COUNTA Not displaying answer

My COUNTA formula is displaying a blank cell despite the formula builder showing that it is correctly calculating the result. I want it to display the number result.

The cell has "=COUNTA('Player 1:Player 2'!C12)" because I am trying to count all nonblank cells across 3 sheets. Instead of displaying the correct answer (3) it just shows a blank cell with no errors flagged. Another cell at the bottom of the column is meant to add up the column with "=SUM(C12:C21)" and since I've only filled in the C12 cell this correctly sums to 3 and displays 3. But still, C12 does not display 3. >:[

The adjacent cell has an almost identical formula "=COUNTA('Player 1:Player 2'!D12)" and correctly displays the answer.

I have tried googling and haven't found any useful help - I do not have Show Formula toggled, and even when I intentionally toggle it the formula does not display in this cell, even though other cells show their corresponding formulas. The cell is formatted as general, and all the cells it is referencing are also correctly formatted as general.

Please help 🙏🙏🙏

edit: I am using Version 16.109