Chapter 2

I continued to stare at the person still standing just outside the crate, staring at the cat in my arms. Chip, being Chip, decided that he wanted to be let down, so he kicked my arm with his back claws and I dropped him. Chip walked over to the person, curious about who the random stranger was. Japan crouched down and held his hand out to be smelt. Meanwhile, I heard the sound of Aria getting up off the couch in the living room.
"Allora, what was that sound? It was way too loud; the neighbors are going to complain again." She came around the corner and stopped. "Allora… Who is that and why is he here?"
He looked up from where he was petting Chip. "Hello, I am Japan, could you tell me where I am?"
"…You're in America. Did someone hire you for a prank?" I asked. "Why were you in the crate?"
Aria stayed silent, for now. Japan looked down at Chip with a frown on his face. "I do not remember. I do know I was not hired for a prank. I… remember something about a book having answers? I'm sorry I do not know how or why I am here…" Japan responded.
I looked over at the table where I had put the manual down. I turned to Aria, "I'm going to call the number that was in the book. Whoever answers might be able to help." I pointed at the crate. "Japan, Aria, please check the crate for anything useful. Maybe something in there will be able to give us some more info…"
I grabbed the manual and headed toward the couch where my Samsung galaxy 8+ was. I opened the booklet to the page with the number and started putting it into the cell.
"Hello, this is Customer Service for Change for the Better Inc. My name is Andria, how may I help you?"
"Yeah, hi. I have a few questions about something I received in the mail today."

"Alright, please wait a moment. Ah, yes. You're Allora Perkins, correct? Go ahead, I will do my best to answer any questions you may have."

"First, why did I receive a living person in the mail?" I was preoccupied with the insistent wondering of what was going on, to ask about them knowing my name.

"That is a common concern. As a matter of fact, the person you received, while seemingly functioning just like any other living person, is not actually human."

"Who... What is he then if not a person? The manual he came with calls him Kiku Honda and he calls himself Japan. Hetalia Units only exist in fanfiction, this is impossible!"

"Well, it is exactly what the manual says it is." I froze in disbelief as she continued, "Units are still being tested and further developed, but they are no longer limited to the fantasy of countless teenage girls anymore. We at Change for the Better put an ad on various fanfiction sites to select random testers. We, at this time, are not making any Belarus or Denmark units. Every tester will eventually receive all of the other Hetalia characters free of charge. Along with any unit that is supposed to come with them at the start. We are also giving all testers a fair sum of money in each crate along with the units to help with any expense that could crop up. Once you have all of your units the money the company is giving you will stop coming, so it might be a good idea to get them jobs as soon as possible. All units once activated will be yours for life. Have I answered your questions?" As she finished I unfroze deeply insulted.
"Did you just call him an It?" I asked dangerously.

"I did? It's not a living being, is there a problem?

At that time, I was trying to take a deep breath and not snap, however when I heard that I snapped.

"In fact, I do have a problem, He may have been made by your company. But He is very much a person the next time you talk to someone about people like him I hope they have re-trained you to not be an ignorant bitch. Now you have yourself a nice day." I snarled.
"I…"
*beep*
I took the phone from my ear to glare at it. "I can't believe that bitch calling him it for Inari's sake." I looked at the time and sighed, it was only 7:38 am.
"Aria, the customer service rep was a bitch and I didn't process that much of the spiel she gave me after she called Japan it. Honestly! Aria, I don't understand anything about today. It's only what, almost 8 am. I feel like it's bedtime already."

Aria and Japan had already taken everything out of the crate and laid them to the side.

"Before we go through what was actually in there, let's move the crate to the side, so Kara can come in when she gets home from work," I told them after calming down a bit. Japan and Aria both looked at the crate.

"Where are we going to put the crate Allora?" Asked Aria.

"We should probably just throw it away. Japan, I will explain why when we get back from putting it in the trash, but you can't be seen outside right now."

Aria's eyes got wide, "Oh shit, good call Allora. We don't want to deal with that until we know what's going on."

"Japan, before we go do that, how do you want us to call you?" I asked.

"Kiku is fine since we are in America." He replied.

