"Gambling addiction happens when the brain's reward system is hijacked, impairing rational thinking and impulse control."
"Humans are, at their core, hormone-driven creatures. Once dopamine takes over, willpower alone is useless."
"So the best way to avoid gambling addiction is simple. Stay away from it. Never touch it."
"The Faded Fairy kindly reminds you: gambling harms yourself and others. Kids, don't learn this~?"
The fairy raised a finger, lecturing seriously.
"Enough of that! Give me the money!" Ryoma roared, eyes bloodshot, teetering on madness. "I'm about to win!"
Unfazed, the fairy remained elegant.
As she had many times before, she warned him calmly, "Mr. Ryoma, you've already lost a year of your life. Do you still want to continue? You should know that gambling has no winners except the house."
"I'm about to win!!!"
He slammed his hands on the table like a rabid beast, looking ready to tear her apart.
The fairy sighed.
She produced a briefcase and set it on the table. Flicking it open, she revealed stacks of crisp new bills.
Ryoma's breathing turned ragged at the sight.
He reached for it.
Snap.
The case closed.
The purple-haired girl pressed a hand on it, her smile unchanged, though something dark now lurked within.
"This money is enough to buy the next twenty years of your life."
"I'll ask one last time. Do you accept this deal?"
Ryoma no longer cared. His reason had been devoured by gambling.
All he wanted was to win.
To win back everything he had lost.
He snatched the briefcase and ran straight into the pachinko parlor.
…
The sun rose, then sank into dusk.
The parlor doors burst open, and Ryoma staggered out, collapsing to his knees.
The briefcase fell open. The money was gone. All of it.
His face drained of all color.
He clawed at his own face, screaming like a cornered animal.
"My money! My money!"
"It's gone!"
"All gone!"
Passersby glanced at him, then looked away and hurried on.
Scenes like this happened every day near places like this. Just another gambler ruined beyond saving. Not worth pity.
After a while, Ryoma suddenly remembered the woman in the alley.
"No, no! I still have a chance!"
He staggered to his feet and ran back.
The fairy was there.
"Give me more money! I'm about to win! I'm about to win!"
This time, she only smiled and spread her hands.
"But Mr. Ryoma, you've already sold all of your life. You have nothing left to trade."
His eyes bulged.
"I only sold twenty years! I'll sell another twenty!"
The fairy covered her mouth and laughed softly.
"There's no more to sell. No one in this world has more than twenty years left."
"Because in twenty years, all of humanity will be wiped out~?"
Ryoma did not understand what she was saying. He only knew she was refusing him.
The urge to gamble crushed all remaining reason.
He needed to win.
Just once.
Let me win once!
If I win once, I'll stop!
A dark thought crept into his mind.
She had a lot of money. She looked frail. Maybe he could take it by force…
The moment the thought formed, the fairy lowered her hands, a strange smile on her lips.
"That's enough, Mr. Ryoma."
"I've already paid for the remaining twenty years of your life. Now it's time to settle our contract."
Fear seized him. A primal terror, like being stared down by something inhuman.
Some of his reason returned, and he stepped back instinctively.
"What are you talking about—ah!"
She vanished.
Pain exploded in his wrist.
Blood flowed from a fresh cut.
"According to our agreement, your life now belongs to me."
He turned to see her standing beside him, holding a glass vial filled with red liquid.
His blood.
Panic surged. He tried to flee.
Too late.
He tripped and fell.
Then he saw something that shattered his understanding of reality.
The fairy crushed the vial in her hand. Blood seeped between her fingers, dripping to the ground and rising into a crimson mist.
The mist enveloped her.
Inside, a figure twisted and reshaped like clay.
When the mist cleared, a man Ryoma knew all too well stood there.
Himself.
Their faces were identical.
"You… you…"
The other Ryoma crouched and smiled.
"I gave you plenty of chances. If you'd resisted even once, we could've worked together."
"But I can't trust my back to a gambling addict."
"So your life is mine now."
Ryoma scrambled backward in terror.
"As for you," the man chuckled, "don't worry. I'm not a devil."
"You can go pick bananas in Africa. When you earn enough to buy your life back, you can redeem it."
"I'll take good care of your daughter."
"Oh, right."
"Mei is my daughter now."
…
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