Nowhere (1p!HetaOni x Gender Neutral!Reader x 2p!HetaOni)

THree PaTHs - PaRt 2

"It is weird that it disappears like that," China admits with a huff. "It makes it difficult to tell whether we won or not, aru." He braces himself against his knees, trying to regain his breath.

"At least it will not pollute the environment." Japan muses as he seats himself, holding his katana loosely.

"Way to look at the situation optimistically." Russia looks over his shoulder. "But, not quite." He smiles sweetly. "Maybe this will never end, and it'll keep appearing..." Then Russia turns his head to the corner of the room. He wonders away from the two, eyes glistening over as he focuses in on a sound. China looks over to Japan and watches as he wipes the sweat from his forehead.

"Aru alright? Did you hurt yourself?" China asks Japan, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"No, I am fine." Japan laughs through his nose. "Your backup was perfect. That monster seems to have grown stronger, though." Japan notes, worry edging in on his words. "I would have no chance against it alone. Thank you very much for your help." China gives a wistful smile, his chest swelling. Then he stops, something coming to mind when looking over Japan's uniform.

"Oh! By the way, why were those clothes smeared with tomato?! I thought it was blood, aru." China asks with a raised voice, pointing toward the fireplace.

"Well, you see," Japan suppresses an eye roll, "a while after I woke up this morning, we encountered that creature yet again..." Japan frowns. "And then, Italy-chan woke up with all the fuss. He got startled and started yelling, 'Vee! Vee! Go away! Germany, save us!' While throwing last nights pasta at what was supposed to be its directions, but it just ended hitting me in the back instead." His shoulders sag with a big sigh. "After we defeated it, the smell bothered me very much, so I ended up discarding it in the fireplace."

"Oh, that is right." China points out, more so for himself. "If I remember correctly, you had brought a change of clothes because you stayed at Germany's the day before the meeting, right?" Japan confirms with a single shake of his head. Then they hear a smash, jolting them both away from their conversation, attracted to the sound; leading to Russia. He looks back at them, mirroring their expression.

"What is wrong, Russia-san?" Japan questions as him and China watch the blond in interest. Russia hums, rummaging around in the draw.

"There was this clock," Russia picks up a piece before dropping it back into the drawer, "and the ticking was too loud, so I broke it with my pipe." He shrugs unapologetically. "Sorry."

"A clock, you say?" Japan walks over to Russia and peers into the draw. Inside are the remains of an old bedside clock. A dent shattered the clock, it no longer ticking, just crooked hands.

"I'm sorry if it was a clue, but it was so loud it got annoying." Russia sighs, poking around at the broken clock with his pipe.

"A clock," Japan repeats. "Now that you mention it, we can't tell what time it is in this place. Our watches are all out of synch." He pulls back his white sleeve to read his watch.

"That is strange, aru. Even though we came here ahead of Japan's group, they got here before us." China shakes his head in confusion before reaching into his uniform and reading the time. "It is 11:42 on my watch, aru."

"Huh? But mine's showing the same time as yours, China." Russia tilts his head in confusion, peering at China's watch too.

"What? That was not supposed t--" Japan looks at his watch, bunching up his brow. "Oh! I-it is 11:42 on mine, too! But it was 6:00 just a moment ago..." Japan stares at his watch in confusion.

"Do you think maybe it's because I broke the clock?" Russia asks, looking down at said object. That is an odd coincidence that seems suspicious.

"That is possible." China nods hopefully. "At least in this room, the time is right. Maybe we can get the flow of time back to normal if we break more clocks."