Chapter 2

Tokyo, May 2019

"I'm home!"

Seika closed the door of the small flat she shared with her brother.

With an exhausted sigh, she hung her handbag on its hook at the wall. Another hard day at work was over, the sun long set and Tokyo aglitter with its nightly lights.

As she slipped out of her shoes, her brother Seiya popped his head out of his room. He grinned broadly when he saw her.

"Hey, sis! Get your hands washed, dinner's already waiting."

Warmth washed through her. Again, he had waited with eating until she was home. And most likely, he had cooked himself. Ever since they had moved here from the Star Children Orphanage, Seiya had acquired some modest cooking skills. And whenever she came home this late, he managed to put together a meal – while still getting his studies done.

He had truly come far, Seika thought fondly while heading to the bathroom. As a child, he had been pretty wild and unruly. How often had she been forced to run after him because he had tried to escape homework. Today, he still had this endless amount of energy. He managed to study in order to get into university, getting constantly good grades, while also keeping up two hobbies.

Seiya was already sitting at the table when she joined him. The sight of two bowls of gyudon(1) greeted her, and the familiar scent made her mouth water. This cheeky brat knew exactly how much she loved gyudon.

"If I didn't know it better, I would almost say that you were up to something", she said, grinning, as she sat down.

"Me?" Seiya gave a perfect impression of pure innocence. "Whatever would make you say that, dearest sister?"

They shared a hearty laugh before finally picking up the chopsticks and digging in. Seika was hungrier than she had previously thought, and was glad that there was enough for seconds.

When she was finally done, she leaned back with a content sigh.

"Ah, I really needed that."

"Had a hard day?", Seiya asked.

"I did." Seika grimaced. "I think Ayako had a particularly bad day today. And then we had trouble with an important delivery of medicine."

"Ouch. That really sounds bad."

Seiya knew quite well how difficult a superior Ayako was. His sister had told him enough stories of her work life, and her dreaded superior.

Usually, Seika loved her work at the Graude Athenian Hospital. She had always been a caring, helpful soul, so the job of nurse fit her perfectly. And for other reasons too, both siblings were glad that through connections of the orphanage, Seika had been able to undergo the required education and get the job she had now. Both orphanage and hospital had been built by Mitsumasa Kido, owner of the prestigious and wealthy Graude Foundation, which of course provided optimal connections. And he was usually very generous to the institutions he built.

However, it could also be a very hard job at times, and Ayako certainly did not help with that. How she was still employed there was anyone's guess.

"I hope it wasn't too bad."

"No worse than her usual worst", Seika sighed. "Good thing is, tomorrow she'll probably be back to normal. Well, at least until her next episode."

She and her coworkers could not do anything else but bear her with dignity. Fortunately, most of those were decent, nice people and more than made up for Ayako.

And even if the job could get hard at times, she wouldn't want to change it. Because she earned just enough so she didn't need a second job to sustain their life in Tokyo, like many others needed to do. For life in Japan's capital was rather pricey. Even for people living as modestly as them.

As they were done eating, the siblings cleared the table. Since they were two, and the kitchen included a small dishwasher, they finished it within minutes.

"So, how has your day been?", Seika asked as she closed the washer.

"Quite good", Seiya answered, filling the water boiler and switched it on. "At the archery club, we even got a new member today. I helped him settle in."

He was a passionate archer. Not the Japanese Kyudo, however, but normal archery. Seiya had tried out Kyudo at first, but had quickly found it too stiff and ritualistic. No wonder, given his free-spirited nature. So he had turned to normal archery, and he had quickly grown fond of it. Seika was to this day grateful to the Star Children Orphanage for enabling her brother to take up that hobby. She was convinced that it had helped him to grow into the decent youth he was today.

"Did he like it?", she asked.

"He sure seemed to", her brother answered and put the tea bags into the two cups he had prepared, before adding the water. "I think he'll stay." As he brought the cups over to the table, a broad grin spread across his face. "Oh, and did you know? Aiolos has won yet another competition!"

Seika smiled at his enthusiasm. "At this point, I am not even surprised anymore."

Seiya was a big fan of the Greek archer Aiolos Kaus, had even a poster of him at the wall. Aiolos was but a handful of years older than Seika, but already a rising star at the archery sky. What made him so likeable in Seika's eyes was that he was still a down-to-Earth guy, not actively seeking the limelight, despite his rising success.

And, from what she had seen of him… he did look gorgeous. Like one of those ancient Greek statues. Even the dark brown curls framing his face resembled those.

Not that she'd ever admit any of this to her brother.

"I wonder if he's going to participate in the Olympics next year…", Seiya mumbled thoughtfully and trailed off, then took a sip of tea. "What do you think, nee-chan?"

"Well…" Seika of course didn't know much about archery, but thanks to her brother, she had acquired the odd tidbit of knowledge. "He sure is a bit young for the Olympics with 23 years, but… he certainly has the skill. I think in the end, it depends on his own ambition."

"Huh, I guess you're right. But I sure do hope he's going to participate. I'd love seeing him perform at such a huge and famous event."

Seika couldn't help but quietly smile to herself. He simply was a huge fan of Aiolos, and to be honest, she was rather curious herself how the Greek would perform.

"That sure will be lovely", she agreed. "But we will have to wait and see until we get official information."

Her brother nodded. With that, the conversation faded out, and they drank their tea in amiable silence.

Only after Seiya retreated to his room for a last batch of learning did Seika dare picking up the mail he had already gotten from the mailbox. As always when she came home late, Seiya had already taken the letters out of it and put them on the small table at the wall next to the door.

