There was a park not far away from Gary’s school. It had a playground with swings, benches, climbing frames and all sorts of other things, making it a popular hangout spot for the younger kids, whereas the older ones usually played soccer once school was out.

“Ergh, isn’t this a weird place to discuss things?” Innu asked as he looked at all the little kids and mums around. “Don’t you guys have your own place? You know, a regular hideout spot like an abandoned warehouse or something?”

When Innu had followed after Kai he had expected to be led into that type location. Instead they had gone to this park and on their way a girl had started tagging along. The gold and black outfit made it obvious that she was part of Kai’s group, but so far she hadn’t even said a word. Innu couldn’t help but think she didn’t belong in the underworld, except for a damsel in distress perhaps.

“Nope, don’t have one of those yet.” Kai replied matter of factly. “Come to think of it, I didn’t really have time to fill you in last night. Oh well, no better time than the present. Right now there’s just you, Green Fang who you’ve already met and this here’s Mai, or Marie is a full name.”

For the first time Kai seemed to acknowledge the girl’s existence, who in turn just bowed. Innu wasn’t sure if she was just shy around him or if she might be mute. Innu’s mouth opened wide in disbelief and he slapped his forehead.

‘I thought he looked like someone who knew what he was doing. Was I wrong about him? Is he just some rich kid who has too much of daddy’s money and decided to create a gang after all? Heck, can we even be called that? Right now we seem more like a group of friends if anything. And why did he exclude himself?’

Eventually, he sighed in defeat. Innu had never been the type to go back on his word. He might have been someone whose academic performance would only qualify him for construction based jobs, but at least he had integrity. The best way he knew how to make money was with his hands, knees and elbows, which was why he had chosen to fight in the fighting event in the first place.

“Don’t worry.” Kai spoke up with a smile on his face. “Every prominent gang started out just like us. I promise you that as long as you stay with us you won’t regret it. Our group will be one that focuses on quantity over quality, so you should be proud that you even qualified.”

Hearing Kai’s arrogant tone wasn’t making Innu feel any better about the decision he had made. Talk was cheap in his opinion, but as long as the money would continue to flow he wouldn’t complain.

“Anyway, I believe you wanted to know about my past with Eton High. What they’re like and why I transferred, correct? Well, I’m sure you’ve heard the rumours. Let me tell you, it’s worse than what they say. All the delinquents the other school deem incorrigible get sent to Eton High and the school welcomes them happily. Calling it the garbage heap for the scum of society would still be putting it mildly. The only reason it doesn’t get shut down is that this makes it the perfect recruitment place for gangs. Heck, it wasn’t even rare for some to come from other cities!”

“Other schools might have a top dog, one that at least instills a sort of order, but Eton High is more of a lawless zone. Not all of them behave like wild animals, but whatever factions there are seem to change on a weekly basis. It’s rather common for multiple weak factions to gang up on stronger ones just ‘to put them in their place’. They are not afraid to use weapons either.” Innu’s fists tensed as he explained the situation, thinking about what had happened to him before.

It wasn’t hard for Kai to puzzle his past together with that much information. Anyone could see from the way he fought that Innu was capable of becoming the top dog in most schools. They must have ganged up on him, so badly that he had to transfer.

“Anyway, why did you want to know about Eton High so much?” Innu finally asked.

———

At the same time, Gary and Blake were both busy walking down the street heading the same way home. If the high schooler were to use one word to describe the current situation it would be ‘awkward’.

‘That must have been the tenth time a girl has looked our way!’ Gary thought bitterly. Their faces would turn a shade redder when they peeked at Blake, only to turn sour upon seeing the one walking beside him. What hurt Gary even more was they didn’t even try to hide the obvious difference in treatment.

“I want to apologise, Gary.” Blake’s opening line surprised him. “I have heard that Barry and Gil have bothered you during the break and I’ve seen how the guys have been hazing you during the training. I’m the captain, so it’s my responsibility to make sure things like that don’t happen.”

Scratching the back of his head Gary didn’t really know what to say. Blake was the last person who should have to apologise to him. He seemed to be a person who really cared about the rugby team, making Gary feel bad since his primary reason for joining was to impress Xin.

Was it really okay for him to take another player’s position just because of his infatuation?

