Jude's 1st Character Story

[gyaxa]

Characters: Jude, Bianchi, Sage, & Nico

Sage: Oh… Oh no…

Nico: It happened again?

Jude: You still get surprised by this?

Sage: I-I might be used to seeing this, but it's still far from normal!

This… mountain of tomatoes…!!!

Jude: I've been wondering about that. Why do so many people send me tomatoes?

Sage: Huh, you're asking that now?

Nico: It's because you said you liked them, isn't it?

Fans usually send their faves' favorite foods if it's made public.

Jude: … I said that?

Nico & Sage: ……

Nico: I'm hungry. I'll whip something up with these real quick.

Jude: It's a good thing Nico's here. There'd be so much waste without him.

Sage: … Jude-kun. I'm just wondering, but do you not actually like tomatoes?

Jude: Not really, no.

I don't feel one way or the other about them.

Sage: That's news to me…

I totally thought you did. I mean, you said so in an interview, right?

Jude: Interview?

Sage: Y'know, when that magazine interviewed us back when we were rookies—

Bianchi: Oh dear, the tomatoes again?

Jude: Bianchi…♪

Good work. Did you finish your work for the design department? Should I brew some coffee for you?

Bianchi: I'm peachy without, thank you… More importantly, are these more tomatoes from the fans?

Sage: Y-Yeah…

Nico's using some to cook up a dish right now, but it's still… a lot…

Bianchi: (sighs)...

Jude: Are you going to eat dinner here, Bianchi? I'll join you—

Bianchi: Oh you and your… Why don't you stop saying you like tomatoes?

Otherwise, your fans will keep sending tomatoes for all of eternity.

Jude: Got it. If it's your wish, I'll do just that.

Sage: … Do what?

Jude: I'm sure a post on HeliChan will do the trick. "I hate tomatoes".... that should be fine, right?

Bianchi: N-Now wait just one second!

There's no way you can do that… absolutely not…

How do you think all the fans who went out of their way to give them to you would feel?

You can't just drop something like that on them out of nowhere…

Sage: That's true… you'd have to be really careful about how you word it.

Bianchi: That's exactly right. It'd have to be a borderline apology.

Jude: An apology… ah, then let's hold a press conference.

Bianchi: A-A press conference to apologize about the tomatoes…?

Sage: Why'd you even say you like tomatoes in the first place?

Bianchi: Well, we started to get more questions like that in interviews, right? But Jude's answers were just such a bore…

If you asked him what he does on his days off, he'd only say "nothing in particular".

And if you asked him if he liked dogs or cats more, he'd say he doesn't care for either of them…

Sage: Y-You're right… I thought those answers were perfectly Jude-kun, myself, though.

Bianchi: But he's always had so many fans, hasn't he?

I felt bad for all the people interested in him, so I told him to at least pick a favorite food.

Sage: I see… but why tomatoes?

Bianchi: I have no clue. Why was that, Jude?

Jude: Let me think… If I remember correctly, La Tomatina was being held around that time.

Sage & Bianchi: La Tomatina…?

Jude: It's Spanish. It's an event known as the "Tomato Festival".

I saw some posts about it while I was trying to think of a favorite food, per Bianchi's request.

It's an event where people fervidly throw tomatoes at each other in the streets, but just the sight of all those people dyed in red…

It was like something awoke deep inside of me. That's when I decided to make tomatoes my favorite food.

Bianchi: What kind of reason is that???

Jude: Haha, it doesn't really make sense anymore, right? I'd be much more interested in an encierro nowadays, after all.

Sage & Bianchi: ……

Jude: Ah, I have an idea. Why don't we use all these tomatoes to hold our very own La Tomatina?

That way, we can use them all, and the fans' gifts won't be wast—

Nico: No way.

The tomatoes aren't that big of an issue. I'll eat them all.

Sage: Ahaha… Throwing all these tomatoes would be a waste of food…

Bianchi: We have no other choice then.

Sage: Did you think of something, Bianchi-san?
 

Bianchi: Jude! Love tomatoes with all your heart!

Jude: …!

Sage: Love…

Nico: Tomatoes…?

───

 

(A few days later)

Jude: "Thank you everyone for always giving me so many of my beloved tomatoes."

"Both your kindness and the tomatoes bring me so much joy."

"However… it saddens me greatly when there are too many to eat and I have to throw some out…"

"I can always feel everyone's love. That alone is enough for me, so I'd appreciate it if you could send less tomatoes from now on."

"Take a look. Don't these sprouting tomatoes look absolutely delectable when lit by the sun?"

"I'd be grateful if everyone started loving tomatoes just as much as I do."

"I dream of a world where everyone loves tomatoes; wouldn't it be just splendid—"
 

Nico & Sage: ……

Jude: I've never had a post on HeliChan blow up that much before.

Take a look at the comments. It looks like the fans got the message, and so many of them are swearing to love tomatoes.

Also, it seems like tomatoes have become a hit product and more people have been visiting farms recently, so I got sent some thank-you messages for some reason.

That's Bianchi for you. Everything worked out thanks to their instructions.

Bianchi: … Y'know, I kind of feel guilty in a different way, now…

Nico: So no more tomatoes, huh…

Sage: A-Ahaha…

 

Stories Masterlist