In this world full of "I miss you!"; You're lucky to have someone who would say, "Let's meet!"
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This is indeed true. It might be sad to say, but this is reality. We often tell someone "I miss you!", yet we don't do any efforts to meet him/her. Of course, it depends on the situation. The person you're missing might be so far away and it needs a lot of time and money to be with him/her. But what if the person you said "I miss you!" to is just in the same city? You might question yourself, "Do I really miss that person?"
Anyway, I just feel so overwhelmed because a University friend who came back to the Philippines from Thailand sent me a message wanting me to meet up with her. We haven't seen each other since our review days way back 2012, so of course, I immediately reserved a day with her.
This girl is so special for me because she's the only girl who could relate to my anime addiction during our Review Days. I used to hangout with my guy friends, but when we got to know each other during review and found out our similar interest, we became great friends. And from then, she hanged out with us together with two of her guy friends, too.
Way back Review Days, we became a group in which we formed through our names' initials, JEARKYS. It stands for the following people.
- J - JP
- E - Ethel
- A - Abel
- R - Ramir
- K - Keenan
- Y - Yndur
- S - Sheila
JP, Ramir and Keenan were my bros! Yeah, as I said before, I was and perhaps until now, "one of the boys". Though I got close to some of my girl classmates, I still enjoy being with these 3 more because we were connected by ANIME and MANGA. During our break time, we always group ourselves together and talk about the latest episode of the anime we were watching that time. We exchanged anime DVDs and listened to a lot of anime songs together.
I remember one time, I was behind Naruto manga for like 50 chapters, and JP suddenly spoiled the latest chapter in front of me. I hate spoilers, so I didn't talk to him until I got to the latest chapter as well. Kuya (big bro) Ramir, also told me about Ace's death in One Piece and at that time, I barely started watching the anime. I literally stopped watching One Piece because I got so sad. lol They kept on teasing me about it. They were a bunch of bullies, but I really enjoyed being with them. Anyway, I watched One Piece from the beginning 2 years ago. hahaha xD
Keenan was the silent type in the group. Although he hanged out with us, he didn't really talk much but he was definitely my partner in terms of Japanese music. We both enjoyed listening to YUI and Asian Kung-Fu Generation. We were seatmates then, so whenever the teacher's not around, he shares one side of his earphones with me.
It was just the four of us until we graduated from the Nursing course, but when "Review Days" came, we met Yndur, Abel and the other girl Ethel. Our small group grew all of a sudden and it became more active and fun. "Review Days" were mentally draining and stressful, so anime was our refuge. That time, the popular anime were SAO, Kuroko no Basuke and Shingeki no Kyojin. Everytime we have our lunch break or 15-minute break from the intensive review, we always gather around and update ourselves with the latest anime. Our "Otaku" group became quite known that time that even our Instructor/Reviewer asked us about Naruto. We were so surprised to know that he reads it, too.
Being addicted to anime and continuously watching it despite the upcoming Board Exam for Nurses, all the people in our "otaku group" passed.
We all went our separate ways after the exam. Some worked at the hospital, others went back to their hometown, Ethel went to her mom in Thailand and I became busy with the job as an English teacher and later on with getting a diploma for education. We really haven't met each other for more than 5 years now, but because someone in the group said, "Let's Meet!"... We are now excited to meet each other.
Unfortunately, not all of us would be there because Keenan went back to his hometown which is quite far from Cebu. Abel is working on the meeting day while Kuya Ramir isn't really sure of his schedule yet. However, I'll surely get to meet Ethel, JP and Yndur soon. I wonder if they're still active with their otaku life. At least, I and Ethel are.. hahaha xD Well, active in otaku life or not, we were once bonded by anime in those years... and that bond would stay no matter how many years have passed.
それではまた～
Love lots,
