The sound of a delightful hum had woken up Amy Dem, and the high school girl was wondering if the next door neighbour might have left the TV on again, as she headed to the toilet. However, to her surprise, she saw that the sound was actually coming from their apartment’s kitchen, more specifically from Gary who was cooking his usual breakfast.

The high schooler was now able to correctly cook an omelette, flipping it at just the right time, catching it in the pan before placing it cleanly on a plate.

“Who are you? And what did you do with my brother?” Amy questioned his behaviour, standing in the hallway, still in her pyjamas.

“What do you mean?” Gary asked, adding a pinch of salt on top, before slicing it in half and grabbing Amy a plate as well. “Come on, eat up. Remember, I told you yesterday that I have to come in today, because of that talent show.”

Leaving the food on the kitchen table, Gary headed into the hallway and looked at himself in the mirror. He immediately started to fix the individual spikes in his hair one by one.

“Iff’s a guurrl!!!” Amy shouted with her mouth filled. She had just bitten down on a piece of toast and was now pointing towards her brother like a detective who had unveiled the culprit of a crime. She could practically hear the theme song of saxophones and more playing behind her.

“What… Can’t I just care about my outer appearance?” Gary replied, his face slightly red. “Do I look good… for the talent show I mean?”

Amy’s face was filled with skepticism, and she made it clear that she wouldn’t answer his question, unless Gary came clean.

“I don’t want a nephew at this age.” Amy stated, making Gary nearly trip from the unexpectedness. “Please don’t do something stupid, like you did when you came home with that green hair. Honestly, I’m a bit worried about the girl who is brave enough to walk side by side with someone who… stands out as much as you. And remember there could be others after you..”

“… don’t you think, you’re pushing things a bit too far? We haven’t even gone on a date yet, no need to imagine our wedding… or becoming an aunt…” Gary sighed as he shook his head. “Anyway, I really gotta go. Text me if you need anything! And don’t worry about them!”

With that, he put his breakfast into a tupperware box and rushed off. As soon as he left their apartment, Gary made sure to cover up his face with the hood, before starting to run towards school.

This way, even if anyone spotted him, they would be unable to stop him for questions, he could get past them quite easily. Since the little attack on the Chavley area, it had been filled with Underdog members. However, they seemed to be just checking the area.

Today, though, Gary noticed something different. His route was mostly heading through alleyways, allowing his good hearing to catch bits and pieces here and there.

“Is it this one? I’m not sure. Take a photo and send it back to the others to see if they recognise him.” One voice said.

Peeking around the corner, Gary could see that the Underdog members looked to be doing something different this time, every student or teen that walked past, they would question them and ask for their photo to be taken.

In broad daylight and this early as well. It was easy enough to understand why they were doing it…

‘Ah, come on, all this for a package. I didn’t even do anything!’ Gary cursed. ‘I had hoped that they might have let it go by now, but I guess this Werewolf System is really important to them…’

Either way, Gary had his own way to get around, as he used Controlled Transformation to change his nails into claws, and then, like a professional rock climber, gripped tightly onto the wall, window sill and every crack as he climbed up the side and continued making his way to school.

Seeing the Underdogs members acting, Gary thought back to what Kai had suggested in the Wolf’s Pool Club the other day. The Howlers would soon be making a move of their own. Today and tomorrow, the group was going to head into the territories of those small-time gangs.

They would scout out their businesses, verify their numbers, and then make a plan. Apparently it wasn’t as easy as just marching in and taking out their head leader. Although that would increase their reputation, they lacked the manpower to take over the businesses on their own.

This was a major problem for the Howlers, there were only five of them who were loyal and could do the job that was needed. Truthfully, Gary didn’t know how they were going to solve this one.

‘For now, I should just enjoy my day. After all, I get to see Xin again and plan that date. The thing is where would we even go? Should I still take her to the park? I mean, I have a bit of money leftover now. Should I take her to the pool club? No, I don’t really want the others to interfere…’

Arriving at school, there was a certain excitement in the air. Maybe it was because not all the students were in their uniform, or they were happy that they wouldn’t be having any real lessons today, due to the talent show.

Either way, this excitement was also rubbing off on Gary. Walking ahead, he was turning his head, looking for someone. He didn’t want to go to his class just yet in case he could see someone, and that was when he had spotted the grey coloured hair of Xin’s off in the distance.

Stepping forward, Gary was hoping to quickly catch up and speak to her, or walk to class together, but before he could, a certain upperclassman blocked his way.

“Kai.” Gary exclaimed, surprised but also trying to peek over his shoulder to see where Xin was heading to.

“Gary, we need to talk, NOW.” Kai insisted.

Hearing the tone of voice, Gary was wondering just what it could be, and in his head he was already imagining the worst case scenario. Kai and Gary walked away from the main entrance of the school and instead decided to go around the side of the school building.

Since it was early morning and everyone was heading to class, the place was relatively empty, and the noise of everyone would drown out what he was going to say anyway.

“What’s wrong? You’re starting to scare me by not saying anything.” Gary looked at Kai struggling to speak, and his face looked pained.

“I’m sorry Gary, I really don’t know how, but it looks like the Underdogs found out about you going here.” Kai informed the other.

The next second, Gary felt like his whole head was spinning, but before he could have a breakdown, Kai grabbed him firmly on both shoulders.

“It’s not all bad, they don’t know where you live, and they don’t know about your family. I made sure to alter all the information. I even changed it on the school records, so there’s no way they can get to Amy or your Mum.

“I’m sorry, I really don’t know how it got to this. You might have seen them outside, you need to be extremely careful. I’ll try my best to keep them off your tail.” Kai explained.

Of course, when things were just starting to look up, the world was kicking Gary back down.

*****

Top 10 in golden tickets = 5 chapter mass release

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