二十二 ❀

[naicha]

✿ action 1
<sub>[ When the cherry blossoms disappear, Taiwan holds her breath. Japan always adored things that come and go so easily. Now he was one, too. She should've known better than to expect this the least. Watching his figure put on his coat and walk out the door, Taiwan knows it's not him. And stay out! Taiwan thinks as she slams the door shut. She feels like flicking his drone on the forehead for his remarks. "Be a good wife and make him dinner?" Ooh, the nerve! ... This makes her miss the real Japan already. Hm? What? She's not going to cry, that's silly. Even so, no matter how many times she's learned how to stand on her own, she can't help but feel abandoned. It's okay, though. Not that it hasn't happened before.

At the cafe, it's business as usual. Employees will find that there are no costumes for them to wear, though, if they don't already bring their own. Behind the counter isn't Japan typing away on his computer, but Taiwan, accounting everything by hand. She lifts her head up whenever a customer passes by. ]</sub>

Welcome!

_{[ With no makeup masking her troubled state, Taiwan quickly ducks back into her work again. She isn't even eating anything. She does try her best to put a smile on her face, though. Look! It's as if nothing happened at all. ]}

✿ action 2
_{[ Two siblings are walking around town together, but there's something odd about their dynamic today. ]}

And he was like, "Ah, is that so." And then I was like, "Yes! Yes, it is so!" Ooh, but I tried and tried and he still wouldn't let me and I was so mad that I could... _{[ p-punches her palm ]} hit him...! But I didn't 'cause I'd feel a little bad, you know. Oh! I was gonna say sorry for calling him a stupidhead today, but when I woke up and checked on him, all his stuff was gone! Just like that. It's not fair, you know, I mean- _{[ She waits for a witty, candid response, but nothing. Her voice is full of anger. ]} Hey! _{[ Then worry. ]} Hey, say something...

_{[ It goes on like this until Hong Kong's drone arrives at work. Very upset with this turn of events, Taiwan starts her walk home looking a little glum. She's not exactly looking where she's going, so she might bump into you, a drone or a pole. A detour she makes to the elementary school's playground is where others may find her hanging upside down on the monkey bars. ]}

✿ phone/action for 1245 williams road

Hello... Um, _{[ There's the sound of Taiwan wiping her face with her sleeve. ]} um! _{[ She takes in a deep breath. ]} Japan's... gone and stuff. If anyone wants to hit him, you don't have to, 'cause I already did. If anyone's worried about the cafe, I'm taking over, you know! I mean, until he comes back...

Ahaha, I feel a little dizzy! I think I'll go lie down now.

_{[ But she can't stay still! After the call, she'll be around the house, arranging all the clothes they have by color and sorting the records and books alphabetically. ]}

Comments

[ household action ]

[imoutos]

[ Nadeko has more or less been watching Taiwan throughout the house silently for a while, wondering whether she should bother her or not. It's pretty obvious that they are all distraught about what happened to Japan, so Nadeko figures maybe she should just keep to herself, maybe that should be better, but.. watching Taiwan like this without helping is actually a little bit painful. So after taking a deep breath and putting up her best normal-looking face, she walks up to Taiwan when she's sorting books. ]

Ah, Taiwan-san.. Good afternoon.

[naicha]

Hi, Nadeko!

_{[ She faces Nadeko with smile before sorting books again. Her smile looks the same as always, but there is something about it that makes it seem different. ]}

How was school?

[imoutos]

[ It almost reminds her a little of when both Japan and Taiwan were droned at the same time. But.. this was different, right? All of Japan's stuff was also gone, so.. ]

Hmm, it was okay. Thank you very much..

[ She bows a little. ]

H-how about your day, Taiwan-san?

[naicha]

It was okay, too! Um, I hung out with my best friend and stuff. Yeah. It was fun. _{[ Not really. She pushes a book in a gap too big for it to fill. ]}

[imoutos]

Ah.. In that case, I'm very glad Taiwan-san has had a fun day.

[ nodnod, yes, that's right, let's focus on happy things.. ]

... Um, he isn't home yet, right..?

[naicha]

Yeah. _{[ It pains her even more to keep smiling like this, but she has to. ]}

Ooh, I hope not. _{[ She has her hand on the bridge of a book she just put on the shelf. ]} Then we'll have to see two of them like that everyday.

