[ kaneki shakes his head while his chest feels like it's about to explode, like he will just turn into nothingness and finally be gone. It's hard to formulate words and it's hard to speak and it'll be hard to explain too, but this time he will give the man a reason. It's the least he can do; never before Kaneki gave anyone a reason to why he pushed them away (before they pushed him), but this time he will ]

You need to understand. I'm... nothing. [ he is called so many things and people look at him in such different ways, but ultimately none of them is right. because Kaneki is truly nothing. He is disqualified from being anything. Not human, not ghoul, not a child, not a father, not a mentor, not a friend, not a lover. Not a person. ]

I really wanted to be something for you and I wish that something was true, but I'm so fucked up. [ Kaneki smiles but it's not a happy smile. It's a broken one, so broken that it's hardly recognizable as a smile of any kind ] That's all I am. And no matter how hard I try to be perfect for you, it's just a lie, don't you see? [ of course he does. He might not have seen then, but there is no excuse not to see now ]

You care for something that isn't there.