The Confession
“Wait a second!”
I clutched desperately at the hem of Noah's clothes.
Then, keeping my grip exactly where it was, I turned my head to scan the surroundings—and spotted someone else who'd been chosen, standing a fair distance away.
— You have been chosen as the Bride. —
The person standing beneath the light pouring down with that voice was... an old lady?
Ah. No. Absolutely not.
If this cursed pairing walked up to that confession altar, we'd be headed straight into the glass bottle.
“Eh meh? Now I can see a bit better. Hey, young man, what is this place? My granddaughter brought me here, but where'd the little rascal run off to? Can't see her anywhere~”
“Teacher, let go of me! We have to hurry!”
“What's that? Sit down? Ah—no, go out? Go out where? Speak properly if you want me to understand!”
“Someone keeps yanking on me? Fine, I'll go! I'll go!”
I was losing my mind.
In my desperation, I turned to Moon Chaeyoung.
Is there really no other way?
When I sent her a pleading look, Moon Chaeyoung opened her mouth with a dissatisfied expression.
“Even if people get pulled into the glass bottle, clearing it is guaranteed—”
Absolutely not.
“No, ma'am. If you, Noah, and the grandmother all go in there, the people already inside the bottle could end up drowned in syrup.”
“If it clears, everyone in here gets sent outside anyway, so it might be fine...”
“And when exactly would that be? Right after the clear? Or some time later? If it's the latter, everyone in there will already have syrup poured into their brains!”
“...Right, I suppose so. I'll think of something too.”
I scooped Noah up from behind as he was dragged away. His feet scraped along the ground, his body tipping backward.
I used up all my jelly too—what is even happening!
You little X of a brat! I told you—think before you use things!
As I clung on, imagining myself kicking my past self in the shins... wait. Hold on. Am I actually lifting off the ground?
I barely held on, and just when even that seemed impossible—
Moon Chaeyoung's muttering reached my ears.
“...Should I go in your place?”
!
“Team Leader, can you go in instead?”
“Well, my ability is illusion, after all? If I overlay an illusion and walk in, it should work.”
Why are you only telling me this NOW?
“Besides swapping you in—could you also swap me and the grandmother's appearances?”
“Ah, of course.”
Moon Chaeyoung glanced back and forth between me and the grandmother, then looked at me and winked...
A wink?
Ah. Moon Chaeyoung's Ritual Condition.
✦ Ritual Condition ✦
Wink at a nearby target while maintaining eye contact
Barely had I registered the expressionless Moon Chaeyoung who returned after the wink when—
I saw a translucent film settle over my skin. And at the same moment, I watched my original form slowly collapse and melt away.
She used her ability.
The light no longer shone on the grandmother.
It now illuminated me and Noah, overlaid with her appearance.
Still, there really were some sloppy gaps.
Frankly, I'd wondered whether fooling only the outward appearance would be enough to get by.
I brushed the glitter off my cheek as I thought it.
This time, it would truly come down to a pure battle of reading the room.
Standing on the altar, Noah and I faced each other.
The child's puffed-up cheeks betrayed an excitement he couldn't hide.
“Teacher, want to see me dance?”
Being up on the altar, apparently, made him feel like a star on stage.
Noah, this really isn't the time for...
Huh?
Wait.
“How did you know I was the teacher?”
He should be seeing the grandmother right now, shouldn't he?
I had watched, with my own two eyes, Moon Chaeyoung properly casting the illusion.
“Didn't you turn into a grandmother?”
“Huh? Uh, right, I did.”
“Then you're just the teacher! You changed whoosh right next to me and now you're asking this? Honestly!”
When Noah drove the point home with an 'I'm not an idiot, you know.' look, all I could do was nod dumbly.
Fair enough.
Why didn't I think of that?
Common sense said that even if a perfectly healthy adult man suddenly turned into a grandmother, no one would assume his insides had changed too.
And sure enough, the people below the altar, catching my eye, were nodding with the same expression.
Echoing Noah's words.
...So they all saw it?
And not a trace of suspicion or panic showed on their faces.
They had simply... all adapted to this absurd situation.
The situation we'd been dropped into had been completely unhinged from the start, so at this point, it barely counted as a problem.
I managed, barely, to make sense of it all.
“So anyway, want to see my dance? Nam Taejae told me I dance like I don't have a single bone in my body.”
So whether I turn into a grandmother or not, the dance matters more to you.
Still, Noah, let's put that dance off for a bit...
“Can I show you later, just you? This stage is too small to hold you.”
