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ArabicArknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Scented Tea
The scratch of a pen echoed in the sterile quiet of the office.
“And… signed.”
Kai, whose horns caught the harsh overhead light, finished scrawling his name across the duplicate copies of the Rhodes Island employment contract. He slid one copy into a manila folder to take back with him and pushed the other across the wide desk toward Kal’tsit.
“Mhm. Leave it there. I will have the Human Resources Department update your personal file later,” Kal’tsit said. Her gaze, however, was fixed with a deep sense of disdain on the steaming ceramic cup resting on her desk. It was filled with scented tea—a concoction Kai vehemently claimed was infinitely healthier than her usual sludge of black coffee.
“This cup…” she began, her tone dangerously flat.
“I brewed this specifically for you. You’re definitely going to drink it, right?” Before Kal’tsit could even formulate a rejection, Kai leaned over the desk, his face a mask of exaggerated sincerity. He looked at her as if a single refusal would shatter his fragile heart into a million pieces.
Kal’tsit stared at him. “…Fine. I will drink it.”
Some people just needed a little push. Kal’tsit was the quintessential workaholic who neglected her own well-being, and Kai firmly believed that this small act of dietary intervention had just extended her lifespan by at least two years. Whether she would actually use those two years for anything other than more paperwork was highly debatable, but he was holding back a smug laugh regardless.
“How does it taste?” Kai asked, his eyes sparkling with expectation.
Kal’tsit took a slow, measured sip. “…Passable.” She couldn’t shake the feeling that he was doing this entirely to mess with her.
“In that case, I am officially confiscating the coffee in your cabinet. I’ll bring you a fresh batch of scented tea later.” Without missing a beat, Kai bypassed the desk and brazenly yanked open Kal’tsit’s personal storage cabinet. He began sweeping every tin, packet, and jar of coffee into a bag, not even sparing a single cube of coffee sugar.
“You don’t have any secret stashes hidden anywhere else, do you?” Not satisfied with his haul, Kai began practically rummaging through the rest of the office. Kal’tsit simply sat in her chair, watching this blatant robbery in absolute silence, making no move to stop him.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Do you really have a private stash?” Kai’s voice drifted out from behind a large potted plant in the corner.
Kal’tsit let out a long, weary sigh. “You really do not have to…”
“Wait, wait, wait. Shush.” Kai poked his head out from behind the broad leaves, a few withered brown flakes clinging comically to his hair. “I don’t want to hear your flawless feline logic right now. Just give me a yes or a no.”
Kal’tsit closed her eyes. “…No more.”
“Excellent. Don’t look at me like that. I’m doing this for, uh… the sake of Rhodes Island’s future.” Kai dusted off his hands and sat back down in the guest chair, a bulging bag of caffeinated spoils resting triumphantly at his feet.
‘When is this man going to leave?’ Kal’tsit thought to herself, though she made no verbal attempt to dismiss her guest.
Kai happily weighed the bag of contraband with his foot, then suddenly paused as a thought struck him. He extended an open palm across the desk. There was still one piece of business left to conclude.
Kal’tsit frowned, her brow furrowing. “I told you, there is no more coffee.”
“I’m not talking about the coffee. I’m talking about something else. You’ve owed me this for a while now—you couldn’t have forgotten, right?” Kai gave her a highly suggestive, ‘you know exactly what I mean’ look.
Something else?
“Do you need a hint? It’s about… the photos.”
Kal’tsit’s feline ears gave a sharp, involuntary twitch. Ah. That.
Seeing no immediate reaction from her—completely missing the telltale twitch of her ears—Kai crossed his arms in mock dissatisfaction. “Eh… did you really forget? How heart-breaking!”
Kal’tsit gently bit her lower lip. When she spoke, the words were squeezed through gritted teeth, dropping to the lowest, most dangerous register he had ever heard from her. “Of course I have not forgotten.”
“Oh ho! Then hand it over! I just completed all those mandatory tests today and suffered through so many physical exams. It’s not too much to ask for a little compensation, right? Heh heh.” Kai grinned like a bandit.
Under his relentless, eager gaze, Kal’tsit finally relented. She unlocked a hidden compartment beneath her desk drawer and reluctantly pulled out a thin, unassuming black booklet.
“If you…”
“I’ll take that!” Interrupting her mid-sentence yet again, Kai lunged for the prize.
But Kal’tsit was faster. With a subtle flick of her wrist, she lifted the booklet just out of his reach.