“It’s not your fault, I understand how they feel.” Gary replied eventually. “Besides, isn’t that like an initiation ritual between guys?”

“No, it’s not right. You’re part of the team now. Instead of messing with you, they should get along with you and help you integrate with the team. Given your talent you will be a great asset. I’m going to have a word with them all tomorrow so they don’t do pull that stupid crap on you again. If they cause you any more trouble, I want you to come to me!” Blake stopped walking and turned around, staring right at Gary, offering his hand.

‘How can someone be this nice in a Tier-3 city? Who the hell could hate him?’ Gary thought, looking at the hand in front of him. He was reluctant to shake it, since he had already ‘repaid’ Barry. He only had so much time to find a way to remove the Forced Bond from that poor guy to prevent him from ending up as the secret ingredient in a Barry Burger..

“I…” Just as Gary was about to make up some excuse, he noticed someone coming up to them. They were coming at the two boys fast and one was holding an object, swinging towards Blake.

“Duck!” Gary warned the athlete moving forward. He was about to push Blake’s head down, but surprisingly his classmate had instantly followed the instruction. Not expecting to grab at nothing but air, Gary helplessly watched as the wooden plank connected with his cheek. The attack had enough force behind it, that his body fell to the floor, leaving him with the taste of iron.

“Gary!” Blake called out, seeing his classmate lying on the floor with blood dripping from his mouth. He understood they were in trouble, so Blake quickly spun around moving forward slightly. He heard the sound of something hitting the ground where he had just stood.

In total, there were four guys all wearing the Eton High school uniform. Two of them had wooden planks while the others looked to be unarmed. However, it was just as possible that their weapons were concealed.

“Hey, looks like one of them is fast.” The Eton High student who had just missed chuckled.

“He wouldn’t be the ace of their team, if he wasn’t.” The other one with the plank, who had just hit Gary joined in the laughter.

Up until now Blake had only heard about this type of incident Mr Root had warned them about earlier. Their P.E. teacher had once called him into his office, stressing to Blake that he was the most likeliest target. All the opponents Eton High had faced, had their ace involved in some ‘accident’ right before a match.

However, Blake had never expected them to be so brazen to attack someone in the open like this. They were away from school but the police shouldn’t be too far away. The only reason they could be so confident in attacking them here was if they had the backing of a gang of some sort, then it wouldn’t matter if the police were informed or not.

‘These guys don’t look like pushovers when it comes to fighting, either. Who knows when the police will come… or if it even does?’ Blake started to worry.

One of the high school students without any weapons tried to punch Blake, but before he could reach Blake, the ace of the rugby team quickly kicked the student’s thigh. It caused it to go numb and his punch weakened slightly. Still the punch was coming towards his head as the kid gritted his teeth. Pain alone didn’t seem to stop him, or perhaps he was just pissed off enough to want revenge.

Whatever the case, it didn’t matter to Blake because he just wanted to weaken the punch slightly as he went forward with his forehead. When the punch connected the Eton High’s student’s wrist bent awkwardly and his fingers were in pain.

When his body with the plank came over, Blake made sure to remain calm, pushing his wrist and moving so the student would be off balance, then kicking him at the back of his leg where the knee would be, allowing him to trip the other.

“Looks like he can fight.” The student with the damaged wrist commented. The student with the wooden plank on the ground, dropped his weapon and charged forward in an attempt to tackle Blake. Although the other tried to side-step the charge, the Eton High student managed to grab on to him.

“Now!”

The other three Eton High students surrounded him. The wooden plank had already been picked up and the two with the planks were about to take a swing, while the third one made sure to cut off any way of escape.

“I’m just going to have to take this hit!” Blake thought as he had to decide between getting rid of the student holding onto him or protecting himself.

When the planks came down, they were stopped dead, inches from his face. Blake could see the green haired boy who had been injured holding on to both. Blood was still dripping from his mouth, from a cut on the inside of his cheek.

“That freaking hurt!” Gary shouted as his heart rate was starting to increase.

———

“It never hurts knowing as much as you can about your enemy. From the sounds of it, you won’t have any problem fighting against your former schoolmates. Eton High will be the first opponent in the underground tag team tournament in around a week’s time.” Kai answered Innu’s question.

*****

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