Confession Interrupted (Again)

Confession, I've discovered, is not a straight line.

It's a slapstick hallway full of locked doors, surprise trapdoors, magical illusions, and occasionally, someone trying to confess on behalf of someone else using a sock puppet.

That last one might be a metaphor. Or it might be something Fluffernox did. I've stopped asking.

But tonight? Tonight, the universe really went all in.

Let me set the scene:

Post-masquerade chaos? Check.

Residual glitch magic? Check.

Three romantically confused girls? Check, check, run.

It started with Seraphina.

In the gentle candlelight of the library atrium, she stood beside me with her hands awkwardly folded like she was hiding a marriage proposal and/or a weapon.

"Kael," she said, her voice a tremble wrapped in moonlight, "I have to tell you something."

Nope.

Abort mission.

I leaned slowly into the nearest armchair, feigning the universal defense mechanism of all emotionally repressed nobility:

"I'm asleep."

I closed my eyes.

I was not asleep.

She leaned closer.

"I'm serious. There's something I've never told anyone. Not even Belladonna."

I snored.

"Kael, I think I—"

SLAM.

The library door burst open. Mirielle charged in, hair wild, magic flickering from her fingertips like she'd just run through a thunderstorm and won.

"Don't say it!" she screamed.

Seraphina turned, startled. "What?!"

"You can't tell him before I do! That's cheating!"

"It's not a race!"

"Everything is a race! This is a fantasy novel!"

I began to melt into the couch.

"No one has to confess anything," I mumbled from under a cushion. "Maybe I died again. Maybe this is purgatory. Maybe Fluffernox sold my bones to a romance author."

"You're not helping!" they chorused.

Then came Belladonna.

Of course.

She glided in like moonlight with legal implications, her mask half-off, expression unreadable. Behind her trailed a small, magically levitating bowl of tea and a disturbingly smug Spoon.

"Kael," she said smoothly, "I have something I need to say."

"NO."

I sat up. Panic? Rising.

"We are not doing this. We are not turning this into some weird group confession moment. I'm still recovering from being flirted with as you, Belladonna. I don't know who I am anymore. My mask is literally bleeding glitch magic. Spoon keeps suggesting couple's therapy."

Spoon gave a tiny chef's kiss.

Belladonna tilted her head. "Then maybe you should listen."

And then the love enchantment exploded.

See, earlier in the day, someone—probably Fluffernox, possibly Mirielle, definitely cursed—had enchanted the dorm common room with a semi-sentient charm designed to "encourage honest romantic communication."

It was called the Heartbubble Hex.

I had ignored it. Which, like most ignored magic, was a mistake.

Because in the chaos of rising emotions, magical proximity, and three young women all standing within five feet of my severely confused soul, the enchantment detonated.

Literally.

A pink wave of glittering heart-shaped fog erupted from the fireplace, knocking over the tea, blowing out the candles, and replacing the background music with something disturbingly close to a harp-driven slow jam.

The girls all looked at me.

The world slowed.

Their lips moved.

"Kael, I—"

"Kael, I need—"

"Kael, I want—"

BOOM.

The hex surged.

And the kissing began.

Now, let me be clear. I did not initiate any of this.

I was a bystander.

A passive recipient of chaotic magical affection.

A victim.

In the enchanted haze, Seraphina tripped over a flying loveseat and fell into Mirielle. Their lips collided. Both screamed. Then Belladonna tried to help Seraphina up, only to be knocked forward when the tea bowl exploded in magical indignation.

Belladonna fell onto me.

Our faces—

Listen. I blacked out from emotional shock. You can't prove anything.

Then Fluffernox arrived.

Wearing heart-shaped sunglasses.

"OoooOOOOooo," he howled, "Someone's got a confession triangle!"

"It's a polygon of disaster!" I shouted, wrenching myself free from a tangle of limbs and wounded pride.

Spoon popped out of Belladonna's bag.

"My boy is growing up."

"I'M UNGROWING. I'M REGRESSING. I'M GOING BACK TO EGG."

The enchantment fizzled at last, the glowing fog dissipating into awkward silence.

Seraphina hid behind a bookshelf.

Mirielle levitated to the ceiling to die quietly.

Belladonna very calmly straightened her dress and said, "That wasn't how I wanted that to go."

I stared at the wall and considered legally changing my name to Nope.

That night, I tried to sleep. I even did the sacred noble ritual of the Triple Pillow Wall.

But even in my dreams, I saw it.

The cracked mask. The glitchlight.

And behind it, shadows.

Watching.

Waiting.

For what comes next.

Next Time on Yes, I Was Reborn. No, I Don't Want a Harem. Stop Looking at Me Like That:

Chapter 60 – "The System Declares a Tournament"

What's the natural response to escalating glitch magic and a prophecy that might destroy the world? Obviously, a tournament arc. Kael wakes to find he's been signed up for a deadly System-sanctioned Echo Tournament with every other heir touched by fate. Spoon becomes his coach. Fluffernox eats the contract. And Belladonna sharpens her claws.

Time to duel.

Possibly to die.

Definitely to embarrass himself in public again.