"It's a living," Renji said, but he couldn't hide the pride in his voice. He was good at his job, and he'd gone far. "There are several other shinigami here," he said. "Hitsugaya-taichou's one of them."

He waved off Keman's concern. "Did you notice?" he asked. "Sorry. Was just lookin' at your spirit thread. Looks kinda cool." He grinned, still pinching his nose shut. "Trying to use any kind of power here does this to us. It's fuckin' annoying."