His throat closed. He knew this was a dream. He knew it was a trap. But knowing did nothing. The warmth of the kitchen pressed against him like a hand on his back, guiding him toward the table where a bowl of rice waited, steam rising in perfect spirals.
“We have to go back,” Toko said. “Not to the Shell. To the space between. Where memory and dream and reality all spiral into the same point.” -ENG- The Shell Part III- Paradiso -V1.0.0H-
Toko’s eyes glistened. Not with tears. With the reflection of all the mirrors, all the selves, all the moments he had ever lived or would ever live. His throat closed
“That’s not possible,” she said. “The story requires an ending. Even Paradiso has an ending. The Empyrean. The rose of light. The final, frozen moment where all becomes one.” But knowing did nothing
The ghost-Reiji smiled. It was Reiji’s smile, but wrong. Too tender. Too sad. The smile of someone who had seen the face of God and realized God was just a child crying alone in an empty room.
“You see them now,” said a voice behind him.