•This third special episode was broadcast live on TOKYO FM on March 4th (the
first special aired last July and the
second one aired in November). This program was broadcasted in commemoration of the recent release of SCANDAL's new single
eternal.
•The theme listeners were asked to send in was "Eh? Seriously?" Those whose messages were read were given Meiji sweets selected by the band. RINA chose Choco Baby, MAMI chose Coffee Beat, TOMO chose Twinkle Chocolate, and HARU chose Almond Chocolate. They talk a little how their program's segment titles are pretty punny, so the main segment for this episode was a play on "eternal" (
explained in detail here).
•HARU reads the first message from a listener whose story is from when they were a first-year high schooler. They got a rather hardcore message on Christmas from a friend who suddenly called them. Their friend had been at a
love hotel and the guy they had been with left and never came back, so the hotel wasn't allowing the friend to leave without paying. Since the listener was a student and didn't have any money, they and their mom had to go and rescue the friend. So, their first time being at a love hotel was with their mom on Christmas. It made them go, "Eh, seriously? How did this happen?" and was a Christmas they'll never forget. The band goes "Oh wow," and says that must have been tough.
•TOMO reads the next message from a listener whose story is from when they were a first-year middle schooler. Their first love was a girl in the same class as them (will be referring to her as FLG, first-love girl, from here on). FLG didn't seem like they were the same age as the rest since she was very mature, good at studying, and helped out other girls in the class. One day, FLG suddenly asked the listener to meet them at the library on the fourth floor after school. The listener's heart felt ready to burst, and when they went there after school, they saw FLG standing there talking to another girl classmate. FLG asked the other classmate what she thought of the listener--this was to help the other classmate confess their feelings about the listener. The listener was happy that the other classmate wanted to confess to them, but the listener couldn't forget how disappointed they were that FLG wasn't the one who wanted to confess to them. Much after that, the listener says that FLG didn't attend a coming-of-age ceremony (which is kind of weird, since those happen when one's 20 years old--the gap between first year of middle school and then is about eight years...so I guess nothing happened between then lol) since her dad's job took them overseas. The listener wished they had confessed to FLG. However, the girl that FLG had introduced to the listener is now currently their wife. The band goes, "Ehhh?!" They wonder if the listener's currently listening in to the program with their wife.
•MAMI reads the next message from a listener whose story is from when they were a high schooler. They liked a guy they were close with, but they didn't want to ruin the relationship they had so they decided to seal their feelings away and support their friend's love life. About six months later, he confessed to the listener, who asked him, "Eh, didn't you like so-and-so?" He said his feelings changed after wondering what to do. The listener turned him down since they had already decided to move on. The band mentions how timing is very important and that once a girl makes up her mind it's unshakable.
•RINA reads the next message from a listener who had gone out shopping with a student (? didn't specify but seems likely) who's their junior to buy a present for his girlfriend. Since the listener wants to care for their nails, they said to the junior that if it was them, they'd be happy with a nail care set. The junior did end up buying it. However, one week later the junior contacted the listener and said that he had been dumped by his girlfriend and then decided to give the present to the listener. The listener couldn't believe that they got what they had been wanting in this way. The band says that's tough but was lucky for the listener.
•HARU reads the next message from a listener whose story is from when they were in college and did
racewalking. They sprained their right leg about 10 days before an important match--it was so swollen that they couldn't see the shape of their ankle. They thought they couldn't heal in time for the match, but they did play in the match and was in very good shape. They even did their personal best and earned a spot in the national competition. However, they were more surprised that all that happened. RINA says that she thinks there are times when your mental strength during times when you think you're not in the best condition leads to good results. HARU says that sometimes when you try a new method you discover that it's better than your old one. They all say that mentality is important.
•TOMO reads the next message from a listener who says they worked super hard at work on March 3rd to get off work early but didn't end up getting off until past 9:30 pm, which meant that they thought that this live program (which aired between 8-9 pm) had already finished airing. They checked the program's site to see if it had already been posted, which is when they realized that the live program wouldn't be airing until the next day, March 4th. The band laughs and says that they must have thought it was on the 3rd due to the release of the single. TOMO says that up until halfway through reading it she was wondering if this message was even okay to read. The band laughs and they also say they're glad the listener does get to actually listen to it live.
•After "Living in the city" plays, a loud zipping sound plays, which startles the band and they start laughing. HARU says that they're not really used to doing live broadcasts. RINA laughs and says that's not true as the band has been around for 15 years, which the others laugh at.
•They then announce the second round of program merch: an Apollo-shaped pick and a sticker. This means that they now they have tiers of presents they will be giving away on the program: Top, which is the Apollo pouch; middle, which is the pick; and low, which is the sticker.
