[Hikari's Izakaya Diary] My First Time Attending a Classmate's Wedding 2023/7/2

The longer I exist as a VTuber online, the more I lose track of time passing in the "real world." And then suddenly, here I am at this age — someone who, ever since entering the workforce, has never once thought seriously about marriage — while friends my own age are starting to move into that next chapter of life, one by one.

This was my first time attending a classmate's wedding. The moment I got the invite, it hit me: oh right, we're all around that age now. A high school classmate of mine, now in a beautiful wedding dress, stepping into her next chapter — and me, sitting there as a guest, feeling genuinely happy for her and wishing her well, but also this weird tangle of emotions underneath it. Her up on stage, me down in the crowd... which one of us is actually the free one? Maybe we both are, honestly. Just different choices.

Okay, that was me being needlessly sentimental lol. Wishing my high school classmate nothing but happiness going forward. I already talked a lot on stream about the whole banquet-table wedding experience, but I'll say this — I made sure to get maximum value out of my cash gift by finishing every last drop of red wine on the table, not one drop left. Going into my first classmate wedding, I was so worried about being underdressed, but then I saw what another friend showed up in... and honestly, I relaxed immediately lol.

Sure enough, sitting at my table were my old homeroom teacher and a few former classmates — I'm sure I look pretty different to them by now, considering I actually had hair back in high school! Then came the most awkward moment of the day: my teacher asked, point blank, what I do for work now. On instinct I just said something like "running my own business, digital marketing, early-stage investing, running around day and night" — short and vague. My teacher didn't press further, and honestly I have no idea if that landed as "wow, impressive" or "oh no, is she okay." Guess I'll never know. Anyway, I really was honored to be invited to this wedding — I'd assumed a bunch of classmates would be there, but it turned out only a handful got invitations, which made me realize just how much I actually meant to her. Wishing the bride a wonderful life ahead with her husband. And also, going forward, I sincerely hope people I'm not that close to don't invite me to their weddings, because gift money is no joke QQ (this friend, though, is a real friend, so it's fine.)

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