“Let me finish,” Kal’tsit said, her voice dropping to absolute zero.
Kai shivered, feeling a sudden chill in the room. “Oh. Okay.”
“I get it, I get it.” Kai rubbed his hands together, finally accepting the booklet as she lowered it. He eagerly moved to flip it open to appreciate the contents, but a pale hand slammed down on the cover, stopping him cold.
“…Do not look at it here.” Kal’tsit kept her hand pressed firmly against the black leather. Her facial expression remained a mask of icy indifference, but behind her, her tail was swaying in rapid, unnatural, agitated arcs.
“You’re actually shy. Honestly.” Kai chuckled, deciding not to push his luck too far. He had the loot; it was time to retreat to his dorm in triumph.
“Wait a moment,” Kal’tsit called out just as he turned to leave.
Kai spun around, clutching the booklet to his chest like a shield. “What now? Don’t tell me you regret it? I’m not giving it back! If you want this, you’ll have to step over my dead body!”
Kal’tsit, who had merely intended to inform him about the dead leaves still tangled in his hair, suddenly felt a deep exhaustion wash over her. Words failed her. She simply sighed, stared at his incredibly punchable face, and pointed a slender finger at the top of her own head, hoping he would understand the gesture.
He did not.
Instead, Kai’s eyes widened in deep misunderstanding. He marched right back to her side. “What, you want some of this too?”
Before Kal’tsit’s shocked, widening eyes, Kai reached out and vigorously ruffled the hair on top of her head, even giving her sensitive feline ears a casual squeeze.
“Hmm, the texture feels a bit worse than Mon3tr’s. I’m telling you, you really need to pay attention to your maintenance. Look, your ends are splitting, and you… wait, why is your gaze so terrifying?”
Thump! Crash! Smash!
“What’s that sound? Is the Medical Department undergoing renovations?” a Caprine Operator asked, clutching a thick stack of injury statistics from the recent field operation.
“How should I know? Maybe a high-pressure water pipe burst somewhere,” her companion, a tall Sarkaz Operator, guessed with a shrug.
“Would a burst pipe make a sound like bones breaking? And why do I hear someone shouting for help?” The cute Caprine frowned, her ears swiveling toward the noise. Could there be some kind of security breach?
“Oh, please. This is the Medical Department. It’s perfectly normal to hear someone screaming for their life in here. Just deliver your materials so we can make it to that dinner reservation I booked,” the Sarkaz Operator said, utterly unfazed.
“What’s the rush? Honestly, you have zero sense of curiosity. I really don’t know how you got assigned to the Medical Department in the first place.”
The Sarkaz muttered a particularly colorful string of Kazdelian street slang under his breath.
The two continued bickering as they approached Kal’tsit’s office. Halfway down the corridor, they crossed paths with Kai. He was clutching a bulging bag of supplies to his chest, his face contorted in agony, limping heavily.
“Oh, Kai, what… happened to you?” The Caprine recognized him immediately. However, to her distinct recollection, Kai was not a Sarkaz. So why did he suddenly have several large, pointy lumps swelling on the top of his head?
“I’ve… been planning to practice my Iron Head technique recently…” Kai wheezed, his voice trembling with deep regret.
“Ha. So this is the result?” the genuine Sarkaz teased, eyeing the fresh lumps.
“No. This is my original intention and motivation,” Kai said, forcing his bruised face into an expression of absolute, solemn resolve.
“Al… right? Well, keep it up, I guess. We have reports to file, so we’ll be going now.” With a bewildered wave, the two Operators bypassed the battered man.
They reached the office door, peeking inside. “Dr. Kal’tsit, we’ll leave the statistics right here. If there’s nothing else, we’ll take our leave.”
After watching the two Operators depart, Kal’tsit calmly reached into the deep pocket of her lab coat. She retrieved a single, crinkled packet of instant coffee—her true emergency stash. Taking out a fresh mug, she began to brew it with slow, unhurried precision.
The two somewhat careless Operators had been in such a rush for their dinner that they forgot to pull the heavy office door completely shut. Their fading conversation drifted clearly down the hallway and into the room.
“Hey, did you notice? Why did Dr. Kal’tsit switch to drinking scented tea? Do you think it could be…”
“Maybe she just wanted a change of pace? Why do you care so much about her diet?”
Kal’tsit paused. She looked down at the half-finished ceramic cup of scented tea resting on her desk.
After a long moment of hesitation, she picked it up and drained the rest of the warm liquid in one go.
Fine. The taste was actually acceptable.