The trainee officer's joke successfully dropped the temperature inside the car by several degrees. Unfortunately, he saw nothing wrong with it. When the lead officer failed to respond, he even launched into an explanation:
"It seems you missed the soul of that joke. Let me explain what makes it funny. The punch line is that 'a celibate heartthrob' and 'a cell-bound heartthrob' sound alike, so..."
The lead officer waved at the trainee officer, indicating that the light had turned green and he could drive. Only then did the trainee stop talking. "Uh, hold on. What was it, Cy... Cy..."
"Cyno. Sir, my name is Cyno."
The trainee officer-Cyno-turned his head briefly to answer as he resumed driving.
"Right, Cyno. You know what they say: puns get your pay docked. Let's put aside whether that joke was funny, but that guy in the back..."
The lead officer pointed at Arataki Itto, who sat with his head lowered in thought. "You call him a heartthrob?"
That soul-searching question from the lead officer suddenly made something click for Arataki Itto, who had been replaying Cyno's joke in his head!
"Ahahahaha!"
He suddenly burst out laughing. The abrupt laughter gave the lead officer in front a fright. He was about to shout at him, but Arataki Itto cut him off.
"Ha! This Cyno guy is amazing! A celibate heartthrob, a cell-bound heartthrob-they sound so similar, but mean completely different things! Hahaha! How did you even come up with that?"
Itto's laughter was extremely infectious. The people in the car weren't the only ones whose ears suffered the sonic assault; Lin Ze and the others, who had been monitoring Itto since communications were restored, were no exception.
"Ah! So loud! Paimon's going deaf!"
"This is so annoying! How can anyone actually laugh at that?"
Paimon