Eventually, everyone had finished their meal. Xin’s parents had asked Gary a few more questions in between. Fortunately, it was just normal small talk, about his family and how he was doing in school in general. The teenager was more than happy to tell them about it, especially about being one of the Rugby stars of Westbridge, something which apparently gained him a bit more favour with the mayor.
“Speaking of school, the reason I'm here is that I heard that you wanted to transfer Xin somewhere.” Gary began to address the difficult topic. “If you don't mind, Xin, I wanted to ask you if you could tell me the reason, or at least where you'll be going.”
“Don’t you think the reason for it is pretty clear?” Xin’s father raised an eyebrow. “Your school was attacked by a gang, and my daughter got kidnapped in the aftermath. We were lucky that Jayden happened to be in town, but things could have easily ended up a lot worse.
“If we allow Xin to stay in Westbridge she would just be targeted again sooner or later. I’m happy that you care for my daughter, Gary, but even as its mayor, I have to admit that Slough is not the safest place. That's why we have decided to transfer her to another school in a Tier-2 city.”
It was just as Gary had expected, so he knew it was going to be hard to convince them. Still, it was at least worth a try.
“But is a Tier-2 city really that much safer? I heard that they have even bigger gangs in the Tier-2 and Tier-1 cities. Aren’t you afraid that the same thing might happen again? At least here, she would be with her family, not to mention there’s Jayden and your guards. I can't imagine you can be in two places at once.” The teenager questioned their decision.
“Don’t worry, we have selected a special boarding academy for her. Her protection is our top priority, so trust me when I say that with how much the tuition costs, their security is top-notch. Also, although they have gangs up there, it's not the same as it’s here in Slough.
“As your mayor, I am painfully aware about my own town’s gang situation. You see, in the bigger cities, the status quo rarely changes. Developments don’t just happen suddenly, so even if something were to happen, we could always pull Xin out before chaos breaks out.
“Slough is different. How much do you know about the gang situation in our city?” Ben questioned Gary.
“I’ve heard some bits and pieces.” The high schooler answered, doing his best not to grin.
“Sigh, I suppose in this day and age it’s nothing but wishful thinking on my part to hope that you hadn’t. Anyway, you see, Slough isn’t safe these days. Even before those ingrates tried to hold your school hostage, there’s been a wide attack from the colour gangs not too long ago.
“That’s because the two big time gangs have seemingly tried to start something. What’s more, there is a new gang that has recently risen. As if the situation wasn’t bad enough already, I suspect those Howlers might make everything even more complicated and dangerous for the average citizen.”
Hearing their gang name caused Gary to start coughing. It had been the last thing he had expected to hear at this dinner. Nevertheless, for argument’s sake, he had to push further.
“But… are all gangs bad?” Gary asked.
Saying something like that had naturally earned him strange glances from the Clove family. After all, it was a very strange statement for a person to make. Everyone knew about gangs, and somebody Gary’s age usually wouldn't say such a thing… unless of course they would be delinquents that might intend to join a gang in the future.
“That's… quite the ‘interesting’ statement for you to make. Care to elaborate?” Ben Clove placed his chin on his arm.
Unfortunately, Gary hadn’t really thought things through. After hearing the Howlers’ name get mentioned, his statement had mostly been referring to his own gang. When looking around the room, it didn't seem like Xin or Jayden were going to save him from this one.
“Well, I mean…” Gary glanced at the guards that were in the room with them. “What about your guards? Aren’t they from the Rising Dragon gang? Don’t you use them to protect yourself and your family? I would say that is a good thing that they're doing.
“I used to hate gangs a lot, but the more I thought about it, the more I started to just see them like any business. In the world that we live in… they are like a necessary evil. They might have a different name, but aren’t corporations acting similar to gangs?
“They’re telling smaller companies to do their bidding, and if those don’t oblige, they get bought out or just bullied out of the market. And who's to say that this new gang that has come and taken over isn’t better than the old one? Maybe they want to change the status quo for the better?”
After saying all of that, Gary realised that he had gone on a bit of a tangent, and perhaps he had even gone one step too far. As such, he stopped there and waited for a response.
“For a child, your world view is quite peculiar.” Xin’s father finally broke the silence. “Still, I can agree with you that in a way they seem to be a ‘necessary evil’. Corporations, even political parties and campaigns do act like gangs in the ways you’ve described. I won’t deny that some things they use might be unethical.
“However, I think you're missing a key difference between the two there. Gangs kill, steal, rob, and force others to do things, in short pretty much everything they do is illegal. Take that new gang as an example. They came in, and beat another gang into submission, thereby acquiring their assets. Does that sound fair or legal to you?”
‘Damn, he’s talking about the Howlers and the Pincers, even the mayor even knows about that already. That only happened yesterday. How did the news travel so fast? Was it someone from the Rising Dragon that told him?’
For some reason, the conversation that Kai had with Gary in the car had appeared in his head.
‘There’s something Kai didn’t tell me. There’s a reason why he told me to be careful.’