Hirata Runa, known to her fans as Luna-chan, was just 8 years old and already pursuing her dream of becoming a Japanese idol.
The little girl was a trainee with DIANNA Project, a talent project based in Nagoya. On September 20, she took the stage at Regular Live Vol.70, unaware that it would be her final performance.
After the concert, she posted a smiling photo and left a message that, after her death, took on a particularly painful meaning:
“Thank you for today, too. It was so much fun ♡”.
Just five days later, Runa died.
Her family reported that she passed away at around 4 a.m. on 25 September 2026. The cause was myocarditis resulting from an influenza infection, meaning inflammation of the heart muscle caused in this case as a complication of the illness. No details have been disclosed about how long she had been ill or how her condition progressed before becoming critical.
The news was made public three days later. Her funeral was held privately, and her agency asked that the family be treated with respect and that people refrain from speculating about the circumstances of her death.
Runa had devoted approximately a third of her eight years of life to the idol world. Her family asked those who had been with her during that time to keep her memory in their hearts as an “eternal idol”.
Just five days before she died, she was still on stage, smiling and thanking those who had come to watch her pursue her dream.