Several days passed quickly.
One day, Ryoma once again reluctantly woke up from the sofa.
He reached out to grab a bottle from the table. Only when drunk could he enter dreamland, and only in dreams could he reunite with his deceased wife and forget the pain that exhausted him physically and mentally.
But today, the situation seemed to have changed somewhat.
His outstretched hand didn't touch a bottle. Instead, he found someone standing in front of him. He groggily opened his eyes and found his daughter Mei standing opposite him.
For some reason, Mei, who normally had an expressionless face all day, now had a smile at the corners of her mouth, looking quite happy.
"Father, I've paid off the debt."
Ryoma forced himself to sit up, his face still showing confusion.
"The debt... I remember now, the money I owed a while ago. Ah... you paid it off?"
Ryoma finally remembered that some time ago, he had borrowed money from certain platforms due to gambling and had been constantly urged by their phone calls these past days.
That money wasn't a small sum. Having fallen to such circumstances, he didn't even know how to repay it. He could only ignore it, living day by day.
But at this moment, he suddenly realized he still had a daughter. The trouble he caused wouldn't only be borne by himself but would also affect Mei.
Clearly he was the father, yet the trouble he caused needed his daughter to resolve.
Looking at the happy Mei now, Ryoma seemed to see that time when he first met his wife. He too had been so full of hope for the future.
And thinking of his wife, he thought of her deathbed request that he must take good care of their daughter... He seemed to see his wife in heaven looking at him with disappointed eyes.
Guilt surged in his heart. Thousands of words gathered at his lips, but in the end, he could only hoarsely utter one sentence.
"I'm sorry, Mei..."
"Father, don't be bound by the past anymore."
Looking at Mei's expectant face, Ryoma felt even more guilty. Perhaps he really should start over.
As if sensing her father's distress, Mei took out a bill and handed it to Ryoma.
"Father, go buy some ingredients. Tonight we'll have sukiyaki."
Ryoma knew his daughter had seen through his predicament. She had always been so clever.
Having him go out to buy ingredients was just an excuse. The real purpose was to preserve his dignity and give him time to adjust his mindset.
Ryoma fell silent for a moment, took the bill Mei handed him, and prepared to go out to buy ingredients.
Just as he was about to leave, Mei held him back, her eyes carrying some pleading.
"Father, promise me you won't touch those things anymore, okay?"
Ryoma naturally knew what Mei was talking about—gambling, the thing he'd gotten into after his decline.
In response, Ryoma pulled his mouth into a stiff smile.
"I won't touch them again, absolutely not..."
...
Coming out from home, facing the cold wind blowing at him, Ryoma shivered. His mind, somewhat clouded by alcohol, instantly cleared up.
Various memories from the days since his wife's death began to surface. The more he recalled, the more Ryoma felt... he really wasn't human!
At the same time, he found it inconceivable that he could have fallen so low.
Clearly a year ago he was a recognized rising star in the scientific community, but a year later, he had become society's waste, even needing his daughter to support him.
Thinking of this, guilt bloomed in his heart.
"I can't continue to degenerate. I need to find a way to get a job..."
But his past actions were too egregious. Friends he could have talked to were basically all offended. However, if he swallowed his pride and begged them, he could probably get a decent job.
"Ryoma, oh Ryoma, you can't continue to degenerate. Your daughter is still at home waiting for you!"
"Starting today, quit drinking and gambling, completely break with the past, and be a good father!"
After making up his mind to break with the past, Ryoma felt light and prepared to go buy ingredients.
However, as he walked, he unconsciously stopped in front of a store.
It was a shop decorated with anime murals that at first glance seemed to sell anime merchandise.
But this was actually a type of pinball game popular in the Far East.
The pinball shot out, rolling through the complex maze on the machine, finally falling into a hole at the bottom to gain points.
Because of the clinking and clanking sound after shooting, it was called pachinko.
But Ryoma knew that although superficially an entertainment game, this was essentially a form of gambling that existed openly and legally.
The points obtained from these pinball machines could be exchanged for money at specific places.
As for why he knew this?
Because he had previously been a regular customer of such shops, and most of his money had been lost here.
The clinking and clanking sounds came from inside the shop. Ryoma felt his heart tingle slightly, a certain craving growing from within.
Ryoma reached into his pocket and felt that bill.
He still had some money in his hand to buy food. Perhaps he could gamble once...