•MAMI reads the next message from a listener whose friend who went to a nearby convenience store for lunch during lunch break, so they asked that friend to get two rice balls for them: one "sea chicken" (AKA
tuna) mayonnaise and one salmon. When their friend came back, they said how they thought the "sea chicken" is surprisingly big. The listener was wondering if they were talking about the size of the rice ball, but when they looked at what their friend got them, they realized they had actually picked up a piece of spicy chicken ("sea chicken" in Japanese is
shii chiken, while "spicy chicken" is
supaishii chiken) from the hot foods section of the store. They asked their friend why they bought chicken, and their friend went, "Eh, isn't that 'sea chicken'?" and the listener said that no, this is "spicy chicken." The friend also says that they bought the spicy chicken they first noticed when they went into the store. The band laughs and TOMO says she's worried about the friend. RINA goes, "It doesn't mean that the friend misheard, right?" The others agree and HARU wonders if it's a matter of the friend not knowing was "sea chicken" actually is. RINA mentions that the friend said it was the first chicken item that they saw when they entered the store. MAMI says that they probably just saw the words "shii" and "chicken" without noticing if it said "rice ball" or not and thought it was what the listener wanted. TOMO goes, "That's not what 'sea chicken' is, though!"
•RINA reads the next message from a listener who lives in Sapporo and has been dating their boyfriend for four months. His job is transferring him to the city of Nemuro, which is on the eastern side of Hokkaido (and the easternmost city in Japan). The distance between the two cities is as far as the distance between Tokyo and Kyoto if you were to measure it using straight line distance (about 200 miles = 6-hour train or car ride). They had been dating with the intent to get married one day, so he asked the listener to come with him and they said yes, and they are now planning to get married in May or June. They say that the bf's birthday is August 21st, the same as SCANDAL's and RINA's, which makes her feel some kind of connection there. The couple hasn't been dating for a long time yet, so the consecutive things like marriage and job transfers made both them, the bf, and their parents go, "Eh? Seriously?" The band congratulates them and HARU recognizes that the listener's been a fan of theirs for a while. RINA says that a lot of happy things have been happening to their fans recently, such as getting married or having kids.
•HARU reads the next message from a 4th-grade girl who always listens to TOKYO FM and noticed that this program took the timeslot of the usual program, looked it up, and realized that this was a special program. Since she loves sweets, she sent in a message right away (SCANDAL: "That's so cute!"). This was her first time learning about the band and wants to listen to them. She also says they're easy to listen to. The band is super happy about the message and TOMO goes, "Let's give her an Apollo pouch!" They also say this was a "Eh? Seriously?" moment for them, and that doing a special program leads to encounters like this.
•TOMO reads the next message from a listener whose story is from their birthday last year. His girlfriend surprised him with a cake while they were at a resort, and the chocolate message plate on the cake said, "Happy birthday, Kazuo!" when it should have actually said "Kazu" since that's his nickname; his full first name is "Kazuki." This was a mistake on the resort's part. He and his girlfriend laughed really hard at the mistake. He also says that, by the way, his grandpa's name is Kazuo. The band laughs and says that's pretty funny.
•MAMI reads the next message from a listener who ordered some takoyaki and they basically didn't get exactly what they ordered. They ordered 6 takoyaki with some toppings and sauces, but instead they got 9 with some toppings and no sauces. The band is kind of weirded out by the message but still wonders how the order turned into that.
•RINA reads the next message from a listener whose story is from when they went to at night market while in the Philippines and there was pork in them instead of octopus. The band wonders why that is but says that it sounds good.
•HARU reads the next message from a listener whose older sister had made a healthy and nutritious bento for their dad as a present for
Labor Thanksgiving Day and went to give it to him. However, she returned a few minutes later and said that he wouldn't eat it. The listener wondered why, and when they inquired about it, their dad told them that he doesn't eat homecooked food except for what the mom makes. TOMO goes, "What kind of stubborness is that?", which the others laugh at. HARU says that maybe the mom told the dad a long time ago only to eat her cooking (RINA: "How lovey dovey").
•TOMO reads the next message from a listener who had gone camping in Hokkaido when it was -25C/-13F. Even if they turned on a heater in the tent, it would still be -10C/14F. The water used for rice would freeze and take a long time to cook. In the end it was too cold so they moved to a bungalow. MAMI wonders what it would be like camping in that temperature. TOMO says that your life's in danger at that point while the others laugh. HARU says that of course TOMO, who loves camping, wouldn't do that. TOMO says that -8C/18F is doable with a campfire and is almost comfortable, but without a campfire, the only thing that camping in those temps would be is harsh. She says that camping when it's -25C really is dangerous, and that moving to a bungalow was the correct answer.
