His office 🌐📜

Going out with Jap and Ita

As I stepped foot into his office for the first time in my life, I couldn't help but gaze at all the photos in frames. All including him, most also including me. All of them almost... Familial? After all, we're a family. Not biologically speaking, sure. But still pretty close to the meaning of the word. It felt so weird being in here for the first time. I've lived in this house for so many years, yet he'd forbidden me from entering. I do still wonder why.

I'm not that old, by our standards at least. Humans my age already have families, kids, jobs... I'm just a teen. I've grown to notice that most of us don't age after becoming a young adult, despite living for centuries. I do still wonder why.

I kept looking around. As he was out of the house, I could finally explore this place. His friends at some point said he'd finished a degree in psychology. What if he had some diary or journal? I looked around at a possible candidate. At last, my eyes landed on a neat-looking thick red notebook, tucked in on one of the shelves. There was a wooden photo frame standing right next to it. The photo depicted him, standing in our living room and hugging his... Boyfriend? No, he says they're just close friends. As if I'd ever believe that. Meanwhile, the text below the photo said "Me and Italy". After inspecting the photo, I carefully grabbed the notebook and slowly opened it.

On the first page it was written in his neat handwriting: "This is private property, therefore I forbid you from reading it. Respectfully, Herr Germany". Classic Vater. Ignoring the text, I turned the page. The first thing I noticed was the handwriting differing slightly from his. I flipped through the notebook quickly. Almost half of it was filled with not his writing. Then whose was it?

I returned to the second page. A date was scribbled in the top right corner: 03.10.1940. There was a "title" below it: "Going out with Jap and Ita". Who's Jap and Ita? The State of Japan and Republic of Italy? But they didn't exist yet at that time. Curious, I decided to read the story, which spread across a few pages.

"Yesterday was another day. I wasn't busy, which is very rare, so I decided to spend time with my allies. Afterall, I'd hired some guy to watch after the Jew, which calls itself Poland, I left in my basement.

And so I left my mansion to first drive to Ita's house. As soon as he saw me, he was just delighted. I didn't even have to convince him, like at all, - he agreed immediately to go to Jap's house together. Although Ita did ask me to wait as he got dressed. Something about not wanting Jap to look at him in his underwear. But he allows me to do that...

And so I waited in Ita's kitchen as he browsed through all of his suits. The impatient man I am, I found myself searching through his fridge. When Ita returned, I was already drinking some of his wine. He did seem upset, but I ignored it and we drove to Jap's house."

I stopped reading for a moment. I had a strong feeling I knew who the mysterious people in the entry were, and whose handwriting it was... The Axis Powers: the Third Reich, Kingdom of Italy and Japanese Empire. If that was true... Why would Vater store Reich's diary in his office? Didn't he despise that man? I kept reading on, hoping to find some explanation.

"Jap was hesitant - he isn't really a party guy. After some convincing though, he let us all stay at his place. He even got some of his liquor for us to drink. I'd say it was quite nice and strong, just how I like it, although not bitter enough to qualify as Aryan-worthy. I do wonder how I still remember what happened after it...

We spent a few hours just chatting at the table, drinking, discussing our plans... After the tenth glass, that got boring. While Jap went to the Lady's and Gent's, Ita suddenly got a craving for bananas. After offering a rather indecent thing I'd rather not remember, he declined, saying he wanted actual bananas. I sighed as I thought about what we could do. And that's when an idea hit me.