"Are you sure? We all really like Japanese culture, we would have absolutely no problem calling you Honda-san or Kiku-san."

He thought for a moment, "I would be ok with Honda then, or as I would say it in my language. Jyaa Honda Dewa ii."

"Alright Honda-san, just sit on the couch and pet the cats for now. I'm going to let Loki out so he can meet our new friend Honda-san, Aria."

She nodded "We should get dressed as well Allora, so we can take the crate out."

I hummed in agreement. I opened the door to the bathroom and bent to pat Loki on the head as he left. My bedroom was right across the hall from the bathroom, so I quickly changed into Jeans and a black t-shirt with the Deathly Hallows symbol on it that I had gotten from a Loot Crate.

By the time I came out, Aria already had a pair of jeans and a jacket on, she was just waiting for me... Without saying a word, we both went to look at the crate. Japan, before going to the couch, had moved everything into the living room so we had room to maneuver.

"Should we try and break down the crate before attempting to move it?" I peered inside, "Oh, nice... there are removable hinges inside the crate. At least they made dissembling the box easy." I said.

We started putting the big pieces on top of each other. The bigger side pieces ended up being really light compared to the piece on the base.

"Allora take two of the big pieces, I will take the heavier pieces since you can't lift them."

I sputtered, "I'm not that much of a weakling! I haven't even tried to pick the pieces up yet. How do you know for sure if I can't pick them up?"

She gave me a deadpanned look. I started pouting, she knows me far too well.

"Fine, let's get this over with."

After we came back from the dumpster, I was very much out of breath, in shape I am not.

"Right, Honda-san, while Aria and I look through what your crate had, how about you read the book that came with you," I told him holding out the book to him.

Before he could say anything, I had already turned to the things in the living room. Aria started on the right of the pile and I went to the left. The first thing I found is one of Honda-san's Kimonos, it was a dark blue one. Next thing I found was a check in a small envelope, I opened it and went bug-eyed. I put it to the side for the conversation that was coming up. I continued with looking through the items. After finding the envelope, I found the paperwork Honda-san would need to get a job and his driver's license. Once I saw all that was left were items that the manual had talked about, I got up and started walking towards the couch. Aria saw that I was headed to the couch and went to the loveseat.

"Aria, before I start on what the Customer Service bitch said I want to answer any questions Honda-san has about the book."

She nodded and asked, "Can I see the book?"

Honda-san handed the book over. "The book says I am a 'Unit' as well as the person you talked to calling me it, does that mean I'm not a real person?"

I said, "Honda-san, we are talking to you right now, you act like a human,as far as I am concerned you are a real and living person. That" I took a deep breath, "person is wrong. I don't know why or how it is you're here, the company that sent you knows but I wasn't able to talk to anyone, that wasn't a bitch, with the answers, because I let my temper get the better of me and hung up. Ok?"

Aria nodded and interjected, "I don't know how it is you exist in real life now, but the moment they made you is the moment you became a person, do I make myself clear?"

Honda-san stared between the two of us in surprise, before he got a gentle smile on his face, and nodded to show he understood.

Before we could continue the conversation, Kara decided to come in with a bang instead of quietly like she usually would. "Yo bitches are you ready to do nothing like usual?" Aria, Honda-san and I reacted differently. Aria cursed lightly, I held my breath and froze, Honda-san… well, Honda-san moved quickly to stand between us and the hallway.

"Honda-san it's ok, it's just our other roommate Kara. You can sit back down, Kara you need to come and sit next to Aria we need to have an important conversation."

Kara came around the corner while looking at the things that were still on the living room floor. She watched as Honda-san sat back down. "Can I change out of my uniform at least?" she asked.

I nodded, we waited just a few minutes. When she came back out she immediately went to sit by Aria.

"Right, so I clicked on an ad. Last weekend all it asked for was the address, after I put our address in all it said was that the order would be here in a week," I pointed at Honda-san "They sent Japan from Hetalia. His human name is Kiku Honda. He looks and acts like any other person, so I don't know if they made him or not, but he is his own person. In the call, I made to customer service from what I could understand, before I went off on the customer service representative, they don't consider him a living person. They put the ad on fanfiction sites to get, and I say this in the loosest sense possible, voluntary testers for their product. They somehow know my name. They are also giving money to the testers… it's in this envelope in my hand. I already looked at it and has a lot of zeros on the check."

