Jin swung open the door of the café, spilling light out into the dark night. The room was small yet welcoming, somewhat cramped yet warm. It seemed as though all the villagers were here, although Taïga was nowhere to be seen.
'Jin!' called a voice. Cherry was sitting at a table with two other animals. Jin approached carefully.
'You made it!' she said. 'Sit down, sit down! Alright, let me introduce you. This – ' sitting opposite Cherry was a red octopus – 'is Octavian.' Opposite the empty seat which Jin slid into was a black horse, with eyes red as sin.
'This is Roscoe,' Cherry said. Neither of the two seemed overly keen to socialize, but Octavian nodded amicably at Jin.
The room was filled with noise and music and light, and even as she went up to get a coffee Jin could feel the eyes staring at her from all around the room. Snatches of conversation floated past her ears as she told her order to the pigeon at the counter, who was washing up a glass.
'I still don't understand how he could have done it…'
'It was an accident…'
'I don't believe that for a second…'
'Of course, if it was on purpose, everyone knows why he did it…'
Jin may have been new in town, but she had a vague idea of what they were talking about. Shep.

'Here…200 Bells…' Jin had thought, at first, that the pigeon, with his menacing eyes and slight city accent, was tough, not to be crossed. Her delinquent first impression seemed wrong, somehow. If anything, he seemed cripplingly shy.
Jin handed over the coins and brought the coffee to her mouth. It smelled delicious. She could feel the warmth radiating up from the cup as she walked back to her table with it. Roscoe, Octavian and Cherry were deep in conversation, and didn't seem to notice Jin.
'But,' said Cherry, 'there was no reason for him to do it. There's no cameras or anything, and he was quite small. Maybe he was in a rush and thought that if he slipped under the barrier quickly, he could get to Main Street without any trouble –'
Octavian let out a harsh laugh. 'Ridiculous.'
'I agree,' said Roscoe gruffly. 'You really think he'd do that? That he was that stupid? It was suicide.'
Suicide. A cold, harsh, alienating word.
'We all know exactly what it was,' Roscoe continued. 'You haven't got to be depressed to top yourself.'
'Ask Digby!' said Cherry hotly. 'He saw it happen, he was there. He'll tell you that it wasn't suicide.'
'He was at the showcase!' Roscoe spat, obviously getting agitated. 'Cherry, that's way too far away to see.'
'Well, whatever. I'm not going to talk to you anymore. I'm gonna go and talk to Kitt.' Cherry stood up and walked away, not even bothering to ask if Jin wanted to go with her. Kitt appeared to a kangaroo with a sleeping joey in her pouch. She was crying. Comforting her was a brown squirrel and an aqua frog.
'Stupid animal,' mumbled Roscoe. Jin thought for a second that he was talking about Cherry, and opened her mouth to tell him off for talking about her new friend that way. But it appeared that he had forgotten all about her.
'She didn't even know him well. Actually, I think she actively disliked him. What's she bloody crying for?'
Octavian nodded in agreement, but didn't really seem to be listening.
'Wait. You saw it, right?' When Jin looked up, she found Roscoe staring at her.
'W-well, I didn't see it, per say, but it…I mean, the train stopped and there was blood everywhere…'
Roscoe clicked his teeth. 'Well, what do you think it was? Suicide or accident?'
'How could I know that when I didn't know who he was? Was he quite happy with life, or –'
'Like I said,' Roscoe interrupted, 'you don't have to be depressed to top yourself.'
'Well…I don't know. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Suicide, I mean.'
'Mm.'
He didn't seem to impressed with Jin's answer.
'Why do you think he did it, Roscoe?' asked Octavian.
'I can only assume that he threw himself onto the tracks rather than live here,' he answered bitterly.
Jin wanted to hear more of the conversation, but Cherry bounded over, electing to ignore Roscoe and Octavian.
'Jin, come and sit with us!'
Jin smiled at the two animals. 'Bye.'
They didn't respond, so Jin followed Cherry into the corner. Sitting there was the sobbing kangaroo, the frog and the squirrel.
'Guys, this is Jin,' said Cherry. 'Jin, this is Sally, Lily and Kitt.'
Kitt was the weeping kangaroo. Sally was the hazel squirrel. Lily was the brown-eyed, aqua frog.
'Hi, Jin. It's so nice to see new arrivals,' said Sally serenely.
'Yes, it's lovely to meet you,' smiled Lily.
Kitt could hardly say anything for sobbing, but she gave Jin as friendly a look as she could muster.
For a few hours the four sat there, chatting absent-mindedly about various different things. She discovered that the clothes Lily was wearing had been designed by Dany, who 'used to live here'. Sally was the youngest of six children. When Kitt had calmed down, she told Jin of her coffee preferences – blend beans, the regular amount of milk, and two spoonfuls of sugar.
It seemed they were doing everything they could to avoid talking about Shep.