Sunday, 8 November, 2015...
That today's celebration had to be held in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, and not in the celebrants' resident city of Shirome, was a source of disappointment for some, but on the whole the air in the little hotel lobby was one of anticipation. Twenty-year-old Kure Kirika, buttoned upon in an elegant black tuxedo, paced back and forth in the hall, muttering to herself. "It's going to be fine," her younger step-sister, eighteen-year-old Akemi Homura said, appearing to place a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder. "I really don't think you've got anything to worry about."
"But what if it's not?" Kirika asked. "What if she decides she doesn't want to go through with it and she runs off at the last minute and I have to go out there and tell everyone to go home? Mom and dad'll be so embarrassed!"
"If you're that worried, why don't you go pop your head into her room and confirm for yourself that everything's okay?"
Kirika's eyes lit up, and with a cry of "That's a great idea!" she dashed off down the hallway. Oriko's changing room - actually just the room Oriko and Kirika had been staying in for the days leading up to the event - was a few doors down from the elevators on the third floor, but for Kirika, it was faster to take the stairs; and take the stairs she did. Finally, she arrived, almost tearing the door off its hinges as she opened it and called out "Oriko? Are we still on for today?"
She spotted Oriko, wearing nothing but a bra, panties, and gartered stockings, standing over a mirror as she finished styled her hair. A dress of silver and dove-grey, styled equally as elegantly as the tuxedo Kirika wore, lay on the bed beside. Oriko's many Command Seals were visible along the curves of her lower back and down her biceps, and above them rested a tattoo of a phoenix in flight, its glittering wings of scarlet, orange, and gold spread out across her back and shoulders. Cautiously, Kirika waited by the door for Oriko to turn around. "Of course we are, dearest," Oriko said. "It would hardly be polite for me to call everything off, not when we've both been waiting for today for five years."
"Well..." Kirika fidgeted in place as Oriko approached, closing the door behind her. "Maybe you could... Calm my nerves a little?" she asked.
Oriko smiled as she leaned over her shorter lover, and the two shared a passionate and not-at-all brief kiss. "We'll be having plenty of that later tonight," she said. "But right now, you should be going. I'd hate to mess up my hair after I just got done styling it; and besides, it's bad luck for us to see each other right now, isn't it?"
"Well, if you're going to be all traditional and throw that 'bad luck' stuff at me, then how come you aren't wearing white?" Kirika asked. "Isn't it traditional to wear white when you're-"
Oriko silenced Kirika with another kiss, saying as her lips peeled away from Kirika's "Didn't you know? It's only traditional for virgins to wear white."
"You're so unfair..." Kirika licked her lips, staring into Oriko's eyes as she said "If you don't kick me out of here right now, I'm really going to mess up your hair, you know?"
"I know," Oriko said. Leaving her lover with a final, parting kiss, Oriko opened the door and promptly gave Kirika a gentle push back out into the hall. "I'll see you in a little while, dearest."
With Kirika gone from her hair - and gone before she could mess up her hair - Oriko turned to the dress lain out on her bed, and got to work slipping into the elegant piece. She had barely managed to zip herself up when there came a knock on the door. "Kirika, if that's you again, I swear I'll-" Oriko stopped as she stared at the man who had knocked. It was not Kirika. "Uncle?" Oriko had sent the man and his wife invitations, but she hadn't expected for them to show up. They hadn't even been at the rehearsal yesterday, or the reception dinner the night before. "You came?"
"I did," Oriko's uncle said. "I had a long talk with myself about where my priorities were, and I decided it was more important that I be here for you than it was to continue acting as though I didn't approve."
"... You still don't approve, do you?" Oriko asked.
"I wish you had chosen a more... Agreeable, partner," was the descriptor her uncle eventually settled on. "However, I've come to accept that you and Kure do truly love one another; and if she makes you happy then I'm hardly in a position to tell you what you can't do. You are an adult now, after all. You aren't the impressionable teenage girl I thought you were when Kure kicked me in the face."
Oriko smiled, giving her uncle a hug as she said "I'm glad you could make it, uncle. Is auntie with you?"
"Sumi is in the lobby with everyone else. I dare say, she wasn't exactly expecting for this event to draw such a crowd."
Oriko smiled again, drawing in a deep breath before working up the courage to ask her uncle "Would you... Would you walk me down the aisle? I was going to ask Uncle Antonio, or perhaps Archer, but if you're here then-"
"I would be honoured."
