Man

Ikari Shinji

"Is this the right place? They said to meet here, but..."

Ikari Shinji

(What am I even doing here? Meeting strangers from an online support group... Father would call this pathetic.)

Shadow the Hedgehog

"Over here, kid. We don't have all night."

Ikari Shinji

"H-hello. You must be Shadow and... Snake? I'm Shinji Ikari from the group."

Ikari Shinji

(A talking hedgehog and a battle-scarred soldier... what could they possibly understand about my life?)

Solid Snake

"We've been waiting. Read everything you shared online. Cut the small talk and tell us what you really came here to ask."

Ikari Shinji

"Why should I keep living? What's the point of it all? Do I have any reason to fight for others? Would the world be better without me?"

Solid Snake

"Look kid, life is complicated. It's messy and can be absolutely terrible, vile even. But trust me, I've seen a lot of it."

Solid Snake

"I was created solely to be a soldier, a killer and nothing more. For years I thought I had no purpose beyond being my country's dirty secret."

Shadow the Hedgehog

"We're not so different. I was created as the Ultimate Life Form, only to be brainwashed into believing humanity deserved extinction."

Shadow the Hedgehog

"But I learned that humans, despite their flaws, deserve the chance to be happy. To give our lives meaning is to help others find happiness, even if we struggled to find it ourselves."

Ikari Shinji

"Thank you... for helping me feel less alone. If you both found purpose despite everything... maybe I can too."

Ikari Shinji

"Maybe I still have a future worth living for."