“I came here to ask you, how do I make money?” Gary asked. “I know I don’t know who you are, or what you do. You might just be some kid who has a rich parent, but whatever it takes, if you want me to be your lackey, bring you food in the morning I don’t care, I just need the money.”

Even when Gary had propped himself on Kai’s table, he still seemed uninterested, and it wasn’t until Gary spoke that he turned his head, and a smile was shown on his face.

‘This kid, his eyes, his determination to do whatever it takes huh, well let’s see how long you last.” Kai thought.

After that day, Gary had learnt how Kai made his money, and Kai had become Gary’s “In” person to join the gang.

———

“Relax, I haven’t told them anything,” Kai informed Gary since the younger boy had grown silent. “Still, you’re not wrong to be cautious. They seem to be very keen to find you. I don’t know what exactly you took from them, whether it was important or rare or something like that, but it's already too late to simply return it. Right now, it’s just the principle of the matter. You stole from them, so they need to punish you for what you have done. It’s been quite a while since someone last dared to cross the Underdogs so they likely have something gruesome in store. You know, to send a message to others.”

Of course, Gary already knew everything Kai had said. Still, hearing it from someone else was just making matters worse.

“Fortunately for you, I don’t plan to tell the Underdogs about you.” Kai told him with a giant grin on his face.

‘Huh, he won’t? Why would he be looking out for me? We’re not friends or anything like that, barely acquaintances. There has to be something….something he wants from me.’ Gary became wary about Kai’s generosity.

“Ooh, you seem to catch on rather quickly. Indeed, I don’t plan to simply help you out,” Kai admitted. “I want to ask you for a favour which will benefit both of us. You see, for a while now, I’ve planned to leave the Underdogs. However, if that would be so easy you wouldn’t be in your current situation, now think about how much worse it’s for me who knows so much more about their gang.”

“Still, it’s not like it’s completely impossible. What do you think we would need to do to protect ourselves from a gang like the Underdogs?” Kai asked with a mischievous grin.

Gary wasn’t completely sure if Kai actually wanted him to answer the question or not, but in case he did, Gary had no clue what the right answer would be, otherwise he wouldn’t be in his current predicament. All of this seemed to be some sort of spiel from Kai to get Gary’s help. The strange thing was that as far as he knew Gary didn’t have anything to offer Kai.

No longer waiting for Gary to come up with an answer, Kai enlightened his underclassman. “It’s actually quite simple, we would have to be part of a bigger gang. Of course, just joining another one is out of the question. The Underdogs could simply pay off whoever we go to to hand us out. As such, our only choice is to create our own gang that is bigger and more powerful than the Underdogs. That’s where you come in. You will be my little dog in all this. You will help me grow our gang!”

Gritting his teeth, Gary was annoyed at the fact that Kai was calling him a dog, but he had to put his emotions aside. What Kai was suggesting was crazy, for more reasons than one. The problem was, this crazy person could report him at any time. He held all the cards while Gary had none.

Gary was smart enough to understand that threatening to reveal Kai’s wish to leave the gang wouldn’t help him in any way. Going against Kai would risk getting his family involved, not to mention he could simply deny Gary’s accusation.

If it came down to it, who would the gang believe? The boy they assumed had stolen from them or the boy who had worked with them for a long time who also happened to have told them where to find Gary?

“How would that even be possible? The other gangs won’t follow someone in secondary school. They already have a base of strong people and those in university are already part of different colour gangs. It’s impossible to form a gang!” Gary argued, trying to put some reasoning behind his plan.

Lifting his hands up, Kai did a little spin.

“Where are we right now? Did you forget? Aren’t there plenty of people to use right in this school? Why do the gangs use us as transporters? It’s because people underestimate us high-school students! There are plenty of us that are strong and love to fight, and I have my ways to persuade them.”

“The gangs think of us as nothing but kids, but soon enough we will be adults. It starts off small but eventually, we can create something greater than all of them. Now tell me Gary, are you with me or not?” Kai asked, walking over, holding out his hand as he looked into Gary’s eyes.

‘This person is crazy….but…what choice do I have?’ Gary thought as he shook Kai’s hand.

“Fine, but you have to promise not a single word to anyone in the Underdogs or the other gangs about me, or my family!”

“Of course, you have my word.”

At that moment, a notification screen had appeared.

[A spoken deal has been made, would you like to mark “Kyle Hamper”?]

There was no other information displayed about what a mark was or what it did. Gary tried to ask the system, but by the time he did, Kai had let go, and the system message had disappeared. Whatever it was, it was too late to implement now.

Kai waved Gary off, as he walked back to look down on the school field. Leaving the roof, Gary rushed off to prepare for his own club activities. Turning around, he briefly saw Kai grin at him.

“So Mai, are you really sure, he was the one who defeated the members of that colour gang that was chasing after you today?” Kai asked.

From behind the roof’s storage room, a girl with black hair stepped forward. “No doubt about it. I don’t know how he did it, but all of those guys were rolling over by the time I returned with the police.”

Hearing the response, Kai's grin got even wider. “It sounds like this is going to be an exciting year.”