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Published In:
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| Publication Date: July 5, 1987 | |
| Pages: 32 (black and white) | |
| Anime Adaptation: | |
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Manga
The Merchant of Romance
浪漫の商人
Roman no shounin
Yukari is a young woman that has inherited her late father's wedding hall. The venue has become run down and rarely receives customers anymore. Yukari has had to lay off most of her staff, and now needs to earn enough money to pay her oldest employees severance pay, which includes the testy Betto, a young man that has feelings for Yukari despite her uncertainty about her relationship with her ex-husband, Keiichi.
While visiting her father's grave, Yukari sees another couple offering a prayer to her father. When she asks if they knew him, the man tells her he used to work at the wedding hall many years ago. He tells Yukari about how her father loaned him a large sum of money after his apartment was broken into, which helped pay his way to America to begin his career. The couple tells Yukari that they were never able to have a marriage ceremony when they were in America, and would like to renew their vows at her wedding hall. Yukari decides to hold one last ceremony in order to make enough money to pay the final severance fees and finally close the doors to the wedding hall. Yukari wonders if her ex-husband, a man she still belives may harbor feelings for her, wants to take her back and try their relationship again. He meets with her, expresses concern and ultimately is able to scrap together the alimony payments he had fallen behind on.
In the end, Yukari is inspired by the old married couple to keep the venue open and decides to use her alimony towards keeping the wedding hall functioning. She realized that just like the marriage vows say that she would take care of the wedding hall "for richer or poorer, in happiness and sorrow".