Today, there were only three letters on the table. Within seconds, she had scanned them. And had to suppress a frustrated sigh. The letter she was hoping for wasn't there. How long until she finally got an answer?

On a good note: None of the letters seemed to be a bill, either. Which was just as well to her.

Seika brought the letters into the small room that functioned as their office. On a broad desk stood a computer, and to one side stood a shelf, where all the important documents and everything papery, like bills and the like, were neatly stored in folders. She put the new letters onto the desk, so she could open them first thing when she was going to do a little paperwork tomorrow. Right now, she ought to get to bed so she would be rested for her shift the next day. Also, she was pretty exhausted and couldn't wait to lay down.

Peeking into Seiya's room, she bid him goodnight, made herself ready for bed and went to sleep.

Athens, May 2019

The day after Aiolos had announced his decision to Aiolia and the twins, the weather was splendid. Taking Sisyphus's advice, he decided to use the time to relax and accompanied the other three. Aiolia was truly eager to learn how to drive a boat, and of course he wanted to show off his improving skills to the older brother he so adored.

As they headed away from the coast, Aiolos leaned back on the bench, closed his eyes and enjoyed the salty breeze blowing around his nose.

His thoughts wandered to the decision he had made and the hard time ahead of him. The dice now were cast, and there was no turning back anymore. No time for doubts anymore. The registration form he had received from the Olympic Committee was probably almost back there already. All filled out.

He was going up against the world's elite. At times, he still wondered what the heck he was doing. Of course, Aiolos had every reason to be confident in his skills, and had won quite the amount of competitions. The mere fact he had been invited to the Olympics was proof of that. Still. The scale of the games were beyond anything he had experienced.

Of course he had ambitions. The main reason he had decided to accept the qualification was that he wanted to spread his wings. To test the limits of his capabilities. Despite that, he wanted to get as far as possible. And while he realized that the competition he was up against was cut-throat, the thought of a chance to win a medal filled with excitement and a silent nervousness.

And tomorrow, the training would begin in earnest. Today was but the calm before the storm.

"So, Los, you already got an idea how you'll phrase your public announcement?"

The young Greek opened his eyes. Saga stepped next to him and sat down.

"Not really", Aiolos answered. "I'll leave that as always in your more than capable hands."

Saga grinned. "Nothing too flashy or loud, of course."

"I knew I could always trust you."

After a brief laugh, the two friends watched as Aiolia skillfully guided the boat under Kanon's supervision. The younger twin seemed to have as much fun as his young student. Since both brothers were equally proficient in handling a boat, they shared the role of teacher.

For a while, a comfortable silence reigned between the two friends.

"So, you've actually gone and registered for the freakin' Olympics", Saga eventually said. "You think you're ready for the publicity? I won't be able to help you much with my colleagues."

Aiolos met his blue eyes and saw genuine concern glistening in them. But the older twin was right. He was going to face a much larger media attention than ever before. An amount that could too easily grow to a crushing degree, especially should he prove highly successful.

And if anyone knew what Saga was talking about, it was Saga. As a journalist himself, he knew the ins and outs of the trade quite well, as well as the people in it. And even if he didn't tell many a story, Aiolos had seen plenty of other proof of how easily press people could turn into vultures. That was the reason why, to protect both himself and his brother, he had decided to stay out of the limelight as much as was possible.

The brown-haired Greek regaled his friend with a half-reassuring, half-resigned smile. "We'll only know how it goes once the time's here. But I am going to weather the storm somehow. And don't worry… if I should notice it's getting too much for me, I will ask Sisyphus for help. We're going to discuss how to handle the media anyways."

As a former, highly successful archer, Sisyphus had lots of experience with great amounts of media attention. And his advice had turned out invaluable a couple of times already.

Saga regarded him silently for a moment, then nodded. "You've done a great job with my more predatory colleagues so far. That experience will do you quite good. Who knows, in the end, you'll handle it like a total champ." He boxed Aiolos playfully in the shoulder. "But in case – you know you can count on all of us."

At that, the archer nodded. "Yeah. And I'll always be grateful for that."

He knew indeed how valuable it was to have the right people supporting you. People one could lean on to when things got too much. Aiolos remembered the time when his success was on the rise. How highly uncomfortable he had been with the increasing media attention. When the first questions of more private things were asked. Without Saga, Kanon and Aiolia, he didn't know how he would have handled the pressure. Saga's knowledge of the journalism trade proved quite helpful; since he knew what the press wanted to hear, he was able to help Aiolos formulate answers that both satisfied, still didn't give everything away and didn't make the wrong rumors surface. It also didn't hurt that he was quite good with words anyways.

"You know…", Saga said thoughtfully and gazed out over the water, "I am grateful too. We sure have made it far, haven't we. And together, we're unstoppable."

Aiolos chuckled to himself. Saga was right, of course. Their friendship was not only long, but had become also quite beneficial for both of them, not just Aiolos. For Saga was not with any newspaper, but a freelancer, usually working together with the Kathimerini. Occasionally he also sold his articles to other newspapers like the Filathlos. And while he would do quite on his own, skilled as he was, his exclusive coverage of this rising star in the archery world pushed his success even further.

They were indeed a great team.

"I wouldn't have it any other way", the brown-haired archer eventually said.

Saga grinned and punched him playfully into the shoulder. Then the two friends sat back and simply enjoyed the ride.

Aiolos banished all thoughts of archery and the Olympics from his mind. He just wanted to relax today, because he knew that there wasn't going to be much time for that for quite a while.

The next day was going to be only the start of many, very hard months to come.

Gyudon: Comfort food. Ingredients like onions, sliced beef and eggs are tossed into a frying pan for a quick cook. After just 15 minutes, it's served over rice.