modified SYOC STATUS: 2/5 female spots and 4/5 male spots open. 'Three years ago' seems to be a popular option at the moment, so I'd also appreciated it if there were some different ones. But obviously, do what you like. Ah, and make sure you are filling in the right form, okay ;) ?

Ah, also, like a total cakewalk I forgot to mention this last week, but I finished the 3E Second Genners list, and I put the link on my profile too! So if you want, check it out!

A Note About The Chapter Title: Before you freak out, there are no characters called 'Abigail' in the story. I just chose that name as a title because it means 'a father's joy', and I figured it was fitting because of the theme of this chapter- fathers. Of course, I could have put the name meaning in the chapter title instead, but I am stubborn and awkward. Hence, this chapter is called 'Abigail'.

Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please leave me feedback!

"Hi, Mum, Dad." Putting down the aster flowers that Kinomoto had told him signified 'remembrance' in hanakotoba, Tada knelt down and started to rearrange the flowers that had already been left there, clearing up the dead ones and putting them in the plastic bag he'd brought along with him for that sort of purpose. No doubt the resulting bouquet would have a bit of a garbled message, but he liked to think it wasn't just about the meaning, but about the way it looked overall and the intentions put into the bouquet as well.

"It's just me today." He chattered as he went about his task. "Hiro wanted to come, you know, but she's busy. The Dance Club have some sort of school competition coming up soon, so they've been rehearsing a lot this holidays. I'll be going to watch, and Aunt Chika will too. Obviously Kou-kun and the others, as well. I'm sure if Karasuma-sensei was…"

Tada trailed off. He could hardly continue with that particular sentence, could he? 'Don't speak ill of the dead', and all that kind of thing? Besides, some of what he had said was lies. Or rather, partial lies.

"What do you mean, you don't want to come?"

"Exactly that." Hiro replied evenly. Though the face she stared at him with was a neutral one, her voice was thicker than usual, betraying her.

"But why…you don't want to come and pay your respects to Mum and Dad at the graveyard? I can do most of the talking."

"You probably would do that anyway." Hiro was kinder with this statement, but she showed no sign of giving in. "But I'm not coming, I don't want to. I can't."

"Your practise isn't until later, though? Right?" Tada appealed, trying to understand. He bent to lace up his trainers. "Surely you can spare a little time, to visit Mum and Dad?"

"Why? I think of Mama all the time! I pay my respects to her, we have the household-shrines here, don't we? But I'm not about to pretend that I feel that way about Papa!"

Tada gasped, and shivered. He straightened up and searched his sister's features, hoping that he'd misheard her. But no, he hadn't. Something bubbling and horrible formed in the pit of his stomach.

"Pretend?" he queried cautiously, still hoping. "Pretend what?"

"That he actually deserves to be grieved over."

That was it. That was enough. Enough.

"I don't believe you." Unable to stop the shaking, he scooped up the bag with the flowers in and swung the door open and exited swiftly, letting the door slam behind him without taking a moment to call out to Chika. He didn't bother to look back to see what reaction Hiro had had to that.

He sighed, regretting that scene already. His flight tendencies were something that he'd have to work on. And he'd have to say sorry when they were both at home again, but he knew that they'd have to talk more than that. The apology would patch things up, for it always did, but he wasn't sure that in the long run it would be enough. There were more things he needed to ask her, and tell her, and in a better way.

Because I don't know why she feels like that. Or rather, I do, but I can't…I can't bring myself to do anything about it.

"So, anyway, Dad," Tada shook his head and tried to continue. "Aunt Chiyo came by yesterday. With Kazuichi, Honoka, Keisuke and Reina. Unfortunately. We didn't get into any fights though, and of course Reina wasn't that bad because she's still a baby really. But anyway, Aunt Chiyo didn't bother talking to me though, because she still hasn't gotten over the whole 3E thing, but she tried to butter up Hiro a little. Aunt Chika was good about it though- she told Aunt Chiyo to stop acting like a dolt and get over things, which was quite funny, though I guess you'd have to have been there for that…but yeah. She sounded every inch the responsible, scolding big sister, and I can imagine what it would have been like growing up with her now. Poor you!"

