I finally felt it in my bones: Ray Macoto’s life as an OG Takarazienne has truly begun.
Scrolling through her brand-new posts on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) brought a wave of feeling I wasn’t quite prepared for.
It’s only been three months since her graduation, yet somehow it feels much longer.
Those three months were a whirlwind — starting with four of her Star Troupe peers (the “former Star girls”) launching their Instagrams at lightning speed, and the fandom gleefully dancing around that mysterious in-joke, the so-called “Adult Harem.”
Then came the Star Troupe’s national tour stop in Sendai and Kanon-kun’s first Tokyo-headlining run, where — surprise! — all five of them showed up together.
Their closeness makes me grin.
And yet, Kocchan herself stayed out of sight. As fans, all we could do was relish the delightfully obvious hints (thank you, “adult ladies”) and wait.
At last — finally! — Kocchan is ready to speak for herself.
I kept peeking after that first staff post, hoping for an update.
Today it happened: a message directly from Kocchan.
I caught it just minutes after it went up, which made me weirdly happy — as if we were opening our apps at the same time. Silly, I know, but still.
What really got me was her smile. Not a concert PR shot. Not a polished agency headshot. Her smile.
Yes. This.
This is the natural, easy Kocchan smile I wanted to see again.
Is it just me, or has her hair grown a little?
She snapped the photo in front of a painting by Shingo Katori — clever promo, Kocchan! It makes me think we might soon see collaborations with the ATARASHII CHIZU members as well.
Now that would be exciting.
For today, I’m simply relieved — and grateful — to see that familiar, unguarded grin show up in my feed.
Here’s to the first steps of her OG chapter, and to many more posts that feel this warm and close.
The Japanese version of this article is here.↓↓↓
