Chapter 15: — "Scoping Out"

Rin and I stepped into Kaito’s room, the familiar hum of computers and wires filling the air. Kaito was already sitting at his desk, typing furiously, his eyes locked on the screen. “The hack worked,” he muttered without looking up. “Rin’s photo of the truck license plate… gave me something to work with.”

I peeked over his shoulder, watching as lines of code scrolled across the monitors. He muttered to himself again, frustration in his tone. “Damn… tracing this isn’t as simple as I thought…”

Suddenly, one of the computers pinged. Kaito straightened, eyes lighting up. “Got it,” he said. He swiveled the main monitor toward us, showing a map with a blinking dot. “That’s the truck. I have a location now.”

Rin leaned closer, analyzing the map. “Looks like some kind of warehouse area… industrial district?”

“Exactly,” Kaito said. “But I don’t know what they’re doing there yet. Could be shipments, maintenance, or… who knows. We need to observe first. Get more intel before we do anything.”

I crossed my arms, my mind buzzing. “Observe? You mean we’re going? You’re not coming?”

Kaito finally glanced at me, raising an eyebrow. “I’m staying here because I can monitor everything digitally. If you go in with me, you’d just slow things down. You need to stay sharp, follow the plan. That’s your job.”

I huffed, half annoyed, half impressed. “Safe distance, huh? More like lazy. You just don’t want to get your hands dirty.”

Rin snickered, glancing at me. “Honestly, I’m fine with it." 

"You two are going anyway. I know Yuzuki can handle… mostly anything.” Kaito said, with a hint of admiration.

I groaned, throwing my hands in the air. “Mostly anything? That’s supposed to make me feel better?!”

Kaito didn’t even flinch. “Focus. You’ll need to be ready. We move out in thirty minutes. Observe, document, and report. That’s it.”

My stomach twisted. Real mission. Real outside world. And me… right in the middle of it.

Kaito spun his chair around, pointing at the map on his main monitor. “Here’s the plan,” he said, voice flat but precise. “You go quietly. Take photos, document anything unusual, and don’t engage directly. Understood?”

I nodded, trying to look confident. “Got it. Quiet. No hero moves. No blowing stuff up.”

Rin smirked at me. “Finally seeing some action outside the basement, huh, Yuzuki? Don’t mess this up. I’m counting on you to survive.”

I forced a grin, trying to act like I wasn’t nervous, but inside my stomach was twisting. Outside the basement… real mission… no holograms… real world… My hands itched to hold my blaster, but I tried to stay calm.

Kaito continued, pacing in front of us. “You might encounter drones, cameras, guards, maybe even traps. The moment anything goes wrong, the company knows. Stakes are real. Don’t mess this up.”

I swallowed hard. “Yeah… real stakes. Got it.”

He pointed at the map again. “This is only one of their territories. The smallest one I’ve tracked so far. There are more. We’ll need intel on all of them eventually. I still haven’t figured out who’s behind all this, which is why you two need to take pictures, notes, whatever you can get.”

Rin glanced at me with a teasing smile. “Looks like we’re finally putting your skills to the test, Yuzuki. Hope you’re ready.”

I exhaled, trying to steady my racing thoughts. Ready? I have to be… I can’t let Kaito or Rin down. This isn’t a game.

Kaito finished with a firm nod. “Remember: observe, document, don’t engage. Success means information. Failure… could blow everything. Are we clear?”

“Yes,” Rin said calmly.

“Yes,” I muttered, but my voice was shakier than I wanted to admit.

—

Rin and I boarded the hoverbus, sliding into the empty seats near the back. My stomach twisted with nerves, and I kept glancing at Rin, who looked… calm. Too calm. I muttered under my breath, “How is she not freaking out?”

She just gave me a sideways glance and smirked. “Focus, Yuzuki. You’ll be fine.”

The city blurred past as we approached the target location. Small abandoned buildings lined the industrial district, their cracked windows reflecting the dim sunlight. Suspicious delivery trucks rolled slowly through narrow streets, while surveillance drones hummed overhead, scanning every corner. No humans in sight, just the drones, watching.

We slipped off the hoverbus and melted into the shadows. I felt my pulse spike, clutching my phone like it was a lifeline. Rin moved silently, almost gliding, while I had to remind myself to breathe and keep my steps light.

