From: "D.J.G." Dr. Tofu Falls Into an Open Sewer and Dies By Daniel "Yoshimato X" Gallagher ---------------------------------------------------- WRITERS NOTES You may be wondering about the title of this fanfic. Is it just figurative? No, sorry to burst the bubble of all the Doctor Tofu fans out there, but the title is totally literal. Don't get me wrong, I like Dr. Tofu, however a friend told me that in the manga he was totally discarded. Also, the way it was explained to me was that there was no explanation, no warning, just one day "No More Tofu". So, I thought that might be it would be fun to write a little story explaining Dr. Tofu's strange and mysterious disappearance. ----------------------------------------------------- "There now, all done" Dr. Tofu said after re-aligning the back of the old woman in front of him. She came in every week, the poor dear, it must be cronic. She sat up in the seat. "Oh, thank you doctor, my back troubles me so, but you always make it better" she smiled, happy to be rid of her pain. "Oh it's ok, that's my job. Would you like some tea?" The door to the lobby of Dr. Tofu's office had opened. "Tea would be..." she paused at the sound of the opening door, and fixed her gaze upon the one in front of her "...um, lovely." It could be her, the old woman thought. Dr. Tofu turned around to make the tea, however the old woman's eyes stayed on the small glass window upon the office door. Through the small port she saw "her" face, a face that has been such a bane to the patrons of Dr. Tofu, and as she saw "Her" the old woman pulled a large wad of yen out of her purse, left it where she was sitting, and as fast as she could she went for the door. "Oh Kasumi dear, I have to be going" the old woman said, and pushed quickly past her. The beautiful Kasumi Tendo stood in the doorway of Dr. Tofu's office. She was dressed in a simple dress and apron, and held a small covered bowl before her. Dr. Tofu turned around from making the tea. "Here's the... Oh h-h-hi Kasumi, what are you doing here?" His eyes glazed over at the sight of the confectionery goddess. Kasumi gave him a small smile, "Well Akane made dinner last night and..." "Don't worry Kasumi," Dr. Tofu cut in. "I have a stomach pump here somewhere." He began a short and frantic search through the bookcase for it. "Oh no, it's not that, she wanted to give you some." She held the bowl out to him. "Oh, tell her I said thank you." Dr. Tofu said, as he looked down at the covered bowl of god knows what, Dr. Tofu was a strong man, but this bowl scared him. "I think I'll save it for dinner then." He tried not to sound suspicious. "I was just making some tea would you like some" "Oh, I can't Dr. Tofu. Akane did cook last night, and you could imagine what the kitchen looks like." Kasumi said, but Tofu didn't want it imagine. Some things were best left out of the human mind. "But you enjoy that, goodbye!" "Of course. Goodbye." As she left Dr. tofu tried to keep himself composed, the bubbling joy from this meeting threatening to overwhelm him. After a few minutes he could bear it no longer, he grabbed Betty and left his office, hopping and jumping and singing a song. *** Vincent Kytelli and Joseph Cantanelli sat on the curb of the street by the sewer they mutually worked in. They were both part of an employee transfer program with Con Edison. Vincent had always felt he had a kind of cursed luck. Wallace and Atkinson got to go to Australia, his cousin Veto was transferred to England, but where did Vinny get to go, Japan. He was forced to spend his entire bonus, which he got for taking the assignment, on classes to learn the language. Wrought with boredom, he looked down the street towards the horizon, there he saw a figure moving awkwardly upon it. It was getting closer, and as it did so he could make out exactly what it was. It seemed to be a man dressed in black, dancing with a skeleton. "You know what Joey? I think that since I've gotten here, I have seen the strangest things I have ever seen in my life. I mean this place makes the Bronx look normal." "Yeah, tell me about it." Joey replied, that was almost all he ever replied with. Joey was a man of few words, not that he didn't talk much, just that he knew very few words. They both continued to watch the bounding figure as he made his way down the center of the street they were working on. He waltzed down the avenue with his skeleton, directly down the center. After a while Vinnie noticed that the odd pedestrian was on a direct line for the open manhole and decided it was time to give him a warning. "Hay mister you should..." but before he realized he wasn't speaking Japanese, the poor fool had fell down the sewer. There was a splotch of blood where he had hit his head on the edge of the manhole. Vincent and Joey looked down the manhole and watched as the body floated through the waste and debris of Japan. "I think he's dead," Vinnie mused as they watched the corpse which clutched the skeleton. "Mabye it would be best if we didn't mention this to anyone." "Yeah, tell me about it." Joey replied. *** A year later a body washed up on the shore of Jones Beach in New Jersey. Rigor mortise had kept the skeleton clutched to his chest. No one ever noticed he was gone.