Fillers are the best, aren't they?
/= [DAY 77] =/
She knew something was weird when she woke up late. She would never wake up late on her own time (especially with the alarm clock she had). And she was pretty sure she slept early…
There was a knock on the door, catching her off guard. She remembered screaming something in Filipino before dressing into her school uniform and heading to the door. On the other side was none other than a blank faced Li Xiao Chun, holding his bag and what looked like Charice's missing lunch. He sighed.
"So I was right in assuming you slept in?"
"Shut up, Li Xiao."
"It doesn't matter. At least I can give you the offer of walking you to the school."
"Now why would you do that?"
"…because I can."
She didn't seem to notice the faint blush going across his face as the both of them walked quietly to the school, the only topic crossing their conversations was the upcoming musical. She kept chirping away on how Ludwig and Feliciano were wearing their outfits of their childhoods, making Li Xiao shake his head and wonder just how women are into naked men. Like, seriously.
"Hey, where is everyone?"
He looked up and realized that there was no one around the hallways. The bell hadn't rung yet, so none of them would be in class. He stayed silent as Charice started calling for them around the school, seeing no one and hearing no one at all. Suddenly, there was a light sob echoing in the hallway, stopping them.
"I heard that." He blinked.
"Who was that…?"
The two of them headed forward for a few minutes before finding the classroom that the sound was coming from. Li Xiao went in first, keeping silent and hence making Charice look in to investigate. Sure enough, there was a little boy crying and attacking the chair at the same time, thinking it was a demon or something like that. He glared at turned to them.
"Are you a demon too?" He screamed.
"NO!" She took a deep breath. "Um…no. I'm a nation."
"Charice…!" Li Xiao sighed. "Don't say that! He might be a boy who wandered into the school!"
"No, there's just…something about him. He's a nation, I'm sure of it."
"You are both nations too?" He looked confused. "I'm confused."
"Eh?" She grinned toward a sighing Li Xiao. "What nation are you?"
"W-why would I tell you that? Are you trying to conquer me?"
"No. We're not interested in expansion." Li Xiao stated. "In this world, expansion is no longer necessary."
"You two are strange countries." He stated. "I don't trust you…but I think I can give you my name. I am Hungary-"
"WHAT."
/=+=/
"OK, why in the world was Hungary a man?"
"That's not the question, Charice. The question is why Hungary was a child."
"God, five bucks says that it has something to do with the Black Mage Club- that's it WHERE'S ARTHUR?"
"Charice-"
She started stampeding through the hallway, avoiding what looked like a child Greece and Turkey, before slamming the door open and revealing a child England, shaking in his robes and talking to himself as if he was talking to an invisible animal. Li Xiao concluded that he wouldn't be able to interrogate him about his magic, but then again Charice almost tackled him into a wall, so at this point nothing could be done to even save him at this point.
/=+=/
"All we can do now is hope that the magic has a time limit and wears out later…"
"I really hope so. Cause the cuteness that is Arthur's head is at risk at this point…"
Li Xiao stared at her as she started going around toward the children nations all around them. She seemed to treat all of them really well, despite the fact that she was phobic around most of them in their adult form. Around that time, he watched as she separated a fight between Austria and Prussia before Switzerland had to intervene just by using cake and the mention of Hungary in the other room.
A few minutes later, they found a childish America holding a bunny and asking her where England was. She grinned and held his hand as they led him toward his child version. America looked confused for a few minutes before looking up.
"Is that really England?" He asked.
"Yes. You see…something happened to him, and he's really vulnerable right now." She knelt down to his level. "You're a strong nation, aren't you? Can you do me a favor?"
"Y-yes." He stammered.
"I need you to watch over him, OK? He has a lot of enemies who are after him right now, and he can't fight them back." Charice stated. "Can you do that for me? Protect him with everything you got."
"I-I can't do that…!"
"You have to do it. Who else can protect him at this time?"
"…O-OK…"
"Don't worry. I have faith in you."
He nodded as he went to the little boy with a new sense of bravery, much to Li Xiao's surprise. She just chuckled at him before turning around and headed out the door, allowing Li Xiao to follow with a surprised look on his face. After a few more nations, she found herself face-to-face with a child Spain, shaking and looking around a corner as if he was terrified about something.
"…Spain?"
"Ah!" He backed up in fear. "¿Quién eres tú? ¿Dónde estoy? ¿Son los moros aquí? ¿Se va usted a hacerme daño? Por favor, no me hagas daño...voy a ser un buen chico..."
"Hah what what the- HEY!" Charice paused for a minute. "What's going on? I can't understand what you're saying!"
"A-ah, tú eres un orador Inglés! Lo siento, no puedo hablar Inglés! Yo no soy de ese reino..."
"Charice, he doesn't speak English…"
"I can't speak Spanish…" She answered back. "Um…no habla Spanish?"
