(Writer's note: I am picking up some pace! Just wait until I get burnt out.) It had been about 2 days. We were going to fly to Greece for Stelios's funeral. It felt ironic. The Greeks came and it ended in a death, what if we ended in a death as well? Would it be me? Daiki? Kagami? Tsukasa? Perhaps even Miyuki? I do not know, but I hope that all goes right when we're there. It has anyways been a pretty eventful week... Way too eventful. Hector's suspicions of Daiki, so far, have been proven justified. Ever since Stelios's death, Daiki has been acting more secretly, growing distant, telling me things last moment before he does them, and he doesn't involve me in any politics within the party. I barely saw him those two days that passed. He only came home to sleep, eat and fuck. Honestly, I felt as if I was a robot, built to serve him, with free time to do as I please at home.
Every little thing I noticed, I messaged Hector about, my paranoia rising every day. The people walking outside could be searching us to kill us. Daiki could've been the orchestrator to Stelios's death, or maybe was it one of the Greeks? Perhaps someone completely unrelated? Was it a coincidence, and we're all paranoid by the rustling leaves? I did not know, and it did not seem like I would be getting an answer soon.
Before I realised it, I was in an airplane flying to Greece. Daiki wasn't sitting next to me, Kagami was. Instead, he was sitting with Tsukasa, on the other side of the aisle. They were discussing and laughing, like we were the first few months of our relationship. I sat back and looked out the window. Kagami reached her hand and grabbed my shoulder, "Is anything wrong?" she asked, "You seem angry, sad and confused all at the same time, Konata. That's new on you.". "I just... I didn't expect things to unfold like that. We were visited by the Greeks and now we are the ones visiting them. It just feels... Weird." I replied, still looking out the window. "I get what you mean, but we chose a life of politics, and we should be prepared for stuff such as this." she told me. I remained quiet, when she spoke up once more; "You should sleep again. It's a long flight". I sighed as I just kept looking out the window. Quietly.
After an uncounted amount of time, we landed in Athens, Greece. We were greeted on the door of the airport building by Hector, Alexander and Misao. "We just left, and you want to see us again? Can you not get enough of us?" Alexander said trying to break the silence with a joke. No one laughed and Hector even hit his shoulder. He stepped forward and shook Daiki's arm. "Sorry for Alexander's 'joke'. He's been trying to lighten the mood ever since Stelios's brutal death." he said, and Daiki replied, "It's understandable. It's not every day you see your friend in tens of pieces.". He then shook
Tsukasa's hand, who was still next to Daiki. I felt envious, still. Was she trying to take him away from me? I shook Hector's hand next, not waiting for Alexander, who stepped forward to shake mine. "Hello there Konata." he spoke with a smirk, as I smirked back, "Feels as if a long time has passed. Huh?" I said. I looked back at Daiki, to see his reaction, but he seemed as if he didn't mind. I looked back at Hector and said; "I'm probably going to use the capsule...".
The funeral was going to be tomorrow, and two days after that would be the Greek elections. Me and Daiki were going to be staying over at Alexander's house. Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki would be staying at a hotel, as they weren't deemed political targets from Alexander and Hector. I would be talking with Misao and Alexander while we were there. Alexander tried to speak to Daiki too, but he was not responding and pushing him away. Later, he told us he would be going to a bar he found nearby on google maps. "I bet he's going to meet with Tsukasa." I said as I looked at the door he closed behind him. "Don't say that he loves you! I can see it." Misao told me as she smiled warmly at me. "I would believe that, but he's been closer to her today, and even sat next to her on the airplane. A weird choice if you ask me." I spoke in an upset tone. "Listen Konata, we shouldn't jump to the worst conclusion the first time something happens. He was probably just trying to distance himself to not hurt you." Alexander replied gently, out of nowhere. "I'm just a tool to him. If you were in my place, would you not feel betrayed? As if you were promised something, that never happened? For the past two days I was just a tool to him, he came home, ate, went to the headquarters, came home, fucked me, slept and in the morning left for the headquarters again. And on the airplane, he spoke so sweetly to Tsukasa... I hate him..." I monologued, in a fit of rage. Misao held my hand for a moment, but didn't speak up and nor did Alexander. They didn't know what to say. They didn't know how I felt. I was practically alone in this world. I got up and headed towards the guest room. "Goodnight, I am going to sleep." I said, not expecting an answer, but "Goodnight." they said synchronized. I froze for a moment. Them speaking at the same time, such a romantic moment between them. I know the only reason they didn't laugh, or something was because I was there, and they didn't want to upset me. I closed the door behind me as I entered the room and looked at the ceiling, while lying down in bed. I didn't think. I didn't want to think. I would hurt myself again.
