Next Station

A collection of five short stories, five flavors of women’s lives… Next station.

“The Ring That Won’t Come Off”; A young South Korean tourist ditches her tour and ends up facing Tokyo’s complex train system alone, only to be tricked by an old woman into buying a secondhand ring that won’t come off her finger, along with a Japanese woman who can only cry in frustration after being scammed by the same mysterious old lady.

“Déjà Vu”; A woman travels to meet an ex who texted her for a rendezvous, but is struck by an intense wave of déjà vu while transferring trains. After that, everything around her starts to grow increasingly strange, as if trying to stop her from ever meeting her again.

“Love Loop”; Someone… deliberately falls asleep, leaning on my shoulder on the Yamanote Line.

“Sixth Floor, Corner Balcony”; On a stormy night, a driverless train halts on the tracks just before the final station for an unusually long time. System malfunctions are common enough, but witnessing what appears to be a woman about to be murdered on the sixth-floor corner balcony of a nearby apartment building is something she has never seen before.

“The Obstacle of First Love”; A sweet-smiling girl steps in between her and her love at first sight on the platform by accident—and to keep her from getting even more irritated, the first step is to distract her with food.

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