Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

Chapter 167 Bonds　　When Rudy was walking Janet home in the dark, Janet tripped a couple of times after stumbling on the rocks and the uneven road.

That was something normal in the town covered by the farms, even more so when there was no light to see what lay a meter away from them.

Rudy could see everything as clear as day, but he purposely let Janet trip, as it would have been weird if he warned her. She would get suspicious and ask him many questions, and Rudy wanted to keep their walk as simple as possible.

Of course, Rudy didn't let Janet get hurt, and Rudy grabbed her whenever she was about to fall. And that led to him touching Janet's parts that shouldn't be touched by a boy.

Getting annoyed by tripping, again and again, Janet grabbed Rudy's hand and said, "Don't get the wrong idea. I am only holding your hand, so you don't get lost."

"..." Rudy shook his head in disbelief and thought, 'This side of her never changed, even in the university.'

After walking for a few minutes, they finally reached Janet's house.

"This was a nice way of showing me your house address," Rudy commented with a grin on his face.

"Shut up! And don't you dare ever come to my house! Or I will break your teeth!" she yelled at Rudy.

After walking and talking with Janet, Rudy couldn't help but recall all of his past life memories with Janet where they spent good times as friends. And their friendship had gotten so deep that his girlfriend— Elise, sometimes felt jealous of her because Janet knew Rudy since high school while she only met him at university.

Despite that, Rudy and Elise had quarrels several times because of his closeness with Janet, but it was nothing serious.

However, soon after that, Janet confessed her love to Rudy, but she didn't ask him out as she knew how much Rudy loved Elise and there was no chance and space for her in his heart.

They still remained friends, but there was awkwardness between them. A year later, Janet volunteered to go overseas for a project that was one semester long.

Rudy didn't know why Janet agreed as it was related to her least favorite subject, and he always thought that Janet did that, so she could get away from him, but he wasn't sure.

When Rudy got into the accident, she didn't know about it as she was working overseas as an intern because of the connections she made on the project and had excellent growth. While in truth, she focused more on her studies to forget about Rudy.

However, when she heard the news about Rudy's accident from her university friends, she flew straight to Rudy without caring for anything else.

She cried for hours after seeing Rudy's condition. She couldn't taste the food or drink water, nor could she sleep well.

Rudy didn't know about Janet's visit as he was unconscious most of the time. And no one knew about it, since no one was around to take care of Rudy at that time. She eventually had to fly back overseas for work, and never got a chance to visit again.

But when she did, Rudy was no longer in the hospital; he was taken to the gene experiment center.

"Thanks… for dropping me off…" Janet said with a flushed face.

"No worries, but now you owe me two favors. Remember that," Rudy responded in a rather calm voice despite the expression on his face.

Rudy then turned around after saying, "See you at school tomorrow."

"Wait!" Janet called out to Rudy and said, "Umm… do you want to… come in?"

"No," Rudy rejected her instantly.

Janet was a little disappointed, but she was also glad.

"Rias was a lot similar to you yet, different from you sometimes," she said with a distant smile on her face. "But I guess I know why you fell for her. And not going to lie, you two were perfect for each other."

After seeing Janet talking about Rias with a distant smile on her face, Rudy couldn't help but feel more desperate to find out about Rias.

"Of course, we were," Rudy responded, not wanting Janet to become suspicious of him.

"You also always used to braid her red hairs and—"

CRACK!

Once again, Rudy felt something breaking inside him, but this time, it was the most impactful than every other time.

Rudy wanted to know, even more, so he asked, "Do you remember how I used to try different hairstyles on her to see what suited her the best?"

For some reason, Janet seemed zoned out, as though she had seen a ghost.

"Janet?" Rudy called out to her in a calm voice.

"Ah… yes?"

"You were saying something?"

"Yeah….? About what?" Janet wondered with a puzzled look on her face.

"About Rias…"

"Uhh… who is that?" she asked with a curious yet confused look on her face.

For some reason, Janet forgot all about Rias and everything related to her.

"..." Rudy didn't know what to say, so he simply smiled at Janet and said, "No one."

"Huh…?"

"Good night."

"Good… night…"

Rudy left, but Janet was still confused.

"Who is Rias?" she asked herself.

She then closed the door and turned on the flashlight on her phone, seemingly, she purposely tried to make Rudy walk her home.

"Stupid Rudy…" she muttered.

Meanwhile, Rudy was infuriated. He didn't know what to do.

"Dammit!"

He has been looking for clues about Rias, but with no luck, he didn't find anything. The only person who remembered everything about Rias was Janet, who forgot about Rias in front of him.

"I have decided… if they don't want me to notice them, I will make them notice me…"

Rudy flew to Rias' address and stood between the debris of the demolished house.

"According to what Janet said, everything started from here. So I will just have to start again…."

Rudy then recalled the strange feeling he had when he had taken Angelica to the forest to have sex with her.

"I had my suspicions, so time to prove them right."

Without wasting a single second, Rudy walked into the forest.

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Author's Note- I wrote a detailed first chapter of this novel. Go check it out if you are interested and leave comments if you like it better than the previous version!

If it still shows the old one to you, open and close the chapter a few times, and it should work.

Thanks, @Joseph_Parker_0522, @Alekzi, and @puremichigan, for the gift!