Versailles formed, I was able to carry the self-confidence of the fact that "this band is assembled by the strongest members."
In these two and half years, I think it's because it was the five of us that we were able to come to this point and accomplish many miracles.
At lives, You-san was always at my side.
You-san's passion towards a live was incredibly strong, and often when the two of us were facing a live, we would always arrange our performance and movements beforehand.
Doing things like making mutual eye contact and breaking out into smiles in the midst of a live, pranking each other, or things like that, and with always being the closest to each other, we felt the live's atmosphere together.
At times when I had trouble, he would always back me up right away and it was really assuring.
At the August 3rd live that we attened as just the four of us, it felt like the stage was unusually spacious.
At that time, I played my guitar recklessly but "the person who should be here isn't"
It was a live where only that loneliness felt was left-over.
You-san, as far I'm concerned, was also a mentor.
In our private life, he followed up on the things I didn't understand about the world.
He taught me about many things and gave advice on greetings, manners, and other things; he was a truly helpful person without being overbearing towards his juniors.
I think that I learnt my attitude as a band man from him.
When I was frustrated, You-san's words alone would give me a great amount of power.
He'd often offer encouragement like
"Teru-kun, you have a lot of charms I don't have, so please have self-confidence!"
No matter who he was talking to, he'd put feeling into it while never quite revealing the whole story, so perhaps there was a mysterious feeling as though he was behind a thin barrier.
As a mentor, he hardly showed me his pains or weaknesses.
He gave me his support, always kindly, but sometimes relentlessly.
I don't know whether I was a troublesome junior, but there were many more things I wanted him to teach me...
These last few days, I've been deeply thinking about this thing called "death."
Thinking and thinking more about it... but after all, I still don't understand it.
Perhaps by some chance, there might have been a different future.
But there's no way that'll ever be known.
I think that I will go on living by engraving those days I spent with You-san into my heart.
Those miracles we created as five people will be treasured.
When we met before the beginning of his long break, at the time we parted,
"You-san, thank you for all the many times you've backed me up."
I said to express my gratitude.
You-san, as always, reciprocated with a shining smile.
By no means did I ever expect that this would be the last time.
Concerning what happened, at least I was able to directly convey my feelings of gratitude in the end....
Whether I am able to say farewell presently, I still don't know.
So this isn't a farewell, but from here on the feelings I want to constantly be embracing are those of "gratitude."
You-san
Thank you so very much.
Translated by Lisa.
It's... been around ten years since I first met Jasmine You, I believe.
I saw him in a magazine, and my interest was immediately piqued.
After that, a very short time later our bands performed at the same live in Kyoto, and at the afterparty, the first thing I did was go to talk to him.
We really didn't talk about music at all, but instead we had fun discussing meaningless things until morning, like we were good friends from the past.
Since there were often opportunities to do things together, I had also seen lots of his lives.
It's because I really loved the spirit that band had... it was something that we didn't have and I envied them.
Although I existed with them on my mind the entire time, time passed, and one day I received a call from him.
"I want to make a band like this with members like this... will you do it with me?"
We seemed to have a really enjoyable time talking about that.
I was happy that he had come alive like that, but at that time I had my own band so I rejected his offer.
After a short time I started a solo project, and when I went to him first about it, I was able to receive a cheerful reply of "OK" from him.
In the beginning, I had planned for it to be a project until the very end, but since he was considering activity like his own band, I, who had hoped for support, became serious about it, too.
At that time, I had no fears and nothing to lose, and did whatever I pleased. When the members assembled, we said nothing but stupid things...
Then, Versailles started up, and just like before I did what I pleased, and even though nothing but stupid things were said when the members assembled, as we continued on with band activities it was only natural that pressure such as burdens, fear, and loss frequently weighed us down.
As our plans for the band became larger, our responsibilities became larger, but I think that we were able to make fun out of that pressure.
In actuality, when the members assembled, discussion started to be focused mainly on the band, and we started pursuing production activity.
Because of that, since all of us had been avoiding letting the band turn into something similar to a job, even if we had a limited amount of time, the five of us would have a good time, go out drinking and chat, and talk about meaningless things whenever we could. I think that the band was protecting those important things.
Nevertheless, during the times when we felt confused by the speed at which things were changing and the environment which was changing day by day at a dizzying pace, the two of us often talked together.
