Three hours. That was how long it had taken for Jin to set foot in Aniville. The Aniville police officer, a gormless looking dog, arrived. The porter and the driver cleaned the blood and carnage from the tracks and the train. The police officer collected up the jacket and the satchel, along with the contents, and asked questions. To the porter, to the driver, to Rover – and to Jin.
'I didn't see anything,' Jin gabbled when the police officer, whom she discovered was called Booker, asked. 'Honestly, I didn't. One second the driver announced that Aniville was the next stop, the next – he said that there was an accident…'
'Okay,' said Booker. 'Um…Ms. Jin, uh…why were you, uh, coming to Aniville, anyway?'
'I was supposed to move in,' she whispered. 'Am I still going to?'
'Yeah, I – I think so. I'll have to speak to the mayor.'
Speak to the mayor he did, and in a matter of hours Jin was taking her first steps in Aniville. The brochures had not lied about its beauty. If anything, they had failed to capture the immense scope of it. Tall, lush green trees, bursting with fruit of all kinds. Grass so soft you could sleep on it. Flowing blue rivers, filling the air with the sweet sound of trickling water. It looked like a dream.
The porter had shakily given her a map and said, 'Town Hall'. The map was labelled, with little diagrams for different buildings. Jin passed the police station on her way to the Town Hall. It was, in reality, very close to the tracks. With a gulp, Jin wondered if those sort of accidents happened a lot.
As Jin was crossing a brick bridge, she heard somebody call after her.
'Hey! Jin!'
She thought for a second that it might have been Rover, but the animal running at her was not a cat. It was a cherry-coloured dog, with black floppy ears. She grinned as she caught up with Jin.
'Hi. How're ya doin'? I'm Cherry. Mayor Taïga told me you were coming! I was supposed to meet you at the train station, but…' a look of sadness flitted over Cherry's face, 'you know…the accident.' She sighed. 'Anyway, I'll take you to the Town Hall! Everyone can't wait to meet you so the sooner you get registered, the better!'
'Registered?'
'As a resident of Aniville!' Cherry said, grinning. 'Come on. Let's go.'

When Cherry led Jin into the Town Hall, they found it empty.
'Huh,' said Cherry, confused. 'Isabelle is always here, unless there's a festival. Which there isn't.'
As though on cue, the door opened, and a yellow dog wearing tinkling bells shuffled in. She did a double take at the sight of Jin and Cherry.
'Oh, hello!' She raised her head to smile at Jin, and she saw that her eyes were red and puffy. She had obviously been crying.
'My name's Isabelle! And you must be Jin.' Isabelle shuffled behind the desk. 'I'm also Mayor Taïga's personal secretary. I hope you'll be very happy here.'
Cherry coughed. 'Uh, Isabelle…?'
'Hm? Oh, yes!' Isabelle produced a basket of cherries from behind her desk and slid them over to Cherry. She slipped them into her bag.
'Thanks, Isabelle. See ya, Jin. Come for a coffee later, yeah?' She grinned, and left.
Jin watched her go. When the door was closed, she turned back to Isabelle, confused.
'Why did you do that?' she asked.
Isabelle reached up and touched her ear. It seemed to be a signal of some sort. 'Sorry, I didn't quite catch that, Jin.'
I might have just witnessed something illegal, Jin realised. Maybe those cherries were actually drugs, or something. Booker didn't seem the type to actively go and out and investigate something, but it seemed a good idea to try and it keep it under wraps.
'Oh, nothing. Don't worry.'
Isabelle smiled. 'That's good. Anyway! First things first, have you decided where you're going to live?'
This took Jin aback. 'Sorry?'
'Well, you do need a house, you know!'
'I – isn't there already one for me…?'
'Unfortunately not. You have to go to Nook's Homes. He'll build one for you, wherever you want it! Within reason, of course.' She pulled a map out, identical to Jin's, and pointed to the tracks at the top.
'You see those train tracks? Just cross those and you'll get to Main Street, the shopping district. You'll be able to make your own way easily from there.'
'T-tracks…'
Isabelle caught Jin's eye. 'Jin, it's fine. The reason the accident happened was because the animal didn't pay attention to the warnings. If a train's coming, then lights flash and a barrier comes down. The animal either didn't see it, or decided to cross anyway.' Isabelle took a deep breath. 'Anyway, you should get going. Come back when you've got everything sorted, and we can get you officially registered!'
Jin stepped out in the summer day, a blast of warm wind blowing her chestnut hair back. She walked back the way she came, crossing the bridge where she had met Cherry, and as she passed the police station she thought about where she could ask this Nook to build her house. She wouldn't have minded living near Cherry, although that being said, she had no idea where Cherry's house was. It could have been in a very crowded part of town, where there was hardly enough room to breathe. The town seemed to be separated into two distinct halves, separated by the winding river. Upon inspection of her map, Jin saw that the lower part of town, where the Town Hall was, seemed to be bigger and thus more crowded, with slightly more houses and buildings. Jin counted them. There was the Town Hall, obviously, a café, the town plaza, a campsite, and a recycling store which seemed to be called Re-Tail. On top of that, there were the villagers – apparently on this side of town, there lived a Sally, a Rowan, a Roscoe, a Quillson, an Antonio, a Cherry – well, just Cherry – a Lily, and a Taïga. Thinking back, Jin remembered that Taïga was the mayor. I'll have to thank her for letting me move in when I get the chance, thought Jin.
On the other, smaller, less densely-populated part of town, there was the police station, the train station, and only two houses, belonging to a Kitt and an Octavian.
It looks like I might have to build my house on this half, thought Jin. She supposed that another house would liven it up a little.
Jin took a deep breath as she approached the tracks. She couldn't bear to look to the left, where the accident had happened. Just thinking about it made her taste acidic vomit. Closing her eyes, Jin stepped smartly across the tracks as quickly as she could. When she opened them, she was in front of some concrete stairs.
She had crossed the tracks.