Tada laughed a little at this, imagining that he was exchanging conspiratorial whispers with his father over the dinner table or something, but the moment soon passed and he found himself feeling awkward. Talking for ages and ages wasn't usually a difficulty for him. He'd done it so many times in his 3E year so far, and he'd spent ages weaving stories of events to a still sleeping Karasuma. But for some reason, here, it was…harder. Sighing, he drew up his legs and rested his chin on his knees. What else should I say? Grieving for his father was a more complicated business than mourning his mother, for all sorts of reasons. Then, being in 3E, he'd found himself completely surrounded by the details of his mother's life, so naturally, it had been her that he was mostly thinking of. I've been neglectful.

Briefly, he wondered what Kinomoto would say about that. They had not discussed it in any length, but Tada knew that like him, Kinomoto was an orphan. Orphan. It was such a lonely word, and one that Tada had never imagined would be one that could describe him. Even in the months before his mother had died he hadn't imagined his life becoming that sort of life. Then again, I didn't imagine I'd end up in a situation where I was fronting a project to change the system that Mum had to suffer through so long ago.

Tada sat up straight, almost bashing his foot against the gravestone.

"Yeowch!" Tada grinned sheepishly to himself. "Woops, sorry, Dad. I just realised, since it's been a long time since I last came to chat, it's been a while since I last told you about what's been going on with Ending the End Class as well. The last time was when we just begun it, right? A lot's happened since then, actually. A whole lot. Let me tell you about it, I think you'll find it interesting."

There. There's something to talk about. Perhaps the class was all about his mother, but it was his father from whom he'd gained the inclination to change things from, given that once he'd done a similar thing himself. His mood lightening at the insight, Tada talked, and talked, and talked, just the way he was used to doing.

…

When Hana brushed past Asami on the stairs, she winced. She could not help it, really. The amount they'd talked hadn't been all that much since 3E had interfered anyway, but ever since that, it had decreased. All the way to the point it was painful to look at each other sometimes.

"Sorry." Asami muttered as they hit the bottom step and she raced on ahead to the kitchen. Hana nodded pointlessly and drifted behind.

"Well, you two took your time." Their mother said when they got to the kitchen. Hana winced, and she could feel Asami do the same, but apparently their slowness less of an issue at that moment, as their mother moved away from the oven with an exhausted gesture and picked up a tray from the counter before addressing them.

"Right, now one of you look after the lunch in the oven and make sure what else needs warming up has been done, and the other one lay the table, alright? Dad will be here very soon, and I haven't taken Kei breakfast and…argh. Things need to get rolling girls, they need to get going and fast. "

"It's fine, Mum, we can manage. I'll do the food." Asami said, going off to do just that, and efficiently, too.

Their mother nodded hurriedly and then bustled out of the room. Hana looked balefully at her retreating form before going to get the various items that needed to be laid out. Since even now, her mother held hope of marriage, whenever their father came around instead of having the two of them go to visit him in his apartment, it was a big deal. Asami always awaited the occasion eagerly as well, but Hana just didn't know what to feel about it. And it was in such moments she could appreciate Kei's self-induced imprisonment. Not that I want him to remain there. I want him to be free, to walk about in the sun again.

The song Asami was half humming and half warbling to in the kitchen wasn't one Hana liked, and it was off-key as well, but she didn't mind it too much. For one thing, Asami's voice was not nearly as awful as Fuyumi's. And it also did the job of both driving out any silence and helping to distract from the fact that she was setting up four table spots and not five. She regarded the chair Kei had used to sit at nostalgically. What are we going to say if he asks where Kei is? Even the last time he came around, he was still up there.

"Ah, glasses." She uttered aloud, as she stepped back and regarded the table. She weaved her way to the kitchen, where Asami was peering into the oven. Hana noted with some amusement that the strawberry coloured stripes on Asami's cropped trousers were the same shade as the short bell-sleeved blouse Hana herself had put under her pinafore dress. Smiling thinly, she went to the cupboard where the juice glasses were kept, when all of a sudden the doorbell rang.

