The Institute was not Russian, it was not a part of Russia or working with Russia or anything of the sort, and yet he'd spent the entire night thinking all of the Nations and the rest of the patients had....become one with that monster. Now that he was awake and being bustled into the cafeteria in a manner far too fast for a Nation his age, he could see how ridiculous it all was. But then why had he been so convinced of it last night? He'd begun to distrust everyone and when he had so few to rely upon in the first place, that was a deadly move.

At least now he was back to his senses, even if he was in clothes that reminded him of uncomfortable things. The pants, boots, shirt, dog tags (why were they called dog tags anyway? Japan disliked the name), and the beret all reeked of the military and Japan hadn't worn a military outfit since the end of the war. The beret reminded him far too much of Switzerland and it sat strangely on his head. How did Switzerland make it look so good? Maybe it was because of his hair. If Japan had the same color hair, perhaps the beret would actually look nice.

"Clean." The soldier leading him around shoved a pail of water and a sponge into his hands and Japan looked at him in surprise. "You heard the woman. Clean."

"May I request a cloth instead?"

The soldier rolled his eyes, changed the sponge for a washcloth and then sent Japan on his way. Of all the punishments to chose, they at least did one he could do with some amount of confidence. Japan didn't mind cleaning. Yes, it was annoying and somewhat troublesome to his back, but he spent most of his day cleaning up after his bosses and keeping his house in order, so this punishment? It wasn't so bad. Plus, it gave him time to think. Which was always good when he still felt such confusion over the previous night.

Getting down on his knees, Japan rolled his sleeves up and dunked the rag into the water, twisting it to remove most of the water. Then, without another word, he set about cleaning his area.

[come to me, ayanami~~~~~]