Some people say that my daddy ended the world.

I never really understood what they meant by 'ending the world', though. When I go outside I see the ground under my feet, buildings all over, and a blue sky above. I hear the sound of people talking, birds chirping and the occasional car driving along the road. How could any of that be possible if the world had 'ended'?

I guess what they meant to say (and continue to, sometimes) was that there used to be a lot more people in the world before Daddy 'screwed up', and that there wasn't a red line across the moon's path, either. But that's fine by me. I don't like it when there is a lot of people, and I enjoy stargazing with Daddy and Mommy when a full moon's out. Auntie Rei joins us when she's around town, too, and that makes it even better! So, yeah, I think the bit of red on black and white looks pretty cool, but different strokes and all that, I guess.

But that doesn't mean that those jerks are right. After all, they wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for Daddy. They should thank him for that!

…Or that's what Mommy likes to say from time to time, anyway, whenever she spots Daddy looking a bit down for a while. I'm not sure why, but she must have a real good reason for saying it. She's a genius, after all! And Mommy used to say it pretty often, too, with some people looking almost ashamed right after, which doesn't really make a lot of sense if it was some sort of lie.

Oh, and I say 'used to' because these days Daddy doesn't get people talking behind his back all that much anymore, but I remember a time when I was smaller and people whispered wherever we went. It didn't matter if it was the market, the park, or even the school playground, almost nowhere was safe from the angry comments and angry faces of the townspeople. They would say that Daddy was 'responsible', that things were better before the 'Impact', or that he should have 'grown some balls when it mattered'.

And every time that Mommy wasn't around to glare those jerks into being quiet (and even some times when she was), Daddy would quietly call out to me, gather me in his arms and just leave without saying a word. Said that 'They had a right to their opinion and that it wasn't worth fighting over' when I asked him why, leaving me with yet another thing that I didn't get when I was a little girl with a very Mother-influenced sense of right and wrong.

Now I understand that Daddy simply didn't want to make things worse for us by angering the townspeople, and I guess he was right since they did eventually sort of stop bringing up the 'end of the world' bit. I didn't get to play too much with other children because of it, though, so that's probably one of the big reasons why I don't really like to be with other kids around my age all that much.

But that's no big deal.

Of course, back in the day I would also do my part in cheering Daddy up whenever Mommy's usual tactics failed to do the trick: I would help him with the house chores and with maintaining our small field of crops, I would talk him into playing some instrument or another for me, or make him a nice little something whenever we did Arts & Crafts at school. I remember how he lit up when I brought him a toy bunny I had thrown together using some clay and paint, and how I…

…

…But I'm getting sidetracked, this isn't supposed to be about me. Sorry, Sensei.

I think a word that describes my Dad is 'calm'. He never loses his temper and it's hard to find him with anything other than a contented smile on his face. He likes to keep little noise around the house and the only person I've ever seen him argue with is Mommy, and even then he's like a strong wind to Mommy's stormy typhoon. Auntie Rei, too, acts very much in the same way Daddy does, but she somehow manages to always sound even calmer. I guess it's something that runs in the family.

The funny thing is that Mommy once told me that Daddy used to get so angry that it even scared her, and my mom is no coward. And while I believe her, I look at Dad and can't help but break out laughing whenever I try to picture him raising his voice above stern scolding levels of volume. It just doesn't suit him.

In any case, I think the above also shows in the way in which Daddy decides to carry on his life: while Mom wasted no time in climbing the social ladder until she became the mayor of our town, Daddy is just happy to stay back at home and hold the fort, taking care of all the things that need to be taken care of (like me!) so that everything can be ready when a usually exhausted Mommy gets back home late in the evening. Some other kids in my class have it the other way around, with their dads going out to work and their moms staying back. Some others have both their parents working, but even if a few of my so-called classmates (childish morons, really) claim that no true man should be doing 'woman' tasks like cleaning the house, I think this is the arrangement that works best for our family.

After all, and considering the sort of dinner she has cooked for the two of us on the rare occasions when Daddy has gone out for the night with his friends, I can declare with no room for error whatsoever that Mommy is just plain not suited for household life. Both my mind and my stomach are far happier knowing that Mommy's the more ambitious of the two, and that Daddy won't ever create an omelette that comes out green.

