It was only last year that I realized that the world I had been reincarnated into was the world of the Romantic Comedy book 'Heaven Waits, Hell Grabs.' As the name suggests, the romantic comedy was usually overpowered by the dark and gloomy events of the world. What's more, the person I had reincarnated as was someone featured in the book!

A running gag character who the Main Characters ran into at the most random times, of no use, and who would disappear as quickly as he appeared. An Extra C.

Last year. A year before starting High School.

It was already too late to realize my reincarnation was in a book.

Extra C had already...

***

The setting sun sent a crimson glow spiralling through the serene classroom. A sight one would generally call beautiful, but the two people inside were sharing anything but a serene moment.

"I am sorry, Anna... I don't think we can be together."

With his back to the window and a slightly awkward smile playing on his lips, the handsome young man looked straight into the girl's eyes.

"R-right... I see..."

"I mean, I never saw you that way... We are childhood friends, and uh."

Anna, the blue-haired girl, shook her head at his words. Her eyes were trembling as she avoided his gaze, but she held it in, clutching her fists behind her back.

"Right. Right. You don't have to explain it anymore," Anna chuckled, finally raising her head. Fleeting as it was, a single drop of tear slipped down her eye, contrasting with her fake but wide smile.

It was a sight that perfectly matched the setting sun.

"I shouldn't have said anything, right? Things will be awkward, haha. I'll just... uh, see you later?"

"Anna—"

She didn't wait. The girl simply turned around and charged out of the classroom, and he took a step but didn't chase her.

The handsome boy could only stand still as he looked at the door the girl had left through. Moments later, another young man walked in through the door.

"Oh?" the handsome boy's eyes widened. "Abel... wasn't it?"

The newcomer looked at the boy and nodded. He walked to the back of the classroom and picked up a small burner phone from a desk, seemingly his own.

"Fancy running into you here."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Is it?" asked Abel.

"Yeah... Did you... hear all that?"

Abel looked at the boy, staring into his eyes. "Hear what?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."

The two nodded, and Abel walked out.

The second week of high school was eventful for everyone. It was an age full of change and a period of growth.

Youth. Spring.

It was here.

***

'How could I have forgotten this?'

As I walked through the packed evening city streets, I spun the small phone in my hand. Thinking back on the events I had just witnessed made me cringe slightly.

Kids... If it was just that, I wouldn't have thought about it. But running into one of the side characters of the romance novel right after he rejects a heroine, it really drove home something I didn't want to accept.

I had reincarnated into this world as Extra C, the gag character that runs into the protagonists at the most random moments.

"What a hassle," the words left me on their own.

My footsteps were the only ones ringing through the streets as I made my way back home. I just wanted to crawl under my blanket and go to sleep while there was still time. At least, that was the plan until another sound interrupted my thoughts.

—CRASH!

A glass bottle broke somewhere; a tumble resounded right after, as if something heavy had fallen.

"Bitch, we've had enough! You better pay our money back, or we'll make you cough it up some other way."

"I-I will! I promise I will, just a little more time—"

Tap, tap, my footsteps led me to the small alleyway on their own. In the narrow path between the houses where ages-old trash was laid out, two men were cornering a blue-haired girl.

The girl was dressed in the uniform of a waitress from a nearby restaurant, and the two thugs, clearly ten years older than her, kept screaming at her, holding a log in their hands.

"Alright, if you can't pay up." One of them grinned, his voice truly horrible. "We might be willing to forgive some of the loan if you do a job for us."

"A-a job...?" the girl asked.

"It's nothing much, and you'll be paid well—"

A sigh escaped me. This was clearly a trap, and a sticky one at that. Perhaps a sense of empathy had risen in me for someone in a situation out of their control, much like myself, or maybe it was simply because of what I had seen earlier in the day, but it felt as if this girl had suffered enough.

I took a deep breath and wore a soft smile, then I charged into the alleyway. "Anna! There you are, I was looking for you."

The three people all turned my way. I ignored the two thugs and walked straight to the blue-haired girl, grasping her hand in mine. "Let's go. We should be getting back."

Anna was completely confused, but I could see her tenseness lessen a little. We were in the same class, after all, and while I was supposed to be Extra C, I think my behavior as Abel kept me from being isolated.

"R-right..." she said, catching on to my intentions.

As I took a step ahead, my eyes shot to the two thugs.

"Hey, you—" one of them tried to intervene, but the other man shot ahead to hold him back.

"John, no."

"But..."

"No. Not now," and then in a faint whisper I could clearly hear, he said. "Not him."

The two made way, and taking Anna along, I left the alleyway.

I never thought that this small action of helping someone would end up starting a domino effect in my high school life.

A domino effect of bothersome events that could only be described as something straight out of a shitty rom-com story.