Laughing with a Goose Honk

It was another bright, sunny morning. Apprentice Zuote sat up with his eyes half-closed, urged awake by the alarm.

After listening to Pidgey's cries outside for a while, he suddenly realized that a new day... no, a new round of torment was about to begin.

After giving himself quite the mental pep talk in bed, Zuote was about to get up and wash when the door to his room was suddenly thrown open.

"What are you doing?!"

Zuote cried out in alarm and instinctively clutched the blanket over his chest, only to quickly realize he was wearing pajamas.

"Tch, I'm not interested in that scrawny little body of yours!"

The intruder was Fujiwara Kai, Zuote's roommate next door. Seeing Zuote's startled, timid expression, Fujiwara Kai gave a disdainful laugh, but then could not help leaning closer.

"I've got good news for you. The Gym Leader is going on a long trip today!"

"What? The Gym Leader is leaving?" Zuote instantly jumped out of bed and grabbed Fujiwara Kai by the shoulders as he shouted.

"Ow, ow, ow! Easy!" Fujiwara Kai pushed Zuote away through the pain. Rubbing his shoulder, he said, "If you don't believe me, go take a look at the entrance.

Senior Mark and the others are seeing him off. I heard the Gym Leader was invited to some kind of opening ceremony. Ah, I don't really know!"

"Really? No, no, I have to go see! I need to personally see the Gym Leader off and show how reluctant I am to part with him!"

Zuote hurriedly changed clothes, completely disregarding whether Fujiwara Kai was still there. Once he was dressed, he rushed out without even washing his face.

"Hey, hey, tone down that smile. It looks a little too fake!"

Zuote stumbled mid-sprint and nearly fell.

He