Chapter 117: Place your bets

“Ladies and gentlemen, the first fight of the evening will soon begin!” The host shouted, and two large speakers echoed the noise out to everyone, allowing them all to easily hear. “If you look at the board to my right, it has all of tonight’s fights and betting odds! You will now have a few more minutes to place your bets on the first fight! We accept cash and digital currency only!”

The crowd of people started to look intensely at the gang names and started talking with each other. They were seeing if anyone had heard of, or seen them fight before. By gathering information they would then have the best chance of making the winning bet.

Still, the reason why this was hard, was due to these events in the first place. A lot of local gangs, or small time gangs would be the ones to join an event like this.

Austin was a little familiar with how these events worked, even though he himself had never been to one of them. The only thing he really cared about was being the strongest fighter. He had already become top dog at his own school, so he had been planning to challenge those in the surrounding areas.

Rather than getting involved in real gangs for now, he himself still felt like he was in the middle of a crossroads when it came to that. Looking at the board, he was searching for a name he might be familiar with, but he quickly noticed that it only displayed the group names, not the ones of any individual fighters. He had never heard of any of them, making him believe that they must be either from small-time gangs or those trying to establish one. Nevertheless, there was one name he did recognize.

‘Eton High? Is someone actually crazy enough to use their school name for such an event? …Well if they’re really from that school, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising. They’ve got an even nastier reputation than my own school. The guys have also run into them a couple of times as well and i remember them saying they were a bunch of tough bastards.’’ Austin thought to himself. ‘Come to think of it, maybe I should try and participate in one of these as well. Might be a good way to spread the school’s reputation. A short cut to make it to the top and then…’

“Well, well, well, looks like my ‘salesman pitch’ was enough to get you to come here after all.” Austin heard a teasing voice from behind him. Although he had only heard it once, it had been memorable enough to make the teenager clench his teeth almost instantly.

He turned around to see Kai with his seemingly trademarked grin on his face, though this time he was accompanied by a black haired girl Austin didn’t know. Judging from their matching outfits they were clearly together though.

‘That chick definitely looks out of place, but him… I still don’t know if he’s one of us, or just some bored rich kid. I mean can he even fight?’ Austin thought as he looked at the older teenager. It was difficult for him to have a grasp on who or what Kai was. He didn’t seem to be yet another delinquent, one whose future seemed predestined to be tied to some gang, yet at the same time, he did have a dangerous aura around him.

Just what would happen if someone had decided to attack him?

“Why did you invite me here? I fail to see what part of this whole event is supposed to give me a ‘better future’, unless you wanted me here to either bet on these outcomes or turn me into a fighter.” Austin pointed out. “But let me make something clear to you, I would never listen to someone I could beat in a fight.”

“Well, I suppose if you bet on the right fighter you could strike it rich today, which would lead to a better future for you, but that’s not why I called you here. If you recall, I promised to show you ‘something very interesting’,

“That green haired kid who ‘saved your arse’ is actually here as well. Right now, he’s placing his own bets, but you’ll see him sooner than you might think. After that, we can still talk about your better future.” Kai replied.

“That’s it? In essence, you invited me to watch a match? I think that’s kind of stupid.” Austin was about to walk away, at least from Kai. He had driven all this way out here, so he would at least stay long enough to watch the fight, yet talking with the bleach blonde teenager just pissed him off. However, Austin knew better than to start a fight at such an event.

“But you're interested in him, right? I mean, why else would you have come here? We’ll talk after the fight and if you want to make some cash, place a bet on The Howlers!” Kai shouted after him, yet Austin just carried on walking forward, until he eventually found himself at the front of the crowd, giving him a better view of the fights that were going to take place.

‘I had a plan in mind, to take over all the nearby schools… and from there I would continue on, but for some reason his words that day…I can’t get them out of my head! What was I planning to do after?’

This was the real reason why Austin was so annoyed with Kai. Because deep down the older boy was right.

Austin didn’t have a plan beyond that, and part of him knew that even if he might take over all the schools, once he graduated it would amount to nothing. However, he didn’t want to enter any gangs either.

Just when he considered whether he should put some money following Kai’s tip, a ringing sound was heard.

“The betting period has officially come to a close for the first bout!” The announcer stated. He was a bald man with sunglasses and a sleeveless shirt. Given the temperature outside at this late hour, he must have felt cold, yet he looked menacing enough to simply endure it.

“Don’t worry, ladies and gentleman, after the first fight has finished, a new round of betting will continue for the subsequent fights, but let's not waste anymore time and give you what you’ve all come for!!!!”

******

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