My Not-so-Forged Wedding

Episode 3

Yamato and Mashiro’s Wedding; The Next Heroine: Airi Hirabayashi

            It was the day of Yamato and Mashiro’s wedding and everyone was gathered outside in the middle of Yamato and Mashiro’s apartment complex and Long Island for the event. Kunihiko served as the minister of the wedding, while the others (excluding Yamato and Mashiro) were watching as the main couple of the day were standing next to each other.

            “Here I present to you lady and gentlemen, the casual wedding ceremony of Yamato Kougami and Mashiro Tsuneha,” Kunihiko began. “Please note that this only going take about less than half an hour, or perhaps less than an hour of your time.” He glanced at Yamato, then at Mashiro. “Now, it’s about time to exchange the rings. We won’t really need the vows before the wedding rings, so I’ll just have you two say them as you make a promise on them since this is a short wedding, anyway. However, I will address you both by your names for this part. First is Yamato Kougami. I need you to repeat after me; hold the wedding ring up a bit, then say: ‘With this ring, I promise to be with you for the rest as I shall live, in sickness and in health. And I will…”

            “…always love you,” Yamato finished triumphantly. He glanced at Kunihiko. “Isn’t that what you were about to say just now, Kuni?”

            Kunihiko placed his right hand on the back of his head. “Er… Well, yeah, Yamato. I wanted you to say those words, but you didn’t let me finish. So…” He looked at Yamato quizzically with his typical modest smile. “I’ll let you finish them for me. But. You have to say them confidently and marvelously before I can let you marry Mashiro. This is your wedding, after all.”

            “Yeah, yeah,” the man of the day said, brushing off the former’s warning. “I know what to do, so just leave it to me.” All of a sudden, Yamato gazed at Mashiro. There was a serious look in his eyes as he stared directly at her. Then, he recited the very same words Kunihiko had spoken before while holding up the ring that was meant for his bride. “With this ring, I promise to be with you for the rest as I shall live, in sickness and in health. And I will always love you.” He took a step towards Mashiro, placed his left hand around hers, and smiled tenderly as he looked at her left ring finger. “I give you… my eternal love.” He steadily slipped the wedding ring onto her finger, finishing his part of the ceremony before stepping back to let Mashiro do hers.

            Mashiro looked up at Yamato and smiled gently as she held up the wedding ring in-between her right thumb and index finger. “With this ring… I promise to be with you for the rest of my life, in sickness and in health. From this day forth, I will always hold an eternal love for you, even after I die. I will carry it with me to the next world and beyond to ensure that I will forever be yours, and yours only, even after I reincarnate.” She looked at Yamato’s left ring finger and came close, gently placing her hand around it. “So I give you the love embedded in this ring in order to mark our promise with one another.” She put the ring onto Yamato’s finger and completed the wedding procedures.

            Now, the two of them were officially man and wife, earning an applause from Kunihiko, Sophie, Ren, and the other three guys who witnessed the whole event.

            “Congratulations, Yamato, Mashiro,” the purple-haired CEO congratulated the newlyweds. “You’re going to be together for a long time now, so you also need to help each other as time goes on.”

            Sophie glanced at Mashiro and smiled at her best friend. “Congratulations, Mashiro.” Suddenly, she ran up to the fawn-haired girl and hugged her as though it would be the last time she ever got to see Mashiro. Tears formed from her eyes as stayed in the same position. “From now on, you’re not going to be Mashiro Tsuneha, but Mashiro Kougami. That’s why… I’ll say goodbye to the old you, and welcome the person you’ve become today.” She pulled back and kept smiling, taking out something from her messenger bag. She held it out to Mashiro with her left hand. “You said you were looking forward to reading it a few weeks ago when I told you I’d be working on a new series. Since then, I’ve been traveling as much as I could to find a perfect background for the scenes and settings, so that I could draw them. In addition, when you told me you were going to get married, I was really surprised. I wanted to give this to you as a present no matter what because I didn’t want to miss the chance of doing so on your wedding day. You’ve always been an important person to me, Mashiro.”