Oops, I ended on another cliffhanger...
One day of China's, Hong Kong's, and Macau's disappearance turned into two...
Three...
Seven...
Twenty-one...
And today was the twenty-fourth day the three were gone.
Each day that passed by was infuriating for Japan.
He was already worried without denial for his brothers once the third day was reached.
There were absolutely no sign- no trace of where his brothers could have gone. Whenever he went to the next world meeting the countries would always bombard him with questions as to what happened to China.
"I don't know."
"I'm not sure."
"Please try asking someone else."
He would say a variety of phrases once one of the phrases had grown old and bland on his tongue. Like a piece of gum, he would eventually throw one flavor away and find another flavor similar to the last.
It was tiring.
This was beginning to affect people with previous connections to China too, so he noticed.
South Korea was growing less and less enthusiastic, simply waving off anything and groaning if asked to do anything. He used to be the one that checked their old house the most but that soon thinned out to barely after constant disappointment.
Taiwan was more prone to throwing tantrums and reacting with irritation, even to himself and Vietnam. Whenever he visited her, she would simply yell "go away!" from her closed-off room. One time, the door wasn't closed, and he noticed her asleep with a small tiger plushie that needed stitches in her grasp.
With the people that were later informed about China's disappearance, they didn't react any better.
Thailand was shocked and was the quickest to worry. Being the soft-hearted brother that Japan remembered him to be, he tried to do everything to keep their old family together and sane, but now that was harder to do now that they no longer lived under the same roof.
Vietnam simply scoffed at the new-found information, giving a, "So? You're probably just overreacting." She continued to brush it off until he found her drunk to the point that her entire face was red and yelling what he could comprehend as, "That stupid idiot! Making me worried... Why isn't he back yet?!"
Once Japan finally had enough time to visit China's house, he stood there, staring at the empty living room with a copy of the key that they took (South Korea having said original).
He walked along the familiar house, seeing how many different types of memories would he be able to see.
In the frontyard, that was where he first entered the household. The two would always take trips to the bamboo forest and it always leaded to them finding a new sibling to raise, love, and cherish.
In the living room, they were taught about calligraphy but all ended with different results. While Taiwan, Macau, and Kong Kong learned to perfect Chinese characters, the other four would struggle and ended up making their own words.
In the kitchen, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong- all no shorter than his waist- all looked guilty as they hid a broken porcelain teapot as he and Macau tried to defend for them. China would always give up from scolding with a sigh as he returned to cooking with Vietnam and Thailand, both somehow growing more quickly than himself.
In the backyard...
Japan quickly turned away from the backyard and headed to the hallway, not wanting to remember the last memory there.
Only one bedroom was familiar to him.
No matter how many times people intruded their home, China's bedroom always remained the same with a few addition of cute plushies on his bed. He walks over to the bed and lays on it, the familiar sent of jasmine silencing his worrying mind for once and letting him focus on his heartbeat.
This was where he always went to whenever he had a nightmare.
China would always smile as he invited him and held him, humming a soft lullaby. Before finally falling asleep, he would hear China murmur, "Goodnight, my little brother."
Little brother.
He never did like being called China's little brother, so he found out when he grew to have a normal teenage boy's body. At one point, he tried to persuade China to stop calling him 'little brother' and 'Japan' instead.
"Hello~? Is anyone, like, here~?"
Japan woke up, not realizing that he drifted to sleep, before sitting up straight. He recognized that voice with the odd grammar and quickly ran to where he thought he heard the familiar voice from, leading him to the basement.
"H-Hong Kong-s-san?!" Japan yelled. The sound of a box dropping made him scrunch up his eyebrows in confusion.
The basement was a new addition to the house- probably during the time he left, remembering how Taiwan was familiar with it.
He slowly walked over to the center of the basement, looking around before being met with the mirror once again. This simply made him grit his teeth, not wanting to shout out of frustration, before falling onto his knees.
"Just where could he be...?!" Japan murmured before looking at the mirror once again, wondering what he looked like right now.
Yet he wasn't met with the reflection of his face.
He was met with the sight of a leg.
Confused, he looked up to see Hong Kong, looking as equally as confused as he was.
"H-Hong Kong-san! W-What are you- H-How are you...?!" Japan couldn't find coherent words right now.
"I only heard you, like, shout my name. Like, why are you here?" Hong Kong asked.
Never before had he been so confused, and neither did he feel so insane. Questions relating to one subject escaped his mouth quicker than the others.
"W-Where's China-san?! He's w-with you, correct? Is he okay?!"
The younger was shocked when he heard someone like Japan worrying over the older, but quickly returned to his stoic face, "Yes, he's with me."
Japan couldn't help but jolt at the rather harsh tone.
Next thing he knew, Hong Kong had walked away from view.
"Huh...?! H-Hong Kong-san?! Pl-Please answer me!" Japan stood up and started hitting the mirror and trying to look at it like a window, but there was no success.
At this point, he wondered if he truly went insane, but seeing how he didn't see his own reflection and only the basement and fallen boxes behind him, he knew that something wasn't right.