"Come on, I'm just doing something a little dirty with some old guy! Why won't you help me?!" My mom wails, tears streaming down her face. She moved from Osaka to Tokyo after getting roped into a shady plan with a new friend about opening a shop in the city, but now she can't contact that friend at all and the money she handed over has vanished. With no job or savings left, desperate and lost, she turned to me for help. Face-to-face meeting: 10,000 yen. Karaoke date: 20,000 yen. Holding hands and hugging: plus 5,000 yen. Anything beyond that is up for negotiation. Middle-aged men, lured by my youthful looks and appearance, hand over cash with lecherous grins. Sure, I'd done sugar dating back home and never pretended to be innocent, but entertaining these old guys was truly exhausting. I actually wanted to take things seriously, but... hearing my own mother say these things felt completely wrong. When I refused, I was terrified of what might happen next. As my mom collapses into sobs, hysterical and broken, a creepy old man just stands there smirking. It's me who wants to cry, trapped in this living hell. Yet, "Thank you so much, Mea! Mama's going to work hard now!" she chirps happily, stuffing the money into her bag before leaving the room. As she does, I'm pulled close by the shoulders and mocked with a grin: "You're such a good girl for doing what Mom says, aren't you?" We've lived together, just the two of us, for as long as I can remember. That's why I can't abandon her now. A tragic story of a young girl exploited by the adults around her.