"Allora, two zeros on a check is a lot of money. You are going to be more specific than that." Aria said. I handed the envelope over, so they could look at it. Both of them were stunned.

Kara looked over at Honda-san and said, "I guess until we get more answers from," She looked at the check "…Change for the Better we have another roommate."

"...I forgot to mention… they're sending more units. But they can all get jobs." I sheepishly told them.

"Allora, I'm going to kill you!" They both yelled in unison.

I eeped but before I could try and run for my room to hide, Honda-san stepped between us. I couldn't see his face, but I could still see Aria. She looked worried. "As I am one of the units in question, I fully intend to get a job. Killing my owner will not prevent the others from arriving." Honda-san said in a deceptively civil tone.

"Honda-san it's ok, they didn't mean it quite like that. They are just frustrated with finding out that more people are being shipped to us. Our apartment is really small as it is, with more people showing up it means we have to find another place to live. The check the company sent with you will help with moving and other costs, but as it been a long time since I last watched Hetalia it means we also need to watch or read it to find out how many characters there are exactly so we can try and calculate how many more people will be arriving."

"I apologize, for my misunderstanding." He bowed to them and sat back down.

"Right, we should decide on the requirements of the place we should look for, but first we should up how many units/people we should expect. The representative said they weren't making two of the characters as units if that's any help." I told them.

They both looked down at the check that Aria still had.

"Well, the lease is going to be up in just another five months. If we can find a place quickly enough we can take small things over to start with and the units that arrive before then will have a place to sleep, starting with Honda-san, until we get all the way moved over." Aria sighed. Kara still looked a little spooked and had gone into the shy mode, which usually is her default mode unless she gets energized or is really tired.

"Hey, Aria?" I hesitantly started, only hesitant because I wasn't wanting to get into even more trouble with them.

"What Allora."

"Do you remember the old man Miller ranch in Orchards that was put up for sale about 3 years ago?"

(Orchards, Washington)

"Old man Miller ranch? I don- Oh! Right that place. I kept hearing about it when he first put it up. What about it?"

"When I think about Hetalia, that ranch, if my memory isn't being shitty, has everything that a lot of them would want. A lake with fish, a woodsy area, farmland, stables, and a coop. Should I send an inquiry to the real estate agency handling the sale?"

"Allora, when did you ever go to that ranch? I grew up hearing about it but never had the chance to go there before the wife died"

I started to explain. "When I was younger, and we were coming back from visiting my grandparents' farm we were driving by and saw a sign about a free trail ride for kids. My mom stopped to find out more about it since my sister was really into horses at the time. We ended up going on the trail ride, my mom only had to pay around fifty dollars to go with us. I rode a horse named Dakota, she was really mellow, and I was a little afraid. The scenery was really pretty when we eventually got back into the car and drove the rest of the way home I remember being really surprised that it was so close to town. It felt like a whole other world." I said this with a giant smile on my face. The memory of the ranch was something that I held close, I was really happy about the fact that we were able to stop that day.

Aria and Kara were both giving me startled looks, they rarely see me talk about something with such fondness.

"Well the most the realtor's will do is say it is off the market. Go ahead and send them an email. I am going to go take a nap. It is only what, 8:30? We have been talking for about an hour and he arrived maybe an hour and a half ago. It feels like it's been longer." Aria said while getting up and heading to her room.

Kara glanced at Honda-san, "I just got off work, I am going to bed as well. Maybe when I get up everything will make sense again…"

If it was possible to sweat-drop in real life, I would be doing that right now as I watched them head off. I would join them, but someone needs to get the search going.

"Honda-san, while I look up the ranch and see if I can't find a way to talk to the person in charge of selling it, you can get on the TV or something. I know I said I would explain why you couldn't be seen outside when we came back from throwing the crate out, but Aria knows more about why, so we have to wait for her to get up again. Is that ok?"

Honda-san nodded "I can wait for Aria-san."

He went over to his things and quickly found his anime collection. I helped him put it in the right PS4 and got to work.

End chapter.