Read The After-School Podcast :: Episode 6! - Shout-Outs To All!

Natsuhiko: …Can’t believe we got so carried away with the last episode.

Etsuko: *sigh* We completely lost track of time. We were recording for over 3 hours.

Hotaru: Uh, guys? You do realize we’re recording right now, right?

Etsuko: Wait, what?

Natsuhiko: H-hey everyone! Welcome to another episode of…

All three: *Etsuko’s a little less in sync* The After-School Podcast!

Natsuhiko: I’m Natsuhiko, the president of the After-School Podcast!

Hotaru: *still sounding a little crabby* I’m Hotaru, the founder and vice president!

Etsuko: And um, I’m Etsuko, the secretary of the After-School Podcast!

Hotaru: *irritated* Etsuuukooooooo, why’d you not be as in sync as normal?

Etsuko: I wasn’t ready yet!

Natsuhiko: It’s okay Etsuko! I wasn’t quite ready yet either.

Hotaru: Etsuko, just say the date already..

Etsuko: Hmph. *semi-forced attitude change* Well, right now it's 4:09 pm on Monday, May 28th. I hope you had a good start to your week!

Hotaru: Hey guys! I have something I wanna show you!

Etsuko: Sounds good. I can’t wait to see it. Is it another drawing?

Hotaru: *rifles around in his backpack* No, it’s something I bought online that--

Etsuko: Oh no, you went and did it again, didn’t you?

Natsuhiko: Did what?

Etsuko: He impulse-bought something.

Hotaru: You know in real professional podcasts, they have those ‘on air’ signs?

Natsuhiko: Yeah, what about it?

Hotaru: I saw this cool like, lamp that was one of those signs…

*Hotaru pulls out the ‘on air’ lamp and shows Natsuhiko and Etsuko*

Etsuko: *facepalms, then pauses for a moment* Hey, actually, that would be cool to have in our podcast.

Natsuhiko: Yeah. Hey, what if we use it, and turn it on when we’re recording, so people know not to bother us or come into the classroom?

Etsuko: Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!

Hotaru: Well, I was gonna use it as a nightlight, but okay.

Etsuko: Should we turn it on now?

Natsuhiko: Hotaru, are batteries already in it?

Hotaru: Uhhmm I forgot.

Natsuhiko: Oh Hotaru, what are we ever going to do with you?

Hotaru: Hey what’s that supposed to mean?

Etsuko: Hey, should we continue with the rest of the topics for the day?

Natsuhiko: Well, the first topic is suggested by User9925, and it says, ‘What is your daily life like outside of the podcast?’

Etsuko: Finally, a topic that’s not about food…. Well, we go to school at Shirataki High. I don’t really wanna expose too much, because y’know, privacy stuff. We can tell you a little bit, though!

Natsuhiko: Yeah. I agree.

Hotaru: I wish I could say I have a ton of friends in my grade, but not really… *a little boastful* However, today I met some of our fans! There were two people in my grade, Shirayuki-san and Takahashi-san who came up to me and asked if I was the Hotaru from The After-School Podcast!

Natsuhiko: And what’d you say?

Hotaru: *proudly* I said I was! And then they kept going on about how awesome I am.

Etsuko: Mmmhmm. What’d they really say?

Hotaru: Hmph, well, they um, they called me childish… *mood lifting* but then they asked me to give them a shout-out today in the After-School Podcast. So yeah. Why don’t we all say it together? 1, 2, 3!

All three: We give this shout-out to Shirayuki-san and Takahashi-san! We’re hoping you’re having a good start to the week! Enjoy the After-School Podcast!

Hotaru: Maybe we should do shout-outs more often. I honestly enjoyed that.

Etsuko: Same here. It makes me happy when I hope that we made Shirayuki-san and Takahashi-san feel good.

Natsuhiko: I really hope we did.

Etsuko: Hey, why don’t we start giving shout-outs to the people who suggest our topics?

Natsuhiko: Yeah, that’s a great idea!

Hotaru: On the count of three?

Etsuko: Yep! 1, 2, 3!

All three: Thank you all for helping us so much with topics! We hope you’re enjoying our After-School Podcast!

Natsuhiko: I feel really happy right now. I kinda have that hope that maybe we’re making people’s days better.

Hotaru: Yeah, especially since Mondays suck!

Etsuko: Don’t say stuff like that… especially not in that way..

Hotaru: But it’s true! A lot of people hate Mondays because it's right at the start of the week and that means everyone has to go back to work or school.

Etsuko: Yeah, I guess that’s true. I really hope we’re making people’s Mondays better.

Natsuhiko: *mumbling* Poor Monday…

Etsuko: What was that Natsuhiko?

