A/N: If you are skipping over certain chapters of this story, I ask you to go and read the prior installments of the Importance arc! Otherwise this won't make complete sense to you. For everyone else, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 37: A New Beginning

Chiaki nervously shifted in his seat as he waited in the hotel lobby he'd been staying in for the weekend. He wasn't sure how he should be feeling at the moment, not after the somewhat vague message he'd received from his father barely two days prior.

He'd wanted to meet with him, his father wanted to see him. Masayuki had never reached out to him before, not without prompting from his mother. Chiaki hadn't seen him since their last meeting, or better said, confrontation.

Needless to say, he wasn't sure what to expect.

Would his father be angry? Would he raise his voice, something Chiaki hadn't seen him do in years? Chiaki had said some incredibly aggressive things when they'd last spoke, even if they were all completely honest. He didn't regret saying them, not even for a moment.

He braced himself as his father's form became visible. Sunglasses covering his eyes, hands deep within his coat pockets. Normally, his father's gait was strong, delibrate in it's movements. Masayuki was the epitome of self confidence, usually.

But today he walked slow, head bowed. If Chiaki didn't know his father as well as he did, he'd say the man was almost...nervous? Scared?

But why?

"Thanks for meeting me," Masayuki said quietly, far different than the tone Chiaki was accustomed to. Chiaki simply nodded, waiting for him to continue.

Masayuki cleared his throat.

"I was thinking we could eat here. The restaurant in this hotel has some pretty nice reviews, and it's close." he said.

Chiaki hesitated to speak. Unsure of how he should respond.

What was this?

"I...suppose that's fine, sure." He finally mustered up the words, standing from his chair. They walked together to the restaurant, only a few feet away from where Chiaki had been waiting. He found it strange that Masayuki didn't take off his sunglasses even while they'd greeted their waiter, or found themselves being led through the hall to their table.

However when they sat down, everything was made clear.

"What happened to you?" Chiaki blurted, eyes wide.

His father's nose was wrapped in gauze and medical tape, held in place as if it had been broken. Tiny, almost unnoticable scratches littered his cheeks, mostly scabbed over now.

But to his surprise, his father's lips quirked, as if holding back amusement.

"It's nothing," Masayuki spoke, "I deserved it."

Chiaki blinked, any feelings of nervousness he'd had gone. What did that mean?

"Are you in trouble or something?" he asked, only to find himself cut off by the waiter returning to their table. He quickly presented and poured their chosen wine, and after taking their orders he was gone. Chiaki looked back at his father, waiting for him to elaborate further, but Masayuki simply shifted his wine glass, taking a moment to let the liquid swirl, before taking a small drink from it.

"I didn't come all the way here to discuss my face." Masayuki stated, before opening his coat. Chiaki leaned back, watching the man curiously as he pulled out a manilla folder.

"What's this?" Chiaki questioned as he took the offered folder. His father didn't answer, choosing instead to watch him as he opened it. Inside was a stack of papers, legal documents?

"Wait," Chiaki said hesitantly, reading over the first page. "Is this a...contract?"

"Yes," Masayuki responded, "Well, kind of."

"For what, exactly?" Chiaki asked, glancing over the page. "I already have a manager, you know."

'One I won't risk leaving', he thought, shuddering at just the idea of what Elise would do to him if he tried.

"I'm aware, and I've already spoken with them about this." He took another sip of his wine. "But I told them that I wanted to bring this to you personally. Given the nature of the contract, it seemed only right."

"What is it for?" Chiaki asked, suspicious. Why would his father bother to ever help him get a job? He would never-

"It's to perform with me." Masayuki answered, interrupting his thoughts. Chiaki tried to look into his eyes, see what the man was thinking, but Masayuki turned his gaze away.

What is going on?

"I want to end my last performance of the tour with a duo piano piece, I think it would do very well, and it's a good move." Masayuki rambled, and Chiaki dropped the contract, hackles raised.

"Why did you come to me?" Chiaki practically hissed.

"Well," Masayuki fumbled, but Chiaki was too caught in his own thoughts to notice, "I figured-"

"I insulted you." Chiaki stopped him, leaning towards the man from his seat. "I basically disowned you the last time I saw you. I told you, to your face, exactly I felt and now you want to perform with me?" He narrowed his gaze, staring him down.

"Why? Give me the truth."

Masayuki sighed, running a hand through his hair, a habit Chiaki subconsciously noted as something he did as well. He brought the wine glass to his lips, drinking it down without any hesitance, as if steeling himself for something.

"It's your wife." Masayuki said, tone monotone. Chiaki found himself responding immediately.

"I'm not married."

"Fiancee, then." Masayuki made a waving motion, as if discarding the difference in title. "Noda Megumi."

Chiaki immediately tensed, mind making connections he should've seen from the beginning.

