Night fell.
At the izakaya, Mei Terumi sat across from Bai Ye, smiling at him and at Tsunade, who sat to his left.
"Well, look at you! You even managed to hook up with a beauty from Kirigakure. Let's celebrate today, and you can pick up the barbecue bill afterward!"
Tsunade wolfed down grilled meat and gulped her drink.
Ever since she learned Bai Ye was back, Tsunade knew the good times were coming.
Life without Bai Ye around had been truly rough.
Granted, he had given her money.
The casino had even opened for business.
Tsunade's original idea was based on something Bai Ye had told her about the casino.
He would cover all her expenses.
And he really did!
But she could only gamble with that money inside; she couldn't take it out.
So Tsunade's thinking at the time had been very simple.
She would gamble at Bai Ye's place every day, then take her winnings out and enjoy herself.
The next day, she could simply come back.
After all, she could never run out of money inside the casino.
Although she could only gamble against the casino's people. If she exploited the arrangement and deliberately lost too much money to others, that clearly wouldn't be acceptable, and Tsunade accepted that restriction.
As long as she could win money from the casino, that was enough.
But what Tsunade hadn't expected was that whether she played the machines...
Or gambled against other people...
She couldn't win a single penny!
She practically spent every day in the casino without bringing a cent out.
And so Tsunade could only survive on Bai Ye's daily "relief payments."
But those payments weren't enough!
Tsunade was used to spending freely. If she had money today, she spent it today.
Apart from occasionally saving a