Natsuhiko: *quietly and a little embarrassed* Oh, I was just mumbling to myself. I was just asking myself, ‘why do people hate Monday so much?’ I mean, I bet Monday didn’t want to be hated, and it didn’t want to be at the beginning of the week. I kinda feel bad for Monday… *quickly* Sorry! I’m just being weird!!

Etsuko: No it's fine Natsuhiko! Y’know, you actually have a point. I kinda feel bad for Monday too.

Hotaru: Why are you guys feeling bad for a day? Y’know, something that doesn’t even have feelings? You can’t even see it, either!

Etsuko: We’re so weird, aren’t we? I don’t know.

Natsuhiko: I’d say it’s kinda human nature, at least for me, to feel empathy towards things, even things that may or may not have feelings or even be inanimate.

Etsuko: Yeah.

Natsuhiko: There was this one time where in a secret code I saw, the symbol ‘ba’ was represented by a sad face. I felt bad for it. I thought maybe it's sad because people make fun of it because ‘ba’ is part of the word ‘ba-ka’. Then I spent an hour coming up with positive words that start with ‘ba’ or have ‘ba’ in them. Like ‘subarashii’, for example… *realizing he’s ranting too much and quickly says* Sorry! I’m being weird again, aren’t I?

Etsuko: *kindly* No, you’re not being weird. I think you were doing a kind thing for ‘ba’.

Hotaru: *not getting it* Why did you try to make a symbol represented by a sad face feel better?

Natsuhiko: Honestly, I don’t even know… *chuckles lightly*

Hotaru: Should we move on to our next topic for today?

Etsuko: Yeah, let's go! What’s the next one?

Hotaru: Alright, this one is by User2234, and it says, ‘Talk about video games.’ *excited* Ah heck yeah! This is my type of topic!

Natsuhiko: Honestly, I don’t really play many video games… I do play chill games like Animal Crossing, though! Me and Etsuko have played together too!

Hotaru: Honestly, I do like Animal Crossing, but personally I’m way too impatient for it, so I just time-traveled through the whole game.

Etsuko: *facepalm* You barely even play it. You basically relied on me to give you bells and items and all of that!

Hotaru: *guilty chuckle* ahahaha…

Natsuhiko: Y’know, it’s been a while since we all played Animal Crossing together. Maybe we should play sometime soon!

Etsuko: That’d be fun!

Natsuhiko: Me and Etsuko love Animal Crossing, don’t we?

Etsuko: Mhm! Yeah.

Hotaru: *states as if it’s fact* There are much better games than Animal Crossing! Animal Crossing is just boring.

Etsuko: *changes mood in 0.3 seconds, standing up fiercely* Excuse me?! What did you say?!

Hotaru: Bwah!! Get that creepy scary face out of here Etsuko!

Etsuko: Animal Crossing isn’t boring!

Natsuhiko: Hey now, we can all have our own opinions, right?

Hotaru: *accusingly* Yeah, Etsuko! Aren’t you always going on and on about that!

Etsuko: Hmphf.

*Etsuko, saying nothing, sits back down. You can hear her push in her chair*

Natsuhiko: What kind of video games are your favorite Hotaru?

Hotaru: I like combat games! I kinda like all kinds of video games in general.

Etsuko: *regaining composure* Hey, what kind of board games do you guys like?

Hotaru: Board games? More like bored games!

*Etsuko says nothing in response to that, and instead moves on to Natsuhiko*

Etsuko: What kind of board games do you like Natsuhiko?

Natsuhiko: I really like Machi Koro. It’s really fun.

Etsuko: Once my dad told me he played this western board game called Catan, and he said it kinda reminded him of it.

Natsuhiko: That’s super cool!

Etsuko: Yeah. I kinda wanna play it, and compare and contrast the two board games.

Natsuhiko: What’s your favorite board game, Etsuko?

Etsuko: *chuckles a little bit, sweetly, as if remembering old happy memories* I’m not sure if this really counts as a ‘board game’, but I remember as a little kid, whenever I’d go to my grandma’s house, we’d play Hanafuda together. She was really big on Japanese history and tradition and all of that and had a very traditional, old-fashioned house up in Okinawa.

Hotaru: Whoa, that’s cool.

Natsuhiko: Isn’t Okinawa a little far away?

Etsuko: Yeah. We didn’t see each other super often, but I’d love spending time with her. We only really saw her on holidays and every now and again. *reminiscing* Drinking tea and letting my legs dangle off the veranda. She taught me to play Hanafuda back when I was 7. I came to know most of her strategies and techniques from playing with her. Man, she was so good. I could never beat her… *her voice trailed off, she’s clearly sad about the loss of her grandma*

Natsuhiko: That sounds really great! I’m sure your grandma was an amazing woman. My condolences for what happened.

