time to pay the piper; time to face the music
Idiomatic expression meaning the moment when one must accept the consequences of past actions, often after a long delay. The literal meaning refers to the historical deadline for paying the annual land tax in rice.
I've been running away for years, but the time has finally come to pay the piper.
彼もそろそろ年貢の納め時だ。
It's about time he faced the music.
From the historical practice of paying annual land taxes (年貢) in rice by a set deadline (納め時). The phrase evolved into an idiom for the inevitable moment of reckoning.