Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

"Mom hasn't returned yet?" he asked Lucy.

"You woke up earlier than usual. Her shift shouldn't have ended yet," she responded.

"I went to bed early, so I don't even know when she went to work," he sighed.

"Where were you, though?" Lucy asked while acting normal.

"Uhh… I was with my friend."

"Who, Eric?" she asked.

'Mom must have told her a few things about me,' Rudy uttered inwardly.

"No. Alice. She is my… childhood friend."

"Oh, I know that. Your mother showed me the photo album of your childhood pictures."

"Is that so…?"

"Yes! You were so cute when you were a kid!" she said cheerfully.

Rudy squinted his eyes and asked, "Why are you saying it like I am no longer cute?"

"Hmm~" Lucy hummed in amusement and said, "You are handsome, not cute."

"Oh…! That's right!"

Rudy and Lucy ate breakfast while talking like a normal brother and sister— although it was a rare occurrence for a sister would call her brother handsome.

"What about you? Do you have any friends?"

"Of course I do!" she said in a rather loud voice. "I have friends in school."

"Oh, I was talking about childhood friends or, you know, close friends that are like family to you."

"I don't have a childhood friend, since we have been moving a lot from one city to another and never had a chance to… you know…"

"Yeah, I feel you. I only had three childhood friends, and our friendship slowly faded as time passed…" he muttered with a distant look on his face.

"Hmm? They are still your friends, right?"

"Ah, I was talking about the possibility." Rudy cleared his throat and said, "I said if I had the same circumstances as you, our friendship would have faded away as time passed."

"True."

After eating breakfast, Rudy went to his room to grab his phone and returned downstairs.

He looked at the time and muttered, "Mom should be on her way."

"Rudy? Are you going somewhere today too?" Lucy asked with a little annoyed look on her face.

"Yes. I am young, so I should enjoy myself, right?"

"That's true, but don't you think you should focus more on your studies?" she asked with a judging look on her face.

"Oh, come on. You now sound like mom," he groaned.

'You sound like mom.'— That was something everyone in the world was familiar with, and not in a pleasant way.

"Our tests ended not long ago, and we have a sports week coming up soon, which was delayed for some reason. Let me live my life a little," he scoffed. "What about you? What do you do all day at home?"

"I watch television shows," she said with a straight face.

"And then you ask me to study," he commented.

"At least I don't go out and hang out with 'girls'," she quoted 'girls' with her fingers and continued, "Or in my case, boys."

"Anyway, I am leaving. I will be back in an hour or two. Make sure to lock the doors~"

After saying that, he left the house and flew to the sky.

SIGH!

"Seriously…" Rudy shook his head and muttered, "She hasn't changed at all. She was just like this in my past life."

"Angelica, I am going to the convenience store. Do you want me to buy something?"

"....?"

Rudy waited for a few seconds, but after receiving no response from Angelica, he assumed she had fallen asleep.

"She was watching anime all night again. But at least, this time, the phone had enough battery."

Rudy flew to the convenience store Rebecca worked at, and landed near it. He walked the rest of the way in and searched for her, but she wasn't there.

"She left around 10 minutes ago," the staff said.

"Oh, okay."

'If she left ten minutes ago, she should be home already. Maybe she stopped on her way to buy something? Still, I flew all the way and kept my eyes on the streets. I didn't see her…'

Rudy furrowed his brows and left the store in frustration. He then closed his eyes and used 'Find my prey' to search for Rebecca's location, only to find her walking on a familiar street.

"Eh? Why would she take a long way instead of the short way?" Rudy wondered in confusion. "Actually… I might know. I think she is trying to avoid running into me. She thinks that I will go out today too as I did yesterday and she will be able to avoid me with ease. But mom, you are mistaken. I am not going to let you off the hook for the emotional pain you have given me recently."

Rudy soared into the sky and reached where Rebecca was. He wanted to confront her in the middle of the street, but he stopped himself.

'If she asks me, 'How did you know I was here?' I would be speechless. And instead of me confronting her, she would confront me. Let's follow her home and then do everything,' he uttered inwardly.

Rudy hadn't realized that he was acting like a professional stalker.

He slowly followed Rebecca from the sky while chatting on the phone with Alice.

"Should I go home and wait for her? But she can still avoid me. I will have to corner her somehow…" Rudy placed his hand on his chin and thought of various ideas, but all of them were extreme.

While Rudy was busy answering Alice's question about mathematics for the homework, he glanced at the street and saw Rebecca wasn't there.

"Hmm?"

He glanced to the side and saw her walking to a different street that was opposite to his house.

"She was supposed to take a left, but she turned right. I don't think she would make a mistake, so why is she…?"

Rudy followed her for a while and realized where she was going.

"That way is…"