At the temple of Olympus, countless gods had gathered and were merrily holding a feast. Some were flushed with drink and revelry, while others traded stories about whatever amused them these days.
Most of the gods at the banquet were in high spirits. But among them, there was one god alone whose mood had sunk miserably low. He gulped down nectar, trying to drown the bitter memories of the past.
"Ghh...!"
But no matter how much he drank, he could not forget. Drink after drink, the thoughts would not leave his head. Daphne, the nymph who had become his first love because of Eros's trickery. The beautiful boy Cyparissus. And more recently, Coronis. Thinking of them only made him more depressed.
Apollo had lived as a god believing he lacked for nothing, yet the things he treasured always slipped from his hands in the emptiest way possible. Not long ago, he had entrusted Coronis's child—the newborn son Asclepius—to Chiron.
So lately, after leaving Asclepius in Chiron's care and trying to soothe this gloom, Apollo happened to overhear a story among the gods that made him lift his head. It was a story about Heracles, one that had been spreading lately.
"Ah... Father's..."
Heracles's background was a subject of great interest among the gods even now. And so was the fact that Zeus had high expectations for him. But what caught Apollo's attention was not Heracles. It was the story of Selene, the goddess of the full moon, who rarely showed her face at feasts.
Selene was said to have fifty-one children by the human Endymion, and Apollo heard that she had been boasting to the other goddesses about her youngest child and only son, Iskios. Whether it counted as boasting with her personality was hard to say, but she clearly treasured the child she had borne among humans. She said that even as her son, he was unbelievably beautiful... and that was what drew Apollo's interest.
And so afterward, with Helios taking charge of driving the sun chariot that day, Apollo went near Chiron's stable. The instant he saw Iskios step outside, it felt as though time had stopped. The moment he saw Iskios's face, he realized Selene's praise had not even done him justice. His appearance far surpassed Apollo's common sense. Never before had Apollo felt his emotions surge so violently just from looking at someone. Perhaps even more than with Daphne.
"Ah... so my heart still held such burning passion...!"
Even without being struck by one of Eros's arrows, Apollo felt a heat greater than what he had felt for Daphne the instant he saw Iskios. This was unmistakably love, unmistakably fate! The moment he fell in love with Iskios, Apollo finished his preparations and went to find him the very next day.
Apollo spotted Iskios, rushed straight toward him at full speed, introduced himself, and asked if he would become his lover. But the moment the word "lover" left his mouth, Iskios's face went pale and he vanished.
Apollo looked around to find the suddenly missing Iskios, but by then he was already far away, fleeing on his own two legs. The instant Apollo saw him running, he remembered the days when he had yearned for Daphne, and with a determination not to lose, he gave chase.
No, with even greater passion than in the days when he had been utterly smitten with Daphne, Apollo chased after Iskios with flowers blooming in his head, laughing cheerfully all the while.
"Heh heh heh...! Are you planning to hide in the forest, my love Iskios~!?"
Apollo desperately pursued Iskios, while Iskios, being chased, sprinted across the meadow and into a nearby forest to hide himself. The moment Iskios concealed himself in the woods, Apollo's eyes blazed as he began searching for him.
Filled with excitement, Apollo desperately tried to find Iskios. He began combing through the forest with care. Nearby, beautiful nymphs had been bathing, but Apollo was so fixated on Iskios that even their screams barely registered.
Meanwhile, after Apollo began chasing him, Iskios hid himself in a patch of grass nearby and quietly let out a sigh.
"...Haa... this is the worst."
Unlike Apollo, whose excitement had shot through the roof, Iskios's mood had sunk straight into the depths.
"Help me..."
"Iskios!!! Where have you gone!!!?"
I knew it would be bad to some degree, but this lunatic god casually smashed my common sense to pieces. Truly, all I can do is admire this end-of-days Greece.
He was even searching around the place where the bathing nymphs were, just to find me, but it didn't seem like their screams or the sight of them covering themselves even entered his eyes. His whole mind was focused on finding me, and that made this a very, very bad situation.
"Iskios! Accept my love, my confession!!!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!"
"L-Lord Apollo!?"
I had always feared that this face of mine would one day cause some kind of femme fatale phenomenon. I had always been afraid something like this would happen. Well, of course I was. I'm a pretty-faced beautiful boy. In this end-of-days Greece, that alone makes me a target.
But... the one chasing me this time is especially bad. Far too bad. The one after me now is one of the Twelve Olympians, Apollo, the overachieving god who governs the sun, music, prophecy, literature, and more. ...Though right now, to me, he just looks like a lunatic gay bastard throwing a fit because he's trying to catch one boy who looks like a girl...
Other creeps are plenty terrifying and worth being wary of, but Apollo is a problem on another level. Part of that is because he's a Divine Spirit, but what scares me even more is that these gods act on instinct without thinking ahead. There's a saying about a shrimp getting its back broken in a fight between whales... If word spreads across all of Greece, and among the gods, that Apollo is trying to find me, then I'll become an even bigger target than before.
"Damn it... is living quietly really this hard...?"
I never thought living quietly and peacefully would be this difficult... But even so, I have not the slightest intention of becoming Apollo's songbird. And on top of that, I don't have that kind of special taste.
