I held my breath and stared at the doorknob for about five seconds, then steeled myself and grabbed it. The space on the other side was unthinkably clean, given the exterior appearance of the building. But that did not shock me. There were empty display cases in the center of the room and empty shelves lining the walls, but all of that seemed natural to me. On the other hand, the room was very strange from a commonsense perspective. Like a jeweler without any jewels. An eyewear shop without any glasses. A bookstore without any books. –‹ŽŠ‡ƒ”†–Š‡˜‘‹…‡ǡ†‹†ǯ–‡˜‡”‡ƒŽ‹œ‡ƒ’‡”•‘™ƒ••–ƒ†‹‰”‹‰Š– next to me. Dz‡Ž…‘‡Ǥdz I turned toward the sound and saw a seated woman wearing a suit. She stared at me appraisingly through glasses with a delicate frame. She saved me the trouble of asking what kind of a store this was by broaching the topic before I could speak. Dz‹‡ǫ‡ƒŽ–Šǫ‹ˆ‡•’ƒǫdz I was tired of thinking. If you want to have fun at my expense, then go ahead. Dz‹ˆ‡•’ƒǡdz•ƒ‹†™‹–Š‘—–Š‡•‹–ƒ–‹‘Ǥ I was going to go along with it. I had hardly anything else left to lose at this point. The vague expectations I had were that my life had about sixty years left, which should buy me somewhere in the ballpark of six hundred million yen. ™ƒ•ǯ–ƒ•…‘ˆ‹†‡–ƒ•™ƒ•‹‡Ž‡‡–ƒ”›•…Š‘‘Žǡ„—–™ƒ••–‹ŽŽ…‡”–ƒ‹› value was greater than the average person. In other words, I figured each year should be good for ten million yen. ˜‡ƒ––Š‹•–‹‡‹›Ž‹ˆ‡ǡ…‘—Ž†ǯ–‡•…ƒ’‡ˆ”‘–Š‡‹†‡ƒ–Šƒ–™ƒ• special. There was nothing supporting that assumption. I was just dragging the glory of my past along with me. I was refusing to face the miserable lack of good fortune in my life and telling myself, ‡‘ˆ–Š‡•‡†ƒ›•ǡǯ‰‘ƒŠ‹– ‹–•‘„‹‰–Šƒ–ƒŽŽ–Š‡–‹‡ǯve wasted will seem like nothing. With each year I got older, the success I dreamed about grew in size. ‡‘’Ž‡–‡†–‘•™‹‰ˆ‘”–Š‡ˆ‡…‡•–Š‡‘”‡„‘š‡†‹–Š‡›‰‡–ǡƒ†–Šƒ–ǯ• Œ—•–Š—ƒƒ–—”‡ǤŠ‡›‘—ǯ”‡†‘™–‡”—•‹–Š‡„‘––‘‘ˆ–Š‡‹–Šǡ play‹‰‹–•ƒˆ‡™‹–Šƒ•ƒ…”‹ˆ‹…‡„—–‹•ǯ–‰‘‹‰–‘‰‡–›‘—ƒ›™Š‡”‡Ǥ•–‡ƒ†ǡ you swing for the big hit, even knowing that the odds of missing are much higher.