Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

"Found her…"

Rudy landed in front of a familiar convenience store and waited for Rias to come out of it.

"What is she doing here?" Rudy wondered. "Or... I think I know why she is here."

Rias was in the convenience store where Rebecca worked, although she was at home now as she only did night shifts.

About a minute later, Rias walked out of the store empty-handed. She was wearing a hoodie and a mask on her face as though she was trying to avoid being seen. Her hands were in her pockets, and she was walking with a lowered gaze to avoid eye contact with anyone.

"..."

Even if Rias walked with her eyes closed, she wouldn\'t bump into anyone or anything as her senses were sharp. Even though she was almost a human, she had the basic vampire abilities that one needed to survive.

Rudy approached Rias and said, "Hey there, miss. Are you going somewhere? If yes, then I will have to report you to the police since you are running away after stealing my heart."

"..." Rias looked at Rudy and stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "Lame."

"Of course, it was lame. I read it somewhere. If it was my original, it would have been the best pickup line in the world," Rudy said proudly.

"How did you know I was here?" Rias asked with a glint of curiosity in her eyes.

Rudy puffed his chest and confidently said, "I am the world\'s best stalker."

Rias took off her mask but kept the hoodie on.

"More importantly, why were you here?" Rudy asked with a knowing look on his face.

"Uhmm… I was just looking for something, but it was out of stock."

"I see."

Of course, Rudy knew she was lying as he was aware of the reason why Rias was there.

"Perhaps, the thing you were looking for was a human named Rebecca?" he asked with a judging look on his face.

"What do you…"

Rudy smiled at Rias and said, "You were also wearing a hoodie when we met for the first time."

"No, I was in my normal… oh…" Rias\' eyes widened as she realized what Rudy was referring to.

She looked at him with a surprised look on her face and asked, "You… remember now?

"Well, more like I experienced it firsthand," he chuckled.

Rias\' eyes suddenly got teary as though she couldn\'t hold her emotions anymore. Her tips trembled as she tried to speak, but words weren\'t coming out of her mouth.

"I… I am so happy!" She hugged him tightly and embraced his warmth. "Finally…"

"Sorry… you had to go through all that for me."

"There is no need to. It was just a test of my love, and I hoped I passed."

"Yeah… you did. You passed with full scores."

They stayed like that for a few seconds and kissed a couple of times while looking into each other\'s eyes.

"You were here to meet mom, right?" Rudy asked calmly.

"Yes. Although it hasn\'t been long since I came here, I spent my free time looking for your mom\'s whereabouts. When I was here the last time, and you took me to your house, my memories— about everything else besides you— were still sealed.

I think Rebecca had recognized me, but she was pretending to not know me. But even if she hadn\'t, I wouldn\'t have understood anything. No wonder she wasn\'t surprised at all when I revealed that I was a vampire. I tried to scare her off and steal you from her, but that… oops."

Rias gulped down in fear and prepared herself to receive Rudy\'s wrath.

Rudy raised his brow and asked, "What did you just say?"

"Nothing." She averted her gaze and avoided eye contact with Rudy.

"You tried to scare mom by revealing your vampire self?"

"No… I mean, that wasn\'t my intention. I was just letting her know about me…" she muttered.

"You did all that when I wasn\'t around?"

Rias nodded meekly in response.

Rudy shook his head in disbelief and said, "Well, let\'s forget about that. Mom is the only person who knows everything about everything. That also makes sense why you didn\'t look all so surprised when I mentioned Nyxia\'s name as one of my love interests."

"Hmm? Oh.. yeah… yeah. Exactly!"

"You need to learn to lie, you know? Take lessons from Angelica, she is quite good at this stuff."

"Umm… correct me if I am wrong, but… Angelica is Jessica, am I right?"

"Yes."

"So that\'s why I kept forgetting her name again and again."

"What do you mean? How does that relate to my time travel event?" Rudy asked with a confused and curious look on his face.

"I am not exactly sure, but your seal still has its effect. It\'s keeping me away from learning a few things. For example, you introduced Jessica as Angelica many times, but I forgot her name even after learning it a couple of times.

It\'s like… Your seal is alive, and it\'s preventing me from learning things I shouldn\'t. But I no longer feel that as I now remember Angelica\'s name. Perhaps your seal lost its effect after you remembered everything?"

"That\'s the only possibility," Rudy nodded. "By the way, is that why you were stalling to reveal everything to Jane?"

"Yes. I didn\'t want to take any risk by messing things up. It\'s just like… err… when you study hard for an exam and get all the answers written, but you forgot to write your name on the answer sheet, so you failed."

Rias chuckled nervously while saying that.

"Yeah, that was a good example."

"That\'s also why… I was… you know…" Rias squirmed a little with a flushed face and muttered, "I was avoiding to… have sex with you."