“No.” Soshi started, but Shogo cut him off.
“LOOK AT HER. What is she, thirty-nine? You’re twenty. She’s old enough to be your mom!”
“She’s thirty-six, but I don’t see how it matters.”
“You can get arrested for that, Soshi. You just disrupted someone’s way of life!”
Soshi raised a brow, unsure of what Shogo was referring to. “...whose?”
“MINE!” Shogo yelled, pointing to himself in an exaggerated fashion. “Graaaaaaah! Now I have to deal with a criminal friend. I ain’t givin’ you no money after you get out of jail, Soshi!”
Soshi rolled his eyes. “You won’t need to. I’m not going to jail.”
“You will.” Shogo seemed serious. “You said you wanted to marry her. Marriage means kids. Kids mean evidence.” He leaned against the wall behind him, crossing his arms. “You’ll go to jail if you aren’t executed first.”
“For marrying the woman I love?” Soshi’s voice rose an octave and he swore. “What sense does that make? How is that a disruption of a way of life? Our lives are ours. Let us live them the way we want to.”
“How do you even know if she would have said yes?”
Soshi glared at the blonde. “I don’t. Someone appeared just before she answered me.”
“OH, DON’T BLAME THIS ON ME.” Shogo said, but Soshi clenched his fists at his sides while retaining a calm disposition.
“...I’m sorry, Shogo. This is just...” He sat down in a chair. “She makes me happy. Isn’t that why people get married? So they can be with the person they love?”
“Well,” Shogo started, ready to make another argument, but he suddenly knew by the look on Soshi’s face that it wasn’t the time for making jokes. After much deliberation, he said, “Fine, I won’t tell anyone.”
Soshi watched the blonde. “But where would we go? Who would marry us?”
“You have to figure that out.” A hand lingered over Soshi’s door, poised to knock, but it stopped upon hearing this. “If you want to marry a Thirty and break the law, you’ve got to find your own way to do it. You aren’t involving me, man.”
The figure drew back. Soshi was going to marry a Thirty? That was...
“...I’ll be back.” Soshi’s voice came from the other side, and the visitor backed away, retreating to his own house.
“Wait, Soshi.” Shogo placed his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t you think you’re...kind of rushing this? I mean, you’re a Twenty and you want to get married...and she’s older than you, so she’s gonna expect a lot more...and divorce rates go up and...” He paused, “Are you sure you aren’t heading for disaster?”
Soshi stopped, listening to Shogo’s argument, but he gave him a small smile as he finished. “Women expect a lot out of relationships anyway. And I want...to try.” He didn’t look at Shogo. “I’ve seen a lot of divorces among us too, you know. No one knows how a marriage will go. If it happens, then...” He shrugged. “But I hope it doesn’t.” He turned the knob and started walking toward the bush that separated the Twenties and Thirties.
He stared at the shrubbery for a few moments, and then he took a deep breath as he hopped over the bush, crossing into the Thirties section. Soshi closed his eyes. He admitted he was a bit nervous, and he wondered if he was doing the right thing, but when he opened his eyes, nothing happened. After he was sure the adrenaline hadn’t worn off, he walked over to Danielle’s window, checking to see if there was anyone in the house other than she herself. When he realized the coast was clear, he knocked on the door.
After a few moments, the door opened, revealing a surprised-looking Danielle, whose eyes were wide. “Soshi?”
Soshi opened his mouth to speak, but she didn’t give him the chance. She grabbed him by his sleeve and dragged him into the house. “Soshi, you can’t be here.”
“I know that.” He started grinning infectiously as he continued, “I wanted to ask you something, in the correct way.”
“What?”
He bent down and propped himself up on one knee as he took her hand. “Will you marry me?”
Soshi smiled as Danielle’s cheeks flushed crimson, a color he thought suited her well. “I’d love to.”
“Even if we had our wedding right now?”
Danielle raised a brow at him. “We don’t have any witnesses or anyone to marry us.”
“I’ll...I’ll do it.” Shogo’s voice carried over from the other side of the bush, over on the Twenties side. “I won’t cross over there, but I’ll marry you...and I’ll tape it, so it doesn’t matter if you have other witnesses or not.” He held up a video camera.
Soshi’s eyes softened as he led Danielle out of the house. “Shogo...”
“Shaddup and hold her hand. You have the rings?” After receiving a nod, he said, “Do you take each other as spouses?”
“I do.” Each said in turn.
“Then by the power invested in me, you guys are hitched.” He said, laughing. “So kiss already.”
“So it’s true, then.”
There was a long pause as the pair’s eyes widened and a searchlight shined onto Danielle and Soshi. In turn, other search lights flickered on the newlyweds, causing Shogo to back away. Soshi squinted in the light. “Soshi Amori and Danielle Arai, you are under arrest for disturbing the peace and breaking article 107 in the Constitution. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to....”
Shogo’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak, but Soshi discreetly waved him off as he mouthed, “Thank you.” A helicopter let down its rope ladders, and twenty officers started rappelling down them.
Soshi closed his eyes, but when he opened them Danielle was holding his hand. He smiled a little. It was worth it.
A year later, after one trial and a plea for insanity that he did not want, Soshi found himself inside of a jail that was free of the separation laws, solely to annoy and torment many of the inmates, all of which had broken one petty law or another. He would be in that jail for ten years. He looked down at his hand cuffs. When I’m a Thirty...ironic. He was led into a cell that was dark, wet, and had some sort of suspicious liquid dripping from the walls, complete with a bunk bed. He wondered who his roommate would be.
“Don’t manhandle me. I don’t care if I AM an inmate, I’m still a woman, you pig!”
Soshi’s head snapped up. Could it be...?
The cell door opened and a woman of the age of thirty-seven was pushed inside, along with numerous curses that followed her. Soshi’s lip twitched. Her long hair was a bit uncombed, but her hazel eyes were still bright, probably with passionate fury, and her mocha colored skin was hard to miss, even in the dark. After he realized the woman hadn’t noticed him, he said, “You look beautiful for a Thirty.”
She turned to him, ready to say something hurtful, but she stopped when she saw him. Her full lips parted as she asked coyly, “Are you flirting with me?”