[imoutos]

W.. well, I guess there's no avoiding it..

[ She lets out an awkward giggle before walking over, picking up one of the books and handing it to her. ]

Do you need a little help?

[naicha]

_{[ Takes the book. ]} Xiexie. Hm... Nadeko can arrange the books from N to Z.

_{[ Still looking for a place to put it. ]} Chizuko used to read a lot of these, didn't she?

[imoutos]

N to Z.. [ She turns to the books, staring at them for a few moments as if she's thinking about how to order them. It's also easier since she doesn't have to look directly at Taiwan.. ]

... Hmm. Chizuko-chan was really smart, wasn't she?

[naicha]

Uh huh. I didn't expect her to turn out to be someone like that, though! All that thief stuff. _{[ no Taiwan you're just dense... ]}

I wonder if Japan knew. Did you know?

[imoutos]

I didn't know at all.. Chizuko-chan never seemed like a person like that, right? [ and Nadeko believes too much in the good and innocence of people. ]

Japan-san might have known though. He always seemed pretty smart too..

[naicha]

She was so quiet...

Hehe, yeah, Japan's super smart! But I guess that's partly 'cause he's already so old. He always knows what to say, and even if he doesn't talk a lot, he's really polite and eloquent. He's very observant, you know, and he's good at reading the atmosphere, too!

[imoutos]

[ For a moment she's silent, but then she just.. smiles a little. There's something slightly sad about it. ]

Taiwan-san really does like Japan-san a whole lot, huh?

[naicha]

_{[ Her cheeks turn red in an instant and she sounds shy all of a sudden. ]}

No... _{[ Oh, now that is a lie. That is obviously a lie. ]} Well, he's a really close friend. And he's family.

[imoutos]

Hmm, but from the way Taiwan-san talks it's pretty easy to hear you like him a whole lot.

[ she nods. ] It sounds a little nice..

[naicha]

_{[ Her face is such a nice shade of scarlet that she has to hide it with a book. How does everyone know!? She's curious about what Nadeko means by that last part, though. ]}

It sounds... nice?

[imoutos]

It's nice to be able to talk about someone like that, right..? To have someone who can make you feel all happy and warm inside..

[ yes, she's probably thinking about Koyomi.. it's enough to distract her from the issue with Japan for a little while. ]

[naicha]

_{[ It's not helping in Taiwan's case. ]}

Mm. I'm glad that I met him, hehe. Even if the first time we met wasn't all that pleasant...

[imoutos]

.. Eh? [ She looks a little curious. ] Do you mean you had a not so great first meeting..?

[naicha]

Ah, wait! That was the second meeting. Hehe, when we first met... I was so little back then! And Japan looked so young. He didn't look too different from the way he does now, though! Come to think of it, I didn't really pay much attention to that. It's a funny story! I guess he wanted to be friends or something like that, 'cause he wrote me a letter and brought it to me, you know? But I didn't know how to read back then, so he went through all that fancy stuff for nothing and sailed back home, hahaha!

_{[ She hums quietly, unsure if she should continue. Their next encounter is an event she remembers more clearly. ]}

[imoutos]

[ She listens, almost slightly content to just immerse herself in this for now and forget about what happened to Japan. When Taiwan finishes, she giggles a bit. ]

That's a slightly funny story.. Poor Japan-san, though, that he came all the way over there for nothing.

[naicha]

But he never gave up, you know! _{[ That's right, this next part was going to be sad for her. ]} He never...

Mm... a lot of things happened, and I ended up living with him for a while. _{[ She walks away from Nadeko to the other end of the shelf and starts arranging books there. ]}

[imoutos]

In that case, he must have been trying really hard for Taiwan-san, if he never gave up and even let you live with him..

[ She idly stares at her a little before putting some books on the shelf. ]

[naicha]

_{[ She lets out a small sigh. ]}

It wasn't a good thing. _{[ She makes a book teeter and totter on the edge of the shelf before pulling it out of its place. ]} ... But it wasn't a bad thing either...

[imoutos]

Not a good thing nor a bad thing? [ She frowns a little to herself as she slowly switches two books around. ]

But weren't you happy to get that much attention from Japan-san..?