Hotaru: What’s that mean?

Natsuhiko: I’m basically saying ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ to Etsuko, y’know?

Hotaru: Ohhh okay! My condolences too, Etsuko!

Etsuko: Thank you Natsuhiko, and you too Hotaru. Because of all those memories, both happy and sad, Hanafuda is definitely my favorite game.

Hotaru: That… sounds nice, actually.

Natsuhiko: Yeah.

Etsuko: So, a little fun fact about me. I really like Hanafuda.

Hotaru: Hey, what if we all play Hanafuda together one day?

Natsuhiko: That sounds nice, but isn’t Hanafuda just a two-player game?

Hotaru: Oh yeah. Well, one of us could be commentary!

Etsuko: *excited* So, you guys know how to play?

Hotaru: um… no, actually… I don’t. Maybe I could be the commentary!

Natsuhiko: I’ve only played it like, once, and I can’t really remember how to play, but for the sake of my friends, I’ll relearn how to play!

Etsuko: Thanks, but you don’t have to. Honestly, I haven’t played Hanafuda since my grandma passed.

Natsuhiko: Well, we really should play it together. I’ll write it down on the to-do list.

Etsuko: But we’re not really gonna be playing it during the podcast, are we?

Natsuhiko: Well, I also write my list of things to do in this notebook, too! So yeah. Maybe we could do a Hanafuda episode, too. Where one of us is the commentary--

Hotaru: I call dibs!

Natsuhiko: and the other two play it.

Etsuko: In order to talk about Hanafuda and do commentary, don’tcha have to know how to play.

Hotaru: Whatever, it’ll be fine.

Natsuhiko: Hey Etsuko, could you perhaps teach us how to play next weekend maybe?

Etsuko: I’d actually like that. Sure!

Hotaru: Hey I have an idea!

Etsuko: What is it?

Hotaru: Y’know how we’re giving shout-outs this episode? Why don’t we shout-out the people who created the game Hanafuda?

Natsuhiko: Could we also shout-out the people who made Animal Crossing too? I just really like that game also.

Hotaru: And what if… we give Etsuko’s grandma a shout-out too?

Etsuko: *touched* I’m sure… she’d like that.

Hotaru: Okay, which order of the shout-outs do we wanna do?

Natsuhiko: I’d say, give the best shout-out for last. Let’s shout-out Etsuko’s grandma last.

Hotaru: So maybe we go Hanafuda’s creators, Animal Crossing’s creators, and then Etsuko’s grandma?

Etsuko: Maybe we should conjoin Hanafuda’s creators and Animal Crossing’s creators because the company that made Animal Crossing, which we know as Nintendo, used to manufacture board games and card games before video games, and Hanafuda was their first manufactured product. Also, when I Google ‘who made the game Hanafuda’, nothing comes up. We could also give Hanafuda’s creator credit, too.

Hotaru: Okay! Sounds good.

Natsuhiko: Alright, do we do it on three?

Etsuko: Yep! Let’s do it!

Natsuhiko: Okay! 1, 2, 3!

All three: Shout-out to Nintendo! We really appreciate you making super cool video games like Animal Crossing, and also selling Hanafuda too!

Hotaru: *adding to the shout-out* The person who made Hanafuda is definitely someone who’s a great person. Double shout-out to them, too!

Natsuhiko: And now, last but not least…

Natsuhiko and Hotaru: Shout-out to Etsuko’s grandma! We really like your granddaughter Etsuko, who is our amazing bestie! Thank you so much for being Etsuko’s awesome grandma!

Etsuko: Thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate it, and I’m sure my grandma does too. I hope she can hear us from where she is now.

Natsuhiko: I hope she can too. I can tell, from what you’ve told me about her throughout the years, that she really, truly loved you too. And we do too. Platonically, of course.

Etsuko: Thanks. I love you guys too! Also, platonically.

Hotaru: Ew, Etsuko, you’re not even my type!

Etsuko: *exclaims with disgust* ‘Platonic’ means ‘as a friend’! You aren’t my type either!!

Hotaru: Whatever. I’m totally out of your league.

Etsuko: *mutters under her breath* More like you’re out of mine…

Natsuhiko: Hey, guys, ever since the last episode, I’ve honestly been worried about going overtime, so do we wanna sign off now with our outro?

Etsuko: Yeah, me too. I say let’s do it. What about you, Hotaru?

Hotaru: Yeah, let's sign off. On the count of three, 1--

Natsuhiko: Hey one sec! Sorry to interrupt, but I had an idea.

Etsuko: What is it?

Natsuhiko: Why don’t we give shout-outs to everyone listening to this podcast?

Etsuko: Yeah, great idea!