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The back of Reigen’s desk chair creaks as Tome leans back into it with a groan, fanning herself with a lazy hand.
“Dimple-chan,” she groans to the open air, knowing that wherever it is the spirit disappeared to, he can hear her. “I’m so boreeeeed.”
The lethargic phase through the wall of the green haze she can call her babysitter for the day makes her sigh. She doesn’t even have to look at him to know he’s feeling the exact same way.
Unnecessary scoff and all.
“So what?”
She points an accusing finger toward him, leaning further into the chair as much as she can without falling on her back.
“So you have to entertain me!”
“What?!” Dimple flies into her field of sight. Probably so she will be forced to look at his indignant expression. “Since when?”
“Since Reigen told you to watch over me, obviously?”
“He was asking me to babysit you,” Dimple clarifies, sounding exactly as disgruntled as she feels.
“I don’t need a babysitter though,” she blows on the hair falling over her sweaty forehead and scrunches her nose. Even the air she’s letting out is too hot.
“Too bad, kid, you have one now.”
Tome hums, thoughtfully. “Don’t babysitters have to entertain you too, then?”
Dimple looks at her as if she had grown a second head.
“Listen, kid, I’m just here to make sure you don’t get cursed if a client comes in or whatever,” he grumbles. “I’m not even getting paid for this.”
“Don’t do it then, we can do something fun.”
“Like what?”
She squints at Reigen’s desk and huffs. Surprisingly organized for someone who seems to pull out something new out of his sleeve every other second. Metaphorically, of course, though Tome sometimes thinks that he surely would excell at doing circus tricks if he wanted to.
None of that helps combat their boredom though.
“I don’t know, aren’t you some kind of ancient spirit? You must have some ideas.”
Dimple almost seems to deflate in place, softly floating down until he’s resting on the desk with the four tiny limbs he just sprouted extended, as if trying to combat a heat he can’t possibly feel.
“Not in this weather, no.”
“Boring.” Her words have no effect other than making the other start fanning himself in a mockery of her earlier mannerisms, making little lime wisps flutter around him.
With a resigned sigh, she takes off her jacket to try and fend off the heat–figures they wouldn’t even have conditioned air in this kind of building, not cheap enough not to seem reputable, but cheap enough for a company like Spirits & Such not to be questioned–, and gets up on her feet.
“Whatever, I’m going to make some tea, I guess.”
“Tea? Are you trying to get heatstroke?”
She waves a hand dismissively.
“Not for me, for the clients. It’ll be cold enough to put some ice on it by the time someone comes by, probably.”
“That, or we’ll get a lawsuit from a client getting heatstroke.”
“Awww, are you worried about the company?”
“Not a chance!”
She chuckles at the scoff that follows, but true to his words, the spirit doesn’t follow her to the kitchenette to stop her, so he must not be that worried. Either that or he’s plotting Reigen and Serizawa’s downfall for leaving him as babysitter, it’s hard to tell.
The process is familiar to her by now, second nature practically–isn’t she doing such an amazing job as secretary? Reigen really should give her a raise for her troubles–, but her steps halt as soon as she sets her eyes properly on the one countertop the office has.
“When did we get a new teapot?” She calls out, examining the swirls over the ceramic with meticulous eyes. It’s not the nicest looking teapot out there, but she’s unsure if the plain black comes from whoever designed it or if it got darker over time. When she touches it with hesitation, her finger comes back clean, but she still doesn’t trust it. “It looks old.”
“Huh?” Dimple floats to her side, following the direction of her eyes while he scratches his non-existent spiritual nose. Ew. “Beats me. It’s ugly, Reigen probably picked it.”
“Right?” She chuckles, although a shiver overtakes her for a moment as she does. Odd. “We might as well put it to use though.”
For all he claims to be uninterested in what she does, unwilling babysitter as he is, Dimple doesn’t leave as she puts some water to boil on their kettle, dropping his faked nonchalance as soon as another shiver hits her just as she was arranging a couple of tea bags on the teapot.
“Did you catch something?” He has an eyebrow raised, probably thinking that he looks judgmental instead of caring, but Tome sees right through him.
“No! Ugh, I don’t know?” She pauses her efforts to really think about it. She doesn’t think she has a fever, the sweat coming from the mix of the lack of proper air conditioning at the office and the blazing heat of summer combined with the heat of the stove. Her limbs feel fine, despite the sudden tremors taking a hold of her earlier. Maybe the heat is making her lightheaded. “Do you think I can get a raise if I get sick because of poor work conditions?”
Dimple snorts. “In this business? You better test your luck somewhere else, kid.”