Of course. Nodame's fame was only growing day by day. Of course his father would try and use her. He should've known, why didn't he see this coming?

"Get those thoughts out of your head, Shinichi." Masayuki scoffed, "The contract isn't for her, it's for you."

"Then why did you bring her up?" Chiaki asked, "What could you possibly know about her?"

Masayuki laughed then, somehow dry despite all the wine he'd been drinking.

"How exactly do you think my face ended up like this?" He asked simply.

Strangely, a memory of Nodame kicking him in Paris came to him then.

"Wait..." Chiaki spoke slowly, "Nodame..."

"Threw papers at me, screamed in my face, and made me feel like a spoiled child." Masayuki finished for him. "All in one night."

"Nodame did this?" Chiaki confirmed, then, thinking it over, continued."She didn't mention that she was going to see you."

Masayuki glanced away, a habit Chiaki could now claim to be a nervous tick.

"That's because I went to see her." Masayuki hesitated for a moment. "I wanted to understand all the fuss."

Chiaki lightly smiled, hiding it behind his wine glass, suddenly relaxed. He was always content when it came to speaking about his fiancee.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" He asked, and somehow wasn't surprised when Masayuki chuckled.

"Not exactly." Masayuki grinned, and Chiaki was surprised by the openness of it. He wasn't used to seeing his father like this. "But I wasn't disappointed, that's for sure."

"What did she say?" Chiaki couldn't resist asking.

'And why didn't she tell me?' He thought to himself, deciding to leave that for later, when he called her. He'd ask her, himself.

"Quite a bit," Masayuki explained, "Told me I should apologize, that you deserve better, basically." He sighed, looking Chiaki in the eyes for the first time that night.

"She really is something, that girl. And she's right."

Chiaki's mouth dried, and he noted that his palms suddenly felt damp on his lap. Wait, wait, what?

What?

"I'm not a father, Shinichi, I won't pretend that I am." Masayuki began, " You were right to wash your hands of me, and I won't be angry if you refuse to sign the contract."

Masayuki took a moment, gathering his thoughts. All Chiaki could do is wait, flabbergasted. Where was his mind right now?

"I can't apologize for what I've done to you, because it won't ever be enough. But I'd like to be better in the future. I won't ever be a father, not the one that I think you expect, or that people want..." Masayuki trailed off for a moment, "But I want to do this."

Masayuki stopped speaking, and Chiaki gaped. The table remained silent for a long moment, long enough that they stayed that way until the waiter brought their food to the table. It wasn't until the third bite of dinner that it all finally processed in his mind.

He dropped his fork.

"You're serious?" Chiaki questioned, tone awed. "You actually want me to perform with you?"

'He want's to try to fix us', Chiaki thought, bewildered.

"Yes." Masayuki responded.

The world shifted around him.

Chiaki hadn't expected this today. Didn't expect this ever.

Nodame's face appeared in his mind, her rare serious expression that both calmed and terrified him at times. The understanding in her eyes as she told him what he'd always known.

'It's your dream to perform with him,' she'd said once, 'You can admit it, it's okay, Chiaki-senpai'.

Nodame had done this, somehow.

And yet still Chiaki hesitated.

"You know it's not this easy, right?" Chiaki began slowly, unsure of whether or not the floor was going to cave beneath him. This was uncharted territory for him. "I can't just ignore the last-"

"I know." Masayuki interrupted. "I'm not asking you to ignore, or forgive. But your wife was right."

"Fiancee." Chiaki immediately corrected, and Masayuki smiled.

"You should fix that." He stated simply.

'Perhaps I should', Chiaki thought.

Chiaki grabbed the contract, looking it over once more. Forget food, this was more important.

"I'll sign the contract." Chiaki said, sending his father an awkward, small smile. "But I need you to know that if Nodame is involved here, if she puts her faith in you, and you hurt her by doing what you do best..."

This is your last chance.

It went unsaid, but still felt as if the words itself were rolling through the air.

"I'll do my best." Masayuki agreed, and Chiaki found himself reaching for the pen.

There was not a hint of the man Chiaki had grown up with in front of him in this moment. No smart remarks, or egotistical bravado. Not a singular smirk.

In this moment, Chiaki believed him.

A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed this installment of the importance arc! I also have some news! I haven't put in the two replacement chapters yet, although I do have them written. Once I edit them, I'll put them in along with the next chapter! I also want to say that after the next chapter, I will also be doing some massive editing to the existing chapters I already have posted. I started this story in 2014, and although I have no major changes (minus fixing things for new canon), there's plenty of writing issues and typos all throughout this story. For each new chapter I post, I will put in the notes which chapters have been updated.

I should have the next chapter(s) posted by the fifth of December, so keep a lookout for that!