"Somebody answer that now, please!" their mother yelled down. Hana hesitated, wondering if Asami didn't want to go instead, but she just groaned, closed the oven door and stood up again before moving to something else on the kitchen counter.

"I'll go then." Hana said resignedly, and turned to quickly go to the door and answer it.

As usual, their father had gift bags in his hand and a big smile ready.

"Aha, look who it is! Hana! Oh, no, it's Asami, isn't it?" Her father put on a mock-confused face and Hana giggled obligingly. The joke had long gone stale, but Asami still seemed to find it funny and their father clearly got some pleasure out of making the joke, so there was not much she could do about it.

"No, you were right the first time." She said, faintly, letting him in and locking the door behind him. At that moment, her mother came down, dressed in an outfit that was suitably casual for a summer holiday lunch but still somehow striking enough that…well…it was striking. Some things never change.

"Oh, hello, Shuuichi-san. You're early." Her mother said oh-so-casually once she reached them.

"Hello to you too, Yoshiko-san." Their father replied genuinely. "You're looking good today. How have you been? I don't see you much at work. "

"Well, I've been run off my feet with various things, so I've been spending most days holed up in the office, and well, any time I can get out into the sun, I do."

"I don't blame you, Yoshiko-san." Their father laughed. Their mother laughed along, and then gabbled something about the lunch before promptly disappearing into the kitchen. A moment later, she pushed out a fairly ruffled Asami, whose eyes lit up the moment she caught sight of their father.

"Dad!"

She laughed in the little-girl way she so rarely displayed as she ran-walked up to him. He laughed back, a deep belly-rumbling sort of laugh, and ruffled Asami's hair. Hana eased back a little bit, to allow them the father-daughter moment. Perhaps she didn't fit in it, despite being as much his daughter as Asami was, but still, she didn't mind watching. It was a nice scene, and she often thought that perhaps there'd be more days like this for them, if only her parents could have figured out themselves out.

"Gosh, the two of you have grown, haven't you? Now, do you want to see the presents I bought for you?" he asked, turning to look at Hana as well, clearly making sure to include her. Squirming a little, she nodded and shrugged. In contrast, Asami had no such inhibitions, though.

"Yes please!" she said. "Let's go and sit down in the living room. Lunch is almost ready anyway- I helped out with some of it." Asami informed their father as they headed for the living room.

"Oh, is that so? Well then, I'm sure it'll be good. Much better than my sad attempts at home cooking!"

"Da-ad…." Asami pretended to be embarrassed as they sat down. They chatted a little more, mostly about silly things, while he presented them the gifts. He had bought more decorative hair clips for Asami, knowing that she now collected them, as well as some cutely-patterned stationery and a stripy clutch bag with a strap. Hana also received some stationery, but in different colours, and in addition to this she also received some sort of puzzle cube, as well a couple of wooden boxes. One was the size of A4 paper, and the other was a little smaller. Curious, Hana regarded them. She found herself imagining the sorts of patterns and colours that would look good against the lightness of the wood, the types of shapes that would make life brighter, and how she could make them so.

"I thought you might like to decorate them, store some of your bits in them afterwards." Their father explained, as if reading her mind.

"I heard you've been getting into origami recently, so maybe you could keep your paper craft materials in there. "

"Cranes." Hana clarified. "I'm mostly making cranes. But I can do other things too."

"Ah, cranes, huh? Like the legend?" When Hana nodded, he adopted a deep-thinking expression. "Perhaps then next time the two of you come to visit, you can make me some origami animals, or teach me how to. I could put them up on my shelves, and they could give me company."

"If you want company, why not just get an actual pet instead?" Asami queried, raising an eyebrow as she attempted to clip some of her new hair clips into her hair.

"Asami, Asami, Asami. You just don't understand the power of art now, do you?" Their father teased in response. He winked at Hana, who couldn't help but giggle. Asami huffed in annoyance, but she too laughed.

"Dad, you're so weird." She decreed. Hana instinctively nodded to back her up. Their father put up his hands in mock surrender.

