Chapter 72 Assassin 2

April 23, Sunday

It was one in the morning, in Kurosaki Utsuki's apartment.

"Kurosaki Utaki", who had earlier answered most of the questions from the media and was mentally exhausted, had already taken a shower and was sitting on the edge of the bed. However, her expression did not show any relaxation as if she was about to enjoy a sleep. Instead, her face was full of tears, which was very cute.

Not long ago, Kurosaki Utsuki called Urahara Kisuke and asked her what she should do in the current situation. The other party's answer made her laugh out loud.

There is good news and bad news.

The bad news is that even someone as wise as Urahara Kisuke said that he couldn't take out the light bulb for the time being. No, he couldn't separate Hagiwara Kenji's spirit from Kurosaki Utsuki's body for the time being.

Her body is quite special - it seems to be due to the dual effects of the Hogyoku and the frequent use of blood equipment. In short, Kisuke Urahara needs some time to study the potion to separate the two, and the specific time is uncertain.

The good news is that Urahara Shoten can provide a state-of-the-art artificial body, allowing Kurosaki Utsuki to continue living without being affected.

"According to Mr. Urahara, developing the separation potion will take at least a week, but there's no guarantee it will yield results within a week. After all, he's going to have to overcome the difficulties presented by the Hogyoku. You should have learned about the Hogyoku in Mao, right?"

Kenji Hagiwara, who was pressing against her, nodded solemnly. "Mao will have a special course explaining the full story of Aizen Sosuke's betrayal. Utsukuni and Ichigo-kun will also be mentioned during the course."

Kurosaki Utsuki nodded with satisfaction. She leaned against the wall opposite the bed, her arms folded over her chest, and thought about her plans for the coming week.

Of course, she didn't really want Hagiwara Kenji to work for her. Autopsy, a job that required considerable professional knowledge, could not be handed over to others, and what she said last night about giving internship classes was just a casual mention. After all, it was the weekend, and even if she didn't have many days off, the students still needed to rest.

But the situation has become like this, she has to bully him, no, punish him a little bit——

"Well, since this is a rare experience of becoming a girl, I'll let you enjoy it."

Kurosaki Utsuki took a step forward, then landed lightly on the bed with her knees touching the ground, straddling "her" legs, holding "her" face with both hands, and her smile became more and more unrestrained.

"Anyway, I'm quite looking forward to it—"

The messenger machine suddenly rang.

It was a notice that a Hollow was about to appear in the Mihua area, urging the local garrisoned Death Gods to prepare for battle.

Kurosaki Utsuki's expression froze, and the smile on her face suddenly froze.

It wasn't just because her evil thoughts were interrupted right after they arose, but she suddenly realized that she had been so busy laughing that she had completely forgotten that not only was the other party unable to do her own job, but she was also unable to do the other party's job right now.

“No way…”

Is it actually she who is suffering?

Forget about holidays, this is basically overtime hell!

"Katsuki-chan," the person whose cheek she was holding blinked innocently, "Your expression right now is scary..."

Yes! This is terrible!

But just in case, she still asked without much hope: "Can the knife still be pulled out?"

“…I don’t think so.”

really!

"Where's the ghost path?"

"Well, Kidō should be fine, but Shunpo seems to have some influence..."

well……

"I know," Kurosaki Utsuki sighed deeply, jumped off the bed, and stretched out his hand to the person in front of him, "Give me the messenger machine."

Although Hagiwara Kenji took out the divine messenger, he was still hesitant: "But..."

"Didn't I tell you?" She smiled again, took the small object that looked like a folding phone from the other person's hand, and then jumped onto the windowsill, "When I send you to Soul Society."

"——When you return to Beihua as the garrisoned Death God, I will be your Death God proxy."

Well, let her vent the resentment accumulated from work to this annoying ghost.

·

Who is she, where is she, what is she doing?

Why did she come back from working overtime, and why did the man who was supposed to wait for her obediently in bed actually let a man in and start an intimate night talk with this man?

Kurosaki Utsuki looked at the curly-haired man sitting at the dining table with a can of beer, looking like he was ready to drink until dawn, and twitched his lips speechlessly.

"Matsuda Jinpei, please consider the impact that coming to my house in the middle of the night might have on my reputation."

The man who was named showed no sign of reflection and responded quite confidently: "Since your husband has been dead for seven years, it doesn't matter if you get a new boyfriend."

...That's true.

"Alright then." Kurosaki Utsuki sighed heavily, placing her hand on "her" shoulder. "If you want to live with Jinpei instead of me, then I have no objection. At worst, I can just marry Jinpei. The triangle structure is stable."

Kurosaki Utsuki's eyes widened immediately: "Eh? Eh hey hey! Don't do that kind of thing——"

"Why not? Do you want to watch Jinpei-chan obsessed with me and remain single until his death?" Kurosaki Utsuki raised an eyebrow. "Or do you want to marry him yourself? Then I'll ask Mr. Urahara to make you a female prosthetic body. You can shape the face yourself, but there's no guarantee you'll be able to come out after entering."