“Really? Okay then. I'll graciously show my dance to you and you alone. Come out to the kindergarten playground by yourself later.”
“...Thank you, truly.”
Your mercy is enough to bring tears to my eyes.
Only after sealing the secret dance performance pact with Noah did the confession finally begin.
Let the faithful confess their sins and repent.
Stay sharp.
I had to get the answers right. Without fail.
From this moment, the faithful shall confess their sins only in falsehood or truth, at random.
“This morning I took all the potions from Mom's workshop without telling her. I made them, so they're mine! So it's not my fault...”
Panic bloomed across Noah's face as he stammered the words out.
“Eep!”
Two small hands clapped over his mouth in shock.
Bride, discern whether the faithful speaks truth or falsehood.
Whew...
Truth, or lie.
“...”
The child's coral-pink pupils turned toward me, and I easily fished the answer out of them.
Got it.
A voice with not a tremble in it slid down my throat and out.
“That is the truth.”
You little rascal.
So you really did take your mom's potions without telling her.
— Faith has been proven. —
I'm a seasoned veteran when it comes to reading people.
And the subject was a student from my own class, no less?
All the data I'd accumulated on him couldn't be ignored either.
Faithful, continue your confession.
“I hate Mom. She said we'd go to the amusement park together, but she didn't. I think she likes work more than me, and she likes Nam Taejae more too...”
Noah said it with his head bowed low, his face on the verge of tears.
A small, sorrowful murmur rose from below the altar.
“Oh no, that one sounded real.”
“Aigoo... the poor thing must have been so hurt.”
And it didn't stop there—the people below began quietly dropping me hints.
“Truth! That one's the truth!”
“H-his nose didn't get longer...!”
“That's the real deal, young fella.”
Moon Chaeyoung gave me a thumbs-up as well.
She'd apparently caught the wave of a crowd mostly convinced it was the truth.
But what was I supposed to do...
Bride, discern whether the faithful speaks truth or falsehood.
Desperately ignoring the barrage of stares, I opened my mouth with perfect composure.
“That is a falsehood.”
Not that everything the child had just said was a lie.
Only that a falsehood was mixed into his confession.
The people who came up before him must have been the same.
Noah was no different, that was all.
And the reason I'd judged it a lie came down to exactly this part:
I hate Mom.
No, he doesn't.
He was just upset and sad.
From the moment I'd met him until now, the kid had done nothing but smile brightly—except for exactly one moment when he'd looked downcast.
She promised we'd go to Neverland for my birthday... but yesterday she suddenly said she couldn't. Said she had to go to work.
Even then, Noah had shown no resentment toward his mother.
He'd held back his tears alone and brushed it off quickly.
That was the kind of kid Noah was.
I waited in silence for the voice to deliver its verdict.
But why was there booing...
“No, young man! You got THAT wrong?”
“Mister, are your instincts actually dead?”
“He missed that one. He missed it.”
Excuse me, but I am, at this moment, quite formally a grandmother.
The people stared at me with fervor, as if I were a potato on fire, each tossing out a jab.
No, really, I was right.
— Faith has been proven. —
See?
“Huh? Really?”
“Wait, so which part was the lie?”
“So no long-nose buff chance this time?”
Yes, exactly that.
I read the room and got it right, thank you very much.
We ask the faithful bride and the faithful to return to their seats.
Today's service is hereby concluded.
“...!!”
A bell tolled, so clear and pure it felt almost holy.
The people below the altar stared at one another in silence for several seconds—then let out a roar.
“Woo! Finally!”
“This means we can get out, right?”
“W-we're leaving? We're really getting out of here?”
The darkness was receding.
The cathedral brightened, along with the afterimage of a sun rising beyond a stained-glass window made of sugar.
“Teacher!!”
At Moon Chaeyoung's shout, I looked down from the altar.
She was yelling while holding her watch screen up toward me.
Not the time! Let's move!
I scooped Noah up and hurried toward the glass bottle, shouting:
“We can get out now!”
At that, the woman pressed closest to the outer edge spat out the syrup in her mouth and said:
“Aaagh! It got all in my mouth! Anyway! Thank you!”
“...I'm sorry?”
For what?
“I said thank you! Everyone in here saw it! What you... did—”
See WHAT?
Me turning into a grandmother?
I can't hear a word of this.
The moment I stepped closer to hear her again—
?
With a lurching drop through the floor, my vision flipped upside down.
“See what... ugh!”
