Toshiya Utsurogi

Background

Utsurogi is an editor for a publishing company of a certain culinary magazine. At some point, he marries a woman and has a child with her named Yo, but their daughter develops a wheat allergy. His wife divorces him after not being able to handle the burden of managing her allergy. His best friend from university, Shozo Yaginuma, tries genetically modifying wheat for Utsurogi and Yo's sake.↗↗

Yaginuma later quits his job and founds a village where he becomes the chief. Meanwhile, the company Utsurogi works for plans to collaborate with popular manga artists to create a cooking manga for their magazine, and Utsurogi wants to have Rohan Kishibe draw the first chapter. Yaginuma invites Utsurogi and Yo to his village to try the Gleanings of Paradise he cultivated.↗↗

Dining with Rohan

Utsurogi books a private room at a recently-opened French restaurant in Morioh to discuss his job proposal with Rohan. Before the main course arrives, Utsurogi consumes three bread rolls. When Rohan inquires about the young girl accompanying him, Utsurogi introduces Yo as his daughter, assuring Rohan of her composed demeanor during their discussion. Utsurogi meticulously examines each dish before offering any to Yo, who often takes a small bite and hands the remainder to him.↗

Hiking to the Village

Rohan, Utsurogi, and Yo trek for almost half a day to reach the village, located on the rocky summit of a mountain in the Kanto region. The challenging terrain necessitates multiple breaks as Utsurogi has trouble walking so far, and he also consumes a significant portion of their provisions. They arrive at the village in the evening, though Rohan goes ahead of them on his own.↗↗

Bullish Transformation

Yaginuma serves them bread he cooks using the freshly ground wheat at his house. Utsurogi, unable to resist its allure, indulges excessively, leading to his stomach noticeably swelling. Rohan tries getting him to stop, since Yaginuma wanted to offer the bread to the villagers afterward, but Yaginuma assures him that it's fine since they have rations stored. Utsurogi begins acting like a cow, grinding his jaws together and languidly chewing.↗

The friends have a heated exchange, during which Yaginuma seems to momentarily lose himself. He is about to reveal something, but takes a loaf of bread from Utsurogi and eats it, coming back to his senses. He reassures Utsurogi and promises that Yo will indeed be safe eating the Gleanings of Paradise, which he plans to give her after the harvest on the following day.↗↗

Escaping the Cursed Fields

Yaginuma orders the transformed Utsurogi to seize Rohan and Yo. He manages to grab Yo, and carries her toward Yaginuma. Yaginuma reveals that he wants Rohan to use his manga to extol the virtues of the Gleanings of Paradise wheat. Yaginuma believes that once Rohan consumes the wheat, he will be compelled to promote it willingly. Suddenly, Yaginuma slaps Utsurogi on his back, making him vomit out a porridge of the Gleanings of Paradise.↗

Rohan calls Utsurogi toward him and Yo, asking him to protect Yo while Rohan looks for a path. By using Heaven's Door on Yaginuma again, Rohan learns that it isn't Yaginuma who's controlling the village, but the wheat itself. The situation becomes increasingly dire as the villagers, under the malevolent influence of the wheat, start to converge on Rohan, Yo, and Utsurogi. Recognizing the immediate threat, Rohan determines that their best strategy is to retreat and devise a plan later.↗↗

Recovery

Utsurogi is given treatment and recovers from his transformation, becoming a normal human again. He and his daughter Yo are placed in a safe house arranged by Rohan.↗

A month after the incident, Rohan meets with Utsurogi and Yo at the same French restaurant in Morioh. As they dine, Utsurogi indulges in a lavish meal, while Rohan and Yo discuss the events of the past month. Utsurogi's memory of the events was vague, but Yo, who hadn't consumed the wheat, remembers everything. Rohan smiles when seeing Yo eat her food happily, causing Utsurogi to wonder when Rohan got so close to his daughter.↗↗

Profile details

Status: Alive (TSKR)↗