All kinds of awful thoughts ran through my head, but even if my opponent was Apollo, I had no choice but to steel myself and swear that I would never be caught. Since Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, even Mother would probably have a hard time doing anything about him.
This is a trial laid upon me. My own trial, one I have to face alone without borrowing anyone else's strength. I have to run and hide from a god, but somehow, some way, I will escape and protect my body.
"Are you here, Iskios...?"
...In the worst case, I may even have to consider the possibility of other gods joining the hunt... Still, I never imagined the hiding techniques I taught myself back when I was under Teacher Chiron—just to hide my body from gay creeps—would be this useful.
It makes daily life difficult, having to lure the movements of other wild beasts to create false leads or deliberately hide in places with deep shadows, but after checking my next escape route, I slowly crept forward and quietly ran toward my next destination.
"Good... then try and catch me...! Even if I die, I will never let you catch me...! I'll keep running to the bitter end...!!!"
By the second day since that lunatic gay Apollo started chasing me, he still had not managed to find where I was hiding. Even so, proving he really was a Divine Spirit, Apollo somehow knew by instinct alone that I was hiding somewhere in this forest, and he kept searching all through it.
For all that, back when I was under Teacher Chiron, I had already taught myself how to hide and how to run in order to protect my body from the other perverts. If I combined that experience with the talents I have now and focused everything on hiding, then even Divine Spirits would not be able to find me.
But even though he couldn't see me and couldn't sense my presence in the slightest, Apollo showed no sign of giving up. That made him terrifying.
"Heh heh heh...! So you're hiding yourself out of shyness, Iskios. Yes, this is how love ought to burn."
What a load of crap. Shy my ass. I'm hiding because you're disgusting. But if I actually said that out loud, the gods would probably take it as a challenge against themselves and slap me with some kind of punishment.
Turn me into an animal, blind me, leave me unable to die while suffering punishment forever... Better to keep those thoughts in my heart. Of course, even if my opponent is a god, I absolutely will not be caught. I will survive, and I will not let anyone lay a hand on me.
"Iskios! Listen well! This is the song I composed for you alone, a song I offer to you and to our love!"
"What...?"
It had suddenly gone quiet, so I thought maybe he had left for the day, but then Apollo suddenly pulled out a lyre in the middle of the forest and prepared to sing. The sight of him smiling faintly as he got ready to play was definitely eye-catching enough to draw attention.
He's a handsome, beautiful young man, an overachiever, and a god seated among the Twelve Olympians. A lofty position, yes, but my opponent is still one of the gods of this end-of-days Greece, so I couldn't relax. No, more importantly, a song for me? What kind of unholy abomination was he about to sing...?
Still... caution is caution. Apollo is not only the sun god, but also the overachieving Divine Spirit who governs plague, prophecy, literature, music, and many other things. If you compare him to a modern human, it's easiest to think of him as that absurdly talented guy with every certification imaginable. While I was thinking that, Apollo's fingers slowly brushed the strings of the lyre, and he began to sing.
"On that day when I wept in sorrow and gloom, you caught my eye.
Meeting you was fate; I fell in love. My heart raced at the sight of your eyes.
Far more than drunkenness ever could, my heart burst into flame! In that burning heart, the flower called love bloomed~!
Ah—why are you so lovely? Why are you so beautiful?
At that beauty, my heart burns hotter than the sun~!
I want to clasp both your hands together with mine—"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!"
It's so cringe! So cringe!!! Damn it, it's so unbearably cringe!!! It was so painfully embarrassing that it didn't just make my skin crawl—I instinctively wanted to reject hearing this cursed song at all, and I screamed.
Even if it weren't me, even a complete outsider with no ear for music would know this was obviously a song aimed directly at me. Since he's also the god of music, his singing and lyre-playing were definitely better than Teacher Chiron's, but to me, it was an attack worse than listening to the world's most unbearable off-key performance.
I had hidden myself with everything I had, so Apollo couldn't sense even a trace of my presence, but... that scream, and the violent shock to my mind, hurt too much. I had given myself away.
"Ohohohoh! So that's where you were, Iskios! To think you'd be shy... Iskios, you're adorable!!!"
"Hiiik...!"
In the end, I was exposed. My mind went completely blank, and instead of staying hidden, I chose to run. When Apollo smiled with that bright, innocent look, as if light might burst from his eyes, I was terrified enough to lose my mind.
Apollo chased from behind me, and I fled in terror at full speed. That was how the game of tag between Apollo and me began. Apollo was having fun, but I was running for my life.
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo—!!!"
"Will you stop there, Iskios! Hahahahahahahaha!!!"
But my nightmare had not even truly begun. In fact, Apollo did not sing that self-composed song aimed at me only that once. He started performing it for me every single day.
Morning, noon, evening, night... not once did he skip it. Every time, he sang a different variation, and it made not only my hands and feet curl up in embarrassment, but my heart too. I screamed on instinct every time.
On top of that... Apollo even mobilized his worshippers, his attendants, and lower-ranking gods to chase me down. It no longer seemed likely that the peaceful days I had wanted so badly would ever come.
But... no matter what happens, no matter what comes, I absolutely... absolutely will not be caught!!!