Seven Lucky Gods Journal 64
Woke up at four.
November 22nd.
Since today is 'Good Couple Day,' it's the wedding celebration party for my wife's cousin, Mari-nee, who registered her marriage the other day.
I took the first train and arrived at the Shichifukujin Balchika branch at five.
The party isn't until noon, so I plan to finish all the prep work by the eleven o'clock opening and leave the shift to Guchi-san and Nishi-san.
I finished cleaning the kitchen and simmered a large pot of beef tendon and konjac. I kneaded five kilos of flour. Then, I finished the time-consuming tasks first, like cutting meat and fish, boiling the broth, and preparing the appetizers.
Yuu-san and Mura-san joined at eight. We divided the work and had them skewer everything one after another.
After nine, Waka from the greengrocer appeared. He's been into tanning salons lately, so he's dark. He also got a strange perm, and his hair is all frizzy.
While carrying vegetables from his cart, he was happily talking about Michael Jackson or something, but we were all too busy to pay him any mind.
Opened at eleven.
I handed over the baton to Guchi-san, who was on the mid-shift, and went to the back to change into my suit.
On the Midosuji subway line, I met up with my wife, who had been prepping at the Nibir-ten branch, and the president and Kiyo-nee, who had been prepping at the main store.
We all took the train to Shinsaibashi.
At some Chinese restaurant in Shinsaibashi. When we arrived, I was surprised to see Sawa-chief's family among the fifty or so relatives on my wife's side.
Sawa-chief's wife is from the same hometown as Kiyo-nee and is like a younger protégé, so it seems this family comes to most of the celebratory events related to Shichifukujin.
When I greeted him, Sawa-san looked blank and asked what kind of gathering it was today.
The party started at twelve.
Perhaps the music was wrong, but after fumbling the entrance music three times, Mari-nee and the groom, Ikura-san, along with their only daughter, Nori-chan, appeared, looking sharp in Chinese-style attire while laughing sheepishly.
The president led the toast, celebrating the new couple's start and, incidentally, the continued prosperity of Shichifukujin.
The cousin's eldest daughter served as the MC, and her high school son, Taro-kun, who is also a part-time staff member of ours, ran around the venue handling sound, lighting, and photography.
Lots of food was brought out, including giant spring rolls, fried rice, braised pork and chestnuts, and shrimp with mayonnaise.
I got full, and there was entertainment like a rock-paper-scissors tournament, sticker swapping, and a super dance performance by a drag queen from Doyama, and before I knew it, it was evening.
Just as it was time to wrap up, there was a surprise segment where every member of the family had to give a speech in turn, and my wife and I were dragged out from our seats in the back.
My wife said something moving, and I think I said something reasonably moving too, but I was already exhausted and drunk, so I don't remember much from this point on.
It seems we went to a very fun bar in Doyama for the after-party.
As I was drifting off comfortably, the drag queen master kindly asked, 'Manager, a highball?' and when I looked at his face, I realized I recognized him—he was a regular at Shichifukujin.