The Reckless & The Brave Book 1: Hold Me Tight Or Don't [Kurotsuki]

Chapter 14

Kei and Kodzuken are the first ones to the prep room. They don't talk as they change into the black tactical clothes that have been left for them. Kei switches his glasses to a pair with a sport strap as Kodzuken ties his two-toned hair in a loose bun.

"Why is your codename Kodzuken?" Kei asks.

"I chose it. I wasn't going to let the recruiter leave me with something lame like Megane-kun," cat-like eyes glance sideways at him.

"I wasn't in the mood to fight with that bastard," Kei sighs and puts on his vest. "Do you know what this mission is?"

"Rescue mission," he feels those eyes on him again.

"For who?" Kei looks over the wall of weapons wondering what he's going to need.

"Pita," Kodzuken is studying him, Kei doesn't even have to turn around to know that. It's a bit unnerving.

"His first mission back and he manages to get himself into trouble again?"

"He wasn't ready to go back out. He's stubborn though, doesn't listen to me," Kodzuken rolls his eyes and turns away to fill his bag with different gadgets. Kei wonders if he'll be dragging Kodzuken out of the country again when the kid gets too tired.

Yokai-senpai and the Titan show up in the middle of some kind of argument. Kei wonders if he can bow out of the mission. He's only worked with The Titan once before and he'd found him to be a complete menace.

"Sorry we're late," Yokai-senpai apologizes. "SOMEONE got lost again. You've been in this building a million times you tinhead!" The short man delivers a swift kick to the giant's legs.

"Yakkun, try not to cause any injuries before the mission even starts." Bokuto is standing in the doorway and Kei is surprised to see him. Not only had he thought the mission was being run by The Cats but Bokuto looks different than Kei has ever seen him before. His usual athletic wear has already been replaced by tight-fitting tactical clothes, and his hair sits flat. The Jackals are one of the top teams. Any time they assist on a mission they take the lead. Kei's never worked with any of them before and now it's been two missions in a row.

"If you don't want me to injure him then don't make me work with him," Yokai-senpai grumbles as he hands a folder to Kei. "You've never worked with Pita before. Here's his file. You'll need to know what he's capable of if you're going to be able to get him out."

"I'm getting him out?" Kei takes the folder and looks at the label, 'P.I.T.A'. He's surprised to see the acronym. He opens the folder to read the file and almost lets out a chuckle. The agent's code name is 'Pain in the ass' at some point along the way it must have gotten shortened.

"It fits him right?" Bokuto asks with a grin. For a moment he actually looks like his usual self. Kei frowns at him.

"I wouldn't know, I've never met him." Most of the file is redacted. Mostly the things from the beginning. Kei remembers that Pita used to be the black cat. He's one of the kids that Atsumu had mentioned. An agent raised by Fukurodani. Bokuto is one too, Kei wants to ask him about it. He closes the file and looks up to see Bokuto and Kodzuken sharing a strange look. "What's the plan then?"

"It needs to be a small mission. Pita's good at what he does, they won't have any idea who he is or what he's there for. Kodzuken will coordinate from a safe spot. We've got blueprints of the building that Pita had gotten to us before he went dark. Yakkun and Titan, I'll need you guys to be a distraction, make it big. Draw as many of them out as you can. Tsukki I'm going to get you into the building, you get to Pita and prepare him to be moved. It's likely that he'll be injured. We're still missing some of the information he went there for. I'm going to get it then meet you at Pita's location so we can extract him together." Bokuto lays out the blueprints on the table for all of them to see and goes over the plan with more details.