Deciding that it was best to scope out the market first, we went around looking at all the stores for inspiration. The vendor stalls seemed to be concentrated in one part of the park, with stalls selling food items and decorations...ornaments, I guess they were called. Other booths were offering drawings for prizes.
Aside from the vendors, the park was filled with holiday decorations made out of Christmas lights. It was still light out, though, so none of the lights were turned on. I was sure that they looked amazing at night.
“Wow, they’ve got a lot of different foods here. Should we get something to eat?” Hitoshi suggested, looking like he was already ready to jump in line to buy something.
“But we’re going to a party after this,” Otofuke-san said, mildly exasperated. Hitoshi was right, though: There sure were a lot of tasty-looking foods here.
As I observed the various things on sale I noticed a lot of different kinds of sausages. I guess I did kind of associate Germany with sausages. They also had bread-based items like hot dogs, as well as what appeared to be roast beef. All in all, there was a lot of meat for sale. Maybe fish was a rare thing to sell in this kind of setting?
Other than that, there were drinks and snacks, including very colorful almonds I’d never seen before. Seeing as how it was a non-Japanese person selling them, maybe they were from overseas.
“Oh, they have mulled wine. Man, I want some,” Hitoshi murmured.
“Dude, we’re underage, though,” I said.
“Huh? Wouldn’t all the alcohol be burned off?”
“I don’t think so. It’s still wine, isn’t it?”
“But it’s hot.”
I mean, yeah, but... I wonder, actually. I still don’t think it’s a good idea to drink it, though. It’s wine, after all.
I could understand, however, how inviting alcoholic drinks would look in a place like this. Mulled wine seemed especially chic and suitable for the occasion.
I had initially thought that mulled wine was just wine that was heated up, but it seemed to contain various spices as well. I didn’t feel as strongly as Hitoshi did about drinking it, but I did at least find it somewhat appealing.
Even the container that the wine came in looked cool; it was a ceramic mug in the shape of a tall boot. If minors could drink it, then I might actually want to...
Ah, nah. Their sign says no underage customers allowed. Darn.
One day, when Nanami and I were adults, maybe we could buy mulled wine at a place like this and enjoy it together. As the thought crossed my mind, though, I recalled what happened the last time Nanami had eaten whiskey bonbons.
Maybe we should try drinking wine somewhere safe first, like at our own house. And then we can try having some while we’re out. We’ll have to practice drinking alcohol too.
Apparently, at eighteen, we were still too young to drink alcohol, so we still had a few more years to go. Well, I guess that’s just one more thing we get to look forward to.
“Should we try to sneak in a cup?” Hitoshi whispered.
“Sneak it at your own house, man. What are we gonna do if we run into a teacher or something? And don’t you dare post it to social media,” I pressed.
“You’re right, I’ll give up,” Hitoshi said, dropping the topic begrud...or, rather quickly. Maybe he actually did tend to sneak small sips of alcohol when he was at home. I had never done that before, but I had heard about high school students who did. At least if they were doing that secretly then no one could say anything about it. If they weren’t bothering others with their actions then I felt no need to call them out on it.
If we all stayed together in a group like this, though, there was a very real possibility of us starting to snack on things. We decided, therefore, that it was better for us to focus on picking up what we needed to buy and then head straight to the party venue.
“What should we do? We were talking about getting...ornaments, was it? What’s our budget again?” I asked.
“Well, let’s see. How about we just split up and buy things that catch our eye? Say, a thousand yen per person?” Hitoshi suggested.
He was right to point out that we should split up and shop for efficiency’s sake, given that there were more stores—and ornaments—than we were expecting. It seemed more likely that cheap ornaments would be easy to come by here.
“Wait, what are we gonna do with the ornaments after the party?” I thought suddenly.
“Maybe folks who want them can take them home, or we could use them as prizes for games and things,” Hitoshi suggested.
Hm, true. I wouldn’t want any Christmas items for myself, but maybe other people who like that kind of cute stuff would? Just now Nanami is saying how cute all the stuff around us is. If Nanami wants something, maybe I can do my best to get one for her.
Having thus decided on a game plan, our group split up to explore in different directions. Hitoshi...seemed to be going around the shops with the girls from our class. Otofuke-san was going with Kamoenai-san, while Shirishizu-san was paired up with Teshikaga-kun.
I, of course, was going to walk around with Nanami.
“Well, then,” I said, turning to her. “Shall we look around?”
“Yeah!” Nanami replied enthusiastically.
We linked arms and walked into the vendor area of the Christmas market. As far as the eye could see, the park was stuffed with stores, creating a vibe totally different from what this place was usually like.