Matsuda Jinpei's eyes flashed: "Why do I have to be single until I die?"

"Because you've been thinking about your best friend's deceased wife—just kidding." She glanced at the transparent water glass in front of "herself" and curled her lips. "It's okay to have a drink with him. You can eat whatever you want. I don't follow any strict weight management, and I wouldn't really get angry about something like this."

After all, it was a reunion with a close friend of twenty years after seven years. She could fully understand the feelings of both parties and had no problem lending her body temporarily to them to reminisce about the past.

She yawned, waved her hand and walked towards the room: "I'm going to sleep first, please don't make too much noise."

She heard "her" energetic "good night" behind her, and the corners of her lips curled up as she responded softly.

Come to think of it, the surprised expression on "her" face just now was even cuter than she had imagined.

Kurosaki Utsuki adjusted herself to the most comfortable position on the bed, placed the messenger machine next to her pillow, and then closed her eyes peacefully.

·

When I woke up, the aroma of cooking wafted into the bedroom.

Kurosaki Utsuki rubbed her eyes and sat up, checking the time, only to find that it should be lunch.

...There was nothing she could do. The messenger had disturbed her four times overnight, only stopping after dawn. And since today was Sunday and she hadn't received any calls requesting her to go out, she had no reason to get up before eight o'clock as usual.

Jinpei Matsuda had already left, and the figure busy in the kitchen was "herself". Kurosaki Utsuki sat down quietly at the dining table, looked at her own slender back, and rubbed her chin with great satisfaction.

So cute, who is so lucky to marry such a lovely wife?

Perhaps hearing the noise or sensing spiritual pressure, the person in the kitchen suddenly turned around and looked at her with a bright smile: "Good morning, Utsuki. Wait a moment, it will be ready soon."

"Good morning...but I can't eat like this right now, right?"

She couldn't eat in her spirit state, and this was something she couldn't change.

"I went to Mr. Urahara's this morning," Hagihara Kenji, who was holding his wife's body, pointed to the glass bottle on the table next to her. "That's a compressed artificial body made by Mr. Urahara. He said it can expand if you inject spiritual energy into it."

Hey - he really has a thoughtful side.

"Thank you, I'll put it on right away."

·

It was not until she put on her prosthetic body, changed into her home clothes, and sat back at the dining table that Kurosaki Utsuki felt for the first time that she was married.

"I always feel a little sorry." She didn't touch the set dishes, but cupped her cheeks again. "We moved in together in college, but it still feels like we haven't really lived together. I'm always busy with school."

Hagiwara Kenji placed the last of the dishes on the table and returned to the kitchen to serve some rice. "Wouldn't it be nice to be able to live together from now on?"

"If you put it that way, I can continue to work with peace of mind." Kurosaki Utahi smiled. "Mitsumi-senpai once said that forensic medicine is a job born for the future. Although I didn't have such lofty aspirations when I chose to become a forensic medicine examiner, it was simply for my own interest."

"Eh? Misumi, is he your senior from university? I don't think I've heard Utsuki mention him before."

"No, it's the forensic pathologist from the TV show." She shrugged and took the bowl offered to her. "I finished reading it while killing time in the evening when I was attending a conference in Hakodate a few days ago."

The mention of Hakodate brought back memories of the Miyano family, still in danger. Kurosaki Utaki, arranging her words as she ate, began mid-meal to recount her connection to the organization known as alcohol. From the kidnapping she encountered in high school to the recent confrontation in Hakodate, she had triumphed in each instance, but the loser had yet to be brought to justice.

"That's the organization Jingguang and Furuya are currently investigating. I heard that the organization's leaders have reported my existence to the authorities, but they probably won't take action against me."

She licked her lips and continued, reminiscing, "The children in my family seem to be the easiest to break through, but Yiyong is a natural-born reaper. He's probably much stronger than you, Yanji."

The person in front of him suddenly had a bitter face: "Utahi-chan..."

"Don't worry about it. Bloodline talent is just like that." Kurosaki Utsuki comforted her. "Kenji, if you want to become stronger, I can train with you. In fact, even if you do nothing, as long as your desire is strong enough, the Hogyoku will help you."

After all, she is a "wishing machine."

"Little Utahiko is so gentle." Kurosaki Utahiko curled her lips, "Then I will take advantage of this time when I can't work to protect Miss Shiho who may be in danger."

"Hmm? Coming to my house?"

Although arrangements were made for Miyano Shiho to have her soul transformed and her brother and sister-in-law were also around, Kurosaki Utsuki did not reject the other party's good intentions, but instead made suggestions.

"It's okay for you to stay home for a while, or even go to Chisoo-nee's place. Just make sure no one notices anything unusual. Everyone will definitely miss you, so just treat it as your last day off before work starts—there might never be another opportunity like this. The Shinigami stationed at Mika are the busiest."

She was responded with a sudden hug.

The orange-haired woman with the same face as her gently embraced her in her arms, and her familiar voice and words fell into her ears: "As expected, my little Utsuki is the best."