Kim Noah, a child of the dignified Big-Kid Class bound for elementary school next year, woke up in the morning feeling gloomy.
Today's my birthday.
Perhaps because he already knew he wouldn't be getting the birthday present he wanted most?
A huge gift box sitting on his desk caught his eye, but somehow it didn't lift his spirits at all.
A year ago—that is, on Kim Noah's sixth birthday—it had been exactly the same.
They were supposed to go to Neverland then too. All three of them, together with Dad...
But they didn't go!
Mom and Dad both just kept saying they were busy!
Dad especially. At some point he'd simply... stopped coming home, as far as Noah could tell.
And when I ask Mom about it, she just says she doesn't know... so annoying.
Still, Kim Noah—Big-Kid Class material that he was—had grown fairly perceptive.
Every time Mom brought up Dad, her face went sad, so he'd stopped even asking.
Not that it mattered.
I like Mom more than Dad anyway.
So it was fine.
Mom was busy working at the company, and even when she came home she was washing dishes, cooking, doing her workshop work...
Anyway, she was busy, so even if she couldn't play with him much, it was fine.
Really... it was fine.
“But today's my birthday.”
He hugged the sweet potato doll Nam Taejae had given him with all his might.
That he buried his face in it and cried like anything but a tough guy—well, that was a secret.
When he'd faced the sad reality and trudged out to the living room, Mom had already left for work.
He remembered what Mom had said last night, right before he fell asleep.
So what am I supposed to do until then?
When Auntie came, it would be the same old routine—reading books, making potions, and more.
...I want to go to Neverland.
The moment that thought surfaced, he didn't want to do anything at all.
He just... wanted to go to Neverland.
And so...
He ran straight out the door!
“Fwoohahak! This is awesome!”
He wore clothes from the closet, and on the dining table he'd spotted the card he always saw in Mom's wallet, so he'd grabbed that on his way out.
And I'm taking all of this too! Hmph!
He'd sneaked into Mom's workshop and stuffed every potion he'd made into his backpack.
“They said all this stuff sells for money! That's the... sacred way of capitalism? Or whatever it's called these days!”
And, of course, with just a tiny dash of rebellion mixed in.
And so began his very own (runaway) journey.
After that, he passed through the apartment's front gate, caught a bus, and got off at the Neverland entrance.
It was, honestly, astonishingly easy!
Occasionally strange adults would come up and ask, 'Hey there, little one, where are your parents?' which was awkward...
But whenever that happened, pointing at a nearby adult and saying this solved everything:
“Excuse me, over there!”
Kim Noah was clever. Not as clever as Nam Taejae, perhaps, but he could proudly claim he understood far better how the world worked.
Say "I don't have a mom" = get sent back home.
That much was basic.
However, Kim Noah's thrilling Neverland expedition plan ran headlong into an unexpected obstacle.
He ran straight into his own kindergarten teacher halfway through.
Gah, busted!
...But even that turned out to be a good thing.
He'd been so happy to see her that he'd perhaps been a bit too honest, spilling everything.
But I got to meet an alien friend!
The teacher had told him a big(?) secret, so it was only fair he tell one of his own in return.
Passing through the dim, gloomy place and entering the room full of glass bottles, Kim Noah nearly died of happiness.
Watching everyone climb inside the bottles glowing with pretty colors, he'd wanted to jump in himself.
His feet tingled, and his heart seemed to flutter like a leaf.
But the teacher kept saying not to go in.
He'd felt sulky about it, but held it in.
Somehow it felt like he shouldn't push his luck any further here...
And yet, the chance came!
At last, he'd climbed up onto the altar with the teacher.
If I do exactly what the other people did, maybe I can get inside that glass bottle too!
But he...
Hadn't been planning to tell a secret?
“I hate Mom. She said we'd go to the amusement park together, but she didn't. I think she likes work more than me, and she likes Nam Taejae more too...”
His mouth had moved entirely on its own.
Gah, I don't hate Mom...
He was just... just a tiny bit disappointed she couldn't come with him, that was all.
It hadn't been his own will, but the moment he realized he'd made Mom sound bad, his heart went thud and dropped.
That's not true! I really don't hate Mom!
The moment tears welled up in him despite himself, the teacher spoke.
“That is a falsehood.”
And then she held him.
He had no idea what was happening or how, but one thing he knew for certain.
The teacher knows exactly how I feel.
Kim Noah wrapped his arms around the teacher's neck and squeezed his eyes shut.
By now, the thought of wanting to get inside the glass bottle had vanished completely.