Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

Chapter 524 (Un)Pleasent Twist

"Now you have done it!" the old man's ghost said.

"Done what?" Rudy asked with a confused look on his face. "I just want answers."

"There are things in the world that are better left unknown."

"There sure are, but believe me, my existence is all-knowing, so I got to know everything."

"Whatever you do next, you will solely be responsible for it. Don't blame others for what's coming next!"

"Can you calm down? I am actually— for once, confused as fuck, and I am thinking of answers." Rudy compared the wallets side by side and nodded, "Yup. They are the matching copy."

He opened the old wallet and saw the paper like he had for the first time. The ghost had stopped him last time, but now he wasn't going to stop, no matter what happened.

He slowly took out the paper and immediately regretted doing so.

"You have got to be kidding me…."

The paper was the family photo Rudy had taken from the polaroid camera.

"Why…? How? I only took four photos. One copy for me, one for mother, one for Lucy, and one for Joe. So what is…"

Rudy stopped on his words as he realized what was happening. He gulped down anxiously and looked at his new wallet. Then, he made a small cut on the symbol on the new wallet, and the same cut appeared on the old wallet he found on the grave.

"So this is my wallet… but… if so, then this grave is… mine? No, obviously not. Jessica is… was mom's sister. But why does this grave have my wallet, and why is it old?"

Rudy had already realized it, but he didn't want to admit it as it was out of his expertise. For the first time in a while, Rudy had no plans and no possibilities. After all, it hinted at time travel.

"What the fuck?!"

"We warned you, but you didn't listen. Now, you are responsible. You are to blame!"

"What do you mean? What blame and what responsibility?" Rudy asked with a puzzled look on his face.

The old man's ghost pointed his finger at Jessica's grave and said, "You are the reason why this girl will die!"

"Wh..at? But she died… eight years ago." Rudy covered his mouth as his eyes widened.

'Why do I know that? The dates on the gravestone are unreadable, so how do I know? I didn't know about it until now.'

Rudy turned to the old man's ghost and asked, "Tell me everything you know!"

"Oh, we don't know anything. But had you not checked the wallet, his girl would have been alive and well. You killed her!"

"Okay, that makes no sense. Even if this girl truly died eight years ago, that is not my fault. I was like ten years old— err… what the—"

Rudy sat on the ground and muttered, "Why don't I remember that? This grave belongs to my aunt; I am sure of it. So if she died eight years ago, I should remember her, right?

Considering my house's circumstances when I was a kid, my aunt should have been living with us, so why don't I remember anything about her? And not just this life, in my past life too. I didn't have an aunt. At least, mom never mentioned anything about her till the day I got into the accident.

So… does that mean she didn't die eight years ago? That has to be the only solution I can think of. Yeah, I must be mistaken or just assuming things."

"We were simply asked to guard this grave, and only one person was allowed to visit this grave," the old man's ghost stated.

"Who asked you?"

"You should know."

"..."

Rudy let out a big sigh and got up. He placed the wallets in his pocket and said, "I am going home."

Rudy glanced around to check if someone else was around before using his powers, but he was surrounded by ghosts.

He used his vision abilities, but he couldn't trigger them.

"Move!"

The ghosts didn't move, so he decided to teleport against his wishes. However, he couldn't teleport for some reason.

"..."

Ultimately, he decided to fly away, but much to his surprise, he couldn't fly either.

'What the fuck…'

Rudy tried to conjure fire, but it didn't work. He used his vision ability again, but that didn't work this time either. After that, he tried various abilities but none of them worked. It was almost as though he had lost his powers completely.

'No need to panic, Rudy. Calm down.' Rudy closed his eyes and thought, 'Your power is nothing but your mental energy. You are panicking right now, and that's affecting your mental stability. So calm down, and everything will be alright.'

Rudy kept his eyes for a while until he felt confident to open them again. But when he did, all the ghosts had disappeared.

"That makes one thing better."

He jumped in the air and sighed in relief after he was able to fly.

"That was easy… but scary…"

Rudy flew to his house, but something felt off about the town. Rudy was in a hurry and he wanted to see Rebecca so badly that he didn't pay attention to anything.

He could have teleported directly, but he felt that his powers might still be unstable, and he would end up teleporting somewhere he shouldn't.

He landed near the block and walked the rest of his way to the house in a hurry.

"Hmm? Why… does everything looks… a little different?" he wondered. He looked to his side and saw the houses were newly made.

"Uhh… no. It can't be happening."

Rudy rushed home, but the door was locked.

'Mom must be sleeping. There is still some time before Lucy returns home, so no wonder the door is locked.'

"I don't have the key with me as it's usually in my bag…"

Rudy used telekinesis to unlock the door and went inside. He walked into the living room, and he was left baffled after noticing that the house was missing many things.

"Please don't tell me that I…"

Rudy walked to Rebecca's room, but the door was open, and the room was empty.

"Excuse me, mister! Who are you, and why are you in my house?!"

Rudy turned around to see a little girl glaring at him with a furious look on her face.

'I… have time-traveled… again….'