Shotguns in Their Roses (Hetalia)

Gongs Ring Throughout Tokyo

Japan had sensed that something was wrong with Veneziano-kun and Romano-kun long before Germany did. It wasn't the new look in their eye, their new attitudes, or even their new style of dressing (a dark red shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, black suspenders, loose white tie, black fedora, dark skinny jeans, and brown leather dress shoes for Veneziano-kun and a dark green dress shirt, loose dark red tie, black vest, black and grey pinstriped fedora, black dress pants, and black leather dress shoes for Romano-kun. At least those seemed to be their favored outfits). No, it was a simple mistake on his part that alerted him that something was wrong.

*

The day had started out fairly simply. Japan was going over to Veneziano-kun and Romano-kun's house for a quite visit, having forgotten his manga there the day before. He had gone in, gotten his manga, and said hello to both of them when it had gotten weird.

All of the sudden Romano-kun's phone started playing and recording of someone (privetly, he thought it sounded like Veneziano-kun yelling at him to pick up the phone up), and Veneziano-kun immediately pulled Japan outside, apparently suddenly feeling the burning need to show him around their small garden. As one of his hosts speed-walked him away, Japan fluttering like paper behind him as he was pulled by the arm, he could hear Romano-kun yelling at someone in Italian.

And they did in fact walk around for a few minutes (mostly consisting of Veneziano-kun telling him some story about the Tiber River as they stood in front of a fountain apparently filled with the Tiber's water) until Romano-kun called Veneziano-kun inside for a moment. He excused himself and ran in, and a second later he heard them both yelling in Italian at someone who Japan assumed to have been placed on speaker phone, as they occasionally tried to interject and apparently made things worse since the brothers just yelled louder.

Japan stood there awkwardly for a second before something caught his interest. A lovely archway cut through the hedge, which he assumed led into the front lawn as he could vaguely see the path he had walked on to get to their door. Next to the archway, there was a sign with the words "Avvertimento idiota fratello: Miniera terrestri avanti" written in cursive. Japan brushed it off as an odd decoration, and strolled right through.

He made it approximately three steps before he was blown over fifty feet into the air. Eventually, he landed in a tree and the brothers helped him down after they had run outside to check the noise.

With the combined effort from the three of them, they found Japan's manga scattered around the property. They were burnt to a crisp.

That day Japan learned three things.

One, avvertimento idiota fratello: miniera terrestri avanti meant warning idiot brother: land mines ahead.

Two, eyebrows take forever to regrow.

And three? These weren't the same weak idiotic cowards who couldn't throw a grenade right as they where a few months before.