He dressed without turning on the light. The moon was a perfect circle, but the shadows it cast were spirals. The address Toko had given him—scribbled on a napkin with a hand that shook—led to an abandoned observatory on the outskirts of Uzumaki. The dome had collapsed inward, as if something had pressed down from above. Reiji climbed through a gap in the rusted lattice and found himself in a room that should not have existed.
And when he opened his eyes again, he was back in the hospital room. Toko was asleep in her bed, her hand resting on the window, the condensation spiral half-finished. The fluorescent light hummed. The clock on the wall said 3:33 AM. -ENG- The Shell Part III- Paradiso -V1.0.0H-
“Dante,” Reiji said carefully. “The Divine Comedy. The ninth circle is for traitors. Frozen in ice.” He dressed without turning on the light
“You saved me from the Shell,” she whispered. “But you opened the door to heaven. And heaven, Reiji, is where God watches you drown in your own happiest memory.” That night, Reiji dreamed of his mother. The dome had collapsed inward, as if something