添{そ}い遂{と}げる (soitogeru) = "to be with" or "to remain married to for life"?


Relative spoilers for Mushoku Tensei S2E11 (Jobless Reincarnation). A
childhood friend girl meets with MC-kun years later, but doesn't reveal who
she is. MC-kun falls for the girl, but is hesitant (and in denial) for various
reasons. Childhood-friend-chan is also in denial, and after a lot of back and
forth about her duty, finally admits that she wants to be with MC-kun.

In the scene where she admits this to the princess she has a duty to, she says
"僕は...[MC]と添{そ}い遂{と}げたい", which, in the official subtitles, is translated as
"I want...to be with [MC]". But [looking it up on
jisho.org](https://jisho.org/search/soitoge), 添{そ}い遂{と}げる means "to remain
married for life", which is quite the different statement @.@.

So which is it? Is she saying that she wants to be with MC (e.g. be around
him), be WITH MC (e.g. get with him as a lover), or marry him for life? @.@

Fwiw, the "I want to marry him" interpretation seems way over-the-top and to
come out of nowhere @.@. But that's the only definition that jisho.org
provides.

If it helps, here's a bit more context (with spoilers)

> Childhood-friend-chan and MC-kun were super close as kids, but separated due
> to a catastrophe. Childhood-friend-chan came into the service of a princess,
> to whom she felt very indebted to, and she pretended to be a man to hide her
> identity. MC-kun, meanwhile, got his heart broken, and forgot how to love
> (and also got erectile dysfunction as a result of his emotions). After
> years, they finally reunite, but MC-kun doesn't recognize childhood-friend-
> chan because she's posing as a man. Still, they again get close, and MC-kun
> starts to feel love again. Finally, childhood-friend-chan realizes she
> doesn't want to keep up the facade anymore, and wants to reveal herself to
> MC-kun. The princess presses her on this to make her realize it. At which
> point, childhood-friend-chan says the line: "僕は...[MC]と添{そ}い遂{と}げたい". Which,
> again, seems out of nowhere if marriage is the meaning, because there was
> nothing mentioned about them marrying at all before @.@. All that was
> implied was their romantic interest in each other @.@.

P.S.: That being said, in a following scene, she talks about what them being
together would be like, and she basically says, "we'd share a bed, and he'd
ask 'how many kids do you want', and I'd answer 'how many do you want me to
have?', and he'd say 'lots', and I'd say, 'then make it lots'" @.@. So maybe
the "get married for life" meaning is accurate, even if it seemingly came out
of nowhere @.@.




添い遂げる is quite a strong verb, as 遂げる has a nuance of "to finish" or "until the
end". Depending on the context, the literal meaning of "until death" may not
be that intense, but it generally means "to marry and be together forever".

