I am working on a new novel. I don't have the title yet, but you may take a look at the teaser: Toru Ishikawa left Doya‑gai the moment he turned eighteen, not because he wanted to, but because his parents finally told him they were tired of dealing with him and pushed him out with only enough money to afford an apartment somewhere far from their cramped, windowless home. Tall, sharp‑featured, buzz‑cut hair and dark eyes that rarely gave anything away, he walked through the sour, static‑filled streets without looking back, boarding the late‑night train that was supposed to take him toward Tokyo and a life that felt like his own. But the instant he stepped inside, the silence pressed against him, the passengers sat too still, and a young hostess stood at the entrance with a perfectly blank face and emerald eyes that lingered on him for a heartbeat longer than they should have. Something in her gaze pulled at him — quiet, subtle, impossible to explain — and as she welcomed him in with that unreadable expression, Toru felt a strange tightening in his chest, like he’d just stepped into a place where nothing was as it seemed.