CHAPTER 32: CHAPTER 32: EXTRA C AND HOMELINESS

Vangels, online gambling, and the first of the major problems that arose with the Helping Hand club and the storyline of the rom-com book. It was a very sticky situation for the students.

That said. It was also something that had nothing to do with me.

"This is not a very good thing," I said to the two friends—was it okay to call them friends now?—to the two friends of mine. They looked at me with a wry smile.

"I know gambling is not the best thing," Sebastian said. "But this one is a no-loss deal, you know? We get 200 bucks as part of being from this school. That’s the best thing. You can spend that money, just don’t put in any of your own. As long as you wager that initial sum, you can take it out as well."

"Hm..."

Eric started to speak as well in between. He raised his hand and softly interjected. "I am of the same thought as you, Abel. It is a bad thing to gamble, but honestly, there really is no loss as long as you don’t put money in."

"I guess..."

I looked at the two of them, then, with a shrug, I sat down on the circle. "While I don’t plan to play this on my own just yet, I think it’ll be fine to watch you guys play."

Sebastian and Eric shared a smile.

"Perfect! We’ll be rich, yeah?"

"If we take out a thousand bucks, let’s split it three-way."

"Who... told you guys about this site, by the way, if you don’t mind me asking?"

Sebastian grinned at my words.

"I am pretty good friends with the guy running to be the student council secretary, he used to be my senior in middle school. He told me about it."

"A senior, huh?"

"That’s right."

The evil part of this storyline, the gambling act. It was all connected to the people running for the student council elections. A lot of crazy things, things that one would rarely even see in large university networks, were about to happen.

I thought slightly about the things around and then sighed.

I was an Extra C.

All I was to their story was a gag character that would show his face once in a while at the most unexpected places, and then go away.

There was no need to get involved with this. Not for me, not this time. Definitely not this time.

***

That evening, I sat on my laptop in the living room, tapping away on some slight editing projects I had taken up. My house was frequently fragrant and much more lived-in these days than before.

"Damn it, how many hands do I need for this?"

It was also noisier.

I stood up and went over to the kitchen side of the room, which was divided by half a wall that didn’t reach the other side, and had a fairly large window through it as well. Anna sat on the dining table with her phone playing a video of some hairstyle.

She was dressed in a costume today, a business skirt and a white shirt. A tie was sprawled next to her while she kept trying to braid her hair in a strange manner so that it looped around her head from the sides, and the rest would cascade down.

"Should I help?"

"I can do things on my own," Anna said.

I shrugged and was about to turn around when she quickly grabbed the hem of my sleeves.

"But, it would be nice if you helped."

A chuckle almost left me (but didn’t). How funny, why did she deny it in the first place if she wanted help?

Anna restarted the video, and I stood behind her. With a comb in hand, I started to straighten out her hair first and then began with the braiding.

We were silently working on it.

"This is for that assistant job I am taking on. First time."

"Better be safe," I said. "If there’s any problem, just call me, okay?"

"Okay, okay, I am a big girl now."

"No need for sass. I am just worried."

Anna looked back and showed me a slight smile, an almost teasing one.

"You worry for me?"

"Of course I do."

"I worry for you more, Abel."

My hands stopped slightly. Her voice just had a strange crack that I couldn’t quite put a finger on, and let go. It was only a momentary hesitation, but I continued with braiding her hair. Slowly, into a straight line with a very small lock of it.

"Be safe, too," she ended the conversation there. Thankfully. It was better than going into details that I would have had to draw a line upon. For some reason, I didn’t want to turn her down completely.

"What is your opinion on Camus?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Camus."

"I like him. I find absurdism to be quite the interesting and positive philosophy, much more of a fan of him than of people like Nietzsche, at least."

"Nihilism is not all that different," I said.

"Essentially, somewhere, I can see why you would argue that. But wasn’t the question about Camus and not the philosophy?"

I nodded and twisted her hair one last time before putting on a rubber band at the very end.

Anna looked at her hair with her phone’s camera and nodded. "Wow, you’re not bad at this at all?"

"Mhm."

"Did you braid your girlfriend’s hair or something before?"

"I haven’t had one."

Anna nodded again. It could have just been me, but it was also very interesting how she was acting today. She seemed to be thinking about a lot of things. How weird.

I wanted to know, but that wasn’t my place. Just as it wasn’t hers to ask me about stuff I have forbidden her from asking.

"I’ll head off now," she said, grabbing the tie. "I’ll tie this on my own."

With those words, Anna shot out of the kitchen, grabbed her bag from the hall and her set of keys, and then shot out of the door.

"See you soon, Abel!"

The door shut close.

"See ya..."

I whispered.

The room was quiet again.

I stretched my neck a little while glancing at the table.

"I should get back to work—"

That was when my phone rang with a notification. My burner phone, the one on the living room table next to my laptop.

[P: I need a favor.]