Just as this thought arose, Ryoma vigorously shook his head.
"I can't gamble anymore. I promised Mei."
"I'm not who I was before anymore. I've completely broken with the past!"
Ryoma used powerful willpower to forcibly control his body to walk away. Only after he bit down and walked past the entrance did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"What? My self-control is still quite strong."
"Clink, clank..."
The crisp sound of pinballs colliding rang out again.
Ryoma turned around and walked in.
"My luck today is pretty good. If I win, I'll buy Mei some gifts. She'll be very happy."
...
Not long after, Ryoma stood at the entrance of the pachinko parlor, his body trembling uncontrollably.
His hand kept rubbing in his pocket, trying to fantasize that the bill was still there. But unfortunately, his will was far from enough to rewrite reality.
Ryoma felt as if a basin of ice water had been poured over his head. Fear spread through his heart.
Thinking about going back empty-handed like this and having Mei look at him with those disappointed eyes, Ryoma felt his heart gripped by enormous fear, even making it difficult to breathe.
As a scientific worker, he never believed that things like gods existed in this world.
But at this moment, he desperately hoped that gods truly existed and would display a miracle before him.
Perhaps some deity in the vast unknown really heard his prayer. A pleasant voice suddenly came from the side.
"O lost one... come here. The elf from the Elysian Realm will grant your wish~♪"
Ryoma was attracted by this voice. He instinctively looked in the direction the voice came from, only to find it came from a small alley around the corner from the pachinko parlor.
Not knowing what kind of mentality drove him—perhaps seeking that ethereal miracle—Ryoma walked into the alley.
He found a gorgeous table laid out in the alley. On the other side of that table sat a girl with light purple hair and extremely beautiful features.
"Oh... a new customer~"
"Who are you?" Ryoma's vigilance rose. A girl like this appearing in such a place didn't seem normal no matter how you looked at it.
"I am the Faded Elf from the Elysian Realm, specializing in granting people's wishes." The girl calling herself the Faded Elf put her hands together, displaying a flawless smile on her face. "Of course, there's a price~♪"
As if possessed, Ryoma asked, "I need money. Just ten thousand yen will do..."
"I can grant that wish for you~♪"
Miss Faded Elf somehow produced a bill from nowhere, placed it on the table, and pushed it toward Ryoma.
This was too straightforward.
Ryoma heightened his vigilance.
"What's the interest rate? How long to repay?"
The Faded Elf propped her face on one hand, smiling as she said:
"No need to repay. This is a transaction—just one day of your life."
"Take this ten thousand yen, and one day of your life belongs to me~♪"
No contract needed, not like those underworld types, yet everywhere revealing something eerie. Reason told Ryoma there might be some danger hidden within.
But another thought in his heart told him that if he went back empty-handed like this, what awaited him might be Mei's completely disappointed eyes.
In the end, Ryoma grabbed the bill and left this place that made him uneasy without looking back.
"First buy the ingredients. Tomorrow I'll go find a job. By month's end I can repay the money. Worst case, I'll return double to her..."
Ryoma walked out of the alley, preparing to buy ingredients.
But when turning the corner, he encountered that pachinko parlor again.
Ryoma quickly walked past as if avoiding the plague god.
But just as he was about to pass the store entrance, Ryoma's pace gradually slowed.
"If I could just win once, I could not only return the money to that strange woman but also buy Mei gifts."
"Slap!" Ryoma viciously slapped himself. "Ryoma, how can you be so degenerate and contemptible! I can't disappoint Mei anymore!"
Swearing on his wife's spirit in heaven, he would never touch gambling again!
This time he definitely wouldn't go in.
Ryoma walked away without looking back.
"Clink, clank..." The sound of pinballs colliding came from inside the pachinko parlor.
Ryoma walked in again.
"This money has quite a bit left over after buying ingredients. As long as I keep the money for buying ingredients... if I can win once with the rest, I can buy gifts to make Mei happy."
Ryoma comforted himself this way.
Some time later.
Ryoma rushed out with a pale face, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
Reaching into his pocket, the bill that originally gave him a sense of security was once again empty.
As if possessed, he came to the adjacent alley again and found that woman calling herself the Faded Elf still there.
She seemed to have anticipated he would return.
"Do you want to trade again?"
"One day of life for ten thousand yen, fair prices for young and old~♪"
Ryoma gritted his teeth.
"Give me another ten thousand yen."