Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

"I mean, since you have now been promoted, you will be busier. I don't think it's wise to waste your time commuting daily."

"You are absolutely right. But now that I am the chief, I have my own office with many facilities. I can bathe and sleep there. So if I am busy, I will most likely stay there."

"That's great. You can let me know if you ever need anything."

"Sure, sure. I will keep that in mind. Oh, right." Joe opened his bag and took out something while saying, "I bought this polaroid camera. Let's all take a family picture together."

"That's a nice idea." Rudy turned to Rebecca and said, "Mom, come here."

"Just a second. Let me set this stove on low."

Rudy stood in between while Rebecca and Lucy stood on his either side.

"Joe, you said it's a family picture, right? So you have to be here too," Rudy insisted.

"But then, who will take the picture?"

"There should be an automatic setting."

Angelica came out of Rudy's body and said, "I will take it."

Rudy grabbed Angelica's hand and pulled her close to him, saying, "You are also a part of our family."

Rudy said that to Angelica, but to others, it looked like he said to Joe.

Joe stood beside Lucy, and Angelica stood in front of Rudy, leaning on him a little.

"So… how does this work?" Joe asked.

"Let's say 'cheese,' and it will capture."

When everyone said that together, Rudy used his power to click a photo, but he didn't stop there. He took four pictures and waited for them to be printed out— although Angelica had moved away after the first photo as she didn't want others to see her in their copy.

However, when the images came out, Angelica wasn't in any of them.

"..."

Angelica smiled bitterly and said, "I knew this would happen."

"..."

Rebecca packed food for Joe, and he left soon after. But he left the camera with Rudy as it was supposed to be a gift for him.

After eating again, Rudy went to his room to grab clothes as he wanted to take a bath.

"..." Angelica was sitting on the bed with a gloomy face, and Rudy knew exactly why.

He sat beside her on the bed and hugged her before saying, "It's okay. Even if you are not in the family photo, you are still part of my family."

"I am not that sad. I know I am part of a bigger family— that is, your harem."

"Yeah."

"I will have my own family one day, right?"

"...yeah."

Angelica looked up at Rudy and asked, "We will also have lots of babies, right?"

"...yeah," Rudy nodded.

"Even though I am a ghost, you can make that possible, right?"

"Of… course. I can do anything for you."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes… it's my promise…"

He rubbed his hand on Angelica's arms as he stared at nothing.

"I promise."

After that, Rudy and Angelica went to the bathroom, where Rudy rewarded Angelica as he had promised. They didn't leave until an hour later when Lucy impatiently banged on the door.

At that time, Rebecca had already left for her night shift, so Rudy continued rewarding Angelica in his room, and the rewarding ceremony ran all night.

The following day, when Rudy went to pick Alice up for school, she was experiencing a hangover and was in no mood to go to school. And since it was a sports week, attendance was necessary.

Rudy wanted to suggest to Alice to stay at home, but then he remembered what she had said a day before.

'I have always been alone.'

So he changed his mind and took Alice to the vampire gang, who were preparing to sleep. The gang was happy to see Rudy, but they didn't show it on their face except for Rias.

Rudy copy-pasted one more bed for Alice and asked her to rest there. He also bought all of them a pair of headphones so they could watch different shows without disturbing each other.

After that, Rudy teleported back to Alice and didn't forget to pick Janet up. When they were on their way to school together, Janet asked:

"Where is Alice?"

"She is not interested in sports," Rudy responded.

"I see."

A brief silence later, Janet couldn't stay quiet and uttered, "Rudy…"

"Hmm?"

"Do you… hate me?" she hesitantly asked.

<o>,m "No."</o>

"Even though I used to bully you?"

"Well, I haven't forgiven you for that, but I don't hate you either."

Janet bit her lips and asked, "What should I do to get forgiven?"

"Hmm~" Rudy hummed in amusement and said, "How about you let me bully you back?"

"You… want to beat me?"

"No, of course not. And you never physically bullied me, so why do you expect me to do that to you?"

"How else do you want to bully me then?"

Rudy glanced at Janet's breasts without saying a word and shrugged his shoulders.

"..."

They reached the school, and the day passed normally. Rudy later dropped Janet back at her house after school hours ended. And then teleported to the vampire gang.

Only Rias, Alice, and Vriti were awake while the other two were still sleeping. They were watching a movie together, so Rudy joined them.

Later that evening, Rudy dropped Alice at her house and headed to his house. He ate dinner with Rebecca and Lucy and prepared to leave for the Underworld as it was the night of the VVIP tournament.

Of course, he was already disqualified from the tournament, but he was going to the Underworld to meet Maria, whom he hadn't seen or talked to in a while because she had made him promise that.

He left the house usually and informed Lucy about it so she could lock the doors and sleep without waiting for him to return.

Since the Ross Syndicate was now aware of Rudy's power, he teleported directly to the estate. Sure, the guards had also seen Rudy using his powers, but he had wiped that memory from their brains, so they couldn't remember anything.

Rudy was expecting to surprise Maria by suddenly appearing there, but Maria surprised him instead.

She was waiting for him in the living room, wearing a bride's outfit.