《Beneath the surface - YiZhan version》

《Interlude》

"The seats are empty.

The theatre is dark.

Why do you keep acting?"

***

Xiao Zhan's POV

"Zhan ge."

"Zhan ge?"

"Zhan ge~".

"It's answer B, B, not C. It's B, Zhan ge! Are you even listening to me?" I sighed, crossing out my answer C to change it to B without hesitation before placing my pen on the table with a loud clink.

I glanced at the clock, ignoring the little prince whining voice hanging around me as I realized I still had half an hour left, and when I looked around me, everyone was still busy writing.

"Zhan ge~ I am bored~". Biting back the urge to roll my eyes, I stood up, walked towards the teacher's desk and placed my test paper down, bowing a little.

The teacher didn't seem surprised anymore at how quickly I finished my test, thanks to the little prince, who would never shut up.

Closing the classroom door behind me, I scanned the corridor; it was empty, only the little prince and me.

"Little prince, can you please be quiet when I try to make a test? It's like I am cheating with you beside me," I said with a sigh as the little prince grinned; he leapt forward and jumped in front of my vision.

"But Zhan ge, those tests are so easy; I had been there myself." I shook my head, not wanting to know how old the little prince was at this point.

If one looked at the little prince carefully, one would most likely say he was around my age, a year or 18, but beneath that surface, his soul was older than the folklore that parents tell their kids as bedtime stories.

His real name was not the Little Prince; there was nothing he couldn't recall about his old life.

Where he came from, his age, his origin, the little prince couldn't answer any of those questions, but somehow he was determined to stick with me, so in the end, we became sort of friends.

We kept walking towards the exit; this was my last exam today.

The fresh autumn air met me as I walked outside with the little prince beside me, but there was something else, a scent that caught me.

"Zhan ge, I can smell the resentment from here; I am not the only one, right?" I didn't answer, my frown deepening.

The scent was something like burning wood, fire.

My eyes ran around the quiet schoolyard, but there was no one.

A second or two went by before the scent died out, gone, in a blink of an eye.

Something stirred inside my chest, the feeling of having met this scent somewhere before, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"It's the same revengeful spirit as the one we tried to catch while helping the lost little girl; remember, Zhan ge?" The little prince's voice was no longer teasing anymore. His voice was sharp and filled with dread.

The memory I tried hard to close out rose to the surface again.

A little girl was running around the busy streets as I threw my bag over my shoulder, watching her.

She was dashing around mindlessly, shouting, "Mommy!"

No one reacted or even looked her way, and I knew she was a ghost, and the little prince confirmed my suspicions.