Just beyond our Borders

t h i r s t y - I mean, ｔｈｉｒｔｙ

Maria went and handed Ludwig a bowl and he proceeded to dump small paper strips into it.

"Ok, tonight vill be a little different." Ludwig said. "The Philippine duo vill pick zhe next two host nations by randomly picking one nation each."

Some murmurs of intrigue and excitement spread across the guest nations.

"Mixing things up, are we, potato b@$t@rd?" Lovino asked with a smirk.

Ludwig ignored him and looked at the Philippine duo. He stretched out the bowl to them.

"Decide amongst you two who vill be zhe first to randomly pick out our next host nation."

The Philippine duo looked at each other for a while, then Juan smirked.

"Ladies first."

Maria just rolled her eyes and walked up to the bowl. She closed her eyes and mixed up the paper strips for a bit. Finally, she picked one up, slowly unfolded it, and read it to herself. A small smile crept on her face.

"What does it say, comrade?"

Maria looked up to them and smiled wider. "Oh, I'm sure you'll all enjoy kuya Malaysia's place!"

'My, my, I have not seen that lad in a while... I wonder how he's doing?"

"Well, I'll go call kuya Malaysia and tell him that you're coming for a short visit." Maria said and winked.

"At this hour, Maria-chan?"

"Don't worry. It's just kuya Malaysia, no one special." Maria said with a giggle as she turned back and headed for the phone.

"Well, I guess it's my turn."

"Ja." Ludwig stretched the bowl to him and he slowly chose a paper strip, similar to how Maria picked one. After a few seconds that seemed to take forever, he picked one up, quickly unfolded it, and gave a gentle laugh.

"What's so funny, hijo?"

"Kuya Alfred, time to plan your sightseeing schedule. You're going after kuya Malaysia."

Alfred's jaw dropped. "Well sh!*."

'They're not ready to meet my states..'

France
"Hetalia, ohonhonhon!~"

//Later, that morning...

After what happened when the Philippine duo picked them up, Ludwig  wasn't taking any risks and decided to take matters into his own hands. He woke up a little earlier than planned and quietly walked into their room.

At first, he tried to gently shake them awake.

"Ugh, five more minutes, po..."

Usually, Ludwig wouldn't do what he did next, especially because he's a guest here, but he refused to risk being late for his flight to Malaysia because of these two dumpkoffs.

So he pushed them both off the small bed.

"DYOS KO PO, NANAY KO MAGANDA-"

"Get up and get ready. I refuse to be late for our flight and inconvenience Malaysia because you two woke up late."

Juan whispered to Maria, "Rude-."

Maria & Juan
"Hetalia, po!"

//Later, at Ninoy Aquino International Airport...

At the airport, the Philippine duo and the gang send their final farewells to each other before they enter the airport.

"You know, I'm lowkey gonna miss the chaotic energy those two have."

Everyone simply nodded in agreement.

•••

I wanted to feature Malaysia next, because I visited the there this past summer with my relatives, and it was such a memorable trip!

So in honor of that experience, I'll loosely base the next few chapters on my trip to Malaysia. Wherever I went will be where the gang will visit (or at least the ones i can remember, lol)

Also, does anyone know some native Malaysian delicacies? I remember trying one during my trip there, and it was sooooooooo good~ it forgot what its called, but i remember it sorta looked like empanada. The man who cooked and served it to us also said that it was one of the few remaining TRULY native Malaysian cuisine? Idk.

Anyway, as always,

And ayye, thank you!