It was, what felt like, the middle of the night. I was still awake, as thought thoughts took over me, eventually. I suddenly heard someone enter the room, but I didn't check who it was, I kept laying on my side looking at the closet next to the bed. Suddenly, the figure laid on the bed and wrapped its arm around me, giving me a kiss on the head. It most definitely was Daiki, but I didn't want to talk to him. I kept pretending I was asleep when,
at the same time, he was cuddling me and getting closer to me. He didn't hold me tight like he used to, he didn't kiss my neck like he used to, he didn't say my name in a baby voice like he used to. Daiki had changed and I didn't know why. What I did wrong. Or was it him being unreasonable? Probably. I didn't ever do anything wrong. At the same time, maybe he's tired and shocked of the recent events... Either he changed, or I stopped being worth loving.
It was about 8 in the morning when Alexander woke me and Daiki up. He told us to get ready, so we did our hair, and put on dark clothes. I wore a dark purple dress, while Daiki wore a navy-blue suit, with a tie of the same colour. Alexander wore a black suit with a black tie and Misao put on a black blouse. We were pretty much ready to head off to the funeral now. Alexander got in the driver's seat and Misao sat next to him. Me and Daiki were in the backseat. Finally, we all put on our seatbelts and drove to a church, about 3 quarters of an hour away.
We finally arrived at the church. There I saw Hector, holding flowers, who smiled briefly upon seeing us, before he went back to looking at the casket. When we approached as well, we noticed the casket was closed, most likely due to the state of the remains. Hector guided us to sit down and wait for something called the 'Trisagion prayers'. When we sat down, Daiki sat at the edge of the row, near the nave. I sat left of him, and Hector left of me. Then was Alexander, and finally Misao. While waiting, I was looking around the church. It was fairly big, and had a lot of circular portions, as well as a dome on the highest point of the church. Hector noticed I was looking at it and told me it represents the Heavens, as the church itself is a manifestation of heaven on earth. I nodded in understanding as I continued looking around. What caught my eye were the icons and the murals, as they had no perspective. Much of the text did not seem like Greek, which I found weird, as it was a Greek Orthodox Church after all. When I asked Hector about it, he reassured me that it was Greek, just from Byzantine times. You could read what it said and most of the times it was the names of the events depicted, or the people on the icons. Suddenly, as Hector started telling me more about the church, we heard the priest start chanting. I supposed the Trisagion prayers had begun and decided to shift my focus to the priest's chanting. It was Greek and I could tell, but at the same time it did not sound like Greek. I decided I would ask either Hector or Alexander about it later. At one point, most of the church stood up. When I did not, Hector gestured me to do so. I nodded and stood up and after a little while we sat back down. This happened a few more times before the Trisagion prayers finished. They took the coffin out of the church and started transporting it to a nearby graveyard. As we positioned Stelios over the open grave, the priest started chanting again, and soon, Stelios was down under. People approached and placed flowers on the grave or threw
