Rivals and Regrets //Countryhumans AU [ON HOLD]

Sixteen

7:26 Same Day - Tokyo, Japan

The situation had escalated and deescalated quite quickly. Japan had not been expecting that, as soon as Japanese Empire opened his door, Australia would shove Japan aside to attack him. Since Japanese Empire was caught off guard, he initially didn't fight back. Once he had grasped the situation, he quickly managed to get on top, literally. It was like Japan blinked and suddenly her father had Australia on his stomach, twisting his right arm behind his back, demanding Australia "yield."

Eventually, Australia had stopped struggling.

"I'm going to get off you, I ask you to be rational," Japanese Empire had said.

Australia had indeed been rational, he had stood up and glared at Japanese Empire silently. Japanese Empire had then offered him some breakfast. Australia had not responded, just walking out of the room, down the hall, towards the living room.

"Otosan, what's wrong with Ned?" Japan had asked. "How did you overpower him so quickly?"

Japanese Empire had not responded to the first question. "He's six inches off of the tallest man I've had to wrestle with, Akari." He then walked past her to go down the hallway. "Let's catch up with him before he decides to start using knives."

And now Japan sat at the table silently. Japanese Empire was making breakfast and Australia was sitting on the couch.

"I don't know what you could've done to make Ned forgive you," Australia said. "You're clearly still the same annoying jackass."

"Cain, if you want to have a productive discussion I recommend you don't insult me," Japanese Empire replied. "You're in my house, you play by my rules."

Australia rolled his eyes. Japan was still very confused about what was going on... and why Australia looked different, why he sounded different, and why he was acting so differently. Japan stood up and walked over to the counter.

"Otosan, what's going on?" she asked quietly. "What's wrong with Ned?"

"He has a broken brain," Japanese Empire replied. "He's been this way for a long time. Mostly he's himself but sometimes he's... Cain."

"Cain?"

"That's what this part of him goes by. Don't call him Ned, because he's not, they're entirely different people in the same body."

"Why...?"

Japanese Empire sighed. "Akari, I don't know. He's been this way since before I knew him." He paused for a moment. "When Ned comes back, don't ask him about it, he doesn't like talking about it."

Breakfast was eaten in silence, and as soon as she was done, Japan dismissed herself. She stood outside of the living room where neither Japanese Empire or not-Australia could see her... anxiously tapping her foot as quietly as she could. While Japan didn't want to be around not-Australia, she was curious to know more about him.

"So who in the nine circles of hell procreated with you?" not-Australia asked.

"Ned asked me the same question and I declined to answer," Japanese Empire replied. "I will do the same for you."

Not-Australia scoffed. "I know there's shit you're hiding from us..."

"I don't understand what your problem is with me, when I came into your lives the only friend you had was your sister, I have been nothing but a kind and considerate and fatherly figure to Ned."

"Then we may have only had Mahaka but we have other friends now."

"Your kids and your sister's kids? Nice friends you have, not sad at all."

"We have actual friends," not-Australia replied defensively.

Japanese Empire let out a laugh. "Oh, you don't have to lie to me, you don't."

"I'm not lying, twat."

"Heh, funny, but Ned would've told me if he had actual friends," Japanese Empire's tone was very condescending, still chuckling slightly.

Not-Australia did not respond. Japan was unsure at what was going on but then her father stopped chuckling and his tone changed.

"You're actually being serious...?" he asked.

"Why would I lie-?" not-Australia began responding but Japanese Empire cut him off.

"Who are they?" Japanese Empire questioned coldly.

"Nandi, Catherine-Esmee and Eugene off the top of my head. You may remember Nandi as Maude-Johanna."

"Oh, that's interesting. How long have they been your friends?"

Japan didn't know who these people were, but her father's tone was concerning her. Was he jealous? Japan peaked her head around to watch, not-Australia and Japanese Empire were only focusing on each other and did not notice her.

"Definitely before you got cut off," not-Australia replied, leaning. "Why? Does that bother you?" he said with a mocking smile.

While Japanese Empire certainly looked bothered, he waved his hand dismissively. "Of course not," he stated chipperly as he stood up from the table, it was clear to Japan he was bothered, she saw his fists had clenched. "I have to clean up these dishes now."

Not-Australia stood up. "I'm going to go piss," he paused. "Or am I not allowed to do that here?"

"I give you permission to use the toilet. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Not-Australia did not respond, he began walking towards the exit, Japan whipped her head back around. Hopefully he wouldn't notice her against the wall.

But of course he did.

Japan just looked up at not-Australia nervously, wondering what he was thinking... Since he clearly had a poor opinion of her father, he probably thought poorly of her as well. Not-Australia stared down at her, not with that blank expression he had before, his expression seemed... kinder.

"Don't trust what your father tells you," not-Australia said quietly before walking down the hall.

Japan watched him walk away, then she turned back to look into the living room/kitchen area. She saw her father standing, facing away, it looked like he was holding his hand over his mouth as he hunched over the bench. His tail fluffed-up slightly, twitching, and his ears down. Japan could feel the negative emotion radiating around him but... she didn't know what the feeling was.

A/N: OMG it's been so long I'm sorry!! I handed in my last assignments last night so my university semester is over, and I'm probably going to drop out because it's negatively impacted my mental health. So hopefully I'll be able to update more often again as I really want to get this shit going.

Anygays, I had my birthday last month, I'm 19, and happy pride month : D

Lmk your thoughts and theories, I love comments!!

Btw, Nandi is South Africa, Catherine-Esmee is India and Eugine is Pakistan (India and Pakistan ofc aren't independent yet so they have different names from modern days). Also if anyone would wanna listen to the RaR playlist I have on Spotify I'd be happy to share it lol (can fuel theories)

~Axel

First published: 03/06/23