I Want to be a Wife

Natsuki stood at the front of the room, her arm raised high, all five fingers extended.

The room was dead silent.

No one moved.

Braith focused on slowing his breathing. Yumie’s grip on his hand kept tightening. It was starting to hurt, but he didn’t say anything. He wouldn’t. Instead, he watched as Natsuki’s fingers folded inward.

Five.

Four.

Three.

He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs, forcing his thoughts to still. He wasn’t the one speaking.

Two.

Yumie’s grip reached its peak. He squeezed back.

One.

He exhaled.

Natsuki’s final finger dropped.

A red light snapped on.

LIVE.

Braith squeezed Yumie’s hand three times - the signal they’d agreed on. She took a deep breath and spoke, her voice clear and steady beneath the boom mic suspended overhead.

“Hello. My name is Yumie. I am one of four humanoid Mahotonas to ever exist, and one of two that are still alive.”

That was the first blow.

It had never been publicly announced that two humanoid Mahotonas had died. The registry had simply stopped updating. No confirmation. No explanation.

She had opened with a flying right hook.

“I was born six days ago, when my Mahoro, Braith, arrived in this country. I was born blind, and with a quirk that allows me to replicate any weapon I hear.”

She paused - only for a fraction of a second.

“Five minutes after I was born, I shot and killed my first person.”

One of the monitors among the cameras showed the live broadcast. Braith caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye - himself sitting close, offering a small, encouraging smile, his hand tightly clasped in hers as Yumie stared toward where she believed the cameras to be.

“I didn’t understand what I was doing until the first runner fell to the floor,” she continued. “When I killed the next few, I knew for certain that I hated it.”

Her voice didn’t waver.

“I couldn’t even see the bodies. But I hated the idea of being a weapon.”

Now came the moment Braith had been dreading.

The cameras shifted, zooming in on Yumie alone. Their joined hands slipped out of frame.

“We were taken to meet the other humanoid Mahotonas and their Mahoros,” she said carefully. “I regret to say that I didn’t know them well then, and I still don’t.”

She lifted her gloved hand.

“Because we hadn’t yet received our training, I accidentally shot my Mahoro.”

She held the hand up for the cameras to see, the silk glove smooth and pristine.

“And we are still yet to have that training.”

Her hand lowered. Her ears drooped.

“But while I was in the hospital, I killed more people. They were bad people, yes, but they were still people.”

Her voice softened, but only slightly.

“And the next day, I killed even more. And in case you were wondering, I am responsible for the recent hotel massacre.”

The room felt like it stopped breathing.

“I have no regrets about killing the slave traders who intended to sell and rape me,” she said plainly. “But I am so, terribly sorry for the innocent life I took. Even if it was an accident.”

Her smile, when it came, was small and bitter.

“I will never forgive myself.”

She didn’t pause long enough for anyone else to speak.

“There has not been a single day of my life where I did not kill someone. Until today. This morning. During the attack on the capsule hotel.”

Her ears lifted.

“That was the first time I was under fire and did not use my magic.”

She didn’t allow the statement to linger - didn’t give it time to curdle into resentment.

“Because the night before, I made a vow with my Mahoro.”

She straightened, her posture firming, her voice gaining strength.

“I vowed that I would never kill again. Because I do not want to be a weapon.”

She lifted her chin.

“I want to be a wife.”

She powered on, her grip tightening and loosening around Braith’s hand as her emotions surged and ebbed.

“Yes. I have fallen in love with my Mahoro,” Yumie said plainly. “And yes, I understand that I am technically a part of him.”

She smiled - small, sincere.

“But that doesn’t change how I feel about him.”

She tilted her head slightly.

“And because some of you may suspect that I’m being controlled by my Mahoro… I’m going to prove that I’m not.”

A beat.

“I’ll do that by telling you exactly what I want to happen when I spend my first night with him.”

She made it halfway through a very explicit sentence with delicate hand gestures clearly illustrating foreplay before Natsuki slashed a frantic line across her own throat.

Braith reacted instantly, clamping a hand over Yumie’s mouth.

A second later, he slowly released her.

The smile spreading across her face said everything.

“Sorry,” Yumie said sweetly. “But as I was saying.”

Her tone sobered.

“I’m real. I’m in love. And I don’t like what people see me as.”

She swallowed.

“I don’t want to kill. I don’t want to shoot. I don’t want to murder, no matter how just the cause might be.”

Tears welled in her eyes as the words began to spill faster, heavier.

“I want to get married. I want to cook. I want to go on vacations. I want to be cute together with my husband. I want to have a family.”

Her voice cracked.

“But I’m terrified.”

She sniffed, drawing a shaky breath.

“As of right now, I can fire bullets from a handgun, an assault rifle, a grenade launcher, and a tank cannon.”

A pause.

“But I also have access to nuclear weapons.”

That single sentence rippled outward like a shockwave.

No one had known. No one had realized she’d heard a bomb detonation in a documentary. That admission alone would terrify anyone who wished her harm - and everyone else besides.

Her shoulders trembled.

“I hate these sounds,” she whispered. “I hate that they live inside me, restless, desperate to be used. I hate that people see me as mobile artillery.”

Her ears drooped.

“But I am blind. I can’t distract myself from them. All I can do… is hold onto my fiancé.”

Braith squeezed her hand harder as she fought to continue.

“And use him as my anchor.”

She drew in a heavy breath.

“I don’t legally classify as a person. Because of that, I have no rights. I have no permissions. I am bound to my Mahoro for as long as I live.”

Her voice dropped.

“I am a tool. An object. A weapon.”

Silence.

“If I am a weapon, if that is truly all I am, then I shouldn’t be allowed to exist.”

Her chin lifted.

“I should be dead.”

Then she straightened, resolve cutting through the grief.

“But if I am a person, then I have one request.”

She spoke clearly now.

“Please stop asking me to kill for you. And please understand this. I am not a monster. I am not a disease. I am Yumie. I am a Mahotona. I am a person.”

Her voice warmed, steadied.

“And I am going to be a wife. And someday, a mother.”

A faint, hopeful smile.

“And eventually… a grandmother.”

One final inhale.

One final exhale.

“So please. Stop killing when you don’t know what you’re killing for. When you don’t know what’s happening on the other side.”

Her ears lifted.

“When even the girl who was born to be a weapon doesn’t want to shoot. Japan isn’t doomed as long as there’s hope.”

She bowed her head slightly.

“So here is your hope. A Mahotona born for violence, trying to live quietly.”

She let the words settle.

Then she opened her mouth one last time.

“And to anyone I might have hurt… I am so, so sorry. If-”

Crack.

The sound cut through the room like lightning.

Then another.

And another.

Gunfire.