Decision

Ray quickly turned around and put his hand on Yuki. He asked, "Yuki? Yuki? Yuki, are you OK?"

Yuki slowly opened her eyes and looked at Ray. When she saw Conrad, Yuri and Sakura sitting behind Ray, she jumed up in a moment and got in a fighting stance.

Seeing this, Sakura's hawk promptly turned into the bow, and Sakura held it in a way to get ready for a fight. Yuri was still sitting down nonchalantly while Ray and Conrad started panicking while trying to calm Yuki and Sakura down.

Katarina too went and sat down next to Yuri.

Conrad acted first. He ran to Sakura and yelled, "Wait, wait, wait. Sakura, don't. They're not enemies, remember?"

Ray too tried to calm down, Yuki. "Yuki, calm down. It was a mistake. They were after puppeteer. They thought I was a puppet or something."

Yuki said, "But... Master, what if they had killed you?"

Ray said, "But I'm not dead, am I? Now calm down."

Yuki sat down. Seeing her, Sakura too calmed down.

Ray patted Yuki and said, "Good girl."

Yuki purred.

Katarina suddenly said, "Now, I'm totally sure. You're Silverfang, aren't you? Yuki"

Yuki seemed to recognise the voice. She quickly turned to the direction of the voice and said, "Tch. Why did I have to run into you here?"

Ray looked at Yuki and asked, "Why? Aren't you two good friends?"

Yuki said, "No way. I'd rather give up my spirit abilities than being her friend."

Katarina said, "You hurt me, Silverfang. You forgot how fun we used to have back in the day."

Yuki stood up and got into a fighting stance again and said, "You call me with that name once again, and I'll drink your blood."

Katarina still kept on a playful smile on her face. She said in a fake hurtful tone, "Oh, Silverfang. What would the queen think if she was here to see that you're disregarding the name given to you by her?"

Yuki suddenly jumped on Katarina, but Ray stopped her.

He said, "Yuki, Yuki. Calm calm."

Conrad was laughing all this time, but he controlled his laughter and said, "Katarina. Stop agitating other's spirits."

Katarina said in a dramatic manner, "Yeees, boss."

The Hawk turned back into his own form and said, "I'm here too, Silverfang... I mean Yuki."

Yuki looked at the hawk and got more surprised. She said, "You're here too, Archeron?"

The Hawk said, "Yeah. But I go by Sky now."

Yuki said, "Oh. What's your name now, Brunhilde?"

Katarina was discussing something with Conrad with a serious look in her face. She got startled by the sudden question of Yuki and looked at her. She asked, "Huh?? What did you ask?"

Yuki repeated, "I asked, What's your name now, Brunhilde?"

Katarina replied, "Oh. I go by Katarina Now."

Yuki noticed Ray trying to keep himself from laughing. She asked with a salty tone, "What's so funny?"

Ray said, still trying to control himself from bursting out laughing, "Noyhing. "I just realised why you avoided telling me your real name for all this time. I mean, I'd feel it embarrassing too. A chuunibyo name like Silverfang."

Yuki sulked and said, "At least it's better than Spearfang."

Ray got surprised and asked, "Spearfang? That's a peculiar name too. Who is that?"

Yuki replied, "Your leader's spirit and one of the five generals. The mighty Rex."

Ray totally burst out laughing at this. He said, "Rex? Rex….is…Spearfang?"

Yuki said, "Yeah. See? My name isn't the worst of the five."

Ray controlled his laughter and said, "Ok, Silverfang. You don't have the worst name. Agreed."

Yuki was still sulking. She said, "That doesn't sound convincing."

Ray was about to say something, but Conrad's sudden call stopped her.

All of them looked at Conrad. He had a serious face. He said, "Guys, we don't have time to spare. We gotta move out now."

Yuri retaliated, "But we've been running for hours. Let's rest for an hour at least? Please?"

Conrad replied, "We can't. I just got a ping from the tracker we placed on the puppeteer. He's heading towards a giant nest. If he get's into it's range, we won't be able to get him."

Yuri said, "tch. Damn that prime."

Conrad looked at Ray and said, "Ray, I know I've told you, you can get time to decide if you want to come with us or not. But it looks like we don't have time for that. You have to decide for yourself right now. Will you come with us or not?"

Ray looked at Yuki and then looked at Conrad. He asked, "Can I ask how you guys got into contact with the puppeteer?"

Conrad looked at everyone, and when he got sure that no one had any problems, he started talking.

"Last night, the puppeteer suddenly attacked one of our guard posts. Before they could realise it, all of them were wiped out. I headed with my squad and another squad to hold him off. But we failed too. The puppeteer obliterated the other squad. He also took out almost all of my squad. Yuri is the last one remaining from my squad. But one of my squadmates succeeded in attaching a tracker to him before he was killed. Now this morning, the HQ sent Sakura to us, and the three of us are following behind the puppeteer. Our goal is to catch and kill the puppeteer or get a solid location about his hideout. Now, will you be joining us in this hunt?"

Ray was hearing everything with full attention, and after Conrad ended his talk, he looked at Yuki.

He asked Yuki, "What do you say, Yuki?"

Yuki replied, "I don't mind. But are you sure that you'll be fine? The puppeteer sure left a very big trauma on you."

Ray said, "I know. But I can't just run away from my trauma. I want to face it head first."

"I have no objections then. Let's get him."

Ray looked at Conrad and said with a smile, "Yes. I'll be coming with you."