Despite that, words such as, "I'm tired," "it's difficult," and "I'm sleepy" never left Jasmine's mouth. As for me, those words were characteristic of me... I respected him.
In this society and in this music industry, although the intensity which dwells within it was placed right before our eyes, our attitude of helping one another didn't change.
The staff of the office were the ones who created the environment for us in which we are able to concentrate fully on our music.
They were living every day to its fullest, and were offering up their lives for Versailles.
So, they were easily able to handle duties in the role of Jasmine You.
From the middle of July, while we were making progress with recording, it was like we had various meetings with the office, the record company over and over again, every day.
Since everyone had gathered their willpower and had been putting their all into recording, and since I myself had been putting all my strength into this, the days went on without any room for me to worry about the other members.
When a certain meeting was over...
"Kansai-ben is harsh, and although you spoke very seriously about your real motive, I'm really happy that you took my welfare into consideration and said what you did."
On that day, for the first time, he laughed a little as he said that. In a rather old interview, he said that very same things as well, didn't he?
On that day at the time when we parted ways, I cried my eyes out, but I was happy when he shook my shoulder slightly while saying, "Hizaki-kun is the best guitarist in the world, and I'm glad we were able to play together."
At the show on August 3rd, I felt even lonelier than the fans. Even if I watch the recording of that day, it's like I can see him there. I wonder if the people who came to see us were able to see that as well.
I unreasonably told myself that I must be positive, but as one would expect, I was upset and it was difficult.
The next day, I met him for a little while, and since he seemed to be fine I was relieved...
No matter what time it was, he was Jasmine You.
Despite knowing that, I truly believed in my heart that he would get better and come back.
Then, August 9th.....
I cried because of that phone call. Without knowing if it was a dream or reality, I let out an outrageous scream and sobbed. It took time for me to settle down, and when I met with the members I cried all over again.
Since then, even though a few days have passed, when the solitude of night attacks me, I'm left in a state where the tears won't stop coming.
My memories of him are only his smiling face.
The last time that I saw him make a face that truly appeared to be happy was when the ballad that we had planned to put on the new album was fully complete.
During our tour, Fukuoka comes to mind. On that day in the studio, when I was loosely putting together the high point of the song, I was excited about it in such a way that surprised me.
A few months passed, and the first thing he did was listen to the final result... and he displayed a reaction like that of a child... like that of a fan.
"That's the best ever, it's so great~ it's absolutely the best, it's wonderful!" was what he said to me.
For the first time in a record high amount of time, him saying those words to me made me happy. In these most recent days, I wasn't able to see his happy face, but while fighting back tears and trying to stay happy, we listened to that song over and over again.
I wonder, what kind of memories were left behind in all of you?
Since we made many beautiful memories together as Versailles to the extent that I can't count them, I hope that you'll slowly think back upon them, now.
That's what I wish.
I still haven't been able to sort my feelings out, and I'm at a point where I can't see the path after this. Maybe I can't answer the question, "what's the best thing to do" myself.
Despite that, I believe that someday, he will shine down upon our path and guide us.
I received many messages, and fully realized that there are people who are waiting for us, and people who believe in us.
I'm thankful that I was supported by the people who were able to experience the message that the five of us conveyed, together with Jasmine You.
Right now, since I'm only working toward relaxing and healing this wound, when I settle down, let's go drinking again.
Tell me more of those pointless stories and jokes that you came up with just minutes before, like you used to.
Even though you drank jasmine tea the entire time since the band formed, when you were drunk you casually told me, "ah I'm... kind of sick of it!" Tell me more trivial secrets like that.
Since we didn't want to show our drunken selves, we'd lock the bathroom door and get wasted in there, and it was always difficult. Even if we ended up dead drunk we'd help each other to walk, didn't we...
Whenever I'm listening to the parting song by Chopin, I remember Jasmine. I think that up until today, I've listened to it hundreds of times. It has its beautiful, gentle, and dainty times, but there's one part that's intense, too.
His soul will always be in our hearts. His love will never fade.
The love that he showed me won't disappear, but will expand infinitely.
-To Jasmine You, as well as You-kun-
From now on, please spread your wings and flutter about like a beautiful butterfly.
Every now and then, please drink the nectar of roses, okay?
I can't say goodbye, so I'll say thank you. See you later.
-From your companion who loved roses-