If “TOMODACHI” was about the fragile contradictions of friendship, then “独歩” (literally “walking alone”) feels like standing at the edge of your own shadow. This song, the second track on Lonely Paradox, dives even deeper into solitude, pain, and the relentless search for meaning in a world that doesn’t always offer comfort.
Listening to “独歩” is like being forced to look in a mirror you’d rather avoid—the kind that doesn’t lie. It’s haunting, uncomfortable, yet strangely beautiful.
Lyric Highlights & Translation
Opening verse
「明日になれば忘れるだろうか この痛みだけが日々を蝕ばんで」
Ashita ni nareba wasureru darou ka / kono itami dake ga hibi o mushiban de
“Will tomorrow make me forget? This pain is the only thing eating away at my days.”
Here, “tomorrow” isn’t a promise—it’s a question mark. Instead of healing, the passage of time is portrayed as corrosion. Pain is not an interruption of life; it is what life becomes.
Searching without direction
「答えを探してる 行く宛を探してる あぁ戻れないな、もう戻れないや」
Kotae o sagashiteru / iku ate o sagashiteru / aa modorenai na, mou modorenai ya
“I’m searching for answers, searching for a place to go. Ah, I can’t go back—no, I can’t go back anymore.”
The repetition of “探してる” (sagashiteru, searching) creates the rhythm of wandering. There’s movement, but no arrival. The acknowledgment—“I can’t go back”—slams the door on nostalgia. The song refuses the fantasy of return.
Counting wounds
「孤独を探してる 傷だけを数えてる もうひとりにしといてよ」
Kodoku o sagashiteru / kizu dake o kazoeteru / mou hitori ni shitoite yo
“I’m searching for loneliness, counting nothing but wounds. Just leave me alone.”
Loneliness here is not something endured—it is something sought. As if solitude is the only honest place left. To “count wounds” is to measure identity through scars, not achievements.
The spiral of memory
「一度も忘れたことはなかったな 間違ってきた言葉たちを 今もまだ抱えている」
Ichido mo wasureta koto wa nakatta na / machigatte kita kotoba-tachi o / ima mo mada kakaete iru
“I never once forgot the words I got wrong. Even now, I still carry them.”
This is one of the most painful admissions in the song: not even time erases the mistakes of language. Misused or misunderstood words stay lodged in memory like splinters. The track insists that language itself wounds and lingers.
A desperate plea
「ねえもっと僕ら互いを見て 心の距離が離れる前に」
Nee motto bokura tagai o mite / kokoro no kyori ga hanareru mae ni
“Hey, let’s look at each other more, before the distance in our hearts grows wider.”
Amidst the bitterness, this line bursts out like a last flare. After verses heavy with solitude, here is a plea for connection. It’s not triumphant—it’s trembling, afraid of the widening gap.
Why “独歩” Hurts So Deeply
Unlike songs that frame loneliness as poetic or redemptive, “独歩” exposes its raw underside. It shows how pain colonizes memory, how solitude becomes both enemy and shelter, and how unspoken words rot into regret.
Every repetition in the lyrics—searching, remembering, counting—mimics the loops of thought that trap us. The song never escapes these circles, and that’s precisely why it resonates. For anyone who has lived with a wound that time won’t cauterize, “独歩” doesn’t offer escape—it offers recognition.
Conclusion
“独歩” is not a song of resolution. It’s a testimony. Its power lies in its refusal to close the wound or paint loneliness in comforting colors. By translating regret into relentless language, Retroriron captures the bleak honesty of walking alone—and in that honesty, listeners find their own reflection.
Comments