The Story of Being Picked Up at an End-of-Year Party

It's December! It's the end of the year! It's time for year-end parties!

Ten years ago (my second year as a civil servant), I had three office year-end parties at the end of the year. It was madness. Why were they so desperate to forget the year?
The answer is simple. They just wanted to drink.

For the first memorable one, we didn't stay near the office, but drove an hour each way to head out to a big city.

We ate our fill of shabu-shabu, then moved on to a bar for what they called a second party. It wasn't a chic, mature-style bar, but a lively, club-like one.

I debuted the digital camera I'd won in a bingo tournament a few days earlier at this second party. Since my boss A was in charge of public relations, he helped me with the initial setup and everything.

Now, let's order some drinks.
However, most of the alcohol on the menu had names I'd never seen or heard of before.
I was a trendy 23-year-old at the time, so that was only natural.

Kamikaze? That sounds cool.
Gimlet? Is that something from GaoGaiGar?
Bulldog? Is that the one from the song?
XYZ? Dragon Cannon?

Well, anything is fine as long as I can drink it. Excuse me, one Four Leaves... no, wait, one Bulldog, please!

*Aruron likes highballs and vodka-based cocktails.

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As we were drinking and having a good time, boss B got up from his seat.

"Let's play darts."

It made sense, as this place had darts and billiards set up.

However, I was more of a billiards person, so I politely declined, saying, "Oh, I'm going to play billiards."
Fortunately, boss C decided to join me, so I successfully avoided being a billiards loner.

I quite like billiards, and during my time as a civil servant, I often enjoyed playing at amusement parks. Well, I'm terrible at it, though.

While I was enjoying billiards as best as I could, someone called out to me.

"Could you teach us how to play billiards?"

I turned toward the voice and saw three ladies who looked to be over 30.
Is this what they call being "picked up"!!!

I nervously showed them how it's done. I mean, I'm a total amateur myself.

Then, Boss C suddenly vanished. Looking around, I saw him next to Boss A, who was holding a camera.
I mean, why are you holding a camera, Boss A?

Boss A snapped photo after photo after photo of me playing billiards with the ladies.

While I was confused, I enjoyed the billiards, teaching the ladies how to handle the cue step by step.

After enjoying a good round of billiards, the ladies waved and said, "Thanks!" as they left.

Wait, that's it? Shouldn't it have been, "Since we're here, let's have a drink together!"?

Wait a minute, first of all, wasn't this not even a pickup?
They were probably just interested in billiards, weren't they?

Ugh, they toyed with an innocent young man! Unforgivable!
Well, I was there with a group, so I guess I would have been in trouble if they had actually invited me.

And so, Year-End Party Part 1 came to a close.
This was the only time in my life I've ever been approached by women at a bar.

You guys can talk to me more, you know??