Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

"No, no. Why would I ever take you to my home and let you meet my mother?" Rudy asked with a flustered look on his face.

"Because she is going to be my mother too?" Rias answered with a question.

"Why would you think that? I don't even love you. There is nothing between us, so stop calling her your mother," Rudy remarked.

"But I want to marry you…" she said with a dejected look on her face.

"Listen, you are a vampire, and I am a human. Nothing can happen between us."

Rias puffed her cheeks and said, "That's what you think."

"Anyway, I am not taking you to my house or letting you meet my mother, and that's absolute. Period!"

Rias squinted her eyes and said, "Maybe I should drop by uninvited and introduce myself to your lovely mother."

"Rudy turned around and pinned Rias against the wall. He glared into her eyes and said, "Don't you dare do anything to my mother!

"Uhua~ So rough~" Rias licked her lips and said, "I like it~"

"Are you a masochist or something?" Rudy was disgusted by Rias' nature.

"I can be anything for you~"

SIGH!

"Talking with you is like talking with a brick..."

Rudy let go of Rias and started walking without her, but Rias caught up to him and jumped on his back again.

"You can't escape me. I will come after you~ I will follow you to the depths of hell~"

"I don't want to brag or sound arrogant, but I am pretty sure I will go to the heavens."

"Oh?" Rias raised her brow in amusement and commented, "Well, I have only known you for a month, but you are not exactly a saint."

After a brief pause, she added, "But I do want you to go to heaven."

"..."

Rias hugged Rudy tightly and muttered, "Although, sadly, I won't be able to accompany you there."

"Why not?" Rudy asked curiously. "I have done bad things?"

"Tons of them…"

"Well…" Rudy didn't expect to hear that as a response.

"But that's not why. I am a vampire, a monster. And monsters don't go to heaven."

Rudy felt a sting in his heart after hearing that. While he may not love Rias, he had gotten close to her and saw her as his friend.

"Will you be sad for me?" Rias asked in a curious yet calm voice.

"..."

Rudy didn't know what to say in response, so he kept his mouth shut. And it wasn't as though answering it would have made it any better.

"Why worry about the things we can't control? Let's enjoy our present and live our life to the fullest," Rudy reassured Rias.

"You are such a hypocrite, you know that?"

"..."

"You keep talking about things, and yet, you never implement them on yourself," Rias commented. "You say, 'Why worry about the things we can't control', and yet, you worry about your future all the time. You say, 'Let's enjoy our present and live our life to the fullest', yet I have never seen you smile or enjoy your present."

"It's different for everyone…" Rudy muttered.

"It's not.

"How do you know? What do you even know about me?" Rudy asked in a disdainful tone. "I am not the person you think I am. I am a pathetic loser, a weakling, who is only better at studying. I can't do anything besides that. And my future depends on it!"

"How do you know that? Have you seen your future?!"

"No, but what I do in my present will make my future! I have so much responsibility in my head. I have a mother to take care of! She has sacrificed so much for me!

"Argh! Future this and future that! What if you get into an accident after you study for your entire life?! There will be no future!" Rias yelled in frustration and jumped off Rudy's back.

"I wish that could happen. At least I wouldn't have to suffer every day!"

"You…!" Rias slapped Rudy on the face and glared at him with teary eyes. "How can you say that! What about your mother then?! This is like you are forcing yourself every day to live. That's not called being alive!"

"Why… are you crying for me?"

"Because I love you!"

"..."

Rudy stared at Rias for minutes, trying to understand his life. Rias' words penetrated his thick skull and his shallow mentality.

Rias also started feeling anxious as Rudy had been staring at her with an emotionless face for over ten minutes. She slowly gulped down in fear because she felt she had touched on a sensitive topic.

She was aware that Rudy didn't love her— although she was dead set on making him fall for her— she didn't want him to hate her, at least.

"You are right," Rudy finally said something. He smiled at Rias and said, "Thank you."

After seeing Rudy smile at her, Rias' heart fluttered. She immediately jumped on Rudy to hug him, but he pushed her back and said, "No hugging or touching me."

Rias puffed her cheeks and said, "You meanie!"

"No, that's a normal thing."

Whenever Rias hugged or even touched Rudy, she pressed her whole body against him. And Rias' scent was something Rudy was charmed by. He was a teenager, and having a girl hug him so passionately made him excited.

"So, just to confirm and put my heart at ease. You are not angry at me, right?" she asked hesitantly.

"No."

"And… you don't hate me…?"

"Uhh.. no."

"And you love me?"

"Hehe. Nice try. But no."

"So we go meet your mother now? I want to meet her so badly~"

"No. I am never letting you go near her."

Even though Rudy said that, after spending three months with Rias, Rudy took Rias to his house.

He was nervous because he was going to bring a girl over to his house for the first time in his life— excluding Alice since she was his childhood friend.

"Why are you so nervous?" Rias asked with a puzzled look on her face. "You already informed your mother that I am going to visit, right?"

"Yes…"

"So? Let's go."

"You don't understand. It's nerve-wracking for me…" Rudy uttered with his voice full of anxiousness.

Rias really didn't understand that and barged into Rudy's house.

"...!"

===

Author's Note- The next chapter is probably going to be the last chapter of this flashback.