dirt on it. I threw some dirt as I stepped back. There was a woman crying close by the grave and people were saying something to her, but I could not understand what. Hector approached me and told me it's Stelios's mother. I then realised they must've been trying to comfort her. I approached her and said; "I'm sorry for your loss. I didn't know Stelios for long, but for as long as I knew him, he was a good person.". She shook my hand and kissed my cheeks, which surprised me at first, but I didn't speak about it. "Thank you," she said, "but I told him he shouldn't mess with politics. It wouldn't be good for him, and I knew it.". Suddenly, Hector approached and said something in Greek. All I remember was that he said something like "Silpiria ya ton Stelio, ala pisteo oti tha ithee ena doksameo thanao". (Writer's note: the correct spelling with Latin letters is: Silipitiria gia ton Stelio, alla pistevo oti tha ithele enan doksasmeno thanato. Or in Greek letters: Συλλυπητήρια για τον Στέλιο, αλλα πιστεύω ότι θα ήθελε εναν δοξασμένο θάνατο. It means; I'm sorry for Stelios but I believe he wanted a glorious death.) Stelios's mother pointed away angrily and said something I could not recall. Hector left and when I looked at Stelios's mother she was already looking at me. "I never liked Hector. He is really unemotional when it comes to subjects such as death. At my husband's funeral he told me I should be 'happy because he died serving the nation'. To him everything is about the nation." she spoke before starting to sob again. I did not know what to say. I said "Once again, I am sorry for your loss, I hope you have a good day..." before following behind Hector. I decided to ask him about the prayers and why they did not sound like Greek. "Oh, they're in Byzantine Greek too. The Greek Orthodox church does not translate the prayers like the Russian, Serbian or Armenian do. We're generally sticking to the Byzantine tradition as much as we can in the church." he said, with a slight smile. I nodded in understanding and kept following him, Daiki soon caught up to us, as we got in Hector's car. When we asked him where we're going, he said we're going to the house of Stelios's parents, for the Makaria, a meal they have in the orthodox church after funerals. When we finally arrived at the house we were seated in a table. It had dishes with fish, Lenten dishes, bread, wine and a dish with boiled wheat. Hector sat next to me and told me it's Koliva, a sweet that symbolises death and resurrection. When we all sat down, we started eating and discussing. Hector told me about a time Stelios ate those hot noodles you get from the grocery store and drank a gallon of milk on the side. The worst thing was that he was lactose intolerant, so he ended up spending the rest of the night in the restroom and it kept everyone else awake. The mood on the table was surprisingly light, considering it was about a funeral. After a while, Hector got up with Alexander to give a speech. They both spoke in Greek, so I could not understand what was said, but when Hector's turn to speak came, some people that were sitting on the table were upset and an old man even started yelling at them calling them something along the lines of 'Kolonazi' (writer's note: Κώλο-ναζί means ass-nazis, so basically an insult.) and some other people from the table were calling the man and the people that
were with him something that sounded like 'Skatokomounia' (writer's note: Σκατοκομμούνια means Shit-commies.). Some people tried to calm down the situation and eventually they succeeded. In the end, Hector and Alexander sat down, not finishing their speech.
