Spending Time with Seiza and Her New... Pet?

It was a new day for us. I still thought about Jordan's job. How could he even work in an environment like that? His hate-love relationship with the heroes made me question him even more. It was about the heroes anymore. It was... my friend.

 *Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Who is it?"
"It's Tasyah."
"Come in."

She opened it gently. That wasn't like her; usually she would just burst in.

"Hey, Zeed. Have you recovered yet?"
"Yeah. I have."
"No, seriously. You were the first to hear that Jordan killed a hero. I knew you hurt."

Now I know why she wasn't like herself.

"I'm fine. Seriously. I talked to Wiwin, and it actually calmed me down."
"Wait, you talked to Wiwin?"

Why did that surprise you? Am I really that unsociable?

"Ah, then that's great. Do you want to see Seiza's progress?"

Right, I gave Tasyah a job to note Seiza's power.

"You would be disappointed in my findings, though."
"Why?"
"Nothing. Most of the things she did were the things that we already know about Slimefy."

Right. Of course. Tasyah was a hero's daughter, after all.  Still boggled my mind that she didn't inherit any ability, because I'm pretty sure sex was also one of the devices for transferring DNA. There might be a complicated factor that I didn't know about, but that might be revealed next time.

"As expected from an intelligence such as yours, Tasyah."

I patted her, and she asked, "You didn't disappoint at me?"

"Why? Because you have confirmed your findings about the power you already researched before?"
"... After you said that, I felt dumb. You're right. Let's go!"

We stepped out of my room and went into Seiza's. As I opened the door, I was immediately welcomed by... a dog?

Seiza saw me and quickly grabbed her... new pet? Am I missing something?

"Hey, guys."

She looked happy, which was nice. We had to keep her at bay. She wanted a normal life? I had to give it to her as a new leader.

"Who... is...?"
"Oh, him? He's Popo. The monster I threw up the other day."

He turned into a puppy?

Tasyah immediately explained, "This is a rare occasion; I can understand you forgot my explanation about whenever a Slimefy user interacts with other guts-related powers like Aura Intensity."

"Explain it away, teacher."
"Allow me!"

She asked Seiza to lend her Popo. Then she started explaining while pointing to things inside Popo's body.

"Do you remember what the most common implication of Aura Intensity uses?"
"They used it to change our mental state."
"That's right. Jordan did it to all of us, but people who have Slimefy power absorb that 'mental change' into a character. You can see it here."

I looked at her finger pointing at a little red dot in the middle of Popo.

"It was nice that Popo is see-through because, as you can see, he has a life source."

That was so small.

"That was so small, you might have commented."

... Did Tasyah just read my mind?

"Yes, that was because Jordan didn't fully use his power on us. I didn't know yours, but I know mine and Seiza; we both receive this amount of aura seed inside us."

That spawned a question for me. I asked, "How does it feel to receive that small amount of seed?"

Seiza answered first, "I don't hate it. It was just mostly annoying."
Tasyah answered, "Same. It felt nice. I mean that literally, what the power did to you."

Then that spawned another question, "Does it hurt when you receive too many?"

"It should have. Just think of it like a normal seed. When it grows inside of you, what will you feel?"

Jordan played a dangerous game with his... friend? I started doubting our relationship even more now.

"... Did you experience it when Jordan was still here?"

I was hesitating...

But alas, I need to answer it honestly, "Yes."

Both girls looked sad, but Tasyah quickly cheered me up by saying, "... Eh, hmm... Anyway, when you have this little seed inside a slime or goo. Whatever you prefer calling it." She also jokingly whispered to me, "I preferred Goo."

I laughed; she still sounded like a child even when she was thirty-two.

"The Slimefy user can manipulate the looks of the goo based on their emotion."

Which was currently happy.

"Which is currently calm."

Okay, I could confirm Tasyah wasn't a mind reader. I mean, no way there was another hero in the apartment, right?

I asked, "How about when Seiza is happy?"

"I assumed it would be similar to other Slimefy users; Popo would turn into a penguin, because that's Seiza's favorite animal."

Seiza turned bright when she heard that. In the moment, Popo was reshaping itself into a penguin. Seiza's eyes sparkled, and she started to hug Popo. I have never seen her this happy; most of the time, I saw her as if the world were about to end. She simply didn't care, but this— Yeah, this was nice.

"Seiza, you looked so happy! You're so cute."

I complimented her, and it made her embarrassed. That tone shift turned Popo into... a ball.

"Embarrassed! Popo turned into something that can be folded or rounded."
"Just like the person, huh?" I teased her a bit.
"Stop!"

Tasyah and I laughed. It was nice spending the evening with the three of Popo and us. It did feel like I finally understood them a bit. In a world where I am forced to be depressed, it was a nice change of pace to sit with someone whom I know but am not close to. I was starting to get why Wiwin asked me to interact with others. This connection felt genuinely heartwarming.

Now, I started to think: did I just waste my ten years shutting myself up? Did this event of depression force me to be... more human?

Did Jordan also lack this connection? Did he also shut himself up, like me? I guess I could think about it based on our interaction over the past twenty years. We never talked about each other's personality; most of it was just hero, hero, and hero.

Huh... at the end, it always came back around to the two of us, huh, "friend"? Maybe we were also a part of the hero problem.