So, yeah. Like I said, Daddy is the one that takes care of the household obligations (with some help on my part!) and he takes more than a bit of pride in his work: no spot of dust is suffered to exist and no piece of furniture, be it big or small, is allowed to stand out of its designated place. These two rules are of mandatory fulfilment in the Ikari-Sohryu household and any rule-breakers do so at their own peril, as some of our more... relaxed guests quickly found out on their very first visit.

...My prayers go to you, Katsuragi-san.

A second word to describe my Daddy would be 'talented', I think, at least as far as music goes. Mommy complains that the 'Invincible Shinji' was also annoyingly talented at their teenage jobs, but since they've never gone into too much detail with what it was that they did, I can't really talk about that. I can sure say that I have yet to meet another self-taught person who can play as many musical instruments as my Daddy, though: he knows how to play the transverse flute, the guitar, the piano, the violin and a few more instruments that he doesn't bring out as often.

But what I didn't know until three years ago was that Daddy also played the cello. I always knew that there was a well-maintained cello in the house, but since Daddy had never played it in front of me I had just assumed that it was another instrument that he wanted to learn at some point. From what Mommy told me, though, Daddy had asked to have that same cello repaired a long time ago, but she had never ever seen him play it since.

When I asked him why, Daddy only told me that thinking about playing the cello again made him sad, and then he had a small argument with Mommy in which she claimed that Daddy should just 'get over it already', whatever that meant. The only thing I learned that day was that Daddy's cello apparently had belonged to his Mother first, my Grandma that passed away before I was born, and that the way she died had something to do with Daddy not wanting to play the cello?

In any case, things sort of remained like that for a few more days, and I had almost completely forgotten about the cello in the first place when Makinami-sensei showed up out of nowhere, with auntie Rei and a shocking proposal in tow:

She wanted Daddy to play the cello in her jazz band, Marie's Four, that same well-liked band that had been filling the town restaurant every Saturday evening for months. And I remember how Daddy repeated Makinami-sensei's words to himself, looking white as a sheet, and then tried to duck back inside with a made up excuse only to find Mommy standing right behind him.

That last one shocked Daddy and me both, because I never knew Mommy could be so quiet. Mommy followed that by pushing Daddy back into the middle of the group and taking a place next to Makinami-sensei and auntie Rei, saying that it 'couldn't hurt to try' since he had a lot of free time that he spent practising random instruments on his own, anyway. It was a waste to keep it all to himself and the family, Mommy said.

Auntie Rei quickly agreed on that, too (which was weird, because Mommy and Auntie usually don't agree on much), and it wasn't long until us family women plus Makinami-sensei had cornered Daddy into agreeing to give the band a try, despite his obvious doubts.

I was a bit scared back then that we had forced Daddy into doing something that he didn't like, but considering that Makinami-sensei's band soon changed its name to Marie's Five, I think it's safe to say that Daddy enjoys it there. He's been looking a lot happier since, too.

And actually, I think that's the last word I want to describe Daddy with: 'happy'. Happy to be alive and with Mommy, Auntie and me, in his own way. Happy to play with Marie's Five and make other people happy, making use of the gift he has been given. Maybe he's not the strongest Daddy in the world, or the smartest or the bravest, but he's kind, he's funny, and he's a perfect match for Mommy's more impulsive personality. Plus, he (almost) always has a special smile for me that he brings out whenever we play together, whenever we go out shopping, whenever he notices that I am the one who has something on her mind, or just whenever we just… plain spend time together.

And I don't think I'd change any of that, not for anything in the entire world. You're not perfect, but I love you anyway, Daddy.

A/N: No, I'm not dead. Since the last thing I published was nearly a year ago I can kind of understand the suspicion, but I'm just busy working on another project that won't be published until it starts nearing completion. I hit a bit of a snag with the scene I'm currently at, though, so I decided to take a small breather and came up with this.

In case anyone's wondering, this short piece follows a random Post-3I Good Ending kind of timeline, where most things went about as well as could have been expected. The backstory is not at all important, however, so feel free to fill in the blanks however you like best. In fact, I'm intentionally leaving many vague details around the story for that exact purpose, so go nuts.

As it stands, I'm currently thinking of doing four character bits of similar length to this one, but I'll add more to the overall story if I happen to come up with any good ideas for other people. Do look forward to it.