As I was eating, I noticed Daiki and Tsukasa exchanging looks and smiling at each other. I turned my attention back to my food, frustrated by Daiki's recent actions. When I finished, Hector gave me some Koliva to try. At first, I was sceptical, but I decided to try anyways. It was a little too sweet, but at the same time it was really nice. Hector told me that when he was little, his grandma would bring him Koliva from the church. That's how he got familiar with them. He also told me he tried Cypriot Koliva when he went for vacation there, briefly, but he didn't like them. He then ranted about how mainland Greece is much better than Cyprus and how just by going for vacations there he decided he didn't like it because the people were that revealing of their personalities and other excuses. He was also hating on Thessalonica, Sparta, many islands etc. He embraced less than few regions and cities, which was funny coming from a nationalist. Even though Hector's topics were fairly interesting, I just couldn't find myself paying attention to it. Rather, my thoughts kept circling back to Daiki and Tsukasa. Why did they start being so cute together all of a sudden. I glanced back at them for a second. Daiki had left my side and went to sit next to Tsukasa, as they started talking. I sighed as I looked back to Hector, who seemed concerned. "Are you afraid he might be cheating on you?" he asked with a slight frown. "How did you know?" I asked, surprised he got it that easily. "You're not hiding it well. And he isn't either... You're not the only one who has noticed something up with him. He's been real quiet on the table, and he's only talking to Tsukasa... I cannot tell for why, but I know he's feeling guilty for something..." he said as I nodded in agreement. The conversation suddenly died. We reached an agreement but had nothing else to talk about. We just stared into each other's eyes. Hector tried to ignite a new discussion; "So, uh... Do you like Hatsune Miku?". "I love Hatsune Miku!" I replied excitedly, "What is your favourite song?" I proceeded to ask. "World is mine." he replied, and my smile widened as I said; "Mine too! Holy shit, you're cooler than I thought!". "I mean, if you think it's cool, sure, but it's not the best thing to admit publicly. Mainly my friends know, and I get made fun for it sometimes." he said. "Oh, come on, Miku can't be that frowned upon in Greece!" I exclaimed, thinking that disliking Miku was obviously crazy. Well, I got a big, hard lecture about what is morally accepted in Greece. Greeks really are not the most progressive people... We anyways kept discussing about Miku, but then the conversation shifted to general anime, then tv in its entirety, then how the television was used for propaganda in Nazi Germany etc. Basically, our subjects were switching fast, but I learned some pretty cool stuff from Hector, and he learned from me.
We went outside and sat together. We also got some wine from inside with us. Some younger kids were playing outside. As we were talking a mysterious man approached the house. He was wearing a black trench coat, dark blue jeans, and a black shirt. On his feet he wore black sports shoes. On his face he wore a surgical mask, sunglasses and a fedora. He went to Hector and gave him a sealed envelope, before walking away, not saying a single word. Hector opened it and looked inside, where he found a note. He took it out and held it in his hands. It had something written in Greek, so I couldn't understand, but when Hector read it, he immediately got up and ran inside, yelling to everyone something in Greek. They all seemed in a rush, and they got out in front of the building. Hector and Alexander ran back inside and went somewhere upstairs before coming back down with 2 hunting shotguns. Everyone was shocked but we said nothing. Hector ran back out and started guarding the fence separating the backyard from the front, while Alexander stayed inside and was aiming at the empty hallway. Suddenly we heard a loud sound coming from the dining room. And three men suddenly rushed towards the hallway to the exit. Alexander shot one of them from the doorframe of a storage room, and the other two retreated behind the corner. A gunshot was also heard from Hector's side, who shot down one of them. He then advanced to the backyard and shot another one, point blank, and he fell dead to the ground. Then there were two more there. One of them tried to shoot Hector but missed and Hector shot him back, hitting his arm and blasting it off. He then aimed for the second one, who was trying to hide behind a corner. He slowly advanced there and shot him on the face point blank again. His face exploded and ended up splitting up into many pieces. It was easily comparable to a rose. Then, Hector rushed inside from the back door trying to catch the others off guard, but they had already advanced and were now right next to the storage room where Alexander was hiding. One of them shot Alexander on the leg, but Alexander managed to shoot him back, hitting his stomach and opening a massive hole, you could see through just fine, as if there was no person there. The man dropped to the ground, not dead, but soon he would be. The second man tried to run outside, dropping his firearm, but Hector shot him from behind, having a clear shot thanks to the hallway. He went to check on Alexander, who limped as he walked. Overall, he was fine, but that attack could have ended way worse. Soon, the police came and so did an ambulance. Alexander was taken to the hospital as the police evacuated the house. Hector approached me and said, "Stelios was not the only dead person in this funeral...".