Arknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 53

Chapter 53: So… I’m Here

“I think, compared to the previous page, this one definitely lacks a certain je ne sais quoi,” Kai mused, tapping his chin with the air of a seasoned art critic. “Kal’tsit hasn’t fully let loose here. If she just angled her leg a bit more to the left…” He pointed at the glossy photo in the booklet.

Unfortunately, the subject of his critique was wearing a highly conservative, traditional Victorian maid outfit, buttoned all the way up to the collarbone. Still, Kai was thoroughly satisfied. Look at that subtle, deeply disgusted glare, he thought, clicking his tongue. Tsk, tsk, tsk. It really gives the picture a nice kick!

M3 lay sprawled on the edge of his bed, her chin resting in her cupped hands. She nodded along sagely to Kai’s critique, even though she didn’t understand a single word of his degenerate ramblings. She just thought Kal’tsit looked incredibly pretty in those clothes.

“Overall, I’d give it a solid eight out of ten. The pose is just a little too stiff,” Kai declared, snapping the photobook shut. It was a shame there wasn’t any real fanservice in it, but then again, Kal’tsit would rather face a Catastrophe barehanded than willingly take those kinds of photos.

“I think it deserves a nine,” M3 chimed in. She secretly agreed that the pose was stiff, but since it was Kal’tsit, she automatically awarded a bonus point out of sheer loyalty.

“Alright, alright, I know you’re her biggest fan.” Kai chuckled, reaching out to pat her head. He had to yank his hand back at the last second to narrowly dodge the sudden snap of her teeth.

“Kal’tsit is worth it!” M3 huffed. Frustrated that her bite had missed its mark, she began rolling back and forth across Kai’s mattress, grumbling incoherently to voice her displeasure.

Without even realizing it, Kai had grown completely accustomed to this bizarre level of intimacy. M3 had smoothly slotted into the role of a slightly feral, thoroughly unreasonable little sister from next door.

“Fine, fine, I’ll give it a nine too, okay? Just… whatever you do, you can’t tell Kal’tsit about this book. She will actually slaughter me.” Kai shivered, suddenly recalling the icy threat Kal’tsit had delivered before he left.

“Oh, okay,” M3 responded, her tone entirely perfunctory.

Whether she actually remembered her promise or not was a problem for tomorrow. Kai glanced at the clock on the wall. It was getting late. Timing his movement perfectly, he lunged forward and scooped M3 up by the waist, lifting her right off the bed.

“Whoa! What are you doing?!” M3 yelped, her arms and legs flailing wildly in the air like a startled cat.

“What does it look like? It’s late, and I’m going to sleep!” Kai marched over to the door, opened it, and unceremoniously deposited her out in the hallway.

“If you’re going to sleep, just use your words! Why did you suddenly… pick me up like that? You scared me!” M3 protested, her cheeks flushed a faint, indignant pink.

“Who knows if you’d actually listen if I just asked nicely? Anyway, I’m really going to bed. I’m completely exhausted from this afternoon.” Kai gave M3’s hair a messy, affectionate ruffle and grabbed the door handle.

“Wait, my drawings! My drawings!” M3 panicked, hurriedly wedging her foot in the doorway to block it.

“Oh, right… here, take them. Get some rest, goodnight~” Kai grabbed the stack of papers from his desk, handed them over, and firmly shut the door.

Left standing in the quiet hallway with her drawings clutched to her chest, M3 stared at the closed wooden panel. She curled her lip into a pout. “Hmph. Idiot.”

Click. The door suddenly swung wide open again.

“Oh, right! Do you want to go on a mission with us tomorrow? We’re heading to the Abandoned City,” Kai asked brightly, startling M3 so badly she nearly dropped her papers.

“Eh? Why are you still standing there?” he asked, blinking.

“I… my legs fell asleep!” she stammered, scrambling for an excuse.

“Oh… is that so? Well, are you coming or not?”

“I’m coming!”

The next day, the Lungmen Slums were draped in a gloomy, misty rain. Despite being called the ‘Slums’, it was effectively a massive, sprawling settlement formed by the Infected, loosely supervised and maintained by the Lungmen authorities.

“Hmm… it should be right around here. Hoshiguma mentioned that Officer Ch’en has been patrolling this sector lately,” Amiya murmured, her brow furrowed as she studied the glowing map on her terminal.

“I don’t see her anywhere…” M3 muttered, peering through the drizzle. She poked Kai, who was walking point. “Do you see her?”

“No, but she should be close.” Kai shook his head, wiping a drop of water from his brow. According to his memory of the timeline, they shouldn’t have to go much further.

“Oh, alright. Let’s keep looking then,” M3 sighed, shaking her head.

Just then, a frantic young boy came sprinting out of a narrow alleyway, his boots splashing loudly in the puddles.

“Ah—! Sister, watch out!” The child let out a sharp cry of alarm, realizing too late that he was on a direct collision course with Amiya.

Fortunately, Kai’s reflexes kicked in. He darted forward, his hand shooting out to grab the boy by the collar, halting his momentum just inches away from the young Cautus.

“I’m… I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to…” The boy gasped for breath, looking up at Amiya with wide, embarrassed eyes.

“It’s okay, I was just a bit startled. You’re very polite,” Amiya said, offering a gentle smile and waving her hand dismissively. “What has you running in such a hurry, though?”