“Nah, I like it here,” she replies immediately, grabbing an old rag so she doesn’t burn herself with the kettle as she removes it from the stove and turns it off. “Where else would I go? A café? That would be so boring,” she wrinkles her nose.
“You could actually get paid then though.”
“Sure, but it’s not the same, you know?” Carefully, she starts pouring the hot water into the teapot. She grabs onto the handle with more strength when she starts to feel slightly faint; the last thing she wants is to burn herself just because she decided to prepare a hot beverage in this weather.
“Nah, I don’t know about that, frankly anything seems better than this.”
“And yet you stay.”
“Not willingly!” Dimple protests. “You are all lucky that I’m willing to lend you my services!”
A high-pitched scream starts ringing in her ear. Geez. Spirits sure can get loud too sometimes.
“Alright, alright, no need to yell at me!”
Dimple blinks, the scowl on his face melting into skepticism. “I thought that was you.”
“You think I sound like that ?”
“Well, what else could it be?!”
They stare at each other in silence for a beat.
And then they both turn around to look at the teapot, now hovering in the air in front of their faces and, just like it has been doing through the past minute, screaming .
Oh.
“Dimple-chan.” She doesn’t take her eyes off the item. The possessed item. Filled with boiling water. That she put there. Slowly, she reaches for the tea tray someone forgot to put away in the cabinet last time.
At least they have some miracles left. But not for too long, if the way the contents of the teapot continue bubbling dangerously is any indication.
“Yes?”
“Do you think you can… I don’t know, eat that?”
She can feel Dimple’s scandalized eyes on her. “Are you crazy? And burn myself with that? No way.”
“Can spirits even feel the heat?”
The teapot screeches just as she finishes talking, spitting hot water at her face as she uses the tray to cover herself with a yelp.
“Hey, that was uncalled for!”
The next spray of water, aimed at her feet and making her jump to the side, feels like a rather vindictive answer.
“Tome-chan, stop talking to it!”
“What else am I supposed to do?! I can’t eat spirits!”
“Not provoke it! Hey, jerk! Settle down or I will have to eat you!” Dimple threatens, despite his earlier words, but his warning only results in him having to move out of the way as another spray of water hits the door of the cabinet he was in front of.
“Maybe you should– hey !” She dodges another attack, ducking into the main room of the office to avoid being cornered against the door. She might be the secretary, but she’s not irresponsible enough to take their work out on the street, where they’re even more unlikely to get it under control. “Just eat it already!”
“I told you, I can’t!”
“You were being serious?!”
“Why would I lie about that?!”
“I don’t know!” She’s pretty sure that the next splash of water would have reached her hand but it never makes it to her skin.
In lieu of the burn, she feels the telling warmth in her cheeks that gives away Dimple’s presence. She almost wants to snort. A little dramatic for one single tableware spirit, isn’t it?
‘I’m not explaining to Reigen why you had to go to the hospital!’ she hears in her mind.
Well, they better take care of this then, don’t they?
Neither of them let go of the tray, one hand firm on the handle that hasn’t gotten wet with all the splashing around yet while they make a run for the fridge. Like this, Tome isn’t quite sure of who has the idea first–there’s a strange lack of defined personhood that comes with being possessed, and she wonders if it’s the same for an esper or not–, but they snatch the ice cube tray from the fridge and start shaking it around until the ice cubes start actually hitting their target and falling into the tea with a loud clink.
The teapot cries out; an uncomfortable screech that reminds Tome too much of a wounded animal for comfort, and she has to take care not to drop anything as Dimple seizes his chance and lets her free to phase through the tray and launch himself at the other spirit, now that it’s not trying to burn them.
“Catch!”
Tome yelps, wincing as the items in her hands drop loudly to the floor, but having no time to do anything about that as she jumps to grab the falling teapot before it can shatter into a million pieces on the floor and make the office more of a slipping hazard than it is already.
“Is it over?!” The ceramic feels cold in her hands now, and there’s a pleasant chill radiating from it.
“I wouldn’t have told you to catch it if it wasn’t,” Dimple sniffs, offended.
Huh. “You look like a wet piece of cotton like that. Spirits can get wet, huh?”
“Is that all you have to–?”
“ What in the world happened here?”
They both turn around at the same time to see Reigen, holding the door with one hand and looking at them with incredulity. Serizawa, right behind him, has his eyes open as wide as saucers, taking stock of the disaster in the office.
Tome pointedly doesn’t look, exchanging one slow look with Dimple before looking down at the teapot in her hand. It still has some water in it.
She holds it up for her boss to see.
“We made iced tea?”