An Arcanist in Karakura Town (Patreon)

An Arcanist in Karakura Town

Chapter 52

-VB-

Marris Alan

… For the most part, my encounter with the Onmyouji ojou-sama marked the end of the troubles and the start of what I called peace.

Yes, peace.

Sometime after that event, the shinigamis more or less left Karakura Town. The only one who remained was Ichigo and his cohort of friends and allies, but even then, the true shinigamis among them began to visit less and less. It took a while for the reason to be revealed, but essentially, the first detonation of my bomb had wiped out a lot of the ambient spiritual particles in the air and turned the place into a desert.

But I knew that. That was the entire point of the bomb: turn everything in its blast radius that wasn’t protected by a living body into nothing. Why would the environment not be spared?

Anyways, this also meant that the Hollows eventually left as they too ran out of food. Hollows can’t go around eating regular people; it wouldn’t satisfy their hunger at all! Maybe if they went to Soul Society and started eating souls there, then, maybe, it might help.

Which was what some of them actually did. The rest probably fucked off to somewhere else, but I didn’t care.

What I cared about was my research, my girls, and our soon-to-be new members of the family.

…

…

So why was I at a birthday party for Kurosaki Yuzu and Karin?

Oh, right. Because I have a hard time saying no to Orihime when she starts shaking her booty at me.

Damn that woman. Distracting me into saying yes.

Of course, I hadn’t come without presents for the birthday girls.

“Kurosaki,” I grunted as I met Kurosaki Ichigo’s stare.

“Marris.”

Then Tatsuki groaned in frustration and pushed me forward. “Hurry it up! You two can have your dick-measuring contest later!” she shouted form behind me and in front of Orihime. Orihime just enthusiastically waved her hand.

“Hi, Kurosaki-kun!”

“Oh. Hi, Tats, Inoue-san.”

He looked as awkward as he probably felt as two very pregnant teenagers walked into the house after me. Yuzu and Karin were quickly on them, though, and whatever my personal thoughts were about the Kurosakis became irrelevant in the now.

“... I still don’t get why my wives and your sisters are so close.”

“You did keep them safe,” he grumbled. “... Thank you, by the way.”

“No problem. They are outside our business and innocent, too. Anyone who doesn’t save them when they could is just horrible people.”

He nodded with a hum.

“You didn’t bring anything weird as their present, right? Because if you brought one of your bombs…”

I glared at him. “Hey, I’m not that bad…”

Orihime, Tatsuki, and Ichigo all looked at me.

Those eyes did not agree with me at all.

I rolled my eyes, reached into my pockets, and brought out two small boxes.

“Little charms that deploy shields if hostile attack is detected. Nothing bad. It’s something good and preventive. Like a vaccine,” I grumbled.

“... Is it ugly?” Tatsuki asked me.

I opened my mouth and closed it. “I mean… it’s not cute if that’s what you’re asking.”

Orihime blinked before her eyes widened. “Oh! It’s those tiki masks, right?”

I grimaced as Ichigo’s head snapped to her.

“Tiki mask?”

“Yeah! Like it’s wood, Hawaiian, and funny looking!” she quipped before she spotted the birthday girls rushing down the stairs, and ran off with them to somewhere.

Tatsuki looked at me. “I guess freaks do really well in bed, huh?” she muttered.

Ichigo blushed, and I glanced at him.

Just now, I felt an immense need to ask Ichigo if he was a virgin and why he hadn’t popped his cherry with Rukia yet. Then I remembered that I was in Japan, Rukia and Ichigo had real friendship, and I didn’t want to start shit at his younger sisters’ birthday party.

I decided that I could tease him about it later.

For now, I just ignored the small byplay Tatsuki and Ichigo began, leaving me mostly alone by myself.

Then I glanced over to my right and saw Kurosaki Isshin, who had been quiet throughout the entire exchange.

“... Should I greet you as the Shiba clan head or just Kurosaki patriarch?”

He had a small smile on his face. It was an easy smile, making him look carefree as he portrayed himself to be. He waved away at my question.

“Our family was … centered around Masaki. I’m just dad around here.”

“Hmm. I’m surprised you’re letting me and my wives join in on your daughters’ birthday party.”

He shrugged. “Yuzu and Karin like all three of you, and you’ve been quiet yourself since the shinigamis and hollows left.”

“I have no reason to be loud and violent if no one forces it on me,” I replied easily. “... So what did you get for your daughters?”

He grinned. “Posters of my lovely wife!” he proudly proclaimed in a quiet voice, obviously wanting to keep it a secret.

I smiled. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate it… if it is in appropriate sizes.”

Surprisingly, I found myself more at ease with this family-oriented man than with his son.

And then I remembered something.

“Umm, I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“You are a doctor by profession, right?”

“I am.” He paused. “Is it about your wives…?” he asked, though he hesitated with adding “-ra,”which was the Japanese suffix for plural, after “tsuma,” which was the word for wife.

“Yes. Though I do have a technique that can make birthing potentially painless, I hope you can keep your clinic open just in case.”

He looked at me and then nodded. “I will. You just have to wake me up if it happens in the middle of the night.”

“Thank you. Really.”

He grinned. “I thought you’d be more aggressive ever since I heard you were reluctant to join the party.”

I shrugged. “I might be a little bit too tired for that.”

He waggled his eyebrows. “Was it?”

“Ah, no. I just let my favorite pet suck my blood as part of an experiment.”

Now, he looked like he didn’t know what to say.

I chuckled.

-VB-

Back at home…

Wiggly jiggled and wiggled after its morning breakfast.

It didn’t know why the Creator fed it blood but blood was nice, too.

-VB-

A/N: I never forgot about Wiggly.