On my 16th birthday I did not receive a government notice. This obviously meant that my chosen partner would be younger than me, otherwise I would have received the letter, right? Regardless of our respective ages, I was not very enthused about the possibility of getting the document. It would tell me that I have to marry some random man, likely one I don't even know since that's how things tend to be, and supposedly through genetics it was be determined that this man from nowhere was a good match. The problem for the system is, there truly does not exist a man who is a good match for me. When they had us describe our ideal husband in fourth grade, I described a woman, as did I in seventh, three years later. She would be strong, ambitious, somewhat athletic and most importantly she'd be good at socializing, if not awkward inside. I'd be able to get along with her and life would be nice. I knew this was just a fantasy of course, but that didn't stop
However, it was only a few days after my birthday, not quite half a month, when I get my notice. My parents are making dinner at this time, so I answer the door for them. "Coming!" I open the door and find wo government agents, both dressed in black suits; one of them is a beautiful woman with red hair and the other is some tall man. I straighten up, "hhhello… My name is Sanada Ririna… nice to meet you…" The woman pulls out an orange envelope from behind her back and hands it to me,
"Hello Sanada, this envelope contains the name as well as some other identification. You can open it now if you would like, in case there are any immediate complaints that the system did not catch."
I do so. Sliding out the paper in front of me, "let's see…" I scan over the paper. There's no picture but I first see the name, "Takasaki… Misaki… a woman's name?" It doesn't process at first that I'm able to marry a woman, and when I go down the page and see the gender labeled: "Female" my eyes widen in delight. The two inspectors notice my wide eyes and ask if everything will be all right. I nod, vigorously. "Yes ma'am, everything is wonderful. I think I will most definitely grow to enjoy Takasaki's company very much. Thank you for the news."
My arms are shaking holding the paper, and the thought that my chosen partner is a girl is something I had never considered. I'd once looked up online to see if there were any cases of it happening, guys receiving chosen partners who were guys, or girls receiving girls as their partners. There were a few cases, spread out across the country each year. But not many, usually only. two or three reported. Usually dismissed as a government error, they would be rematched with another partner soon after. So I promised to myself, no matter what, I had to overcome my social anxiety and fear of people! I had to present myself as likable to Takasaki so she wouldn't want to be assigned a different match or call into objection the validity of it!
My parents were huge believers in the Yukari law, so I knew that even though my chosen partner was a girl, they would accept it as the judgement of the government. The official explanation for these same-sex marriages is that not everyone, genetically speaking, should reproduce. This isn't speaking in terms of birth defects, or other such things, but that sometimes the Yukari system will pair up two individuals of the same sex so that they can be the most productive individuals that they can, the system seeing their partnership and working together as creating greater achievements than producing children of their own.
I had dismissed that initially, though always been slightly curious about it. After all, almost all the matches I heard about in the news for same-sex couples fit that mold!
"Mom! Dad! I got my match!"
"That's great honey, who is the lucky man?" My mother asks.
"Uh… her name is Takasaki Misaki! She just turned sixteen today. The paper didn't actually have all that much information but that's what it said."
"Ooh, a woman, huh? Well, I'll be proud to welcome her into our family some day. I hope things work out spectacularly for the two of you."
