Wife? Since when are Hakumen and Kokonoe married?

That 'ari' there is neither ant or a character name. It is simply the 'ari' deriving from 'aru' (verb of existence for inanimate objects). Think of 'arienai' (impossible), and then 'ari' as the opposite of that.

sarusa: That mysterious kanji is a common shorthand for 魔, and the whole word is 邪魔. Check for instance about half the comics featuring Marisa, her name is usually written with the shorthand.

They ain't married Steak. It's just the artist has paired them together as a would-be couple. Though I must admit Kokonoe is rather affectionate at times in Blazblue, but never (I think) to Haku-men as Pibiko shows. But what the hell, they are cute together.

I don't know if one could say she was affectionate. At least, not affectionate in a way that didn't involve somewhat harshly calling someone an idiot or useless. She could be apologetic and sincere, but affection in the way a wife would uniquely be with her spouse, not really.

I'd say the closest one she came to being affectionate with was Tager, but it wasn't exactly clear to me why she was.

Huh, shortcut for 邪魔. Thanks for the info, 葉月. I know it in full form, but hadn't registered the shorthand. With the Japanese love of shorthand I guess it's surprising you don't see more for kanji with so many strokes.

Also, notice how in the shorthand kanji, you can see the katakana 'ma' -- logical, right? Considering how both hira- and kata- kana systems derive from kanji or elements thereof, it's interesting to see a reversed use.