((FINALLY! I DID IT!

OK, so now we discuss Hong Kong's past life here.

To the guest reviewer: I had no idea that's how Icelandic names worked! Thank you for enlightening me. To be honest, I used the name "Steilsson" because that's one of the surnames chosen by Himaruya when picking human names for Iceland. (he might have meant Steinsson, now that I think on it.) If you really want me to, I can change the names later so it looks more correct. ^_^

Enjoy the fic, everyone! Hetalia isn't mine!))

The boy certainly looked like a ghost. He was partly transparent and was very foggy, like an image on a fuzzy TV screen. He had choppy neck-length hair and a wore a tattered red Chinese shirt and brown pants. His eyes were dead and his skin was paper white.

"Are you going to answer me?" he asked simply.

"Spirit…?" Lara's voice sounded hollow.

The ghost chuckled. "Please don't call me that. Call me Kaoru, it is my name. Or at least it was, before I became a pancake on the school stage." He looked grim.

Lara relaxed slightly. "Kaoru...uh...I'm Lara," she said, straightening. "And if you don't mind, why are you haunting the theater? Why can't you just move on to the next place?"

"Like, why should I tell you?" Kaoru asked, reclining in midair. "Aren't you this year's freak?"

Lara drew back, face reddening. "OK! First, how do you know how people pick on me all the time? Second, you take that back, China kid!"

"You're not the first person to spend any actual time in here, ya know," Kaoru replied nonchalantly. "People commonly come in here to gossip and stuff. I hear a lot of things."

Lara sighed. "Can you just answer my first question? Why are you here?"

Kaoru smirked. He floated over and sat on the edge of the stage. "OK, fine. I'll give the usual ghost spiel, talk about my death and how and why I'm here." He vanished, but a voice still travelled through the room. "It's like, the most interesting thing ever, but whatever."

Lara went over to the stage and hoisted herself onto the edge. "OK, start talking."

Kaoru had reappeared, this time casually swinging on the broken top platform. Lara noticed that this must have been the platform that killed him.

"OK, lessee…" Kaoru said, looking thoughtful. "Where should I start?"

"How about before you died?"

"Fair enough. I was...15, I think. I was in theatre club, trying to become an actor or director because of a Jackie Chan phase I was going through. I really was one of the better stage managers, since most of the plays that had my help went smoothly. I was kinda popular, I guess." He sat on the top of the platform, not sliding off. "Now, when I died...I remember that waaaaay better than I want to. It was November, about 15 years ago. I was doing my usual, keeping everything in place. My teacher asked me to reposition the 7th stagelight, so I boarded this platform to do it. But this is a really old theater, see, so I didn't notice the ropes fraying. So it snapped."

Lara imagined Kaoru 15 years ago, fixing he stagelight, not seeing the rope. She could only imagine his expression when he realized he was falling.

Kaoru must have known what she was thinking. "I know, disturbing, huh?"

"Very," Lara echoed, gulping. "So, after that…?"

"Paramedics, people screaming, teachers fainting, parents going crazy, you get the picture. It didn't take them long to realize I was gone already." He swung down and hovered there. "As for me, though, it was weird. One minute, I was slamming down on the ground, next minute, I'm standing right next to myself, feeling really confused and weirded out and horrified."

"I can see that," said Lara.

"I only realized I couldn't leave the theatre when I actually tried to run after my friends and tell them I was there. Yeah, I was in a little denial for a while, until I just said, "Screw it, I'm a ghost. I'm here."" He went silent, lost in his thoughts. "That's it."

"I don't see why you think that story's uninteresting," Lara said flatly. "That's an incredible story. Scary, weird, but really incredible."

"Is that a compliment, freaky girl?"

Lara's eye twitched. "Yet, I'm not entirely sure if I sympathize yet."

"S'okay. I don't get a lot of seers."

Oh, if only he were actually solid. Lara could've punched him. "You're pretty smartmouthed for a ghost."

"I get that a lot, too. Even when I was alive."

"You're weird."

"Tell me something I don't know."

Lara gave up. "Fine, if you'll act that way, I'm leaving."

"But aren't you the new stage manager? This won't be the last time you see me." Kaoru was starting to enjoy giving the girl a hard time.

"You shut up!" Lara yelled, walking out of the theater. She closed the door behind her, sighing. It was probably a good thing he wasn't able to leave the theater.

She started heading down the hall into the golden autumn afternoon, hands in her sweater pockets. Darn him. Maybe it was a mistake to be the stage manager. He would probably tease her so she wouldn't be able to get anything done, and then Mr. Vargas would get mad at her. (OK, maybe not. Mr. Vargas did not simply get mad at somebody.)

She watched the leaves tumble onto the ground, thinking of the ghost's tale all the way back to her house.

((Poor Hong Kong.

We'll start focusing on Lara's attempt to direct things next time. It'll be fun, da? ^J^

Later!))