We moved like ghosts. I crouched behind crates, snapping photos of trucks, recording license plates, noting every detail. Rin was always two steps ahead, whispering directions: “Left. Stay low. Wait for the drone to pass.”

Every time a drone hovered too close, we ducked behind walls or squeezed into alleyways. I held the camera tight, heart thumping as lights blinked across the streets.

I pressed the shutter, catching a moving truck’s logo, crouched again, slid behind a pillar, and peered around it to see another drone scanning the area. Rin signaled me to follow, and we rolled forward together.

We crawled beneath a loading dock, took photos of multiple delivery trucks passing by, and timed drone paths. I missed a few shots, cursed quietly, repositioned, and tried again. Some shots landed perfectly, some were slightly off, but I kept moving, recalculating angles, staying low, quiet, precise.

Rin climbed onto a ledge, took a clear shot of a drone’s markings while I recorded the license plate of a truck, then ducked back down. We moved constantly, across streets, under scaffolding, behind fences, sliding from shadow to shadow.

No words, no breaks. Just movement, observation, calculation. Every shot, every note mattered. Every misstep could alert the company.

We kept moving through the shadows, slipping from building to building, trying to stay invisible under the constant hum of surveillance drones overhead. Every corner we rounded, every scrap of debris we hid behind, my heart pounded like a drum. 

Rin was steady and precise, guiding me with quiet gestures, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that a single misstep could blow everything. My hands were shaking slightly from adrenaline, but I gripped my phone tighter and pressed on, snapping photos of every suspicious truck and delivery setup we could find.

As we moved into a slightly more decrepit building, the floor creaking under our weight, I spotted something unusual tucked in a corner, a rolled-up map, partially unfolded as if someone had been too busy to put it away properly. 

My stomach flipped when I realized it wasn’t just any map. It showed routes, delivery plans, territory-to-territory paths, repeating loops over and over. From one warehouse to the next, lines connected every location in a complex web, almost like a giant spider’s nest sprawled across the page.

“Uh… Rin,” I whispered, my voice shaking a little from excitement and fear, “do you think this is… important?”

Rin leaned over my shoulder, eyes narrowing. She didn’t even touch it, just gave me a slow, deliberate blink that could only mean one thing: yes. I nodded quickly, trying to keep my excitement contained, and raised my phone to snap a photo. 

Every second I spent on this was dangerous, and yet I couldn’t help it, this was exactly the kind of evidence Kaito had wanted. My fingers fumbled slightly on the shutter, but I managed to get a clean picture before carefully rolling the map back up and tucking it away where I found it.

We didn’t stop there. Rin led me through the building like a ghost, pointing out other areas that seemed worth investigating. On a broken shelf, I found documents scattered across the floor, manifests, shipping receipts, and what looked like maintenance logs for some of the drones overhead. 

I took photos of everything, careful to keep my head down. Pipes and odd equipment cluttered the corners, and in a few areas, I noticed weapons tucked out of sight. My stomach twisted when I realized how serious this was, we weren’t just photographing trucks anymore. This was an actual operation, a base of operations, and we were poking around right under their noses.

But then, I froze mid-step, "YUZUKI, DUCK THE FUCK DOWN!" Rin immediately hissed at me.

A drone hovered just a few meters away, scanning the floor beneath it. My breath caught in my throat, every muscle in my body frozen as the humming drew closer. I could practically feel its sensors slicing through the air, searching for any movement that wasn’t supposed to be there.

Before I even realized what she was doing, Rin had yanked me backward, dragging me behind a stack of crates just in time. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest.

The drone lingered for what felt like forever, hovering in a small circle as if suspicious of movement, before eventually drifting off into the distance. I exhaled shakily, feeling every nerve in my body screaming relief. 

Rin patted my shoulder lightly, her way of saying, “You okay?” I nodded, though I could barely speak, still shaking from the near encounter.

Rin whispered, barely audible, “That was too close. We got what we came for. We have to leave Yuzuki, there's too many drones right now, and we’ve got more than enough intel.”

I nodded again, swallowing hard. My palms were sweaty on the phone, my legs still trembling from the adrenaline. 