•MAMI reads the next message from a listener who used to apply for prizes that magazines would give out. One time there were 3 pairs of beach sandals from a snowboard brand up for grabs, and the listener ended up winning a pair. They didn't use them since they were a little pricy, but they thought it'd be more of a waste not to use them, so they took them out after a year and tried them on. One side fit perfectly, but one side was a little small. When they checked the sizes they realized they had been sent one side in an M and one side in an L. The magazine they had won it from had already gone out of business and they had applied for the prize a year ago, so there was nothing that could be done. They thought about it and realized that the other winners might have had the same problem. They then recommend that everyone should open up and check their packages when they get them. They also say they'd like an Apollo pouch, which the band laughs at. HARU says that they might be able to find the other winners if they looked for them. MAMI agrees and says they could look for them via social media. She also says that they might find them by looking on selling apps. The others laugh and HARU says she could totally picture people selling sandals in different sizes on them.
•After "eternal" plays, they talk about the song and the process behind it, all of which they've already talked about elsewhere. Things they mention: The sound is a little different than ones they've done before, they took a different approach to recording the song (they recorded at a producer's home studio instead of a studio like usual), RINA recorded her drum parts entirely on drum pads and not on an actual drum kit, nothing lasts forever which is why the present is very important, they want their listeners to live in the now while cherishing themselves.
•RINA reads the next message from a listener whose story is from when they were a college student and went to a guy friend's house to return a bike they borrowed from him. When they got there, the friend was sitting on a motorbike in front of the house for some reason. He told the listener that he was going to an athletic field and asked if they'd like to come along. It didn't look to them like he was going exercising and thought it was kind of weird, but they decided to go since they didn't have any other plans that day. The listener wanted to ride on the motorbike, so they sat on the back seat behind the friend. When they got to the place, they had actually arrived at a (horse) race track. According to the friend, it's an "athletic field for horses." RINA says that telling someone they're "going to an athletic field" is a pretty tricky way to invite someone, and HARU mentions going by motorbike too, which RINA laughs at. She also says that maybe they were trying to act cool, which HARU laughs at. TOMO says that maybe the friend wanted the listener to be like, "What?!", which the others seem to agree with. She says that the friend's a guy after all, which makes the others laugh.
•HARU reads the next message from a listener who came across a "lucky vending machine" (basically, you can win something by buying something from the machine) on a station platform. He bought a bottle of tea, won, and got another bottle free. However, the bottles got stuck in the opening when he went to retrieve them. He pulled on the bottles with all his might for about a minute. He thought he probably looked like someone who was struggling to get his drinks since he made the mistake of buying two at once. In his head he was shouting, "I got two bottles of tea for the price of 120 yen - I'm actually a lucky boy today!" TOMO says that she's never won a bottle of tea before. The others say they haven't either.
•TOMO reads the next message from a listener whose friend started going to a gym for health reasons a while back, and they were surprised when they saw them for the first time in a year recently. The friend had gotten muscular, tanned, and looked like a martial arts fighter. A lot of people were into bodybuilding at the gym the friend joined, they became friends with those people, and got hooked on it too. The friend has even appeared in smaller competitions. The listener was surprised at the unexpected development and was envious of their friend's muscles, so they also started going to the gym. RINA says that people definitely are influenced by things like the gym. They mention the tanning part and wonder if it's to make the muscles look better, especially if they were to apply oil. They also say that's awesome that they've even taken part in competitions.
•MAMI reads the next message from a listener who is a firefighter and was dispatched since there was possibly a person who had fallen in their house. The entrance was locked and they couldn't enter, but they did hear a groaning noise coming from inside. They hurriedly unlocked the door and went inside. Right after entering they saw the source of the groaning: A parrot doll with a motion sensor that cries out when it detects movement. There was of course no one actually at home. The band is surprised at what happened but say that these things do happen. They also wonder why it had been set to make a groaning noise, and that maybe it was due to its batteries dying out. MAMI says that they've gotten a lot of odd messages today.
•HARU says that time's up for the program. The band says that it was a lot of fun and interesting. HARU also says that after this they'll recording an after talk segment where they'll read messages they couldn't air on this special due to "various circumstances." She wonders what the "circumstances" are, and that they're probably weird stories. The other laugh at that. HARU says that perhaps the overall winner is the "sea chicken" story. The others laugh and say it's quite mysterious. MAMI says that the latter half of the episode was filled with mysterious stories.
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