He had no idea what she was saying, and vice versa. After a few minutes, she just lunged out and hugged him. He yelped in shock before she whispered something in his ear. Li Xiao watched as the fear melted from his face and they parted, he nodded shyly before standing up and walking away, turning back once before heading further into the school.
"What did you say to him?" He asked.
"I told him 'Find Romano'. I don't think he understood me, but he looked like he did…" She turned to Li Xiao. "Have you seen Rizal?"
"Rizal?" He turned his head around. "I saw all of them at least twice, but I didn't see anyone looking like him…"
"Where could he be…he knows what I look like, since I haven't changed much over these years…" She rubbed her chin. "He should be keeping himself together…"
"We could split up and look for him." He stated. "We're in a school filled with children, so how hard can it be?"
"He's extremely violent to outsiders. I'm the only one that can calm him down." She stated. "I don't doubt your ability to find him, but-"
She didn't have to say anything else. Li Xiao knew what she was talking about. He allowed her to take on the search as they continued further through the hallways before they heard a clutter. She immediately went into the room, beginning to investigate. He was about to follow when he heard a small clatter in the other room. He blinked and opened the door, seeing a strange sight: Holy Roman Empire on the ground, holding his chest and having something that looked like a small cut on his chest.
"…Heilrich?"
He looked up in confusion, seeing Li Xiao walk forward toward his fragile figure and lean in front of him as the younger boy staggered farther away.
"…who are you? An angel?"
"No." He answered.
"A devil, then…? Sending my soul to damnation…?" He hit the wall. "I can't die here…demon…I have…a promise…to keep."
"To Italy?"
"…how do you…?"
"Don't struggle."
Li Xiao leaned forward and quietly picked him up, seeing that the boy didn't bother to struggle against his touch. As he walked out of the room, he saw a defeated Charice look up in confusion and see Li Xiao holding the quivering body of Holy Rome before gasping.
"I'm guessing that you didn't see Italy anywhere around here."
"The room was empty." She answered.
"Well, let's try finding him now."
/=+=/
The reunion was quicker than they thought, as they saw Chibitalia sobbing in one of the art rooms in front of a broken glass. Li Xiao walked forward to him before letting Holy Rome down and watching their reunion. They would've watched it if it hadn't been for the fact that Charice had to be pulled out of the room before strangling any of them to death.
As they were walking around, they turned their heads and saw that Ivan was sitting in the corner of the room with all the countries from the Soviet Union, talking and having fun like all children were. It was then that Charice understood what Natalya was talking about when it came to Ivan wanting a family again. He was all alone again, wasn't he?
Night was falling onto the school, and the majority of the children have somehow found their ways back to the dormitories. Li Xiao and Charice decided to give up finding Rizal and headed home, seeing what looked like a child version of Kiku staring up at the moon.
"Hey~!" She ran to him. "Ki-chan~!"
"Eh? Who are you?"
"I'm a friend of yours." She stated. "Do you have a place to sleep tonight?"
"No…I-I was just going to sleep in the grass here-"
"NONSENSE~! You can share a bed with me." Charice picked him up. "Yaaay, I get to share a bed with a child!"
"…only if I watch over the both of you tonight." He answered.
"Hah?"
"I'll take the couch. Now walk."
"Oka~~~~y!"
/= [DAY 78] =/
She woke up to long arms reaching over her. She knew that the small Kiku had been clinging onto her the whole night and yet wasn't thinking it was anything weird. It was only after she woke up and realized that he was completely naked that freaked her out. But before she could scream, Kiku's eyes opened and realized just about the same thing.
He jumped out of the bed and screamed bloody murder, causing Li Xiao to enter the room and for Kiku to hide in the corner hiding the precious vital regions with the blanket. Apparently they're naked when they transform back to normal. He was shaking rapidly and whimpering to himself.
"D-d-d-d-d-d-d-did anyone s-s-s-s-s-s-see t-that?"
"What, you?" Li Xiao blinked. "I just got in the room."
"Mmmmnnn…where's the covers…?" She rolled around in the bed.
"…she's half awake. You'll be fine."
/= *there is no need to document this day, as it is nothing more than the entire time of Charice hunting Arthur down and killing him slowly* =/
/= *so later that night* =/
Kiku walked into the ramen bar and saw Li Xiao there eating his ramen as if nothing was going on. He quietly ordered the same thing before sitting down next to him and eating quietly as well. They ate in silence.
"You must've had fun following Charice around."
"All we did was take care of children. It wasn't that fun."
They ate in silence.
"She almost killed half the children in her Cute-Obsession syndrome."
"She didn't kill me."
"She was tired. Otherwise I would've had to save you."
They ate in silence.
"I spent the entire day with her."
"I shared a bed with her."
"Despite the fact that you jumped out of it a few minutes later."
They ate in silence.
"We're still on the same level, Kiku."
"She'll love me eventually."
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
They ate in silence.
/=+=/
The magic might come back. Damn Arthur.