Hirate speaks! A word from Memi brings back Techi's voice

After over a month of throat trouble and not being able to speak above a whisper, Hirate Yurina can talk again.

It happened on her Girls Locks (School of Lock) radio show. A call to Kakizaki Memi of Hiragana Keyaki, getting her to say she loved Techi, magically released Techi's voice...or so the story goes.

Thursday night, on Hirate's Mon-Thu show, Hirate and her helper Shida Manaka received a letter from someone claiming to have been the one who locked Hirate's voice, apologizing for doing it and saying he had a method for releasing the lock. It would involve calling a Keyakizaka member and getting them to say the keywords: "Techi, I love you."

Here's a recording of the show. Below, I translate from 4m07s to 9m40s.





The member they were supposed to call was the one Techi had a "school-uniform date" with recently....

Shida: "The school-uniform date...can you imagine who it is?"

Hirate (machine voice produced by her phone): "Ah...somehow, yes."

Shida: "I think I may have seen a photo."

Hirate (machine voice): "She uploaded it."

> Brrring

Shida: "What? The telephone's ringing."

> Brrrring... Brrring...

Shida: "Will this let your voice come out?"

Hirate (machine voice): "Who is it, I wonder."

Shida: "It's still ringing."

Hirate (machine voice): "Maybe they're sleeping."

> Brrring... Click!

Shida: "Hello. Who is this?"

Kakizaki: "Hello?"

Shida: "Hello. Would you give me your name?"

Kakizaki: "It's Kakizaki Memi."

Shida: (loud laughter) "It's Memi. We seem to have hit it."


Kakizaki: "Hit what?"

Shida: "Sorry for calling you suddenly. What are you doing now?"

Kakizaki: "Right now? I was just practicing POI." (note: POI is a kind of juggling that the Hiraganas are learning for their next one-man live)

Shida: (laughs) "I'm sorry."


Kakizaki: "Is this Shida-san?"

Shida: "I'm sorry. Yes, it's Shida-san. And Hirate-san is right in front of me."

Kakizaki: (delighted cry.)

Shida: "I'm sorry. I just have something I want to ask."

Kakizaki: "Yes."

Shida: "It seems you went on a school-uniform date with Hirate recently."

Kakizaki: "I did."

Techi and Memi on their date

Shida: "What did you do?"

Kakizaki: "Ah... We went to Starbucks, we drank tea, we walked around."

Shida: "Ehh. Recently, you're pretty close, aren't you, with Techi?"

Kakizaki: "Somehow we've gotten... I've been able to be with her." (Memi and Mona both laugh)

Shida: "Uh, Memi! I'm sorry, really!"

Kakizaki: "Ehh? No, not at all.... What is it?"

Shida: "Is now okay?"

Kakizaki: "It's fine."

Shida: "Uh, Techi.... How do you feel toward Techi?"

Kakizaki: "Ehh? What? That's embarrassing!!"

Shida: (laughing) "Uh, somehow...I want to hear."

Kakizaki: "Umm... Somehow we've been together a lot recently.... And...somehow.... I love her so much I don't want her to talk to anyone else."

Shida: "Ohhh! Scary!" (laughs)

Kakizaki: (laughs)

Shida: (laughs) "So, then....love? So somehow.... Could you say that as a confession?"

Kakizaki: "Ehh?? Is she there?"

Shida: "She's here."

Kakizaki: "No... It's a bit...."

Shida: "But it's amazing, you even want to keep her to yourself!"

Kakizaki: "I've been exposed." (laughs)

Shida: "Scary! (laughs)"

Kakizaki: "Yurina! I love you!"

Shida: "Uh... Oh... That's a bit wrong."

Kakizaki: "It's wrong?"

Shida: "Wrong, wrong, wrong. Not that name. It's not that name."

Kakizaki: "Eh?"

Shida: "Once more. Please."

Kakizaki: "Eh?"

Shida: "Not Yurina."

Kakizaki: "Oh?"

Shida: "Te...te..."

Kakizaki: "Techi?"

Shida: "So, once more, please?"

Kakizaki: "...Techi! I love you!!"

