WHAT IS AIR?!: Your muse is having a laughing fit because my muse said something which wasn’t supposed to be funny at all.
The abrupt, loud cackling that burst from Tomoko's mouth nearly gave Machiko a heart attack.
They'd been talking casually and Machiko was describing her first day at work for the TCDF as a part-timer when Tomoko simply exploded before her into giggles, snickers, and full-blown shouts. Machiko would bet on it that her hair was probably on end and the color probably drained from her face out of fear. Her hand was on her chest, too.
"SAY IT AGAIN! SAY WHAT YOU SAID AGAIN."
Frowning slightly, Machiko wracked her brain for her last few lines of dialogue. Thinking them over carefully beforehand, she repeated herself.
"It was a long, hard shift--"
"IT SOUNDS LIKE--" A wheeze. "--LIKE YOU SAID 'SHAFT'."
Whatever it was Tomoko was laughing about, it was going straight over Machiko's head. All she could do while the light-haired woman clutched her sides and tried to catch her raspy breath was stare in complete confusion.