Toshiya Utsurogi

"My child is allergic to wheat. Given the age we're in, where most food includes wheat in some way, whether that be from the convenience store or a restaurant, you understand what I mean, right? That's why I must keep such a close eye on what she eats."

- Toshiya Utsurogi

Toshiya Utsurogi is a primary ally featured in Gleanings of Paradise, a short story that is part of the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan: Short Story Collection. He is an editor working for a publisher of a culinary magazine who requests to have Rohan Kishibe draw a manga for them.

He is the father of Yo Utsurogi. After evoking Rohan's curiosity about the Gleanings of Paradise, he travels with Rohan and his daughter to a village where his best friend from university cultivates the legendary wheat.

Appearance
Utsurogi is a large, overweight man who Rohan describes as being round and fat like a barrel and akin to a bull disguising itself as a human. He has a brutish face, but often smiles, making him appear winsome. He has dense and thick body hair, overgrown bushy hair on his head, and protruding big ears.

After eating the Gleanings of Paradise, Utsurogi eventually transforms into a creature resembling the. Burly limbs reaching nearly two meters long protrude from a monstrous body, flint-like hooves tipping each arm and leg. His entire body has fur sprouting from all over, an uneven patchwork of mottled hide and exposed skin. His face is oval like a cow's, but the portion of fur on his head is unusually frizzy and puffed up. Two pale pink horns also jut out from his head. Scraps of his previous clothing remain on his body. He eventually transforms back to normal after getting rid of the wheat from his body and undergoing treatment.

Personality
Utsurogi is a gluttonous yet friendly man, with mannerisms like a small animal. When he's disappointed, he curls himself up. He often eats excessively, admiring his food and applauding whatever he eats in between every bite. When it comes to food, Utsurogi acts carelessly, as he nearly finishes Rohan and Yo's share of food and drink supplies while they're traveling to the village.

In spite of his unrestrained eating habits, Utsurogi is a doting and overprotective father, raising Yo on his own. He acts meticulously to protect Yo from eating harmful food. Rohan realizes that his gluttonous behavior is what allows Yo to have food, since she refuses to eat otherwise. As if he's a poison tester, he inspects the contents of any meal as though he's performing an autopsy before determining whether it's safe for Yo to eat. His paternal love for his daughter is strong enough to allow him to regain his free will from the Gleanings of Paradise when he sees his daughter cry. Although Rohan is someone who hates sob stories, he even admires Utsurogi for being someone who suffered through so much hardship for the sake of his child.

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 quit his job and founded a village where he became the chief. He invites Utsurogi and Yo to his village to try the Gleanings of Paradise he cultivated. It was a rare species of wheat considered legendary in the food industry, and Yaginuma claimed it could treat Yo's allergy to wheat. Utsurogi mentions Rohan to Yaginuma, so Yaginuma agrees to have Rohan join them as well for an interview.

The Job Offer
Utsurogi books a private room at a recently-opened French restaurant in Morioh to discuss a job proposal with Rohan Kishibe. Utsurogi eats three rolls of bread before the main course. Rohan asks Utsurogi who the child with him is, so Utsurogi introduces his daughter, promising that she'll stay calm while they discuss work. Utsurogi thoroughly inspects the meals that arrive before giving some to Yo, though Yo would take one bite and give the rest to him.

Rohan reminds Utsurogi to explain about the job offer. Utsurogi then requests Rohan to draw a cooking manga for his magazine, but Rohan retorts that his art style isn't suited for that genre. Utsurogi claims that Rohan has the powerful ability to communicate the appeal of things he features in his manga, since after he featured an overseas brand in his work, the sales of their bags skyrocketed. However, Rohan believes that a cooking manga would be too generic nowadays since the genre is oversaturated. Utsurogi agrees with him, but reveals his trump card: the Gleanings of Paradise. Utsurogi is surprised to hear that Rohan doesn't know about it. When they eat their meal, Rohan notices Yo's behavior and complains that she's souring his appetite by not eating her food. Utsurogi discloses her allergy to wheat and apologizes. He eventually explains about Yaginuma inviting them and how the wheat can change one's constitution when they eat it, triggering Rohan's curiosity. Rohan agrees to go with him and Yo to the village.

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. Utsurogi has difficulty walking so far, so they have to take several breaks. He even eats most of their food supplies himself to the point where they were running out. Finally, they reach the village as night approaches. While Yaginuma talks to Rohan, Utsurogi catches up and hugs his friend, as the two are happy to see each other again after a long time. The group heads into the village, where Rohan asks about the wheat's powers. Yaginuma confirms that it is capable of transforming people, but it depends on their own temperament. Utsurogi also confirms, claiming that Yaginuma used to look like a beautiful stereotypical scholar, but now looks macho like a different person. As they walk through the village, Rohan and Utsurogi observe villagers manually grinding the wheat, wholly engrossed in their task and ignoring their guests. Yaginuma describes the process as a ritualistic act of accepting God. He offers them a taste of the freshly ground Gleanings of Paradise, which Rohan and Utsurogi naturally accept.