“Um… I’m looking for help. Oh, right! Sister, could you please… wait, no, maybe not. Sister, you’re too small…” The boy scratched the back of his head awkwardly, then shifted his hopeful gaze up to Kai. “Big brother! Could you please do me a huge favor?!”

“My height…” Amiya’s ears drooped, visibly deflating at the innocent jab.

M3 stifled a laugh behind her hand and patted the Cautus girl’s shoulder. “There, there. It’s okay. That kid is even shorter than you.”

“Miss M3… did you learn your comforting techniques from Mr. Kai?” Amiya sighed helplessly.

Kai, who had just nodded his agreement to help the boy, overheard the exchange and immediately protested. “Hey, what are you talking about! I call that aggressive exposure therapy!”

“Big brother, big sister, please don’t fight! It’s over there, this way!” The boy tugged urgently at the hem of Kai’s jacket, pointing deeper into the rain-slicked alley.

“It’s right here, under this heavy board. Big brother, help me lift it! There’s a Gramophone trapped underneath, and I want to take it back!” the boy explained excitedly, pointing to a pile of debris.

“Alright, stand back and watch the master at work. One… two… heave!” Kai rolled his shoulders, gripped the edge of the waterlogged wooden board, and tossed it aside along with the surrounding clutter in one smooth motion.

“Wow! Thank you, big brother! And thank you, big sisters!” The boy eagerly stepped forward, reaching into the muck to retrieve the Gramophone he had been so desperate to save.

However, as he pulled it out, Amiya’s sharp eyes immediately noticed the deep cracks in the casing and the bent internal mechanisms. The device was completely ruined.

“Um… excuse me, what should we call you?” Amiya asked gently, suddenly realizing they hadn’t even gotten the child’s name.

“My name is Boke! Big sister, my dad said this name represents knowledge, hehe.” Little Boke rubbed his nose, looking a bit shy. After all, when it came to ‘knowledge’, these well-dressed strangers clearly had a lot more of it than a slum kid like him.

“Alright then, little Boke. But… this Gramophone seems to be broken,” Amiya said softly. She braced herself, ready to offer comforting words to the sensible child once the disappointment set in.

But Boke just shrugged. “Actually, it’s been broken for a really long time…”

“But… one day it can be fixed, right?! And once it’s fixed, I can play all the records I’ve collected for everyone in the slums to hear! Even though I don’t actually know what music is on them yet,” little Boke chirped playfully, sticking his tongue out with a bright smile.

“…”

Hearing that innocent, hopeful answer, Amiya fell completely silent. The rain seemed to grow colder around her. How could this child speak of such bleak hardships so lightly? Her mind drifted to the current, agonizing plight of the Infected. The suffering deeply entrenched in the very soil of Terra was so deep, so suffocating… what could she possibly do to save these people?

“Eh? I know how to fix this!” M3’s cheerful, ringing voice suddenly shattered Amiya’s dark spiral of thoughts. “Mechanist actually taught me some repair techniques yesterday. Let me try!”

Amiya stared blankly as M3 eagerly dropped into a crouch beside the boy, completely derailing the heavy, melancholic mood.

At that moment, Kai stepped up beside Amiya and placed a warm, reassuring hand on her shoulder. He pointed toward the two of them, who were already huddled over the broken machine, chattering away.

“Don’t just obsess over how to save them from above,” Kai said softly, his voice cutting through the drizzle. “Stand by their side.”

Stand by their side…

“Okay, so we connect this wire here, realign this gear… and that should do it! Luckily the needle isn’t snapped, otherwise this would be super tricky.” While Amiya was still processing Kai’s words, M3 had already diagnosed the mechanical failure and swiftly bypassed the broken components.

“Wow! Big sister, you’re so smart!” Boke clapped his hands in absolute awe.

“Hehe…” M3 beamed, puffing her chest out proudly. Behind her, her tail even began to wag in a slow, rhythmic sway. It was the very first time anyone had ever called her ‘smart’.

The misty rain slowly blurred little Boke’s retreating figure as he hurried back home, clutching his newly repaired prize. Amiya and Kai stood side by side in the quiet alleyway, watching him go.

“Did you see clearly?” Kai asked out of the blue, his tone casual, as if he were merely complaining about the damp weather.

Amiya nodded heavily, her grip on her staff tightening. “Yes! Thank you, Mr. Kai.”

“Then let’s get moving.” Kai reached over and gave her ears a gentle rub. Looking at the young leader, who had clearly regained the spark of confidence in her eyes, he knew exactly what dark thoughts had dragged her mood down earlier.

Famine… persecution… death. Oripathy did not discriminate. Even for a bright, optimistic child like Boke, the disease promised only one inevitable, tragic ending.

That grim reality was why Amiya so often felt lost and confused, constantly doubting whether her monumental efforts had any real meaning. As one of the few lucky ones with power and backing, she faced a painful contradiction—one very similar to the burden Officer Ch’en carried.

If the ideals they fought so fiercely for could ultimately only benefit a tiny minority, was the path they were walking fundamentally wrong?

No, Kai thought. That was what he wanted to tell Amiya, and what he wanted to tell Ch’en. No. The people of this land are far from numb yet.

“Mr. Kai?” Amiya called out, pausing as she realized Kai had fallen a few steps behind.

“I’m coming,” Kai smiled, stepping out of the shadows and back into the rain.