Kirika found herself unable to stop fidgeting as the clock struck two. Beside her stood Homura, Sakura Kyouko, and Miki Sayak - each dressed in stylish black tuxedos of their own, distinct only in that the colour of their pocket square matched the colour of their eyes - and across from them stood Kaname Madoka, Shizuki Hitomi, and Tomoe Mami, each of whom wore elegant silver and dove grey dresses to match the woman who had yet to arrive. The music struck its chord, the doors of the little lobby opened, and Oriko was walked down the aisle by her uncle to the altar. "Dearly beloved," the words spoken with all their enthusiasm sucked out, came from one Caren Ortensia, cousin of the bride and the one who would be performing the sacrament of marriage. "We are gathered here today to witness the union of these two lovers; my cousin, Mikuni Oriko, and her girlfriend of five years, Kure Kirika. Marriage is one of the most important sacraments of the Holy Church..."
Oriko and Kirika were fixed firmly on each other, but Caren's eyes wandered over the crowd that had assembled as she spoke the sacramental rights over her cousin and their lover. On her right, she counted very few in attendance; Kirika's mother, Kure Minako - with a very noticeable bump in her belly - sat beside the tanned and adult Emiya Shirou, Minako's boyfriend, Kirika's step-father, and the adopted father of Kirika's stepsister Homura. Also seated on Caren's right were Kirika's grandparents, an elderly couple she had never met before today. Lurking at the far end of the seating arrangements on the right, Caren noticed a scruffy-looking man wearing glasses and a suit that had clearly seen better days. She had never met that man either, but she had one very easy guess as to his identity; that of Kirika's biological father.
The seating on Caren's left, was similarly sparse; there were Oriko's paternal aunt and uncle, the only members of her father's family Oriko had left; and then there was the entire Ortensia clan. There was Caren's grandmother, who was also Oriko's great-aunt, as well as her aunt and uncle and their two sons. All told, it was a small ceremony, but the attendance was definitely skewed towards in one direction, even if that skew were as small as five-to-seven; or perhaps five-and-one-half-to-seven, if Caren opted to count Kirika's unborn half-brother.
Finally, Caren reached the moment everyone had been waiting for. "... Do you, Mikuni Oriko, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and cherish, in sickness and in health, for better or poorer, all while knowing the Church's official stance on homosexual marriage and with the unsurety of whether you and your wife will be together in heaven?"
"I do," Oriko replied.
"Right-o, then," Caren said, before turning to Kirika; "And do you, Kure Kirika, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife-?"
"I do," Kirika replied, earning a disgruntled look from Caren as she cut her off. "I've been waiting for this day for five years. It doesn't even matter to me that this isn't a 'real' marriage; just the fact that Japan is starting to recognise same-sex unions is enough for me to be happy." Kirika took Oriko's hands into her own, saying "Oriko, I've been in love with you from the moment I first laid my eyes on you. You've put up with so much pain because of me, and you've been by my side no matter how bad it's gotten. You've seen me at my worst, and you've helped me to become the best me I could possibly be. There's no way I could ever possibly repay you for everything you've done for me, but I promise you I'll never stop trying, because a girl as great as you deserves only the best from her partner."
Oriko had to excuse one of her hands from Kirika's grasp to wipe away the tear that had formed in her eye. "Dearest, I admit my feelings were mixed at first. I had never dated before you, and I had never considered being with another woman before you, either. I'm so glad I said yes to you back then, because you've brought so much joy and fulfillment to my life that I would have equally as impossible a task repaying you for everything you've done. You were my rock when everything else in my life was falling apart, and you stood by me even when I was at my worst. Your love gave me a reason to keep going even when I thought all was lost. I know Caren-san likes to be a tease, but I'm sure that when our time comes, we'll be together even in heaven."
"Then, by the power vested in me by the Holy Church," Caren said, reaching her arms under the podium to produce a framed certificate; "And by this partnership certificate authorised by the Japanese government, I now pronounce you wife and wife." In unison, Oriko and Kirika moved the silver rings they wore on the middle fingers of their left hand one over, onto their ring fingers. Knowing what would come as soon as she said anything, Caren added with great trepidation. You may now kiss the bride;" and kiss the bride Oriko and Kirika did.
"All right, that's enough," Caren said after adequate time had passed. "We came here to watch you two get married, not to watch you two tongue-wrestle in front of your friends and family."
A mutual "Sorry," was heard from both Oriko and Kirika as the two broke their kiss in the face of Caren's admonishment. Oriko turned to the small crowd that had gathered, saying "Kirika and I are both so delighted you could all come to our wedding, and I hope each and every one of you here today is able to find the same happiness with your chosen partner that Kirika and I have found in each other." She displayed her hands for all to see, adding "As I'm sure you can see, I've no bouquet to throw. There wouldn't be much point, as there's only one unmarried couple I could throw it to who isn't standing behind me at the moment." Her eyes locked on Minako and Archer. "Well, mother, father, your daughters are able to be married, so I suppose it's your turn now."
