Popo Connected!

"You called me, now, huh? How did you do that?"
"Tasyah just taught me how."

It took five hours to try to reverse Jordan's seed, but I did it. I finally could talk back at him without waiting for him to call me.

"What is it? I'm busy on the road, right now?"
"... Wait, you drove. Since when?"
"… Bro, we really need to sit down and talk. I've been driving for ten years. Literally two days after we got into Harold's apartment."

He was right. We really needed to sit down and talk.

"NO! Wait! This wasn't about me! It was about Harold!"
"Oh, Narmi? Sure! I'll connect her to you."

... That was easy. Why?

"I could still hear you, Zeed. Come on, buddy. Harold is still my closest companion. Do you really think I would kill his precious someone? Yeah, I killed a hero, but that was because I didn't know the person. I know this person, and she admired me."

You had a twisted mind.

"Thanks, but onto Narmi's mind, you go!"

My brain felt the tingle, and in one second, I heard a soft girlie voice, "Hello? Dad?"

I wasn't expecting her voice to be this soft, calming, and high-pitched. She sounded angelic.

"... Are you some kind of criminal? I could hear your thoughts, you know?"

Shit!

"Aaah... sorry, it was just my thing to remember people's voices. Just forgot what I thought."
"What are you doing with Uncle Jordan?! Why did he connect you to me?"
"Wait! Wait, wait! Don't get it twisted! Let me ask my friend first, okay."

I looked back to see Tasyah, Seiza, Popo, and Harold. I nodded to Tasyah, and she worked her role. I still didn't understand how it worked, but basically, Tasyah would wrap Popo around Harold's neck, and I needed to focus on the red dot on Popo's body. Then...

"UWWAAAAA!"

That was Harold, Narmi, Jordan, and my scream combined.

"What the fuck just happened? You just jolted me from my seat, Zeed. Didn't I tell you? I WAS DRIVING!"
"OH, SHUT UP! I WASN'T IN THE WRONG HERE!"

Tasyah looked away and tried to look innocent. I caught her, "You little prick, why didn't you tell me we were going to get shocked?"

Tasyah answered with a smile, "Heh, that was my first time doing it too. I didn't know you three would be jolted."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THERE WERE THREE OF US! WHO ARE YOU?"

We were stunned, including Jordan.

"Heh? Why did I hear Narmi's echo? What's going on?" Jordan sounded panicked.

Narmi answered directly to Jordan, "I don't know, Uncle. I can hear my voice while talking too; that was weird."

Harold cried and called his daughter, "Narmi?"

Narmi heard that and was happy, "Dad?"
"Yes, honey. It was me!"
"DAD!! Oh, Dad. Dad. Dad!"

Welp, that was successful. But...

"Why could I hear them talking, too?" That was Seiza.

Narmi answered, "Another person talking? How many people were in this call?"

Jordan continued, "Yeah, what is this? Why did we all suddenly connect? I can hear both Tasyah and Seiza."

"Tasyah, I'm scared", Seiza panicked as predicted.

"Ahh... like I said. This is my first time doing it, too. Oh, by the way, I can't hear Jordan and Narmi. So, I had no idea what they were talking about. All I can do is talk, and they can hear", she said while casually stroking Seiza's hair.

"What did she do, Seiza? Tell me!" Jordan said.
"I... I... I...", yeah, as expected, she couldn't speak with him. She still had trauma.

"Let me answer that, Yord", I took over, "You give seeds to all of the tenants here, right?"
"Yeeeaaah?"
"Tasyah replicated it by wrapping that monster thingy that Seiza created around Harold's neck." I saw Harold happily talking with Narmi. Thank goodness, these "powers" could do this. "We were supposed to connect Harold with you. But apparently, Seiza got connected too."

I got silence from him. I could feel his anger... but looking at Harold and Seiza, they probably didn't feel it. This guts-related power really confused me.

"It confused me too, you know. I have had this power for about two weeks now, and I hate that Tasyah knows better about it than I."

I wondered...

"Yeah, Zeed. I can hear your thoughts", Harold confirmed.
"If you're talking about me. Yeah, me too", Narmi confirmed.
"..." Yup, Seiza also confirmed, based on her embarrassed look.

"Stop staring at me!"
"Sorry."

I saw Tasyah and Seiza in the corner, just sitting there and smiling at each other. I tried to approach them, but Tasyah stopped me.

"WAIT! This power has a radius! I'm just sitting in this corner so that Jordan and Narmi don't hear me."

I immediately asked him, "Could you hear Tasyah?"
"Huh? She just talked? I didn't hear her."

Huh. Interesting.

"Zeed."
"Sorry.'

...

We finished our chatting... Well, Harold and Narmi did. I was just there as a connector between Jordan and Harold.

"He still felt like... him, huh?" Harold said.
Seiza patted Popo in the corner, "I'm still scared of him."
Tasyah continued the chain, "I wish I could hear him."
Then I closed it, "Jordan changed, no doubt about it, but his core wasn't. His actions changed, but his attitude didn't. He was still snarky and a trickster. He still cared about us, even when he felt like he wasn't. That... what he is right now."

We looked at each other. The atmosphere was getting a little tense. I was trying to cheer everyone up, but then...

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"Dinner's ready!" Wiwin sucked that atmosphere up and turned it upside down.

Harold answered, "We'll be ready."

We stared at each other, dead in the eyes, and Harold said, "We keep this to the four of us."
Tasyah stood up and said, "Wait?! We're keeping secret. Weren't we...?"
Harold quickly cut her off, "No. Not about Jordan. About my daughter. Wiwin would flip out and ask us to chase after Jordan."

Harold was right. Wiwin would.

"I don't want her to act recklessly. We are still going to tell her about Jordan."
"... Okay", Tasyah nodded and ended our discussion to eat dinner together.