Bullish Transformation
Yaginuma serves Rohan and Utsurogi bread he cooks using the freshly ground wheat at his house. The bread's allure is so strong that Utsurogi finds it hard to stop eating, consuming loaf after loaf, with his stomach starting to swell up like a balloon. Rohan tries getting him to stop, since Yaginuma wanted to offer the bread to the villagers afterward, but Yaginuma claims that it's fine since they have rations stored. Utsurogi begins acting like a cow, grinding his jaws together and languidly chewing. He praises the food, but the pleasant atmosphere is disrupted when Utsurogi asks whether Yo can eat as well. Yaginuma had previously assured Utsurogi that consuming this special wheat would cure Yo's allergy. However, in a sudden and unexpected turn, he initially refuses to let Yo eat the bread, causing tension and confusion.

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.

The next day, Rohan, Utsurogi, Yo, and Yaginuma, gather around a pot set over a fire as they prepare to cook the wheat into a porridge. When it's Yo's turn to eat, tension arises. She is hesitant and declares that she'll never eat it. Utsurogi, seemingly under the influence of the wheat, tries to force-feed her, leading to an intervention by Rohan, who tosses away the bowl from Yo's hand. He wedges himself between Yo and Utsurogi to protect her, suspecting that the wheat might be altering the personalities of those who consume it, drawing parallels to ergot-infected rye which can cause hallucinations and other symptoms. Utsurogi's behavior becomes even more erratic, as he starts consuming spilled porridge from the ground, behaving more like a wild animal than a human. Rohan continues sheltering Yo, who tightly clutches onto Rohan's clothes, paralyzed in fear. Yaginuma starts petting Utsurogi like a cow, casually mentioning that this is a regular occurrence in the village. He tries persuading Yo to eat again, telling Rohan that even though it seems like Utsurogi was forcing her to eat to an outsider, he was just showing love by wanting to feed his child delicious food. Rohan uses Heaven's Door on Yaginuma to determine whether he's a threat or not, but finds that he has no ill intentions toward them. Utsurogi, still under the influence of the wheat, repeatedly murmurs about its deliciousness as he slowly walks back to the hut with Yo.

Later in the middle of the night, Yaginuma secretly takes Utsurogi away from the hut and continues feeding him more kernels of wheat. Rohan and Yo are awakened by a strong animal musk that fills their hut. Both of them manage to evade villagers standing guard outside and eventually find a hidden stable on the edge of the settlement. Inside, they discover Utsurogi, who has been transformed into a monstrous bull-like creature. They sneak inside after Yaginuma leaves the stable. Yo runs to her father, but the giant cow hybrid nearly crushes her with his weight. Rohan uses Heaven's Door to force Utsurogi to get away from Yo, and tries to revert him back to his human state, but the transformation seems irreversible. His book's pages are being modified at an incredible pace, making it impossible for Rohan to write anything as they would get overwritten by some other consciousness. Rohan realizes from this, and from how Yaginuma was acting earlier, that Yaginuma appears to be using the wheat to turn humans into livestock-like slaves to cultivate more of the crop. Suddenly, Yaginuma and all of the other villagers holding torches surround the stable, trapping Rohan and Yo.

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. Yaginuma demands that Rohan should eat it, so Utsurogi lets go of Yo to grab Rohan instead. Feeling nauseous that they were about to force him to eat such a thing, Rohan tries using Heaven's Door again even though he knows it wouldn't help. However, Yo comes between them and desperate to save her father from his transformed state, attempts to eat the wheat herself while crying. Utsurogi, in a fleeting moment of paternal instinct, stops her by scooping up the wheat and consuming it himself. He sends Yaginuma flying with one hit, then turns around and violently vomits all of the Gleanings of Paradise he ate. After expelling all the wheat from his body, he reverts to a slightly more human-like form, albeit with horns.

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. Utsurogi, with Yo safely in his arms, uses his formidable strength to bulldoze through the encircling villagers, creating a path for their escape. Rohan follows closely behind, and together, they dash into the safety of the night, evading the clutches of the wheat-controlled villagers.

Rohan, Yo, and Utsurogi find themselves at the edge of a cliff, surrounded by the wheat fields of the Gleanings of Paradise. As they stand amidst the wheat, Rohan reassures Yo that the wheat itself is harmless unless consumed. He also writes a command into Utsurogi that he does not want to eat the Gleanings of Paradise, just to be safe. As they're surrounded by Yaginuma and the villagers again, Rohan uses Heaven's Door on them to force them into burning the fields of wheat with their torches. The villagers, torn between their duty to the wheat and Rohan's command, scramble to extinguish the flames. This diversion allows Rohan, Yo, and Utsurogi to slip past Yaginuma and the villagers, making a daring descent down the mountain.

Aftermath
Utsurogi was given treatment and recovered from his transformation, becoming a normal human again. He and his daughter Yo were 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. Rohan shares his insights about the nature of domestication, suggesting that perhaps humans were domesticated by wheat rather than the other way around. He proposes a horror manga idea based on their experiences, which Utsurogi enthusiastically approves of. However, the meal takes a tense turn when the chef presents them with a basket of freshly baked bread made from a new variety of wheat called the Gleanings of Paradise. Both Rohan and Utsurogi are alarmed, as Utsurogi has a strange feeling that he shouldn't eat it. Rohan wonders if it's a different, safer variety having the same name, or if a seed had been carried by the wind and dispersed, propagating in a different land. Not understanding the situation, Yo reaches out to try the bread, but both men instinctively stop her, leading to a humorous back-and-forth about who should taste it first.

Trivia

 * Rohan states that Utsurogi's name sounds like it belongs to a rock singer or a celebrity from older times.