(we hear a "bing," and the sound effect of a lock being opened)

Hirate Yurina

Hirate (normal voice): "I love you, too."

Shida: (screams)

Hirate: (laughs)

Shida: "Sorry for screaming." (laughs)

Kakizaki: "Eh? Who spoke just now.?'

Shida: "Once more, please."

Hirate: (normal voice from now on): "I love you, too."

Kakizaki: "Ehh??"

Hirate: "Memi? Memi?"

Kakizaki: "Hello?"

Hirate: "Memi?"

Kakizaki: "Eh?"

Shida: "Eh?"

Hirate: "It's Techi."

Kakizaki: "Techi?" (laughs)

Shida: "It's back!"

Hirate: "It's true. My voice is back!"

All three go "kyaaa!" together.

Hirate: "I'm weeping..."

Kakizaki: "Wonderful. I'm weeping..."

Shida: "Hirate's weeping a bit..." (laughs)

Kakizaki: "I'm weeping. Weeping." (weeping)

Shida: "Hey, wait a minute. It's catching." (weeping)

Hirate: "...it's true.... my voice...is working."

Kakizaki: (weeping)

Hirate: "...so...I'm talking..." (weeping)

Kakizaki: (weeping)

Shida: "Tears are coming out... No way..." (weeping)

Kakizaki: "I'm weeping all by myself here, too."

Shida: "Weeping... It's been so long since we've heard it."

Hirate: "Me, too. Even I'm surprised." (she sounds choked up)

Shida: "So happy..."

Kakizaki: (wailing)

(everyone laughs)

Shida: "Memi's really something. (laughs) Later you can hear her directly."

Kakizaki: "Yes, I want to..." (weeping)

(everyone laughs)

Shida: "Thank you. Thanks to Memi, Hirate's voice has returned!"

Hirate: "It's true. Thank you."

Kakizaki: "...happy..." (weeping)

Shida: "This is great."

Hirate: "Thank you!"

Kakizaki: "...let's talk a lot..."

Shida: "But please stop trying to monopolize her." (laughs)

Kakizaki: "I'll be careful."

Hirate: (laughs)

Shida: "This is great, really... I'm so happy."

Shida Manaka

music rises: W-KEYAKIZAKA no Uta

Shida: "And so... Techi's voice is back. How wonderful!"

Hirate: "Really wonderful..." (weeps)

Shida: "And this W no Uta is great at this moment! It's making me cry."

Hirate: "This is amazing." (weeps)

Shida:  "Wonderful."

Hirate: "I think all the students listening are probably surprised, too." (note: On School of Lock, audience members are called "students".)

Shida: "I was amazed. It's been so long since I've heard Techi's voice."

Hirate: "The last time I spoke was over a month ago."

...

I wish I understood what was happening with Hirate's voice. My hypothesis is that she had some problem, maybe nodules on her vocal cords, and either did or did not have an operation for them, but was under doctor's orders not to speak above a whisper, and to communicate with an app that let her type or whisper and have her phone speak for her.

And perhaps the day of the radio show was when she was allowed to speak again, so management thought up this little game to make it interesting. Probably Mona and Techi knew they were going to call Memi and do this, but Memi knew nothing about it (except maybe to be forewarned that they would call). And the game worked, producing good radio and excellent publicity all round. Memi was surprised and thrilled. And even Hirate was moved by being able to speak again, and enjoyed the camaraderie of doing this with Memi and Mona.

Techi and Memi are in the same grade (1st year high school) and almost certainly go to the same school. Their somewhat special relationship was first suggested when Techi hugged Memi backstage at the Christmas lives:

Mona got a little more up-close and personal with Memi at that same time:

Finally, here are three photos from the rest of the radio show. Hirate has her 16th birthday on Sunday, so they gave her a cake:

And here's a photo on which Techi apologizes for causing people to worry, and says she wants to talk to them a lot.

Reaction on 2channel is huge and positive. Among other things, it involves a lot of posts saying "Memi, thank you." People there seem to believe the whole story literally. Personally, I'm more than ready to believe Memi has some magic in her, but maybe not this kind, lol.