The Underground arena had multiple waiting rooms, but they were mainly separated into two sections so that the opponents doesn't stay together. These sections were separated into many levels depending on the fighter's record, and because Yuki was only an entry-level fighter, he was simply allocated to a room where many new fighters were waiting for their turns.
Of course, not all of the people that come to fight in the underground arena were dangerous members of society or experienced fighters, some of them are those who probably had some debts to pay and were left with no way but to use their sweat and blood to make money… After all, it's better to not owe some people money in this world or you will face a fate worse than death…
Yuki observed the people in this room calmly as he was going to take his seat, and they did the same to him but he didn't care about most of them, and his eyes were only attracted to a young man that appeared to be in his twenties…
He has short black hair and brown eyes and was on the slim side, like Yuki but not there yet… He had a handsome face and it was adorned right now with an intrigued expression while he was observing Yuki, different from how people usually looked at him.
He was wearing a black coat with brown fur lining that goes down to his hips, along with a plain black long-sleeved V-neck, pants, and dark brown shoes.
Yuki felt like this guy seemed familiar but he just couldn't remember where he saw him before, so he simply ignored him for now and decided to prepare himself mentally for his upcoming fight.
After all, this underground arena's a merciless place, fighting here almost had no rules except for weapons being banned, but of course, he was preparing himself mentally not out of fear, but to know when to hold back or he will end up killing someone...
Other than this, this place had no weight classes, meaning someone that's +100 Kg could be thrown in the same cage as a person who weighs 50 Kg… Not to mention that there's no place where you can't hit your opponents. So, many people target dangerous places like the eyes, the neck or the dragon balls to close the difference in weight… Here, the only thing that matters is your record!
For normal people, this could be a death wish, that's why most of the people that come to fight in this underground arena aren't part of normal society, and many gangs and underground organizations use this as a platform to settle some of their disputes by sending fighters that represent them…
As Yuki was contemplating all the information he gathered to prepare for his next fight, one of the people that was waiting in the room suddenly looked at Yuki's scrawny appearance and his cute cat mask before he opened his mouth and said sarcastically "Hey kid, did you get lost, get the fuck out from here before I kick you out myself… Tch what the hell are these stupid organizers doing accepting anyone here"
This guy was a very well-built man with a bald head and a tattoo of a bull on the back of his head… He was the type that probably came here just for fun… And at the end of his sentence, he actually also sent the dark-haired young man in the room a haughty look, clearly saying that those words were directed to him as well…
But what this big idiot didn't notice was that some of the people in the room suddenly started to look at the dark-haired young man warily as sweat started gathering on their heads and Yuki noticed that the people near the big idiot started distancing themselves from him without attracting his attention…
"Oh, you seem confident in winning your next fight huh?" Said the dark-haired man with a weird smile, and the people who knew him grew even more fearful.
"You talking to me kid?" Responded the big idiot with a savage smile on his face, clearly he was waiting for either Yuki or this kid to reply to him just so he could 'justifiably' beat them up…
"Who else would I be talking to if not you big dumbo?" Said the dark-haired kid and Yuki could hear some people who appeared somewhat normal whispering to each other as someone said "That guy is seriously trying to provoke Izaya-san…"
"He's an idiot, and he's going to find out soon why" responded another person to him
"You are right" responded the first person.
'Izaya? I feel like I know this name…' thought Yuki as he observed what was happening 'Thankfully, I don't have to act, otherwise, this idiot would have ruined my plan'
The reason Yuki chose this arena isn't simply to follow its fighting structure which is quite tricky for normal people.
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The way to raise your payment is by winning consecutive fights, for example, you start by 20000 Yen for each fight, but if you win three fights consecutively, your pay becomes 60000 Yen per fight.
The same thing will happen if you win another six fights which will raise your pay to 180000 Yen! However, if you lose even one fight, your payments won't get lower, but you will have to win 9 fights consecutively to raise it to 180000 Yen.
But this doesn't mean that your payments won't get lower. It can happen if you lose more than three fights in a row.
Yuki of course was planning to get paid like this, but he also wanted to quicken things up and he planned to do that by betting on himself. This is where the advantage of his appearance and the no-weight class rules of this arena comes into play. Because the more people think that it might be impossible for him to win, the more the odds would tilt against him and the more he would make by betting on himself!
