2010-07-17 - Cutscene: The Center of Humanity Is Cruelty

"Well, here I go."

Ryoji Kaji turned thirty years old about a month ago. He didn't have a party; he was busy, working. He's done some bad things, and lately he has given himself to reflecting on them. He's committed the worst sin of all recently, though -- he's dared to ask the worst question he could possibly ask, which is actually really saying something, considering that his entire adult life has been devoted to the questions that no one wants asked.

But then, there are other things, too, and really, at this stage, Kaji really doesn't know /what/ was the final straw, only that it was ages ago.

Maybe it was the reams of information he's leaked to the Agent, Johnny Domino.

Maybe it was smuggling the Adam sample to Gendo Ikari.

But it was probably daring to ask: 'What is SEELE?'

Kaji's cell phone buzzes in his pocket. He ignores it, and a few moments later, it buzzes again to inform him of a voice mail. Looking around, he takes in the sights of this catacomb within the Geofront. It's dimly lit in here, and it's unconscionably hot; that's the price one pays for a bit of privacy, skulking around the engine rooms like this. He checks his phone: message from Misato. Putting it to his ear, he listens, and smiles, and thinks about how it never would have worked out anyway, but it's nice to imagine that it could have.

The message is over and Kaji pockets his phone. A smile stays on his face, and he turns, a giant fan behind him. "Yo," he calls, hands stuffed in his pockets, body relaxed. "You're late."

The bullet enters Ryoji Kaji's forehead and exits through the back of his skull. The entry wound stays rather small -- an irregular red dot that squirts out crimson fluid like a zit being burst -- but the back of his head fairly explodes, leaving a fist-sized hole as broken bits of skull and scalp hit the ground, riding the flow of a red waterfall. Kaji's legs give out instantly, and he tumbles to the ground. Part of his brain slides out of the hole in the back of his head, which is possible because of the way the bullet split the soft organ into discrete, irregular sections. His legs twitch and then he doesn't move anymore, and the puddle around him continues to ooze outward, a constantly growing stain on the metal floor.

Ryoji Kaji dies with his eyes open, and his last words are never documented.