"Okay, okay, I'm defeated!" he said merrily. The girls laughed again, and Hana set about putting the gifts together neatly, so that they could take them up and put them away. She put her puzzle box and stationery in the smaller decorate-able box, before putting that in the larger one. As for Asami's things, she put the clips that hadn't already found their way to Asami's hair in the clutch purse and then stacked that on the stationery set.

"Oh, you shouldn't have, Shuuichi-san! I hope you thanked your father, girls." Their mother came in at that moment and regarded the items as Hana sorted them and then put them on the coffee table so they were not in the way. Their father beamed at her.

"Oh, it's no trouble for my girls. I also got some books for Kei-kun, I thought maybe he'd like to read them while….recovering." He got up from the sofa and picked up the third gift bag he had brought along, and he handed it to their mother.

Recovering….? I don't think that's what…Indeed, by the awkward silence that fell amongst them, Hana was not the only one who thought the word was ill chosen. Unsure what to do, she got up and just smiled waveringly and expectantly, her eyes roving from one parent to the other. Asami silently came to stand by her side, though neither of them outwardly acknowledged this.

"Well, if he knew what was good for him, he would!" Asami eventually huffed, cheesed off, but mercifully breaking the moment. Their mother immediately rounded on her.

"Now, that's no way to talk about your older brother and you know it!" she scolded.

"S-sorry." Asami said, not sounding much different from when she had bumped into Hana on the stairs. She longed to catch her sister's eye, to take some comfort in the background they shared as twin sisters, but she was not sure it would be that easy anymore. Even so, she didn't move away from her sister's side, and Asami too remained where she was while they willed the moment to pass as quickly as possible.

"I-I'm sure it'll be fine." She stammered out, the best she could offer. Her mother turned and bored her gaze into her, and then heaved a resigned sigh. Some battles were just not worth having, especially on a day that was meant to be a good one.

"Yes, I'm sure Kei will love the books. I'll give them to him when I go to check in with him." She stated resolutely, taking the bag and gripping it firmly, rictus smile firmly in place. The twins' father nodded seriously at this, a little abashed. Hana found herself sympathising with him a little.

"Of course. Thank you. I do hope he gets better soon."

"We all do, Dad." Asami said sincerely. Yeah, we do. Hana nodded, again to back up Asami's words, and their father smiled warmly as he reached out to ruffle their hair again. Hana resisted the sudden urge to twist away, especially as their mother was watching them with a rare expression of peace and clasped hands. Besides, in a way, it isn't bad at all. In fact, this is rather nice.

"Well then." Their mother said. "How about we go and have lunch? We wouldn't want it to get cold now, would we?"

"Well, of course we wouldn't. So we'd better get in there quick, huh? Say, Yoshiko-san, I heard Asami helped with the making today…"

They walked into the kitchen, their parents talking with some involvement from Asami while Hana trailed behind, half-listening and nodding in all the right places, but just keeping herself back. It was how things always were.

…

"You're not nervous, are you?"

Of course not, silly Sei-Chan. But you might be. This was the response that rose in Izzy's mind as they navigated the large house- and by large he meant mind-bogglingly enormous and complete with a bunch of house workers- to go to the office where he would be meeting his father for the first time. His father. It was quite possibly the weirdest thing that had ever, ever happened to them. Well, the whole 3E-of-thirty-years-ago thing was weird, but for one thing he had no idea what the real story was there, and for another he hadn't actually had that happen to him. This…this was a part of his life. A big part, given that he was meeting the other half of his DNA, as it were.

"Izzy?" Kuroba stopped, looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. Izzy chuckled at the look his best friend- no, my half-brother- gave him, and he just shrugged.

"Well, it's a little weird, all this. I never imagined that I'd ever get to know my father. So I can't wrap my head around it."

"Psh, it's not that bizarre. My father cheated on my mother with your mother many years ago while mine was still expecting me, and the result was you. And I'm hardly going to rehash the rest, because you know full well how we ended up here after that."

