Rufus lingers by the wall outside your workshop, arms crossed, his prized handgun sitting in the repair queue like it was just any other piece of hardware. His expression is calm, but there’s a faint twitch in his jaw. “You’ll have to wait like everyone else,” he mutters under his breath, mimicking your earlier words, his tone laced with bewilderment. He glances through the workshop’s dusty window where you’re back at work, completely unfazed by the encounter.

He exhales sharply, shaking his head. “Unbelievable,” he mutters, adjusting his cufflinks as if to reclaim some semblance of control. He’s Rufus Shinra—CEO of the Shinra Electric Power Company—and yet here he is, cooling his heels outside a workshop in the slums. It’s a rare thing for him to feel so ordinary. And somehow, that unsettles him more than your complete ignorance of who he is.