Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

Alice reluctantly knocked on the door and waited for Reina to respond.

KNOCK~ KNOCK!

Reina immediately moved her gaze to the door because she thought Rudy might have come to visit her, but she was a little upset after seeing Alice on her door.

\'Why is she here?!\' Reina panicked inwardly. \'Did Rudy tell her everything already?\'

"Can I come in?" Alice asked in a neutral tone.

\'Where is Rudy?! Did he send her alone?! I don\'t want to be with her alone in a room! What if she does something to me?!\'

Reina\'s reason to panic was natural and logical. She was stealing Rudy from Alice, and that wasn\'t something acceptable in society.

Reina knew she was doing something immoral, and she felt guilty about it when Rudy first mentioned Alice in front of her. However, her guilt decreased when Rudy proposed the idea of the harem.

While it was true that harem wasn\'t also a thing acceptable by society, Rudy didn\'t care about that. As long as his girls were happy and satisfied, he couldn\'t care less about what the rest of the world thought about it.

Reina glanced around with a panicked look on her face, seemingly looking for Rudy.

"He is not here," Alice informed.

\'He is not?! Oh, no! What should I do? Did she see me kissing Rudy earlier?!\'

Reina couldn\'t stop panicking, because she was afraid, but not of Alice. She was afraid that Alice might reject the idea of the harem.

However, Reina was overthinking things.

"Is the pool in the next area booked?" Alice asked in a calm voice.

"Huh?" Reina stared at Alice with a puzzled look on her face.

It took her a while to realize what Alice was talking about.

"Uhh, no. Why?" Reina asked.

"So, can we borrow it?"

"..." Reina squinted her eyes with a confused look on her face because she couldn\'t understand why they wanted to borrow an empty pool.

"Don\'t worry! We don\'t plan to do anything indecent!" Alice added.

\'Oh, I am sure Rudy would make some moves on you. Especially when you are alone with him,\' Reina uttered inwardly.

"So… can we…?"

"Where is Ru— Where is the man who was with you?" Reina asked in a calm voice. "And what\'s your relationship with him?"

"Umm…" Alice\'s face flushed as she squirmed and answered, "He is… my… oh!"

Alice finally realized what Rudy had realized a long time ago.

There was no name for their current relationship.

Sure, they had confessed to each other and their feelings were mutual, they had even done things that crossed the limits of a normal friendship. However, neither Rudy nor Alice had asked each other out.

Alice was so happy about getting together with the love of her life, that she never considered other things. She was still over the cloud, and she had yet to come back to her senses, which wasn\'t going to happen anytime soon.

"Can we?" Alice asked again.

Reina could just say \'Sure\', but she wasn\'t actually sure.

The pool was empty, and she discarded the possibilities of Rudy having the power to create water out of thin air.

So she chose to go with her.

"I will come with you."

When Reina and Alice reached the pool, it was already filled with clean water.

"...!"

\'How? The motors are not working for this pool, and its tank is empty. I didn\'t want to waste water, so I kept it empty thinking I would have it filled when it got booked since the advanced booking must be done 2 days ago. But…\'

Reina glanced at Rudy, who simply winked at her from the angle Alice couldn\'t see.

\'It must be nice having superpowers…\' Reina thought. \'If I had them, I would do all the work without needing anyone. And Rudy and I would spend the rest of the time together.\'

"Hello, miss." Rudy greeted Reina with a smile on his face. He stood in front of her and said, "This pool is empty. Can we use it for a day?"

Reina wanted to comment something to tease Rudy as he was also teasing her, but she didn\'t do it because of Alice.

As a fellow girl, Reina sympathized with Alice\'s feelings and knew very well how it was to spend time with the man they love.

"You can use it, but make sure to drain the water before you leave," Reina said in a neutral tone to not reveal her emotions behind the words.

"Thank you, miss. Maybe your lover will also take you somewhere and make you happy," Rudy scoffed softly.

"Unfortunately, my boyfriend is too busy to make time for me. I doubt he even loves me," Reina squinted her eyes and uttered, "I am sure he is spending time with other girls."