Kuroba stuck his head up a little higher than usual as he concluded, betraying that he was indeed nervous. Again, Izzy stifled his natural response. This was important. When he'd mentioned that the mother who'd abandoned him at four for another country and a new man had been a 3E alumni, he had not expected Seijuro to tell him that he'd been trying to track down the relative of a woman who had been a 3E alumni- an adulterous one, as it turned out. Of all the reasons he hadn't been able to track down his father, despite knowing he had been in the same school his own mother had been in, a drunken night of adultery had not been a scenario he'd even thought of, despite how simple and almost cliché such an explanation was. And yet, that's where the answer had been all along. It is bizarre, actually, Sei-Chan.

"Here we are." They stopped in front of a large wooden door- is this a bloody castle?!- and Kuroba rapped at it once, very briskly. Almost immediately they were called in, and Kuroba pushed open the door and lead the way.

Inside was surprisingly ordinary. It was high end and neat and spacious, an ideal home office. The bookshelves were huge and filled with books, the few paintings on the wall were tasteful, and the window was large and had a good view of the back gardens. But it wasn't as castle-like as the corridors of the house. After he'd observed all this, he turned his attention to the desk. A big mahogany thing, the computer on it so utterly wonderful that Izzy thought he was going to explode. And then, of course, there was the man sitting behind the desk, regarding them with amusement. Or something akin to that. Remember why you're here, Izzy!

"It's fine, it's fine. Are you interested in computers, then, Izaya? May I call you that?"

"M-Mhm. Yeah, sure." Izzy mumbled, taken aback. His father, on first impressions, was both a severely suited businessman as well as a rather friendly-faced person. His hair was red, and so were his eyes, and knowing that made a certain sort of sense to Izzy, for the few memories of his own mother were filled with cold dark purple eyes. All in all, he did not seem as formidable as the image Izzy had somewhat built up, but all the same, he was not relaxed, not yet. For this was Shinjuro Kuroba, a heir to the Kuroba Medical Company who had gone off and formed an astrophysics research team which had started off fairly successful and then gone from breakthrough to breakthrough over the past decade or so with no sign of decline. At least now I know why my eyes are red. Such a strange colour.

"I see. You look a little like her, you know. Kyouko, I mean." Shinjuro said lightly. "You're a bit more angular than she ever was, but the hair and the features. You're definitely a child of Kyouko's, there's no doubt in my mind about that."

"I…erm…" Izzy temporarily found his entire vocabulary depleted, and just nodded mechanically.

"You know, I was sceptical at first, to be honest, when Seijuro here came and told me 'Dad, I've found my half-brother.' It wasn't an eventuality I had foreseen at all, Izaya, you must understand that."

"That's why we got the DNA test done, you know. After collating the evidence we'd each collected to support the assumption and making sure there was just cause for taking such measures." Kuroba clipped out before Izzy could attempt to use his still-depleted vocabulary to string together a response. The torture of the week that it had taken for the results of the private test to be delivered safely to Kuroba's post box was still fresh in his mind, for it hadn't been that long ago, all things considered.

Shinjuro just chuckled faintly and brushed off Kuroba's bristliness. Izzy supposed it was only because he was used to it. Hell, in their class, even now, only he (and Hana, to an extent) managed to remain relatively unfazed around Kuroba.

"Yes, I know." Shinjuro conceded, crossing his legs and leaning forward a bit. "I wouldn't have expected any less. Still…they say seeing is believing, which is why I had Seijuro bring you over today, so that I could know for sure."

And? Am I what you expected? There was a silence in which Izzy regarded Shinjuro, Shinjuro regarded him in return, and Kuroba just stood by and observed it all. Shinjuro leaned back in his seat and picked up the single photo that adorned the desk- a woman holding a redheaded baby. Kuroba's late mother, a woman who Izzy knew was called Akemi, and who had loved and been loved by Seijuro very much. Izzy wondered what Shinjuro had felt for Akemi, given his very existence.

"So then, Izaya. Since I am your father, I need to know about you. And Kyouko, too, considering. Admittedly, this was a part of my past that I'd hoped to leave behind me, but you're my flesh and blood as much as Seijuro is and it would not sit well with me to cast you aside now. Especially since I was the one who asked to see you in the flesh. So, tell me."

