5. Misty Briefing

Kazuki woke up early as he always did, and quickly prepared his desk computer and his breakfast. After he ate, he put on his NCID and said:
- "Good morning operator-san!"
- "Good morning Kazuki-kun, an early bird as always!"
- "Yes, indeed! Any missions for today?"
- "Yes, we already have another one. I got you a trip to Okutama. I could give you the details, but Colonel Husky will do that this time."
- "Oh, it is a big deal then, huh?"
- "Hmmmmm. I will refrain from commenting or else he will give me an earful. "
- "Alright" - Kazuki laughed - "what should I do?"
- "Please reunite with Haruka in one hour and call us by NCID."
- "Will Haruka wake up in time?"
- "Well, I think you should do something about it... as you know the Colonel thinks its not your responsibility to show up in time, but *Shocking Blue's*, so..." - Kazuki replied sighing:
- "Alright, I will do something about it." - it was possible to hear the operator giggling:
- "Well, good luck and see you in one hour!"
- "Over and out, operator-san!"
- "Operator leaving it to Kazuki-kun, over and out!"

Kazuki sighed as he prepared for his hardest assignment yet. He sat on his bed, sighed again and picked up the phone. He called Haruka's apartment. Once. Twice. Thrice. He sipped his coffee. A fourth and a fifth time. On the sixth call, a voice could be heard on the other side:
- "Moshi...mo..shi Haruka here..."
- "Raikubo-san, good morning! Get up!"
- "Kaa-chan? Is that you? It's so early I..."
- "No talk! We have a briefing in one hour!"
- "Five more minutes..."
- "No! Get up! Or I will get you out by force!"
- "You are so mean Kaa-chan..." - he heard a sound - "I am getting up, you can hang up."
- "Alright, I will call in a few minutes to make sure you are not fooling me."
- "Okay, Kaa-chan... anything..." - she hang up. Kazuki waited for five minutes, before calling again, twice. Haruka did not answer, but the calls woke her up again, as she fell asleep on the toilet.

With still 15 minutes left, Kazuki went to Haruka's apartment and knocked on her door. The door was opened by a rushing Haruka, with no shoes on, a hair brush on one hand, the door handle on the other hand, and a toast in her mouth. Their eyes crossed unsure between laughter and stress. He said:
- "Can I help you with anything?" - Haruka got hold the toast before replying:
- "Please help me with the coffee and I take care of the rest." - Kazuki prepared the coffee, while Haruka rushed to finish getting ready. Kazuki also pressured her with his gaze until Haruka left for the briefing with him, still holding her cup of coffee.

Haruka and Kazuki got together in a meeting room in their condominium. As the condominium was a front for NUMO, there were a few rooms to enable the work of the forces.
- "Good morning again, operator-san, we are here" - said Kazuki.
- "Good morning" - she replied.
- "Good morning, Raikubo-san, Yukiya-san." - said Colonel Husky, also connected via NCID.
- "Good morning , colonel" - Haruka and Kazuki answered together.
- "As always, thank you for your service, your last missions have been quick, clean and effective. Nouveau Nippon is thankful to you."
- "Thank you sir, we just do our jobs" - Haruka and Kazuki replied together.
- "So, the next mission is a pretty standard one. We have sightings of a deviant that looks like an enormous beetle. It is said to only attack when feeling threatened, but its attacks are powerful. It seems to be able to dash much faster than a car. Our operator here has aptly named it as Cheetle."
- "Alright." - said Kazuki - "I don't see what is different from our other missions."
- "What is different is the location. The deviant has been sighted in Okutama. As you may know Okutama is the skerry closest to Tokyo. The people there are not too used to our police and our forces. Also, there is a single road connecting to Okutama and it is surrounded by the brume. Facing spectres is a possibility. I know you have experience on that, so I just want to emphasize for you to take care and keep the job effective and clean as you have always been doing."
- "For sure, sir." - replied Haruka.
- "One more thing, we cannot send the cleaning team to Okutama, so this time you will have to eliminate the deviant."
- "We will take care of this, sir." - said Kazuki. Haruka nodded.
- "That's what I like to hear. Thanks a lot you two. The operator will accompany you on the mission and she can contact me if necessary. Good luck."
- "Thank you sir!" - both replied.
- "So, Haruka-chan, Kazuki-kun, I have no further information. Let's keep in touch and you can leave to Okutama as soon as you are ready."
- "Sure, op-san, thank you" - said Haruka.
- "Operator leaving it to Kazuki-kun and Haruka-chan, over and out!"

Kazuki got up and said to Haruka:
- "Well, I guess we can spare one hour, get some food and prepare bags in case we need to sleep there."
- "Just one hour?" - her eyes were sad.
- "Just one! We need to make haste, the sooner we finish the mission, the sooner we will be free!"
- "You are so mean!" - she left. In one hour and a half, and after some pressure, the two got their things, and rode on the motorcycle to Okutama.