Episode 7

The room was quite lively. Many people were chatting, while waiting for the star of the night. Drinks were being served by Toushiro, who had this part-time job to buy a game he had seen on sale. Kioswan was also there to pay for his language lessons.

A shadow occupied the stage. The microphone was adjusted to its height. As soon as that task was completed, the shadow made a signal with its fingers and several lights illuminated him. It was AK.

In the first row, many people whistled, turning their chairs at him. The rest of the people in the room also turned at him, some interested in what would happen, some trying to understand what was going on. Fuzzy, the pub’s manager, nodded in approval. Kasu stopped his chat with Chisame only to hear the comedian.

After coughing to clear his throath, AK spoke to the wide public.

“At a local bar, sometime ago, I suddenly bursted in, stumbling towards the bar table and wiping my eyes. I grabbed a seat and hauled himself onto it. The bartender put his glass and cloth down, and walked over to take my order, only to find that my eyes were glistening with tears.

”Bartender: Woah, what's your story?

”AK: (in between sniffles) I-I just got a call from my mom. My parents j-just died from a car accident.

”Bartender: Aw, that's just too bad, man. My condolences, lemme get you a drink, on the house.

”Two whiskeys later, and I began to feel better. My cell phone rang all of a sudden, and I casually received it and put it to my ear. Suddenly, I began to cry again. The bartender rushed over with a handkerchief.

”Bartender: Gosh, what's happened now?

”AK: It-it's my sister. Her parents just died, too.”

Laughter filled the entire room. AK let it finish and presented himself. Shinno clapped at his performance. He then adjusted his tie.

“Me and my friend Jono were at the bar late one night, debating heatedly with each other about the differences between irritation, annoyance and aggravation (what a thing to debate about).” Some giggles were heard.

”At around 1 AM, I told Jono, "let me show you a man who is irritated." I went to the coin-operated phone, dropped in a cent and dialed a random number. After a while, a sleepy voice answered. "Good evening," I greeted. "May I speak to John?"
"There's nobody named John here," came the grumbling answer, and the person on the other line hung up.

”At around 2 AM, I told Jono, "now, let me show you a man who is annoyed." I went to the pay phone again and dialed the same number. When the man picked up a minute later, AK spoke, "hi there, may I speak to John?"

”"There's nobody named John here," the man nearly shouted, and I distinctly heard the receiver slamming hard against the phone on the other side.
One hour later, I said to Jono, "now, I shall show you a man who is aggravated." I picked up the phone and dialed the same number yet again. When the man on the receiving end finally answered, I piped, "what's up, this is John, has there been any calls for me?"”

AK bowed with the euphoria he was receiving. Fuzzy smiled after checking everything was going perfectly fine. Adjusting the microphone again, AK faced the public.

“It was in English class. The teacher was droning on about prepositions. At the back of the class, I sat on my desk, fruitlessly struggling to keep myself awake. I finally succumbed to sleep, after a while.

”I was abruptly awakened a few minutes later by somebody close by calling out my name. My head slumped face-down on my arms at his desk, I opened his eyes and realised that the teacher was standing right beside me.

”Thinking quickly, I mumbled wearily, "A...Amen."”

He had no time to dodge nor to call for help. A huge anvil fell right on top of him. The janitor officer cleaned it all, while the public whistled, excited. What a great ending…

“Well, next week there’s more.” Fuzzy claimed to the public. “And we’ll see how long the next one will stand.”

The End