Chapter 10 - Breakdown

"How did you… get here?" Reina asked with a confused look on her face. "You were at the top…"

Rudy averted his gaze and answered, "I…"

Rudy noticed he was standing near the slide, so he made an excuse saying, "I was tired, so I thought of coming down through this slide. And then I heard your screen. When I looked up, you were falling, but I somehow managed to catch you."

"Anyway…" Rudy tried to dodge the topic and gazed at Reina with a concerned look on his face: "Are you okay?"

Reina meekly nodded with a sad look on her face.

"....?"

Rudy let Reina down and sighed in relief.

'I jumped without thinking. What if I had failed to catch her, or my powers didn't work? Both of us would have died.'

When Rudy was worried about his powers, Reina was concerned about something else.

"Why… did you save me?" she uttered in a low voice.

"Huh?"

"You should have let me die!" Reina yelled as tears rolled down her eyes.

"Wait… don't tell me you jumped on purpose?" Rudy asked with a furious look on his face.

"No." Reina shook her head and said, "But you should have let me die. At least, I wouldn't have to worry about anything else."

"I would have to live life to pay loans. My life has no happiness. I don't even have a future!" Reina sobbed. "What if the water park doesn't work well as I have planned?"

"..."

"My life has no happiness!"

Rudy looked at Reina's crying face and smiled bitterly.

'She is having a breakdown, so she has been holding back all her pain, huh?'

In his previous life, Rudy lived the same life. His family was in debt, and Rudy had promised himself that he would give a happy life to his family. But instead, he ended up being a burden to him.

'Our lives are so similar. Maybe it's not a coincidence that I met her?' Rudy asked himself.

Rudy placed his hands on Reina's shoulders and said, "Hey… look at me."

Reina turned her face to the side and tried to wipe her tears, but they weren't stopping.

"Reina… look at me," Rudy said in a calm voice.

Reina looked at Rudy's face and sniffed.

'I don't want to die!' After seeing Reina's crying face, Rudy remembered something extremely sad from his previous life. He felt like crying after remembering that.

'Don't… Rudy. You have a chance to save 'her' in this life.'

"Reina…" Rudy called her name in a gentle voice and continued, "Listen to me. You said you have a sister, right?"

Reina nodded in response.

"What's her name, and how old is she?"

"Her name is Rina, and she is in high school," Reina replied honestly.

"If you die or something happens to you, Rina will have to take all the burden by herself, you know?"

Reina immediately stopped crying after realizing what Rudy was trying to say.

"Do you want her to feel the same way you did, at such a young age?" Rudy asked calmly. 'Although Reina had it worse. She mentioned her parents were infected 5 years ago, so she must be around 15 years old at that time, and she was burdened with the loans and the responsibilities.'

Reina shook her head violently and said, "No. I don't. I want her to live a normal life."

"Right? So stop with these suicidal thoughts, okay?"

Reina quietly nodded with a flushed face.

"Good. Now let's go—"

Before Rudy could finish what he was saying, Reina hugged Rudy.

"... hey… what are you…"

"Let me stay like this for a while," Reina uttered in a muffled voice.

"Well…" Rudy didn't know what to say or do.

'Alt least, she didn't jump for a kiss…' Rudy scoffed. 'And she is so soft. It's been a long time since a girl hugged me.'

Two minutes passed, but Reina wasn't letting go of Rudy.

"...uhh…!" Rudy had a boner.

'Wait! Calm down, my little brother! Just because a girl hugged me doesn't mean you get a chance to poke her!'

Rudy was once again facing a teenager's dilemma.

Suddenly, Reina let go of Rudy and jumped back in surprise. Then, she moved her gaze down and looked at Rudy's crotch with a flushed face.

"I am so sorry! I shouldn't have hugged you like that. That was so immoral of me," Reina apologized. But she couldn't take her eyes off Rudy's crotch.

"No, I am sorry. There is no need for you to apologize." Rudy didn't want Reina to feel more guilty than she already was.

After that, they went to Reina's office and ate noodles. Rudy almost teared up after eating the first bite.

Reina noticed it and asked, "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Yeah… it's just… they are a little spicy. But don't worry."

However, Rudy was lying.

'This is the first decent food I am eating after my accident…'

Rudy decided not to get too sentimental after remembering his previous life.

After eating dinner, Rudy and Reina cleaned the rest of the area of the water park. Rudy took care of the grass and unwanted plants. He also filled the pools with water and added the required amount of chlorine-- although she didn't have much anyway.

"Here is your pay…"

Reina placed a huge jar filled with dollar notes and coins on the table and said, "You can count them if you want. But I am sure they are more than 2500$."

'If she is giving like this, then it must mean this is her savings…' Rudy let out a weary sigh and said, "Don't worry. I trust you."

Reina's face flushed after hearing that.

Rudy glanced around and noticed it was nearly morning.

"I should be leaving now," Ruddy uttered awkwardly.

"Yeah…"

"When are you opening the water park?" Rudy asked curiously.

"At 9 AM." Reina looked at the clock and said, "After 4 hours."

"Are you sure you can run this entire place all by yourself?" Rudy asked with an anxious look on his face.

"Oh! No. Some workers will come and take care of anything. I will have to sit in my office and watch over everything," Reina replied.

"Do you… have enough money to pay them?"

"They are legally bound by a contract to work here. So I don't have to worry about that," Reina answered.

"That's… good?" After a brief pause, Rudy took out his phone and said, "Can I have your number?"

"Huh?" Reina was surprised after hearing that.

"Oh, I don't mean it in a weird way. But you can call me whenever you need me. I would be happy to help you out," Rudy said with a smile on his face.

"Sure. I would be glad too…" Reina said in a low voice, but Rudy heard it thanks to his superpowers.

After that, Rudy left the park and made his way to the main street.

"There is no way I am going through the tunnel again."

"I can use my powers to fly, but I have been using them for like 12 hours now. My body feels like it will explode. Plus, I am too exhausted to focus on flying.'

In the end, Rudy decided to take a taxi.

He stood near the pick-up spot and waited for a taxi to arrive. However, it was still 4 AM, and there weren't many taxis around.

After waiting for 10 minutes, a taxi finally stopped in the opposite street.

Rudy sighed in relief and made his way to the taxi.

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Author's Note- I had to rush the events in this chapter to end Reina's arc.

Also, the first harem member successfully acquired?!

Who do you want to be the next one?