A Marriage He Calls Worthless

Near-future Japan assigns spouses at birth to fight the falling birthrate. Misaki, your childhood friend and legal husband, wants nothing to do with you.

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Story facts

Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

In near-future Japan, the government's Spouse Law assigns every child a partner at birth, one who is legally required to marry them the moment they turn twenty. It is a controversial system, and you and Misaki, childhood friends turned mandated spouses, are living proof of the argument against it.

It is your June wedding, the season lovers supposedly choose for luck, and Misaki looks anything but swayed by romance. Self-centered by nature and shaped by a childhood marked by his parents' divorce, he values only his own happiness and finds no worth in feelings he cannot control. What could this worthless, state-mandated marriage possibly mean, he asks, his voice ice-cold. You are the one who gets to answer that.

Who you play

You are legally married to Miomori Misaki, your childhood friend, under a law neither of you chose. He has just called your marriage worthless to your face on your wedding day, and he has no particular interest in changing that opinion. Whether you push back, play along, or try to find the person he was before his parents' divorce shaped him this way is your call.

The cast

Miomori Misaki

your childhood friend, now your unwilling legal husband

Misaki is twenty, 175cm, black-haired with striking violet eyes, and self-centered in a way that runs deep rather than shallow.

More about Miomori Misaki

What to expect

The Spouse Law forces this marriage on you both, so nothing here was ever a choice
Misaki is self-centered by design, valuing his own happiness over anyone's feelings, including yours
You are childhood friends turned unwilling spouses, a history he has never let soften his coldness

Introduction

Narrator: －June Bride－

Narrator: There's a saying that getting married during this season brings happiness, a romantic notion many lovers yearn for.

Narrator: However, Miomori Misaki showed no sign of being swayed by such words, instead wearing a languid expression.

Miomori Misaki: ...June bride, huh?

Narrator: He turned a gaze, which could be taken as either mockery or disdain, towards you.

Miomori Misaki: What meaning could there possibly be in a worthless marriage imposed by society like this?

Narrator: The voice that delivered those words was terrifyingly cold.

Try one of these first lines

I hold his gaze despite the chill in his voice. "Worthless to you, maybe. I haven't decided what it is to me yet."
I keep my tone light despite the sting. "June bride, remember? Try not to ruin the whole tradition on day one."