Tomato Devil

Lacrimosa, a member of ETD-4, encountered a vending machine malfunction while purchasing her favorite Tomato 100. Lacking common sense, she lifted the entire machine in an attempt to pour the tomato jelly out. This senseless behavior drew a crowd, and many photos were posted on Bagel. Thanks to ETD-4 Lieutenant Skia's timely intervention and Lacrimosa's proper apology, the incident was initially just an amusing story.

After all, you don't see a girl with monstrous strength lifting a vending machine every day. However, as someone dug up Lacrimosa's identity as an ETD member, unfavorable public opinion began to form… More and more people believed that Lacrimosa, as an ETD member, had committed an unforgivable act by damaging public property. Baseless claims like "destruction maniac," "abuse of privilege," and "robbery" spread everywhere.

This wave of public opinion ultimately brought the fabricated "destructive Lacrimosa" into reality, giving birth to the Anomaly known as Tomato Devil.

C-6957(Me) Tomato Devil is a Meme Anomaly born from nothing. Its appearance is that of a humanoid girl with features nearly identical to Lacrimosa, but its body is composed of a red jelly-like substance similar to Tomato 100. This Anomaly appears near vending machines that sell Tomato 100, robbing and destroying them. When bystanders witnessed this and uploaded rolls to Bagel, it only caused more rumors to spread, further strengthening Tomato Devil's power.

As the public's attitude toward Lacrimosa grew worse, Tomato Devil's behavior became increasingly extreme, forming a vicious cycle. Tomato Devil's fighting style resembles Lacrimosa's. It can form various weapons from tomato jelly to fight and possesses the ability to fly. Compared to Lacrimosa herself, Tomato Devil relies more heavily on close combat, likely influenced by the impression of her as a "monstrous strength girl."

Since this memetic anomaly was born from online public opinion, she lacks a complete mind. What drives her actions is a pure desire to destroy tomato jelly vending machines. The Bureau's PR experts initially proposed a minimization strategy: keeping Lacrimosa out of the public eye for a period. As public attention shifted to new topics, discussions about Lacrimosa would gradually die down, and the Tomato Devil born from them would naturally undergo nullification.

This would normally take a period, but in reality, public interest faded far faster than initially expected. On one hand, Lacrimosa's friends took action that partially turned around her reputation on Bagel. On the other hand, some breaking news redirected attention from this matter, causing the controversy to cool down earlier than expected. Ultimately, having lost the public opinion that was its reason for existence, Tomato Devil underwent natural nullification.

Info becomes distorted during transmission, and people will inevitably fill in the gaps with imagination. When more and more "I heard that…" replaces the original info, the "truth" the public puts faith in becomes completely opposite to the facts. The further from the source the rumors spread, the more severe the distortion becomes. We happen to live in an era where information transmission is incredibly convenient, so rumors and gossip are a given.

Lacrimosa merely lacked common sense, yet after spreading through Bagel, people fabricated a real Tomato Devil… Simple words, just like that, transformed into actual destructive power. Even if the Tomato Devil underwent nullification following the minimization strategy, wouldn't people continue to misunderstand Lacrimosa in the future? From this perspective, the malice carried by rumors is actually more harmful than the memetic anomaly itself.