The idea that we could’ve been caught, or worse, didn’t leave my mind, and I could feel the fear settling deep into my chest. And yet, despite the terror, there was something else too, excitement. This was exactly what Kaito had wanted, exactly what we had signed up for, and I couldn’t believe we were actually pulling it off.

We moved cautiously through the last few rooms of the building. I snapped pictures of more documents, taking note of strange devices and pipes that clearly weren’t ordinary. 

Rin pointed out areas where drones had been stationed earlier, and I made a mental note to include them in our report. Every time a shadow moved across the floor, I ducked instinctively, my heart threatening to explode, but Rin’s calm presence kept me grounded.

Finally, we approached the exit, moving through a narrow corridor lined with broken windows. I could see the industrial landscape outside, the same delivery trucks we had photographed before, the drones still scanning from above. My legs felt like jelly, but Rin nudged me forward. “Come on, this is it. We’ve got what we need, now let's get the fuck out of here.”

I glanced at her, breathing hard. “Yeah… let's.” My hands were shaking as I double-checked my camera, ensuring every crucial photo and note was saved. 

We carefully made our way out, slipping back into the shadows as if we were never there. Once we were a safe distance away, Rin finally relaxed slightly, letting out a quiet sigh.

I mirrored her relief, my heart still pounding, realizing how close we’d come to disaster. But at the same time… we had done it. We had intel. Photos. Evidence that Kaito could use. And somehow, surviving this made me feel like maybe, just maybe, we were starting to matter in all of this.

—

By the time Rin and I slipped back to Kaito's house, I felt like my legs were going to give out. My phone was still clutched in my sweaty hand, and my heart hadn’t stopped hammering since that close call with the drone. Kaito was already at his desk, hunched over his computer, the glow of multiple monitors painting his face in cold blue light.

He swiveled around when he saw us. “You’re back.” His eyes flicked to the camera in my hands. “Got something for me?”

I nodded and handed it over, watching as he immediately plugged it in. My breath caught as image after image popped up on his screen: the delivery trucks, the manifests, the strange weapons, and then, the map. His eyes sharpened instantly, scanning the lines and routes like a predator finding a scent.

“Wait. Hold on.” He leaned in closer, glaring at the map. “Where did this come from?”

I hesitated, and Rin stepped forward. “Yuzuki found it. She thought it might be important.”

Kaito turned to me, his expression shifting, shock, then approval, then something like pride. “You’re kidding me. Yuzuki, this is… this is a fucking genius find.”

I blinked, my cheeks heating up so fast it felt like fire had spread across my skin. “W-What? I mean… of course I found it. Obviously. Who else would have noticed something like that?” I tried to wave it off, leaning back against the chair like I hadn’t been seconds away from having a panic attack in that building. “Knew it was going to be useful the second I saw it.”

Inside, though, I was screaming. He just called me a genius. My crush, the guy who barely ever showed emotion, had praised me like I’d just saved the world. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from grinning like an idiot.

Kaito didn’t notice. He was too focused on the map, muttering under his breath as he traced the routes with his finger. “This is huge. Multiple territories, interconnected routes, a delivery cycle… This can tell us where their next shipments are, maybe even where the main hub is. Yuzuki, you’re seriously improving. This could change everything.”

I thought my face might explode from how hot it was getting. I crossed my arms and forced a smirk. “Well, yeah. I mean, I’m not just here to sit around. Someone’s gotta carry the team, right?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Rin smirking. She’d seen it, the faint blush I couldn’t hide no matter how hard I tried. Her gaze lingered just long enough to make my stomach twist with embarrassment, but to my immense relief, she didn’t say anything. She just looked amused, like she was keeping a secret she planned to cash in later.

Kaito finally leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. “This is only the beginning. With intel like this, we’ll have more missions. More risks. I’ll hit you both up when the next lead comes in.”

Rin nodded calmly. “Got it.”

I mirrored her, forcing my voice not to crack. “Yeah. Anytime.”

The three of us exchanged quick goodbyes, and Rin and I stepped out of kaito's house together. As the door closed behind us, my head was spinning. Fear, pride, excitement, they were all tangled together, but one thing stood out crystal clear.

Kaito thought I was improving.
And that compliment… that was mine to keep.