Izzy slanted a look at Kuroba. Just what had he told Shinjuro, when confronting him with the truth? Undoubtedly that they were classmates, that they both had ulterior motives in joining 3E in the first place and that they'd been friends for a while before even realising there might be more to them than that. Clearly, Kuroba hadn't mentioned anything of his mother, something which he was both grateful for and annoyed about, all at the same time.

"I'm guessing that Sei-Chan didn't tell you, then…" Izzy laughed nervously."…I don't know much about my mother. I haven't heard from her since I was four years old."

Shinjuro was visibly startled by this, and he didn't respond for a full moment as he stared off somewhere that was not in the present. Briefly, Izzy wondered at the dynamics of the relationship that his mother and father must have had, for her to have made such an impact despite being a past 3E-er to his former 3A-elite status. He wondered what, exactly, this man's attitudes towards 3E were.

"I-I see." He murmured eventually. "That does not sound like the Kyouko I remember…" I'd say the same, except that my memories are probably as fuzzy as yours are.

"So then, who is bringing you up, may I ask?"

"His maternal grandparents are." Kuroba answered for him. Shinjuro nodded seriously at that, and considered.

"So then…are you happy there, Izaya? Do they treat you well?"

The idea that he could be 'happy' at his grandparents' place was such a preposterous idea that he felt like cracking up. But he had a sense that this would not be appropriate, so he remained as sober and solemn as possible. He fisted his hands and stuck them in the pockets of his short-sleeved hoodie.

"They provide for me." The perfect non-answer, Izzy heaved a huge internal sigh of relief when this seemed to satisfy him.

"That's good, that's very good. At least that's one less weight on my conscience." The photo was picked up again, before putting it down again. "That being said, Izaya, I'm not about to shirk the responsibilities I have towards you. I'm not the world's best parent by any means, but I wish to be able to help you however I can. So if you ever need any help or support with anything at all, then please, do come forward. And of course, you can come and stay over whenever you want- I'm sure Seijuro's going to want that."

Kuroba didn't comment, but looked happy enough at the decree. Izzy snickered, then remembered himself. He was being acknowledged. Fully, without disdain, by a family member. I will remember this forever.

"Yes, Thank you, D-D-Da…." Izzy spluttered and stammered over the word 'Dad'. Kuroba immediately stepped closer to him, ready to spring into mother-hen mode, but their father laughed warmly.

"If you prefer, for now, you may just address me as 'Shinjuro-san' or something to that effect." He proposed. Izzy thought about that, and then nodded, blushing a little. It seemed a reasonable enough idea.

"We should probably get out of your hair now. You're probably rather busy, right, Dad?" Kuroba asked. He beckoned to Izzy, to prepare him to leave, when Shinjuro put out a hand to make them wait. Both boys goggled at him.

"Well, I do have some papers to review and there's that meeting I need to go to this afternoon, I believe. "

He opened a drawer and took out a tablet device, on which he opened his calendar and scrutinised it, before locking the screen and putting it away again.

"Yes, that's about right. But I think I can spare some time. So," he stood up and came around the desk, allowing Izzy to see that Shinjuro was a good few feet taller than both his sons, and in such a way that the height was held well.

"So," he repeated. " I might not be able to join you for lunch-which I'm sure Seijuro has already decided you'll stay for- but perhaps we have time for a tour of the house? "

"Dad, that'll take away valuable time…"

"Nonsense, nonsense! This IS valuable time." Shinjuro waved away Kuroba's worries neatly before facing Izzy again

"So, what do you think of that, son?"

"I think I'd like that a lot, Shinjuro-san." Izzy replied confidently, feeling the final dregs of tension dissipate. Son. Izzy could not stop a grin of the goofiest variety from overtaking his face, and when he exchanged a look with Kuroba he was smiling too. This entire business had gone better than he could have hoped, and all things considered, he was overjoyed.

And maybe perhaps one day, I'll be able to say' Dad' as easily as Sei-Chan does.