Japan leaned back in the chair and put his feet up on the table, mimicking what he had always seen Romano do when he seemed to be the most relaxed. There was nothing about the act that relaxed Japan, it usually just made him feel like he would tip over at any second, but this was probably due to the fact that when he first did this action he did fall over.
Romano had laughed at him and told him it took talent to be able to do a skill to precise, and being the gullible child that Japan had been then, he believed him. But he had also been headstrong and had been hell-bent on mastering this "skill."
Now he did it to get on Romano's nerves, though it never worked. Japan didn't think Romano really remembered that event had even happened, but he did it to be smug anyway. What else was there to do?
"Deep in thought?" Romano asked, placing a cup of tea in front of the younger nation.
"Not really," he answered. "I was just thinking about skills." Japan took his feet off the table and sat up, grabbing his drink. "Any big plans for today, Ano?"
"Haven't you grown out of that name, yet?" South Italy frowned at him before walking away. "And as usual you'll have to ask my brother about any 'big plans.'"
Japan shook his head and downed his tea in one gulp before following Romano down the hall. "Venzi?" he called, knocking on the brother's door. "He can't really still be asleep, can he?"
"Wouldn't surprise me at all," Romano mumbled. "Maybe he's finally tired himself out completely."
The younger nation couldn't help but laugh, "For the first time in around 15 years? I don't think so." He pushed the door open and poked his head in. "He's not even in here," he laughed again. "Where do you think he's gotten to?"
A huge smile crossed Romano's face. "Why does it matter? He finally went to do something on his own for once! We have a free day! For once I don't have to follow Veneziano all around the world! It's time to relax!" He motioned for Japan to follow him to the living room, where he plopped down on the couch and turned on the television.
Japan idly wondered if Romano didn't think that what they normally did was relaxing at all. It's not like any of them had to work for a living or anything. They mostly went shopping and looking at tourist attractions. Still, it made Japan wonder if the brother's came from a rich family... But if they did, wouldn't they have to be in some sort of contact with that family to keep a steady flow of money? When did they have time to talk to family? Unless they inherited it and all of their family was dead... Which would be incredibly sad... Japan should really ask them about that one day, especially since he's been living with them since...
His train of thought was cut off when the front door banged open and a string of quiet expletives flew out of Romano's mouth. He smiled to himself and took in Veneziano.
"Went for an early morning swim?" Japan asked. Veneziano was standing in the doorway, dripping wet, and wearing swim trunks.
"Of course!" Veneziano smiled. "I've been down at the beach! I've been waiting for you two forever! Are you coming or what?"
"How the hell were we supposed to know you were down at the beach?" Romano spat out, clearly not wanting to go.
"I left you a letter!"
"There was no such letter!"
The argument didn't last very long and before Romano could come up with a decent excuse to not go, the he and Japan were sitting on the sand as Veneziano begged them to play Marco Polo from the water.
"What do you think would have happened if we hadn't have gone to the beach that day?" Veneziano asked, cutting Romano off from his part of the story.
"It'd be just me, you, and Japan, sitting in some cafe in some off-the-beaten-track country as the rest of the world raged on in war."
"That's a very sad outlook on it," Veneziano frowned.
"However, it's the truth. And Japan wouldn't know who we are. And we'd still pretend to not know who he was."
"We would've eventually told him," the younger nation mused.
"Maybe, if someone came after us. And we had to give him the choice to go or help us fight."
"I don't think so."
Romano shook his head and looked back at the screen. "That way of life could've gone on forever... literally."
"But we didn't count of Greece coming back from his tour so early."
"Greece?" Japan asked, the look on his face shifting between pain and excitement.
"They seem to know each other," Veneziano observed as they began walking down the beach towards their friend. "You don't think that's..."
"I'll get to the bottom of this," Romano grumbled, picking up speed. "What's going on here?" he yelled.
He barely listened as Japan tried to stumble through an introduction and Greece finally told Japan what they hadn't been able to tell him his whole life. They were nations and they knew he was a nation. He couldn't listen as Greece told them about China's death and Japan's supposed death. None of it really made sense to him. If China was dead then land would've had to been exchanged. They would've been informed of it. Why hadn't they have been? They weren't out of touch with their government, and Veneziano was always reading newspapers. Something wasn't adding up.
"Who's in charge of the land now?" he finally brought himself to say. "Taiwan?"
"Can we be alone for a minute?" Greece asked without answering his question.
Rage soared through Romano. "You attacked us, and now you want us to leave you alone with Kiku?"
"Kiku?" Greece's face was a question mark.
Damn that name! He had gotten so used to it. "Nevermind!" he hissed. "We aren't leaving you alone with Japan!"
"I think it's better if you go," Japan said without looking anyone in the eye, cutting off Romano's argument with Greece.
The young nation seemed to be at war with himself, but that fact only made Romano angrier. Everyone was hiding something, weren't they? "Fine," Romano said through clenched teeth, grabbing his brother's hand and pulling him farther down the beach.