\'Wow. She is throwing shade at me even though I am standing right in front of her,\' Rudy uttered inwardly.

"Umm... sorry for interrupting, but I think you shouldn\'t say that," Alice quipped. "Your boyfriend is working hard for both of you, and I am sure he feels the same way as you. He must also want to spend time with you, but here you are busy with your work, and so is he."

"..."

"I think you two should make some time and have a talk in person. Don\'t do it online or via text, as you can\'t show your emotions behind your words. Sometimes, it\'s better if you talk face to face," Alice asserted with a smile on her face.

"..." Reina was surprised to hear such words of wisdom from Alice\'s mouth.

That showed how mature Alice was in terms of relationships and how deeply she cared about feelings that are considered to be in a relationship.

Rudy couldn\'t help but admire Alice\'s maturity regarding that matter.

\'She always amazes me at unexpected moments.\'

"Thank you, miss. I hope everything works out in your relationship, too."

After saying that, Reina left for her office.

After Reina left, Rudy and Alice stared at each other with alluring gazes in their eyes.

Once again it seemed to be the moment where they both were thinking of the same thing, however, they could be wrong as the last time so neither of them took the initiative.

A few seconds passed like that, but nothing happened. Until suddenly, the lace from Alice\'s swimsuit got loosened.

"...!"

Of course, Alice realized it, and she stopped the top from falling, but the lace was still loosened.

Alice crouched down in embarrassment and looked at Rudy with teary eyes.

"It\'s okay. There is no one around to see that," Rudy said in a calm voice.

Alice calmed down a little, but it was still embarrassing for her.

"Do you… want me to…?"

Alice nodded in response and said, "Please."

Rudy walked to Alice and sat down beside her.

"You can let go of it now. I will take care of it," he said.

"But it will fall if I—"

"Is that a bad thing…?" Rudy asked with a grin on his face.

Alice\'s face flushed red as she heard that. She buried her face between her legs and muttered something, but Rudy was able to hear it thanks to his super hearing ability.

She said, \'It\'s still too early for that\' under her breath.

Rudy moved behind Alice and grabbed the laces that had gotten loose. However, he found something strange.

There was a cut in the laces, but it wasn\'t a natural cut. It was perfectly messed with at the right part and made it look like an accident cut. Unlike the natural cut, it was sharp, that was enough reason for Rudy to conclude that Alice\'s swimsuit was messed with.

The cut eventually widened when Alice wore a swimsuit and moved around, which broke the laces from the swimsuit.

\'Unfortunately, I can\'t tell how much time has been since it was cut, and I can\'t ask Alice about it, or she would feel more insecure.\'

"Is it done?" Alice asked in an anxious voice.

\'I can\'t use my restoration ability, or it would just get back to the state where it was cut. And the same thing will happen again after a few minutes.\'

Rudy decided to use pyrokinesis to burn the end of the lace and attach it back with the swimsuit while it was hot. But it didn\'t work.

\'I have to use the right amount of heat to make it attach!\'

After a few tries, Rudy successfully fixed Alice\'s swimsuit, but it left the black spot from where it was attached.

"Yeah, it\'s fixed. I was having a hard time knotting the laces," Rudy responded in a calm voice.

Alice sighed in relief and loosened up her stiffened body.

"Where did you buy this swimming suit?" Rudy asked with a curious yet calm look on his face.

He wanted to know who was behind this inhumane activity.

Alice told Rudy the address of the shop.

"Now then…" Rudy gave a little push to Alice and said, "Shall we dive into the pool?"

Alice quietly nodded and said, "You first."

In his past life, Rudy was awful at swimming, and he couldn\'t swim without a tube or a partner. Once, when he had gone to the beach with his girlfriend, he nearly drowned while trying to show his cool side to her.

However, in this life, Rudy didn\'t have to worry about anything. He could learn things by looking at them once.

Rudy stood at the edge of the pool and moved his hand towards Alice. He smiled at her and said, "Let\'s go together."

===

Author\'s Note- The next chapter coming up in a few hours!

Thanks, @Tom_Haugh, for the gift!