When I first came to Japan, the very first thing I learned was this: trust is the most expensive thing you can lose. I was scammed. My money was gone. Life started to flicker like a streetlight that barely made it past dawn.

We worked at the same place, but barely spoke. Just glances, awkward nods—nothing more.

That night, he approached me quietly. In his hand was a folded piece of paper. He didn’t look away as he held it out to me.

“I found the people who scammed you,” he said. “And this... is the money they took.”

There was something in his voice. Maybe pity. Maybe a familiar kind of loneliness. I took the paper. For the first time, someone in this city had really reached me.