This was Yuki's devilish scheme to get as much money as possible, and the bastard in front of him almost ruined it for him as he would be forced to show that he wasn't a pushover, which was something he didn't want to do for now…
So, looking at how the black-haired guy called Izaya was provoking the big idiot fearlessly, he felt like this might turn out to be a good opportunity for him since he was short on money to bet on himself, and a plan quickly formed in his head…
"What did you just call me?" The big guy stood up with rage written all over his face while looking at Izaya's unchanging mischievous face and he finally snapped when the latter spelled it out calmly " O"
"YOU!" Yelled the big guy at Izaya and true to the bull tattoo on the back of his head, he charged at Izaya careless not taking the latter seriously seeing his slim appearance, but Yuki couldn't detect any hint of nervousness from Izaya as he put his hand on the pocket of his coat calmly before he dodged the thug's charge with a grin on his face and a flash of cold light suddenly illuminated the room with only Yuki catching a glimpse of what just happened with surprise in his face
'This guy isn't normal at all' thought Yuki while looking at Izaya who was taunting the big guy saying "Still want to play?"
"Kid, you might be fast, but you have nowhere to run in this tiny roo-" the big guy started talking confidently but then he suddenly started to feel something sliding from his body and felt cold for some reason so he looked down and he finally noticed that his pants were shredded into pieces and he was naked right now from the waist down.
And Izaya made it worse when he pretended to be a shy girl and put his left hand over his face and kept peeking at him from the space between his fingers as he said "Waa, pervert…"
But no one could laugh at this as they kept looking at the small knife Izaya was carrying on his right hand, Yuki included...
"You! You know that weapons aren't allowed, just wait, I will make sure to report you to th-" Big dumbo was going to threaten Izaya but the latter quickly interrupted him with a cold look on his face as he quickly arrived in front of the big man and said
"There's no rule that says I can't carry the knife before the fight, but you keep talking, I don't mind letting you have a taste of what's it like to have your throat slit" said Izaya coldly with no more mischievousness on his face, and the people in the room felt like he might actually really act on his threats if the big guy doesn't back off…
The big guy started sweating heavily as he felt the sharp tip of the knife that was on his neck and froze from fear until a skinny hand suddenly landed on Izaya's shoulder and a gentle voice said "My friend, let's not go too far, it's not worth the trouble"
Izaya turned to look at Yuki in surprise and even the big man couldn't help but shoot him a grateful look while thinking 'Who would have thought, the guy I was threatening is the one that would come to help me from the clutches of this monster' he grew so emotional and his eyes started watering especially when Yuki got down and helped him get whatever remained of his pants and said with a sigh
"Man, you should really rethink your choices in life my friend, you will never know when the tables would turn on you…"
The big guy didn't know what to say, and seeing Izaya remove the knife from his neck made him even more emotional as he bowed to Yuki forgetting that he was naked and his ass ended up presented to the people behind him and they almost puked while he said "thank you so much, I won't forget your help today" The big guy felt like it was time to turn into a new leaf…
And Yuki, still with his forgiving and generous tone said "Don't worry about it, I already feel like I got my payment seeing that you are willing to change"
Izaya who was observing Yuki very closely from the moment he put his hand on his shoulder almost burst into laughter as he watched Yuki's sincere act in amusement.
The big guy seeing that Yuki didn't want any payment, bowed again before he left the arena causing people to turn back to their seats and discuss what happened, and just as Yuki sat down, they noticed Izaya sitting beside him causing Yuki to let out a sigh and asked, still with his kind face "How may I help you, my friend?"
Izaya smiled at Yuki warmly as he put his hand over his shoulder and said "Not much, I just felt like we would get along pretty well, don't you think?"
Yuki started sweating intensely before he said "Of course, of course"
Izaya nodded with a happy smile before he whispered in Yuki's ear "That's great, now then, how about we split the money you just stole, I suggest 30 % - 70%, of course, 70 to me since I did all the work, don't you agree?"
Seeing Izaya's warm smile, Yuki knew he was staring at someone far greedier than him as he steeled his heart and he knew that a huge fight was going to start a fight of words!
'I won't lose!'
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An: Hi everyone, just to add some clarifications. Most of the characters mentioned in the previous chapter are OC, although the underground arena was inspired by the anime Baki.
On another note... does anyone recognize Izaya?